The conservative Fox News network has recently made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The network came under fire earlier this year after a number of its anchors peddled conspiracy theories regarding the lifesaving vaccines against COVID-19, despite the network having robust vaccine requirements of its own.
More recently, it's come to light that many of these hosts—like far-right darlings Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham—were texting with then-President Donald Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, during the January 6 insurrection, urging him to intercede and convince Trump to tell rioters to vacate the Capitol.
Meanwhile, less than 24 hours later and for months since, they've downplayed the severity of the riots, Trump's role in them, and absurdly questioned whether the riots were even mounted by Trump supporters in the first place.
Far-right Fox News host Tucker Carlson is even promoting—through his Fox Nation series Patriot Purge—that the insurrection was actually a secret government operation to defame Trump supporters. The dangerous lies Carlson peddled on his show led to the resignation of two Fox News contributors in protest.
Now, one of those contributors—Jonah Golberg—has penned an essay slamming the network for hypocrisy.
After emphasizing the "restraint" he applied not to bash his former workplace, Goldberg said "screw it" in a lengthy op-ed for The Dispatch, writing:
"I know that a huge share of the people you saw on TV praising Trump were being dishonest. I don’t merely suspect it, I know it, because they would say one thing to my face or in my presence and another thing when the cameras and microphones were flipped on."
He specifically pointed to the texts to Meadows:
"The significance of those texts isn’t that they recognized the truth of that day. What’s relevant is the contrast of that private behavior with their public behavior over the 11 months that followed."
Twitter users applauded Goldberg's evaluation.
As conservatives, what we say in public shouldn't be at variance with what we say in private. Good on @JonahDispatch for calling this out https://t.co/IW2TqoFTb4
— Paul "nothing but trouble" Boyer (@PaulDBoyer) December 17, 2021
I disagree with @JonahDispatch about, well, most things. But: I hope I show such character if the moment comes. https://t.co/VKHvBa2SpI
— Joel Mathis (@joelmmathis) December 17, 2021
Fantastic. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 https://t.co/i6runw7jdu
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) December 16, 2021
To understand how so many feel when they leave the insanity that is todays @GOP, this @JonahDispatch piece is a must read. It is an amazing piece of writing and spot on! https://t.co/MEnMrY8trg
— Trygve Olson (@trygveolson) December 17, 2021
Yep. 👇🏻
“I know that a huge share of the people you saw on TV praising Trump were being dishonest. I don’t merely suspect it, I know it, because they would say one thing to my face…and another thing when the cameras were on.” @JonahDispatch https://t.co/ejF5LT2oKy
— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) December 16, 2021
And they didn't have much pleasant to say about Fox.
When can we see Fox News hosts be held accountable for their lies, conspiracy theories and presentations that caused people to die?!🤯😡@POTUS @VP @January6thCmte @TheJusticeDept https://t.co/L1agaICbnS
— Val Dislikes GOP Terrorists 🥷🏻& mayonnaise🍴🌊🌊 (@ValerieCS159) December 16, 2021
It’s certainly not journalism, they should be barred from the industry https://t.co/G4WCVd6xEY
— Rogue Wave (@BillGallagher20) December 16, 2021
Bunch of lying Republicans. https://t.co/2SYT2gEzKl
— Melinda Inglis (@ricosangel333) December 16, 2021
Goldberg concludes his piece with a quote from Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn:
“You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”
Indeed.
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