Tea Partier Joe Walsh: Republicans, Fox News is lying to you about impeachment
One of the biggest revelations of the Trump era has been seeing just how far Fox News is willing to lean into propaganda, misdirection, and outright misinformation in the interest of protecting a Republican president. While it’s become more and more undeniable that Donald Trump is uniquely unsuited for the Oval Office to anyone paying attention and being honest with themselves, the right-wing talking heads at Fox continue to trumpet him as an unparalleled success beset by the unfair liberal media. Somehow there is still a large swath of Americans out there willing to gobble up this nonsense, and it’s fraying our country at the seams.
Even so, there at least some conservatives willing to stand up and condemn Trump’s disastrous administration. Former Tea Party Republican Representative Joe Walsh, who is currently trying to primary Trump for the 2020 GOP primary, has become one of the president’s more prominent critics. During the 2016 campaign, he supported Trump’s candidacy but after seeing the damage he’s inflicted since inauguration day he’s changed his tune.
Over the weekend, Walsh appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources and slammed Fox News for their misleading commentary on Trump’s impeachment inquiry. He and host Brian Stelter discussed the “alternative reality” that people can find themselves in depending on which sources they consume their news from.
“This is an absolute shame, and I think you’ve got to call it out for what it is. The Americans who listen to Fox News and conservative talk radio are being lied to and manipulated every day when it comes to impeachment,” said Walsh to Stelter. “It’s not a surprise they were lied to and manipulated every day with the Russia investigation, really with all things Trump and it’s dangerous,” he added.
Walsh went on to reiterate his support for Trump being impeached. He pointed out that most Americans now realize that Trump did “something wrong” in Ukraine, but that people who get their news from Fox or from Walsh’s “former world” of conservative talk radio have “no clue” because they’re constantly told the president did nothing wrong. Instead, they’re being told to blame the “Deep State” and Hillary Clinton.
When asked how this situation can change, Walsh conceded that many conservative figures like Sean Hannity and Sebastian Gorka will not change because they have their “noses way too far up the president’s butt to change.” He revealed that radio hosts in the right-wing bubble are specifically told they are not allowed to criticize President Trump. While it’s unclear how we solve this epistemological crisis, it surely starts like this: with men like Walsh shedding their partisan loyalties to tell the truth.
Check out the clip here.
