Fox News has really outdone themselves this time.
While the rest of the nation waits for a soothing voice to rise above the maddening cacophony and boy and grandpa sex videosgive us direction in this moment of national crisis, two of Fox News' highest profile on-air talents continued to spread lies and misinformation on Monday about the separation of migrant families at the U.S-Mexico border.
SEE ALSO: How to stop feeling helpless when you hear about immigrant children taken from their parentsFox host Laura Ingraham wants you to know that despite the heartbreaking images and audio you may experience that, hey, these detention camps for migrant children aren't so bad.
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In fact, they're just like summer camp!
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Yes, because when I listen to the horrifying audio take inside one detention center, I am taken back to those fond summer days of my childhood spent making popsicle stick log cabins, playing kickball, and screaming for my parents whose arms I was ripped from against our will.
It's a willful ignorance that would be painful to watch if it weren't such a blatant attempt at propaganda. That San Diego Union-Tribunestory Ingraham references is taken a bit out of context as it has plenty more to say about the conditions.
On closer inspection, details about the California-licensed child care facility run by Southwest Key Programs reflect the situation of the children it serves.
It’s surrounded by fencing that is backed by privacy netting, and a sign at the gate warns visitors that it’s under video surveillance 24 hours per day. If someone opens the front door of the facility without first swiping a badge, an alarm blares through the hallway, warning of a potential escape.
That sounds a whole hell of a lot more like a juvenile detention center than any summer camp I've ever seen. It's the pick-and-choose nature of this presentation by Ingraham that makes this kind of "reporting" by a pundit so dangerous; it's inaccurate and spreads misinformation about what's really going on.
Later, Ingraham responded to real time comments to her initial statement, saying:
Apparently there are a lot of people very upset because we referred to some of the detention facilities tonight as essentially like summer camps. The San Diego Union Tribunetoday described the facilities as essentially like what you would expect at a boarding school. So I will stick to there are some of them like boarding schools. And I suggest that a lot of the folks who are worried about that spend more time in Central America. I have. And we should make adoption easier for American couples who want to adopt these kids who are true candidates for adoption because our policies don’t allow that. So let’s put our hearts out there for the kids in the right way. Take care of them the right way. Open your hearts and your homes to them.
The statement simply doubles-down on her first comments and then veers off on to the topic of adoption which has little, if anything, to do with the separation of families at the border, a clumsy sleight of hand to obfuscate the real issue here that accomplishes little and makes even less sense.
Not to be outdone: talking Zima bottle Tucker Carlson also went on a rant that wasn't so much unhinged as it was so inane and stupid that a hundred monkeys on a hundred typewriters couldn't have replicated his terrible argument: that America's "ruling class" are more concerned about families being separated at the border than they are about American families.
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Tucker clarifies that by "the ruling class" he really means "The Left" (as if there was any doubt) and lambasts them for being more interested in "yelling and preening" than finding solutions. But the last time I checked -- *looks at notes* -- yes, that's right, Republicans are in possession of both chambers of Congress, the White House, and a conservative edge on the Supreme Court.
Never does he blame the Republican party for failing to use their place as the party in power to enact those "solutions," like funding more immigration courts or building facilities in which migrant families can be housed together while they await hearings. Nor does he note that the separation of migrant families is not law but, rather, a tactic the Trump administration has willingly employed.
There's plenty of hypocrisy in Tucker's comments about "the ruling class," as Splinter notes, but fairness is clearly not the objective here.
In fact, looking at both Ingraham's and Tucker's comments, it's hard to discern what the objective is, other than to parrot the White House and sidestep the painful truths of this very real crisis.
UPDATE: June 19, 2018, 12:57 p.m. EDT Updated to include additional comments by Ingraham