Fox News host Laura Ingraham is drawing new scrutiny after yet another embarrassing, overtly racist segment. Ingraham’s show caps off the prime time Fox News nightly lineup, appearing after both Tucker Carlson Tonight, which has a long history of promoting white nationalist talking points, specifically around immigration, something he has in common with Ingraham; and Hannity, featuring Donald Trump’s chief propagandist, Sean Hannity. Of course, Hannity is so embedded with Trump that in 2016, he loaned out his private jet to fly Newt Gingrich to meet with Trump for a VP audition, and he reportedly speaks to Donald Trump on the phone every single night, in addition to his highly inappropriate appearances at Trump rallies, including stepping up to the podium, at the behest of Trump himself, to greet the MAGA crowds.
But I digress. Back to Ingraham, who is once again embarrassing the network and likely angering the few advertisers she has left in a segment in which she defended the so-called voices of conservatism who she claims have been silenced because they’ve been banned from various social media sites. After years of looking the other way, Facebook finally banned Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, and Paul Nehlen in March after determining that they had violated its community standards, specifically its rules forbidding "dangerous individuals and organizations."
Alex Jones. Finally banned from Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter after years of spreading conspiracy theories and outright lies. Many of these conspiracies and lies provoked his followers to harass people such as the parents of Seth Rich, the DNC staffer who was murdered in Washington, D.C., in what police said was a robbery. But what finally got him banned from YouTube was promoting a conspiracy theory that the Christchurch mass shooting, in which 51 people were murdered at a suburban mosque, was a “false flag” operation meant to discredit anti-Muslim conservatives like himself.
Milo Yiannopoulos. Banned after publicly bombarding comedian Leslie Jones in a string of racist attacks and targeted harassment on Twitter. Since being banned on multiple social media platforms, Yiannopoulos has used whatever online presence he has left to tell his followers to get ready for a violent civil war.
Laura Loomer. Banned from Twitter after targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar in a string of hateful attacks. She’s since turned up at Nancy Pelosi’s home in California, where she trespassed; handcuffed herself to one of the doors to Twitter’s offices; and carried out numerous other failed, embarrassing stunts.
Candace Owens. She flamed out after making public remarks in defense of Adolf Hitler. Seriously.
Michelle Malkin. Still up and running on social media, despite several suspensions for violating community standards. In other words, not silenced.
Dan Scavino. Donald Trump’s former caddy, now his director of social media. Clearly not banned. In fact, he and Trump have flourished on social media, despite their hateful content and despite violations of community standards, such as prohibitions against targeted harassment.
James Woods. Washed-up actor turned conservative big mouth. He was suspended from Twitter, not banned, in early May after the Mueller report was released, and he used the hashtag #HangThemAll in reference to the investigators and others involved in the Russia investigation.
Paul Nehlen. Last, but not least, Nehlen is an avowed white supremacist who featured a “pro-white” platform in a failed run for Paul Ryan’s congressional seat in Wisconsin. I’m not going to share the actual racist image that got him banned, but it targeted Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
Fox News has struggled to attract new advertisers to Ingraham’s show after losing a significant number of them in the last year, largely due to her attacks on Parkland shooting survivors and after she compared child immigration detention centers, where six children have died, to “summer camps.” Sadly, her viewership has actually increased, even as she loses sponsors over her racist and hateful content.
The reality is that social media platforms can ban these people for their hateful, racist, harassing content, but until Fox News is sold to a new owner or its current executives move on, and this type of content is driven off the air, Ingraham and others like her still have the largest hate platform available. As it is now, Fox News is essentially acting as a for-profit Republican super PAC, completely aligned with the Republican Party.
It’s the reason Elizabeth Warren is refusing to do a town hall on Fox News. During an appearance on ABC’s The View, Meghan McCain chastised Warren for that refusal, and Warren calmly explained to the entitled McCain that she would not help Fox News bolster its ratings with the huge audience Warren would bring, thereby enriching the very people at Fox News who create and promote hateful content. It’s worth a minute to listen to Warren explain her stance.
Oh, Meghan McCain. It’s always about you, isn’t it? Somehow, even Warren not going on Fox News is twisted to be all about McCain, who claims she isn’t racist and she used to work for Fox News and therefore Fox News can’t be racist. Never mind that she’s wrong on all accounts. And Warren is right: She’s not depriving Fox News viewers of access to her views. Fox News can show up and cover every single of one of the dozens of town halls Elizabeth Warren is doing nationwide each month. Warren is not going to give Fox News a solid hour of ratings gold and help increase its profitability. It. Makes. Sense.
The bottom line is this: This country will never again be truly united as long as Fox News operates the way it has for the last 20 years, fomenting and promoting division, hatred, and racism. It’s been profitable for the network thus far; but when will Americans say enough is enough and demand that Fox News get out of the business of hate and into the business of actual news? How many advertisers need to flee? All of them. If you are interested in who is still advertising on Ingraham’s show, Media Matters has provided a helpful list of those that bought space on last night’s show. You know what to do.
Update: Ingraham has taken to Twitter to complain that others are promoting racist and anti-Semitic content by sharing screenshots of the very people she was defending and elevating last night.