"... The record would seem to indicate that Fox executives and anchors had no ideological motivation, because said record suggests that they knew Donald Trump was lying about the 2020 election. But their choice to go along with the Big Lie was partly an ideological choice too, and for this reason: They understood the stakes of going along with the lie. They knew very well that if Trump got his way, and states tried to put in substitute slates of electors or Mike Pence refused to certify the electoral votes on January 6, 2021, that would have been the end of more than 240 consecutive years of democratic rule in the U.S. The end! And they went along. It was driven by ratings in the first instance—which is hardly an excuse, by the way—but it was also revealing of the ideology of the place, where democracy takes a distant second to power..." -- Michael Tomasky in The New Republic on the lies and lying liars of Fox "News" and the right- wing media in general.
____________________
“... 'We need experienced and proven leadership back in the White House,'” Representative Michael Waltz said in a statement endorsing Trump on Thursday. Waltz, one of several Florida members of Congress to back Trump this week over Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, specifically cited Trump’s ability to restore American 'credibility.'
"Lies alone perhaps cannot ruin a democracy, but lies plus impunity are another thing entirely. Where is the word that can fully capture the cynicism of endorsing a man who was arguably the biggest liar in the history of the American Presidency because of the credibility he would bring to the office?..." -- Susan B. Glasser in The New Yorker on the damage to our democracy because "Fox News Doesn't Do Apologies."
There's a broad and deep evil in this country that's being sustained by these lies and impunity. The longer we wait to deal with it as the existential threat to democracy that it is, the more destructive the reckoning.
