Fox Business host Stuart Varney admitted he knew virtually nothing about the circumstances surrounding a gunman in a movie theater in Germany today. But while speculating that it was a terrorism attack, Varney “asked” guest Monica Crowley, “That is a plus for Donald Trump, isn't it?”
Transcript, lightly edited, via Media Matters:
VARNEY: And again, I'm not going to speculate, but we have seen other incidents like this, both in the United States and in Europe, whether a shooter conducts a mass shooting. We certainly saw that in Paris. We saw that in Orlando. We saw that in San Bernardino. Is this another, somewhat similar, terror-related case? I don't know that. I don't know who the shooter is: his name, nationality, or wherever he came from. I don't know that, but the incident is very similar. Therefore, there could be political repercussions to the shooting that you're seeing on the left-hand side of the screen.
Monica, I don't want -- I'm not going to stretch this, but a terror, if it's a terror incident or an incident of this kind, that's for Trump. That is a plus for Donald Trump, isn't it?
CROWLEY: Yes, absolutely. Because he -- Donald Trump throughout this campaign has projected strength, leadership, and decisiveness regardless of whether you agree with him or not. He has also emphasized the need for strong national security policy. This is part of what his take-down of Hillary Clinton was about yesterday.
Last week, Fox’s Brit Hume complained about Donald Trump’s decision to ban The Washington Post over its coverage of his “secret Muslim” dog whistle in the wake of the Orlando shooting – not because it was intemperate, un-presidential or an assault on the First Amendment, but because it ruined Trump's ability to exploit the tragedy for political gain:
HUME: This is an issue, this attack, that probably, at least in the near term, will help him. So the question arises, why would you step on it by getting into a big public fracas …when such tactics, pulling credentials and the like, have never done any good?
Fox loves to complain about the left politicizing tragedy. But those fingers pointing at us come from very dirty hands.
As for the gunman in Germany? According to the BBC, he was the only one shot – and that was by the police. The only injuries appear to be from tear gas. It’s not even clear whether he had a real gun.
But don’t worry. I’m sure Varney and company will find plenty of other excuses to promote Trump in other news stories.
Watch this excuse to promote him above, from the June 23 Varney & Co., via Media Matters.
Update: This was not the only example of Fox making the German standoff about Trump.
Crossposted at Newshounds.us
