'Not going down that road': Fox host shuts down guest as soon as he says 'John Kelly'

24 Oct 2024, 19:55 by https://www.facebook.com/17108852506 · AlterNet

Image via Creative Commons.
David Badash
October 24, 2024Media

Fox News host and anchor Harris Faulkner quickly shut down a Democratic guest as soon as he brought up the name of Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, who this week declared the ex-president meets the “definition a ‘fascist.'”

General Kelly is far from alone.

Last week, former Trump Chairman of the Join Chiefs, General Mark Milley, said he believes Donald Trump is “fascist to the core,” and “the most dangerous person to this country.”

And on Wednesday, former Trump Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, The Washington Post reported, agreed with General Kelly that Trump meets the definition of a fascist.

Esper “said in a CNN interview that he was reluctant to use the same label that Kelly used in a New York Times interview published Tuesday. But Esper then noted that Kelly had looked up the definition of a fascist in the interview — and Esper urged ‘everybody’ to do the same.”

“Ask yourself, does he fall into those categories?” Esper asked. “And it’s hard to say that he doesn’t when you kind of look at those terms. He certainly has those inclinations, and I think it’s something we should be wary about.”

In addition to declaring the ex-president meets the definition of a fascist, General Kelly shared more disturbing details about his time with Trump.

“Donald Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff is warning that the Republican presidential nominee meets the definition of a fascist and that while in office, Trump suggested that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ‘did some good things,’” The Associated Press reported Wednesday. “The comments from John Kelly, the retired Marine general who worked for Trump in the White House from 2017 to 2019, came in interviews with both The New York Times and The Atlantic. They build on a growing series of warnings from former top Trump officials as the election enters its final weeks.”

Trump allegedly was very specific in his praise of Hitler and his regime.

“In his interview with The Atlantic, Kelly recalled that when Trump raised the idea of needing ‘German generals,’ Kelly would ask if he meant ‘Bismarck’s generals,’ referring to Otto von Bismarck, the former chancellor of the German Reich who oversaw the unification of Germany. ‘Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals,’ Kelly recalled asking Trump. To which the former president responded, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’”

The AP also reported, “Kelly added that Trump often fumed at any attempt to constrain his power, and that ‘he would love to be’ a dictator,” and told The Times: “He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government.”

Thursday afternoon, Fox’s Harris Faulkner stopped her guest from sharing those allegations on-air.

“It’s very difficult for them. They hear all this negative, both sides, and they’re tuning it out, so how do you break through?” a Democratic guest told Faulkner. “What I think is telling is that you have someone like President Barack Obama going and stumping for his candidate where on Donald Trump’s side, you don’t see George W. Bush, you don’t see Michael Pence or leading Republicans doing that, and I think that’s a glaring thing that will come evident.”

“His former chief of staff, John Kelly, coming out —” he said before Harris interjected.

“Alright,” she declared, before her guest continued: “with these accusations —”

“You know what,” Faulkner said, talking over her guest. “I’m not going to go down that road.”

“She used the backdrop of the Naval Observatory,” Faulkner said, “to bring up some some items that were years old and without much time left, I would love for us to go into it…”

Rather than allowing her guests to continue on that topic, she called for their last quick thoughts.

Faulkner closed by asking, “I just want to know, where’s the joy? Because he’s dancing and she’s no longer joyful. Find the joy.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

— (@)