With no self-awareness about CNN’s obsession with the Trump-Russia storyline, CNN host Brian Stelter on Sunday denounced Fox News Channel for giving so much time to the political agenda revelations of those on special counsel Robert Mueller’s staff.
“This isn’t just an alternate reality. This is a reversal of reality,” he huffed. “They’re talking like propagandists. This sounds like propaganda and it sounds dangerous,” he intoned. “The conservative media choir is telling Trump,” Stelter complained, that “Mueller is out to get you, trying to reverse the outcome of the election. It doesn’t get any more dangerous than that.”
Stelter introducing his lead segment, after a clip of Kellyannne Conway, on FNC, saying “the fix was in against Donald Trump from the beginning and they were pro-Hillary,” on the December 17 Reliable Sources:
BRIAN STELTER: This is the feedback loop in action. I want you to see it over and over again. Fox, Trump, his aides, GOP lawmakers, all of them, they’re taking a legitimate issue, which is the discovery of a Mueller team member who expressed his hatred of Trump in text messages, and then they’re blowing it up, trying to discredit the entire probe.
Now, remember, that team member was removed from the probe when the text messages were found. But every day, it’s something new, some reason to claim that special counsel is illegitimate. So, as you watch the coverage, try to notice how this works. Notice how right wing commentators and GOP lawmakers are echoing each other and pay close attention to the banners on the bottom of Fox’s screen.
Last night – I can’t believe this -- Fox is asking if the FBI has engaged in a coup. This morning, the banner said the investigators are in the hot seat.
This isn’t just an alternate reality. This is a reversal of reality. Obviously, it’s Trump world that is on the hot seat. Four Trump associates have been charged with crimes. Two of the four have pled guilty. Mueller is investigating a massive fire. And everyone can see and smell the smoke.
But this, instead, is what the president’s hearing.JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS HOST: The only thing that remains is whether we have the fortitude to not just fire these people immediately, but to take them out in cuffs.
STELTER: That is Jeanine Pirro, one of Trump’s informal advisers, not just calling for firings but arrests.
Look, I don't say this lightly, but these FOTs, these friends of Trumps, they are -- they’re talking like propagandists. This sounds like propaganda and it sounds dangerous. Pirro is demanding a cleansing of the FBI. Sean Hannity is calling Mueller the head of the snake. Other Fox hosts are calling the FBI corrupt and out of control. Rush Limbaugh is describing it as a coup and guests on these programs are comparing the FBI to the KGB.
The conservative media choir is telling Trump that Mueller is out to get you, trying to reverse the outcome of the election. It doesn’t get any more dangerous than that.
>> This video clipped to illustrate Paul Bedard's December 18 Mainstream Media Scream for the Washington Examiner <<