Fox News politics editor fears if Trump comments on Roseanne he'll be associating himself with conspiracy theories
Fact check: Trump is a conspiracy theorist
Written by Grace Bennett
Published
Several hours after conspiracy theorist and pro-Trump comedian Roseanne Barr tweeted a racist attack on former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, ABC announced its decision to cancel Barr’s TV show, Roseanne. The show has received an outpouring of support from conservatives since its March premiere, and, despite Barr’s documented history of extremism, President Donald Trump has reportedly praised her.
During an appearance on Fox’s The Daily Briefing, Fox politics editor Chris Stirewalt argued that Trump should resist defending Roseanne after this latest scandal. Stirewalt noted that Roseanne “occupies the murkiest part of the fever swamps of online conspiracy theorists” and “trafficked in the same sort of kookism and grossness” as people like Michael Flynn Jr., the son of Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser. Both Flynn Jr. and Roseanne helped spread the pizzagate conspiracy theory.
Similar to these two high-profile supporters, the president also has a long history of promoting conspiracy theories. His son, Donald Trump Jr., has also demonstrated a willingness to embrace false and extreme theories, as evidenced by his retweet of another Barr message, which claimed that philanthropist George Soros was a Nazi collaborator (a right-wing conspiracy theory that has been roundly debunked).
After noting the similarity between Barr’s actions and those of Flynn Jr., Stirewalt suggested that if Trump does come to Barr’s defense, then “he is implicating himself in the rest of that rottenness.” From the May 29 edition of Fox News’ The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino:
CHRIS STIREWALT (FOX NEWS POLITICS EDITOR): The amount of stupidity that is coursing through our body politic these days is pretty astonishing. But it was hard to miss with Roseanne. Here is a person who has made her career out of being awful, right? The famous national anthem, with the spitting during the national anthem. She is a comedic version of a shock jock. Her whole employ here was about saying and doing outrageous things to get attention. When I saw conservatives and I saw Republicans gravitating to her because she was saying things that they liked about Donald Trump and they could claim her as one of their own, I thought what a bad risk. This is a person who -- this is like the animals in the wild. If certain stripe patterns let you know that this is a venomous snake, stay away. And the fact that the president couldn't stay away and the fact that a lot of his followers couldn't stay away tells you the intensity of tribalism.
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I would say it would be smart for [Trump] to ignore her completely. This is an “L” for his tribe. But the danger here, if you defend her, then you go right into -- because remember, Roseanne occupies the murkiest part of the fever swamps of online conspiracy theorists, about pizzagate and the slain --
DANA PERINO (HOST): That’s how this whole thing started. It was a right-wing, sort of alt-right whatever conspiracy theorist website, which -- I don't even know what those look like. I don't visit them.
STIREWALT: It's gross.
PERINO: But it got her into a huge amount of trouble, Chris.
STIREWALT: Right. And they trafficked -- she trafficked in the same sort of kookism and grossness that people like the son of the former NSA -- you know who I mean. But his son and others.
PERINO: Jr. Flynn Jr.
STIREWALT: Right. Flynn Jr. and others trafficked in this terrible, terrible stuff that they put out there. That’s where she hung out. If the president moves to defend her against this action by ABC, then he is implicating himself in the rest of that rottenness.