Fox News rejects President Biden’s call for unity

tucker carlson unity

President Joe Biden called for “uniting our nation” and ending “this uncivil war that pits red against blue” during Wednesday’s inauguration, while warning about the destructive potential of “lies told for power and for profit.” As if to demonstrate his point, Fox News’ propagandists responded with a wave of grievance-mongering designed to keep their audiences angry, afraid, and tuned in to the network for the next four years.

Notably, the network’s hosts have stressed to their audiences that when Biden and others call for defeating white supremacy and domestic terrorism in light of the deadly January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, they are talking about viewers like them.

Fox shed viewers after then-President Donald Trump lashed out at the network following the election, and it has fallen out of first place in the cable news ratings for the first time in decades. Its executives have responded by amping up the influence of the network’s right-wing demagogues while cutting loose some senior members of its “news” division.

Chris Wallace, one of the few remaining network staffers with an apparent interest in keeping viewers tethered to reality, praised Biden’s speech as “the best inaugural address I ever heard” shortly after the president finished.

But within hours, network contributors were warning that Biden’s repudiation of racism during the speech was actually an attack on everyone who didn’t vote for him.

And later that afternoon, the real Fox lineup got rolling. The Five host Greg Gutfeld, who is reportedly up for a promotion to his own weekday program, concluded a screed by mocking Wallace by name for his praise of Biden.

Gutfeld’s outburst presaged the four-hour onslaught from the network’s extended prime-time lineup (unlike the mainstream networks, Fox skipped the inaugural concert, including Vice President Kamala Harris’ speech.)

Lowlights included Tucker Carlson’s rant about Biden’s criticism of white supremacists.

While Hannity set the tone for what his coverage of the Biden administration will look like.

And the next morning, the Fox & Friends gang picked up where they left off, claiming that everything from Biden’s executive orders to the media’s Trump coverage to the second impeachment of Trump constitute the real disunity.

It’s hard to get on board with a call for unity when your paycheck depends upon the opposite.