Fox personalities, guests smear Democrats as disloyal after House vote

Fox is still attacking Democrats over their objections to Trump’s reckless use of force against Iran

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published

Fox News and Fox Business personalities and guests spent Friday morning smearing Democrats as disloyal traitors after the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution restricting President Donald Trump’s future use of force against Iran.

Fox News figures had already questioned Democrats’ loyalty before the resolution passed. Immediately after the U.S. conducted a deadly strike against Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, several Fox figures defended the administration’s failure to notify Congress prior to the assassination. On January 6, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs said that Democrats “suggest they are more aligned with Iranian interests than those of the United States.” Fox contributor Jason Chaffetz said that Democrats were “almost rooting harder for the Iranian interests than they are American interests.” And Fox contributor Dan Bongino said Democrats’ criticism of Trump’s decision to assassinate Soleimani “makes you seriously ask the question: What team are you on?”

Fox personalities and guests continued the smear campaign against Democrats’ loyalties on Friday:

Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade: “We seem to have one party taking Iran’s side” after Soleimani’s assassination.

From the January 10, 2020, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Regarding the shootdown of this jetliner by Iran, Pete Buttigieg, who is now running for president on the Democratic side, he tweeted this out: “Innocent civilians are now dead because they were caught in the middle of an unnecessary and unwanted military tit for tat. My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all 176 souls lost aboard this flight.” Is that what that was? Was that a military tit for tat?

REP. BRIAN MAST (R-FL): It wasn't unnecessary, that's for sure. You know, we spoke about it, many of us, on the House floor yesterday about each service member that was killed at the hands of Soleimani and how they justified his removal from this Earth. So it was not unjustified, and this is a common theme from the left. These American apologists that like to go out there and say that because America did something, this resulted in some other country going out there and taking some unnecessary action, some ill-fated action. And it's not the Americans' fault. It's the fault of those that went out there and took those actions themselves.

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): And what do you think about? I mean, for someone who serves, and is still serving, only now just in a suit instead of camouflage, are you astounded that we’re debating? We seem to have one party taking Iran's side for, after the death of a terrorist and the head of a terror organization that the previous administration labeled a terror organization?

MAST: I couldn't be more amazed by it.

Fox contributor Charles Hurt: “You get the sense that they’re almost rooting for failure” against Iran.

From the January 10, 2020, edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co.

STUART VARNEY (HOST): Charles Hurt with is us. Charles, can you give us more on how you feel -- there you are -- how you feel the Democrats are reacting to the taking out of Soleimani and the downing of the plane in Tehran? The Democrat response, your analysis, please.

CHARLES HURT (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): My goodness, Stuart. The taking out of Soleimani should have been a unifying moment, I think was a unifying moment for most Americans. But to listen to the debate on the House floor yesterday and to listen to the top concerns of Nancy Pelosi and Democrats in Congress, their only concern is President Trump. They're concerned that President Trump -- I don't know what it is. At first, they began predicting World War III, and then they fell back to this position that, well, it's going to lead to World War III. And you get the sense that they’re almost rooting for failure, and of course failure in this situation would be catastrophic, would have catastrophic consequences. The truth of the matter is what the Iranians did in taking down that airliner is the fault of Iranians and Iranians alone. It has nothing to do with -- in no way does that blame go back to the president, but I think that that's something that actually sort of confuses these Democrats. It's very troubling to look across the aisle and to see that kind of behavior coming from Democrats.

Fox Business guest Qanta Ahmed: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) “has no allegiance to the United States that I can detect.”

From the January 10, 2020, edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co.

STUART VARNEY (HOST): Ilhan Omar, Democrat, she said she opposes allowing the president to use military force in this situation, but she went further than that. She opposes what she called "crippling sanctions that have starved the innocent people of Iran." Now, your response to that?

DR. QANTA AHMED: Oh, she argues that while she calls for sanctions on Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, constantly and very brutal and vicious sanctions on Israel, and she doesn't extend that feeling to Israelis or my fellow Jewish human beings. But it is true that there are risks to sanctions, however, the United States has always excluded food, medicine and humanitarian aid, and it will do that again at 11 a.m. Also, the goal is to squeeze and weaken and I hope, myself, one day see the end of the Islamist regime. We already knew that Iranian people were protesting and being shot to death by the Iranian revolutionary guard right before these events. They were not even allowed to come out in public and mourn their dead the way the country has mourned Qassem Soleimani's assassination. Ilhan Omar is an empty vessel. She has no allegiance to the United States that I can detect. She speaks like an Islamist mouthpiece. Her views are completely in line with the views of Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other sympathizers of which Iran would also be in alliance as a Shiite Islamist.

VARNEY: To be clear, you are a Muslim yourself.

AHMED: I am a Muslim and I observe Islam. I've also lived in the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia. I'm in the region constantly. I was supposed to be in Iraq on Friday but obviously I'm not going to be able to go, so -- 

VARNEY: It is political Islam, is the Islam that's political, that's who you oppose.

AHMED: Islamism is the political, totalitarian imposter of Islam, the religion proper.

Fox Business guest Lara Trump: The Democrats “support terrorists, apparently, because so many of them think that killing Soleimani was a terrible idea.”

From the January 10, 2020, edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co.

STUART VARNEY (HOST): Now listen to this.

[BEGIN VIDEO]

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Radical Democrats are now the party of high taxes, high crime, open borders, late-term abortion, socialism, and blatant corruption. The Republican Party is the party of the American worker, the American family, and the party of the American dream. We still have that American dream.

[END VIDEO]

VARNEY: Yes, we do and I'm living it. That was the president right there, obviously taking a shot at his political opponents. And look who is here this Friday morning: Lara Trump herself. How you doing?

LARA TRUMP (TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER): Hello, great to be with you.

VARNEY: Looks like you've got the base secured.

TRUMP: Well, we felt pretty good about that, but it was a classic Donald Trump speech, and you know what? The Democrats not only are all of those things, they also support terrorists, apparently, because so many of them think that killing Soleimani was a terrible idea. It's crazy to hear, but that's where they are. They have really gotten so far off the rails, Stuart. I think it will be an easy choice for people in 2020.

Fox Business guest Rob Smith: “I do not blame” the Trump administration for failing to notify congressional Democrats about the Soleimani assassination, “because I do believe that they would have leaked it.”

From the January 10, 2020, edition of Fox Business' Mornings with Maria Bartiromo

ROB SMITH (TURNING POINT USA SPOKESPERSON): I think that we're in a moment here where – look, American security, and operations, and things of this nature, these are things that should be bipartisan. And we're in a point right now where it seems like everything is about political games, especially when it comes from the left. And I do not blame them at all for keeping information about this attack away from the left, because I do believe that they would have leaked it.