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Fox News hosts rail against Republicans who support impeaching Trump over January 6 insurrection

And even a “news”-side anchor speculates that it’s really about Rep. Liz Cheney getting campaign donations

Written by Eric Kleefeld

Published 01/13/21 3:10 PM EST

A small number of Republicans in Congress are starting to support impeaching President Donald Trump for a historic second time — following the events surrounding the January 6 insurrection, and the assault on Congress in an attempt to prevent the peaceful transition to a new president. And for the hosts on Fox News, their behavior is now presenting a crisis for the Republican Party.

House Republican Party Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) has announced her support for impeaching Trump — which has led to calls for her removal from her party leadership role. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), currently the Senate majority leader for one more week, is reportedly supportive in private of the House Democrats’ impeachment efforts and may even be leaning toward voting for Trump’s conviction in the Senate — but not before Trump leaves office. (One of his key motives, reportedly, is to help rid the Republican Party of Trump’s influence by disqualifying the outgoing president from ever holding office again.)

In response, Fox News hosts are now denouncing Cheney, McConnell, and any other Republicans who might support Trump’s impeachment, warning that they will destroy the Republican Party.
 

Prime-time host Tucker Carlson said that Republicans impeaching Trump look like they are “reading off of someone else’s script.” On January 12, Carlson said, “A lot of people who voted for him are mad at him, for sure, but impeaching him is a separate question. If you want to make certain that a lot of your voters think that you're reading off of someone else's script — if you want to make Trump last even longer in the minds of the public — you would impeach him, wouldn't you? I mean, wouldn't it be better to just ignore it?”

Video file

Citation From the January 12, 2021, edition of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight

Laura Ingraham: “Is this the establishment finally just kicking the conservative populists, or trying to kick them out of the party?” On January 12, Ingraham also rhetorically asked, “Is it beyond just the speech and they want to go back to the old — the war party, the pro-open borders, pro-China trade party, is that it?” She later declared: “A lot of the supporters of Donald Trump who were not storming the Capitol and who just liked his policies, you know what they feel? They feel like they're being impeached. That's what they feel.”

Video file

Citation From the January 12, 2021, edition of Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle

Ingraham then delivered a monologue exhorting viewers to not “forget the establishment GOP figures who pursue impeachment a week before the president leaves office.” Ingraham also said, “Now they're returning to the Bush doctrine with a preemptive strike to prevent Trump from running for president again in 2024.

Video file

Citation From the January 12, 2021, edition of Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle

Ingraham also had an extended discussion with Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway and right-wing provocateur Dinesh D’Souza, who panned these Republican figures. “The Cheneys do seem to love regime change without thinking through an exit strategy, and this seems to be no exception,” Hemingway quipped. “I don't understand why Republicans would follow what Nancy Pelosi and the media want them to do.”

D’Souza, a Trump pardon recipient, stated: “The job of the left is to drive a wedge between the MAGA movement and the traditional Republican Party. Now, foolishly Mitch McConnell and the traditional Republican Party are making this easy.”

Ingraham then added a message she’d heard from a Republican donor: “If Mitch McConnell goes through with this, it's over. The Republican Party ceases to exist.”

Video file

Citation From the January 12, 2021, edition of Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle

Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade said impeachment would only divide Trump’s voters, and he urged McConnell not to support it. On January 13, Kilmeade said, “Why not use this as an opportunity to define your party, Mitch McConnell as well as unite your party, Mitch McConnell, rather than divide them?”

Video file

Citation From the January 13, 2021, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

Fox “news”-side anchor Bret Baier speculated that Rep. Cheney might also have an incentive to seek campaign donations.

Video file

Citation From the January 13, 2021, edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom

BRET BAIER (FOX NEWS ANCHOR): You know, Liz Cheney, there was no upside politically for her to go out on this limb. She did it in her statement on principle — but by doing that it kind of opens the door. There is obviously in everything in Washington a political calculation. And when the calculation about being primaried by President Trump — or Trump supporters — is less than the calculation of losing funding and any support you have for future runs, or your political future is greater, then the entire decision changes. So it’s not only principle, but there’s politics behind all of this as well.

Meanwhile, Fox News radio host Guy Benson is confirming reports that a number of House Republicans are only voting against impeachment because they are literally afraid of being physically attacked — or even murdered — by Trump’s supporters.

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In This Article

  • January 6 Insurrection

    jan 6
  • Laura Ingraham

    Laura-Ingraham-MMFA-Tag.png
  • Tucker Carlson

    Tucker-Carlson-MMFA-Tag.png
  • Brian Kilmeade

    Brian-Kilmeade-MMFA-Tag.png
  • Bret Baier

    Bret Baier

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