Poor Man’s Chris Wallace Tries Out Fox News Sunday!

Between a hyper-partisan Republican Supreme Court actually
overturningRoe v. Wadeand more mass shootings to remind us that the little gun control law we passed is definitely not enough, the last few weeks have really sucked. So, this week we are going to take a much-needed break to make fun of the RNC’s favorite propaganda channel premiere Sunday show: “Fox News Sunday.”

Ever since Chris Wallace
left his perch on “Fox News Sunday” for greener pastures (R.I.P. CNN+), the show has had a rotating cast of conservative Fox News C-listers to host/anchor it. This is perfectly encapsulated by this week’s host & long time Fox News anchor Mike Emanuel as he interviewed Pete Buttigieg, Dick Durbin, and John Barrasso.

Transportation Secretary Stomps a Pothole in GOP Aggrievement

Secretary Pete Buttigieg came to talk about various issues, but Mike Emanuel had one main concern: the honor of Brett
Kavanaugh’s steak dinner. (We covered it more here.)

But it was the initial premise of the question that really had us going.

EMANUEL: Let’s go to a red hot issue in Washington. Your husband tweeted after Justice Brett Kavanaugh left a Washington restaurant due to protesters. The tweet reads: ‘It sounds like he just wanted some privacy to make his own dining decisions.’ Is that appropriate, sir?

First, bravo on Chasten Buttigieg for the appropriate level of snark befitting this “crisis.” Second, are we really doing the “answer for your spouse’s actions” on Fox News? Because if so, we have a few thoughts on
Ginny Thomas and January 6th.

Emanuel for his part tried again with this premise and asked an even dumber question.

EMANUEL: But as a high-profile public figure, sir, are you comfortable with protesters protesting when you and your husband go to dinner at a restaurant?

Are you serious? Ah yes, the luxurious privilege that must have been afforded Pete and Chasten Buttigieg as an openly gay, married couple from Mike Pence’s Indiana. They’ve had it too easy for too long, Emanuel!

Buttigieg was much more diplomatic than we are by answering this idiocy without calling Emanuel a dumbfuck.

Dick Durbin Was Not Having ‘Chicago’ Slander

Following Buttigieg, Emanuel had Democratic Senate majority whip Dick Durbin. In an interview centering the recently passed gun reforms and the Fourth of July tragedy in Highland Park, Emanuel tried to use Fox News’s “Chicago” dog whistle.

EMANUEL: To be fair, though, if it were just about gun laws, wouldn’t Chicago with some of the toughest gun laws in the country be a safer city?

Durbin was not having this bullshit.

DURBIN: Let me tell you something, quickly, Highland Park is not Chicago. It’s a suburb of Chicago, a small town, a great small town. It’s the first place you would have chosen to go to a Fourth of July parade with your son or grandson or granddaughter.

It’s a wonderful community and to say, oh, Chicago is so dangerous. Yes, it’s dangerous, but so is St. Louis and so with towns Jackson, Mississippi, and others have a murder rate as well.

It’s a fact that we proliferated so many guns […] you just don’t have any idea how many guns are out there and they’re so easily accessible. The gun industry has made a lot of money out of this, but America is not safer because of it.

Durbin was right. As many have pointed out, Highland Park was/is considered so safe that it was the basis for many locations in John Hughes movies.

But conservative’s obsession with Chicago also ignores that many of the
most violent cities are in GOP controlled states with less strict gun laws. It also ignores that a large number of Illinois’s guns are imported from neighboring states like Indiana.

Everything Is Inflation

Emanuel had
habitual asshole and Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso.

While Barrasso tried to lie confidently about the US being “energy independent” under Trump (we weren’t) and throw his state’s sole congressperson, Liz Cheney, under the bus, his façade cracked a bit when he dodged Emanuel’s question about GOP Senate candidates to bring up inflation.

EMANUEL: Senator, let’s talk midterms. Republicans believe they have a golden opportunity to win back the majority. But if candidates like Herschel Walker, Eric Greitens, and Dr. Oz are not winning over the voters, is there a possibility the GOP could blow this opportunity?

BARRASSO: Well, I’m very optimistic about the future election coming up in November.
The number one issue is inflation. And in all the issues that people care about, they look to Republicans as the solution. […]

Who knew
Russian roulette players, sex criminals, and quack doctors weren’t great GOP candidates?

If Democrats can keep job growth going and inflation/gas prices lowering, Republicans are going to have to find a new strategy. Considering the righteous anger their Supreme Court has evoked, we can make a difference in midterms & beyond IF we work together and fight to ensure the GOP “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

Have a week.

Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons.

Michael watches the shows so you don’t have to! Want to help us pay Michael? We love that about you.