Trump praises Fox News' anti-Muslim bigots after terror attack kills 50

Just a few days after an anti-Muslim terror attack that left at least 50 innocent people were murdered, Trump called for Fox News to reinstate an Islamophobic host and praised one who called for murdering Muslims.

“Bring back @JudgeJeanine Pirro,” Trump wrote on Sunday, referring to Jeanine Pirro, who hosts a weekend program on the network.

“The Radical Left Democrats, working closely with their beloved partner, the Fake News Media, is using every trick in the book to SILENCE a majority of our Country,” he ranted. Trump called on Fox to “stay strong and fight back with vigor.”

He also said the network should “Keep fighting for Tucker [Carlson], and fight hard for @JudgeJeanine.”

The attack on the mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, happened on Friday, in what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described as one of the nation’s “darkest days.” Trump refused to acknowledge that the attacks were terrorism in his official statements and remarks, nor did he note that the attack targeted Muslims.

A few hours after the attack, Trump echoed the shooter’s rhetoric that immigration is an “invasion” of outsiders.

Fox News quietly moved Pirro’s Saturday program from its lineup after she stoked worldwide condemnation with a bigoted attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). The previous week Pirro said that because Omar “wears a hijab” it was possibly “indicative of her adherence to sharia law which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution.”

Her comments were the latest salvo in a long line of bigoted commentary, which is the pro-Trump network’s stock in trade.

Pirro has referred to an “Islamic cancer” and said Muslims have ” conquered us through immigration” and accused adherents of the religion of engaging in a “reverse crusade.” She implored President Barack Obama to “stop defending Islam, start protecting Americans.” Pirro also said, “we’ve got to start having a conversation about surveillance in mosques.”

Trump’s support of Pirro’s fellow Fox News host Tucker Carlson comes after comments of his supporting child rape were reported. On one recording of an interview he did with a “shock jock,” Carlson said he wanted a presidential candidate who would vow to kill Muslims and went on a rant about how “white men” deserved credit for “creating civilization.”

Trump is a racist and Islamophobe who likes to hear his bigoted opinions repeated ad nauseum. In Fox News, he has had a quasi-official propaganda arm spreading the type of bile and hate he enjoys.

The criticism of Pirro and Carlson rankles Trump because it reflects an American rejection of his hateful ideals.

Trump wants his propagandists operating at full force no matter the blood that is shed in the name of their common cause.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.