Fox News uses Waukesha tragedy to promote right-wing talking points

On Sunday night, Darrell Brooks, 39, drove a Ford Escape SUV into a busy Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing at least five people and injuring more than 40 others.

Using this tragedy as their springboard, Fox News on Monday hosted former British politician Nigel Farage to discuss a so-called threat of terrorism at mass gatherings.

Law enforcement sources in Waukesha have told media outlets that there is no known terrorist connection to the event and that Brooks may have been fleeing another scene.

However, despite these facts, “Fox & Friends” host Will Cain introduced Farage by alleging that the incident is an “alarming reminder” of 2016 terrorist attacks in Berlin, Germany, and Nice, France, noting “these kinds of mass gatherings become vulnerable targets for those who wish to do ill.”

Farage cited a recent incident at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital that involved a homemade bomb exploding in a taxi parked outside the building, but that had no clear similarities to the details of the crash at the Waukesha parade.

Instead, Farage connected the bombing to “what’s happening at your southern border,” describing the suspect in the bombing as someone who had “illegally come into the U.K., applied for refugee status, been refused, and yet not been deported.”

While the incident in Waukesha has no known connection to terrorism, or immigration, Farage’s comments are in line with Fox’s history of lifting right-wing talking points on immigration. The network has for months falsely accused President Joe Biden of having an “open” border after he reversed some of former President Donald Trump’s harsh anti-immigrant policies.

Farage rose to prominence in the United Kingdom through his leadership of the U.K. Independence Party and the Brexit Party. Both parties called for restrictions on immigration to the United Kingdom.

As part of his political activism, Farage frequently engaged in bigoted attacks. In 2015, he claimed that fears of a “fifth column” composed of Muslim immigrants who want to “kill us” was fueling anti-immigrant sentiment. Farage argued that Muslim migrants want to “change who we are and what we are.” He also called for anti-discrimination legislation in the country to be abolished.

That same year, Farage expressed his support for the “basic principle” of politician Enoch Powell’s 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech, which argued immigrants were causing violence against “native” British citizens.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.