You want to learn how to convince people you stand for democratic values, free speech, and individualism? You tell them that in order to do so you have to silence the opinions of the people you deem problematic. At least this is how it appears Rep. Eric Swalwell seems to be selling it.
The California Democrat during an interview with MSNBC stated definitively that he supported the idea that Fox News should be banned from being viewed completely inside of U.S. military bases, but that networks such as CNN and MSNBC were safe and acceptable for our troops to consume.
“Nothing makes [our troops] feel more like home than their access to American television programming, and a popular channel is Fox News,” says Democrat Eric Swalwell.
“We need to take a look at how [Fox News] is being broadcast to our troops.” pic.twitter.com/tzJeTfyEoU
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 11, 2023
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The State Deems You Fake News
MSNBC’s Katie Phang discussed with Swalwell the ongoing Dominion voting system lawsuit against the conservative network, asking him whether or not he supported Congress getting involved.
“Have there been any discussions in Congress about congressional oversight, regulations, and the FCC getting involved?” Asked Phang. “I know we all respect the First Amendment, Congressman, but should there be some type of gatekeeping that happens so that this doesn’t happen again?”
Don’t you notice how when people start a sentence like ‘We support the First Amendment/free speech, but…’ they almost always follow up with some of the most totalitarian solutions for handling speech they don’t like? Anyone? Anyone?
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Well, Eric Swalwell, champion of democracy, had the perfect solution— banning Fox News from military bases, primarily since the network is a popular choice for those in uniform.
Swalwell replied, “Nothing makes them feel more like home than their access to American television programming. I don’t want to get in the business of telling troops what they can and cannon watch. But, if you have a news station that a court is going to rule is, in its evening hour, you know, perpetuating dis- and misinformation, I don’t know if I disagree with VoteVets, who was saying that we need to take a look at, you know, how this is being broadcast to our troops.”
Swalwell was referencing a recent call to action by the liberal activist group VoteVets who have called for a complete ban of Fox News on military bases.
FOX hosts’ election lies and disinformation splits the ranks, hurts unit cohesion, and weakens America’s national defense. They must be removed from all TVs on military installations NOW.
Share if you agree! pic.twitter.com/1a6WiYB0hV
— VoteVets (@votevets) March 6, 2023
RELATED: CNN Mocked After Suffering Worst Ratings in Nearly a Decade
Silencing the Opposition for Democracy!
Swalwell isn’t the only liberal in the mix to support government action in order to censor and silence Fox News to some degree. In fact, it might as well be said that at least for MSNBC, it seems to be part and partial of their network’s dogma.
Case in point— former White House press secretary turned MSNBC contributor Jen Psaki, who on Saturday during a panel at the SXSW conference outright said she totally understands why Democrats want to target the conservative news giant so badly.
“Fox News still has an enormous viewership. I don’t know if that’s going to change. Their business model is not getting Democrats on their air and I understand and completely relate to Democrats saying we should ban it, we shouldn’t appear on it,” she continued. “They don’t care. I’m not sure they care. Why would they care? So the question is not just what do we call them? Sure, we should decide that, but also what are we going to do about the fact they still have an enormous viewership consuming a huge swath of the country, including independents and Democrats who still watch?”
It sounds more like envy that they outperform MSNBC more than anything else, and the numbers back that up. So what should MSNBC do? Should they compete? Do better? Appear more ‘fair and balanced’ than their mortal enemy?
Nope, Psaki thinks they should have their press credentials revoked.
“There are a lot of propagandists in the briefing room, not just certain people from Fox,” she added. “There is OAN, Newsmax. There are people who don’t even belong to news organizations. There are people who are representing foreign governments who go to the State Department briefing and the Defense Department briefing. So, you’d have to ban about a third of the briefing room. And the thing is that is the drawback that I’m not sure people are talking about enough is that gives them a lot of fodder to say loo, they’ve banned us.”
YES, if that were the case they could absolutely say ‘they’ve banned us’, but I guess bravery and championing democracy can only happen if we use the government to silence our opposition in some way, shape, or form.
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