‘Alarmingly irresponsible’: Fox News’ Jesse Watters gets clobbered online for calling Mueller probe a potential ‘coup’
Fox News host Jesse Watters has been blistered by critics over the last 24 hours for insinuating that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation could amount to a coup d’etat against a sitting president.
Daniel Politi at Slate.com said that on his Saturday night broadcast, Watters welcomed senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway to discuss the Mueller probe while displaying a chyron that read, “A COUP IN AMERICA?”
“Uh…that’s not what a coup means,” wrote De Elizabeth at Teen Vogue.
“Cable news banners don’t just appear out of thin air. Producers brainstorm, fact-check, proof-read them. Hosts are sometimes involved too. Yes, mistakes slip through occasionally. But this doesn’t look like a mistake,” wrote Brian Stelter of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” on Twitter.
Cable news banners don’t just appear out of thin air. Producers brainstorm, fact-check, proof-read them. Hosts are sometimes involved too. Yes, mistakes slip through occasionally. But this doesn’t look like a mistake… pic.twitter.com/nZkbRyKxUE
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 17, 2017
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“Coup?! I cover wars. Militaries. Actual coups. Where citizens violently rise up and kill each other for power over each other,” wrote Kevin Baron, editor of DefenseOne.com. “This is alarmingly irresponsible language, even for Fox. Inflammatory. Baseless. Dangerous.”
Coup?! I cover wars. Militaries. Actual coups. Where citizens violently rise up and kill each other for power over each other.
This is alarmingly irresponsible language, even for Fox. Inflammatory. Baseless. Dangerous. https://t.co/1tGrKZGfTR
ADVERTISEMENT— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) December 17, 2017
This is a lie. Robert Mueller is a lifetime Republican. The attacks on the Mueller investigation are unfounded. However, this is a common tactic amongst people who are guilty to claim that the prosecution is out to get them. What does Trump have to hide? #ProtectMueller
— #ResistanceIsPatriotic (@therealezway) December 18, 2017
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It's clear Fox News is hoping to spark violence if Trump is impeached: Fox News' Jesse Watters Suggests We May Have Anti-Trump 'Coup on Our Hands in America' https://t.co/GBn6KpppJa via @mediaite
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@Deanofcomedy) December 17, 2017
Even FOX's Howard Kurtz calls out ridiculous propaganda from FOX News Trump flack Jesse Watters suggesting an Anti-Trump "Coup on Our Hands in America". pic.twitter.com/tKFmzF5g4K
— Richard W. (@IceManNYR) December 17, 2017
Even Howard Kurtz. For real.
Stay alert. They're announcing something here. pic.twitter.com/YtPtdxw2ze
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) December 17, 2017
The best preparation for an actual coup (against the judiciary) is to claim that there has already been a coup (against the people).
ADVERTISEMENTThe scary is ratcheting up. https://t.co/RWFvx8PnJ1
— Yascha Mounk (@Yascha_Mounk) December 17, 2017
The more the White House interferes politically with this investigation, the more they prove why a Special Counsel was necessary in the first place. https://t.co/HUMOZkdt4m
ADVERTISEMENT— Brandt (@UrbanAchievr) December 17, 2017
In April, Watters was abruptly sent “on vacation” by Fox News after making what appeared to be a crude oral sex joke about President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
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Prosecutors want hearing on revoking Roger Stone’s bail after he posted right-wing propaganda despite gag order
Roger Stone may have violated his gag order with Instagram postings and federal prosecutors want a hearing for a judge to consider modifying the conditions of his release from jail pending trial.
"On or about June 18 and 19, 2019, the defendant posted to Instagram and Facebook, commenting about this case and inviting news organizations to cover the issue," prosecutors said in a filing the day after the most recent posting.
Stone is a longtime political advisor to Donald Trump.
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Prosecutors debunk right-wing conspiracy theory in new legal smackdown of Roger Stone
Federal prosecutors debunked a conspiracy theory pushed by the far-right in a new legal brief filed on Thursday.
Longtine Donald Trump political advisor Roger Stone had argued federal investigators relied upon a report from the cyber research firm Crowdstrike to conclude that Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee.
That contention, according to federal prosecutors, is "incorrect."
"While the prosecutors did not go into detail, they noted that the investigators gathered evidence of the Russians’ involvement independently, which led to the indictment last year of 12 Russian military officials in connection with the DNC hack," Politico reported.
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‘Call the mall cops!’ Roy Moore roasted after saying he’ll make ‘more personal contact with people’ in Senate run
Roy Moore, the far-right politician who infamously lost an Alabama Senate race in 2017 after allegations emerged about him molesting teenage girls, announced on Thursday that he was going to once again run for office in 2020.
While touting his potential rematch with Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), Moore was asked by a reporter what he will do differently this time around.
"I would like to make more personal contact with people," Moore responded.
Given that Moore's history of "personal contact" with underage women was what cost him the 2017 Senate race -- and even allegedly got him banned from a shopping mall that grew weary of his regular efforts to pick up teen girls -- Moore was quickly buried in ridicule on Twitter.
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