According to one Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, those who mourn for the days of civilized political discussion need look no further than Fox News for its loss.
"No, we can’t just discuss things like reasonable adults, and Fox News is the reason," reads the headline of a Thursday Washington Post column written by the newspaper's in-house cartoonist Tom Toles.
"Many Americans are still somewhat unaware of how unfair and unbalanced this spigot of misinformation has become," he wrote. "After all, what sane person would want to spend their time watching this unceasing river of drool?"
Touting Media Matters' recent supercut of Fox News talking heads attacking the Justice Department, Toles derided the "ruthless propaganda" spewed by Donald Trump's favorite channel as "jaw-droppingly beyond irrational."
"This is a rusty razor being violently drawn back and forth across the throat of American discourse," he mused. "No, there is no way to have a normal discussion with these people."
"There is no possibility of having a conversation with these people," Toles continued. "Their efforts are transparently about spreading hysteria, intimidation and the short-circuiting of the American justice system. For the purpose of protecting Trump, at any cost."
"When the American conversation has come to this, we are in a very bad place," he wrote. "This is no longer about discussion, or the examination of ideas. It is nothing but ruthless propaganda."
The right-wing network, Toles wrote, often takes crimes Republicans are guilty of "will immediately turn it around and accuse the other side of, and with a breathtaking vehemence."
"Do you enjoy playing 'I know you are but what am I?' Forever?" he asked.
