Ex-contributor slams Fox News as a 'cult' that’s leading an 'assault on our constitutional order'

Former Fox News contributor Ralph Peters, who resigned from the network recently over what he saw as its total fealty to President Donald Trump, has written an editorial in the Washington Post warning that the network seems to have become a propaganda outlet aimed at tearing down American institutions.

In particular, Peters singled out Fox hosts who attacked officials at the Department of Justice, FBI and CIA who have been investigating potential links between Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government.

"Today’s Fox prime-time lineup preaches paranoia, attacking processes and institutions vital to our republic and challenging the rule of law," he writes. "As Fox’s assault on our constitutional order intensified, spearheaded by its after-dinner demagogues, I had no choice but to leave."

Peters claims that he was frequently not booked on segments to talk about Russian interference in the 2016 election because he regularly stood up for intelligence officials who had suspicions about the president's possible ties to the Kremlin.

"Trump’s behavior patterns and evident weaknesses (financial entanglements, lack of self-control and sense of sexual entitlement) would have made him an ideal blackmail target — and the Russian security apparatus plays a long game," Peters says. "As indictments piled up, though, I could not even discuss the mechanics of how the Russians work on either Fox News or Fox Business."

At the end, Peters finds himself greatly disturbed by the unquestioning authoritarianism that has completely taken over Fox News.

"With my Soviet-studies background, the cult of Trump unnerves me," he says. "For our society's health, no one, not even a president, can be above criticism — or the law."

Fox News has pushed back against Peters claims. "There is no truth to the notion that Ralph Peters was ‘blocked’ from appearing on the network to talk about the major headlines, including discussing Russia, North Korea and even gun control recently. In fact, he appeared across both networks multiple times in just the past three weeks," the network said in a statement.

Read the whole editorial here.