(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . What the Fox Files show is that the Inmates really are running the Asylum [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-20 x Fox News was terrified that Newsmax was taking away their viewers who wanted them to repeat dangerous lies and conspiracy theories and reaffirm their false beliefs. So they decided to win them back by spreading dangerous lies and conspiracy theories. #FoxFiles pic.twitter.com/muqiKOO38b — MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) February 18, 2023 The fear by Fox that they were losing audience share to Newsmax was real. I’ve seen videos of several Trumpster who stated specifically that they didn’t trust Fox News anymore after they called Arizona for Biden. Their audience abandoning them was a genuine threat. This went all the way to the top. x From top to bottom, Fox knew the election lies they helped spread were insane. They did it anyway. #FoxFiles pic.twitter.com/4udGlnQriY — MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) February 18, 2023 These facts are now exposed, at least to us. We now have proof that Fox is little more than the Publicity Arm of the Republican Party. They are not a “News” organization. They are not unbiased. They are not telling their audience the truth. We’ve of course have already known this for some time. We’ve been aware for decades, but the audience for Fox, OAN and Newsmax don’t know this and won’t believe it when shown. Even Fox isn’t capable of making them believe the truth. But this isn't just a problem for Fox, it’s a problem for the entire GOP. Remember how Kevin McCarty initially criticized Trump for the attack on the Capitol? He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was happening. Notice how quickly he turned from that — to this. Kevin McCarthy at Mar-A-Lago He broke ranks for a moment. But then he could easily hear the rabid hordes howling that criticizing Trump was going too far. So he rushed down to Mar-A-Lago to apologize and kiss the ring. He clearly knew better, he knew that the attack was because of Trump, but he was left with an untenable choice. Tell the Truth and be excommunicated from the party or — play along. If he’d stuck to his guns, he would have suffered Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger’s fate. He would have been yanked from the field in mid-play. Sidelined. Some members of the GOP know that this is all a game of trying to appease the hordes, those people are trapped by their circumstances. They have to play the game or suffer the consequences. But some of them — like Greene, Boebert, Geatz, Biggs, Gosar and Jordan — are part of those hordes. This issue isn’t truly with these lawmakers — it’s with their voters. Those voters are holding them hostage. The problem is and has always been, how do we get those hordes to wake up and admit the truth? How do we get them to admit reality? Particularly when that is exactly what they don’t want to admit or accept. They LIKE being lied to. They want those lies. They revel in those lies. Giving them enemies to hate and blame, the Radical Left, Antifa, BLM, Lazy Angry Blacks, Gays, Asians, Immigrants, Latinos, Muslims, Jews, Women, the Coastal Elite, LGBTQ kids, teachers, groomers, the Deep State, and the Globalists. The list goes on and on and on. They have loads of convenient scapegoats to project their presumed trauma onto. Will these people suddenly wake up if Fox News, OAN and Newsmax are suddenly shut down and taken out of the game by the Dominion suit? Doubtful. Besides, the Dominion suit alone isn’t likely to completely take them out. Even if the edifice of Fox News falls from the financial weight of the suit — with multi-billions of extended damages — all of its hosts and exec could easily move on to some other outlet such as the Daily Mail. They could move on to Youtube like Alex Jones. They will be able to find a way to reach their audience. Bill O’Reilly is still in the broadcasting game after being cast out by Fox, plenty of these people will be able to find a soft cushy landing somewhere, or start their own ventures. The audience will still be there, and somebody will find a way to serve that audience what it wants. Then again, the revelations we’ve already seen in the Fox files are actually worse than just Defamation — it shows signs of criminal fraud. Fox was knowingly defrauding their audience with lies that they knew were false. That could be considered a crime just like an advertiser or product provider making false claims about what they’re selling. Fraud is a crime that many people equate with theft, but there is a distinction. There is also a distinction between criminal fraud and civil fraud. The basic difference between theft and fraud is that theft generally involves taking something through force or by stealth, where fraud revolves around a purposeful misrepresentation of fact, and the basic difference between criminal fraud and civil fraud lies in who is pursuing legal action in the case. A single act of fraud can be prosecuted as a criminal fraud by prosecutors, and also as a civil action by the party that was the victim of the misrepresentation. Whether criminal or civil, fraud generally has several legal elements, including the following: Misrepresentation of a material fact Knowledge on the part of the accused that they were misrepresenting the fact The misrepresentation was made purposefully, with the intent of fooling the victim The victim believed the misrepresentation and relied upon it The victim suffered damages as a result of the misrepresentation From what we can see in these emails, all of these factors apply. There are at least 150 Capitol police officers who were harmed. The VP and Speaker were nearly harmed by these lies. Even the rioters could claim harm because hundreds of them are in jail because of Trump, Fox, OAN and Newsmax’s lies. The New York AG or Jack Smith could easily pursue these charges against Murdoch and his staff, OAN and Newsmax. Hannity, Carlson and Ingraham could all be facing jail time for criminal fraud if a prosecutor decides to take up the case. It’s not just that they were innocently wrong, it’s not a matter of “free speech” that they were keeping the debate open on the matter open based on the claims of Trump. They were openly promoting the concept of voter fraud, and passing it off as a proven fact when they factually knew better. Would members of the Fox, OAN and Newsmax staff going to jail for their fraud be enough to shake their faithful awake? Hmm. More likely they would assume these are wrongful prosecutions by the Deep State DOJ and FBI. And we’re stuck in the same hole. Would it make a difference if Fox, OAN and Newsmax were all ordered by the judge to tell their audience the truth? Could a court order them to apologize and publically take back all their previous claims? Could it force them to publish the emails on their own website and reveal it on their network to their audience? I mean we are way beyond the Sullivan standard of “actual malice” here. Yes, I think they could. The question is: would that audience finally believe them, or would they just blow it off because Fox was ordered to make these statements because of a court? Maybe. I don’t know. But something, somehow, has to break this cycle of delusion and denial. Something has to change. The nation is buckling under the weight of unbridled Fascism which is coming from the fact that several generations of wingnuts have been tricked by lies they’ve been very deliberately fed. They’ve been very deliberately defrauded. They need to learn that, they need to know it. I’m not sure what it’s going to take, but something has to change things. 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