Care to see the sneering face of supercilious liberal condescension? Check out the video clip of John Fugelsang, a Sirius host who appeared on MSNBC this afternoon. He laid out a loony conspiracy theory according to which Fox News wanted to "give" the GOP nomination to Jeb, so that he in turn could lose to Hillary, and Fox could be the "hate Hillary network" for the next four years.
According to Fugelsang, the rise of Donald Trump has upset Fox's plans: "Roger Ailes has a real big problem: how are you going to keep your rubes in your own paddock when they found a new shepherd?" Of course when it comes to keeping people in the paddock, the news network with the biggest problem is MSNBC itself. Fugelsang appeared during the hour formerly occupied by Ed Schultz's failed show, which precedes the hour about to be vacated by Al Sharpton's failed show. But that irony was apparently lost on Fugelsang.
Note: If they can get past his contempt for their intelligence, conservatives should be cheered by Fugelsang's statement. He believes that Fox's devious plan to become the "hate Hillary network" is now "gone" given the rise of Trump. Sounds like poor John has conceded that Hillary is going to lose.
Note segundo: MSNBC had better ratings during the dark days of the Bush-Cheney regime, when Keith Olbermann could fulminate nightly against their incipient fascism. Given his logic, does Fugelsang figure that the MSNBC bosses are secretly conspiring to elect The Donald, so it can be the "hate Trump network?"
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: What is an interview between Sarah Palin and Donald Trump sound like?
JOHN FUGELSANG: Oh, that's going to be a summit, isn't it? Boy I love it when the right people find each other in this life. It's so hard. It's another way for Sarah Palin to stick it to John McCain for ever trusting her, to sit down with a man who smeared John McCain's six years of torture in a Vietnam POW camp.
But it should be of great alarm to Roger Ailes. I think that Roger Ailes and Fox News have had a really, really clear path: give Jeb the nomination, Hillary Clinton crushes him and we get to be the hate Hillary network for the next four years. They didn't want to be the defend Mitt Romney network. They do a lot at being the hate Obama network. So if they get Hillary Clinton in office, they're made. Now that whole plan is gone. And the very fact that Donald Trump is exposing the dark ugly underside of this party, the white nationalism which Donald Trump didn't create, he's just the logical conclusion of it. So now Roger Ailes has a real big problem. How are you going to keep your rubes in your own paddock when they found a new shepherd?
