Former President Donald Trump made no bones about his pledge to end the free ride European defenders enjoy on the backs of U.S. taxpayers. So it is surprising when even Fox News jumps on the bandwagon of debunked mainstream media narratives slamming the former president.
It was Fox chief political analyst Brit Hume who leveled the latest fabrication against Trump. This time it was on Monday’s “Special Report” and not the normal left-wing outlets.
Liberal mouthpieces decried Trump’s taking European leaders to task at a weekend rally in South Carolina. And they trotted out the old tropes of the 45th president being in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s back pocket that have been thoroughly debunked.
While Hume stopped short of calling Trump a Putin pawn, he indicated the Republican frontrunner’s words essentially extended a welcome for the Russian president to attack Europe.
Anchor Bret Baier asked Hume to comment on a Wall Street Journal editorial accusing Trump of being cozy with authoritarians. The analyst initially dismissed the weekend statements as “typical Trump loose talk” and surmised that the former president wanted to send a signal to NATO.
The American people want NATO Members to pay their obligations – and they love how Trump is demanding it.
They haven’t had a President who put them first like this.
They absolutely love it.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 13, 2024
Hume explained that these nations “haven’t paid their full freight to which they are supposedly committed and have said they would pay and they’re not doing it.”
Which is true and exactly the point Trump made in South Carolina.
However, Hume did not stop there. “But loose talk about possibly not backing up our NATO allies in the event of an attack from an enemy, particularly including Russia, is not helpful.”
The commentator noted that the Ukraine war strengthened NATO’s ties. He then repeated his assertion that Trump is not wrong in observing that alliance members fall far short of paying “their full freight.”
It is disappointing that Hume fell in with the liberal narrative over Trump’s words in South Carolina. But the left is intent on bringing the former president down, and if that means recycling old falsehoods, so be it.
The media — of which Fox News is a definite member — is also determined to prop up the flailing campaign of Nikki Haley. She joined a chorus of criticism led by such critics as Hillary Clinton and Liz Cheney.
Only, even a cursory glance at what Trump actually said destroys their claims.
