From the NYT by Tobin Smith. Mr. Smith is the author of “Foxocracy: Inside the Network’s Playbook of Tribal Warfare.”. As a former talk-show host on the channel, I can explain the art and purpose behind attacking Colonel Vindman.
In anticipation of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s recent public testimony in the House’s impeachment inquiry, the Fox News host Laura Ingraham and a guest concocted an insulting fantasy on her show: the idea that Colonel Vindman might be a Ukrainian spy.
It may have shocked a lot of Americans that Fox News televangelists and establishment conservatives like John Yoo are spinning the “narrative” of the courageous Colonel Vindman — a man who put his country’s interests ahead of his own — into one that suggests, as an immigrant, he wasn’t loyal to the United States. But as a former Fox News opinion talk-show host for 14 years, it didn’t shock me.