Early Wednesday morning, someone (and law enforcement does have a suspect) burned down the “All-American Christmas Tree” at Fox News headquarters in New York City. This led the conservative news network’s hosts to completely melt down all day, and it’s safe to say that this will provide them with much more reason to claim a “War on Christmas” for years to come. In the earliest of morning hours, the Fox and Friends gang was reeling over this evidence of the “crime surge,” and that trend has continued into a second day.
On Thursday morning, Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade were all aghast at the apparent lenient treatment of the alleged arsonist, Craig Tomanaha, who (via Mediaite) was released without having to post bail, which Earhardt summed up as emblematic of “these new liberal reform laws.” From there, Doocy noted that this tree cost half a million dollars (which feels pretty darn secular, as opposed to devoutly religious), and he was so upset that these new policies classify arson as “only a felony,” meaning that a suspect can’t be held unless “the suspect tries to harm a person or commit a hate crime.” And he doesn’t understand why “lighting a Christmas tree on fire is not a hate crime.”
In response, Kilmeade followed up with this sentiment: “Who says it’s not a hate crime against us, against Fox News?” Kilmeade and Doocy don’t appear to point toward any evidence the crime was motivated by religion, race, national origin, or gender, as is required to qualify an act as a hate crime.
Brian Kilmeade on the burning of the Fox Christmas tree: "Who says it's not a hate crime against us, against Fox News?" pic.twitter.com/DFm9qN6eXJ
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) December 9, 2021
The trio wasn’t alone, of course. In addition to yesterday’s wall-to-wall coverage on Fox News, Tucker Carlson picked up the ball and ran with it on Wednesday night. And he wasn’t subtle. “Torching Christmas trees is an attack on Christianity,” Tucker argued. “Obviously. It’s an assault on religious observance. By current standards, destroying someone’s religious symbol would be called a ‘hate crime.'”
The War on Christmas continues. Tonight, Tucker is outraged Merrick Garland isn’t prosecuting people who burn Christmas trees for a federal hate crime. pic.twitter.com/PYraUVszqa
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 9, 2021
And with that, the holiday season is in full swing at Fox News. Oh, and the replacement tree will see a full-on ceremony on Thursday afternoon’s episode of The Five, so watch out for that one.
(Via Mediaite)