Fed Up Fox News Contributor Quits Suddenly; Goes On Wild Rant About The Network

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There’s little doubt that Fox News has lost any shred of credibility they ever might have had, with Fox & Friends feeding the president’s chosen lies to their viewers in the morning while he tweets every one of their talking points from bed.

2018-03-20-17_06_51-Donald-J.-Trump-on-Twitter_-_.@seanhannity-on-@foxandfriends-now-Great-8_18-A. Fed Up Fox News Contributor Quits Suddenly; Goes On Wild Rant About The Network Donald Trump Featured Russia Top Stories

Now, one Fox News contributor has had enough. Retired Lieutenant Ralph Peters, who served as a military intelligent expert with a focus on Russia, announced via email to his colleagues that he had declined to renew his contract as a contributor, saying he was “ashamed” of the “propaganda machine” Fox News has become under President Trump. Buzzfeed obtained a copy of the email, which reads, in part:

‘On March 1st, I informed Fox that I would not renew my contract…

‘I feel compelled to explain why I have to leave. Four decades ago, I took an oath as a newly commissioned officer. I swore to “support and defend the Constitution,” and that oath did not expire when I took off my uniform. Today, I feel that Fox News is assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers. Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed.

‘In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts–who have never served our country in any capacity–dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller–all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of “deep-state” machinations– I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.

Specifically, Peters cited the network’s willingness to lie about Russian election interference and their attacks on the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as well as other institutions Trump has targeted in his efforts to discredit the investigation into the alleged collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russian government operatives.

‘When prime-time hosts–who have never served our country in any capacity–dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller–all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of “deep-state” machinations– I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.’

‘As a Russia analyst for many years, it also has appalled me that hosts who made their reputations as super-patriots and who, justifiably, savaged President Obama for his duplicitous folly with Putin, now advance Putin’s agenda by making light of Russian penetration of our elections and the Trump campaign. Despite increasingly pathetic denials, it turns out that the “nothing-burger” has been covered with Russian dressing all along.’

2018-03-20-17_14_38-Donald-J.-Trump-on-Twitter_-_Wow-watch-Comey-lie-under-oath-to-Senator-G-when-a Fed Up Fox News Contributor Quits Suddenly; Goes On Wild Rant About The Network Donald Trump Featured Russia Top Stories

Perhaps most surprisingly, Peters asserted that believes in the accuracy  of the Steele dossier, which the president, his administration, and Fox News has consistently referred to as the “discredited Steele dossier” and the “fake Steele dossier.” The dossier, in fact, has never been discredited, although there are pieces that have not yet been confirmed.

‘As an intelligence professional, I can tell you that the Steele dossier rings true–that’s how the Russians do things.. The result is that we have an American president who is terrified of his counterpart in Moscow.’

2018-03-20-17_06_24-Donald-J.-Trump-on-Twitter_-_The-Mueller-probe-should-never-have-been-started-in Fed Up Fox News Contributor Quits Suddenly; Goes On Wild Rant About The Network Donald Trump Featured Russia Top Stories

It’s a shame that more Fox News hosts and contributors are so unwilling to acknowledge or feel ashamed of the lies they’re forced to tell and refuse to continue pushing Trump’s narrative, although Peters is not the first to do so.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons