Never ones to miss an opportunity to exploit a death in order to tie it to brown people, Republicans are intent on using the murder of Mollie Tibbetts by an undocumented immigrant to push their anti-immigrant policies. They’ve been heavily assisted in this effort by none other than the now state-run “news” outlet, Fox News.
Here's a look at some of what we're talking about today… pic.twitter.com/Mxnks6KLHB
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) August 24, 2018
The GOP certainly picked an advantageous time to find and rant about a murder committed by an immigrant who, according to statements made by his attorney, may not have been undocumented.
AP News reports that:
‘[T]he stunning news that a Mexican man living in the U.S. illegally has allegedly confessed to kidnapping and murdering her thrust the case into the middle of the … immigration debate and midterm elections.’
Axios says they received a call from former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, a lifelong Republican, to assure that the story would be covered. He admitted in no uncertain terms that this tragic death should be exploited on behalf of Republicans ahead of the midterms.
‘If Mollie Tibbetts is a household name by October, Democrats will be in deep trouble. If we can be blocked by Manafort-Cohen, etc., then GOP could lose [the House] badly.’
How politics took over the killing of Mollie Tibbetts https://t.co/BZFWUK3f9j pic.twitter.com/SFDn5h4qEc
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 24, 2018
Just as the family of Seth Rich called out conspiracy theorists on Fox News and on Infowars politicizing the death of their loved one, Tibbett’s family has made outraged public statements calling for the cruel nonsense to stop. Calling out Fox News contributor Candace Owens after her statements about the murder, one family member, Samantha Lucas, issued a blistering rebuke of the coverage.
‘We are not so f*cking small-minded that we generalize a whole population based on some bad individuals. Now stop being a fucking snake and using my cousins death as propaganda.Take her name out of your mouth.’
Mollie Tibbett's family would very much like everyone to stop using her as a political pawn to push an anti-immigration agenda. https://t.co/xd6ug6tjSG
— Lisa Tozzi (@lisatozzi) August 23, 2018
Popular Fox News host Sean Hannity was forced to apologize for his theories on the death of DNC staffer Seth Rich, who his network tied to some plan by Hillary Clinton and the DNC to silence him because he had damaging information on Democrats that he was willing to give the FBI. His family later sued Fox News, who finally retracted the story after a full week of airing it.
‘That story, published on the Fox News website on May 16, 2017, implied that the murder of Mr. Rich on the streets of Washington occurred in retaliation for his having leaked the emails. No evidence to support that theory emerged during an investigation by the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, and Mr. Rich’s family said they believed that Mr. Rich, then 27, was killed during an attempted robbery.’
What’s on your menu?
Today, I am blocking anyone who smears Seth Rich. Rather than learn from the mistakes of others who dredged up lies, some trollers simply wish to change the noise coming from #Manafort and #Cohen.
Bye
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) August 23, 2018
For all the fake concern and grief Fox News has shown for the family of Tibbett’s, they’ve disrespected their wishes and continued their non-stop politicization without shame.
Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license
