Ingraham’s effort to marginalize Hogg does not mean that she is afraid to debate him. Ingraham is a lawyer, and even the best lawyers — no matter how strong their arguments — would rather see cases dismissed because opponents lack standing than try to win on the merits.
Then again, we are talking about cable news, not a courtroom. Yet Ingraham — author of a book called “Shut Up and Sing” — often attacks opponents’ standing instead of their substance.
When NBA stars LeBron James and Kevin Durant suggested last month that President Trump is racist, Ingraham did not make the case that the label is unfair; she told the players to “shut up and dribble.”
.. Ingraham has taken the same approach to late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel, a critic of Republican health-care policies.
“Leave it to the pros, Jimmy,” she said in December.
‘Shut up and dribble’: Fox News host extends Trump’s efforts to silence political athletes
Oh, and LeBron and Kevin: You’re great players, but no one voted for you … So keep the political commentary to yourself or, as someone once said, shut up and dribble.”
The “shut up and dribble” command isn’t that different from the “shut up and sing” directive many conservatives lob at liberals in the entertainment industry who are critical of policies on the right.
And the “stay out of politics” sentiment is usually a viewpoint only reserved for their political opponents. After all, the president often praises athletes that support his view of America, such as New England Patriot Tom Brady, who once kept a “Make America Great Again” hat in his locker.
.. Ingraham, who was once floated as a possible White House press secretary to replace Sean Spicer
.. The idea that the “court” of political punditry belongs to a host on the president’s preferred cable network is bound to get pushback.
What makes Ingraham an expert — a host on a cable network with primarily white hosts and conservative guests — on issues related to people of color in urban areas?
.. America is incredibly divided politically. And most Americans point to Trump, who called NFL players protesting racism “sons of bitches,” as one of the main agitators. But that probably isn’t going to change by telling people to sit down and be quiet, particularly when they are voicing concerns on issues many Americans are concerned with themselves.
By Ingraham telling Americans who don’t agree with her views to “shut up and dribble,” it further isolates certain groups and leads them to add the host — and her network — to the list of influential voices who do not understand the concerns of those who do not look like them.
Ingraham: Memo Shows Comey FBI, Obama DOJ & Clinton Campaign ‘Colluded’ Against Trump
She explained that the FBI and Justice Department knew the dossier was unverified political opposition research, but they did not tell the FISA court when obtaining a warrant for surveillance on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, according to the memo.
.. “The predicate for the entire Trump-Russia collusion canard, the prevailing evidence advanced to surveil Page, which would lead to the creation of the Mueller investigation and all the madness that followed, was built on the foundation of the fake Steele dossier, paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC,” Ingraham said.
“There was collusion after all, you bet. The collusion was between the Comey FBI, the Obama Justice Department and the Hillary Clinton campaign.”
Fox News v. Robert Mueller
Perhaps the most inflammatory rhetoric has come from Ms. Pirro, the host of “Justice With Judge Jeanine” and a “presidential favorite,” according to The Times. “There is a cleansing needed in our F.B.I. and Department of Justice,” Ms. Pirro said Saturday, in her most unhinged rant yet. “It needs to be cleansed of individuals who should not just be fired but who need to be taken out in handcuffs.”
.. Topping her list of outlaws was, of course, Mr. Mueller, who she said “can’t come up with one piece of evidence!”
.. Ms. Pirro, a former New York prosecutor and judge, didn’t allege any actual crimes, just that Mr. Mueller and his people are guilty of “attempting to destroy Trump.”
.. After Mr. Trump’s victory last year, she interviewed to be his deputy attorney general, a job that would have empowered her to fire Mr. Mueller on her own.
.. they should ask not whether any F.B.I. investigator has ever held an opinion about politics, but rather why Mr. Trump chose as his closest advisers people with a tendency to talk to Russian officials and then fail to tell the truth, again and again, about the nature of those communications. As The Times’s Bret Stephens wrote:“Fire? Maybe not. But we are dying of smoke inhalation.”
.. When the propagandists say, “Get rid of Mueller,” it’s not the truth they’re trying to protect; it’s Mr. Trump himself.
.. roughly three-quarters of Republicans still refuse to accept that Russia interfered in the 2016 election
.. remember that a majority of the same people continue to believe that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya.