Eric Swalwell knows Fox News is popular. And for Swalwell, thatâs a problem.
The Democratic California congressman, best known for his suspected fling with a suspected Chinese spy, suggested to MSNBC over the weekend that the best solution might be banning U.S. servicemen and women from even watching the biggest network that challenges the Democratic Party on a regular basis.
And in the process, he showed more about himself â and his party â than he intended.
The topic arose Saturday when Swalwell was interviewed by MSNBCâs Katie Phang on âThe Katie Phang Show.â (If youâve never heard of it, youâre not the only one.)
The two were discussing the ongoing defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News when Phang (not to be confused with Fang Fang, Swalwellâs alleged CCP paramour) brought up the federal government potentially taking action against the network.
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âIâm worried a lot about Americans, and the disinformation and misinformation that was pumped out of Fox News,â Phang began, about the 1:25 mark.
âHas there been any discussions in Congress about maybe congressional oversight, regulations, maybe the FCC getting involved? I know we all respect the First Amendment, congressman, but shouldnât there be some type of gatekeeping that happens, so that this doesnât happen again?â
The question was bad enough coming from Phang, a lawyer who is supposed to actually understand that the Constitution means what it says. (âWe all respect the First Amendment, but âŠâ is another way of saying, âWe donât respect the First Amendment, so âŠâ)
Swalwellâs answer was worse. He cited a group called VoteVets, which bills itself on Twitter as an organization of veterans and their families working to elect politicians who fight for âprogressive values.â
In a Twitter post on March 6, the group demanded that Fox hosts be âremoved from all TVs on Military installations NOW.â
âI think about our troops,â Swalwell said. âAnd Iâve been all over the world. And Iâve visited our troops in some of the harshest places, and nothing makes them feel more like home than their access, you know, to American television programming. And a popular channel is Fox News.
âAnd, again, I donât want to get into the business of telling troops what they can and cannot watch, but if you have a news station that a court is going to rule is, in its evening hour, you know, perpetuating dis- and misinformation, I donât know if I disagree with VoteVets who is saying we need to take a look at how this is being broadcast to our troops.
âAnd I hope thatâs an incentive for Fox News to clean up its evening hour, you know, starting with Tucker Carlson and going on later in the evening with Laura Ingraham. âŠ
âI donât think weâre without complete recourse.â
And that is about as Orwellian an approach to American freedoms as can be imagined in a single question-and-answer interaction.
First, Phang claimed, âWe all respect the First Amendment, but âŠâ and asked how Congress can violate the First Amendment for Fox.
Swalwell responded that he didnât âwant to get into the business of telling troops what they can and cannot watch,â then proceeded to say openly that he wants to limit what American troops can and cannot watch.
Itâs no secret why Democrats like Swalwell despise Fox. Itâs a wildly popular cable network that regularly dwarfs its liberal rivals â CNN and MSNBC â in nightly ratings.
Programs like Carlsonâs show Americans views they literally will not see elsewhere â as in the case of the footage Carlson aired last week of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion that gave a vastly different perspective of events than the one that had been force-fed the country by former Speaker Nancy Pelosiâs Jan. 6 committee.
And whatever the result of the Dominion defamation lawsuit â to call it constitutionally shaky would be putting it mildly â it wonât change the fact that what frightens progressives like Swalwell is not that what Fox reports is truly âdis- or mis- or mal-â or whatever kind of negative prefix they want to affix to âinformation.â
What frightens them is that Fox stands like a bulwark against the monopoly of lies progressives have been foisting on the American public through the major networks and their cable handmaidens.
And thatâs what Swalwell showed Americans in this interview.
Swalwell doesnât want his countryâs Military to watch Fox?
He no doubt would prefer subjecting those who wear the uniform of the United States to the steady, poisonous drip of MSNBC and CNN, maligning patriotic Americans who care about their rights.
Fox is popular with Americans because it fosters American values. Itâs popular with service members because it salutes â on a regular basis â the sacrifices they are making and projects an image of a nation that is worth sacrificing for.
But for Swalwell, his fellow Democrats, Katie Phang (and the lovely Fang Fang herself, no doubt) thatâs a problem.
Which side would you rather be on?
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.