Posted on 30 October 2020
During an anti-Fox News tantrum at the end of her show on Friday, MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle was particularly outraged that the media outlet would dare to cover the Biden family corruption scandal and interview former Hunter Biden associate Tony Bobulinski. She also whined that the competing cable channel got phenomenal ratings for the Tuesday sit-down.
“Please pay attention to this, call your mom if you need to....this week, in the final days before the election, this is what the millions of Americans who tuned into Fox News saw,” Ruhle breathlessly warned at the top of the segment. After nitpicking Fox hosts for saying things she didn’t like, Ruhle decried: “And then there was Tucker Carlson, who decided in the week before the election to focus on unverified claims about Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.”
As footage ran on screen – without sound – of Carlson interviewing Bobulinski Tuesday night, Ruhle wailed: “This interview you see with Tony Bobulinski, Hunter’s former business associate, who alleges that Joe Biden was involved in a business venture with a Chinese oil company, drew an audience of more than 7.5 million people. The show’s biggest ratings outside of the presidential debates.”
After noting that “Tucker has complained that the media isn’t talking about his interview,” she attempted to dismiss the Bobulinski allegations: “The Wall Street Journal reported that the proposed venture never received any funding or completed any deals....And when they reviewed corporate records, they found no role for Joe Biden.”
Trusting anonymous sources claiming the deal didn’t happen versus someone going on the record saying that it did is a curious journalistic standard. Also, why would the Bidens even entertain the possibility of such an business deal in the first place? Finding no “corporate records” backing the shady dealings wouldn’t exactly be that surprising if something corrupt was going on.
Ruhle made some news by claiming: “NBC News has reached out to Bobulinski when he first made these allegations, but he didn’t respond.” Is that why the network has censored the story on from its broadcasts?
The MSNBC anchor continued to denounce the Biden scandal coverage: “But Fox News is not just reporting these claims, their hosts are using it to sow doubt in the election that is happening right this minute.” A clip followed of Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt accurately pointing out:
According to Google Trends data, guess what has been trending over the last few days? “Can I change my vote,” and “Hunter Biden.” So it appears maybe people who voted for Biden, because of Hunter, his son, they want to change their votes.
Ruhle then wildly overstated what Earhardt actually said: “Almost 80 million Americans have already cast their vote in this election, and there’s no evidence that millions want to change their vote over this.”
Finally, Ruhle was shocked that Fox host Greg Gutfeld would even joke about Republicans seeking to impeach Joe Biden over the growing scandal: “And to add insult to injury, Fox’s Gregg Gutfeld used this so-called story to casually float the idea of a constitutional crisis before we even know the election’s outcome.” Gutfeld was shown quipping: “Why don’t the Republicans start a preemptive impeachment on Joe Biden in case he wins? They could actually start it tomorrow.”
The hypocrisy of Ruhle on that point is truly astounding. In late 2016, the media – especially MSNBC – repeatedly pushed the idea of Donald Trump being impeached before he even took office.
Ruhle wrapped her tirade by lecturing:
We are now four days away from the election, and the truth is more important than ever. The truth is that we are in the middle of a pandemic. The truth is that millions of Americans are out of work. The truth is that we have to listen to science. And in these final days, instead of debating crowd size or unverified claims or conspiracy theories, we should be talking about policy, values and ideas.
The only “values” the leftist media believe in are protecting Democrats from criticism at all costs.
Ruhle’s bitter ranting against her competitors was brought to viewers by Dell and the U.S. Postal Service. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a full transcript of the October 30 segment:
9:52 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Please pay attention to this, call your mom if you need to. The truth matters, but only if you hear it. And this week, in the final days before the election, this is what the millions of Americans who tuned into Fox News saw.
SEAN HANNITY: Today Joe Biden actually managed to leave his basement bunker for a tiny, I mean tiny rally in Georgia. Look at your screen. There are around, well, 30 people. That was it. At Joe’s event in Warm Springs, Georgia. And meanwhile, the President held three massive rallies today, including different states.
RUHLE: Joe Biden’s campaign has said he is limiting travel because of COVID and a brand new poll out today shows that a majority of Americans think that is a good idea. And in many states where President Trump is holding his rallies, gatherings of that size are not even allowed. Not to mention, look at your screen, there is no social distancing and a lot of people not wearing masks.
On Monday, Fox News host Laura Ingraham took it one step further.
LAURA INGRAHAM: Now, the Angle has been telling you for many months that COVID is Joe Biden’s true running mate, using the virus panic button is all they have. The only way to scare old people into voting for someone who seems more like, I don’t know, an assisted living resident than future president. The media’s looking to Vice President COVID to do the heavy lifting for old Joe.
RUHLE: The media does not need to look for COVID. For the last several days, the number of new cases have broken records. And no, not just because we’re doing more testing. Hospitalizations are up 40% across the country this month. And so are deaths, with nearly 22,000 Americans dying from the virus in October alone. But instead of looking critically at what other countries are doing to tamp the virus down, Laura Ingraham chose to stoke fear.
INGRAHAM: The American left and their media poodles have long held up New Zealand as the model for how to properly deal with a lot of things, including COVID. But anyone who loves freedom should take note, they’re throwing people into quarantine camps. No leaving the camp until you’re negative.
RUHLE: Quarantine camps? No. What she was talking about are New Zealand’s country-run isolation hotels, but that sure sounds scary if you didn’t know that. She also used an old clip of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern talking about the hotels after her country beat community transmission for the first time back in June. Yet, Ingraham says that policy was new and in response to the rising COVID case numbers. Not true.
And then there was Tucker Carlson, who decided in the week before the election to focus on unverified claims about Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. This interview you see with Tony Bobulinski, Hunter’s former business associate, who alleges that Joe Biden was involved in a business venture with a Chinese oil company, drew an audience of more than 7.5 million people. The show’s biggest ratings outside of the presidential debates. Tucker has complained that the media isn’t talking about his interview. So let’s talk about it. The Wall Street Journal reported that the proposed venture never received any funding or completed any deals. Wall Street Journal reported that. And when they reviewed corporate records, they found no role for Joe Biden.
NBC News has reached out to Bobulinski when he first made these allegations, but he didn’t respond. But Fox News is not just reporting these claims, their hosts are using it to sow doubt in the election that is happening right this minute.
AINSLEY EARHARDT : According to Google Trends data, guess what has been trending over the last few days? “Can I change my vote,” and “Hunter Biden.” So it appears maybe people who voted for Biden, because of Hunter, his son, they want to change their votes.
RUHLE: Almost 80 million Americans have already cast their vote in this election, and there’s no evidence that millions want to change their vote over this. And to add insult to injury, Fox’s Gregg Gutfeld used this so-called story to casually float the idea of a constitutional crisis before we even know the election’s outcome.
GREG GUTFELD: Why don’t the Republicans start a preemptive impeachment on Joe Biden in case he wins? They could actually start it tomorrow.
RUHLE: We are now four days away from the election, and the truth is more important than ever. The truth is that we are in the middle of a pandemic. The truth is that millions of Americans are out of work. The truth is that we have to listen to science. And in these final days, instead of debating crowd size or unverified claims or conspiracy theories, we should be talking about policy, values and ideas.