Fox News is seizing on the New York City terrorist attack from Monday to push for a radical nativist agenda.
On Tuesday, 29-year-old Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov drove his rented pickup truck into a group of bicyclists and pedestrians before crashing it into a school bus, according to CNN, and was then shot by police. Six people were killed instantly in the attack and two died later. More than a dozen victims are still recovering. New York City officials and law enforcement have categorized the incident as an act of terrorism, primarily based on the suspect's use of the phrase "Allahu Akbar," a note left at the scene and the fact that he immigrated from Uzbekistan.
On Fox News Tuesday night, anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller told Sean Hannity while discussing the attack, "The American people are being disarmed in the war of ideas." She added, "They are being disarmed in the information battlespace. Initially New York authorities and Mayor de Blasio denied that it was jihad terror. And this follows a pattern in the West. They deny that jihad terror is jihad terror, and even when it's obviously jihad terror, they still continue to deny it,"
A similar nativist line was used by right-wing political pundit Dr. Walid Phares when he appeared on Tucker Carlson's show. "We need to have a strategic policy on vetting," Phraes said. "Unfortunately, over the past eight years, the previous administration did not want to do it."
He later added, "It comes from actually campuses. Social scientists have been telling us, and telling many generations, that you do not address this because this is the wrong argument."
Carlson, for his part, bemoaned how "I remember when things like this didn't happen in New York City ever and now they seem to happen with some frequency." He added, "it seems obviously tied to immigration."
Talking about supporters of more inclusive immigration policies, Carlson rhetorically asked, "How can a small group of people in charge of our country continue to lie to the rest of us and demand that the rest of us participate in their lies when everyone knows it's a lie?"
On Wednesday morning, "Fox News" continued this trend when co-host Brian Kilmeade interviewed a guest who was denouncing the diversity visa program that had allowed New York City suspect Sayfullo Saipov to enter the United States from Uzbekistan.
"And guess who is leaving us naked?" he said. "These judges who says, it's un-American to judge people and to do extreme vetting in certain areas and not other areas." The "Fox News" co-host was most likely referring to the multiple judges who have blocked President Donald Trump's efforts to ban immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries.
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