RUSH: Now looky here, folks. Tom Brokaw has declared jihad on Fox News. That’s right. Fox News is on a jihad to protect Trump, and, as such, we are at war here with Fox News, and it’s gonna be sorted out in the final analysis. Brokaw says once Shepard Smith finishes, once his three o’clock show is over, Fox is on a jihad to protect Trump and therefore we gotta go at war against Fox. Tom Brokaw. Journalist versus journalist here.
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RUSH: Tom Brokaw, legendary anchorman for NBC, took a hard swing against Fox News this morning on PMSNBC. Now, we have a ban on PMSNB, so I’m not gonna play the audio there. Brokaw said that Trump watches Fox News because it “reinforces what he believes,” citing how they’ve handled the Russia probe as an example.
I’ve been on the air with Brokaw on a night the Democrats lost a bunch of elections they thought they were gonna win. The 2002 midterms. I was on election coverage with Brokaw and Tim Russert. And I’ve been at a couple of social functions. He’s a nice guy. He was very unassuming and all that, but this is just caca. Fox News is the only place where the truth of the Russian investigation is being reported, and that is there isn’t any evidence of any!
You know, you guys are supposedly so interested in the truth and reporting the news. Where is the evidence for this, Tom? Where is the evidence? They’re now calling the Trump dossier, by the way, the Steele dossier? Have you noticed that little change? ‘Cause that’s the guy who wrote it. No longer it’s the Trump dossier because all of these investigations have cast enough doubt on this thing that people are now asking was this bogus piece of political opposition research actually used to seek a warrant from the FISA court? Was something the Clinton campaign made up out of whole cloth actually used to seek a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign?
If that is ever proven and established, that is a bigger injustice that you could possibly imagine. All the while people in the Drive-By Media, including Brokaw, are trying to ram down your throat that Trump colluded with the Russians and cheated, even if and even while there isn’t any evidence. But Fox News has gotta go because they’re not falling in line. Fox News has to go because they’re not joining the fray.
Brokaw said, “Fox News, after Shepard Smith, in the late afternoon, is on a jihad right now on the whole question about whether there is a fairness about this or not. The whole assault is on the institutions.”
What institutions? Oh, the deep state? You mean Trump’s conducting an assault on the FBI? Trump’s conducting an assault on the Department of Justice? Why shouldn’t he? They’re trying to ruin him. Mr. Brokaw, what do you think? That people who are targeted are just supposed to sit there and take it, as though they’re being profiled on 60 Minutes or something, just sit there and take it?
Is that somehow the rule of the establishment? When the establishment singles you out, you just sit there and take it? Once the establishment has decided to single you out, they have already pronounced the verdict and you’re just to sit there and take it and then slink away? I thought you were a journalist. I thought you questioned things. I thought you were suspicious of things, especially people in power. I thought you doubted things.
But they’re just sopping it up. They’re just lapping this up like a bunch of sponges. Actually, they’re not. It’s worse than that. They’re promoting a bunch of lies. And they’re calling it news. They are promoting a hoax. They are promoting a bunch of fraudulent allegations, a result of Hillary Clinton bought and paid for opposition research, treating it as legitimate intelligence? What about the damage you are doing to institutions, Brokaw, by believing in this stuff, by promoting this?
The FBI is being damaged. The Department of Justice is being damaged. The FBI’s reputation for blind justice is being damaged to the max here. And it’s Trump’s fault because he just won’t sit there and take it? Those days are over. And note the language here. Brokaw using this term “jihad.” Fox is on a jihad right now? You know what a jihad is? A jihad’s a holy war.
Brokaw says, “We’re at war here, and it’s gonna be sorted out in the final analysis.” And Brokaw’s attacking their opinion programs! But even these opinion programs have real journalism in ’em. Bret Baier comes on after the Shep Smith afternoon show is over. Bret Baier’s being tarnished in this. They just can’t stand it. They can’t stand that Fox is outrating them. They can’t stand that Fox charges more for advertising on their rate card than MSNBC or CNN.
I finally found out, Fox gets — this is kind of embarrassingly low, if you ask me, but they get $8,500 for 30 seconds. If we ever got down to that we’d have to pack it in. We couldn’t make our — But of course we have to do everything in three hours, they have 24. So that’s a factor too. I’m halfway joking here, folks, but that is their rate, $8,500. If we ever charged $8,500 it’d be a misprint on the rate card and somebody’s head would roll.
CNN’s around $5,000 and MSNBC’s less than that, for 30 seconds. (interruption) What are you laughing at? What, you can’t — (laughing) They can’t believe I’m divulging this. Well, I’m just telling you, as my initial reaction. But again, they’ve got a 24-hour broadcast day. We have a three hour broadcast day. And we only have five commercials an hour that are ours to sell. There are mitigating factors.