Fox News Collapses on Live TV as Trump’s Scheme Blows Up

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast

Episode Summary: "Fox News Collapses on Live TV as Trump’s Scheme Blows Up"

Release Date: September 14, 2025
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas

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Brief Overview

In this episode, the Meiselas brothers react to what they describe as a mounting collapse of Fox News and right-wing media in the wake of high-profile acts of political violence, spinning misinformation around the tragic shooting of political figure Charlie Kirk and the assassination of Minnesota Speaker Melissa Hortman. The brothers dissect and debunk the inflammatory and often contradictory rhetoric coming from Fox News hosts and other right-wing personalities, highlighting the dangerous consequences of this propaganda. Throughout, the hosts use a combination of news analysis, direct audio clips, sharp critique, and their signature brotherly banter to warn listeners of the effects this media environment has on democracy and public safety.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Toxic Rhetoric on Fox News and Calls for Violence

• Brian Kilmeade’s Outrageous Comment:
  The episode opens with the hosts highlighting Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade's shocking on-air suggestion regarding homeless people and those suffering from mental illness:

  • Quote: “Or involuntary lethal injection or something. Just kill them.” (Brian Kilmeade, 01:55)
  • The brothers condemn this as an example of Fox hosts being “high off their own supply of vicious propaganda.” (Host, 00:58)

• Furthering the Narrative:
  The hosts note that Kilmeade continued to make these suggestions over the weekend—not as a slip but as a repeated talking point.

2. Misinformation about Political Violence

• Blaming the Victims & Democrats:
  Kilmeade and other Fox personalities spin the political assassination of Minnesota Speaker Melissa Hortman and the Charlie Kirk shooting, assigning blame to Democrats regardless of the facts.
  • “All they do is just freaking lie over and over again.” (Host, 03:17)
• Challenging the Narrative:
  The hosts fact-check claims, pointing out how the killer of Charlie Kirk was from a Trump-supporting family, despite Fox’s insistence on ambiguity or misdirection.
  • “He actually fit the profile of a lot of these school shooters that we see. These young white men, often Republican radicalized who go down this rabbit hole.” (Host, 09:21)

3. Manufactured Outrage and Political Posturing

• Moment of Silence Controversy:
  Fox News claims Democrats refused to allow a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk in the House of Representatives—proven false by direct audio evidence.

  • “They did do a moment of silence. … Democrats are [saying] We’re not doing a prayer session. We just did a moment of silence. Let's get on with the business of the House.” (Host, 04:39)

• Calls for Escalation:
  Jesse Watters and others escalate rhetoric:

  • Quote: “We have to politically destroy the Sikh movement that's giving birth to these killers … it has to be cordoned off and eliminated. … Enough is enough. This ends now.” (Jesse Watters, 14:09)
  • The hosts argue this kind of language mirrors totalitarian approaches, normalizing talk of eliminating political opponents.

4. Deflecting Blame & Reviving Old Scapegoats

• Blaming Obama:
  Multiple right-wing hosts, including Megyn Kelly, pivot to blaming Barack Obama for the current state of national division and the rise of Trump as a reaction to Obama.
  • Quote: “We haven’t felt like ourselves since Barack Obama. … He’s the one who started to inject race where no one had been doing it.” (Megyn Kelly, 16:52)
  • The hosts highlight the racist subtext in these statements and the absurdity of blaming Obama for Trump.

5. Hypocrisy and Contradictions in Right-Wing Commentary

• Stephen Miller & Elite Credentials:
  The hosts mock Stephen Miller lamenting “universities becoming incubators for extremism” (15:54) while himself being a product of elite institutions.
• Trump’s Self-Centered Response:
  When Trump is asked about Charlie Kirk, he diverts to his pet project: building a White House ballroom.
  • Quote: “Everybody knows about the big ballroom. … I was with the architects … and they came in, they said Charlie Kirk is dead. I didn’t know what they meant.” (Trump, 08:18; 09:09)

6. The True Work of Condemning Political Violence

• Contrasting Responses:
  • The episode draws a clear contrast between Obama, who immediately condemned the violence (“This kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy…” 07:29), and right-wing figures, who equivocate or distract.
  • Democrats are depicted as seeking unity and condemning violence, but are consistently maligned by right-wing media for insufficient performative grief or action (07:10–07:29).

7. Debunking New Right-Wing Talking Points

• Desperate Shifts in Narrative:
  The brothers catalog desperate attempts to blame the shooting on tangential issues like alleged trans roommates or time spent at university, suggesting “the trans ideology” or higher education itself is at fault (12:21–13:42).
• They highlight how these smears are easily debunked and reflect a broader pattern of scapegoating.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Fox’s Descent into Propaganda:
  • “They're getting high off their own supply of vicious propaganda.” (Host, 00:58)
• On Blame Shifting:
  • “Let’s blame Obama... What are you talking about?” (Host, 06:24)
• On Trump’s Ballrooms:
  • “By the way, just so you know, it’s not a fluke here, Trump is talking about the ballroom again when he’s asked about Charlie Kirk.” (Host, 08:59)
• On Constant Fox Lies:
  • “Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, everything that former President Biden—didn’t matter what the issue was, they would come up with … whatever their conspiracy there is.” (Host, 18:36)
• On MAGA Escalation:
  • “When they go low, we go high. When they go low, they knock out your knees.” (Host, 18:36)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|---------------------| | 00:58–01:59 | Brian Kilmeade suggests “just kill them” re: homeless/mentally ill on Fox | | 03:25–04:22 | Fox misrepresentations around political killings and Charlie Kirk’s killer | | 04:06–04:39 | False claim about House Democrats & moment of silence for Charlie Kirk | | 07:10–07:29 | Fox panel demands more “action” and “big speech” from left, despite existing Obama statement condemning violence | | 08:18–09:21 | Trump’s odd White House ballroom rant replacing condolences for Charlie Kirk | | 12:21–13:42 | Debunking right-wing narrative shift: trans blame, university “radicalization” | | 14:09–15:04 | Jesse Watters calls for “destroying” and “eliminating” political opponents | | 16:52–18:36 | Megyn Kelly and other right-wingers blame Obama and racial division | | 18:36–End | Broader reflection on MAGA media’s culture of conspiracy and blame |

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Tone and Language

The MeidasTouch brothers maintain their distinctive, unapologetically progressive tone throughout—using sarcasm, incredulity, and incisive critique, while grounding their discussion in audio evidence and news clips. They balance urgency with humor and a strong commitment to pro-democracy values.

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For Listeners Who Haven’t Tuned In:

This episode is a scathing, evidence-packed round-up of how right-wing media is responding—often with lies, deflections, and radical rhetoric—to tragic, politically charged violence. Expect fast-paced banter, pointed exposure of hypocrisy, clear fact-checking, and a consistent call for responsibility in American political discourse. The Meiselas brothers make a compelling case that media narratives, especially from Fox, are not only factually bankrupt but also actively dangerous.

Transcript

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T Mobile State regime media known as Fox is just completely collapsing live on air. They're getting high off their own supply of vicious propaganda. So much so that on the morning show, Brian Kilmeade, one of the main Fox hosts, advocated for just engaging in involuntary lethal injection or something like that. Just kill them all, he says. Regarding homeless people or people who may suffer from mental illness, he says just kill them all. Here, play this clip. Billions of dollars to mental health and the homeless population. A lot of them don't want to take the programs. A lot of them don't want to get the help that is necessary. You can't give them a choice. Either you take the resources that we're going to give you and or you decide that you're going to be locked up in jail. That's the way it has to be now.

[Commentator]

Or involuntary lethal injection or something. Just kill them.

[Panelist]

Brian, why did it have to get to this point, right?

[Commentator]

I would say this. We're not voting for the right people in North Carolina.

[Host]

Wake up now. I went back and I tried to watch it and say, you know, was I taking this out of context in any way? Could he really have said it? Did he say those words? He did and then he's continued to say those words over and over again this weekend. Again you have Brian Kilmeade blaming the political assassination of Melissa Hortman, the former speaker of the House in Minnesota. She was killed by a radical right Trumper with a political agenda against her as A Democrat. That's what happened. It is an undisputed fact. This is not a situation where it was in the Charlie Kirk case case. A 22 year old white kid of ambiguous background, but whose family was a Trump supporter. That was a, there's a big distinction there. So here Brian Kilmeade says the Minnesota legislator was killed because they didn't like what Tim Walls was doing or a former staffer of Tim Walls. So he's just blaming Democrats again here. That's what you're doing. The same thing that Fox was trying to push as it relates to Charlie Kirk also. And that narrative was false. This all they do is just freaking lie over and over again. Here's Kill Me. Play this clip.

[Commentator]

And then June 14, these Minnesota legislatures were knocked out, were killed. Something to do with what's going on locally. They didn't like what Tim Waltz was doing or a former staffer of Tim Waltz, regardless, deranged actions, life and death.

[Host]

And then you have Kill Me over here saying that, you know, it's pretty obvious that Charlie Kirk's killer was not a Trump guy because if you're not for Charlie Kirk, you're not for Donald Trump. Here, play this clip.

[Commentator]

No, his grandparents said we're a Trump household. He was unaffiliated and it was pretty clear that he was not for Trump because if you're not for Charlie Kirk, get out for Trump.

[Host]

And by the way, it kept on going. They said, you know, those Democrats, they refused to allow a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk. They refused a moment of silence in the House of Representatives. Here, play this clip.

[Panelist]

Yeah, they wouldn't even. Exactly. That's, this is a perfect example of their fake compassion. They wouldn't even allow a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk on the House floor. They, they, they said no to that. And so I'm just unimpressed.

[Host]

They did do a moment of silence. Okay, you had maga, Republican maga Mike Johnson called for a moment of silence. Then everybody was silent for the requisite period of time. I'm only going to show you 18 seconds cuz I don't want to show more. But then I'll tell you what happened here, play this clip. The chair would ask that all members present in the chamber and those in the gallery please rise for a moment of prayer for Charlie Kirk and his family. Okay, so clearly there was a moment of silence. What happened after was MAGA Republican Lauren Boebert says, let's do it again. She says, and now let's do a prayer session for Charlie Kirk. Let's do a prayer session, everybody. And the Democrats are. We're not doing a prayer session. We just did a moment of silence. Let's get on with the business of the House. Like, what are we doing here? Another separate prayer. If you want to do a prayer session, do a prayer session separately. But then the mag Republicans, like, we should have done a prayer session. What the hell is even going on here? And then they continue on. And what are the MAGA Republicans do now on? What does the Fox propagandist do? Blame Obama. Yeah, there's. They go, there's no real remorse on the left. They are complicit because they're not showing the right amount of remorse. Where's Barack Obama? Where? Where's Obama? Let's blame Obama. That's a goodie and an oldie. Let's just blame Obama. Let's blame Obama. What are you talking about here? Play this clip.

[Panelist]

There's been no real remorse on the left. I mean, it's been so tepid. They're so obviously implicit, complicit in the language that you use. I mean, just that video alone. But has anybody seen anyone come out in a very forceful and meaningful way to say knock it off on the left?

[Host]

No.

[Commentator]

Yeah, I think there's two. Couple of things. I try to watch other things much as possible, especially I get up in the primetime repeats and we're preparing for the show. Cnn, I think, has been really good. They've been really good. Been really fair. MSNBC is so bad, their own executives are writing a memo to basically say knock it off and show some respect. Yeah. So. And I saw ABC actually. I watched.

[Panelist]

Where, where, Where's Barack Obama? Very tepid response.

[Commentator]

I mean, Bernie Sanders actually had the best. I think Fetterman had a good tweet, too. I mean, they're not surprising. Yeah, there are a couple.

[Panelist]

How about instead of a tweet, how about a big old speech?

[Commentator]

Yep.

[Panelist]

How about idea and how about some action? How about some action?

[Host]

And by the way, Obama immediately condemned political violence, violence in all its manifestations. Here's what Obama said. We don't yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy. The Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie's family tonight, especially his wife erica and their two young children. That was viewed 103 million times, by the way, very different than when Donald Trump was asked about it. When Donald Trump was asked about Charlie Kirk, you know what Donald Trump talked about? He Said, well everybody knows about the big ballroom. Everybody knows about the big ballroom. Here's what Trump said. Play this clip.

[Commentator]

He was very hurt when he saw this. But I mean every, everybody. Oh, when I heard it I was in the midst of, you know, building a great 450 years. They've wanted a ballroom at the White House, right? They don't have a ball, they have to use tents on the lawn. First President Xi, when he comes over, if it rains, it's a wipeout. And so I was with the architects and with design, it's going to be incredible. And they came in, they said Charlie Kirk is dead. I didn't know what they meant. I said what do you mean dead? Charlie Kirk was shot. And they, so they thought he was dead because it was so horrific, you know. And I said dead you got.

[Host]

And by the way, just so you know, it's not a fluke here, Trump is talking about the ballroom again when he's asked about Charlie Kirk. Here, play this clip. Condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk.

[Commentator]

May I ask her personally how are you holding up over the last day and a half, sir? I think very good. And by the way right there you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House.

[Host]

And again, what the undisputed fact is is that there was a 22 year old white male in Utah from a Trump supporting Republican family. They had close affiliations with the church and in Utah it was a gun toting family. That's what the mom Amber would post over and over again. We're a gun toting family. That's who they were. He actually fit the profile of a lot of these school shooters that we see. These young white men, oftentimes Republican radicalized who go down this rabbit hole. But whether he's rightist or leftist or this or that, the bottom line is that he got radicalized as this accelerator, revolutionary wannabe type. And this is what we've seen over and over again in these situations. It's the Democrats fault they did this. They don't know what they've unleashed. No, what you're unleashing, Fox, is division in our country and trying to cause a irreparable harm or like a civil war. That's what you're trying to do with this rhetoric.

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[Host]

On and they said, you know, and now you hear this is one of the right wing talking points too. There's a few talking points. One of them is, is they go, they go, the guy, the guy, the guy, the shooter's roommate was trans. And maybe they had a relationship. And so the, the trans ideology. What are you talking, what is it? What is it? What are you talking about? And then the other one is that they go, is, he went to one SEM. You know, he went to university back in 2021. He went to Utah State University for one semester. That radicalized, you know, he spent the past few years in an electrical apprenticeship program at Utah's Dixie Technical College as Max Steel goes a hotbed for leftist militancy. I know. Here's what they say. Here, play this clip.

[Panelist]

It is a good point. I want to point something else out. You heard the family member say that this man became more political. This young man became more political in recent years. Well, what did he do in recent years? He went to College, that's where kids are getting radicalized. It's not just online. Our campuses are where a lot of radicalization, hate and intolerance starts from. And so when he says it's an attack on all of us, I'm going to say this. No, it's an attack on conservatives, it's an attack on Christians.

[Host]

And then you have Jesse Waters basically out there, like, you know, basically saying, enough is enough. We have to end these people. The language that he uses is, is so extreme. And this is what they're platforming on Fox. You know, I showed you the first clip where they're talking about, like involuntary death squads and injections and killing people. And you have Jesse Waters then saying the following. Here, play this clip.

[Commentator]

And so our response has to be, we have to do what Charlie would have wanted to do. We have to win. We have to win at the ballot box, we have to win at the marketplace, we have to win online, at the universities. We have to politically destroy the Sikh movement that's giving birth to these killers. And I don't care what you have to do. We can love them, but we don't give them any quarter. Enough is enough. This ends now. And there is a wicked strain that's bubbling up and you see it all over the place. And we know who we're talking about and it's permeated the media, the culture, and even Congress. And it has to be cordoned off and eliminated. We've done this with other factions in our political past. We've did it with communism, with racism. It's been done before. Anarchism.

[Host]

Then you have Laura Ingraham also spreading these vicious, vicious lies. Here, play this clip.

[Guest]

This agony we're all feeling must not dissipate into a stubborn apathy or morph into a violent rage. But we do need to embrace the truth at the same time that the left has a lot to answer for at this moment. We've been warning for years that their rhetoric would lead us to a very dark place.

[Host]

Then you have Stephen Miller over here talking about, oh, it's the universities. The universities are the hotbed, dude. You went to Duke. You went to Duke. These are all the. All these people are so phony. You grew up in Santa Monica to a wealthy family and you went to Duke. Here, play this clip.

[Commentator]

Our universities in many cases have become incubators for extremism. They become the equivalent of, of madrasas for jihadism.

[Host]

And just so you see, they're trying to, like, one up each other. Megyn Kelly, who used to Be on Fox, who now makes her livelihood as a right wing pro Trump podcaster despite Trump attacking her and saying that she's got blood coming out of your, you know what, during a debate in front of all of America. But she's a big Trumper now. And then she goes, you know the real issue here, Obama. The division in our country is caused by Obama. And yeah, the way he tried to subtly inject race into everything. What are you, are you just saying that he's a black man? Is that what you, is that what you want to say? It's ridiculous. And the racism is so obvious, in my opinion. Here, play this clip.

[Guest]

We, we don't feel like ourselves. We haven't felt like ourselves in a while and I'm sorry to get political, but I'm just going to be honest. We haven't felt like ourselves since Barack Obama. I just think he was such a slick snake, you know, he was this affable guy who was like wearing good suits and looked the part and sounded the part and dressed the part, but was so divisive in his messaging. The left, they look at you like when you say this, they don't know what you're talking about. It's like cuz you don't pay attention to the other half of the country. You only pay attention to your absurd news sources which spin and spin and spin to protect Democrats, especially if they're named Obama. He, he's the one who started to inject race where no one had been doing it. He's the one who started to use his pen and the phone to shove things down our throat that we didn't want. He's the one who shoved through an entitlement on our health care and our personal doctor visits that he promised he wouldn't mess with and then he did really hurting people, causing massive anger and open lies. He never missed an opportunity to twist the knife on the racial issue. He would do it subtly and in his own way, but it was very clear what he was doing. He, he never for the first time we had a president who weighed in on legal cases before they'd played out. We never did that. That was a taboo that had never been crossed before. Him and Donald Trump was the reason Barack Obama.

[Panelist]

Reverse that.

[Guest]

Barack Obama was the reason Donald Trump came about, that he was born as a political figure. They say Trump's divisive. He was the antidote. He was the answer to the divisiveness of Barack Obama. And we just haven't felt like ourselves for years now.

[Host]

And meanwhile, you have Donald Trump out there consistently calling Kamala Harris a fascist. And Donald Trump, you know, talking about getting rid of the vermin and exterminating the enemy from within. You wanna know where it's coming from? It's coming directly from the Oval Office and the. And these hateful rhetoric from MAGA Republicans. All I know is you want to talk about, like the left liberal. We're thinking about the leadership. And what most people are saying at a leadership level is we need to condemn political violence. We need to come together. The one of the issues though, is, you know, with when they go low, we go high. When they go low, they knock out your knees. These MAGA people, whether it's a wildfire that, you know, takes place in my hometown in Los Angeles, where while the fire was burning, it just lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. Everything that former President Biden didn't matter what the issue was, they would come up with, you know, whatever their conspiracy there is, remember, they would just invent like terrorist attacks in Buffalo. Do you remember that? When Biden was in office, Biden let the terrorist attack happen in Buffalo. It was like a guy coming back from a casino who was like, drunk or something who crashed his car. No matter what it is, they would spread these vicious lies anyway. You saw what Trump said anyway. Let me know what you think.

[Commentator]

Hit.

[Host]

Subscribe. Let's get to 6 million and thank you for watching.

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[Guest]

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