Casual and Spontaneous Discourse

loved LA Fitness. Its three lane lap pool was seldom crowded. The adjacent whirlpool was warm and inviting. The workout equipment was plentiful. The only downside was that my favorite elliptical was directly in front of the monitor tuned to Fox News. I was exposed to “the latest in news, weather, sports, and entertainment with a casual and spontaneous discourse” from “Fox & Friends”. Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, Lawrence Jones, and the interchangeable blonde du jour delivered “happy talk” with a MAGA twist. I would pummel the elliptical more vigorously as they cheerfully blamed all of America’s ills on Joe Biden even though he was no longer in office..

I might have destroyed the elliptical in anger if I heard Jones discussing the Charlotte train stabbing last week. “A lot of them (mentally ill, homeless people) 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 gonna give you, or you decide that you’re going to be locked up in jail. That’s the way it has to be now.”

Brian Kilmeade jumped in: “Or, involuntary lethal injection — or something. Just kill them.”

That’s “casual, spontaneous discourse” all right. Let’s arm the National Guard with syringes full of lethal chemicals to clear up homeless encampments. Bullets or grenades leave such a bloody mess. Under Trump 2.0, we don’t have to worry about due process either. As Army rangers said in Vietnam, “Kill ’em all. Let God sort them out.”

Eliminating homelessness via lethal injection was a bit much even for Rupert Murdoch (or his lawyers). KIlmeade appeared on Fox News Sunday with this mea culpa, “I wrongly said they should get lethal injections. I apologize for that extremely callous remark. I am obviously aware that not all mentally ill, homeless people act as the perpetrator did in North Carolina, and that so many homeless people deserve our empathy and compassion.”

Good point, Brian. That shabby guy standing alongside the road with a cardboard sign saying “Homeless. Please Help” is not stabbing every motorist who stops. Marauding crowds of weapon-wielding homeless do not emerge from the “tent city” under the bridge at nightfall to terrorize law-abiding citizens.

Brian’s “empathy and compassion” is likely as sincere as the “thoughts and prayers” that MAGA folk extend to victims of gun violence unless, of course, that victim is the founder of Turning Point USA in which case they propose a military funeral, flags half-staff, and, potentially, a national holiday.

By Ed Dufton