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Fox News website features story glorifying running over liberal protesters with cars

"Study the technique; it may prove useful in the next four years."

CREDIT: VIDEO SCREENGRAB
CREDIT: VIDEO SCREENGRAB

A webpage that’s still live on Fox News’ website as this is published is headlined, “Here’s A Reel Of Cars Plowing Through Protesters Trying To Block The Road.”

The page features a video compilation of cars striking protesters put together by The Daily Caller, a right-wing news site. It starts with a chyron that says, “If you are easily triggered, stop watching now.” The soundtrack is an acoustic, satirical version of Ludacris’ “Move Bitch Get Out Da Way.”

A paragraph written under the embedded video written by Mike Raust of the Daily Caller says, “Here’s a compilation of liberal protesters getting pushed out of the way by cars and trucks. Study the technique; it may prove useful in the next four years.”

CREDIT: FOX NEWS SCREENGRAB
CREDIT: FOX NEWS SCREENGRAB

The Daily Caller’s choice to put together a video of cars striking protesters and Fox News’ decision to feature it may have seemed humorous to some when it was posted on January 29, just over a week after President Trump took office. But it’s a terrible look in wake of the white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend — a rally where 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed when a car driven by an alleged Nazi sympathizer named James Fields Jr. plowed through a crowd of people protesting the open display of racism and bigotry.

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Fields’ actions didn’t happen in a vaccum — as Slate detailed on Monday, driving into crowds of liberal protesters has been a right-wing fantasy for quite some time. Meanwhile, as ThinkProgress reported on Monday, Republicans in six states “have pushed for laws this year that would shield drivers who hit protesters. The bills are part of a wave of anti-protest proposals introduced since the rise of the Black Lives Matter and anti-Trump resistance movements.”

Though the story about cars plowing into protesters is from January, the white supremacists who rallied in Virginia over the weekend under flags adorned with swastikas or the Confederate stars and bars have received unusually sympathetic treatment from Fox News personalities and guests on their shows.

On Sunday, Fox & Friends host Pete Hegseth suggested the racists may have had some valid points for rallying in Charlottesville, saying “there’s always a grievance underneath it that it’s worth talking about.” And during a Fox News interview on Tuesday, Star Parker of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education made a case that the pride flag and the Confederate flag are morally equivalent, since they allegedly “represent the exact same thing: that certain people groups are not welcome here.”

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UPDATE: Shortly after this post was published, Fox News removed the story from its webpage.