A retired U.S. Army Lietenant Colonel and former Fox News analyst said employees at the cable news network have become "prostitutes" for President Donald Trump's Washington agenda.
Update: Fox News issued a statement regarding Peters' comments. "Ralph Peters is entitled to his opinion despite the fact that he's choosing to use it as a weapon in order to gain attention."
Speaking with CNN's Brian Stelter Sunday, Ralph Peters said Trump "does not respect our system of government" and cherry-picks parts of the Constitution "from which he can choose the most electable items." The retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel repeatedly criticized Trump as "distinctly un-American" and beholden to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Earlier this year, Peters left Fox News for "assaulting the Constitution."
"He is not interested in understanding our government," Peters told CNN Sunday. "He believes the Constitution is a menu from which he can choose only the most electable items."
"The evil twin of that, I believe as a former Russia analyst for most of my career… I'm convinced that the president of the United States is in thrall to Vladimir Putin," Peters continued. "There's no other way to explain his behavior. And he perfectly fits the profile of the kind of people the Russians target. "This is a distinctly un-American president who doesn't seem to like America very much. I never could have foreseen this Orwellian situation."
Peters said it's time for people who will "speak honestly" to step up and challenge Trump without worrying about who it offends. When pressed by Stelter how Fox News has played a role in supporting Trump's agenda, Peters called his former cable news network "amoral" in their backing of Trump policies. He referred to Trump supporters as "couch potato anarchists."
"I left Fox because as a former military officer who took an oath to the constitution, I could not be part of a channel that, to me, was assaulting the constitution, the constitutional order, the rule of law," said Peters.
"Fox isn't immoral, it's amoral," he noted. "It was opportunistic. Trump was just a gift to Fox and Fox, in turn, is a gift to Trump. It's a closed loop. And so people that only listen to Fox have an utterly skewed view of reality."
Peters added that Trump is simply blaming immigrants, "fake news" and the deep state for the problems facing the country. He said his former colleagues at Fox News are putting on quite the "performance" in order to back anything the president suggests.
"The polite word is 'prostitutes'," Peters added. "So, we'll just leave it at that. I don't want to be the go-to guy for Fox bashing forever. But what Fox is doing is causing real harm to our country right now."
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Benjamin Fearnow is a reporter based out of Newsweek's New York City offices. He was previously at CBS and Mediaite ... Read more
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