Commentary

Megyn Kelly Blasts Trump Staffer For Social Media Attacks

The high-profile feud between president-elect Donald Trump and Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly was a fixture of the 2016 presidential election, and social media played a major role in the conflict by enabling the Republican candidate’s campaign team to whip up anger against Kelly for her critical stance towards Trump. The result was a deluge of threats and hateful content towards Kelly and her family, the Fox News host recalled at an event this week.

Speaking to an audience at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C., Kelly singled out Trump loyalist Dan Scavino, who served as the campaign’s director of social media, for blame, according to the Guardian: “The vast majority of Donald Trump supporters are not at all this way. It’s that far corner of the Internet that really enjoys nastiness and threats and unfortunately there is a man who works for Donald Trump whose job it is to stir these people up and that man needs to stop doing that. His name is Dan Scavino.”

In one incident from October, Scavino seemed to tweet an implied threat of retribution: “Megyn Kelly made a total fool out of herself tonight – attacking Donald Trump. Watch what happens to her after this election is over.”

As they surely intended, Scavino and Trump’s tweets about Kelly triggered a vast amount of vitriol from pro-Trump social media users, including countless anonymous trolls. She told the audience: “When Donald Trump comes after you, it isn’t just a tweet – ‘oh wow, he’s tweeting about her’, and I understand he’s a fighter, he’s a counter-puncher, I get all that – but even then he has such power that a single tweet can unleash hell in somebody’s life.

The personal consequences for Kelly were dramatic: “I’ve been under armed guard for 16 months and my children have been under armed guard and it’s not an appropriate price to pay for hard-hitting journalism.”
2 comments about "Megyn Kelly Blasts Trump Staffer For Social Media Attacks".
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  1. Tony Jarvis from Olympic Media Consultancy, December 8, 2016 at 11:56 a.m.

    Perhaps Dan Scavino studied the work of Dr. Joseph Goebbels?  While many of us would not support many of  Megyn's political position's, this apparently condoned continuing treatment of an emminent journalist by the President Elect's team (including Roger Ailes??) is beyond disgraceful and disgusting.  

  2. Chuck Lantz from 2007ac.com, 2017ac.com network replied, December 8, 2016 at 5 p.m.

    Eight or nine years ago, I listened to a radio interview on NPR that touches on this subject. The man being interviewed had been on Josef Geobbels' radio propaganda staff in Germany.

    He was asked to compare today's Right wing radio, including Limbaugh, Hannity, et al, as well as Fox News, with how it was done "back then." The man said there was no comparison, and, I quote; "The German people were too sophisticated to believe what is being said today. They would have laughed (at it)"

    Which leads to the dilemma some face about Megyn Kelly's situation. While she certainly will ask the tough questions at times, the fact remains that she works for Fox, and has toed their strict party (read: "propaganda") line for a long time.

    So, now that Trump and his groupies have finally exceeded whatever moral and ethical limits Kelly holds dear, we're being asked to sympathize with her, now that she's seen the light and is being bashed by her ex-tribe members?

    That won't be an easy task, for me anyway.

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