As right-wing media figures compared President Obama to Hitler and Stalin over his attempt to strengthen gun laws, Fox News figures stoked fears that his policies would lead to civil war and violence.
After reports that Vice President Joe Biden included possible executive action as part of an effort to stop gun violence like the tragic killings at Sandy Hook elementary,conservatives compared the president to Hitler and Stalin and invoked Nazi Germany to oppose his policies.At the same time, Fox News figures attacked Obama using violent rhetoric that warned of civil war, revolution, and insurrection if his policies on guns, spending and entitlement reform are implemented.
On his Fox News show, Bill O'Reilly claimed that Obama could choose “to be a good president or whether he just wants to have blood in the streets,” arguing that the president should cut spending on programs such as Medicare and Social Security.
On Fox & Friends, co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy agreed with comments made by Fox's Charles Krauthammer on Special Report in which he claimed that if the government attempted to confiscate firearms, “there would be an insurrection.” From the show:
Fox's Todd Starnes praised a CNN appearance by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, claiming that “if they try to confiscate our guns, I think there will be a revolution.” The statement followed a tweet where the Fox radio host wrote “I can assure you the federal government will not be confiscating the Starnes Family Guns” :
Fox News contributor Pat Caddell claimed that the country was in a “pre-revolutionary condition,” and “on the verge of an explosion” at a conservative awards banquet in Texas.
In a January 3 op-ed on FoxNews.com, columnist Arthur Herman wrote that riots in Argentina foreshadowed a “coming civil war between makers and takers” in the U.S.:
Some have said my warnings about a coming civil war between makers and takers are exaggerated. It's true that Argentina's politicians have been waging class warfare since Juan and Eva Peron-and they aren't fazed when it turns bloody. Obama and the Democrats are relative newcomers to the game. But Argentina reveals who really suffers when those who create a nation's wealth get mugged by those who spend it-as just happened this week in Washington.
The violent narrative used by Fox echoes fear tactics used by the right wing media stoking fears of civil wars and revolution in the past against Obama.