Fox Business host Lou Dobbs attacked conservative reporter Michelle Fields -- who has accused Donald Trump's campaign manager of physically assaulting her -- by citing the work of a misogynist who has excused rape.
On the official Twitter account of Lou Dobbs Tonight, Dobbs linked to a post from the website Danger & Play, describing it as “Great Reporting.” Conservative columnist Ann Coulter also promoted the post, writing, “It's beginning to look like Michelle Fields assaulted Trump.”
The story at Danger & Play, written by Mike Cernovich -- the owner of the site -- is an attack on former Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields entitled, “How Michelle Fields Hoaxed Herself Into Mainstream Stardom.”
Fields has accused Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski of pulling her to the ground at a Trump campaign event and leaving bruises on her arm.
Cernovich's site publishes numerous articles, essays, and audio recordings that attack feminists, “SJWs,” (social justice warriors) and dispute the validity of date rape claims. Some headlines from Danger & Play include “Matriarchy has Created a False Rape Culture” and “Feminists Don't Care About Rape.”
He also claims that anyone who “believe[s] in college rape culture” is “a gullible fool who believes feminists.”
On his Twitter accounts, @PlayDangerously and @Cernovich, Cernovich has published several tweets dismissing the possibility of date rape and expressing crass, misogynist thoughts:
- “The hotter the sex, the more closely it resembles rape.” [10/15/11]
- “The only rape culture is Muslim rape culture.” [3/9/15]
- “A whore will let her friend ruin your life with a false rape case. So why should I care when women are raped?” [1/30/12]
- “Have you guys ever tried 'raping' a girl without using force? Try it. It's basically impossible. Date rape does not exist.” [8/11/12]
- “How to tell if someone is a true player? There's a 100% chance he's had a pregnancy scare, and a 25% chance he's had a false rape scare.” [10/19/11]
- “Fat/ugly women seek out dominant men to abuse them. Then they seek sympathy from others.” [7/2/14]
Cernovich has written several articles professing admiration for Donald Trump, and says that he has written a book entitled The Rise of Trump that “is coming soon.” His previous book, Danger & Play: Essays on Embracing Masculinity, touts itself as a book that “will show you how to become a more dominant man, develop a dominate mindset, lose fat, gain muscle, succeed in business, and meet women.”
The allegation has caused a split at Fox News. On-air personalities like Greg Gutfeld and Meghan McCain have publicly supported Fields, while Eric Bolling reportedly had his producer call the reporter to tell her she would no longer be invited on his show Cashin' In “because she is no longer 'impartial' to Trump.” The show's senior producer denied the report and claimed he decided “to take it week by week.”
Fields has previously appeared on Lou Dobbs Tonight as a panelist for what Dobbs describes as “the A-Team,” though not in the last few years, based on a Nexis search.
In 2013, Dobbs said statistics showing that more women had become the economic breadwinners of their families were “concerning and troubling” and said the report indicated “society dissolv[ing] around us.” A year later, Dobbs said he didn't see “anything controversial” about telling women not to drink in order to avoid sexual assault.