How to be a good American according to Fox News' Brian Kilmeade
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
1. Acknowledge the “legacy” of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and his ability to bring the country “back together like no other country has ever done after civil war.”
BRIAN KILMEADE: Is there also a danger of trying to put today's values on yesterday's generations? I mean, for example, Woodrow Wilson they say, “Well, he was a segregationist,” but he did this and Princeton will take it down. Two hundred-plus years ago, I think 12 of our first 15 presidents had slaves. I think we can go back and forth. You could look at what General Lee did. There was a time in which General Lee was being urged by his officers, “Make this a guerilla war. We lost, but we don't have to quit.” And he said, “no, we’ve got to bring the country back together,” on Lincoln's behest. And he kept the country back together like no other country has ever done after civil war. We didn't erase their legacy. Why are we running to erase it now? [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/22/17]
2. Support construction of President Trump’s planned $21 billion wall between the United States and Mexico.
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): But the thing is, Ainsley, the only reason why Democrats don't want to do the wall -- because they're already on the record to doing a wall, a fence, a barrier -- is because it would be a clear victory for the president. And that, to me, is anti-American. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/23/17]
3. As Trump said, take a page from the military and skip the “civil unrest.”
AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Well, and Steve, Steve -- we don't know what he knows. He knows all of the national security secrets. I mean, he’s got information in front of him that we all don't know. So we have to trust those generals and trust the experts that they are going to do what's best for our country.
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Perhaps the biggest surprise of the speech was how it started. Even though he’s in front of the military talking about Afghanistan, he also recognized what's going on in the country, and that's some civil unrest. He said hey, America, take a page from the military. They don't care who you are. They know they are fighting for one team, and that's United States. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/22/17]
4. Don’t be like Colin Kaepernick.
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): And our free speech says, totally out of line, totally inappropriate. You're taking the lead off a guy that on a whim sat down during a game -- in a preseason game, and now they are protesting because he doesn't have a job as a backup quarterback somewhere, after he turned down a $900,000 a year job. This is all from Kaepernick. If it wasn't from Kaepernick they'd be standing up.
EBONI WILLIAMS (CO-HOST): That's unfair, Brian. You are connecting a lot of dots there.
KILMEADE: This is inexcusable. If they're Americans, you stand during the national anthem.
WILLIAMS: They don't have to be American on your terms, Brian Kilmeade. They can be American on the terms that they want.
[INAUDIBLE]
KILMEADE: We can't agree to stand during the national anthem?
WILLIAMS: We can't agree we have a right to express our views? [Fox News, The Specialists, 8/22/17]