They love any chance to jab FOX News for having better ratings. Listening to political hacks with no knowledge of things Russian tell the vast Fox audience that the special counsel’s investigation was a “witch hunt,” while I could not respond, became too much to bear. Instead, barely a quarter-century along, democracy and political freedoms are newly embattled, as one society after another defaults to reborn tyranny, striding behind religious extremism, xenophobic nationalism — or both. An old KGB man, Putin had the genius to recognize that the last century’s police states went too far and wasted resources by dissecting private lives. You could measure the decline of Fox News by the drop in the quality of guests waiting in the green room. I angered left and right. Privacy Notice This isn’t about party but about our security at the most profound level. I have traveled widely in and written extensively about the region. Read more from Outlook and follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please hover over that comment, click the ∨ icon, and mark it as spam. The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Here's our Privacy Policy. In perilous times such as these, when domestic demagogues cherry-pick the Constitution and even a president displays impatience with our laws, we must put the Constitution above party and personal biases, above all else. Your Ad Choices That document is our sole guarantee that tyranny won’t come here, and that’s why our military takes an oath to the Constitution, not to an individual. After perhaps 30 seconds of silence, I said, “Free.”. We need to stop whining and be grateful for the freedoms we enjoy, our countless privileges as Americans and our remarkably effective government. But they don’t demand that you take personal responsibility, that great burden of democracy. HIGH ENERGY: Trump Does Two Outdoor Campaign Events In Florida On... Media Goes Into Overdrive To Spin Biden’s Disastrous Remarks About The... Trump Announces Another Historic Peace Deal – Sudan Normalizes Relations With... Trump Campaign Breaks Online Fundraising Record In 24 Hours Following The... Black Voter Approval Of President Trump Just Reached An Astonishing High. The cascade of revelations about the Russia-related crimes of Trump associates was dismissed, adamantly, as “fake news” by prime-time hosts who themselves generate fake news blithely. All rights reserved. By Ralph Peters. This wasn’t a case of the rats leaving a sinking ship. Today, you would meet a Republican commissar with a steakhouse waistline and an eager young woman wearing too little fabric and too much makeup, immersed in memorizing her talking points. “Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration,” wrote Peters in a letter to his former colleagues at the network, obtained and published by BuzzFeed. Thanks for contacting us. As Fox’s assault on our constitutional order intensified, spearheaded by its after-dinner demagogues, I had no choice but to leave. Not everyone sees freedom as their top priority, preferring security (a lesson we should have learned in Iraq). The chance to speak to millions of Americans is seductive, and, with the infinite human capacity for self-delusion, I rationalized that I could make a difference by remaining at Fox and speaking honestly. With his relentlessly propagandized image at home, Putin would have won a free election, but that wouldn’t have been enough: He feels the need of an unassailable mandate, of recognition as his country’s savior. Completing this poll entitles you to Pro Trump News updates free of charge. It’s a message demagogues promote even here. In Italy and France, pro-Putin, neo-fascist parties are political forces to be reckoned with, while Moscow also backs far-right parties in Germany and Austria. Today’s Fox prime-time lineup preaches paranoia, attacking processes and institutions vital to our republic and challenging the rule of law. Czars are just that way. You may opt out at anytime with a single click. President Vladimir Putin cruised to an expected victory on Sunday... Chinese President Xi Jinping won re-election in a unanimous vote... Post was not sent - check your email addresses! 65,342, This story has been shared 51,599 times. There is indeed a witch hunt, and it’s led by Fox against Robert Mueller. Even Kim Jong Un, a tin-pot despot, has gained international recognition at a level his predecessors never achieved. We invite you to become an American Lookout insider. I simply was no longer called on for topics central to my expertise. As early as the fall of 2016, and especially as doubts mounted about the new Trump administration’s national security vulnerabilities, I increasingly was blocked from speaking on the issues about which I could offer real expertise: Russian affairs and our intelligence community. “Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Friends and family encouraged me to leave, convinced that I embarrassed myself by remaining with the network (to be fair, I’m perfectly capable of embarrassing myself without assistance from Fox). Meanwhile, freedom means insecurity, and democracy signals chaos to unprepared societies. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The day my memo leaked, a journalist asked me how I felt. After the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, democracy was supposed to be irresistible.