‘Been burned too many times’: Trump loyalist Megyn Kelly refuses to cheer Trump and Fox News after Maduro
Conservative commentator and longtime Donald Trump supporter Megyn Kelly said she would “exercise caution” over the Trump administration’s military operation in Venezuela, sharply criticizing her former employer Fox News for what she described as uncritical coverage following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.Speaking on The Megyn Kelly Show on Monday, Kelly made clear she remains pro-Trump and pro-military, but warned against what she said would have been the expected tone had she still been working at Fox.
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“I would have known that I was supposed to cheerlead it, and I turned on Fox News yesterday, and I’m sorry, but it was like watching Russian propaganda,” Kelly said. “There was nothing skeptical. It was all rah-rah cheerleading, yes, let’s go.”She added that there “are serious reasons to just exercise a note of caution before we just get on the rah-rah train.”Kelly pointed to recent US military interventions, including Iraq and Libya, which she said ended in a “quagmire” and have failed “nine times out of ten.”“I have seen what happens when you cheerlead unabashedly US intervention in foreign countries, thinking it’s for our good and for the international good,” she said.She went on to criticize Fox News more broadly, saying she has “been embarrassed” in the past by being part of what she described as “green light territory” when it came to approving US military involvement overseas.“We’re not great at going into these foreign countries, decapitating them at the leadership level, and then saying, either we’re going to steer the country to a better place, or it’s going to steer itself,” Kelly said.Kelly also expressed deep discomfort with Trump floating the idea of “boots on the ground” in Venezuela, framing her concerns as a parent.“I speak for a lot of moms and dads, for that matter, when I say I’m staying in yellow territory until we know more, and I will not be joining the Fox News cheerleading brigade this time. I’ve been burned too many times,” she said.She also took aim at Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who appeared alongside Trump on Air Force One on Sunday praising the operation.“The fact that Lindsey Graham is standing next to him is enough for me to know I don’t want it. I’m concerned,” Kelly said. “All of the neocons have been celebrating this whole thing like it’s, you know, Christmas in January, and that alone gives me pause. When Lindsey Graham is cheering, I’m not.”To underline her skepticism, Kelly invited Aaron Mate, an anti-war journalist, as her guest for the discussion.Later on Monday evening, Trump said the US would need to “nurse” Venezuela back to health, suggesting oil companies would play a central role and that taxpayers might ultimately help foot the bill.Trump said it would cost “a lot of money” to rebuild Venezuela’s energy infrastructure, but claimed the US could do it ahead of an 18-month timeline. He added, however, that American taxpayers could be on the hook, as oil companies may receive assistance to carry out the rebuilding.
