Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes Both Called Out Mollie Hemingway’s Pro-Trump Propaganda Before Leaving Fox News

News broke Sunday evening that two conservative stalwarts, Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes, asked Fox News to cancel their contributorship deals in protest of conspiracy theories pumped out by prime time house Tucker Carlson.

In many respects, this public protest was surprising, particularly for a cable news industry filled with pundits who prioritize publicity over principles. But close observers of the network — who have followed the internal fissures established during the Trump era — were not shocked by the development.

Goldberg and Hayes, co-founders of conservative news outlet The Dispatch, had gone from regulars on Fox during the Obama administration to appearing remarkably infrequently, particularly in the last year of the Trump administration, and the year after he lost.

But when they did show up on the network, neither were afraid to call out what they saw to be clear bullshit on display. Particularly when that bullshit emanated from the mouth of Federalist writer Mollie Hemingway.

Hemingway is a hardcore supporter of former President Donald Trump. She appears on Fox News quite often, and never challenges the baseless conspiracy theories that Trump pushes ad nauseum. In fact, she amplifies them, in promotion of her latest book — Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech and the Democrats Seized Our Elections — that seeks to provide a sane explanation for Trump’s absurd claim that the election was “stolen”.

Hayes and Goldberg said in interviews with the New York Times and NPR that “Patriot Purge,” the Fox Nation series from Tucker Carlson that pushed conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, was the final straw that pushed them to resign from the network.

But segments with Hemingway show that the two contributors have for more than a year objected to pro-Trump propaganda, live on the air.

Let’s start with a segment on Special Report almost exactly a year ago, when Goldberg called out Trump, and Hemingway, for stolen election claims. He referred to it as a “bat guano insane” theory, in a segment you can watch below:

“They are alleging an insane, bat guano crazy conspiracy theory where Rudy Giuliani is actually saying that most ballots are actually counted out of the country,” Goldberg said. “They’re alleging that those internationally recognized cyber ninjas, the Venezuelans, have hijacked our democracy. And while I don’t think Donald Trump thinks he’s going to pull it off, he’s trying to keep his options open, and one of the options he would like to keep open is to literally steal an election by claiming that the Democratic party has stolen an election. It’s a pervasive, unpatriotic lie.”

Hemingway responded that “there are really serious things here,” and noted that some critics of Trump claimed the 2016 election was stolen by Russia.

“Trump’s lawyers are failing time and time again when they go to court because they’re not allowed to lie. Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and Sidney Powell are constantly lying,” Goldberg shot back. “Whatever baggage you might have about the Russia collusion stuff and the conspiracy theories about all of that, that does not give the president of the United States the permission structure to be the first sitting president in American history to refuse to concede a lawful and clear election that he lost!”

The fact that Goldberg held Hemingway’s feet to the fire on a show that Fox News celebrates as its most journalistically sound news program is no small thing.

Hayes also called out Hemingway, also on Special Report, anchored by Bret Baier. This came during a panel discussion of the blockbuster report from The Atlantic that said then-President Trump insulted and disrespected the American war dead.

Hayes called out Hemingway for dismissing the report as “not true,” a claim she based on the use of anonymous sources in the report, and vigorous denials from the White House.

Moments later, Hayes pointed that out Fox’s own national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported on Friday afternoon that two top administration officials “confirmed to me key details” of The Atlantic story.

Hayes pointedly asked Hemingway: “Why is it okay for you to use anonymous sources, but not for other people who are trying to get to the truth?”

“I think there is a real debate to be had about the use of anonymous sources,” he added. “But I don’t think the use of anonymous sources should be dependent on whether it benefits Democrats or Republicans, it should be dependent on what we think about the use of anonymous sources, journalistically.”

Make no mistake: Goldberg and Hayes leaving Fox News is a huge loss for fact-based conservatism. In a statement released after news broke of their departure, Hayes cited William F. Buckley’s stated desire to stand apart from foolish conspiracists like the John Birch Society.

A more troubling consequence here is what side Fox News will take. The overwhelming evidence indicates that the network will side with Mollie Hemingway over well-respected conservative thinkers like Goldberg and Hayes. Perhaps that’s the reason Chris Wallace and Baier warned Fox News executives about Carlson’s Patriot Purge fever dream. Perhaps Fox should listen to Wallace and Baier, as the network is dangerously close to losing any credibility it still has left.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.