Erick Erickson: I got booted from Fox News by Mitch McConnell’s WIFE

Erick Erickson, who says he’d always dismissed claims that Fox News and the GOP were in bed together, explains how Mitch McConnell’s wife got him booted from Fox News because he was writing critically about her husband:

Several years ago, during the early days of the 2014 primary season, I was scheduled to be on Fox News and the hit got cancelled. That, in and of itself, was not unusual. What happened next was. And it is somewhat relevant to this piece circulating from the New York Post about Mitch McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao.

Roger Ailes had Bill Shine reach out before he himself reached out. Roger had a problem and the only way he could resolve the problem was to take me off the air. Elaine Chao was on the Newscorp board of directors and, according to Roger, Elaine was “riding [his] ass” about me being on Fox. I was supporting Matt Bevin in the 2014 Republican primary in Kentucky against McConnell. And it didn’t matter why I was on television and on what topics I was or was not talking, Chao had told Roger I was an unwelcome presence on Fox and not a team player. Roger had not only told me, but conveyed to my boss at RedState that I was becoming a problem for him with Elaine.

Roger felt the need to apologize, but told me that as long as I was writing about McConnell at RedState that I would find my appearances on Fox limited. I kept writing about McConnell. To his credit, Roger later called me and said he appreciated that I was willing to give up air time to keep doing what I believed in. He said most people would have shut up to be on TV.

We often complained about Obama not liking the opposing voices at Fox News, yet now we see McConnell not only disliking them, but taking action to shut one of them down. Sounds a bit reminiscent of Erdogan in Turkey, who’s shut down all opposing voices in his media. How fascistic!


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