Fox News anchor Shepard Smith used his Monday show to broadly contradict many of the claims coming from his own network, telling viewers that the migrant caravan that has obsessed Fox News and Fox Business primetime hosts was a big nothingburger.
“Tomorrow the migrants — according to Fox News reporting — are more than two months away if any of them actually come here. But tomorrow is one week before the mid-term election, which is what all of this is about,” said Smith in a calming southern monotone. “There is no invasion. No one is coming to get you. There is nothing at all to worry about.”
“They got us all riled up in April, remember?” he added, alluding to an earlier migrant caravan story. “The result was 14 arrests. We’re America, we can handle it.”
The Shep pep talk was dramatically at odds with other Fox News programing that has regularly railed against the caravan. Hosts from morning to primetime have warned of “hordes” and an “invasion.” Diseases like “polio,” “smallpox” and even “leprosy” have also made cameo appearances on the network’s airwaves.
“What about diseases? I mean, there’s a reason you can’t bring a kid to school unless he’s inoculated,” said Brian Kilmeade on “Fox & Friends” earlier this week. “Is it too much to say that we just can’t have countries, entire populations come in here without being looked at as hard-hearted?”
It’s not the first time Smith has given liberals something to cheer about at the conservative-leaning network. He has previously rebutted Fox News and Trump on the caravan, most recently about a week ago.
“President Trump is calling the caravan a national emergency,” Smith said. “And he’s claiming criminals and unknown alleged Middle Easterners are mixed in with the crowd. An important note: Fox News knows of no evidence to suggest the president is accurate on that matter. And the president has offered no evidence to support what he has said.”