Media

Fox’s Brit Hume rips ‘radioactive’ Trump: ‘Utter balderdash’ was fed ‘into the veins of his supporters’

Fox News analyst Brit Hume rejected the possibility of President Trump winning public office again following the deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol that sparked a second impeachment effort, saying he is now “radioactive” among mainstream Republicans.

Speaking on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” late Tuesday, Hume blamed the president and his allies for feeding his supporters “balderdash” about the legitimacy of the 2020 election as well as Vice President Pence’s supposed ability to overturn the results. 

“All of that stuff he said for weeks on end after the election — that he’d won it in a landslide, and that it was all stolen from him, and that Mike Pence had the authority, which he most certainly did not, of reversing the results at the last minute last week,” Hume told host Tucker Carlson. “That was utter balderdash and he fed it into the veins of his supporters, and one could make a pretty good case that that’s part of what got them into a fever that led to last week’s events.”

Mainstream Republican figures, Hume added, are “furious” with the president following the loss of two Senate seats in Georgia’s runoff elections last week, compounded with the political fallout from last Wednesday’s riot, which left five people dead at the Capitol including one Capitol Police officer. A second officer who responded to the riot died days later.

“They are furious with him,” he continued. “They believe in their bones that he cost them the two special elections in the state of Georgia, which they manifestly should not have lost.”

“So that’s the reason Republicans are turning away from him. They think he’s bad news politically,” Hume said.

The president is facing a historic second impeachment by the House over accusations of inciting an insurrection against Congress. His supporters stormed the Capitol after he repeated unproven claims of election fraud at a rally. The House’s impeachment vote is likely to pass on Wednesday, while plans for a Senate trial have not been finalized.