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CNN asks ‘What if Fox covered Capitol attack like its Christmas tree fire?’

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CNN’s Brianna Keilar called out Fox’s extensive coverage of the fire that destroyed its artificial Christmas tree — especially when compared to how it  covered the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“Obviously it’s incredibly scary to feel your work place is under attack. Unless your work place is the Capitol,” she tweeted.

Meanwhile, on “New Day,” she aired a two minute super cut of Fox hosts decrying the destruction of the tree.

“Who sets a Christmas tree on fire?” a “Fox & Friends” host can be heard over footage of the blaze before another one is heard citing it as an example that “no city is safe” — a common line heard on Fox. In her setup to the supercut, Keilar noted that crime is on the rise in the U.S.

“Fox & Friends” has apparently forgotten about the common practice of setting crosses, a sacred symbol in most Christian religions, on fire in from of homes owned or occupied by Black people that swept the country just decades ago — and still continues to this day on a much lesser scale.

These burnings were frequently perpetrated by members of the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist and anti-Semitic (among other things) group that pledges to uphold “Christian morality” but has been widely denounced by most mainstream Christian religions.

“Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt then makes a rambling statement about how how Christmas trees are “about the Christmas spirit, the holiday season, it’s about Jesus, it’s about Hanukkah, it’s about everything that we stand for as a country; freedom and being able to worship the way you want to worship.”

That’s quite a claim appearing on a network who has made decried the “War on Christmas” and the phrase “Happy Holidays” (note Earhardt uses the word “holiday season”).

How, exactly, a Christmas tree is “about” Hanukkah is never made clear. Nor is it really clear how it stands for freedom of religion — unless your religion recognizes the Christmas holiday.

While Christmas trees do help mark what Christians believe is the birth of Christ in modern times, scholars have varying theories about the origin of Christmas trees — with many of them noting that the idea was likely co-opted from pagan traditions surrounding the winter solstice and nature (some similar research suggests that Jesus likely wasn’t even born in December if other facts about the Christmas story are to be believed).

Other hosts in the cut derided the Fox building’s lobby being full of smoke while noting the fact that the tree had over 100,000 patriotic red, white and blue lights.

After that, “New Day” cut to images taken from inside the Capitol insurrection, including smoke filling various rooms of the capital and bountiful examples of red, white and blue clothing and flags.

The show then played clips of Fox comparing the alleged insurrectionists to “tourists.” “Fox & Friends” Steve Doocy also decries that 99% or 100% (he seems a bit confused by that “statistic”) of those entering near or in the Capitol were “peaceful.”

While the Fox Christmas tree fire resulted in no injuries, five people were killed during the insurrection and four additional police officers would lose their lives to suicide in the months that followed.

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