Eric Bolling Goes Nuts After Buzzfeed Calls Him Out For Floating Anti-Muslim Conspiracy Theory
If there is one thing we’ve come to expect from Fox News personalities over the years, it is that they tend to be extremely thin-skinned. You would think that if your job was to toe the conservative line day in and day out, and repeat the talking points given to you from Roger Ailes, that you’d realize that you are going to be criticized and called out repeatedly. You’d also think that you’d do your best to ignore the criticisms and jabs, knowing it comes with the territory of being a polarizing, divisive, partisan figure. But, many of them can’t let it go and engage.
Case in point…Eric Bolling. The Five co-host and former day trader has carved out a nice little niche for himself on the network as a faux-tough, conservative cheerleading, one-percenter who has recently taken to kissing Donald Trump’s ass on a daily basis. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Bolling came to The Donald’s defense this week over Trump’s latest fight with the media, this time over blatant lies he’s said regarding 9/11.
During a panel discussion on the Fox program, Bolling essentially backed up Trump’s assertion that he had seen “thousands and thousands” of Muslims dancing and celebrating in New Jersey on 9/11. While no video has surfaced validating the celebrity billionaire’s claims, Trump has pointed to articles referencing rumors and hearsay, as well as to video footage of people talking about maybe seeing people celebrate. For his part, Bolling said that he remembers seeing video of Muslims dancing and stated that many in this country were tipped off to the attacks.
From the show’s transcript, courtesy of Media Matters:
“So I remember this day, and I stood on the New York side and I watched the plane fly into the tower. I remember the next day and I remember the news reports and I remember specifically the news reports about Jersey City. They said people were on the roofs watching the planes fly in. They were tipped off prior to the thing. And this was a narrative that was going on. I remember video, I don’t remember if it was Pakistan or Patterson. But there was also a lot of talk. Now the reason why I know this, is cause I was in the building in 1993 when it was blown up by Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was the “Blind Sheikh,” who devised the plan to blow up the World Trade Center in 93. It didn’t work. But he was the Jersey City imam. And I remember that there were claims his group, his whole mosque was cheering the planes actually doing finally what he tried to do in 1993. Whether or not it was a thousand, thousands, a few hundred, a handful? Who cares?
[…]
It doesn’t really matter to me, because I know there were Muslims and Muslim groups who were happy that the World Trade Center came down and they were in the United States when that happened.”
Shortly after the show aired, Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski called out Bolling on Twitter for spreading a smear that Muslims in America were not only celebrating in the streets while the Twin Towers came down but that they were told beforehand that it would be happening so they could be prepared.
“They were on the rooftops watching (planes hit the WTC). They were tipped off prior to the thing.” WHAT!? https://t.co/uYDFYwkv5C
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) December 2, 2015
Did this mofo really just say U.S. muslims were tipped off about planes hitting the WTC to watch it on their roofs https://t.co/uYDFYwkv5C
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) December 2, 2015
This started an online battle between the two, with Bolling ridiculing the Buzzfeed reporter for being in middle-school during the terrorist attacks and culminating in the Fox anchor blocking Kaczynski on Twitter.
Questioning me on 9/11 is a fools game.. BTW where were you that morning and how many close friends did you lose? https://t.co/tCNNpmNaa4
— Eric Bolling (@ericbolling) December 2, 2015
Oh that’s right you were in 7th grade. https://t.co/IDn4ZAUjZ0
— Eric Bolling (@ericbolling) December 2, 2015
ad hominem?.. or fact? 6th or 7th grade? I was in the WTC Feb 1993 when we were bombed & watched in person 9/11/01 https://t.co/XTS0hSy9TZ
— Eric Bolling (@ericbolling) December 2, 2015
Update here pic.twitter.com/humJpVOmwj
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) December 2, 2015
During the beef, Bolling used an old Fox News article, sourcing a New York Times piece, to back up his assertion that he was absolutely right that Muslims had been tipped off. The only problem, as Kaczynski pointed out, is that that there were five Israelis who were detained after the attacks, not Muslims. Also, the story was used as the basis for a conspiracy theory that Israel was actually behind 9/11.
I know he doesn’t realize it but the thing this guy just linked to has been at center of 9/11 conspiracies for years pic.twitter.com/DKzppF1Hlm
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) December 2, 2015
This guy really has no idea he’s citing a thing used to claim mossad did 9/11 (guys arrested were Israeli). pic.twitter.com/SZGwtet2NP
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) December 2, 2015
And with that, Kaczynski dropped the mic and called it a night. (Well, after he aggregated everything into a nice little article for Buzzfeed.)
