Editor's Note: Steve Schmidt is one of the founding members of the Lincoln Project. He is a communications and public affairs strategist who has worked on several Republican campaigns, including John McCain's 2008 bid for the White House, and he is now a regular political contributor to MSNBC. On Thursday, Schmidt reacted to news that former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan would be giving a speech warning Republicans against the, "populist appeal of one personality," over a series of 7 tweets. MaxNewsToday has assembled this thread and reprinted it as one easy-to-read op-ed for our ongoing segment, Schmidt Storm. It has been edited for grammar and clarity. The comments seem like thin gruel and a micro-step toward facing a reality that is clear as day and was so many mile markers ago. Paul Ryan is a CURRENT FOX NEWS CORPS BOARD MEMBER. Fox News is the singularly most dishonest institution in American life. It has poisoned American democracy with insanity, conspiracy theories, racial division, lies and malice. Rupert Murdoch is the most dangerous immigrant ever to come to American shores from a foreign land. Paul Ryan is a director of the corporation that is the most pernicious and dishonest force in the American public square. Democracies require citizens who understand that rights are accompanied by obligations and responsibilities, fidelity to the truth over the lie and faith and belief in the legitimacy of the system. Fox News has attacked reality, the truth and our republic with misinformation, conspiracies and malice. Fox News is the propaganda hub of America’s autocratic movement. The bottom line is that the conservative movement is happy with where things stand. Donald Trump is their leader, and they salivate over the toxic brew of new voters he has inspired with his deplorable conduct, division and racial malice. The conservative movement is vanquished. It is gone and defeated. It has been consumed. It has given way to a movement built around a cult of personality and animated by a desire for profit and power. It is dangerous and undemocratic. I wish Paul Ryan would say what needs to be said in clear English. I doubt he will. Regardless, before he says anything, if he wants to be taken seriously, he should quit Fox. You don’t get to serve on that board and talk about the public good. How many Americans are dead because of the Covid insanity peddled by Fox hosts? The first words out of Paul Ryan’s mouth around a restoration of conservatism should be “unplug Fox.”
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