Considering that Fox is currently dealing with the fallout over one of its opinion hosts suggesting that a Muslim congresswoman isn’t American because she wears a hijab, maybe it wasn’t the most ideal timing for Fox Business Network host Stuart Varney to claim Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is a “jihad” against Silicon Valley businesses.
Last week, Warren proposed a plan to break up large tech companies, including Facebook, Amazon, and Google. “Today’s big tech companies have too much power — too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy,” the 2020 hopeful declared, adding that breaking up mergers will create competition and pressure the companies to listen to consumer’ concerns.
While the progressive lawmaker’s proposal has found some unexpected support from allies of President Trump, who believe social-media platforms censor conservatives, it would appear Trump’s more pro-business supporters aren’t so keen on busting up large firms.
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During Wednesday’s broadcast of Varney and Co., the eponymous host highlighted a recent Politico article that reported Warren had taken $90,000 from employees of Facebook, Amazon, and Google between 2001 to 2018.
“$2,700 specifically from Sheryl Sandberg, number two at Facebook,” the conservative host said. “And Ms. Sandberg gave that money recently, in September of last year. I call that a lousy investment. Facebook's number two gives money to a politician who wants to break-up Facebook. Go figure.”
Varney then likened the Democratic presidential candidate’s quest to break up the tech giants to an Islamic holy war.
“Senator Warren is on a jihad against big tech and big business, generally,” he asserted. “She wants all businesses to get permission from the government to operate. She’s dying to get her hands on private enterprise.”
The Fox Business host went on to claim that Warren is “also on a jihad against billionaires,” additionally telling her to stop taking money from billionaires while shaming her for having a net worth in the millions. (A favorite Fox argument is that left-leaning lawmakers fighting for progressive policies cannot have any wealth because socialism.)
Varney has often used the term “jihad” to bash his political opponents. In 2017, he asked one-time Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski about an “NBC jihad” against Trump and, later that year, he insisted that the Washington Post was leading a “media jihad” against the president.
