My old friend, Judge Jeanine Pirro, has reportedly been suspended from her popular Fox News weekend show, and it has prompted President Trump to stand up for her and pressure Fox to keep her.
That’s a terrible shame, because — like the left’s failed attempt to destroy Tucker Carlson over his decade-old call-ins to a “shock jock” radio show — the attacks on Pirro stem from disingenuous, hypocritical competitors and ideological rivals who do not actually care about her supposed offense.
Why is Pirro evidently at risk of losing her show? Because she questioned if controversial Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar supports Sharia law, and because Fox News is more concerned about headlines in HuffPo and Mediaite than they are about allowing their opinion anchors to speak their minds.
“Omar wears a hijab, which, according to the Koran 33:59, tells women to cover so they won’t get molested,” Pirro noted during a recent broadcast. “Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?”
Left-wing activists immediately sprang into action, demanding that Pirro’s advertisers boycott her show, along with Carlson’s. Commentators on rival networks organized extended panels on her and Carlson’s “vile rhetoric.” Liberal news sites prepped videos on “Fox News’ Islamophobia Problem.”
Their aims couldn’t be more transparent. They want to silence, ostracize, and disgrace one of the most prominent conservative voices in the country — not because they are offended, but because they think they can get away with it.
Pirro even clarified her remarks in a statement following her show last week, acknowledging, “Of course because one is Muslim does not mean you don’t support the Constitution.”
Especially in light of Ilhan Omar’s record of anti-Semitic rhetoric and extreme identity politics, it’s necessary to stand up for Judge Jeanine’s right to ask questions about Omar without losing her popular and influential show, because none of this is what’s really at stake here.
The real issue isn’t Ilhan Omar’s faith. It’s the Political Correctness Brigade’s bad faith effort to weaponize Pirro’s comments against her and her employer.
No one in the media establishment was actually shocked or offended by Judge Jeanine’s monologue. When they heard it, they didn’t gasp with horror; they grinned and licked their lips, convinced there was a juicy “scalp” to be had.
For proof, just consider how much differently the media responded when sitting Democratic senators openly suggested that holding traditional Catholic beliefs on marriage and abortion should disqualify someone from serving as a federal judge.
The PC Brigade did nothing when Sens. Kamala Harris and Mazie Hirono called members of the Knights of Columbus, a 130-year-old Catholic charity, “extremists” and “alt-right.” In fact, they did less than nothing; they lionized Harris when she announced her run for the presidency, ignoring the fact she had suggested, even more explicitly than Pirro did, that someone else’s religion might conflict with the Constitution.
The bad faith in this double standard is obvious in the reporting on Pirro. None of the activists and journalists angling for her scalp truly believe, as The Washington Post reported, that Sharia is just “a framework of Islam and describes guidelines for living an ethical Muslim life.”
Judge Jeanine’s comments may have been indelicate, but Sharia law absolutely encompasses teachings on the organization of society and its civil laws. Huge numbers of Muslims all over the world tell pollsters they wish to see Sharia incorporated into the official laws of their countries. Even the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research — a liberal, western Muslim group — admits that Sharia “encompasses every sphere of human activity,” including “marriage, divorce, inheritance, contracts, property, liability, injuries, etc.,” and that “Stoning and hand chopping do feature in the Shariah.”
The refusal of Pirro’s detractors to admit that aspects of Sharia law might conflict with the U.S. Constitution is yet another bad faith attempt to create a “teaching moment” to lecture Americans about how they don’t understand Islam and should ignore the undeniably problematic elements of the faith, which remain prevalent and popular all over the world.
President Trump was absolutely correct to call out this farce. “Keep fighting for Tucker, and fight hard for [Judge Jeanine],” he wrote. “They can’t beat you, you can only beat yourselves!”
I only wish more conservatives would take his words to heart.
Tom Tancredo represented Colorado as a Republican in the United States House from 1999 to 2009.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.