On Monday, as millions of Americans prepared to behold the cosmic majesty of the solar eclipse, Fox News was covering the event the only way it knew how: by linking the moment at which the moon would cover the sun for approximately four minutes to the crisis on the southern border. And not metaphorically, but by literally warning viewers that the eclipse could lead to a surge of border crossings by dangerous individuals under the cover of darkness—which, of course, would all be Joe Biden’s fault.
As some were scrambling at the last minute to find appropriate eyewear for taking in the sight, anchor Dana Perino told viewers: “A rare celestial event collides with a policy failure on the ground. The southern border will be directly in the path of totality today when the moon covers the sun for nearly four minutes.” Coanchor Bill Hemmer added that those four minutes presented “a real opportunity for smugglers and cartels and migrants to come right in.”
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Naturally, they weren’t the only ones at the network using the opportunity to remind viewers that the border is a hellscape of Biden’s making. Speaking to correspondent Bill Melugin, who was reporting from a Texas border town, host John Roberts opined: “It’s so interesting to hear the celebratory atmosphere down there because…typically, in your coverage from Eagle Pass over the last four years, nobody’s been celebrating, so this really is unusual.”
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As Mother Jones writes, Fox also ramped up the fearmongering by showing “a map of the total eclipse’s path that transitioned into images from the weekend of supposed migrants in New Mexico,” with Melugin noting “suspected cartel scouts and coyotes watch[ing] from a mountain above.” (In an incredible moment of crossed wires, a pair of Fox anchors discussing the celestial event amongst themselves agreed there was no “political agenda in this story.”)
And Fox wasn’t the only conservative outlet linking the eclipse to the border. On Newsmax, a host wondered if there was “any concern that there could be a rush on the border during [the] time [of darkness].” In a moment of sanity, the guest responded: “Look, it gets dark every night.”