Former Fox News analyst Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters blasted the conservative network's incessant positive coverage of President Donald Trump, telling CNN's Brian Stelter on Sunday that Fox "prostitutes" itself on behalf of Trump's agenda.
Stelter asked Peters: "How much do you blame your former network Fox News? Are they at fault for propping up Trump?"
"Of course," Peters said. "I left Fox because as a former military officer who took an oath to the constitution, I could not be part of a channel that, to me, was assaulting the constitution, the constitutional order, the rule of law."
"Fox isn’t immoral, it’s amoral," Peters added. "It was opportunistic. Trump was just a gift to Fox and Fox, in turn, is a gift to Trump. It’s a closed loop. And so people that only listen to Fox have an utterly skewed view of reality."
Stelter: "Do you think your former colleagues are proud of their performances?"
"The polite word is ‘prostitutes’," Peters added. "So, we’ll just leave it at that. I don’t want to be the go-to guy for Fox bashing forever. But what Fox is doing is causing real harm to our country right now."
Peters had harsh words for Trump and the Republican Party as well.
The president "is not interested in understanding our government," Peters told CNN. "He believes the Constitution is a menu from which he can choose only the most delectable items."
Peters said Trump's behavior leads him to believe Trump is in the pocket of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump and Fox News need and feed off each other, a former analyst for the network said https://t.co/6oZ5oCJXps https://t.co/TEFNYovOqg— Newsweek (@Newsweek) 1534733107.0
"The evil twin of that, I believe as a former Russia analyst for most of my career… I’m convinced that the president of the United States is in thrall to Vladimir Putin," Peters continued. "There’s no other way to explain his behavior. And he perfectly fits the profile of the kind of people the Russians target. “This is a distinctly un-American president who doesn’t seem to like America very much. I never could have foreseen this Orwellian situation."
You got it absolutely right Lt. Col. Ralph Peters @CNNPolitics @CNN @ReliableSources @ReliableSources— GlamGal (@GlamGal) 1534692604.0
Peters described the Republican Party as "dormant," having been taken over by "couch potato anarchists" who "don't have a program to make America great again."
Twitter cheered Peters' words:
@ReliableSources Lt. Col. Ralph Peters did not hold back. Loved this; it was like Mister Rogers goes Rambo.— lilly ❄️ (@lilly ❄️) 1534694919.0
@ReliableSources BRING BACK COLONEL PETERS! Great eloquence from someone who knows.— David Burhenn (@David Burhenn) 1534695311.0
@ReliableSources Thanks! We need more high-integrity, intelligent people to speak up.— King County WA Resistor (@King County WA Resistor) 1534707226.0
@ReliableSources I am not a Russian analyst, former or otherwise, and I am also convinced that Trump is in thrall to Vladimir Putin.— Val (@Val) 1534767337.0
And they seconded Peters' thoughts about Fox News:
@thedailybeast @FoxNews FOX NEWS...Where Truth isn't the Truth..and they're damn proud of it...— Robert Saltzman (@Robert Saltzman) 1534719058.0
@thedailybeast @kahluaandrum @FoxNews It’s the Sate Run TV show. Stop referring to it as news. It doesn’t make it… https://t.co/rV3Wp1Ka9a— E Sullivan (@E Sullivan) 1534732634.0
@thedailybeast @FoxNews Fox has become the trump support network. It’s an alternate reality that plays to Trumps cult base.— Matt Coskren (@Matt Coskren) 1534718939.0
@thedailybeast @FoxNews That’s what most of us have been saying for YEARS!!— lis (@lis) 1534720378.0
@ReliableSources @_political_p We folks in the military circles really respect Lt. Col Ralph Peters. He's the real… https://t.co/nMbqS1yrzv— JudyBoomerTaya (@JudyBoomerTaya) 1534766942.0
BAM! retired LT. col. ralph peters (former fox news analyst) #speakingtruthtopower on @CNN @ReliableSources— Julaine (@Julaine) 1534692441.0
Peters left Fox News in the spring and criticized the network for its biased coverage of the president's transgressions.