Disheartening news from the world of punditry this week, as it emerged that dynamic MAGA duo Diamond and Silk have been cut loose by Fox News.
The pair rose to prominence in the lead-up to the 2016 election, with their snappy and boisterous Facebook videos in support of Candidate Trump. That spirit seems to have been their undoing: As CNN put it:
‘Over the last few weeks, the duo has advanced all sorts of misinformation and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. They’ve questioned the death toll. They’ve questioned whether the virus is being “deliberately spread.” They’ve suggested the “Deep State” is working “behind the scenes” and that it is “engineered.” On and on and on it goes.
‘On Wednesday, “Diamond & Silk” posted a tweet. “The only way we can become immune to the environment; we must be out in the environment,” the duo declared. “Quarantining people inside of their houses for extended periods will make people sick!”
‘Twitter promptly took action against the tweet for violating its rules against coronavirus misinformation. The suggestion from the Fox News personalities is clearly dangerous. People should not be “out in the environment.” Twitter required the two to remove the tweet in order to regain access to their account.’
‘After what they’ve said and tweeted you won’t be seeing them on Fox Nation or Fox News anytime soon,’ a source with knowledge of the matter told the Daily Beast.
Cockburn has had the distinct pleasure of seeing Diamond and Silk speak on two occasions. On the first of these, at CPAC in 2019, they earned the kind of crowd reaction you’d expect from preteens at a One Direction concert.
You’d imagine, therefore, that Fox News viewers would be dismayed by their absence. One Fox News viewer certainly is:
But I love Diamond & Silk, and so do millions of people! https://t.co/RBX9bmFIwH
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2020
Diamond and Silk are regular fixtures at the White House: most recently they joined Trump for a meeting with African American leaders on February 27, as well as attending his July 2019 ‘social media summit’ there.
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