Ratings

Newsmax Loses Half Its Addled Audience as Prophecies of Trump’s Resurrection Wane

Posted by on March 6, 2021 at 2:52 pm. 8 Comments :

As the thrill of sedition passes from the glazed-over eyes of Trump’s Insurrectionist Brigades, the appeal of ultra-rightist, Trump-fluffing “news” sources fades significantly. Newsmax had a brief dalliance in the sunlight of Trump’s ego-driven plugs, but the sun has now set and Newsmax retreated to the darkness of its wingnut lair.

Donald Trump Messiah

Not only have the hopes of the QAnon crackpots dwindled as every one of their loopy prophecies failed to materialize, but their Patron Saint of Mar-a-Lago can’t even promote the network on the social media platforms from which he’s been banished. Consequently, the fortunes of Newsmax have declined precipitously:

“In the weeks following the election, Newsmax saw ratings highs as viewers, disappointed by Donald Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden, turned to Newsmax for comfort, as the network continued to perpetuate baseless claims of voter fraud. […] But in the last week of February, Newsmax had lost 51% of its audience in total day [55% in primetime] since its viewership peaked the week of November 16, 2020.”

That’s right. With the crumbling of the QAnon-sense yearnings for Trump to be inaugurated for a second term blown away by the harsh winds of reality, the network that was most prominently propagating the Big Lie that Trump won the 2020 election (and is being sued for defamation) and that he would soon return victorious to the White House, has seen its viewers scamper away to their dens of idiocy.

In the last days of Trump’s Twitter tirades, he spent an inordinate amount of time and energy bashing Fox News. As an alternative, Trump offered up Newsmax and One America News Network (OANN) where the crazy was still in abundant supply. But now those days are gone. The conspiracy theories have all been exhausted, not that they ever had any credibility – or sanity.

Meanwhile, Trump is still hiding out in his Mar-a-Lago bunker. And due to his banishment from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, he can no longer prop up the screwball networks that championed his messianic mission. It’s a pathetic tale of woe that would surely tear at the heartstrings of the Trumpian cultists, if they had hearts.

NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Despite What Fox News Says, Democrats Won the Impeachment Debate

Posted by on February 13, 2021 at 2:07 pm. 8 Comments :

Donald Trump has secured a place in history as the only reality TV game show host to be impeached twice. He holds fully 50% of all impeachments for United States Presidents. And while the outcome of this second attempt by Democrats in Congress to hold Trump accountable for betraying his oath of office and his country was never in much doubt, his legacy will forever reflect his treasonous acts.

Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram.

Donald Trump Walking the Plank

The Senate is an august body that is often referred to as “deliberative.” That is less true in these modern times as hyper-partisanship has infected a cowardly confederacy of Republicans who ignored the fact-based evidence in order to express their blind devotion to a dishonest and disgraced demagogue whose lust for power very nearly brought down the American experiment in democracy.

However, the much larger constituency of the populace at large was not as easily misled as their senatorial so-called representatives. The latest polling of citizens on the question of Trump’s guilt diverges sharply from the survey of Senators voting in Trump’s impeachment hearing:

“Seventy-one percent of American adults, including nearly half of all Republicans, believe former President Donald Trump was at least partially responsible for starting the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, according to an Ipsos poll conducted for Reuters.”

So nearly three-quarters of the American people believe Trump is guilty. And while all fifty Democratic senators agree with the nation’s citizenry, only seven Republicans did. Even so, that still makes this the most bipartisan vote to convict an impeached president in history.

For Trump and his apologists to regard having lost a majority of 57% of the Senate is a bizarre twist on the concept of victory. Even GOP leader Mitch McConnell ultimately conceded Trump’s guilt. After the vote he described Trump’s behavior as a “disgraceful dereliction of duty” about which he said “There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.” Which makes his vote to acquit an exercise in flaming hypocrisy and cowardice.

It isn’t very often that poll respondents ever approach 71% agreement on any political issue. So it’s significant that a majority that lopsided has occurred with an issue as controversial as impeachment. And this unity (which many in politics and the press have been clamoring for) occurred despite the best efforts of Fox News to distort reality and thrust their biased propaganda down the throats of their eagerly deceived audience.

What this tells us is that Fox News doesn’t have the broad-based influence to which they like to pretend. In fact, the ratings for the impeachment hearings prove how weak Fox’s grip on the nation’s news consumers really is. For instance, CNN reports that “Fox fell below 1 million viewers during the afternoon coverage period. For comparison’s sake MSNBC averaged 3 million and CNN averaged 2.9 million viewers.” Fox News has been coming in third regularly since the election in November of last year.

Some pundits have been asserting that Trump’s hide was saved by the existence of an ultra-rightist network that was parroting his lies and propaganda. But the ratings show that that isn’t the case. Trump’s support among his cult followers was baked in before the Senate hearings began. The efforts by Fox to shape the debate were seen by only a tiny faction of already convinced devotees. And during much of the time leading up to the impeachment, the only news for Trump was bad news. His lawyers were embarrassing themselves and/or quitting. And Fox News shills were being caught in flagrant lies and/or getting fired.

In the end, Trump’s defense was a humiliating mish-mash of the sort of malarkey that was dispensed by Trump-fluffers on Fox and other wingnut media, and that used to appear in Trump’s now-canceled Twitter feed. And the ridiculousness of the Trump defenders wasn’t lost by credible and respected observers who commented on their ineptitude, as well as Trump’s grim future:

NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Crybaby Trump to Screen Actors Guild: You Can’t Fire Me. I Quit!

Posted by on February 4, 2021 at 12:19 pm. 3 Comments :

America’s first (and hopefully only) reality TV game show host to have accidentally become president of the United States has provided the finishing touch to his career as a failed entertainer. And true to form, Donald Trump has made the whole affair about himself and his morbidly bloated ego. Now he has been wounded in way that is especially painful for someone so obsessed with himself.

Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram.

Donald Trump, Hollywood

Prior to launching his brand marketing scheme disguised as a presidential campaign, Trump was the villainous figure who arrived at the end of The Apprentice to fire some poor schnook like Gary Busey or Meatloaf because they couldn’t manage to set up a lemonade stand. Trump’s presence on the program required him to join the Screen Actos Guild (SAG-AFTRA). However, after his disastrous presidency – and particularly his responsibility for the deadly Capitol insurrection – the Guild took steps to expel Trump. Guild leaders issued these statements:

SAG President Gabrielle Carteris: “Donald Trump attacked the values that this union holds most sacred – democracy, truth, respect for our fellow Americans of all races and faiths, and the sanctity of the free press. There’s a straight line from his wanton disregard for the truth to the attacks on journalists perpetrated by his followers.”

SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director David White: “Our most important role as a union is the protection of our members. The unfortunate truth is, this individual’s words and actions over the past four years have presented actual harm to our broadcast journalist members. The board’s resolution addresses this effort to undermine freedom of the press and reaffirms the principles on which our democratic society rests, and which we must all work to protect and preserve.”

Naturally, Trump couldn’t keep his malignantly narcissistic yap shut. He hasn’t made a single public comment since being banished to Mar-a-Lago by the American people. He’s said nothing about his Seditionist Brigades in Washington or the the murder of a Capitol Hill Police officer. But he nevertheless felt compelled to announce to the world that “I no longer wish to be associated with your union,” which he baselessly accused of “promoting dangerous un-American policies and ideas.”

So after the Guild had already made clear its intention to kick Trump out, he penned a poison letter that is pure Trumpian egomania…

https://twitter.com/noozvk/status/1357398915042013184

The letter is rife with the conceit that is the hallmark of Trump’s character, or lack thereof. He could not stop talking about himself and what he regards as his invaluable contributions to human existence. For instance…

“I write to you today regarding the so-called Disciplinary Committee hearing aimed at revoking my union membership. Who cares!”

” While I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work.”

“I’ve also also greatly helped the cable news television business (said to be a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics), and created thousands of jobs at networks such as MSDNC and Fake News CNN, among many others.”

For the record, cable news was a growing media phenomenon prior to and during the Trump presidency. What’s more, the ratings for both MSNBC and CNN have skyrocketed since Trump lost decisively to Joe Biden, who has has already articulated his aversion to Fox’s propaganda and lies. And Fox News has dropped to third place for the first time in twenty years.

https://twitter.com/noozvk/status/1356979757343100929

If Trump wants to take credit for something, that would be it. He has managed to succeed at something progressive media activists have struggled with for years. He made Fox News as toxic as he is. The result is that Fox is turning even harder toward the loony right. Which will likely ensure and accelerate their descent into the ratings abyss. Thanks Donnie!

NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. And you can follow this surrogate Twitter account here. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Cue Trump Meltdown: Biden’s Inauguration Drew Millions More Viewers than Trump’s

Posted by on January 21, 2021 at 2:40 pm. 1 Comments :

UH-OH. Someone better check in on Donald Trump. If he gets wind of this news he’s likely to suffer what doctors call an MSHE (Massive Spontaneous Head Explosion).

Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram.

Donald Trump TV Set

The preliminary Nielsen Ratings for Joe Biden’s inaugural swearing in ceremony significantly surpassed those of Trump’s. And that’s despite the challenges facing this inaugural. With the constraints put on it by the COVID-19 pandemic that prohibits large gatherings of groups, and the security issues created by Trump’s Seditionist Brigades, Biden still managed to crush Trump in the contest that matters to him more than anything else: TV ratings. Variety reports that…

“The inauguration of President Joe Biden won significantly more viewers than President Donald Trump’s 2017 ceremony, per early Nielsen figures.

“Approximately 39.87 million people watched the half-hour swearing-in ceremony over the nation’s six major TV-news outlets, according to Nielsen, compared with an average of 30.6 million viewers for the 2017 event.”

UPDATE: To make matters worse from Trump’s perspective, CNN, the network he repeatedly maligned as “fake news,” drew the biggest audience. Fox News came in dead last, declining a whopping 77% from their 2017 inauguration coverage.

Trump should actually be used to this by now. And not just because he lost to Biden by more than seven million votes in the 2020 presidential election. He previously lost to Biden in the ratings for their party convention acceptance speeches:

“President Trump’s Thursday night convention speech making the case for his reelection was lower-rated than his challenger Joe Biden’s speech one week ago, according to overnight Nielsen ratings.

“About 23.8 million viewers watched coverage of Trump’s RNC address across thirteen cable and broadcast networks, down from 24.6 million viewers who watched Biden’s DNC address on twelve of those same networks.”

And Trump also lost to Biden during the campaign when they had dueling town halls:

“Biden drew 12.7 million total viewers on the Disney-owned network, while Trump drew 10.4 million in the same 9-10 p.m. time slot on NBC. Across the entire runtime, the Biden town hall averaged 12.3 million viewers. In terms of the fast national 18-49 demographic, Biden is comfortably on top with a 2.6 rating to Trump’s 1.7.”

This will probably hurt Trump nearly as much as losing the election. After all, the old reality TV game show host has always regarded television ratings as “the real polls.” And yet, somehow he always manages to come up short there as well.

NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. And you can follow this surrogate Twitter account here. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

LOSERS: Both Trump and Fox News Came in Last on Saturday

Posted by on November 9, 2020 at 10:33 am. 3 Comments :

Misery loves company. And there are few experiences more miserable than joining the One Term Club of failed U.S. presidents. That’s where Donald Trump finds himself today, even as he frantically tries to deny reality with his frivolous lawsuits and impotent tweets pitifully claiming that he “won by a lot.” He didn’t. And the American people are not going to miss the abundant abominations of his deviant detour from democracy.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Hate Again

Along with Trump’s humiliating loss to Joe Biden, a candidate that he unsuccessfully tried to demean as a mentally deficient socialist, Fox News has also proved to be a failure in the early stages of the post-Trump era. On Saturday most news agencies called the election for Biden. CNN came first, followed by NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, the Associated Press, and bringing up the rear, a clearly reluctant Fox News.

However, even more troubling from Fox’s perspective, they came in dead last in the ratings against their cable news competition. And it was a distant last place finish at that:

“‘CNN has been the most-watched network for continuing coverage of the 2020 presidential election, and that sterling performance culminated on Saturday, as the network earned by far the most viewers’ during Biden’s victory speech, TVNewser’s A.J. Katz wrote. […]

“CNN averaged 13.6 million viewers during the live coverage; MSNBC averaged 8.5 million; and Fox News had just 3 million. This is a pattern that we’ve seen with Fox for some time — the network fares very well as the ‘voice of the opposition’ to Democrats, but when Dem leaders are speaking live or celebrating something, Fox’s audience fades.”

This is more than just an affirmation that America’s news consumers prefer the honesty of CNN, NBC, etc., to the lies and propaganda of Fox News. It also reveals that Fox’s audience is a brainwashed cult of devotees who are unconcerned with truthful reporting. The audiences for the non-Fox news organizations grew substantially on Saturday, especially for the Biden victory speech. But the three million viewers for Fox were about the same number that they would have had on any other day. So the Fox News audience is apparently just a parish of disciples who will watch no matter what is going on.

Leading those disciples is the cult’s Dear Leader himself. Trump has been conspicuously absent from the media since election day. He hasn’t made a single public appearance or spoken to the press, including his Ministry of Propaganda, Fox News. However, he has been feverishly tweeting video clips of his State TV sycophants. On Sunday night, in fact, he posted ten videos of the Trump-fluffers on Fox News parroting his desperate denial that had Biden had won.

That’s a lot of video posts, even for Trump. Particularly when he has recently been upset with Fox. On election day he phoned into Fox and Friends and complained that the network gave too much airtime to Barack Obama. He also called Fox “a problem” because “they’re going the way of CNN, and they’re going the way of MSNBC.” This summer Trump whined that it’s “So hard to watch @FoxNews anymore“ because “The Radical Left has scared Fox into submission.” And there is so much more of this whining due to Fox not being sufficiently worshipful at all times.

Trump, however, seems to still be glued to Fox News because he knows there is nowhere else for him to go for such devoted support with a hefty audience of dimwitted cult followers. The alternatives (i.e. Newsmax, OANN, etc.) are low rated also rans. So Trump will stick with Fox, where the two losers can continue to offer each other solace and unquestioning promotional support. That is, until after he leaves office and decides to build his own, destined to fail, media empire.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump’s Nightmare: Biden Takes the Ratings Crown in Dueling Town Halls

Posted by on October 16, 2020 at 10:14 am. 3 Comments :

Friday is going to be another Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day for Donald Trump, whose days of late are mostly filled with disappointment, bitterness, anger, jealousy, and fear. With every new poll Trump is falling farther behind Joe Biden, both nationally and in the critical battleground states. Even his favorite pollster, the rabidly biased, right-wing Rasmussen, has Trump facing near certain defeat.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden

After chickening out of the second presidential debate, Trump plotted with NBC to schedule a town hall that would directly compete with the one previously scheduled with Joe Biden on ABC. There was a lot wrong with that decision on NBC’s part, and their poor judgement is not validated by this good news in the aftermath of both town halls (via Variety):

“Biden drew 12.7 million total viewers on the Disney-owned network, while Trump drew 10.4 million in the same 9-10 p.m. time slot on NBC. Across the entire runtime, the Biden town hall averaged 12.3 million viewers. In terms of the fast national 18-49 demographic, Biden is comfortably on top with a 2.6 rating to Trump’s 1.7.” [See updated numbers below]

Biden’s audience exceeded Trump’s by more than two million – 20%. [Note: these are preliminary ratings that will be updated later in the day]. That’s a significant victory that parallels Biden’s lead in both polling and fundraising. Biden pulled in a record $383 million in September, compared to Trump’s haul of only $247.8 million. But best of all, ratings are what Trump cares about more than anything else, and he has utterly failed in that arena. This will surely drive the Narcissist-In-Chief CRAZY(er).

[UPDATE: The total is now in for Trump’s town hall, including MSNBC and CNBC. The three networks combined drew 13.1 million viewers. So Biden’s town hall on ABC, whose final numbers are 14.1 million, still beat Trump by a million viewers]

There were additional differences between the the Trump and Biden town halls that are more substantive than ratings. While Biden made a couple of mistakes, Trump lied frequently in his town hall. He was also challenged – and failed – on issues like…

  • Refusing to renounce the QAnon domestic terrorists
  • Deliberate distortions of data concerning the coronavirus
  • His inability to recall whether he had taken a COVID-19 test prior to the first debate
  • His miniscule tax payments and to whom he owes more than $400 million
  • Disseminating conspiracy theories such as one about Biden killing SEAL Team 6

On that last matter Trump attempted to excuse himself by saying that “it was a retweet,” as if that makes any difference. It’s still Trump passing along a preposterous and dangerous lie. NBC’s moderator, Savannah Guthrie, called him out saying that “You’re not like someone’s crazy uncle that can just retweet whatever.”

All told, the night was a huge defeat for Trump. He embarrassed himself in his own town hall. He likely alienated even more voters. And worst of all, he was beaten up in the ratings by someone he says is a mentally deficient socialist. If Trump can’t even win against that sort of an opponent, what does that make him?

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump’s RNC Speech Flops in the Ratings, Loses to Biden

Posted by on August 28, 2020 at 12:40 pm. 2 Comments :

Our reality TV game show host president has made it clear over the years that the most important thing to him are his television ratings. He cites them to validate the usefulness of his phony Coronavirus Task Force briefings. In his ego-soaked ignorance, he considers them to be “the real polls.” But now he’s going to have to live with the yardstick for success that he created.

Donald Trump

The overnight Nielsen ratings for Trump’s nomination acceptance speech at the Republican Nationalist Confederation were an unmitigated flop. Despite his illegally using the White House for his political campaign, and cramming a couple of thousand cheering sycophants into a small space with no face masks, Trump still managed to underperform. As reported by CNN…

“President Trump’s Thursday night convention speech making the case for his reelection was lower-rated than his challenger Joe Biden’s speech one week ago, according to overnight Nielsen ratings.

“About 23.8 million viewers watched coverage of Trump’s RNC address across thirteen cable and broadcast networks, down from 24.6 million viewers who watched Biden’s DNC address on twelve of those same networks.”

This is the method of measuring that Trump has insisted best reflects where the American people stand. He’s wrong! But since he’s made such a big deal of it, it would be unfair not to give it due consideration. Two million more people watched Biden, who Trump has maligned with infantile nicknames such as “sleepy” and “slow.” And the Democratic convention also beat the Republicans for the total four days combined. So where does that leave Trump now?

Even on Fox News immediately following Trump’s 70 minute harangue, Chris Wallace told the Trump cultists watching that the speech was “surprisingly flat,” “far too long,” and lacked substance. Yet somehow, in Trump’s delusional fantasy world, he posted a tweet that contradicted reality:

Seriously, where does he get this stuff? Are his aides purposefully lying to him? Are these his own original lies? Or is he suffering from an acute case of self-deception? Regardless, he is passing these blatant falsehoods on to his worshipful cult disciples who will believe whatever he says.

However, the American people aren’t fooled by any of this. Trump’s approval ratings have not improved since the convention began. In fact, Trump’s favorite pollster, the wildly biased Rasmussen, actually shows him dropping five points. And if that’s the story from the most pro-Trump pollster, guess where the rest of the surveys are going to wind up.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

UPDATE: Naturally, Trump couldn’t keep his yap shut about this. But who would have expected him to completely defy reality by tweeting…

Well, actually everyone would have expected that. Trump lies like the rest of us breathe. But while it’s not surprising, it’s still shocking and disgusting.

Fearful Trump’s Extremist Attacks Are Escalating and It’s Only Going to Get Worse

Posted by on July 18, 2020 at 11:23 am. 1 Comments :

There is an unmistakable stench of desperation in the White House that is spreading like a virus. Donald Trump may be as delusionally confident as ever on the surface, but his behavior is more reflective of someone consumed by fear and a grossly misperceived sense of victimization. This has lead to a new “scorched earth” reelection approach to attacking Joe Biden and a nastier, more toxic campaign strategy.

Donald Trump Zombie

Trump has plenty to be worried about. His negligent and incompetent mismanagement of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has resulted in a tragic surge that exceeds anything seen throughout the world. The economy is in recession and more than 40 million Americans have faced unemployment. There is civil unrest in the streets of America protesting systemic racism, while Trump is advocating for Confederate traitors who fought to preserve slavery. And his reelection campaign is coming apart at the seams amidst historically low polling and abysmal approval ratings.

As Trump’s mental state deteriorates, his paranoia increases. He has begun administering “loyalty tests” to staffers in the White House and virtually every cabinet agency, including the Pentagon. He and his Ministry of Propaganda (aka Fox News) are entertaining bizarre election theories aimed more at soothing his fragile ego than winning in November. And he sees himself as tormented by everyone from former advisors like John Bolton (see his book here) to family members like his niece Mary Trump (see her book here).

Consequently, Trump is resorting to ever more drastic methods of extraction from the electoral Mariana Trench he has dug himself into. He is ramping up his attacks on Joe Biden with allusions to his mental health. That’s a treacherous slope considering that the American people regard Trump as more mentally unfit than Biden. He sat for what he probably thought would be a softball Fox News interview, but ended up getting fact-checked live by Chris Wallace. Trump was called out for his lies about Biden’s position on defunding the police.

However, Trump’s primary concerns are never about the issues that are most important to the American people. He is endlessly and exclusively obsessed with his own welfare and image. Which explains much of his recent outrage over the media’s coverage of his floundering campaign. following his disastrous cult rally in Tulsa, Trump tweeted…

Trump’s uniquely deranged notion that TV ratings are “the real polls” is a perspective that can only come from someone whose otherwise pitifully thin resume is dominated by having hosted a reality TV game show for fourteen years. However, even by his own measure, Trump is a pathetic loser. The ratings for his tongue bath – er, interview – with Sean Hannity don’t look so good when compared to the ratings for Rachel Maddow’s interview of Mary Trump. Hannity pulled in 5.11 million viewers, while Maddow drew 5.23 million.

“Maddow’s sit-down with President Donald Trump’s niece drew a record 5.23 million viewers to the show, leading every show on cable and broadcast in primetime Thursday. […] Thursday’s edition also claimed the largest viewership for a regularly scheduled show in MSNBC’s history.”

So does Trump still believe that these are the real polls? Or will this just incite even more outrageous tweets that defy coherent explanation? It’s most likely going to spur more intense “hyperbollocks,” which is my word combining “hyperbole” and “bollocks” to describe rhetoric that is both exaggerated and unfathomable rubbish.

Regardless, Trump’s warped sociopathy is bound to get worse as the honest depictions of his failures continue to batter him mercilessly. so prepare yourselves for his his attacks on Biden that will grow ever more unhinged in the coming weeks. He simply cannot handle reality, and thus reacts by inventing psychotic fantasies wherein he is infallible and omnipotent. Unfortunately, he also reacts with greater hostility and viciousness. And where that might lead between now and January 20, 2021, is both a mystery and a troubling concern for this nation and the world.

UPDATE: The Washington Post published an editorial that reveals that the “scorched earth” strategy described above has actually been documented and circulated in the White House:

“President Trump has launched a slash-and-burn campaign against an exaggerated caricature of his Democratic opponent, casting former vice president Joe Biden as a destroyer of basic freedoms and a threat to voter’s safety who would ‘let terrorists roam free’ and ‘abolish the American way of life.’ […] In new advertising, tweets and public statements that began to appear earlier this month, Trump has argued that the presumptive Democratic nominee is a harbinger of chaos and destruction, depicting a fantastical scarecrow largely divorced from reality.”

Hold on, folks. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride. And Biden, his surrogates, and Democrats everywhere need to be vigilant and ready to respond.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

HUH? Trump Celebrates Fox News Ratings, the Network He Says is ‘Terrible’

Posted by on July 1, 2020 at 2:56 pm. NO Comments :

Apparently the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is over. And the nation is no longer in recession. And the 40 million unemployed Americans have all gone back to work. And there is no more civil unrest in the streets due to systemic racism. And Russia has revoked their bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan. This is what you’d have to assume based on what Donald Trump has made his priorities.

Donald Trump Fox News

On Wednesday morning Trump was busily conducting his presidential Twittery. He was taking a break from his other main duties, golfing and watching Fox News. However, Fox wasn’t far from his wobbly consciousness. Prominent within his Twantrums were shout outs to the State TV network that so reliably disseminates Trump-fluffing propaganda. He tweeted that he…


And…

It’s almost needless to say that Trump, a former reality TV game show host, is badly misrepresenting reality. As published in the Hollywood Reporter, the ratings performance for the second quarter of 2020 showed unprecedented gains across the board for the news media:

“All three major cable news networks set ratings records in the second quarter of 2020, as ongoing stories including the coronavirus pandemic and racial justice protests drove viewers to Fox News, CNN and MSNBC.

“The three channels recorded double-digit gains over the same period in 2019 in total viewers and adults 25-54. All three also delivered their biggest viewer tallies ever in both total-day averages and in primetime.”

Fox News predictably came out on top because they have no competition for the wingnut audience they pander to. However, the margin of victory was hardly worth celebrating. In the key advertiser demographic of 25-54 year olds, Fox drew 366.000 viewers. CNN was close behind with 335,000, and MSNBC was narrowly lower with 315,000. Those are the rankings for what Trump characterized (and egocentrically thanked himself) as being “so far below … that you can barely find them.”

Trump lying about ratings – or anything else – won’t surprise anyone anymore. But it’s notable that after fourteen years on television, Trump is still obsessed with the medium and even believes that ratings are a better measure of popularity than scientific polling (they aren’t). But it is interesting to note the schizophrenia poking through Trump’s already diagnosed malignant narcissism. The fact that he’s congratulating Fox News for a ratings win comes after months of attacking Fox for being just another fake news front for liberals and Democrats.

Just in the past few weeks, Trump has whined that “The @FoxNews Polls are a JOKE!” ( a familiar complaint) He raged that “Fox is terrible!” He fumed that “FoxNews is doing nothing to help Republicans, and me, get re-elected on November 3rd” (because he believes that that is their purpose). And he griped that “FoxNews is working hard pushing the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats.” Yeah, sure they are.

Trump can’t seem to figure out whether he loves Fox or hates them. But while he has committed himself to finding another network to carry his poisoned water, he still schedules his interviews almost exclusively with Fox. To be sure, he has some justification for being perturbed with his Ministry of Propaganda. One host recently speculated that Trump might drop out of the race due to his abysmal polling. But overall, Fox News is as biased in favor of Trump and his Republican confederates as ever. The problem is that they aren’t always 100% blindly loyal to him as he demands of everyone in his sphere of sycophancy. And that’s enough for him to go careening wildly off the rails.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Reality Game Show ‘President’ Trump Thinks TV Ratings are ‘The Real Polls’

Posted by on June 27, 2020 at 1:12 pm. 1 Comments :

Every day seems to provide a new opportunity to declare that Donald Trump has done or said something that is even worse than anything he’s done or said before. It may seem redundant or hyperbole, but somehow Trump actually does rise to the challenge and manages to exceed whatever heinousness he excreted the day before. It’s a gift.

Donald Trump TV Set

On Saturday morning Trump took to his Twitter machine to unleash another series of frenzied, paranoid, and nearly incoherent rants. Among them, he has apparently abandoned his “Sleepy” nickname for Joe Biden and is trying out “Corrupt” because nothing is working for him. Biden continues to expand his lead in national polls, as well as in every swing state. Trump’s desperation shows in his Twittering that is now rampant with QAnon conspiracy crackpots. And he’s touting his efforts to kill healthcare for 20 million Americans during a pandemic in which he has already killed more than 125,000 people. It’s notable that he’s been promising to repeal and replace Obamacare for 4 years, but still doesn’t have a plan. The GOP has been running the same con for 10 years.

Of particular interest is one tweet that reveals just how shallow, delusional, and devoid of substance Trump is. His background as a failed real estate grifter and self-proclaimed “King of Debt“ (with six bankruptcies under his bulging belt) never prepared him for the presidency. Nor did his most recent professional experience as a reality TV game show host. But that’s the one that continues to guide his conduct in office:

Trump is lashing out in a state of dread and hopelessness as he realizes that his prospects for the future more closely resemble his worst nightmares. So he grasps onto the ludicrous notion that television ratings are a reasonable alternative to scientifically conducted public opinion surveys. “These are the real polls,” Trump whines in an attempt spin some something positive out of the dregs of a news cycle that holds only misery for him.

Along with the horrific rise in coronavirus infections and fatalities (which studies prove were intensified by viewing Fox News), Trump is also having to explain the poor attendance at his revived cult rallies. He is saddled with responsibility for an economy in recession. His former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, has exposed Trump’s ignorance in a new book that Trump was unsuccessful in suppressing. Same goes for the book by his niece, Mary Trump. And the New York Times just reported that Russia paid the Taliban to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan, and Trump knew but did nothing. How is that not treason?

With all of that going on, Trump found time to go golfing at his Virginia country club and tweet idiotic tributes to himself. For the record, Trump’s boasting about the TV ratings for his Oklahoma speech and his interview with Sean Hannity are just the ratings for Fox News programming. So naturally his Deplorables would be tuning in. That proves nothing except that he and Fox News are running a bona fide cult whose members have abandoned free thought. Those ratings are only “polls” of people watching that particular network and amount to less than one percent of the American population. That’s the pitiful pittance of viewers that Trump is trying to characterize as “the Silent Majority.”

Trump has been plaintively beseeching the nation to “not believe the Fake News Media” for at least four years now. But his whining has been met with ridicule as the American people continue to reject him by ever larger margins. In fact, the real polls show that more Americans trust CNN than either Trump or Fox News. So nice work, Bunker Boy. Despite tedious repetition and relentless hostility, the “fake news” branding campaign has been an epic flop. Pretty much like everything else Trump does.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.