Donald Trump Defenders Freak Out, Blame MoveOn.org And George Soros For Protests

The increasing incidences of violence at rallies for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump are unambiguously incited by Trump’s own rancid rhetoric and open encouragement of hostility. No one can reasonably deny that Trump’s vocal approval of punching protesters in the face or carrying them out on stretchers doesn’t have an effect on his already enraged minions.

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Nevertheless, the Trump Defense League is in full denial mode as they seek to absolve their Dear Leader of any responsibility for the ruckus that occurs only where Trump treads. They argue that the protesters are a conspiratorial lot that have been assembled by leftist overlords for the purpose of destroying The Donald’s crusade to make America hate again.

At the top of the list of puppet masters is the nefarious MoveOn.org. The Trump Defenders are convinced that MoveOn is orchestrating every one of the individuals who separately engage in acts of dissent at Trump’s rallies across the country. Sean Hannity is among the MoveOn accusers saying that their “liberal fascism” is behind a campaign to “silence any voice that liberals disagree with.” Hannity’s Fox News comrade Bill O’Reilly is also on the anti-MoveOn bandwagon saying that they are “far-left agitators who do not believe in freedom of speech.”

On Fox & Friends they hosted rightist crackpot Wayne Allen Root who tarred Trump’s hecklers as “leftist radicals, most of them paid protesters by MoveOn.org.” Also on the program was Peter Johnson, Jr, Roger’s Ailes’ personal attorney, who described MoveOn as sowing “the seeds of terror.” Trump’s own spokesperson, Katrina Pierson, charged MoveOn with initiating the violence saying that “They go into these Trump rallies and they start swinging and kicking.” And Trump surrogate Sarah Palin colorfully insulted the protesting as “punk ass little thuggery stuff.”

What almost all of these critics added to their harangues was that MoveOn is not just some obscure band of subversives. No, it is a cog in an evil plot managed by a notorious super-villain. And fortunately they have one with an unsettling Hungarian accent and a few billion dollars to finance his dastardly schemes. That’s right, it’s George Soros and he’s back. Whenever the right needs to manufacture a nebulous and all-consuming dread, it trots out the specter of Soros.

In the ensuing frenzy of indictments of MoveOn as the right’s imaginary architect of acrimony, virtually every conservative media reference to them is prepended with the Soros label. If you didn’t know better you might come away thinking that the full, official name of the activist organization is “the Soros-funded MoveOn.org.” However, that’s an indicator of just how obsessed the right is with dangling Soros’ name to frighten their dimwitted throngs. Because if any of them were interested in reality they could easily look up the facts and discover that, while Soros did make sizable donations to MoveOn in the past (about $2.5 million), he has not done so since 2004. Apparently twelve years is not enough time for conservatives at Fox News and elsewhere to retire the “Soros-funded” branding.

As another example of the right’s fetish, the wingnut rag, Daily Caller (which is run by Fox’s Tucker Carlson) posted a bombshell exclusive that heralded their discovery that a Soros “associate” had contributed $200,000 to Gov. John Kasich’s presidential super PAC. That article was intended by the uber-rightist Daily Caller to stigmatize the comparatively moderate Kasich as the left’s favorite Republican. However, the Soros associate identified in the piece was Scott Bessent, a longtime Republican donor who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to GOP candidates, PACs, and party committees. His donation to Kasich’s campaign was from personal funds and had nothing to do with George Soros. But that didn’t stop much of the wingnut mediasphere from blasting out headlines about Soros bankrolling Kasich.

This is emblematic of the mindset of the right that needs cartoonish demons to invoke the horror of an amorphous liberal threat. They need to be frightened into mobilizing against a monstrous enemy that will thrust the world into chaos and oblivion. How many times have you heard the right swear that Obama’s election, or reelection, or ObamaCare, or Climate Change mitigation, or immigration, or [fill in the scary blank], would doom America and the world to extinction? So rather than recognize the glaring evidence of Trump’s incitation to riot, right-wingers point their bony fingers to George Soros, or Saul Alinsky, or ACORN, or Barack Obama, or the armies of gay-married, Muslims on food stamps who are coming for your guns and fossil fuels. Be AFRAID!

Not to be left out, the Fox News community website, Fox Nation, joined in with a post linked to the “Moonie” Washington Times that feverishly proclaimed “Moveon.Org Raising Funds from Trump Protests, Warns More Disruptions to Come.” The article alleges a frightful conspiracy that is really nothing more than the standard fundraising of a non-profit group that is asking for three bucks to continue their public service activities. There is nothing in it that even remotely implies advocating any form of physical harm to persons or property. To the contrary, MoveOn is, and always has been, committed to peaceful dissent. And their current anti-Trump campaign is no different. Contrast that with the Fox Nation audience that has once again demonstrated their vile racism and embrace of volence (see The Collected Hate Speech Of The Fox News Community).

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

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Sarah Palin Ditches Her Husband In ICU To Stump For Donald Trump

The media has been chock-full of stories this morning about a snow machine (snowmobile for non-Alaskans) accident involving Sarah Palin’s husband Todd. Mr. Palin was said to be seriously injured and in intensive care. The reports further said that Palin had canceled her scheduled appearances with Donald Trump in Florida in order to fly to Alaska and be with her husband and family at this difficult time. However, Fox News just showed Palin on stage at the Trump event in Tampa.

Donald Trump Sarah Palin

Apparently Palin’s desire to be with her loved one during a crisis was more important than being with her husband – so she stayed in Florida with Trump. Palin’s attachment to the GOP’s favorite fascist is a romance that has will surely endure through time.

This isn’t even the first time that she has decided that loyalty to Trump took priority over loyalty to her family. In January Palin’s son Track was arrested for beating up his girlfriend and brandishing an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle while drunk. As he languished in an Alaskan jail, the “Mama” Grizzly chose to continue her Trumpapalooza tour in Iowa and Oklahoma rather than going back home to care for her allegedly PTSD-stricken, domestic abusing, alcoholic offspring. She even spoke about the incident at the Trump rally long enough to blame President Obama for her son’s abhorrent behavior. What I wrote at the time is still relevant with regard to her forsaking her injured husband:

“This sleazebag, with a son who is a divorced domestic abuser, a daughter with two out-of-wedlock kids from different fathers, a defender of the deviant Duggar family, a supporter of the racist Duck Dynasty Klan, and close friend of pedophile and advocate of presidential assassination Ted Nugent, presumes to lecture others on family values. And she campaigns for a racist, wannabe fascist tyrant who mocks the disabled even though she is the mother of a special needs child.”

The question is: Why would Palin remain in Florida for even an hour when her husband is clinging to life in a faraway hospital (other than the fact that she is just a repulsive cretin)? Well, her entire public career has made it clear that she is only concerned about herself and how she can advance her interests. So it is safe to assume that she has an angle in this affair with Trump. She is either exploiting it to rescue her faded financial prospects, or she has succeeded in convincing herself that she has shot at being his vice-president. With regard to the latter, they do share some common ground that could be featured in marketing a Trump/Palin ticket:

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

Donald Trump Sarah Palin

Update: At the rally, Trump needled Palin with a little joke about her hospitalized husband. Her reaction is off-camera, but you have to wonder if she thought it was funny or horribly insensitive.


The Unbearable Idiocy Of Donald Trump: “All I Know Is What’s On The Internet”

And so it continues. Donald Trump’s oafish plodding toward the goal of finally finishing off the Republican Party rolls on like a political demolition derby, purposefully crashing into the other participants with a strategy of being the last broken down heap of garbage capable of some faintly observable forward motion.

Donald Trump

Spending Sunday on the tube with Donald has been a comic opera starring a furious clown with a painted on scowl who tries pathetically to convince others that he is a guiltless martyr. He was asked several time as he made the rounds of morning news gabfests whether he would accept any responsibility for the violence and acrimony that has become the hallmark of his (and only his) public appearances. His answer every time was an emphatic “No!” But even worse, he seems to have lost all connection to reality as he repeatedly spews easily debunked falsehoods. At this point you have to wonder if he is capable of ever telling the truth (see the Trump Bullshitopedia).

Let’s begin with Trump’s interview on Fox News where he was asked about the hostile environment at his Ku Trump Klan rallies. After absolving himself of any blame he insisted that “Nobody’s ever been hurt” at his anger-mismanagement affairs. That, of course, conflicts with the reality that has been recorded on video of protesters being punched and kicked, and even journalists that have been assaulted, one of whom was choke-slammed to the ground, and another from the conservative Breitbart News website, who was manhandled by Trump’s campaign manager. Trump similarly claimed that no one was hurt on CNN, whose Jake Tapper let him ramble on incoherently for most of the insipid segment.

Then, on Meet the Press, anchor Chuck Todd pressed Trump to acknowledge that a video that he posted on Twitter, associating a protester with ISIS, was a hoax. Trump squirmed uncomfortably while seeking a plausible denial, finally settling for this lame disavowal: “All I know is what’s on the Internet.”

Really? That’s how Trump wants to characterize his scope of knowledge about his own communications, as well as his foreign policy expertise? I’m not sure if that is an improvement from the last time he commented on foreign policy saying that he gets his information “from the shows” on Sunday morning. So far as I can tell, he must be referring to Dora the Explorer or Scooby Doo. Also, Trump has used the Internet excuse previously after he was caught re-tweeting comments from white supremacists. So not only is he an idiot, he is also incapable of learning.

The further adventures of Trump on Twitter include a ludicrous swipe at John Kasich, about whom he said “Because Gov. Kasich cannot run in the state of Pennsylvania-he cannot win the nomination- & should not be allowed to compete in Ohio on Tue.” Trump is dishonestly referencing a challenge to Kasich’s ballot qualification that has been filed by a student in PA. However, there has not been a ruling in the case and Kasich’s attorney has argued for dismissal because the challenge was filed after the deadline. In any case, that would not preclude Kasich from running in any other state.

Trump also tweeted a threat to Bernie Sanders saying that “Bernie Sanders is lying when he says his disruptors aren’t told to go to my events. Be careful Bernie, or my supporters will go to yours!” First of all, Sanders was telling the truth and Trump has no evidence to prove otherwise. More to the point, Trump is issuing a blatant threat to do what precisely what he falsely accused Sanders of doing. And Trump’s supporters, unlike Sanders’, are known to be violent. In effect, Trump is saying “That’s a nice rally you’re having over there. Sure would be a shame if anything happened to it.”

Finally, Chuck Todd sought to hold Trump accountable for inciting violence at his rallies by revisiting Trump’s promise to pay the legal fees of anyone who attacked the protesters (video below). As noted here on News Corpse, that was a blatant solicitation to commit a crime. Trump replied that “I’ve instructed my team to look into it.” If Trump eventually decides to keep his promise to the assailant, then he is effectively conceding that his offer was intended to indemnify him for a violent act. If he breaks his word, then not only does he demonstrate his lack of character, but it doesn’t change anything with regard to his intent to solicit violence.

It remains a mystery to me that there is anyone who could, with good conscience, support this proudly ignorant, violence advocating, racist, misogynistic, wannabe dictator. The only explanation is that his followers are just as warped as he is and share his repugnant views and lack of discernible intellect. And that presents a problem for the nation, even after Trump flames out. His supporters will still be part of the electorate and eligible to shape its future by their votes. That makes his glassy-eyed disciples even more dangerous than he is.

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


Tea And Trumpets: How Fox News Covers Protesters Depends On Who They Are Protesting

Watching the noxious campaign of Donald Trump continue to devolve into ever deeper levels of assholery is becoming a greater challenge with every passing day. His embrace of hostile rhetoric and refusal to convincingly condemn the aggression of his minions is leading to easily predictable episodes of chaos and violence. There is a reason that he is the only candidate that is suffering these problems.

Donald Trump

Trump’s accomplice in this spread of acrimony is, not surprisingly, Fox News. The reports of the protests by Fox are characteristically unfair and acutely unbalanced. They rarely acknowledge that Trump is the instigator of the rancor that his followers have gleefully adopted. In fact, more often than not Fox portrays the protesters has initiating the violence. Never mind that there is no evidence whatsoever of that ever happening. What exactly did the folks at Fox think would happen when Trump told his followers that he would pay their legal fees if they were arrested for assaulting a protester? What did they think Trump was trying to convey when he said this:

“Part of the problem and part of the reason it takes so long is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore, right? […] There used to be consequences. There are none anymore.”

And this:

“I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks. It’s true. … I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you.”

And that only scratches the surface (here are a bunch more). Trump could not be making it any clearer that he’s fond of the idea of physical altercations and that if you support him, you should be too. This is coming from someone who is now trying to pass himself off as a unifier. Before he can plausibly claim to being able to unite his party, or the country, or to make all the amazing deals he boasts about, shouldn’t he be able to settle his differences with these protesters? How on Earth would he ever be able to bring peace to the Middle East if he can’t bring it to Chicago?

It is in this environment that Fox News offers up perverse tales of peaceful demonstrators inviting the attacks that are waged on them. The Fox spin is that they are all engaged in a secret conspiracy to destroy the Trump Crusade by getting themselves beat up and arrested. Fox is actually theorizing that there is a plot afoot that is backed by evil and powerful puppet masters of the left. For instance, Fox anchor Doug McKelway prefaced a question to a guest this morning with this brazen bias:

“There have been suggestions that MoveOn.org is behind a lot of this orchestrated violence.”

First of all, there have been no suggestions of the sort by anyone but McKelway’s bosses at Fox News. Secondly, the baseless charge of “orchestrated violence” is posed falsely by Fox as if it were a matter of fact. Not only is it not factual, it’s a blatant lie that Fox deliberately inserted into the debate. The only thing here that is orchestrated is Fox’s defamation of the protesters.

As another example of their well-coordinated talking points, anchor Neil Cavuto implied, with no evidence, that Media Matters and George Soros were responsible for the Chicago protests. His guest, former GE CEO Jack Welch, added Bill Ayres and MoveOn to the mix of lefty conspirators. Then Welch said that “If we’re gonna have riots, we ought to have riots aimed at what Bernie Sanders has to say about tearing our country down.” To which Cavuto replied “Yeah, you’re right.”

So Fox is not attempting to calm down the rhetoric at all, Instead, they are trying to sustain it, but shift the victims to the side that they don’t like. This is Fox’s way of telling their viewers to show up at a Sanders rally and start a riot. Note that Welch’s assertion that there have been riots already is utterly false, but that didn’t stop him from expressing his desire to starting some. Note also that the candidate that is most often tearing our country down is Donald Trump, who frequently says that the American dream is dead, and that America is a Hell hole, and that all of our leaders are stupid losers, and that the economy is a bubble that is about to burst, etc., etc.

It wasn’t long ago that Fox News considered protesters to be noble defenders of patriotism. Whenever there was a Tea Party rally, Fox was there to celebrate them as civic minded citizens who were fighting to restore their twisted version of the Constitution. The Tea Party was hailed as champions of freedom, despite the fact that they were actually a creation of the billionaire Koch brothers, with help from Fox News. And when they crashed public meetings by shouting down anyone with whom they disagreed, Fox cheered and brought them into the studio the next day for a slobbering interview.

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

So here’s the difference in how Fox News will cover protesters. If you’re wearing a tri-corner hat and carrying a Gadsden flag, Fox will devote countless hours of airtime to glorifying your efforts on behalf of God and country, even if you illegally seize government property and threaten to shoot law enforcement officers (i.e. the Bundy Klan). But if you deign to Occupy Wall Street or demonstrate against a bigoted, orange-haired narcissist with designs on an American dictatorship, Fox will smear you as a subversive who wants to turn America over to ISIS. And don’t forget, free speech is a right that is only available to ultra-rightists and conservative blowhards. It does not extend to people opposed to them. And if you attempt to exercise it you will be subject to slander and defamation by Fox News.


Donald Trump On Disruptive Protesters At A Bernie Sanders Rally: That Will Never Happen With Me

This evening in Chicago Donald Trump was scheduled to appear at a rally at the University of Illinois. However, after protesters arrived and created a significant disruption, Trump canceled the rally leaving thousands of disappointed Trumpsters and an untold number of celebrating protesters.

Donald Trump

This seems like a good time to recall what Trump said about an incident at a Bernie Sanders rally where some Black Lives Matter protesters interrupted his speech and made some remarks of their own at the podium.

“I watched Bernie Sanders have a protest. He was up at the microphone and two young ladies came up and took the microphone away from him. That will never happen with me. He walked weakly to the back of the room and I said ‘Isn’t that pathetic? Isn’t that sad?'”

What happened tonight is evidence that Trump is a phony who likes to put on a macho image. He frequently taunts his critics and pretends to be prepared to engage in battle. The truth is that he is a coward who shrinks from any conflict that might soil his Ferragamos. This is a man who wears a mask of patriotism as he claims to love our nation’s veterans (who he appears to have shafted with a phony charity event). But he received five deferments to avoid the draft during the Vietnam war. This is a man who warns would-be assailants that he is armed and that if “somebody attacks me, oh they’re gonna be shocked.” He must mean that they’ll be shocked at how fast a dude pushing seventy can run away.

To be clear, I think Trump did the right thing by canceling his rally. It is not worth taking the risk of violence breaking out and innocent people getting hurt. But Trump is in total denial about why the cancellation was necessary. He continues to reject any suggestion that his hate speech is responsible for setting a tone that is rancid with hostility. He won’t admit that telling his dimwitted followers how much he would like to punch protesters in the face might result in some of them carrying it out as a favor to their hero. He has even promised to pay for the defense of anyone who would “knock the crap out of” a peaceful protester. That is literally a solicitation of criminal assault.

The only threat of violence that has ever been exhibited at a Trump rally has come from his supporters. Not a single protester has ever been observed engaging in any violence, contrary to Trump’s bald-faced lie that some protesters were hitting people. So canceling the rally was the right thing to do because of the risk of Trump’s brownshirts assaulting peaceful protesters. And if voters in the Republican Party can’t see what awaits them if Trump is their nominee, they are either living in a fantasy world or they are hoping for the chaos and turmoil that Trump evokes.

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


Donald Trump’s Debate Performance Was Sarah Palin Stupid

For those of you who had better things to do than watch another two hours of Donald Trump lying about the country and evading any real issues, News Corpse presents the following documentation of his performance at last night’s Republican primary debate. In summary it can be said that Trump reaffirmed his status as the most ignorant and arrogant presidential candidate in modern times. And there seems to have been an agreement among the candidates to refrain from making themselves look like colicky infants by engaging in insult slams and tantrum throwing. That could be a problem because those may be the only reasons why anyone watched.

Donald Trump

What you will see from this chronicle of events is that Trump continues to say almost nothing that is intelligible and is beginning to challenge Sarah Palin as the master of tossing up a word salad of incoherence.


Asked why voters should trust him on jobs despite his hiring of foreign workers and having his products made in China and Mexico:

Because nobody knows the system better than me. I know the H1B. I know the H2B. Nobody knows it better than me. I’m a businessman. These are laws. These are regulations. These are rules. We’re allowed to do it.

[And continuing] First of all, I think and I know the H1B very well. And it’s something that I frankly use and I shouldn’t be allowed to use it. We shouldn’t have it. Very, very bad for workers. And second of all, I think it’s very important to say, well, I’m a businessman and I have to do what I have to do. […] We have to sort of take a strong, good, hard look and come up with plans that work. And we’re rushing into things, and we’re just — we’re leading with the chin. We’re leading with people that don’t know what they are doing in terms of our leadership.

So Trump is totally in favor of using laws that are bad for workers so long as it’s good for him, and he knows everything about it, and he’s a businessman, so he’s allowed to do it. Then he boldly declares that we need leaders who can lead in terms of leadership. How inspiring.

Asked to cite his specific objections to Common Core, which he called a disaster:

Education through Washington, D.C. I don’t want that. I want local education. I want the parents, and I want all of the teachers, and I want everybody to get together around a school and to make education great.

Apparently Trump is ignorant of the fact that Common Core is a program that was initiated at the state and local level with input from parents and teachers and is comprised of standards that are entirely voluntary. Following this response he diverted to announce that Ben Carson is endorsing him. So the man who believes that the pyramids were built to store grain will be advising Trump on education issues.

Asked to clarify his opposition on Common Core given that the standards are voluntary and were the product of state and local development:

You’re right, Jake. But it has been taken over by the federal government. It was originally supposed to be that way. And certainly sounds better that way. But it has all been taken over now by the bureaucrats in Washington.

No, actually. It has not.

Asked for his plan to keep Social Security solvent:

Well, first of all, I want you to understand that the Democrats – and I’ve watched them very intensely, even though it’s a very, very boring thing to watch – that the Democrats are doing nothing with Social Security. They’re leaving it the way it is.

[And therefore] I will do everything within my power not to touch Social Security, to leave it the way it is; to make this country rich again. […] it’s my absolute intention to leave Social Security the way it is. […] We’ve lost our jobs. We’ve lost everything. We’re losing everything. Our jobs are gone, our businesses are being taken out of the country. I want to make America great again and I want to leave Social Security as is. We’re going to get rid of waste, fraud, abuse and bring back business.

Those dang Democrats want to leave Social Security the way it is, but Trump isn’t having any of that saying that “I will do everything within my power not to touch Social Security, to leave it the way it is.” That’s telling ’em. And for good measure Trump added that he is opposed to military spending on the foreign deployment of troops, which has nothing to do with the Social Security Trust Fund. For the record, Democrats don’t want to leave it the way it is. They want to strengthen it with measures like increasing the income cap that allows the rich to avoid paying into it.

Asked about his recent claim that “Islam hates us:”

I mean a lot of them. I mean a lot of them. I’ve been watching the debate today. And they’re talking about radical Islamic terrorism or radical Islam. But I will tell you this. There’s something going on that maybe you don’t know about, maybe a lot of other people don’t know about, but there’s tremendous hatred. […] Now I will say this, there is tremendous hatred. The question was asked, what do you think? I said, there is hatred. Now it would be very easy for me to say something differently. And everybody would say, oh, isn’t that wonderful.

What the f*** is he talking about? The vast majority of the billions of Muslims are quite friendly to the U.S. and most of the Muslim countries are our allies. Trump’s obsession with hatred is characteristic of his personality and his campaign and, more troubling, is counterproductive to resolving the issues with the minority of Muslims who engage in terrorism and who do not represent Islam.

Asked about opening diplomatic relations with Cuba:

I would want to make a good deal, I would want to make a strong, solid, good deal because right now, everything is in Cuba’s favor. […] I would probably have the embassy closed until such time as a really good deal was made and struck by the United States.

I think what Trump is trying to say is that he would want to make a deal. And consistent with his role as the Monty Hall of the Republican Party, he is keeping the details of his deal a secret so that the American people won’t know that behind the curtain there is a a potato wearing a toupee.

Asked if he thought that he had created a tone where violence was encouraged at his rallies:

I hope not. I truly hope not. I will say this. We have 25-30,000 people — you’ve seen it yourself. People come with tremendous passion and love for the country, and when they see protest — in some cases — you know, you’re mentioning one case, which I haven’t seen, I heard about it, which I don’t like. But when they see what’s going on in this country, they have anger that’s unbelievable. They have anger. They love this country. They don’t like seeing bad trade deals, they don’t like seeing higher taxes, they don’t like seeing a loss of their jobs where our jobs have just been devastated. And I know — I mean, I see it. There is some anger. There’s also great love for the country. It’s a beautiful thing in many respects. But I certainly do not condone that at all, Jake.

It’s so beautiful. Watching patriotic citizens express their love for America by assaulting their fellow citizens who have different opinions (or skin color) than they do. These angry patriots are justified in beating up other Americans because of the loss of jobs – that actually have been growing for 72 straight months.

[And then] We have some protesters who are bad dudes, they have done bad things. They are swinging, they are really dangerous and they get in there and they start hitting people. And we had a couple big, strong, powerful guys doing damage to people, not only the loudness, the loudness I don’t mind. But doing serious damage. And if they’ve got to be taken out, to be honest, I mean, we have to run something.

For the record, there has not been a single incident of a protester at a Trump rally hitting anyone or being otherwise violent or dangerous or causing damage. That’s just a flat out lie by someone with a long record of lying (see the Trump Bullshitopedia).

Asked what should be done to avoid a party revolt if no candidate has a majority of delegates at the GOP convention.

Make me president.

Note that Trump didn’t say to make him the nominee, but jumped right to making him president, which goes way beyond the jurisdiction of a political party convention. What else would you expect from a megalomaniacal wannabe dictator?

[And later] I know it better than anybody that probably ever lived. And I will tell you this, I know the system far better than anybody else and I know the system is broken. And I’m the one, because I know it so well because I was on both sides of it, I was on the other side all my life and I’ve always made large contributions. And frankly, I know the system better than anybody else and I’m the only one up here that’s going to be able to fix that system because that system is wrong.

In that hysterical paragraph Trump stated that he “knows” better than anybody five times. Who is he trying to convince? All he is proving is that he has been a part of the broken system for decades, which doesn’t make him the best choice to fix it. It makes him guilty of exploiting and sustaining it for his own selfish benefit. Which is ironic because that’s exactly why he’s running for president.

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

Donald Trump never offers any substantive proposals to solve any of the problems that a president would face, and he didn’t in this debate either. He simply repeats a chorus of boasts about his alleged brilliance and his standing in the polls. Then he insists that he will put an end to every trouble that vexes America by ending them, he will fix every problem by fixing it, and he will make America great again by making it great again. With that sort of specificity it would be idiotic to support his candidacy. Lucky for him there is no shortage of idiots in the Republican Party.

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Donald Trump Solicited An Assault On A Peaceful Protester

An African-American protester was sucker-punched today while attending a rally for Donald Trump in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Rakeem Jones was being escorted from the venue by sheriff’s deputies when a man in the audience suddenly swung at him hitting him in the face. This is becoming routine.

Donald Trump

Surprisingly, the assailant was not taken into custody at the time of the assault, although he was found and arrested later. At that time he gave police a deranged story saying that he thought that Jones might be a member of ISIS because he was cussing. By that criteria Trump must be the leader of ISIS. The assailant was unapologetic saying that Jones deserved it and that “next time we see him, we might have to kill him.”

This unprovoked attack is just the latest incident of violence at a Trump event where hostility is openly encouraged by Trump. He frequently draws attention to protesters and makes derogatory comments from the stage. For instance, he once said that he would like to punch one in the face. He explicitly advised his followers to “knock the crap” out of other protesters. He reminisced about some longed for past when people exercising their right to free speech were “taken out on a stretcher.” He approvingly spoke of a protester who had been beaten saying that he deserved it.

What needs to be addressed at this time is that Trump may be civilly, or even criminally liable. His remarks are an open invitations to his glassy-eyed disciples to resort to violence against law abiding protesters. Even worse, on several occasions Trump told his followers that if they attacked a protester they wouldn’t have to worry about the legal consequences because he would “pay for the legal fees.” That’s more than an invitation. That’s a solicitation. It’s a promise of indemnity for a criminal act. And Trump demonstrated his awareness of the illegality by volunteering to cover the assailant’s defense.

During the Republican debate tonight, Trump was asked about the incident in Fayetteville. His reponse was a blatant lie that accused protesters at his rallies of being violent, dangerous, and causing real damage. However, there is not one single report of any protester being anything but lawful and, perhaps, briefly disruptive. Sadly, the CNN moderator, Jake Tapper, failed to point that out or to hold Trump accountable for his false and slanderous response.

It remains to be seen if the perpetrator in this case will take Trump up on his offer. If he does, Trump might have an obligation to follow through. He did promise to do so more than once. Should Trump agree to pay for the defense he would be in the awkward position of bankrolling a man who has confessed to criminal assault. Should Trump decline, the assailant might have a case against Trump. In any event, the assailant can cite Trump’s solicitation in his defense.

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

Finally, Rakeem Jones needs to know that the attack on him was not random. It was the result of a sustained effort to incite just this sort of violence. What Trump said in his stump speeches was precisely what he meant. Consequently, Trump should be held liable for soliciting the attack that Jones suffered. Hopefully Jones will engage an attorney who will make Trump pay for his reckless disregard for the safety of others.


Bill O’Reilly Covers For Donald Trump’s Fascism – And Guess Who He Blames

Fox News blowhard, Bill O’Reilly, is very upset that “some in the media, both left and right, are portraying Mr. Trump as a 1930’s type fascist, and his supporters as budding brownshirts.” Now why would anyone ever suggest such a thing about Donald Trump and his legion of glassy-eyed disciples?

Bill O'Reilly Donald Trump

Just because Trump has initiated a campaign of hate directed at Latinos, African-Americans, and Muslims in much the same way that Hitler demonized Jews; just because he has called for massive deportation programs for undesirables; just because he has promised to order the military to commit war crimes by targeting the families and children of terrorists; just because he advocates marking Muslims with badges and cataloging them in government databases; just because he has encouraged violence against Americans protesting at his rallies and promised to pay for the legal defense of his followers who assault them; just because of that, where would anyone get the idea that Trump and his supporters were reminiscent of Nazi fascists?

O’Reilly devoted his Talking Points Memo segment to defending Trump, his long-time personal friend, from critics who simply point out the truth about Trump’s repulsive hate mongering. He began by explaining the reasons why many Americans are supporting Trump. In O’Reilly’s view it is because of an array of hoary tropes that he and other lock-step conservatives have been lobbing at liberals for years. He rattled off these subjects as reasons for Trump’s popularity.

  • Attacks on police officers, labeling them racists who hunt down young black men.
  • A porous southern border where narcotics and people smuggling continue unabated.
  • A stagnant economy where workers have little bargaining power.
  • A growing jihadist terror threat that the Democratic Party refuses to define.
  • A Democratic president who, after he announces the beheading of an American citizen, goes out to play golf.
  • A culture that now demands political correctness even if it goes against sincerely held religious beliefs.
  • A legal system that may actually harm a business owner if he or she does not want to participate in a gay marriage.
  • A press corps that generally embraces liberalism.
  • An educational system dominated by teachers and administrators who often impose their view of the world on defenseless children.
  • A grievance industry that is often promoted by the media.

That reads like a program summary for a Rush Limbaugh radio show. It’s a fairly comprehensive itemization of the meritless wingnut griping that goes on everyday on Fox News. But it has absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump. This is just O’Reilly’s way of re-iterating his own festering laments and baselessly attributing them to Trump’s ascendancy in the GOP. And after laying out this nonsense, O’Reilly re-introduces Trump as the savior and a Messianic figure:

“In the face of all that an avenger named Trump has risen promising to stop the madness and giving blunt voice to millions of angry Americans.”

O’Reilly goes on to dismiss any relationship between Trump’s ultra-rightist agenda and the fascism it clearly recalls. He argues that Trump is merely representing a strain of “furious dissent.” That doesn’t remind anyone of Hitler, does it? And referring to the endorsement of Trump by America’s white supremacists, O’Reilly waves it off as merely “some bad people” exploiting his campaign. What O’Reilly fails to address is why Trump’s campaign is so ripe for exploitation by the KKK. Not stopping to consider that, he immediately shifts to a ludicrous comparison to Bernie Sanders.

“The same thing is happening with the Bernie Sanders crew. Some haters are supporting Bernie Sanders in order to tear down marketplace freedoms and inflict pain on prosperous Americans.”

Haters? The people O’Reilly is slandering as haters are the majority of Americans who are tired of wealthy elites (like O’Reilly) hoarding all of the economic opportunity and prosperity in the nation. Contrary to being motivated by hate, as Trump’s followers admit, the Sanders “crew” are driven by a desire to see all of their fellow citizens enjoy the benefits of our nation’s rich heritage. And what O’Reilly characterizes as inflicting pain on the prosperous is more like demanding that they pay their fair share. It can hardly be called pain if the Koch brothers are forced to get by on a mere $39 billion rather than $41 billion (the horror).

And here’s where it gets weird. O’Reilly concluded on the point that “charges of racism and fascism are easy smears designed to stop freedom of expression and stifle debate.” He, of course, would never resort to such a tactic and is visibly perturbed that others would dare to express themselves in such a repugnant manner. Well, that is until his next sentence:

“It’s funny, because the people that are doing this, they’re using techniques that the Nazis used. By them calling Trump a Nazi, and his supporters little brownshirts, they’re doing the same thing that Goebbels, who was the Minister of Propaganda, that Adolf and all of those boys did.”

That’s right, immediately after condemning people for calling Trump a Nazi (with ample justification), and asserting that such language was a tactic “designed to stop freedom of expression and stifle debate,” O’Reilly calls Trump’s critics Nazis. Is O’Reilly trying to stop their freedom of expression and stifle debate? His guest for the segment, Bernard Goldberg, giggled as he agreed with O’Reilly. Then he elaborated to say that “if their are any brownshirts in this country it’s liberals on college campuses.”

So now they’ve both called liberals Nazis after just complaining that such rhetoric was tantamount to suppression of speech. This is what passes for informed commentary on Fox News, the network that literally created Donald Trump and has gifted him with more than twice as much airtime as his Republican rivals. Having a close friend like O’Reilly is paying dividends for Trump, who is also afforded privileges on Fox News that other candidates are denied. For instance, live, uncut coverage of every stump speech; permission to phone in interviews; and uncritical reporting of his numerous, flagrant lies (see the Trump Bullshitopedia).

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

Trump knows that he has Fox News, and much of the rest of the press, wrapped around his abnormally short fingers. They are lapping up his bigotry in exchange for ratings. That was even admitted by the president of CBS who recently said that “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.” And that pretty much sums up the treasonous attitude of the corporate media.


Calling Jon Stewart: America Needs You Now More Than Ever

When Jon Stewart left the Daily Show (TDS) he left a hole that is much bigger than his diminutive frame. TDS was a unique brand of entertainment that delivered more than humor. It was a daily session of cathartic therapy that provided a safe place to scream at the world through a video surrogate. It was a mocking rebuke of the madness that has infected contemporary politics and culture. It was an assault on the media from a rebel force that they couldn’t control.

Jon Stewart NBC News

TDS became so respected as a source for news that it was commonly included in polling to rate news providers despite being on a comedy network. And it generally rated quite well and higher than many of the allegedly serious news networks. That fact drove the media elitists wild with jealousy as they sought to ridicule the viewers as slackers (Bill O’Reilly added “stoned”), even though studies showed that the TDS audience was also better educated and informed than mainstream news viewers (including O’Reilly’s). Long-time TDS correspondent Stephen Colbert addressed this criticism saying that TDS viewers had to be knowledgeable about the news or they wouldn’t get the jokes.

With one of the most bizarre elections in history currently in progress, there is more material than ever for fierce mockery. The Trump candidacy is a Chinese joke factory – you know the kind that churns out gag-rich laughables 24/7 that sound like they were made by children. The cliche that “the jokes writes themselves” has been trotted out to describe the atmosphere, but talented professionals will still do a better job of it. And Trump isn’t the only source for freestyle farcicals in this election cycle. Ted Cruz is the first competitive presidential candidate to hail from the messianic wing of the Republican Party. And the opportunities missed by the now-defunct campaigns of Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Rick Perry, Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush, etc., can never be regained. The Democrats aren’t immune from mockery either, but I’ll leave that to all of the conservative comedians (oh wait, we still haven’t found any those, although Fox News is trying to desperately).

However, since Stewart stepped down from the fake anchor’s desk there has been an aching absence of the purgative satire that he mastered. His hand-picked successor at TDS, Trevor Noah, is an able comedian, but lacks the everyman relatability that endeared Stewart to his viewers. Larry Wilmore, who inherited the time slot of the Colbert Report, has been improving lately, but still falls short of his predecessors. And speaking of Colbert, his new role as himself on CBS’s Late Night doesn’t have the punch that his character did on Comedy Central. It doesn’t help that he is required to host celebrities and other product pluggers for most of the program.

There are some bright spots in the satire field. Most notable is John Oliver’s brilliant and hilarious long-form comedy on his HBO program. Seth Myers has transferred his SNL Weekend Update anchor routine pretty well to his Late Late Show’s “A Closer Look” segment. And former TDS correspondent Samantha Bee’s “Full Frontal” has gotten off to a promising start. But Oliver and Bee are only offering one show a week, which hardly fills the void.

What everyone seems to be missing is the fact that Stewart was not doing political satire. He was doing media satire. His targets were predominantly news outlets and the people that represent them. While politicians weren’t shy about publicly embarrassing themselves on a regular basis, it was more often the way that they were covered by the press that attracted Stewart’s attention. And Fox News, the most flagrantly dishonest purveyor of propaganda, was a frequent and well-deserved target. While some comics do go after Fox from time to time, nowhere is there the kind of relentless ridicule that Stewart unleashed on a regular basis. His consistent and high quality humor launched a popular meme proudly declaring that “I get my news from Comedy Central and my comedy from Fox News.”

Satire is a centuries-old form of communication that, at its best, is not only funny, but enlightening. And in the heat of this electoral season, where the front-runner of one of the major political parties is endorsed by the KKK and isn’t bothered by comparisons to Adolf Hitler, satire is an indispensable component to dealing with the insanity that appears to have taken over the GOP and much of right-wing America. The news pundits that provide the so-called informed commentary on current events are too insipidly timid to be useful. Even worse, they are too often oblivious to the truths that a good humorist can make so apparent.

That’s why we need Jon Stewart to return to the public discourse in some fashion. He can’t resume his post at TDS, but he could provide a daily commentary segment on the Rachel Maddow Show, or Colbert’s Late Night, or even NBC News. His insights would give relief to the millions of Americans who are being tortured by a media culture that is functionally blind. He would present a perspective that is altogether missing from the news, and now even from television comedy.

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

It would be a major coup for whatever program or network was smart enough to reel Stewart in. And considering that there was once a ludicrous attempt to hire Stewart to host Meet the Press, this proposal makes much more sense and is actually plausible. C’mon, Jon – we need you. We need you continue to remind us that “Bullshit is everywhere […] and the best defense against bullshit is vigilance.”


Mein Drumpf: Comparisons To Hitler Should Not Surprise Donald Trump

On Good Morning America today host George Stephanopoulos interviewed Donald Trump and raised the subject of the increasingly common comparisons of him to Adolf Hitler. This, in and of itself, isn’t new, but Trump’s response added another lie to the growing collection of falsehoods that he has accumulated (see the Trump Bullshitopedia).

Stephanopouplos didn’t go into much detail about the many similarities of Trump’s rhetoric to that of the Nazi leader, but he did note that critics as diverse as comedian Louis CK, and the unintentionally funny crackpot Glenn Beck, have both made the association. Then Stephanopoulos hit Trump with a fact that has become inescapable, saying that “The number of prominent people comparing you to Adolf Hitler is growing by the day.” Trump responded saying…

“I don’t know about the Hitler comparison. I hadn’t heard that, but it’s a terrible comparison. I’m not happy about that, certainly. I don’t want that comparison. But we have to be strong.”

Setting aside the perverse argument that being strong is somehow a defense for sounding like a fascist, Trump is flat out lying about not having heard the Hitler comparisons before. In fact, Trump heard these very same comparisons while being interviewed by the very same guy. Last December News Corpse reported on an exchange between Trump and Stephanopoulos that was nearly identical to the one today. The only notable difference is that today Trump feigned being unhappy with the comparison, while previously he said that it didn’t bother him. From News Corpse, Dec. 8, 2015:

It had to come to this. Donald Trump’s affinity for Nazis was always just beneath the diseased skin of his repulsive rhetoric. Now, after months of promulgating brazenly racist views, advocating policies that are indistinguishable from those of history’s fascists, and promising to commit war crimes if elected, will anybody be surprised by it bubbling to the surface? Trump’s true face was exposed today when he was asked a simple question on Good Morning America:

George Stephanopoulos: You’re increasingly compared to Hitler. Does that bother you?
Donald Trump: No, what I’m doing is no different from FDR.

Donald Trump

So there you have it. Donald Trump is not bothered by comparisons to Adolf Hitler. And why should he be? He has been running on the platform of the Nazi Party since he announced his candidacy. What’s more, he justifies his comfort with the association by positively referencing the Japanese internment camps built during the FDR administration, which are universally condemned as one of America’s most shameful actions.

Trump frequently claims that he has “the greatest memory in the world,” but he is now pretending not to recall a recent discussion with the same interviewer on the same subject. Trump’s dishonesty is becoming so flagrant that he is having trouble keeping track of his previous lies. And his pretense that he is suddenly bothered by being associated with a megalomaniacal tyrant is hardly believable. His most recent rallies have been marred by violence that he openly encourages against protesters. He even promises to pay for the legal defense of anyone who assaults a protester. He has hired his own brand of brownshirts to patrol his rallies. And the loyalty pledge ceremonies that he orchestrates eerily resemble the throngs of Germans hailing Hitler with the Nazi salute.

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

So when you hear Trump claim that he is unaware of the comparisons to Hitler, you now know that it is a blatant lie. You also know that when he complains about that comparison, it is obvious that he is simply trying to deny the reality that his entire campaign is grounded in fascistic rhetoric, and worse, behavior. And as bad as it is that Trump would engage in such a repulsive campaign, we must not forget the people that attend his rallies cheering, pledging loyalty, beating protesters, and later voting for this nauseating candidate. It is what the Republican Party has sunk to in this age of rightist hate.