HUH? Trump Claims He Wanted to Go Back to the Capitol on January 6th to ‘Stop the Problem’

It has been three years since Donald Trump decisively lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. But he he is still whining petulantly about it and making preposterous, unsupported claims that the election was “stollen” and “rigged.” His obsession with his humiliating defeat is clearly gnawing at his humongous, yet fragile, ego. And he doesn’t intend to let it go.

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Donald Trump Insurrection

Trump has repeatedly promised to reveal the “massive” and “Irrefutable” evidence of voter fraud that he has stashed away somewhere, but for three years has refused to present to either the press or the courts. Either he is withholding it for the dramatic effect of a reality TV cliffhanger or, more likely, it doesn’t exist. (Spoiler: It’s the latter).

SEE THIS: YEAH, RIGHT! Trump Promises an ‘Irrefutable,’ ‘Completely Exonerating’ Report on Election Fraud

The farcical voter fraud fiction that Trump persists in peddling to his cult followers continues to grow in both deceit and decibels. The more dishonest his blather, the louder he bellows. New permutations keep arising from the trash heap of his warped imagination. And the latest is a doozy.

Trump has long justified the violent insurrection in Washington, D.C., on January 6th, 2021, as a reasonable response by citizens outraged by the tales of voter fraud that Trump and his media mouthpieces manufactured. That “Big Lie” was so egregious that Fox News was forced to settle a defamation lawsuit for nearly a billion dollars brought by Dominion Voting Systems. And the criminal indictment currently pending against Trump in Washington includes charges related to his incitement of the riot and his neglect in restoring the peace.

Now, a book by Jonathan Karl, Tired of Winning,” includes an interview wherein Trump offers a heretofore unheard account of what happened on January 6th. Apparently Trump believes – or wants others to believe – that he was a foiled hero. And Lordy… Karl has tapes. Trump was recorded saying that…

“If you look at the real size of that crowd, it was never reported correctly. There were – it’s the biggest crowd I’ve ever spoken in front of by far. By far. That went down to the Washington – That went back to the Washington Monument.

“I was going to [go to the Capitol] and then Secret Service said you can’t. And then by the time— I would have, and then when I get back, I saw – I wanted to go back. I was thinking about going back during the problem to stop the problem. Doing it myself. Secret Service didn’t like that idea too much.

“And I could have done that, and you know what? I would have been very well received. Don’t forget, the people that went to Washington that day, in my opinion, they went because they thought the election was rigged. That’s why they went.”

Setting aside Trump’s typical narcissistic delusions about crowd size, he is claiming that he intended to ride to the rescue of the besieged Congress and save everyone himself. Only a brain-dead, cult-indoctrinated, paste-eater could swallow that bullpucky. The evidence provided in testimony, documents, and video, shows that Trump was at the White House cheering on the rioters as they smashed their way into the Capitol, vandalized public property, and terrorized members of Congress and their staffs, in an attempt to obstruct Congress from certifying the election.

When Trump finally did record a video to ostensibly calm the crowd – nearly three hours after the assault began – he slathered his StormTrumpers with affection, telling them that he “loved” them and understood their anger. He also tweeted that “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away.”

Trump’s phony account of his heroic aspirations is pure fantasy. He supported the obstruction of Congress and the insurrectionists who engaged in it. To this day he holds those same positions. He recently promised to halt the prosecutions of the January 6th mob if he were to be reelected. And he continues to disgorge his grossly distorted versions his reality as to what took place that day.

The only way to interpret Trump’s claim that he wanted to “stop the problem” at the Capitol is to recognize what he considered the problem to be. It wasn’t that a hostile horde of his hooligans were on a frenzied, anti-democratic rampage. It was that Congress was about to certify that Biden had won the election. And in Trump’s mind he was called not to “stop the problem,” but to “Stop the Steal,” which was what his rally at the Ellipse was titled. If he really wanted to go back to the Capitol, it was only to plant a Trump flag and declare himself president-for-life.

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HUH? Trump Attorney Says ‘Criticisms of the Family [of D.A. and Judge] Were Not Something Personal’

Among the many mental deficiencies of Donald Trump is his notoriously atrocious ability (or lack thereof) to procure competent legal representation. In fact, several of his attorneys (i.e. Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis) have already had their licenses suspended and/or been reprimanded due to their flagrantly unethical behavior on Trump’s behalf and at his direction.

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Donald Trump, Godfather

The record for the Trump legal team is one of pitiful and repeated failure. Following the 2020 presidential election Trump and his allies lost more than 60 lawsuits seeking to overturn the results of the election based on wholly unfounded claims of voter fraud.

Trump’s legal team has lost cases against his political foes, such one naming Hillary Clinton and nearly fifty other people, wherein the judge admonished the lawyers for “deliberate disregard for the truth.” Then there was the time that his lawyers were sanctioned by the court for making “frivolous filings.” And more recently, Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, actually made the case against him on national television.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Attorney Admits that Trump Lied About Making Hush Money Payments to Stormy Daniels

On Sunday morning, one of Trump’s lawyers, the ironically named Jim Trusty, appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to preach his innocence in all things. During the interview with Jonathan Karl, Trusty managed to mangle the meaning of what constitutes a “personal” attack.

Karl: We also saw the former president go after, again, in personal terms, the judge in this case. Going after not just the judge, but his wife, and even his daughter. We heard from another member of the legal team, from Joe Tacopina, saying that he didn’t think the judge is biased. Trump obviously does. Who’s right about this? Do you think this is an impartial judge or not?
Trusty: I don’t have any experience with this judge. And again, my practice as somebody who’s been in the criminal justice lane for about 35, 36 years is to not, you know, jump onto any bandwagon when it comes to criticizing. I think the criticisms of the family were not something personal. It was pointing out that they have a bias, that they have a political interest that is contrary to President Trump’s. […] I think there’s gonna be some very well placed motions to dismiss based on the legal frailties of this kind of mental gymnastics indictment that Alvin Bragg is trying to piece together.

So after responding that he customarily doesn’t criticize judges, Trusty promptly criticizes the judge. And his basis for the criticism is profoundly absurd. How can maligning a judge, his wife, and his daughter, not be regarded as personal? Where is the legal argument in that criticism?

For the record, the allegedly non-personal attacks made by Trump – that have resulted in numerous death threats – included calling the Manhattan district Attorney, Alvin Bragg, a “racist” And that was only the beginning. In just the past week Trump has lashed out at Bragg repeatedly on his floundering Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, with references such as…

  • “Radical Left Lunatics, Maniacs, and Perverts had me Indicted and ARRESTED for no reason whatsoever.”
  • “THE HIGHLY PARTISAN JUDGE & HIS FAMILY ARE WELL KNOWN TRUMP HATERS.”
  • “Biden and his ‘people’ knew all about the Radical Left, Soros backed D.A. (Bragg) going after ‘Trump.’ They pushed the Racist D.A.”
  • “The Corrupt D.A. has no case. […] and a Trump Hating Judge, hand selected by the Soros backed D.A. (he must be changed!).”

Apparently, Trusty believes that insults such as “racist,” “lunatic,” “pervert,’ “hater,” “corrupt,” etc., are appropriate legal terms and not the least bit personal. However, with that definition of what is personal, he sounds more like the Corleone family in “The Godfather” saying about an imminent “hit” that “It’s not personal…It’s strictly business.” And so far as Trump is concerned, insults and threats and other manner of personal invective, is precisely how he has done “business” his entire life.

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Crybaby Trump Throws Tantrum Over McConnell Plan to Nix Him from Biden Inauguration

Donald Trump has to regard the last couple of years as among the worst of his life. Not only was he impeached twice, an unprecedented achievement, but he also suffered a humiliating loss to Joe Biden for the presidency. Biden, you’ll recall, is the candidate that Trump maligned as a senile communist, but still couldn’t beat him.

Donald Trump, King

As it turns out, 2021 got off to a horrible start to Trump. In the very first week he incited a hostile insurrection in Washington, D.C., sending his StormTrumpers to assault the Capitol and threaten the lives of America’s representatives in Congress as they sought to carry out their constitutional duties.

It was a day that Trump cherished, describing it in the new book, Betrayal, by Jonathan Karl as “a very beautiful time with extremely loving and friendly people.” Indeed, it was the same “beautiful time” when fanatical Trump rioters broke through doors, shattered windows, and left more than 140 officers injured. They were the same “loving and friendly people” that Trump embraced rapturously, even as they were committing violent crimes against people and historically treasured property.

With another revelation from Karl’s book we now learn that Trump was not especially welcome at the inauguration for President Biden. Karl writes that Sen. Mitch McConnell had other plans for Trump:

“The then-Senate majority leader sought to have Trump disinvited from Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration on Jan. 20 […] According to Karl, McConnell ‘felt he could not give Trump another opportunity to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.'”

Karl goes on to disclose that only after Trump heard about McConnell’s intentions did he fire off a tweet (the very last one before his Twitter account was permanently suspended) saying that he had decided not to attend.

Trump tweet

Naturally, Karl’s account of these events sent Trump into near hysterics. He rushed to post a tweet (via his Twitter ban defying spokes-shill) to refute Karl’s version of what took place. And of course, Trump reimagined it all in a way that put him in a more favorable, albeit fictional, light:

“From Election Day, November 3rd, the day I realized that the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged, I would never have agreed to go to Joe Biden’s Inauguration. This decision was mine, and mine alone. The old broken-down Crow, Mitch McConnell, had nothing to do with it. According to third-rate reporter Jonathan Karl of ABC Fake News, McConnell unsuccessfully tried getting a letter signed by others for me not to go. This was nothing I ever heard of and actually, if he ever did get it signed, I probably would have held my nose and gone. The Election was rigged, the facts are clear, and Mitch McConnell did nothing. He was probably too busy working on deals with China for his wife and family!”

So Trump is, in effect, validating “old broken-down Crow” McConnell’s concerns about Trump being likely to “disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.” He’s admitting that he didn’t regard the election as valid, so his presence could only serve to fuel more violence. And he further implied that, were he to go, it would only be to spite McConnell, not to respect the principles of democracy as enshrined in the Constitution.

Everything that Trump has done and said since then affirms his disgust for democracy and the rights of free people to govern themselves. To the contrary, Trump has been an avid advocate of the authoritarianism that he aspires to attain for himself. The American people better make sure that he fails – again.

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Trump Whines that Threats He’d Start a 3rd Party are ‘Fake News’ Because, Of Course He Does

It’s another Monday morning and another day of cranky kvetching by America’s biggest crybaby, Donald Trump. Once again he is wallowing in victimhood at the hands of the meanies in the media, or as he refers to call them so tediously, “fake news.”

Donald Trump, Republican, GOP

On this occasion Trump was triggered by an ABC News story previewing one of the revelations in an upcoming book by veteran journalist Jonathan Karl. In the book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show,” Trump spoke with the Republican National Committee chair, Ronna McDaniel, and delivered a bold threat. According to Karl…

“In an angry conversation on his final day as president, Donald Trump told the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee he was leaving the GOP and creating his own political party — and that he didn’t care if the move would destroy the Republican Party. […] Trump only backed down when Republican leaders threatened to take actions that would have cost Trump millions of dollars.”

In response, Trump released a statement (via his Twitter ban defying spokes-shill) making a predictable and familiar charge that…

“It’s a totally made up and fabricated story, it’s Fake News. Jonathan Karl is a third-rate reporter working for ABC Non-News. ABC Non-News and 3rd rate reporter Jonathan Karl have been writing Fake News about me from the beginning of my political career.”

Karl’s book says that he has “two sources with direct knowledge of these events.” They report that McDaniel “called to wish [Trump] farewell [and that] It was a very un-pleasant conversation.” Elaborating on this, Karl wrote that…

“Donald Trump was in no mood for small talk or nostalgic goodbyes. He got right to the point. He told her he was leaving the Republican Party and would be creating his own political party. The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was also on the phone. The younger Trump had been relentlessly denigrating the RNC for being insufficiently loyal to Trump. In fact, at the January 6 rally before the Capitol Riot, the younger Trump all but declared that the old Republican Party didn’t exist anymore.”

Karl also related the following exchange between Trump and McDaniel:

“I’m done,” Trump told McDaniel. “I’m starting my own party.”
“You cannot do that,” McDaniel told Trump. “If you do, we will lose forever.”
“Exactly. You lose forever without me,” Trump responded. “I don’t care.” […]
“This is what Republicans deserve for not sticking up for me.”

According to Karl, Trump eventually backed down after McDaniel issued threats of her own. She told Trump that if he left the Party it would cease to pay his quite substantial legal bills. And even more troubling for Trump, the Party would withhold the campaign’s email list containing some forty million Trump supporters who were worth millions of dollars to Trump politically and personally. That was the kicker.

Naturally Trump is dismissing all of this in his customary fashion by throwing a tantrum. But he had no objections Karl’s reporting back in June when a passage from the book was released that revealed what his Attorney General, Bill Barr, had to say about his baseless claims of election fraud. Barr confessed that…

“My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time. If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bull—-.”

Trump’s fantasies about starting a third party would have zero chance of success. Unless his definition of success is damaging the Republican Party, which he is doing anyway. But whether or not Trump leaves the Party, there are plenty of long-time members who are leaving because they can no longer stomach Trump’s lies and disloyalty to the nation. Which is precisely how the majority of the American people feel. In the end, we don’t care if he goes with the GOP or his own party. We just want him to go.

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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
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Trump is Fired Up Over ‘Massive Evidence’ of Election Fraud that Doesn’t Actually Exist

The madness of Donald Trump has not subsided in the slightest amount since his humiliating loss to Joe Biden eight months ago. In fact, he has gotten perceivably worse. In recent days he has claimed for himself the exclusive “right” to destroy America. He has admitted to pressuring the Department of Justice to “Just Say the Election Was Corrupt.” He has doubled down on his deadly, sociopathic, pro-COVID agenda.

Flaming Trump

On Sunday afternoon Trump took another step off the ledge of sanity. In another of his public whine-fests tweeted by his spokes-shill, Liz Harrington (a flagrant violation of Twitter’s Terms of Service that prohibit circumventing a ban), Trump reiterated the “Big Lie” that he has been peddling to his dimwitted cult disciples for the past several months. His new claim combines his fantasy fiction about the 2020 election with his seething hatred for the free press. What follows is an annotated transcript of his lunacy marinated message (linked here for those who wish to report it).

“The New York Times, and others, always insert a clause into their stories, ‘WITHOUT EVIDENCE, that the election was decided fraudulently.’ As usual, this is FAKE NEWS.”
Appending the phrase “without evidence” is not a “clause.” It’s a statement of fact. Trump and his minions lost more than sixty court cases challenging the election due to the total absence of any supporting evidence.

“There is massive and unconditional evidence that the election was shattered with fraud and irregularities at a level that our Country has never seen before. Much of it is already public, and a great deal more is coming out in the very near future. Every time you read a statement that there is ‘no evidence of election fraud,’ about the 2020 election scam, just attribute that statement to a crooked and collusive media (they work closely together with the Radical Left Democrats) that will do anything to hide the real facts of this election fiasco.”
It is amazing how this alleged evidence is “massive” and “unconditional” (whatever that means), and occurs “at a level that our Country has never seen before,” but he can’t cite a single example of any of it. However, he instructs his devotees on how to process the fact that there isn’t any proof by simply attributing it to the “crooked” media. In other words, don’t believe lying eyes. If he really wants people to accept his claims of fraud, why doesn’t he just present some proof of it?

“After seeing the irrefutable evidence from numerous states, others are talking about doing deep forensic audits. This election was a scam and the Lamestream Media is doing everything in their power not to allow the people to see or read about what really took place. We no longer have a free and open media (they don’t cover the truth), but the word is getting out stronger than ever before.”
Once again, it is easy to refute evidence that doesn’t exist in reality. And the only states that are talking about doing audits are those with Republican legislatures who have bought into Trump’s lies. If Trump has a problem with the media not covering his alleged evidence, why doesn’t he produce it? Perhaps because it only exists in his twisted imagination?

“Even the Justice Department has no interest in the crooked and corrupt 2020 Presidential Election. They are only interested in hurting those who want to reveal how totally dishonest it was. The Justice Department should be looking at the people who rigged the election, not the Patriots of our Country who are seeking to find how our Nation was defrauded.”
For the record, Trump’s own Justice Department, with dependable sycophants like Attorney Genuflect Bill Barr, refused to validate his election fraud ranting. Barr’s opinions were eventually revealed in Jonathan Karl’s new book, Betrayal, where Barr is quoted as saying that “My suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bullsh**.” That, of course, triggered a Trumpian temper tantrum.

“We must also look to the future and fight for State Legislatures to reform their elections so that this will NEVER happen again. In the end, truth will WIN!”
Can’t really argue with that. Although, in Trump’s mind he’s actually proposing election “reforms” that suppress the vote, and “truths” that are flagrant distortions of reality that fit his delusional, narcissistic psychoses.

And there you have it. Trump’s tedious tirade about unprecedented levels of election fraud that doesn’t contain a single example. And yet, somehow his cult followers eat this up with a side of fries. It’s both pitiful and frightening that this can occur in a modern democratic society. We can only hope that spell wears off before the damage done is irreversible.

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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
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AG Bill Barr on Trump’s Big Lie: We Realized From the Beginning it Was Just Bull****

The frantic and futile excuses being proffered by Donald Trump’s accomplices in his decimation of democracy continue to accumulate amidst the rubble of his disastrous administration. Like rats abandoning the carcass of the USS Trump, they are affecting a full retreat in the hopes of salvaging the remnants of their reputations.

Donald Trump, Bill Barr

The latest rat to run ashore is Trump’s Attorney Genuflect, Bill Barr. A new and appropriately titled book scheduled for release later this year – Betrayal, by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl – reveals some choice quotes by Barr related to Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Barr told Karl that…

“My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time. If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bull—-.”

And on allegations that voting machines were rigged to switch votes from Trump to Biden, Barr said that…

“We realized from the beginning it was just bull—. It’s a counting machine, and they save everything that was counted. So you just reconcile the two. There had been no discrepancy reported anywhere, and I’m still not aware of any discrepancy.”

Really? Then how would Barr explain his staunchly sycophantic behavior while heading the Justice Department? How would he explain his initiatives to “uncover” alleged mail-in voter fraud for which he admitted there was no evidence? How would he explain his appointment of special counsel John Durham to investigate contrived election irregularities involving Russia? And how does Barr explain his request to Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch to “muzzle” one of the network’s few Trump critics? At what point did Barr “realize” that all of these projects were bull manure? It certainly wasn’t “from the beginning.”

While it’s interesting to see Barr confess that there was never any truth to Trump’s whining about non-existent voter fraud (which he is still doing), we must remember that Barr was fully complicit in Trump’s long and dangerous campaign of lies. He is only conceding these sins to absolve himself of the guilt that he deserves, and to try to piece together his shattered reputation. It isn’t going to work. And Trump, along with his criminal mob (including Barr) will forever be stained as traitors to America.

UPDATE: It didn’t take long for Trump to lash out at Barr saying that, “RINO former Attorney General Bill Barr […] failed to investigate election fraud, and really let down the American people.”

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:
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Trump’s Propaganda Press Conference Turns Into a Fox News Promo

On Thursday afternoon, Donald Trump held another of his phony press conferences that are really reelection campaign events illegally held in the White House. But this one was even more brazenly self-serving than those in the past, which were almost entirely self-serving.

Donald Trump, Fox News, White House

As usual, Trump spent the first half hour bragging about accomplishments that didn’t exist. In his fantasy brain the economy is soaring (it’s in recession) and there is no pandemic (it’s still killing more than a thousand Americans every day).

Trump finished his fictional storytime reading and turned to the reporters to take questions. He only took two before he scurried off with his tail between his legs. The first question was about his deadly deception revealed in Bob Woodward’s new book, RAGE! ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked “Why did you lie to the American people, and why should we trust what you have to say now?” Trump replied “That’s a terrible question and the phraseology. I didn’t lie. What I said is we have to be calm. We can’t be panicked.”

But of course, he did very obviously lie. And it had nothing to do with avoiding panic. If a hurricane was coming you wouldn’t call it a Democratic hoax and insist that it would disappear like a miracle. You would alert the public and advise them to take all necessary precautions. That’s what Trump actually did prior to Hurricane Dorian) I guess he didn’t care about creating a panic then.

Trump went on to say that his confession that he lied was excusable because the person he confessed to didn’t report it quickly enough. Which is a rather bizarre justification for lying. And it doesn’t even dispute that it was a lie. He then took the second question was about the Durham report, a politically stained probe triggered by Trump’s hostility toward his predecessor, Barack Obama, and orchestrated by Trump’s flunky Attorney Genuflect, Bill Barr.

In the course of Trump’s ranting falsely about how he was spied on by the Obama administration, he attempted to back up his allegations by citing his favorite source for classified intelligence, Fox News (video below):

“Probably the biggest political scandal in the history of our country. They got caught. Now, what the Durham report is going to say, I can’t tell you. But if they say half as much as I already know, just from seeing it.”

First of all, Trump’s own intelligence agencies, as well as the Republican-run Senate, have confirmed that there was no scandal, no spying on his campaign. Secondly, What the heck does he already know from “seeing” the Durham report, which would be an extraordinary breach of ethics for him to have seen? But he wasn’t finished:

“You know I watch some of the shows, I watched [Fox’s] Elizabeth McDonald, she’s fantastic. I watched Fox Business. I watched Lou Dobbs last night. Sean Hannity last night. Tucker [Carlson] last night. Laura [Ingraham]. I watched Fox and Friends in the morning. You watch these shows, you don’t have to go too far into the details. They cover things that are…it’s really an amazing thing.”

So every single one of the shows that Trump watched were Fox News shows. He spent at least four hours on these notoriously right-wing disseminators of Trump-fluffing propaganda. He has the world’s most extensive network of international intelligence operations reporting to him, but he’s parked in front of the television gulping down Kool-Aid from Hannity and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes. And he’s doing that instead of – you know – actually working. Which may be a good thing.

What’s more, Trump concedes that “you don’t have to go too far into the details,” mainly because the details wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny if you went any farther than scratching the surface. Everything these Trump cult shills promote on their State TV broadcasts is coordinated with, and complimentary to, Trump’s official PR playbook.

There isn’t any breakthrough revelation in the discovery that Trump is addicted to Fox News and vice versa. What’s notable is that he has gotten so mentally lazy that he would make a public statement that is so blatantly aligned with his Ministry of Disinformation. He didn’t even bother to slip in a few names from OANN, Breitbart, or any of the other irrelevant Internet clown shows Trump likes to patronize.

This was all Fox News. An exclusive promo for the network that made him what he is today. And never mind that he has frequently attacked Fox News when they weren’t sufficiently worshipful. He always comes back because there is no one more loyal, more willingly deceitful, and more successful at corralling the Trumpian hoards who are starving for ever more news about Dear Leader. Their relationship may be rocky at times, but it is still strong – and dangerous.

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

Mulvaney Admits Trump’s Quid Pro Quo: ‘We Do That All the Time – Get Over It’

For the past several weeks Donald Trump has been adamantly denying that there was any quid pro quo in his conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Nevermind that the whistleblower’s complaint said there was, and that Trump’s “transcript” (executive summary) of the phone call corroborated that account. Trump insisted that the phone call was “prefect,” which is a bizarre way to describe it, as if it were being graded for criminal content.

Trump Penthouse Phone

On Thursday morning, though, Trump’s Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, held a press conference to announce the astonishing decision by Trump to host the 2020 G7 summit meeting at his own Doral Miami golf resort. Even a Fox News political editor was shocked by this shameless and purposeful grifting. But more to the point, Mulvaney turned Trump’s denials of a quid pro quo on their head. Mulvaney was asked explicitly whether U.S. foreign aid was withheld from Ukraine pending their agreement to dig up dirt on Trump’s political opponents. And in a roundabout way he confessed that it was. That resulted in this exchange with ABC News Chief White House Correspondent, Jonathan Karl (video below):

Karl: To be clear, what you described is a quid pro quo. It is funding will not flow unless the investigation into the Democratic server happens as well.”
Mulvaney: “We do that all the time with foreign policy.” […]
Mulvaney: Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.

So there you have it. An outright admission that the Trump White House uses its power to extort foreign leaders in order to get them to perform purely political favors. And not only did Mulvaney admit it, he volunteered that they “do that all the time.” Mulvaney then tried to use another incident when funds were similarly withheld to justify the Ukraine affair. However, he noted that in that case the U.S. demands involved immigration issues, which can reasonably be argued are in our national interest.

The problem with Trump’s extortion of Ukraine was that the demands involved a smear campaign on one of his political opponents. That is most definitely not in the national interest. That’s strictly a personal interest of Trump’s and a violation of every ethical tenet of diplomacy. It’s also a violation of the law. And it does not – or should not – happen all the time.

With regard to the “server” mentioned in this exchange, it’s a reference to a Democratic National Committee computer that was hacked by Russians. Trump has adopted a ludicrous conspiracy theory that claims the server contains some incriminating secrets and was spirited away to Ukraine. Of course, there is no evidence of anything remotely resembling that nonsense. But it seems like Mulvaney was willing to grab onto it in order to avoid the more damaging allegation that Trump was seeking dirt on Joe Biden. In fact, that may be the real motive here.

It will be interesting to hear Trump’s response to this admission of a quid pro quo after all his ranting. Although he is so brazen in his dishonesty he might just continue to deny it. Or he could say Mulvaney never said this. Or, in pinch, he’ll claim that he doesn’t know Mulvaney at all, he was just a coffee boy.

UPDATE: Later in the day Mulvaney walked back his remarks and now says that he never said there was a quid pro quo. Of course, he DID say it, and it’s on video. If he wants to say he misspoke and offer a correction, that’s fine. But he can’t say he didn’t say it.

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

How Does VP Mike Pence Respond to Conclusive Evidence of Trump’s Lies? With Even More Lying!

On Tuesday evening Donald Trump will deliver his very first Oval Office address to the American people. And the critical subject matter that necessitates this extraordinary and urgent communication just happens to be a “humanitarian and national security crisis” that is being fabricated from thin air by Trump and his team of propaganda fabulists.

Mike Pence, Donald Trump

There is no credible evidence of a crisis at the southern border. By every metric that is measurable, undocumented immigration, drug trafficking, gang members, violent crime, etc., the incidence of illegal activity has been steadily declining for several years. But since Trump is badly losing the PR war for his idiotic and useless vanity wall, he has decided to take his case directly to the public. Which is a pretty terrible idea considering his historically low approval and the fact that he’s regarded by most Americans as untrustworthy. Even less trustworthy than the media that he despises.

Just who does Trump think he will convince that a wall that is decidedly unpopular, and the equally out of favor government shutdown he engineered to force Congress to pay for it, is really a great idea that everyone should embrace? If Trump thinks that his innate (albeit imaginary) charm will win over converts, he is going to be wallowing in a deep trench of disappointment.

Consequently, The administration sent their secret charisma weapon, Vice-President Mike Pence, out to save the day for Trump and company. He was interviewed by Jonathan Karl of ABC News. And one question in particular really hit the sweet spot for determining whether Trump’s TV ploy can succeed or not (video below):

Karl: How can the President’s word be trusted on this when he has said so many things that are just not true about this crisis? He said that Barack Obama had a ten foot wall built around his house here in Washington. You know that isn’t true. He said that some of his predecessors told him that they wanted to build a wall. But all four living presidents have now put out statements saying that they never had any such conversation with the President. And then you saw Sarah Sanders say that nearly 4,000 terrorists come into the country every year, and that’s not true either.

How can the American people trust the President when he says this is a crisis when he says things over and over again that aren’t true?

Pence: Well, the American people aren’t as concerned about the political debate as they are concerned about what’s really happening at the border. And that’s what the President’s been focusing on.

So Pence is spinning Trump’s flagrant dishonesty as “political debate”? This tells you something about how Republicans regard politics. And the absurdity of his contention that nobody cares about Trump lying is evident in Trump’s dismal approval polling.

When Karl tried to press Pence on the credibility question again, Pence launched into his robo-lie that 4,000 “known or suspected terrorists” were apprehended, still falsely implying that the southern border was their point of origin. Then he continued on auto-pilot with assertions about drugs pouring into the country, being deliberately deceitful about the fact that the vast majority come in by air or through valid checkpoints. And at this point you might be wondering what any of this have to do with the question about Trump’s lying? But finally, Pence painted Trump’s pathological fibs as simply his “passion” to “protect the American people”:

Pence: “The passion you hear from President Trump, his determination to take this to American people, as he will tonight in his national broadcast from the oval office, comes from his deep desire to do his job to protect the American people. And we’re gonna continue to carry that case forward until the Democrats in Congress come to the table and start negotiating. Not just to end the government shutdown, but to address what is an undeniable crisis at out southern border.”

It’s cute how Pence tries to evade the topic by shifting to a “blame the Democrats” posture, despite Trump being the immovable object who refuses to compromise, or even agree to the legislation that he previously agreed to. But Pence’s assertion of “an undeniable crisis” is especially ridiculous. That’s going to be a tough sell considering that even people like Fox News senior judicial analyst, Andrew Napolitan, denies it. He also denies that Trump has any legal right to move forward with his wall by declaring a national emergency. When his Fox colleague Maria Bartiromo asked this directly, Napolitano told her that:

“In a word, no. That’s not me saying no, because the Supreme Court said no when Harry Truman attempted to do that. […] the Supreme Court has made it very clear, even in times of emergency, the president of the United States of America cannot spend money unless it has been authorized by the Congress.”

None of this will prevent the circus that is going to unfold tonight for Trump’s Oval Office Reality TV episode. And his likely incoherent, lie-riddled speech won’t change the mind of a single viewer. Except for those who are finally disgusted enough by his ignorance and dishonesty and refuse to be further exploited by it. For Trump, this clown show is a lose-lose.

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

BE AFRAID: Trump Admin is ‘Looking At’ Amending or Abolishing the First Amendment

The not-so-subtle inclination of Donald Trump toward totalitarian rule has been apparent for some time. He has repeatedly expressed his admiration for strongman dictators like Erdogan, Jong-Un, Hussein, and Vladimir Putin. What’s more, the alleged “dealmaker” is nakedly hostile to compromise or to accommodating opinions that differ from his own. It’s either conform to Trumpism or be denigrated as a lying, crooked, enemy of America.

Reince Priebus

In an interview Sunday, Trump’s Chief-of-Staff, Reince Priebus, affirmed the authoritarian aspirations of this president. ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl asked Priebus about Trump’s prior statements concerning punishing or restricting the press when he doesn’t like what they say about him. That question led to this ominous exchange (video below):

KARL: I want to ask you about two things the President has said on related issues. First of all, there was what he said about opening up the libel laws. Tweeting “the failing New York Times has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change the libel laws?” That would require, as I understand it, a constitutional amendment. Is he really going to pursue that? Is that something he wants to pursue?

PRIEBUS: I think it’s something that we’ve looked at. How that gets executed or whether that goes anywhere is a different story. But when you have articles out there that have no basis or fact and we’re sitting here on 24/7 cable companies writing stories about constant contacts with Russia and all these other matters . . .

KARL: So you think the President should be able to sue the New York Times for stories he doesn’t like?

PRIEBUS: Here’s what I think. I think that newspapers and news agencies need to be more responsible with how they report the news. I am so tired . . .

KARL: I don’t think anybody would disagree with that. It’s about whether or not the President should have a right to sue them.

PRIEBUS: And I already answered the question. I said this is something that is being looked at. But it’s something that as far as how it gets executed, where we go with it, that’s another issue.

Priebus could not have been more clear. The President is actively considering changes to the Constitution that would put the free press at risk. The changes he is considering would permit retaliation from hostile government officials seeking revenge for unfavorable coverage. Even short of litigation, such a move would have a chilling effect on journalists.

Trump has openly expressed his animosity toward the press. He calls them sleazy, liars, and “fake news” (although apparently without any understanding of what that phrase means). During the campaign he corralled them in pens and revoked the credentials of those he felt were not sufficiently adoring. His comments have even put some of them at risk for physical harm.

Trump’s consolidation of control goes beyond just the media. This weekend he also complained about the processes in Congress that interfere with him getting his way. “The rules of the Senate,” he said, “in some of the things you have to go through, it’s really a bad thing for the country in my opinion. They’re archaic rules.” In other words, he is opposed to the sort of democratic form of government wherein the people’s representatives work together to shape a consensus on legislation. He prefers dictating his demands and having everyone comply unquestioningly.

The purpose of these assaults on the Constitution is to delegitimize any criticism or opposition, no matter how appropriate. Trump wants only positive stories about him and his administration. And he will not tolerate anyone exposing his frequent mistakes, misstatements and lies. For that reason, every American should be wary of Trump’s efforts to silence the press. And particularly any attempt to codify such censorship into law or Constitutional amendments.

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