Politics

Delusional Washington Post Op-Ed Calls Trump ‘The Most Honest President in American History’

Posted by on October 17, 2018 at 1:17 pm. 0 Comments :

There is one thing that most fair-minded observers can agree on with regard to Donald Trump: He lies virtually every time he opens his mouth. He lies about things both big and small. He lies about matters political and personal. It is often said that he is a pathological liar, but isn’t fair to people who suffer from that psychological syndrome and can’t help themselves. Trump lies deliberately and knowingly.

Donald Trump

Which makes the opinion column by Marc Thiessen in the Washington Post especially absurd. The title of the screed is all you need to know about how preposterous the rest of it is: “Trump could be the most honest president in modern history.” Thiessen is a former speechwriter for George W. Bush and a reliably off-kilter wingnut. But in this article he has devolved into a full blown Trump cultist who is willing to contort reality to fit his ludicrous premise. The piece begins with this bit of self-contradiction:

“Donald Trump may be remembered as the most honest president in modern American history.

“Don’t get me wrong, Trump lies all the time. He said that he ‘enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history’ (actually they are the eighth largest) and that ‘our economy is the strongest it’s ever been in the history of our country’ (which may one day be true, but not yet). In part, it’s a New York thing — everything is the biggest and the best.”

So Thiessen holds the implausible opinion that a president who “lies all the time” will be remembered as the “most honest” ever. That’s the sort of logic that runs rampant in the Trump Cult, where Trump, and only Trump, must be believed, no matter how ridiculous his baseless outbursts are. Thiessen justifies his slobbering praise by saying that “when it comes to the real barometer of presidential truthfulness — keeping his promises — Trump is a paragon of honesty.” But there is a big difference between honesty and promises. For instance, if Trump promised to stop the Martian invasion, he could not later claim that he was honest because there aren’t any Martian soldiers surrounding the White House. (Although we probably shouldn’t give him any ideas- Space Force!)

The fact that Trump has kept some of his campaign promises has no bearing whatsoever on his honesty, or obvious lack thereof. But even worse for Thiessen, Trump’s record of keeping promises is abysmal. According to the PolitiFact Trump Meter, the President has has kept a paltry 13.7 percent of his promises to date. The examples itemized by Thiessen are mostly promises that were previously made by the Republican congress. And it was Congress that fulfilled them. Some of Thiessen’s examples of Trump’s promises kept have not been. Like his pledge “to open China’s markets and stop its theft of intellectual property.” All Trump has done about that is implement tariffs that are hurting American companies and workers more than China.

Among the unkept promises are the ones that Trump pushed the hardest for. He has made no progress on the border wall (although he lies that he did), or getting Mexico to pay for it. He has failed to repeal ObamaCare. Although he has tried to sabotage it on the margins. There has been no appointment of a special prosecutor to “lock up” Hillary Clinton. He is reneging on his pledge not to cut Social Security and Medicare. He has not enacted, or even proposed, an infrastructure bill. Not only has he failed to eliminate the deficit, he is growing it to record numbers. And, of course, he still hasn’t released his tax returns.

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

So by Thiessen’s “real barometer” of promises kept, Trump is a miserable failure. Of course, the barometer that everyone else uses to determine honesty is whether or not someone makes statements that are true or false. And by that measure Trump is way beyond being a miserable failure. It’s interesting to note that Thiessen’s op-ed was published by the Washington Post, which also publishes an ongoing catalogue of Trump lies. To date they have documented more than 5,000 of them. Apparently Thiessen doesn’t read the Washington Post.

Donald Trump Denies Financial Ties to Saudi Arabia – Fox News Fact Check Proves He’s Lying

Posted by on October 16, 2018 at 5:08 pm. 2 Comments :

The easiest thing to prove in American politics today is that Donald Trump told a lie. It’s so easy that the Washington Post has done it more than 5,000 times. Catching Trump saying something that is demonstrably untrue happens so often that it has ceased to be newsworthy. And that may actually be the strategy on Trump’s part. If he lies about everything than reporting any of his lies is somewhat redundant.

Donald Trump, Fox News

Nevertheless, it is imperative that the President not be permitted to get away with racking up frequent fabricator miles at the expense of the nation. After all, when he does go down, among the charges against him are likely to be several involving perjury. The fact that he is establishing a pattern of behavior that will attest to his recklessness with the truth is only going to end up biting him in his ample posterior.

On Tuesday Trump dumped a truckload of manure on Twitter that adds to his chronicle of bullcrap. He must not have any presidenting to do because he had the time to post sixteen tweets, most of which contained varying degrees of untruths. From his assertion that Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test was “bogus,” to his video assault on Medicare-for-All that blatantly misrepresented the initiative and his own sabotage of healthcare for millions of citizens. But perhaps the most brazen distortion of reality was his claim that he has “no financial interests in Saudi Arabia.”

What makes this preposterous posting so uniquely debunkable is that all you need are Trump’s own words. He has spent years boasting about the millions of dollars he makes off of the Saudis. And the ease with which this flagrant lie could be refuted was even to much for Fox News to resist. And they did a pretty good job of beating Trump’s lying horseface into pulp:

The @FoxNewsResearch Twitter account is surprisingly accurate from time to time, and it isn’t afraid to criticize Trump, unlike the sycophantic Trump-fluffers on the air at Fox News. The items listed in the tweet above prove that Trump lied about his involvement with Saudi money. They left a couple out though. For instance, in 2016: Trump registered eight new companies in Saudi Arabia, during his campaign. And his recent bleating about the $110 billion in arms that he’s selling to Saudi Arabia actually influenced his opinion regarding the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

It is also notable that Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, have Saudi financial ties as well. And Trump has gone out of his way to exempt the Saudis from any negative consequences for their actions. Like when he left them off of his Muslim Ban despite the fact that all but one of the 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia.

The unsavory connections between Trump and Saudi royalty just reeks of corruption. It’s not unlike his relationships with Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin. He just adores foreign dictators who are avowed enemies of America. And that should make Americans think long and hard about where he stands with regard to his loyalties here at home. Especially when his treasonous acts are so open that even Fox News reports on them.

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

The GOP News Network (aka Fox News) Is SHOCKED that Billionaires Donate to Democratic Campaigns

Posted by on October 14, 2018 at 1:41 pm. 4 Comments :

It’s just about three weeks until the midterm elections that are forecasting a massive Blue Wave. Most campaign analysts agree that Democrats will secure a majority in the House of Representatives, and some believe the Senate is in play as well. Consequently, Fox News is pulling out all the stops to obstruct that outcome by loading up their schedule with Republican politicians and pundits sermonizing on the urgency of saving the Trump regime’s grip on unchallenged power.

Fox News, Maria Bartiromo

Republicans have abdicated their constitutional role as a check and balance on the other branches of government, particularly the executive branch. Instead, they have been brazenly shielding Trump and company from any legal accountability for their many crimes. And Fox News is aiding and abetting that betrayal of American values. Fox host Maria Bartiromo secured her status as the chief Sunday morning Trump-fluffer with an “interview” of Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. The segment was pretty much a monologue by the GOP hack intended to boost Republican voter turnout and malign Democrats.

However, one subject dominated the discussion more than the typical gaslighting we’re accustomed to by Republicans. McCarthy raised his “real concern” about former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s donations to Democratic candidates (video below):

“There is a real concern that I have though, because Michael Bloomberg, if you watched who recently registered a Democrat, he is trying to buy the Democrat nomination to run against President Trump. So he has put in $80 million to try and win the House.”

Bartiromo, naturally, agreed with McCarthy. She went on to misstate the truth about which party is getting the most donations from average Americans, and she complained about “a handful of big, deep pocketed donors like a Michael Bloomberg, like a Tom Steyer.” McCarthy took that handoff and ran with it saying that:

“Just think the three individuals who are funding the Democratic Party. George Soros. You’ve got Michael Bloomberg, is not just $80 million into the House, he put another $20 million to try to win the senate. Then Tom Steyer. More than $120 million trying to win. But his main goal is trying to impeach President Trump. He brags that his impeachment list is bigger than the NRA list. Those three individuals are trying to buy our government in this process. It’s very disturbing.”

Why McCarthy correctly noted that there are more people supporting Trump’s impeachment than there are members of the NRA is puzzling, but appreciated. But more to the point, he itemized the contributions of some wealthy Democratic donors and noted how disturbed he was by it. And was it just a coincidence that all three of the rich Dems are Jewish?

What McCarthy didn’t bother to mention is that just one single wealthy donor to the Republicans, Charles Koch, is spending $400 million, more than the total McCarthy said was being donated by all of the Democratic supporters combined. And that isn’t even counting all the other GOP big money donors like the Adelsons and Uihleins. For some reason McCarthy and Bartiromo don’t find that disturbing.

Bartiromo goes on to praise a GOP campaign slogan saying “Build the wall, enforce the law. Yeah.” Then she gives McCarthy an open ended question about where Republicans are running close races with Democrats. And McCarthy took that baton and launched a two minute sprint of races that he wanted to promote on national television to an audience of obedient cult worshipers. It could not have been a more obvious contribution of valuable TV airtime to a political party than if it were branded with a big GOP elephant in place of the Fox News logo.

And this political assist to the Republican Party comes at just the right time. With the midterms approaching, Trump’s frequent cult rallies were boring the Fox News audience so much that Fox cut back on airing them live. The network was also losing a ton of ad revenue because Trump’s speeches could not be interrupted for commercial breaks. So to compensate for the loss of that TV exposure, Fox News is increasing their donations of airtime to GOP shills who will proselytize the right-wing doctrine in a more profitable, TV-friendly format. All in a desperate effort to stave off an electoral bloodbath next month that they probably can’t avoid. Well, as long as Democrats stay focused and turn out at the polls.

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

Fox News Exorcist Tucker Carlson Exposes the Witches of the Democratic Party, and He’s Serious

Posted by on October 13, 2018 at 11:03 am. 1 Comments :

As the midterm election gets closer, Fox News is rethinking their programming strategy. Whereas they used to air all of Donald Trump’s cult rallies in full and uninterrupted, they are now skipping them in favor of their regularly scheduled propaganda. The White House says that they are going to “look into” this betrayal by their State TV division.

Fox News, Tucker Carlson

Apparently the lower ratings and loss of ad revenue was hitting them where it hurts. Plus, by foregoing the live show they can selectively edit clips from Trump’s public tantrums to remove the most embarrassing parts. That leaves them free to embarrass themselves with the juvenile ravings of their Lunatic Fringe Players in Fox primetime.

Chief among the cast of Fox’s unreality circus of Trump-fluffers is Tucker Carlson. His show has become the official mouthpiece of America’s white supremacists. He spends most of the hour with a curious expression on his face that is part confusion and part disgust for his victimized guest.

However, on Friday evening, Carlson managed to sink to a new level of absurdity with a segment attacking Democrats – and particularly women – as practitioners of the dark arts. The discussion was marginally about opposition to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. But there was a much more sinister tangent that Carlson felt compelled to explore. His theme for the night was that “The party that conducts witch hunts also conducts witchcraft.” (video below)

“The question now is, is Kavanaugh’s powerful legal mind strong enough to withstand the forces of witchcraft? It’s a real question now. A coven of self-described witches in New York is planning a rally next week to put a hex on Justice Kavanaugh. You can buy a ticket to attend the ceremony for ten bucks. A quarter of that goes to Planned Parenthood to help them continue to fund their human sacrifice rituals.”

Let’s just set aside Carlson’s crass and offensive attack on Planned Parenthood as standard right-wing assholiness. What’s really important here is that Carlson has broken the liberal coven conspiracy wide open. No wonder Fox News has stopped covering Trump’s Kool-Aid parties live, when they have probing investigations like this to report. And lest you think that this is just some comic relief on Carlson’s part, note that he called it “a real question” and later said that “I think it’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever heard. And by the way, what if it’s real? I’m serious!“

With Trump’s public appearances becoming tedious affairs that the public (and Fox News) is tuning out, and Kanye West is the best hope the Republicans have for exciting their base, they are resorting to desperate tactics like this to avoid a bloodbath on November 6th. It’s such a dimwitted strategy that you have to consider the possibility that it was a witch’s spell that compelled them to pursue it.

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

Willful Amnesia? Fox News Can’t Recall Any Artist ‘Treated with the Same Vitriol’ as Kanye West

Posted by on October 12, 2018 at 4:01 pm. 0 Comments :

The Gaslighting of America continues as Donald Trump and his comrades at State TV (aka Fox News) manufacture ever more twisted versions of reality. They must have a fabrication factory working 24/7 to keep their supply of crackpot theories and fictional accounts of current events flowing. And that factory is undoubtedly located in China and staffed by ten year olds who have been instructed to dumb everything down to the seven year old level.

Fox News, Laura Ingraham

On Thursday night’s episode of Laura Ingraham’s Unintentional Comedy Hour on Fox News, the host best known for her campaign against celebrities taking public positions on political matters (she wrote the book “Shut Up and Sing”) blathered on interminably about how brilliant Kanye West’s sycophantic suck up to Trump was when they met in the Oval Office. She began by introducing Kanye’s performance in historical terms (video below):

“It was an amazing moment in the Oval Office Thursday when pop culture icon, rapper extraordinaire Kanye West, met with President Trump before the cameras and unleashed a 10-minute monologue in which he explained his love of all things MAGA. Sometimes unlikely figures emerge in American history to play important roles, illuminating important truths. And Kanye West in his own eccentric way, has exposed the intolerance of the left.”

Ingraham went on to chastise a series of liberal news commentators for criticizing Trump’s White House invitation to Kanye. Except that those commentators were not criticizing the invitation. They were criticizing Kanye’s insane antics and rhetoric. The notoriously buggy rap star went on a ten minute monologue of sheer madness. Just a few examples included his contention that putting on the MAGA hat made him feel like Superman; that Trump’s campaign exuded male energy that resolved his daddy problems; that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution (abolishing slavery) should be repealed because office buildings don’t have thirteen floors; and that Trump should fly in a non-existent, hydrogen powered plane.

Ingraham couldn’t help diving into a ludicrous round of “whataboutism” in response to complaints that Kanye called himself a “crazy MF’er” in the Oval Office. That was widely regarded as both uncivil and disrespectful. So Ingraham reached back a quarter of a century to ask what about Bill Clinton’s disrespectful behavior with Monica Lewinsky. That’s a far stretch to put forth an absurd comparison. But for the perverse obsessions of the Republicans, that would have been a private affair. Kanye was dropping F-bombs on national television across the desk from the President.

Then Ingraham addressed her own famous aversion to celebrity opinions. However, she gave the Trump-supporting star a pass:

“Kanye West is hardly a political philosopher, and I’ve always believed that entertainers should first entertain and keep their politics separate from their art. But I cannot remember any artist on the left who was treated with the same vitriol and hatred as West has been subjected to since he announced his support for the president.”

Apparently Ingraham is suffering from a severe case of willful amnesia. It’s an infectious disease that is spreading throughout the Fox News studios. Contributor Dana Loesch has it. She appeared on Fox and Friends and rattled off the names of some notable celebrities who were guests of President Obama and then declared that that “no one attacked any of those individuals.” Likewise, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity made the same case that only the famous friends of Trump were subject to criticism. Clearly these ultra-partisan blowhards have lost a considerable quantity of the brain functions that control memory, poor things.

Democratic leaning celebrities have taken far more abuse from the right than vice versa. They are maligned as communists, traitors, hateful and hostile. All of that and more simply for expressing well reasoned opinions. But Kanye goes off on certifiably insane rants about sleep deprivation and he’s hailed as a political genius. And the right still has never apologized for the outright vulgar and vicious attacks by their favorite washed up rocker, Ted Nugent.

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

HUH? White House Will ‘Look Into’ Why State TV (Fox News) Stopped Airing Trump’s Rallies Live

Posted by on October 11, 2018 at 10:38 am. 4 Comments :

Trump delivered another tedious and repetitive stump speech at one of his, now frequent, cult rallies Wednesday in Erie, Pennsylvania. It was a showcase for all of his “greatest hits” featuring “Build the Wall,” “Lock Her Up,” “Witch Hunt,” and many more. However, there was difference with this revival meeting that sets it apart from most of those in the past.

Fox News, Donald Trump

Politico reports that the Trump Broadcasting Network’s State TV (aka Fox News), declined to air the event live and uninterrupted as they usually do. Fox News has been a devoted servant of this administration when it comes to disseminating propaganda via their airwaves. They even promote on air with chyrons that read “Trump Rally Live & Only on Fox News, Other Networks Ignore Presidential Rally.” But it’s possible that Trump’s floundering popularity and financial concerns may be influencing their programming going forward. Politico notes that:

“As he’s ramped up his rally schedule ahead of the midterms, viewership numbers for the raucous prime-time events have been roughly similar to — sometimes dipping below — Fox News’ regular programming, and the network has recently stopped airing most evening events in full.”

That’s right. Trump is losing fans on the network that has been his official fan club for more than two years. This cannot be good news for the President, especially since he is increasing the number of these affairs specifically to boost the campaign prospects of Republican candidates in the cities where he is performing.

Consequently, Trump is compensating for this reduced coverage by calling into Fox News programs by phone. In the past three days he’s done that three times, ringing up his buddies Jeanine Pirro, Shannon Bream, and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends. But this is not likely to satisfy the White House. They have grown accustomed to the fawning attention they get from Fox News and expect it to continue. And they aren’t sitting around waiting for Fox to correct the situation. According to Politico:

“One senior White House official was unsure why the network would decide to cut away from presidential rallies, saying officials planned ‘to look into that’ and wouldn’t be surprised if White House communications director Bill Shine, a former Fox News executive, was in touch with former colleagues about the trend.”

Let that sink in. The White House believes that they have some sort of right to free airtime on Fox News, and if they aren’t getting it they will take action to set the network straight. Notice that they aren’t talking about looking into CNN or MSNBC. They are focusing on their wholly owned platform for media exposure and dispatching Bill Shine to address this outrageous policy shift. Shine is the former president of Fox News and Trump’s current deputy chief of staff for communications. And if you think that this isn’t explicitly about having an impact on the upcoming midterm election, just take it from the mouth of a GOP campaign operative who worries about the loss of Trump’s TV time because:

“‘It exposes us to a national audience that we normally don’t get to,’ a Senate Republican campaign staffer said of the coverage of Trump rallies. ‘We tend to see lots of new sign-ups and small-dollar donations. There’s obviously folks streaming [rallies] online, but being able to be onstage with the president in front of a prime-time audience is huge for a campaign trying to reach conservatives across the country who will open up their wallets.'”

Among the other observations made by Politico are that Trump’s rallies are drawing fewer viewers. “His events at times popped for more than 4 million viewers on Fox News,” a source said. Which is “a number he hasn’t come close to in 2018.” What’s more, “network officials’ fear was that too much repetition would lead to lower ratings,” and that Fox News could lose millions of dollars in ad revenue because they “can’t take commercial breaks while Trump is speaking.”

Perhaps the decision to cut back on live rally airings led to Trump making a blatant promotional pitch for Fox in order to get more airtime via flattery. He gave a shout out on Wednesday to Foxies who he praised for maligning Democrats as “the Dimms,” saying:

“The great Lou Dobbs, he says that, right? Sean Hannity says that. ‘The Dimms.’ Judge Jeanine says that, doesn’t she? Laura [Ingraham]. Laura. How good has Laura been, right? Do we like Tucker? I like Tucker.”

Actually, only Lou Dobbs says that, but getting the facts straight has never been of much concern to Trump. All he wants is to have his face in front of the Deplorables who are glued to Fox News all day and night. He wants to make sure his perverse and incoherent message is being injected into the already acutely ill-informed brains of Fox’s loyal audience. And if Fox News thinks they can get away with reducing his airtime, they better be prepared for more of this:

Yeah, that’ll happen. More likely Fox will cave in to Trump’s tantrum and resume their live broadcasts. They can make up the lost revenue with the tax cuts Trump will promise them. And their hosts who get preempted by the rallies will all get “exclusive” interviews. That’s how State TV works. Trump is learning well from his friends in Russia and North Korea.

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

Trump’s Lie-Riddled ‘Medicare-for-All’ Op-Ed in USA Today is Obliterated By Fact-Checkers

Posted by on October 10, 2018 at 2:39 pm. 1 Comments :

Not content with the 280 characters that Twitter gives him to dissemble incoherently every day, Donald Trump put crayon to paper for an Op-Ed in USA Today – or more likely, his minders wrote it for him. In his defense, it’s hard to squeeze more lies into the finite confines of a tweet than he has already done. So having the luxury of nearly 5,000 characters to lie within must have given him a sense of freedom.

Donald Trump

The subject of the editorial was Medicare-for-All and, needless to say, Trump is against it, just as he is against anything that actually helps people more than corporations. The lede for his falsehood-laden tirade says that “The Democrats want to outlaw private health care plans, taking away freedom to choose plans while letting anyone cross our border. We must win this.” But while Trump’s opposition comes as no surprise, the rapid fire velocity of his blatant untruths was a little shocking, even for him. And that didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the press that values honesty and factual reporting. Just a few of the media fact-checkers that weighed in on Trump’s bucket of bullpucky included these:

  • The Washington Post: Fact-checking President Trump’s USA Today op-ed on ‘Medicare-for-All. Nearly every line of President Trump’s USA Today op-ed contained a false or misleading statement.
  • Vox Media: Trump’s USA Today op-ed on Medicare is an absurd tissue of lies
  • Newsweek: Chuck Schumer Fact Checks Trump’s USA Today Op-Ed with More Than a Dozen Corrections
  • Huffington Post: Wildly Inaccurate Trump Op-Ed On Health Care Receives Swift Backlash
  • NBC News: USA Today criticized for printing Trump op-ed despite inaccuracies
  • NPR: FACT CHECK: Trump’s False Claims On ‘Medicare For All’
  • Los Angeles Times: Trump’s USA Today op-ed on Medicare is full of lies — but does anyone really believe he wrote it himself?
  • PolitiFact: Fact-checking Donald Trump’s op-ed against Medicare for All in USA Today

The analyses from these actual journalists covered many of the same blatant lies that Trump espoused in his vanity rant. They included his charge that a single-payer system would eliminate private health care. It would not. Private plans are available for those who can afford more in every country that currently offers universal coverage. Trump also complained that Medicare-for-All would cost $32 trillion, but he failed to mention that the current system costs $34 trillion, so we would save $2 trillion.

Trump also reminded readers that he promised to protect coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions. However, his proposals actually eliminate that benefit. So then he sought to claim that under his programs premiums have been declining. In fact, they declined as a result of ObamaCare, but rose after Trump’s sabotage of it was implemented.

Trump tried to foist the lie that ObamaCare cut Medicare by $800 billion. The truth is that it moved that money from Medicare to ObamaCare, and then provided more benefits with the same funding. Also Trump claimed that Medicare-for-All would outlaw private plans, end of choice for seniors, and prevent people from seeing the doctor of their choice. None of that is true. Especially the last item because, without physician networks people could go to any doctor they want.

Then Trump segued completely away from health care to lob some unrelated and unprovoked insults at Democrats. He began by fuming that “the centrist Democratic Party is dead. The new Democrats are radical socialists who want to model America’s economy after Venezuela.” Which is, of course, total nonsensical babbling from a deranged mind. He railed at “Democrats’ absolute commitment to end enforcement of our immigration laws, and charged that “Today’s Democratic Party is for open-borders socialism.” Which he must have picked up from one of his white supremacist buddies like Tucker Carlson of Fox News.

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

Finally, Trump projected the Republican agenda to “slash budgets for seniors’ Medicare and Social Security” onto Democrats, who have always fought to preserve and improve those programs. Even now the Republican Congress is proposing severe cuts due to funding shortfalls caused by Trump’s tax cuts for the rich. That’s just another of the parade of lies that our Pathological-Liar-in-Chief is spewing in a never ending effort to break his own records for lies-per-minute. And on this matter alone Trump can actually claim to be winning.

Crybaby Trump Lashes Out at the Media for Accurately Reporting His Frequent Failures

Posted by on October 10, 2018 at 11:06 am. 2 Comments :

With Hurricane Michael bearing down on the Gulf Coast, Donald Trump managed to find time to tweet about the media that he regards as “the enemy of the people.” He’s been doing that most of the last two years, even after the GOP-controlled Senate rebuked him for his blatantly anti-constitutional blather.

Donald Trump

In his latest Twitter tantrum, Trump characteristically whined about what he thinks is biased treatment by the press. He continues to prove that he is a weakling who can’t take the heat of public service like all the presidents who preceded him. So he lashes out incoherently and clings to sycophantic supporters who oblige him with undeserved flattery. Wednesday morning’s rant was especially deranged:

The Media Research Center is a notoriously biased pack of right-wing shills. What they publish as “studies” wouldn’t stand the scrutiny of credible media analysts. And their results are similar to those of dictatorships where the tyrant in residence always seems to get ninety-plus percent in every election. It’s uncanny how much murderous totalitarians like Trump’s pals Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un are loved by the people they oppress.

In Trump’s attack on the press he makes a point of calling out all of the broadcast media offenders: ABC, CBS and ABC. He must really hate ABC because he put them in there twice. And surprisingly, he left out NBC, the network he hates more than all the others. Is his hostility just so intense that he can’t even bring himself to utter their name? And Trump’s complaint about negative stories is completely off base. The press is reporting on him accurately, and it isn’t their fault that almost everything he does is negative.

Trump did manage to include his newspaper nemesis, the New York Times, which is hardly failing. Trump is very upset that the Times didn’t put the Kavanaugh “victory” on the front page Tuesday. First, let’s note that Dr. Ford, and millions of American women, don’t think that Kavanaugh’s presence on the Supreme Court is a victory. But more to the point, Trump is once again demonstrating his ignorance and/or dishonesty. That’s because the Senate confirmation vote occurred on Saturday, and it was on the front page of the Times on Sunday:

It continues to boggle the mind how Trump can keep exhibiting ever lower stages of mental infirmity. The simplest things are screwed up to an astonishing degree. And even when he is apprised of his errors, he persists in repeating them. It’s a symptom of his senile dementia and malignant narcissism. And it’s embarrassing to the nation and the majority of its citizens. But what’s even more troubling is that there is a small core of StormTrumpers who eat this up. They are as delusional as he is and are incapable of being corrected no matter how solid the facts. What’s truly frightening is that Trump will eventually be gone, but they will remain.

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

Will Trump’s U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley Follow Hope Hicks to Fox News?

Posted by on October 9, 2018 at 9:16 am. 0 Comments :

Tuesday morning Donald Trump announced that another member of his administration is fleeing the debacle he’s created. Nikki Haley has been Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations from the beginning. Her role has been overshadowed by Trump’s beligerrant bullying tactics and bullheaded diplomacy. But she was a staunch supporter of the President no matter how horribly he behaved.

Nikki Haley

There will be plenty of speculation about what Haley will do now that she’s deserting this sinking ship. She ruled out running for president during the resignation announcement in the Oval Office, but – and I don’t want to shock you – politicians lie. She promised to campaign for Trump in 2020. There is also talk that Lindsey Graham will replace Jeff Sessions as Attorney General and Haley will get an appointment to his seat as South Carolina senator.

However, there is one career option that cannot be ignored, even if it doesn’t seem particularly likely. Her colleague Hope Hicks just took a job at Fox News, like many other former Trump staffers. And Haley may go the same route. She has been a frequent guest on the State TV network and gets along well with the Trump-fluffers there.

During a recent interview she made some ludicrous excuses for why Trump was laughed at when he spoke at the U.N. last month. Trump insisted that he intended to get a laugh when he talked about how much he’s done as President. Which is peculiar since his reaction in real time was that “I didn’t expect that response.” According to Haley, though, the reason they laughed was because “they loved how honest he is” and that “They love to be with him.” Now that’s the kind of delusional spin that makes for a great Fox News pundit or program host.

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

Speculation will also rise about who will replace Haley at the U.N. Some early possibilities include Trump’s current National Security Advisor (and former U.N. ambassador under George W. Bush) John Bolton, and current ambassador to Germany (and former Fox News contributor) Richard Grenell. Grenell also served as the spokesman for the U.S. delegation at the United Nations. But the most hysterical candidates include both Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner. Sadly, in the Era of Trump, being hysterical doesn’t disqualify you from consideration.

Fox News Guest Dinesh D’Souza Honors the Humanitarian Slave Owners of the Old South

Posted by on October 8, 2018 at 3:50 pm. 3 Comments :

Leave it to Fox News to find the bright side of slave owners. While the rest of the civilized world condemns human trafficking, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends managed to produce a segment that highlighted the freedom loving Confederates on the old plantations of Dixie.

Fox News, Dinesh D'Souza

Co-host Steve Doocy interviewed one of Fox’s favorite shameless disseminators of flagrant lies, confessed felon Dinesh D’Souza. Earlier this year Donald Trump pardoned D’Souza for the federal crime that he had pleaded guilty to. The Fox segment began as an attempt to mock Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for what they asserted was a gaffe. It wasn’t. She tweeted that:

Ocasio-Cortez was replying to a tweet that noted that two recent presidents who lost the popular vote have put four justices on the Supreme Court. Doocy then asked D’Souza “Why does the Electoral College matter,” and “what do you think she was talking about?” D’Souza’s reply began by mansplaining what Ocasio-Cortez really meant (video below):

“Well, first of all, I think she’s confusing the Electoral College with the “three-fifths” laws. The three-fifths laws was about slavery, and it had to do with an argument between the North and the South over representation. Ironically, the North, which was the anti-slavery side, wanted blacks to count for zero because they wanted to reduce the representative power of the slave states. The South wanted blacks to count for a full person. So the three-fifths laws which was usually presented to show that the founders didn’t consider blacks to be fully human, doesn’t actually show that at all.”

D’Souza is almost right. The problem is that he leaves out the fact that the South only wanted to count slaves because it gave the region more clout in the federal government. Slaves would still be denied any rights and considered to be property. The South wanted it both ways: to own blacks like chattel, but count them to increase the political power of their white masters. Then D’Souza swung back around to the Electoral College:

“Now the Electoral College was a different matter. The Electoral College emerges out of this contest between the large states and the small states. Not an antiquated issue. We have that now. We have large states, we have small states. And if we had a system that gave power only to the large states, the small states would essentially be unrepresented. The whole point, remember, the core of our founding is the consent of the governed. So to create the union the founders needed the consent of the large states and the small states. The Electoral College is a part of that arithmetic.”

Once again, D’Souza os only partly correct. Much of the dispute between the large and small states was still a matter of north and south. The population of the North far exceeded that of the South. So Ocasio-Cortez was correct in associating the Electoral College with slavery. What’s more, D’Souza is wrong in stating that smaller states would be unrepresented without the Electoral College. Their representation in Congress would be identical. The only difference would be in presidential elections.

However, that difference has become a useless and undemocratic anachronism. Given the boundaryless mobility of the modern U.S., we should not still be electing the president by states, but rather by voters. There is no coherent reason why the tiny populations of Idaho or Wyoming should have a greater say in presidential elections than the vastly more numerous populations of California or Texas. And it’s fair to say that there are a lot of former residents of Idaho and Wyoming who now live in California and Texas. Should their votes be diluted simply because they moved?

Ocasio-Cortez is right to raise the issue of eliminating the outdated Electoral College. It should have been done long ago. Hopefully her colleagues in Congress join her in that initiative when she gets there in January. In the meantime, Fox News needs to stop hosting racists who talk down to women and demean them personally as incapable of grasping these issues. But then they would have hours and hours of dead air.

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