Election

REALLY? Trump is Afraid that Electing Biden ‘Would Lead To Disaster’

Posted by on July 5, 2020 at 1:45 pm. 2 Comments :

The United States of America is currently undergoing one of the most troubling and turbulent times in its short history. The American people are suffering hardships that have not been imagined for decades. The list of leadership failures under “president” Donald Trump are almost too numerous to mention. But the consequences are far too too painful to ignore.

Trump Fear

An international pandemic has hit the U.S. especially hard, resulting in the deaths of 130,000 people, many of which would have been avoidable if we had competent leadership. The economy is in recession, and 20 million people are unemployed. Our allies are either laughing at us or pitying us, while our adversaries are gladly exploiting opportunities to achieve hostile objectives they have long sought. And in the midst of these calamities, Trump has the unmitigated gall to tweet that the policies of President Joe Biden…

Seriously? This makes you wonder just where Trump thinks his policies have led us. If we are not already in the throes of an epic disaster, then what would one look like? Biden would somehow have to put the Earth in the path of massive asteroid to satisfy Trump’s idea of disaster.

The spark that triggered Trump’s latest tantrum was an article in the ultra-rightist Washington Examiner. The article reported on remarks that Biden made to high-dollar donors at a recent fundraiser:

“In a donor meeting Monday evening, Biden said he was ‘going to to get rid of the bulk of Trump’s $2 trillion tax cut.’ He added about President Trump’s 2017 tax law, enacted with a Republican Senate and a House then under Republican control, ‘A lot of you may not like that, but I’m going to close loopholes like capital gains and stepped-up basis,’ mentioning the numerous wealthy people in attendance virtually.”

Naturally Trump regards this as a disaster since it would adversely affect him and his upper-crust pals in the GOP (Greedy One Percent). But you have to give Biden credit for telling prospective donors – and the very people whose taxes would be raised – that this is what he intends to do. Fortunately, there are some in the high income group who understand the need to raise taxes in order to “promote the general Welfare” (as the Constitution says), and that they are the ones who can best afford it. In the end, the reduction of the deficit, and the benefit to the overall economy, will serve the interests of the wealthy as well. It’s working people who drive economic prosperity. Without consumers the corporations will wither and die.

Trump’s Tax Scam was never a good idea. It was intended to further enrich the already wealthy, and to entice them to contribute to Republican campaigns. The benefits of the tax cuts were distributed overwhelming to the rich. But in the wake of Trump’s catastrophic negligence, incompetence, and even deliberate malfeasance, many of the most reliable right-wingers are abandoning ship.

Biden’s pledge to reverse Trump’s tax cuts include raising the top corporate tax bracket from 21% to 28%. Which is still below the 35% it was at prior to Trump’s cuts. However, it would help to bring the budget closer to balance and, of more immediate concern, raise funds to help the American people, small businesses, and local governments weather the pandemic storm. It’s exactly the sort of progressive agenda that’s needed at this critical juncture.

As for Trump’s priorities, they remain precisely what they’ve been since the day he announced his candidacy by disparaging Latinos as criminals and rapists. His recent Independence Day speeches were littered with racist dog whistles, or more accurately, foghorns. Judging by the content of his speeches, the most pressing national problems are protecting the statues of Confederate traitors and suppressing the First Amendment rights of citizens protesting injustice and systemic racism. On these matters Trump believes that the if the people are allowed to exercise their rights…

It’s unclear who Trump thinks would be “calling the shots” in the Biden administration, but his list would surely include Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and the ghost of Osama Bin Laden. For the record, Kimberley Strassel, a Trump-fluffing Wall Street Journal columnist, misrepresented Biden’s remarks. Biden was not asked if he would “condemn” the protesters, only what he thought should be done about the offensive monuments. And only a seriously deranged mind could interpret Biden’s answer to be the ominous foreshadowing of “the beginning of the end.” Luckily for Trump, that’s exactly the kind of mind he has. And it has led us unarguably to the disaster that he now says he fears.

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

Trump’s Dark and Divisive Diatribes Defile Independence Day

Posted by on July 4, 2020 at 12:55 pm. 6 Comments :

It’s the 4th of July and Donald Trump has taken this solemn occasion to produce the sequel to his inaugural address: “American Carnage.” This follow up can be called “American Mayhem,” because that’s the dominant narrative that Trump exuded throughout the speech. It was a spasm of hostility and alienation on a day that is meant to embrace unity. If anything it affirmed speculation as to Trump’s obvious and worsening mental infirmity.

Donald Trump Hugs Flag

The event should never have been held in the first place. It required people to defy all of the guidance of health experts to maintain physical distance and wear face masks. And this defiance occurred while the COVID-19 pandemic was spiking to record highs. Even close associates of Trump have recently tested positive for the coronavirus, including Don Jr’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle (who is also a Trump campaign official and former Fox News shill).

None of that, however, was sufficient to dissuade Trump from going forward with his ego-stroking cult rally. His selfish and narcissistic needs outweigh the welfare of the American people. And this is not merely a personal choice by those who wished to attend the event, because they will return to their homes and spread the virus in those communities to people who didn’t want anything to do with Trump’s festival of bombast.

The speech itself was purposefully composed to create more conflict and animosity within the American family. Trump focused heavily on his defense of Confederate traitors and the monuments erected to undeservedly honor them. It comprised the majority of his remarks, while the surging pandemic was reduced to a few words at the outset, then forgotten. Trump’s harangue took shape with this heinous rant:

“The violent mayhem we have seen in the streets and cities that are run by liberal Democrats in every case, is the predictable result of years of extreme indoctrination and bias in education, journalism, and other cultural institutions. Against every law of society and nature, our children are taught in school to hate their own country and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes but that were villains.”

First of all, the protests that spontaneously erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by police were overwhelmingly peaceful, and the participants included a broad array of America’s populace. And it’s simply a flagrant lie to say that these demonstrations were limited to “cities that are run by liberal Democrats.” They took place in over 250 cities, including many with Republican mayors (i.e. San Diego, Jacksonville, Fort Worth, Omaha, Miami, and many more). In fact, estimates show that up to 26 million people joined this Black Lives Matter movement, making it the largest in American history.

Trump’s wild and baseless assertions about “indoctrination” in education and journalism are rehashes of his relentless whining about Americans having the audacity to engage in independent thought that doesn’t idolize him. As usual, Trump offered no evidence of his preposterous claim that “children are taught in school to hate their own country.” Although, he did rattle on about the actual villains of the Confederacy that he has taken into his withered heart. But he was just getting started.

“In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted, and punished. It’s not going to happen to us. Make no mistake. This left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution.”

Once again, Trump is alleging disciplinary measures that are simply fabrications from his own diseased imagination. If anything, it’s the Trump administration that engages in that punitive behavior. He has literally conducted purges of Justice Department attorneys, inspectors general, and even his own personal picks for his top White House aides, when they were less than totally obedient. What’s more, Trump’s references to “far-left fascism” and “left-wing cultural revolution” are not only bizarre distortions of reality, they are unabashedly partisan attacks during what is supposed to be a non-partisan event.

If Trump wants to turn this into another campaign rally, then he, not the American people, should be paying for it. He is using taxpayer dollars to advance his political aspirations (pathetic as they are). It’s en encouraging sign that the only cable news network that carried Trump’s speech live was, of course, Fox News. So Trump is getting less exposure than he surely must have been hoping for.

It’s notable that Trump has been avoiding the media lately. In the past he would use these trips to hold impromptu “Chopper Talks” on the lawn of the White House, or going to and from these affairs. But in the wake of the surging pandemic, civil unrest, and news of his betrayal of American soldiers by permitting Russia to put bounties on their heads without repercussions, Trump is apparently afraid to face questions from the press. And while it’s a relief to have a respite from his incoherent bellowing, he still needs to be held accountable to the people.

UPDATE: On July 4th Trump doubled down on his racism and hostility in a speech in Washington, D.C. He made brazenly partisan attacks on what he called the “radical left,” comparing them to Nazis and terrorists. So in one broad sweep he’s trivializing the acts of history’s actual genocidal murderers, while offending the millions of Americans who took to the streets last month, and the Democratic patriots who support them.

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

DementiaDon: Trump Volunteers to Lose Cognition Contest to Joe Biden

Posted by on July 3, 2020 at 11:59 am. 3 Comments :

The reelection campaign of Donald Trump just keeps getting more bizarre and desperate with every passing day. His ludicrous diversions from viable political strategy have caused many Republicans to question whether Trump actually wants to win at all. His own aides are worried that he’s engaging in “self-sabotage” with his “incendiary behavior” in public and on Twitter. Even Fox News has speculated that he might just drop out of the race to avoid the humiliation of a landslide defeat.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden

Trump’s campaign has become a laughable parody of a candidate in distress. There’s no doubt that he is frightened by the universally dreadful polling showing Joe Biden crushing him nationally by double digits, as well as leading in every crucial swing state. So Trump has converted that fear into a raging hostility that is only making things worse for him.

Trump has decided to focus his reelection efforts on a few of the most divisive issues imaginable. He begins with “law & order” rhetoric that condemns the millions of Americans who have taken to the streets to protest police injustice and systemic racism. Then he extends that to include advocating for Confederate traitors and the monuments paying tribute to them. When he bothers to address the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, he continues to dismiss it as a trivial annoyance that will soon disappear by magic. Yet he still lavishes praise on himself for his success in conquering the “invisible enemy” that has taken the lives of nearly 130,000 Americans. Trump also touts the economy, despite the fact that the U.S. is in recession and 30 million people are unemployed.

What’s more, Trump is mired in yet another scandal involving his supplication to Russia and Vladimir Putin. The news that Russia is paying Taliban militants bounties to kill American soldiers has been met by Trump with lies about never having been briefed about it, And even more troubling, assertions that the well-documented story, corroborated by many news organizations and White House insiders, is a hoax.

All of this might seem to the average citizen like an insane strategy going into the 2020 presidential election cycle. And they would be right. Trump’s psychoses are clearly building up into a severely debilitating state of acute anxiety and paranoia. And a former Harvard psychiatrist regards Trump as “mentally unwell in the extreme.” So naturally, Trump is responding by accusing Biden of the very thing Trump is suffering from. Projection is his goto defense mechanism.

However, while Biden is subject to making occasional verbal gaffes (he has suffered from stuttering since childhood), there is actual evidence that Trump is psychologically compromised. In fact, there was a conference at Yale University that featured testimony from numerous psychiatric professionals attesting to Trump’s unfitness for office. And an analysis of Trump’s behavior fits the diagnosis of senile dementia. For more confirmation, see “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.” And in the midst of all this, Trump tweets this challenge:

First of all, the test that Trump says he “aced” asked him to identify a lion and count to ten. That, along with his demonstrated inability to drink water, walk down a ramp, and read, are among his latest reasons that he deserves your vote. Biden replied to Trump’s challenge by saying that he’s looking forward to the upcoming presidential debates where their cognitive faculties can be compared in real time. That duel of wits should scare Trump even more. It’s painfully obvious that Trump isn’t fit to run a lemonade stand. And if you need some proof of that, here’s a video that not only displays Trump’s mental infirmity, but exposes the biases 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.

Trump Has Become a Parody of Himself with Laughable Reelection Campaign

Posted by on June 30, 2020 at 4:01 pm. 7 Comments :

Saturday Night Live may be on hiatus, but comedy is alive and well and, unfortunately, emanating from the alleged president of the United States. As Donald Trump’s prospects for the future wither pitifully into ashes, his attempts to boost his spirits and public image are taking on more of the characteristics of Borat movie.

Donald Trump

We now have a Republican “president” whose dreadful approval rating and polling stats have Fox News speculating that he might drop out of the race. And in what may be one of the most nauseating abdications of duty for any American president, Donald Trump is asserting ignorance as a defense. He is claiming that he was never briefed that Russia paid bounties to Taliban militants to kill American soldiers. If it’s true that he wasn’t briefed (doubtful), Trump is accusing his own intelligence agencies of purposefully keeping him in the dark about a critical national security matter. In which case, you have to wonder if they had a good reason (probable).

That’s the kind of ludicrous justification that generally occurs when someone has totally lost control of their senses. Which may not be as far fetched as one might think: “According to White House and intelligence officials […] the President himself posed a danger to the national security of the United States [and that] the President was often ‘delusional,'” That would explain so much. Like his tweet of supporters chanting “white power.” Or his embrace of TV ratings as “the real polls” because every legitimate poll shows him trailing Joe Biden. Or his insistence that testing for the coronavirus causes more cases of it.

Contributing to the cavalcade of cretinous comedy is the Trump campaign’s outreach to supporters via email. Somehow, News Corpse was added to Trump’s email list. And what he is sending out could not be made more hysterical if The Onion had composed it (see the email below).

The letter begins with Trump bragging about imaginary accomplishments secured despite “unprecedented obstruction from Democrats and constant lies from the fake news media.” As usual, Trump enters into every dialogue by demonstrating his inherent weakness. For the so-called “leader of the free world,” Trump sure makes a habit of whining about all of the forces aligned against him. Even though those forces are, in his estimation, ineffectual. So why bother whining?

The “accomplishments” Trump enumerates are all figments of his diseased imagination. He leads off with what he calls “Tax cuts for middle-class Americans,” but which every credible economist has more accurately described as a handout to corporations and the wealthy.

Next Trump boasts about “Demolishing ISIS,” which anyone who has even casually scanned the headlines knows is blatantly false.

So Trump proceeds to his frequent lie about “Construction on the wall” along the Southern border. In fact, there has been zero construction of any new wall. But Trump has wasted billions of dollars on repairs and phony PR boondoggles.

Trump followed that up with a claim of “Record fundraising from grassroots supporters.” Okay, let’s give him that one. It just means that the alleged billionaire has soaked his cult followers for hundreds of millions of dollars, despite once saying he would self-finance his campaigns. Then he spends that money paying himself for events at his own hotels and golf resorts.

Finally, Trump touts what he says is “A booming economy.” Really? The nation is currently in a recession. 30,000,000 people are unemployed. There are record numbers of bankruptcies and massive layoffs. The national debt is at historic highs. The Federal Reserve is recklessly printing trillions of dollars to prop up the stock market, which is overvalued and headed for a crash.

It’s notable that Trump’s self-glorifying email of bogus accomplishments made no mention of the coronavirus pandemic. Presumably because it would be hard for even Trump to spin 127,000 dead, and still surging infections and fatalities, into an accomplishment.

Trump closed his email with a poll of his own. He asked: “How would you rate President Trump’s job performance?” The answers he provided are “Great, Good, Okay,” or “Other.” He literally stole that joke from Stephen Colbert, who on his old Colbert Report used to ask guests if George W. Bush was “a great president” or “the greatest president.” The problem is that Trump is not joking. He truly believes that his supporters are stupid enough to fall for this farce.

Rest assured that the results of this poll will never be published. But Trump will announce that he is the most beloved president of all time. Never mind that real polls on his job performance are abysmally low. Even his favorite pollster, the rabidly biased Rasmussen, has him at only 43%. That doesn’t stop Trump from repeatedly claiming that he has 95% approval within the Republican Party. But even that is evidence of his deranged grasp of reality.

Trump’s campaign is dead in the water, and there is plenty of proof that he knows it. What’s more, his Republican confederates are beginning to understand just how big a detriment he is to their future. And when they finally flee his sinking ship (like the rats they are), there will be nothing left to keep Trump afloat.

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

Donald Trump Campaign Email

UH-OH: Fox News Speculates that Trump is a Loser Who Might Drop Out of the Race

Posted by on June 29, 2020 at 12:56 pm. 1 Comments :

The downward spiral into which Donald Trump is descending may finally be beginning to sink in, not just to Trump, but to the right-wing media propagandists who are struggling to shore up his sickly presidency. With each day there is news that contributes to the terminal prognosis of Trump’s floundering reelection campaign. And the accumulating sense of doom has become impossible to ignore.

Donald Trump

Trump himself is well aware of the dilemma he faces as every national poll shows him getting crushed by Joe Biden. Even worse, polls of the seven most crucial swing states (Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, and Minnesota) are also showing Biden leading. So Trump has fallen back on his customary dismissal of the media and the independent firms they hire to conduct their surveys:

Trump is certainly “sorry,” but not for the reasons he states. He’s a sorry excuse for a leader who resorts to petulant whining whenever he doesn’t get his way. And he’s surely sorry that everyone from the New York Times to Fox News is reporting how thoroughly the American people have rejected him. Even his favorite pollster, the rabidly biased Rasmussen, has Trump’s approval rating at 42%, matching lows as far back as January of 2018.

These numbers have Trump repeating his oft-mentioned lie that he has 95% approval within the Republican Party. Not only is that untrue, it’s irrelevant. He is not the president of the GOP. What’s more, Republicans represent a measly 28% of the electorate. Which is hardly enough to secure a victory in November.

The conditions for Trump’s campaign have deteriorated so badly that close associates are speculating as to whether he might drop out of the race entirely rather than suffer defeat. Politico is reporting the prospect of Trump’s renowned cowardice, along with comments from insiders who say that…

“The president has privately come to that grim realization in recent days, multiple people close to him told POLITICO, amid a mountain of bad polling and warnings from some of his staunchest allies that he’s on course to be a one-term president.”

And as if that weren’t bad enough, Fox News is joining those with suspicions of Trump running away from an expected rout. Fox host Trace Gallagher prefaced a question to Trump surrogate John Sununu (video below) saying that “President Trump’s poll numbers declining in recent weeks […] is leading some speculation that if his support keeps falling, the president might drop out of the race.” And Fox News featured a graphic during the segment that warned of a “rough polling stetch” (sic) for Trump.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Polling

Whether there is any chance of Trump bailing is an open question. He has a reputation as a coward who flees from any trouble that confronts him. But he also has a stubborn streak and a massive ego that can overwhelm his fears. In the end it makes no difference because either outcome would be similarly humiliating for Trump. His malignant narcissism prevents him from accepting that he is less than the manifestation of perfection. And that will result in his eventual downfall being all the more debilitating when it comes to pass.

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

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

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

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

Donald Trump TV Set

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Panic Sets In As Trump Sees America Overwhelmingly Rejecting Him

Posted by on June 24, 2020 at 12:56 pm. 3 Comments :

With just over four months until the 2020 election, Donald Trump is on bunker duty, forlornly devouring Fox News and tweeting frantically as his poll numbers slide ever further into the abyss of ultimate defeat. The stench of a loser emanates from his dialog and demeanor. And his fury is shooting out in all directions – at Democrats, the press, and his cowering staff and family.

Donald Trump Walking the Plank

The best evidence of Trump’s electoral peril is that his once cherished campaign rallies are shadows of the cultish festivals of messiah worship they used to be. In Tulsa, Trump spoke of a million ticket requests, but ended up with a pathetic crowd of only 6,200 (along with other problems). A few days later he took his traveling revival show to Phoenix, a city with four times the population of Tulsa, but drew half as many Trump-chumps.

Among the reasons for the desertions of these once rabid fans include the still spreading coronavirus. As infections and fatalities continue to mount, concerns about gathering in large crowds who ignore safety precautions (i.e. face masks) could be taking a toll on attendance. But that factor cannot be separated from Trump’s dismal approval ratings. After all, it is Trump’s negligence, incompetence, and even deliberate malfeasance that is the cause of the current COVID-19 spike. Even his supporters, at some level, have to know this.

In addition to the attendance decline at Trump rallies, his polling has fallen to new lows. He is losing to Joe Biden by double digits nationally, as well as in the crucial swing states. He is declining in critical demographic groups that he won in 2016 (such as evangelicals and suburban women). And Trump cannot whine about “fake” news (well, he can and will, but it doesn’t register as credible with anyone) being against him because his downward spiral is showing across a broad array of media sources, including Fox News (which drives him nuts). In fact, every one of the ten most recent polls as compiled by RealClearPolitics have Trump floundering with an average in favor of Biden that exceeds 50%:

RCP Average 51.0 40.9 Biden +10.1
Economist/YouGov 49 41 Biden +8
NY Times/Siena 50 36 Biden +14
Harvard-Harris 56 44 Biden +12
FOX News 50 38 Biden +12
Quinnipiac 49 41 Biden +8
CNBC 51 41 Biden +10
CNN 55 41 Biden +14
NPR/PBS/Marist 50 43 Biden +7
Emerson 53 47 Biden +6
The Hill/HarrisX 47 37 Biden +10

UPDATE! The New York Times just released a new poll of six swing states and things are just getting worse for Trump. Biden is now extending his lead: by 11 points in Michigan and Wisconsin, 10 points in Pennsylvania, 9 points in North Carolina, 7 points in Arizona, and 6 points in Florida.

As a result of this reality, Trump is lashing out with panic, fear, and delusion. He has proposed “slowing down” virus testing as a way of reducing the number of cases. Of course, the number would remain the same, but we just wouldn’t know what it is. He is also threatening to use “serious force” against Americans exercising their constitutional right to protest. He and his crony Attorney General, Bill Barr, are purging the Justice Department of career professionals in order to escape accountability for his crimes. He tweeted a couple of Internet videos of African-Americans committing random acts of violence. They have nothing to do with politics or protest. They are just intended to reinforce a racist fear of “scary” black men. And he is ramping up his bizarre attacks on Democrats and President Obama, who he has now publicly accused of treason.

These, and so much more, are examples of how deranged Trump has become as he recognizes that his political and legal future is virtually dead. And we can expect his crazed behavior and wild attacks to become even more extreme as election day draws nearer. For that reason, no Democrat or progressive can relax. The fierce determination of Trump and his GOP confederates will stop at nothing to retain power. That includes cheating, voter suppression, and recruiting help from foreign governments. He is already laying the groundwork to challenge election results when he loses. So this calls for vigilance, hard work, financial commitments, and enduring resolve to restore American values. We must not let this moment pass.

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

Trump Admits to Presiding Over ‘The Most RIGGED Election In Our Nation’s History’

Posted by on June 22, 2020 at 2:43 pm. 7 Comments :

Like a wounded grizzly bear, Donald Trump is exhibiting the sort of ultra-aggressive behavior of an animal that is desperate and mortally fearful. He knows that the American people are overwhelming repulsed by his noxious antics and totalitarian aspirations. He knows that every poll shows him trailing Joe Biden nationally, as well as in the crucial swing states. He knows that his political demise is imminent.

Donald Trump, Vote By Mail

In response to these facts, Trump has initiated a frantic and dangerous campaign to undermine America’s democracy. At a time when voters are understandably concerned about the deadly COVID-19 coronavirus, Trump and his Republican confederates are plotting to suppress votes in the upcoming presidential election. They are on a crusade to deny voters the right to cast their ballots by mail.

Even worse, Trump is attempting to delegitimize the election if mail-in voting is permitted. His intent is to lay the groundwork to challenge the results when he loses in November. Never mind that every study (including one by a Trump White House commission) found no evidence of fraud or any other problem. On Monday morning Trump pounded out four tweets condemning mail-in voting as rife with fraud. For instance…

Trump’s all-caps tirade sounds eerily like a threat. Is he soliciting foreign countries to print ballots? Is he proposing it as a tactic for his campaign or its devotees? It’s reminiscent of when he asked Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s email. Not that any of that would work. The security features of vote-by-mail systems would catch those fakes easily. But Trump would claim that just the fact that they existed was proof that cheating occurred. Even though their existence would most likely be due to his involvement. The “scandal of our times” indeed.

Trump’s assertion that “MAIL-IN BALLOTS, 2020 will be the most RIGGED Election in our nations history” is supported by nothing but the hot air steaming from his lying lips. And his attempt to compare it to voting during previous world wars is simply asinine. Besides being a call to revert to voting systems that are as much as 100 years old, it ignores the fact that there were no impediments to voting because of the wars. There were no German soldiers lurking around polling places in Kansas. However, our soldiers, and their families stationed abroad, did vote by mail. That’s hardly analogous to the current situation with the presence of a highly contagious virus spreading throughout the country.

Trump also tweeted an article from the rabidly right-wing Breitbart News that quoted the Attorney General, Bill Barr, agreeing with Trump that mail-in voting would lead to a “rigged election” and would “absolutely open the floodgates to fraud.” Once again, there was no effort made to back up that claim with any proof. Very much like another of Trump’s morning tweets that was just another crackpot outburst about alleged “millions of mail-in ballots being sent out,” that no one “knows where they are going, and to whom.”

In reality, it is well known and documented where all vote-by-mail ballots are going, and who is receiving them. It is a tested and secure method of voting that is currently used by the military, most (but not all) states, and even Trump and his family.

That hasn’t stopped Trump from illegally threatening governors (ala Ukraine-style quid pro quo) with the withholding of federal funds if they disobey him and implement mail-in voting. He has explicitly admitted that his reasoning for opposing the practice is purely political due to his baseless belief that it benefits Democrats. And he has embarked on a campaign to destroy the Postal Service in order to achieve his goal of vote-by-mail prohibition.

Trump’s un-American determination to deny citizens their right to vote needs to be resisted in the strongest possible terms. Democrats in Congress are trying to pass legislation securing these rights, but they are being obstructed by anti-democratic Republicans. Organizations like the ACLU are working hard to make sure that mail-in voting is available to all Americans. They need our support now.

However, there are some idiotic Trump disciples who actually have a plan that we can all happily get behind. They are burning the applications they receive for vote-by-mail ballots. In their diseased minds they think that they are getting the better of Democrats who support mail-in voting. Okay, fine. That’s the sort of deranged behavior that we should all encourage. If they are so convinced that voting by mail will result in fraud, then they are free to opt out. And if Trump thinks that 2020 will have historic levels of election fraud, it’s only because he knows exactly what he is capable of. It isn’t a warning. It’s a threat.

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

Trump’s Tulsa Rally Troubles Go Way Beyond the Pitiful Turnout

Posted by on June 21, 2020 at 12:16 pm. 1 Comments :

Donald Trump had several weeks to plan his return to the campaign trail after three months of a COVID-19 enforced lockdown. He chose Tulsa, Oklahoma, a deep red city and state that should have guaranteed a capacity crowd of glassy-eyed disciples. but things didn’t work out exactly as planned.

Donald Trump, Tulsa Rally

According to the Tulsa fire department, Trump’s rally managed to pack in a measly 6,200 of The Donald’s dimwitted devotees. That’s less than a third of the 19,000 people the arena can accommodate. What’s more, Trump and his campaign bragged repeatedly about having a million requests for tickets and they projected that there would be an overflow crowd of 40,000-60,000 out side the arena where Trump would give an additional speech.

However, the attendance turned out to be far less than projected. The overflow crowd never materialized at all, leading to the cancellation of the outdoor activities. If Trump thought that this rally would be his opportunity to turn around his polling slump (he’s losing to Joe Biden in every national poll, as well as in the crucial swing states), he must be mighty disappointed this morning. And his disappointment generally translates into fury directed at the “losers” responsible for his humiliation. Because, of course, it’s never him.

On Sunday morning Trump campaign advisor Mercedes Schlapp was interviewed by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. She was there to attempt to put a positive spin on the previous evening’s fiasco. That plan didn’t work out very well either (video below):

Wallace: Your campaign said that more than a million people wanted tickets to this rally, but we all saw the pictures last night. The arena was no more than two-thirds full, and the outdoor rally that had been planned for the overflow crowd was canceled because there was no overflow crowd. Question: What happened?
Schlapp: When it comes to understanding how the rallies work, it’s a first-come-first-serve basis. Basically what the one million RSVPs include, it’s an opportunity for us to gather data, to get information obviously.

Schlapp went on to make absurd excuses about people having been too frightened by protesters to show up. But she didn’t explain how more than 90% of the predicted hundred thousand rally-goers were scared off by a few protesters, who were kept blocks away from the arena by the police. She also bragged about the number of people who watched online which, of course, included many Trump opponents and other curious independents. To his credit, Wallace wouldn’t let Schlapp deflect, and reminded her that Trump is always talking about the attendance at his rallies as a measure of his popularity. But now he isn’t popular enough to draw supporters in the right-wing hothouse of Oklahoma.

Wallace also disputed Schlapp’s false assertion that protesters prevented anyone from attending. Schlapp actually wants people to believe that Trump’s supporters stayed home because they didn’t want to expose their families to protesters. But exposing them to a deadly virus apparently wasn’t a problem.

More importantly, Schlapp’s reply to Wallace revealed what she considered to be the primary objective for the rally and the reason it should be regarded as a success. “It’s an opportunity,” Schlapp admitted, “for us to gather data.” Indeed it is. Everyone who requests a free ticket to the event is required to provide their name and other personal identification. That’s all entered into a database that is later used to contact potential voters. Trump’s campaign chairman, Brad Parscale made the same admission prior to the Tulsa affair, tweeting that this would be the “Biggest data haul and rally signup of all time.”

There’s just one problem. There are reports that an army of Tik-Tok users requested tickets that they had no intention of using. It’s hard to estimate the precise impact of this Trump trolling project, but there were thousands of interactions with the prank on social media. So somewhere between the 6,200 people who showed up at the rally, and the million who allegedly requested tickets, there an untold number of fake respondents. That means that there is a significant amount of fake data currently residing in the Trump campaign database. And that’s on top of the fake data that was there before this event. [NOTE: News Corpse is in that database, despite never having provided any information] So when the campaign begins its voter outreach they will be wasting huge sums of money and effort on ghost voters.

In the end, the legacy of the Tulsa rally will be that it revealed the softening support for Trump’s reelection, while simultaneously flooding his campaign database with bogus info. But at least he had the opportunity to soak up some cheers from his hardcore fans, while reinforcing his reelection themes of being able to drink water with one hand, stopping coronavirus testing, and defending Confederate statues. WINNING?

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 Juneteenth Tweetstorm Ignores Juneteenth, Threatens Protesters

Posted by on June 19, 2020 at 12:34 pm. 0 Comments :

It’s Juneteenth, and in celebration of this profoundly significant day in American history Donald Trump took the time to unleash a stream of hostile, egocentric, lie-riddled tweets. So it’s pretty much like every other day in Trump World. He utterly ignored the day’s meaning and memory in favor of paying tribute to himself and maligning his perceived enemies.

Donald Trump, Toilet, Bathrobe

At the top of Trump’s list of priorities was his determination to slander any protesters who might show up at his cult rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You know, the one where he’s purposefully exposing his cult followers to the coronavirus in a state that just reported a record high infection rate. His tweet was another demonstration of his anti-American aspirations of tyranny.

Notice that Trump associates lawful, constitutionally protected protesters with “looters” and “lowlifes,” because that’s exactly what he thinks of people petitioning the government for justice and liberty. And his assurance that they will not be treated like they were previously (which was also pretty awful) is an undisguised threat of more violence. That’s all the more offensive considering that this threat was made on Juneteenth, in a city that was the site of a brutal massacre of African-Americans.

Not to worry. Trump hasn’t forgotten to tell his Twitterati that he will have “big crowds” and that his campaign is just beginning. Never mind that he actually began his reelection campaign the same day he was inaugurated three and half years ago. That campaign is floundering desperately today as every poll shows that Trump is trailing Joe Biden nationally, as well as in the crucial swing states. He is losing in nearly every demographic category, including among normally reliable supporters like suburban women and evangelicals. His support among non-white voters has never been worse. That’s partly due to his flagrant racism and tweets like this one:

So after the Supreme Court ruled against his abhorrent attempt to deport Dreamers, Trump has the audacity to say that he “wanted to take care of DACA recipients better than” Democrats. Seriously? If that were true he wouldn’t be saying even now that “We will be submitting enhanced papers shortly” to finish the job of deporting these innocent Americans who know no other home. This has been a signature issue with Trump, which explains his outrage that the Court he thought he had under his thumb displayed some measure of independence.

Furthermore, Trump’s toxic fury is not reserved for the Supreme Court (or protesters, or John Bolton, or Joe Biden, or the press, or anyone or anything else that doesn’t bow down to him). He is also mad at his State TV network (aka Fox News) for publishing a poll that shows him losing to Biden by a whopping twelve points. The poll also shows Trump’s approval in the red by negative thirteen points, while Biden is positive by nine points. Almost every question in the poll has bad results for Trump. Which explains this tweet:

For the record, Trump has made this complaint before, but it’s always a deeply hypocritical whining session aimed at nudging Fox News into being even more reverential. He only thinks that “Fox is terrible” when they publish something that fails to sufficiently worship him as the Messiah he considers himself to be. But he continues to grant interviews almost exclusively to Fox because he knows they will pitch him softballs and ignore his flaming gaffes.

SIDE NOTE: A few days ago CNN posted a poll that also showed Trump trailing Biden by twelve points. So Trump sent them a “cease and desist” letter and threatened to sue the network for…oh, who the hell knows what. It will be interesting to see if he sends Fox News a similar letter. But don’t hold your breath.

Finally, Trump posted a couple of tweets accusing Democrats of false advertising. As usual, he neglected to provide any examples, or to offer any arguments to refute whatever the heck it is he’s whining about. But he did make blatantly false assertions that “China is paying us $BILLIONS” (actually that’s ZERO), and that he “LOVE[s] Seniors & protect Preexisting C’s” (he is currently suing to terminate Obamacare, including preexisting c[onditions]). In other words, it’s business as usual in the Trump White House where lying, insults, and undeserved boasting has replaced being presidential and serving the American people.

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