Election

Trump Gets Stuck in Berserk Brain Loop Over a Figment of His Warped Imagination

Posted by on October 16, 2019 at 12:35 pm. 7 Comments :

The Meltdown in the Oval Office is proceeding at a velocity that would have been unimaginable in any prior administration. But under Donald Trump’s regime the daily atrocities are so frequent and routine that they are becoming passe. Nevertheless, Trump appears to realize just how much trouble he’s in with his inevitable impeachment, and it’s expediting the rot of his already diseased grey matter.

Donald Trump

During a press avail with Trump and Italian President Mattarella, Trump wandered away from any subject that concerned this diplomatic visit and babbled manically about extraneous matters that are clearly consuming his consciousness. Those matters involve his obsession with the 2016 election and what he perceives were misdeeds by Democrats. He rattled off the names of people he has long despised and charged with crimes that he could not prove. They included former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and two of his favorite targets, FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

However, the most peculiar part of this event occurred when Trump barreled into a long ago debunked conspiracy theory regarding a computer server belonging to the Democratic National Committee. Trump’s tirade on this subject was a spectacular display of hysterical incoherence (video below):

I still ask the FBI, where is the server? How come the FBI never got the server from the DNC? Where is the server? I want to see the server. Let’s see what’s on the server. So the server they say is held by a company whose primary ownership individual is from Ukraine. I would like to see the server. I think it’s very important for this country to see the server. Nobody wants to see it. The media never wants to see it. I’ll tell you, Republicans want to see it.”

Trump mumbles about “the server” eight times in that brief rant. His brain seems to have gotten stuck in an endless loop from which there is no escape. It’s indicative of his deranged mental state that is possessed by some mysterious whirlpool of inanities. And everything in this harangue is wholly fictitious.

What Trump is alluding to in his demented way is a server that was suspected of being hacked by foreign operatives seeking to disrupt the election. Trump is regurgitating conspiracy theories that emanated from the dark recesses of the ultra-right Internet. There is no plausible explanation for why Democrats would be suspected of any wrongdoing since they were the victims of the hacking.

As for the FBI’s role in this, they did want to inspect the server to accumulate any evidence that might lead to the hackers. So the DNC made a “mirror” copy of its hard drive, which the FBI was satisfied would be sufficient for their investigative purposes. The FBI could have at any time requested to take into custody the physical server, but they determined that it wasn’t necessary.

Ever since then, the only people who were ever interested in the server were conspiracy crackpots at Infowars, 8chan, and Fox News. And, of course, Donald Trump. He even brought it up in the now infamous phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. Somehow Trump got the idea that the server wound up in Ukraine. There is zero evidence of that. But that doesn’t stop Trump and his cadre of propagandists from continuing to disseminate this nonsense.

And that’s not all, Later in the day Trump held a joint press conference with Mattarella. But in the middle of it Trump started talking about alleged corruption during the 2016 election again. Naturally, Trump sidestepped his own well documented criminal activities and launched into a bizarre rant about imaginary Democratic misconduct about which he asserted that “Maybe it goes right up to President Obama. I happen to think it does.” Needless to say, there is no evidence whatsoever of anything remotely resembling this reckless accusation.

It’s just Trump being Trump. And that’s what’s most frightening about all of this. He is totally unhinged from reality and getting worse every day. The imperative to impeach him could not be more urgent. There’s a lot of damage he could do in this condition. The American people are ready to remove him from office, and now our Congress must act.

And Speaking of Meltdowns: Later in the day Democratic leadership left a White House meeting after Trump called Speaker Pelosi a “third-rate politician.” They were supposed to be discussing the situation in Syria, but Trump just went bonkers with infantile, personal insults after he learned that 129 Republicans voted with Democrats to condemn his retreat from Syria and betrayal of the Kurds. And Trump followed up his tantrum with this tweet cementing his total insanity:

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

Corruption Fighter or Political Hack? Trump is a Hypocrite Who is Dirty on Both Counts

Posted by on October 4, 2019 at 12:06 pm. 4 Comments :

When the first allegations surfaced that Donald Trump had put pressure on Ukrainian President Zelensky to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter, Trump vociferously denied it. Then the partial White House summary of a phone call between Trump and Zelensky revealed that Trump did raise the issue of investigating the Bidens and even tied it to Ukraine receiving military aid from the United States. So what began as a hot mess is congealing into the world’s biggest dumpster fire.

Donald Trump

After forceful denials, then vague acknowledgements, then outright admissions on national TV, Trump is now making a new argument in his tattered and incoherent defense. Trump is asserting that he has an “absolute right“ to ask foreign governments to conduct investigations on U.S. citizens, including those who are his political opponents. He doesn’t bother to identify where in the Constitution he derives that right, but he’s determined to exercise it despite it being completely imaginary. And his justification for engaging in a blatant betrayal of the country is that he’s only concerned about corruption, not politics.

That’s an absurdity that requires some further examination. First of all, if Trump believes he has evidence of corruption he should be calling the FBI, not foreign governments, particularly not those with whom we have adversarial relationships. The notion of asking China – whose legal system is itself corrupt – to investigate an American citizen and political foe is ludicrous and is begging for wrongful outcomes. And it’s all the worse considering that Trump is simultaneously seeking trade concessions from China while making these improper requests.

Furthermore, Trump’s intentions are unarguably political. He’s totally focused on only the alleged corruption of Joe Biden, for which every credible investigation has found no wrongdoing. He repeatedly mentioned Biden in his communications with both Ukraine and China. If Trump is a corruption fighter, why isn’t he asking Ukraine – a nation rife with corruption – to look into anything other than Biden? And why isn’t he asking China to investigate presidential offspring who are suspiciously getting Chinese trademarks approved (Yes, that’s about Ivanka)? And why is he blocking efforts to probe corruption here in the United States (Yes, that’s about his tax returns)?

Clearly Trump doesn’t give a damn about corruption. He is only concerned with smearing his political opponents and stealing another election with the help of foreign governments. He’s doing almost exactly what he did in 2016 with Russia. The difference is that last time he was a passive beneficiary of the election interference that welcomed and encouraged. But this time he is actively initiating it, and using the power of the presidency to force his criminality on others.

The distinction that Trump is impotently trying to make between corruption and politics is impossible to reconcile (unless your Fox News). The truth is that Trump is both flagrantly corrupt and brazenly political. And all he’s doing by pretending that there is any difference between the two in his immoral behavior is reminding everyone what a slimeball hypocrite he is and always has been.

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

Devotion to the Cult of Trump Risks the GOP Having No Presidential Candidate in 2020

Posted by on October 3, 2019 at 12:23 pm. 2 Comments :

Time is running out. It’s running out for Donald Trump as Congress is on a fast track toward impeachment. And as the walls close in around him, he is becoming ever more unhinged and incoherent. He’s even taken to crying “coup” about the constitutional process for considering the removal of a corrupt leader. It’s a sad spectacle that diminishes the stature of the nation.

Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

But time also running out for the Republican Party that seems to have no strategy for a post-impeachment electoral landscape. As the prospects for impeachment grow by the hour – mainly due to Trump’s own panicky and desperate outbursts – the GOP continues to fortify their bunker as it is under siege from all directions. Even the Senior Legal Analyst at Fox News, Andrew Napolitano, is now saying that Trump’s “conversation [with Ukrainian President Zelensky] manifested both criminal and impeachable behavior.” Nevertheless, Republicans are all in on Dear Leader Trump and if he goes down, well dammit, they’re all going down with him.

The 2020 election is just a little more than a year away. Deadlines will soon be expiring for challengers to declare their candidacy. So what happens if Trump is impeached and the Republican Party has no one on the ballot running against whoever the Democratic nominee is? Pence will not automatically become the GOP’s candidate. There is a process for determining that which we all know as primaries. But the Republican National Committing has been working to cancel primaries in order to stifle any opposition to Trump. They also recently tightened the rules to “squelch dissent at the Republican National Convention next year.”

Currently there are three Republicans, other than Trump, running for the GOP nomination: Bill Weld, Joe Walsh, and Mark Sanford. The only reasonably qualified candidate among them is Weld, a two-term governor of Massachusetts. But other Republicans with qualifications and national name ID are keep their distance. They include Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, and former Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker.

All of this leaves Trump feeling pretty cocky. He tweeted Thursday that he has “95% Approval Rating in the Republican Party.” Which won’t help him in the least if he’s found to be guilty of impeachable crimes. After all, he isn’t President of the GOP. His national approval rating is still mired in the low 40’s (it’s never hit 50). And even his favorite pollster, the utterly disreputable and biased Rasmussen, shows him dropping six points in the last week (to 47) as impeachment heats up.

The Cult of Trump is in full force in the Republican precincts of America. They simply will not stand up for the principles of law and order and patriotism that they once heralded as their party’s brand. Not if that means going against their totalitarian boss. So if Trump is impeached, and there is little or no time to field alternatives in the primaries, the party may wind up invoking some arcane rule and shoving whatever candidate the party elites choose down the throats of their voters.

And Trump isn’t making it any easier for them. On Thursday morning, Trump admitted to a national television audience that he asked Zelensky to interfere in an American election by digging up dirt on Joe Biden. That’s actually one of the anticipated articles of impeachment. And to add fuel to this dumpster fire, he added a request for China to do the same. Let that sink in. Trump wants China – a nation known for its corruption and absence of any ethical legal system – to conduct an investigation/smear campaign on an American citizen and candidate for president. That should go down well with voters. And still the GOP is marching lock-step with Trump, even though he may not even be their candidate next year. The whole party seems to be as confused and incompetent as Trump.

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

Crazed Trump Declares Biden and Son ‘Corrupt’ and Subject to ‘Getting the Electric Chair’

Posted by on September 23, 2019 at 2:06 pm. 6 Comments :

The scandal over Donald Trump pressuring Ukraine officials to conduct a bogus investigation of Joe Biden just hit a new level of totalitarian barbarity. Trump is sinking rapidly into the Mariana Trench of desperation with his latest outrageous defense for extorting a foreign government to help him steal an election.

Donald Trump Zombie

In a press avail at the United Nations (video below), Trump was asked about the Ukraine affair and lashed out with what has become his robo-response. Building on prompts from Fox News, Trump has been trying to divert attention from his crimes to false allegations that Biden was guilty of what Trump is being accused of. Nevermind that there is zero evidence of any wrongdoing by Biden, and even Fox News confirmed that in a report on Monday afternoon. But in this exchange Trump crossed over to the most nauseating torrent of slander imaginable. With an evil sneer and deafening hostility in his voice, Trump unleashed this abomination:

“Joe Biden and his son are corrupt. But the fake news doesn’t want to report it because they’re Democrats. If a Republican ever did what Joe Biden did, if a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they’d be getting the electric chair by right now.”

Trump is no longer speculating about the already debunked charges against Biden. He is now stating them bluntly as a matter of fact. This is the Commander-in-Chief, to whom the Attorney General reports, asserting absolutely that Biden is guilty of a treasonous act. And he even goes so far as to suggest that Biden be punished by death.

If there’s one thing this insanity reveals it’s that Trump is terrified of what is unfolding in this Ukraine matter. He clearly fears the consequences if the truth about him comes out. These comments about Biden are not his typically childish name-calling and awkward deflections. This is much more destructive and dangerous. And therefore, more illustrative of his panic and mental collapse. There’s nothing subtle about it. It’s a blaring signal that he’s on the brink of a nervous breakdown due to his knowledge that his world is falling apart.

For the record, nothing in his wild-eyed accusations is remotely true and independent analysts affirm that. Biden went to Ukraine to articulate the position of the United States government, not his own personal position or that of his son. Plus, he was addressing a corrupt prosecutor whose dismissal had been demanded by a majority of the Ukraine parliament, as well as the European Union and other international institutions. There is no parallel between that and Trump’s efforts to bully Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, into helping him smear a potential political opponent.

What’s more, Trump has actually confessed to what he’s been accused of. After denying it for days, Trump finally admitted that he did indeed discuss Biden with Zelensky. And on Monday he even conceded that U.S. foreign aid was part of the threat he made to get Zelensky’s cooperation. He went on to argue that “it would probably, possibly have been ok” to use American foreign aid as a cudgel to extract political favors that amount to election fraud.

This is trump being Trump. He routinely denies allegations against him until the evidence is just too solid. Then he accuses others of what he’s been accused of. Then he insists that it would be perfectly fine if he did it. The he blames the media. But in this case it’s hard to imagine any lower rung on this ladder of immorality and illegality. However, if there is one, trust Trump to find it. He will surely not be satisfied with with death threats against Democrats if his legal jeopardy continues to get worse.

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

After a Ludicrous Litany of Lies, Trump Admits He Pressured Ukraine to Smear Joe Biden

Posted by on September 22, 2019 at 12:05 pm. 5 Comments :

The President is drowning in his own flop sweat. What Donald Trump has asked us all to call the “Ukraine Witch Hunt” is boiling over with new revelations of his criminality and his own absurd utterances that, more often than not, just get him into even hotter water. His behavior illustrates how desperate and fearful he is. On Saturday he posted twenty (20!) tweets on this subject alone, including one that completely contradicted his flagrantly false allegations against Joe Biden and the media.

Donald Trump Sweating

Trump’s charges against Biden are widely repudiated by credible journalists and people with inside knowledge of the matter. There have been investigations that found no wrongdoing on the part of Biden or his son, Hunter. Biden’s role in lobbying for the dismissal of a corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor was only to inform the Ukrainians of the official diplomatic position of the United States, as well as that of the European Union and Ukraine’s own parliament. At no time did Biden press for any action that inured to the benefit of himself or his family.

That’s in stark contrast to Trump threatening to withhold foreign aid that was allocated by Congress unless Ukraine complied with his demand to fabricate dirt on Biden. Trump was extorting Ukraine to actively interfere in the U.S. election to help him malign a possible opponent. That violates at least half a dozen laws and is an abhorrent act of betrayal.

However, that hasn’t stopped Trump and his cadre of worshipful defenders in politics and punditry from concocting and disseminating ridiculous conspiracy theories that challenge rational thought. Naturally, Fox News took the lead with surreal presentations from the usual suspects (Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends). For his part, Trump unleashed at least eight different excuses for the Ukraine story on Twitter. And each one is wholly without foundation or any semblance of sanity. For instance:

  • The media is making up facts and sources
  • They’re turning a Biden scandal into a Trump scandal
  • Someone was spying on the president
  • A seditious effort to protect the Obama/Clinton gang
  • The whistleblower was “highly partisan”
  • It’s the “Deep State”
  • The whistleblower wasn’t really a whistleblower
  • It’s a Witch Hunt
  • Trump’s conversations were “perfectly fine”

Notice that none of these wild-eyed rants actually deny that Trump pressured the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to dig up dirt on Biden. That should be the first signal that Trump is lying and is conscious of the risk that his lies will be discovered. But we didn’t have to wait long for Trump to out himself. On Sunday morning’s episode of “Chopper talk,” Trump finally admitted that he did indeed talk about Biden with Zelensky. Trump said that…

“The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, was largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place. It was largely the fact that we don’t want our people, like Vice President Biden and his son creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine.“

Setting aside Trump’s mangling of the English language, he is unambiguously admitting that the Biden matter was raised in his conversations with Zelensky. So now we have both Trump and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, confessing that they strong armed Ukraine’s leaders into a conspiracy to undermine U.S. democracy.

In Trump’s Sunday morning rant he also made a point of repeatedly saying that he was not looking to hurt Biden or his family. But every time he said that he followed it up with baseless accusations that Biden had done something terrible. It’s the Trump version of a schoolyard bully assaulting his victim and asking “Why do you keep hitting yourself.” And it’s a textbook example of a passive/aggressive personality seeking to distance himself from his own viciousness.

Trump has too many psychoses to enumerate, the most prominent being his malignant narcissism. So we can expect more of this bizarre behavior as Trump finds himself sinking ever deeper into the abyss of his own immorality. We can count on him charging his perceived enemies with the crimes that he is committing. And we can reliably predict his manic meltdowns and infantile reactions whenever he feels threatened. Which will be occurring more frequently as his lies and misdeeds continue to unfold.

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

President Idiot: Trump Posts a Video that Actually Contradicts His Lies About Joe Biden

Posted by on September 21, 2019 at 12:05 pm. 1 Comments :

The revelation that Donald Trump tried to strongarm the President of Ukraine into manufacturing campaign dirt on Joe Biden should be the final chapter of the Trump Horror Story. It doesn’t even matter if the allegations against Biden are true. Trump’s conspiracy to rope a foreign government into his political hit job is impeachable by itself. And using taxpayer funds in an international bribery scheme exacerbates the crime.

Donald Trump

Nevertheless, Trump continues to smear Biden, despite the fact that the allegations against him have already been investigated and no evidence of wrongdoing was found. The allegations against Trump, however, have not been investigated and he’s doing everything possible to suppress any probe into his unsavory communications with Ukraine. He claims that his conversations were “beautiful” and “perfectly fine,” but he refuses to release a transcript. He’s also withholding the whistleblower complaint that is required by law to be turned over to Congress. What’s he so scared of?

Now, in a desperate attempt to deflect from his own abhorrent and unlawful behavior, Trump posted a video on Twitter with the intention of redirecting attention to the already debunked charges against the Biden family (video posted below). The video features a montage of deceitfully edited clips from the media that Trump says make his case. That’s the same media that he calls “the enemy of the people.” The only problem for Trump is that none of the clips offer any evidence that Biden did anything wrong. They simply report that allegations were made. And in many cases they go on to disclose that the allegations were baseless and unproven, but Trump cut those parts out.

The video begins with Biden saying that “Not one single credible outlet has given any credibility to his assertion.” Then it stitches together a bunch of clips, many of which have the source cropped out, so it’s impossible to assess their credibility. And it ends with an out of context clip of Biden saying “If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.” What Trump is not showing is that Biden was articulating the position of the United States government, not his own personal position. Plus, he was referring to a corrupt prosecutor whose dismissal had been demanded by a majority of the Ukraine parliament, as well as the European Union and other institutions. And as for the money, Biden was referring to loan guarantees, not allocations from the U.S. Treasury.

So Trump’s video not only fails to prove his premise, it actually contradicts it. What’s more, much of his whining has been focused on his complaint that the media has failed to cover the allegations against Biden. But with this video Trump is providing proof that the media has covered this story extensively.

Finally, Trump may be violating election laws by even posting the video. The prominent appeal at the top of the video to send him a text would serve as your consent to receive text messages from his campaign. That’s an improper melding of the presidency with political operations. The video itself says it was produced by Trump/Pence 2020. So Trump is using his official Twitter page to post free advertising for his reelection. But he’s kind of ripping himself off by having produced such an awful, dishonest ad.

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

Fox News Defends Trump’s State-Sponsored Political Extortion as Just ‘The Art of the Deal’

Posted by on September 20, 2019 at 2:00 pm. 6 Comments :

The news that Donald Trump may have promised the president of Ukraine hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid if he would open a bogus investigation into Joe Biden has captured the attention of the press. And rightfully so. This would amount to state-sponsored extortion by Trump in order to smear a political opponent. And it wouldn’t even be the first time that Trump has conspired with a foreign country to steal an election (see: Russia, 2016).

Donald Trump, Fox News, White House

As this scandal continues to build steam, Trump is managing to get himself into even more hot water. In a press avail with the Prime Minister of Australia, Trump gave contradictory answers about what he knew about the affair. In fact, when asked if he read the report he contradicted himself in the space of a single sentence saying, “No I haven’t. I just – I tell you, everybody’s read it. They laugh at it.” He went on to attack the press, as usual, saying that “Our media has become the laughingstock of the world […] You’re a joke.” Which only proves that he is pitifully incapable of recognizing who the world is actually laughing at.

In the midst of this unfolding melodrama, Fox News is adopting their routine position as Trump-fluffing propaganda disseminators. And taking the lead is Trump’s favorite morning show, Fox and Friends. Their defense of Trump is a bizarre spectacle of ludicrous justifications for Trump’s potentially treasonous behavior (video below). Co-host Steve Doocy began by telling his dimwitted viewers to…

“Keep in mind this whistleblower filed this report with the inspector general of the Intel community on August the 12th. That was over a month ago. Then they kicked it around, sent it to the Department of Justice, and said ‘We do not have to hand it over to Congress.'”

First of all, it is entirely improper for the Justice Department to interfere in this process in any way. It negates the whole purpose of the Whistleblower Protection Act if the President’s henchmen (Attorney General William Barr, et al) can suppress information provided in good faith by insiders concerned about national security. And it endangers the welfare of the whistleblower whose identity is disclosed to people who have motive to retaliate.

That said, after having improperly interfered, the Justice Department has no authority to rule that the complaint can’t be turned over to Congress. The law says unambiguously that it “shall” be turned over. So the Justice Department is wrong, and Fox News is wrong to excuse this breach of the law. But Doocy wasn’t finished. He continued…

“The reason the whistleblower apparently said that it was ‘serious’ and ‘urgent’ is because that designation usually automatically triggers it getting to Congress. The Department of Justice says that that is not appropriate, so we don’t have to give it to the Committee. Well, somebody with knowledge of this person’s story didn’t like the fact that Congress wasn’t gonna get it and it wasn’t gonna become public. So they leaked the story to the Washington Post.”

Again, none of this is the Justice Department’s call. But Doocy is also introducing something that was never a part of this. He implies that somebody wanted this to become public. But had the complaint been turned over to Congress, they would have reviewed it privately. The only reason any of this is becoming public is because the process was breached by the administration.

It’s ironic that Fox News is more worried about this complaint leaking than the substance of the complaint which is Trump’s attempts to extort and/or bribe a foreign country and to pressure them into aiding his election fraud. But if you thought that Fox was bothered by any of that, here’s what Doocy’s co-host Ainsley Earhardt had to say about it:

“They say the President was making promises, leaking delicate information to another heads of state. But this is what they do. They talk. They negotiate. And the President’s known for that. The art of the deal. Who’s leaking this? Is it someone that works at the White House?”

So to Fox News this is standard operating procedure in negotiations. They consider it acceptable for Trump to bully foreign leaders into manufacturing political dirt on his opponents. They regard it as simple dealmaking, despite the fact that there are no components of this deal that are in the interests of the United States. It is a purely hostile swipe at Biden, who Trump expects to run against next year. So Earhardt is defending dealmaking that is only intended to disrupt an election. But then again, that’s what Fox News does every day. Disrupting elections by airing distortions and lies is the whole reason Fox News exists.

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

Trump’s Hollywood Elitist MAGA Snowflakes Featured in Phony Fox News Controversy

Posted by on September 17, 2019 at 3:35 pm. 2 Comments :

The 2020 election continues to build up steam as Democratic candidates jockey for position and round up supporters and endorsements. However, on the Republican side, Donald Trump is taking a different approach that includes going to extraordinary lengths to keep the identity of his supporters secret. This may be the first campaign that has ever had to arrange for the anonymity of its allies.

Donald Trump, Hollywood

Following his cult rally in New Mexico, Trump made a dash for the border into California where he snuck in to avoid detection. He was there for a fundraiser at the mansion of real estate magnate, Jeffrey Palmer. What’s peculiar about this affair is that the attendees were herded into shuttle buses before being whisked off to a secret destination.

There was significant security employed to prevent these Tinseltown Trumpsters from suffering the indignity of being outed as supporters of the has-been TV game show host who now play-acts as the Reality TV President. Ed Henry of Fox News reported from the field for Fox and Friends and provided this account of the subterfuge (video below):

“The reason why the Trump campaign is being so tight-lipped with all these details is that you have these critics like Debra Messing basically trying what they say is ‘name and shame’ people. Blacklist people out here in Hollywood if they attend the event. […]

“Critics out here in Hollywood have been threatening to blacklist people – make sure they don’t get hired, they don’t get into pictures – if they show up for a Trump fundraiser. This highlights how ridiculous this has become because this is America. If you wanna support somebody, you wanna give some money, you’re supposed to be able to do that.”

What’s ridiculous about this is Henry’s assertions that people are not able to support the candidate of their choice. For most Americans there is a sense of pride and patriotism associated with their political advocacy. Nobody seems to be reluctant to admit they’re voting for Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Julian Castro, or Kamala Harris. So the take away from Henry’s analysis is that Trump supporters have real reasons to be ashamed of supporting Trump. And he may be right about that.

There is not, however, any truth to the allegation that Debra Messing, or anyone else, is blacklisting Hollywood’s Trump supporters. It’s actually laughable that Messing is alleged to have that kind of power. There is no central authority in showbiz that could execute a blacklist. Indeed, many of the biggest stars are proudly conservative, including Bruce Willis, Tom Selleck, Sylvester Stallone, Patricia Heaton, Kelsey Grammer, Tim Allen, and more. The ones who are whining about being discriminated against are primarily washed-out hacks whose failure is due to their own lack of talent (Antonio Sabato Jr, Scott Baio, Kid Rock, etc).

Henry’s claim that “Critics out here in Hollywood have been threatening to blacklist people” is typical Fox News bullcrap. He can’t cite a single instance of any such threat ever being made by anyone. And insiders know that Hollywood’s colors are neither red nor blue – they’re green. If an actor can sell tickets they get the job. So if Trump supporters insist on anonymity, it’s because of their own shame for backing an ignorant, narcissistic, racist, who embarrasses the nation at every opportunity, cozies up to brutal foreign tyrants, and lies every time he opens his mouth.

No wonder Trump supporters are ashamed. But that’s their problem and has nothing to do with any imaginary, organized, liberal, Hollywood boycott. They are just making excuses for their own insecurity and inability to defend their idiotic political choices. It’s the same sort of derangement that causes right-wingers to whine that they are being banned on social media (they’re not). The Trump cultists are simply too thin-skinned to face reality. That weakness is even more pronounced in the elitist Trumpsters who work in Hollywood. And they call liberals “snowflakes”?

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

Trump is Terrified That He’s Losing the Senate, Paving the Way for Impeachment

Posted by on August 31, 2019 at 12:48 pm. 0 Comments :

The best gauge of what Donald Trump’s paranoid, narcissistic mind is obsessed with at any given moment is his frantic and self-serving Twitter feed. Trump has no ability to give thoughtful consideration to what he tweets. He simply lets his innermost anxieties gush like a busted fire hydrant spewing unrestrained panic.

Donald Trump Impeach

On Saturday morning Trump was at Camp David where he said he was monitoring the approaching Hurricane Dorian as it lumbers toward Florida. Trump had canceled a previously scheduled diplomatic mission to Poland allegedly to manage preparations for the hurricane. However, he has already left Camp David for a golf outing in Virginia. But even prior to that he was paying much more attention to Twitter than to the weather forecast.

Trump’s tweets covered a couple predictable subjects that had to do with his obsession over former FBI Director James Comey, who he fired two years ago, and the firing of his personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, yesterday. Not surprisingly, Trump lied about Comey releasing classified documents, which his own Justice Department’s Inspector General said didn’t happen. And he threatened Westerhout with a lawsuit if she violated an alleged non-disclosure agreement. Of course, Trump cannot enforce any such agreement for White House staff because they don’t work for him. They work for the United States government.

However, Something else was consuming Trump’s pitifully limited attention span, and it exploded all over his Twitter feed. There were twenty-five (25!) tweets or retweets of Senate Republicans, along with Trump’s compliments and vague, insincere flattery. That’s an astonishingly large quantity of tweets by Trump on a subject that isn’t himself. So what might have triggered this uncharacteristic outburst of political angst?

Clearly Trump’s advisors are warning him of the harsh environment he’s facing in the upcoming election of 2020. His favorite pollster, Rasmussen, recently placed his favorability near his lows for the year. And even a Fox News poll shows him losing to every one of the top Democratic candidates.

The picture isn’t any better for the Republicans in the Senate. Next year they will have twenty-two incumbents on the ballot (including GOP Leader Mitch McConnell), compared with only twelve for the Democrats. And with people like Cory Gardner of Colorado, Susan Collins of Maine, and Martha McSally of Arizona, struggling to stay competitive, the odds of Democrats winning the majority in the Senate are increasingly likely.

Should that happen Mitch McConnell would no longer have the tyrannical hold on the upper body that he has been abusing for years. The 200+ bills passed in the Democratically-controlled House of Representatives would finally get a vote in the Senate. But most foreboding from Trump’s perspective is that there would no longer be any partisan protection from a possible impeachment. And if there is strong Blue Wave sweeping the GOP out of Congress, the remaining members might actually be concerned enough about their own futures to take Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors seriously.

Even before the 2020 election, GOP senators who see the oncoming trainwreck might start to drift away from Trump in order to save themselves. Even if that means throwing him overboard. Consequently, Trump is lavishing attention and praise on the Republican senators he has for the most part ignored or treated as lackeys whose only purpose was to serve him. He now needs to gain their support and demonstrate that he’s willing to work harder for their reelection. Not because he really cares about either their political fate or even their agenda. But because he fears the consequences for himself without the safety net they provide.

Unfortunately for Trump, it’s too late for this selfish strategy to work. Anyone who supports Trump is already planning to vote the Republican line. He has no ability to attract new voters. In fact, he’s so polarizing that his presence will probably scare more voters away. So the desperation he’s showing with this tweetstorm is actually good news for Democrats and other patriotic Americans who are anxious to see Trump impeached. His overt expression of fear shows that he’s truly concerned that there’s a real possibility that he will be removed from office and prosecuted for his wrongdoings and betrayal. And for once, he’s right.

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

Fox News Accidentally Says that Donald Trump is An Unelectable Slimeball

Posted by on August 26, 2019 at 3:25 pm. 6 Comments :

Some of the best moments on Fox News occur when they have no idea what they are talking about. This happens with some frequency considering the low bar that Fox sets for hiring pundits and commentators. The prerequisites for a job at Fox News are primarily the willingness to lie effusively on behalf of Donald Trump and his Republican Nationalist Party, and blond hair.

Donald Trump, Fox News

On Monday morning’s episode of Outnumbered there was a perfect example of this tendency that Fox has to stumble onto something truthful without ever knowing they did so. The program had a segment on the just announced candidacy of radio host and, former Tea Party Republican, Joe Walsh, for the GOP nomination for president. He’s a longshot challenger to Trump, but his conservative credentials and passionate denouncements of Trump could take a toll on the embattled and mentally infirm incumbent. While discussing Walsh’s prospects in the race, Fox host Shannon Bream sought to itemize his weaknesses by revisiting some his previous abhorrent statements (video below):

“This is what Joe Walsh said: ‘Obama’s a Muslim. He’s an enemy and a traitor.’ He said this about Kamala Harris: ‘If you’re black and a woman you say dumb things, lowered bar.’ He also got duped by Sacha Baron Cohen about arming toddlers and kindergartners with guns. […] I think critics might say it’s astonishing that he even thinks he can run right now.”

Okay, then. That’s now the Fox News criteria for establishing when someone is unfit to run for president, There were four standards laid out: Calling Obama a Muslim, calling Obama an enemy, saying black women are stupid, and getting punked by a hoaxster. Let’s see how Trump stands up.

In March of 2011, Trump was interviewed on the Laura Ingraham radio show prior to her joining Fox News. Among Trump’s noxious remarks was praise for the racists who insisted that President Obama was not an American. “A lot of the so-called Birthers,” Trump said, “these are great people. These are really great American people.” Much like the “very fine” Nazis Trump gushed over a few years later. He went on to say of Obama that…

“He doesn’t have a birth certificate, or if he does, there’s something on that certificate that is very bad for him […] perhaps it would be that where it says ‘religion,’ it might have ‘Muslim.’ And if you’re a Muslim, you don’t change your religion.”

One down. Moving on, there is always a Trump tweet that manages to demonstrate his utter idiocy and/or hypocrisy. And in this matter there’s one where he literally posted a comment that said: “Obama is our worst enemy.”

Two down. Moving on, Trump is a well-known misogynist who’s past is replete with harassment, assault, and ceaseless bullying and insults. But specific to the standard set above, he has been especially demeaning to women of color in Congress and the media. His remarks about sending several congresswomen “back where they came from” was only the most recent incident. On many occasions he blatantly attacked African-American reporters for doing their job. For instance, he shouted down Abby Phillip of CNN saying “What a stupid question that is. What a stupid question. But I watch you a lot. You ask a lot of stupid questions.”

Three down. Moving on, Trump was also the victim of a prank call. Comedian “Stuttering” John Melendez (of Howard Stern’s radio show) got through to Trump on Air Force One by pretending to be New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. The call was directed to Trump by his son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner.

So that’s all four of the criteria enumerated by Bream that make it “astonishing that he even thinks he can run right now.” Of course there are innumerable other reasons that Trump’s campaign is astonishing. They include his brazen violations of the law by welcoming and encouraging Russia’s attack on our election; his obstruction of justice; his breach of the Constitution’s emoluments clause; his overt racism and support for white nationalists; his coziness with brutal foreign tyrants; and his 12,000+ lies to the American people.

And that’s just for starters. Trump has disparaged American intelligence agencies. He has sided with Vladimir Putin against the U.S. His economic idiocy (tax cuts for the wealthy, benefit cuts for Social Security and Medicare, trade war, bullying the Fed, etc.) will likely lead to a severe recession. So it will be interesting to see if Fox News will hold Trump to the same standards they laid out for Walsh. Or even if they will hold him to the principles that the GOP used to advocate. Don’t hold your breath.

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