Election

Ted Cruz Launches A New (Allegedly Humorous) Front In The War On Christmas

Posted by on December 19, 2015 at 9:45 pm. 1 Comments :

The annoyingly sanctimonious evangelicals that dominate the Republican Party are constantly reminding everyone else how serious they are about celebrating Christmas as the remembrance of the birth of their savior. If anyone should divert from the path of reverence even slightly, they lash out with accusations of blasphemy and sacrilege. It’s gotten so bad that Walmart greeters are forbidden to wish patrons a “happy holiday,” and Starbucks is required to print reindeer and wreaths on the coffee cups. So you have to wonder how these martinets of virtue will respond to the new Ted Cruz ad (video below).

Ted Cruz

In the ad, scheduled to run during Saturday Night Live, Cruz makes an attempt at humor with a Christmas theme, but this insult to the solemnity of the season ought to make real Christians wince. At least that is what they would do if President Obama or Hillary Clinton ever tried to pull off something like this. Just the thought of Obama exploiting his children for a political ad that mocks the sacred holiday would send right-wingers into fits of holy rage. But that’s precisely what Cruz did.

The ad turns beloved traditional tales into parodies of political controversies. It is based on the sort of infomercials that peddle top 40 hits from the big band era. Some of the targets of Cruz’s comedy are “How ObamaCare Stole Christmas,” “Rudolph the Underemployed Reindeer,” and “The Grinch Who Lost Her Email.” It’s a veritable laugh riot. But by far the funniest part was that Cruz chose to remind people of his ridiculous reading of a Dr. Seuss classic during a senate filibuster. The ad opens with an announcer saying “Imagine the greatest Christmas stories told by the senator who once read ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ from the Senate floor.” Yeah, just imagine that.

There is an unsettling sense of absurdity seeing Cruz in what he obviously believes is a hilarious ad. After all, this is the candidate that just called for carpet bombing of cities in Syria where ISIS members might reside. Never mind that such a tactic would slaughter thousands of innocent civilians, including women, children, and even Christians. Cruz brags about his leadership in blocking any legislative reform to address gun safety after twenty kids were murdered at Sandy Hook. He later exploited the gun issue in another failed attempt at comedy by using an AR-15 to make what he called “Machine Gun Bacon.” And now he wants people to see his humorous side?

The ad closes with a line that he certainly regards as having a serious message. The announcer says “If you are not completely satisfied with this collection of Cruz Christmas classics, you probably hate Christmas – and America.” Anyone who has observed Cruz for any length of time knows that this is exactly what he really thinks about those who disagree with him. However, his fans will likely eat this up and consider it a heartwarming look at the jovial family man who boasts about his endorsements from preachers who advocate killing homosexuals. You know, peace on Earth and goodwill toward men. Just like Jesus said.

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

If Donald Trump Is Nominated, Should The Rest Of The GOP Form A Third Party?

Posted by on December 18, 2015 at 8:19 pm. 7 Comments :

Six months ago Donald Trump announced that he was entering the race for the Republican Party’s nomination for President of the United States. And almost from the very start there has been nervous prattling about whether he might ditch the Party and run as an independent if he failed to get the Party’s nod.

Donald Trump GOP

Trump himself has been most responsible for keeping that chatter going. At the first GOP debate on Fox News the candidates were asked whether any of them would refuse to endorse whoever won the nomination. Trump’s was the only hand that went up. Subsequently, the Republican National Committee prepared a loyalty pledge that all candidates had to sign if they wanted to participate in future debates. Trump made a big show of signing on, however, a few weeks later he complained that he might not honor the pledge if he didn’t feel he was treated “fairly.” Most recently, Trump was asked again during CNN’s GOP debate if he was “ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans?” He answered “I really am. I’ll be honest, I really am.”

If anyone believes that, I’ve got a casino in Jersey to sell you. Since Trump has already made a public statement that he could renege on the written pledge that he signed, why would anyone trust that he would keep any promises made on a debate stage? Especially when all he said was that he is “ready” to assure Republicans of his loyalty, not that he was actually doing so. That’s more than a little wiggle room for a weasel like Trump.

So what this boils down to is that those who are asking whether Trump might bolt the GOP are asking the wrong question. What they should be asking is whether the rest of the candidates will bolt if Trump is nominated.

The stain that a Trump nomination would put on the Republican Party is not one that could ever be thoroughly cleansed. It would leave the Party stigmatized by racism, ignorance, fear-mongering, and the stench of an elitist, billionaire narcissist who has contempt for both domestic and international law. There is good reason to wonder whether there would be a viable Republican Party after a Trump campaign. Consequently, it might make more sense for the remaining GOP candidates to join together in a new party and challenge both Trump and the Democratic nominee.

The knee-jerk complaint to that suggestion is always that such a move would guarantee a Democratic victory in November. Indeed, it would. However, it’s fair to say that the nomination of Trump would also guarantee a Democratic victory. Republicans are going to have a hard enough time next year given the Electoral College advantage that Democrats hold. Add to that a candidate who is not likely to attract the votes of African-Americans or Latinos in numbers greater than single digits and it’s a safe bet that Trump would lose in an historic rout.

That scenario would also have a negative effect on down-ballot races. The likelihood of Trump hampering GOP candidates for the Senate and the House is pretty strong. Given that Trump routinely rates highest in polls of Republicans as the candidate that they would definitely not support, many of them could be counted on to stay home. Meanwhile, Trump would motivate more Democrats to the polls than would any of the other GOP candidates. This would almost certainly result in a Democratic majority for the Senate and, at the very least, a significantly bigger caucus of Democrats in the House.

So the choice Republican would have to make if Trump becomes their nominee is: Do we want to lose the presidential election, many congressional races, and our good name? Or do we want to lose the presidential election and salvage our reputation so that we can go on to fight another day?

It would be a stretch for many in the GOP to pretend that they actually support Trump. When Scott Walker, Rick Perry, and Bobby Jindal, bowed out of the race, they all scorched Trump as a disaster for the Party. In the debates we’ve seen Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Chris Christie sharply condemn Trump. They may not be serious contenders for the GOP nomination, but they are all governors of electorally important states. And if they, in solidarity with the majority of Republicans who are not supporting Trump, were to join forces for a third party campaign, they might just be able to save the ideology of a more moderate, viable conservatism.

This new party could nominate their own candidate for 2016. They could lean on the historical icons of Reagan and Goldwater, both of whom would be considered too liberal for the GOP’s current far-right flank. They could claim the mantle of an anti-establishment revolution that is rejecting the fetid corpse of Trump’s Republican Party. They could exploit the trend toward independents who now outnumber Democrats and Republicans. And they could leave the ruins of the GOP to the festering Tea Party.

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

As an illustration of why this sort of split is necessary, consider these results from a recent poll of Republicans: 54% support banning Muslims from entering the U.S. 28% support shutting down mosques. 26% say Islam should be illegal. 28% approve of Japanese internment camps during WWII. And pitifully, 30% support bombing Agrabah, the fictional country from Disney’s Aladdin. In each of these issues the numbers were driven by the Trump/Tea Party faction of the GOP. Serious conservatives would be well rid of them.

The only question that remains is whether the non-Trump faction of the GOP is smart enough to recognize the benefits of what may be a painful, but necessary divorce. If I had to guess, I would say “No friggin’ way.” There is simply too much ideological stagnation in the party, and too strong of a propaganda machine in the wingnut media – dominated by Fox News and talk radio. So look for the GOP to sink into irrelevancy if Trump is their nominee. It’s just a matter of time.

[Follow up:] It appears some prominent Republican pundits (Bill Krystal, George Will) are giving the third party idea some consideration.

BE AFRAID! Republican Candidates Read From The Fox News Fear Script

Posted by on December 17, 2015 at 1:01 pm. 1 Comments :

On Tuesday Republicans held another debate that showcased a field of candidates that is utterly unprepared to lead a great nation. If there was one overarching theme from the affair it was that all Americans should be trembling with fear that ISIS sleeper cells are tucked away in their pantries ready to burst out and spray them with hot lead at any moment.

Fox News Scary Christmas

From the very start, the debate was oozing a scary tone intended to send nervous citizens scurrying to their basements. Even before the actual debating got under way, these excerpts from each of their opening statements show just how obsessed they were with frightening the nation:

  • Rand Paul: The question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism?
  • Chris Christie: America has been betrayed. We’ve been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years.
  • Carly Fiorina: Like all of you I’m angry. I’m angry at what’s happening to our nation.
  • Jeb Bush: Our freedom is under attack.
  • Marco Rubio: America’s influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military.
  • Ted Cruz: America is at war.
  • Ben Carson: Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition.
  • Donald Trump: People like what I say. People respect what I say.

That’s pretty much all you need to know about the debate. The rest was variations on that theme. And with the exception of Donald Trump, who characteristically focused his comments on himself, the other candidates all seem to believe that the United States is at risk of being destroyed by a band of thugs in a desert hideout thousands of miles away (Trump believes that too, he just didn’t mention it until later). They literally think that the U.S could be crushed by this enemy and cease to exist. Marco Rubio is running TV ads that say “either we win or they do.” Lindsey Graham frets that “they are gonna kill all of us.”

To be sure, terrorists are capable of causing serious harm to the innocent victims they target. There is no way to diminish the grief felt by the survivors of the fourteen people murdered in San Bernardino last week. But to extrapolate from that that ISIS has the capacity to kill the rest of the 350 million of us and declare victory over America requires either a debilitating psychotic dysfunction or a deliberate desire to incite irrational fears.

The fear-fest orchestrated by the GOP candidates is itself a type of terrorism. After all, they are seeking to instill terror in the American people in order to influence how they vote. It’s their goal to convince people that President Obama and Hillary Clinton are responsible for weakening the nation to the point that it is at risk of being taken over by an army treading sand in converted Toyota pickup trucks. That’s right. What Germany, Japan, China, and the Soviet Union were unable to accomplish, ISIS is going to do.

But they didn’t come up with that horror story on their own. They are following the script that Fox News has been using for several years. Take for instance the candidates’ positions on targeting civilians with carpet-bombing raids. Ted Cruz used those very words to describe what he would do as Commander-in-Chief. Apparently he and his colleagues are not aware that it would be regarded as an international war crime. Rand Paul, to his credit, was the only one who pointed out that such a plan would require “tearing up the Geneva Conventions.” But Ben Carson and others were not dissuaded from advocating direct attacks on the families, including children, of suspected terrorists. Donald Trump framed his support for the policy by asking “So, they can kill us, but we can’t kill them?” Actually, the answer to that is “Yes.” Because they are terrorists and we, presumably, are not. Earlier this month Trump made his own explicit call to “take out” the families of terrorists.

So where might they have gotten these ideas? Well, one notable source could be Fox News strategic analyst, Lt. Col. Ralph Peters (ret), who has advocated precisely this abhorrent tactic. He appeared on Fox News to complain that the U.S. military needed to buck up and produce more civilian casualties. He has also advocated targeting the media for military attacks, including in the U.S. That sort of barbarity sits well with Fox News and earns one frequent invitations to return. However, Peters was recently suspended for using naughty language on the air (he called Obama a “pussy”). So Fox News will punish you if you cuss, but not if proselytize for murdering women, children, and journalists. Shows you where their priorities lie.

The fear agenda was also pushed just one day before the debate by Fox’s star bloviator, Bill O’Reilly. In his hackneyed “Talking Points” commentary, O’Reilly employed his trademarked bluster to announce that “Anger and fear are presently driving American politics.” Considering his contribution to both, it might seem like he was bragging. No one has done more to frighten and enrage TV viewers than O’Reilly. His red-faced tirades, and brutish treatment of guests who disagree with him, are the model Fox uses for political discourse.

None of this is new for Fox News. This is their standard operating procedure to inject panic into the electorate. It’s a tactic they share with religious cults who seek to dominate weak minds. Just prior to the last election Fox was obsessed with Obama’s intention to deliberately infect every American with Ebola. You couldn’t turn on Fox News without being subjected to some scary music and graphics backing up a frantic dialog of imminent doom. Then, miraculously, the day after the election, Ebola was cured and disappeared from Fox’s broadcasts. And if it isn’t Ebola it’s illegal immigration, ObamaCare, the deficit, or Climate Change. Now Syrian refugees are today’s Ebola, and they are just as deadly as the frightful virus that Fox alleged would destroy America.

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

In Fox’s world there is always something that is threatening to wipe this country off the map. It’s an odd paradigm for a network that also worships America as the bestest, strongest, nation in the history of mankind and, of course, God’s favorite. There is something schizophrenic about believing that we are simultaneously invincible and teetering on the brink of collapse. It’s an irrational mindset that only deeply indoctrinated cultists can hold. So, of course, the GOP has adopted it and made it the signature plank in their 2016 platform. And just in time to insure that everyone will have a Scary Christmas.

IT’S OFFICIAL! Donald Trump Has Lost His Freakin’ Mind – Says Fox News Is Not Fair To Him

Posted by on December 15, 2015 at 1:40 pm. 2 Comments :

This morning there is new evidence that Republican front-runner Donald Trump has lost all connection to reality. Of course, that’s not to say that Trump’s mental state was ever particularly stable. But he is now demonstrating with even more certainty that he’s sinking into an abyss of madness that is as deep as the Mariana Trench

Fox News Donald Trump

First of all, Trump is reigniting his on-again, off-again feud with Fox News. Previously he has complained about the network’s coverage of him, even though Fox has been his biggest booster and a provider of tens of millions of dollars in free advertising and promotion. Media Matters has compiled data that shows that Trump has dominated Fox’s airtime despite the feuding. Nevertheless, he has bitterly maligned many of their top presenters, executives and even owners. At the height of the Trump-Fox wars Trump declared that he would no longer appear on the network and advocated a viewer boycott. Fox News, in a display of wholly unethical journalism, capitulated to Trump (what promises were made?) and they continued their shaky relationship. That is, until today.

Upset that Megyn Kelly’s script miscalculated his lead in a new poll from Monmouth University, Trump went haywire on Twitter saying that she’s “overrated,” “dopey,” and that she “lies.” His rant went on to encompass the whole network which he slammed as “not fair.” Well, they’re not balanced either but, so far as Trump is concerned, that’s been to his advantage. Also, it’s kinda cute that in his attack on Kelly and her colleagues over a typo, Trump’s tweet contained its own typo misaddressing the Twitter handle for “deadpan” George Will. Georgina Williams probably never got so much attention.

What’s more, Trump’s focus on the poll from Monmouth has problems of its own. When the outlier poll came out Monday showing Trump far ahead of his rivals, he wrote a special note of thanks saying…

“I wanted to be the first to share the latest national poll results from the highly respected Monmouth University.”

However, just three days earlier, a different poll from Monmouth showing Trump behind in Iowa produced this response:

“There was one poll — Monmouth? I’ve never heard of Monmouth. What the hell is Monmouth? Explain it. I don’t like Monmouth.”

In three days Trump went from never having heard of Monmouth to hailing it as highly respected. This, from the man with (according to him) “the world’s best memory.” Trump has also described himself as the smartest, handsomest, most militaristic, least racist, and best circus clown (OK, I made up that last one, but it’s the most accurate). Now we can also add to his list of self-said superlatives that he is the healthiest candidate for president EVER! That’s according to his personal physician who, like his patient, has the unique ability to engage in communications through his prodigious ass.

It will interesting to see if Fox News has any response to Trump’s latest broadside. Will they pull back on the non-stop coverage? Will Fox & Friends continue to take his regular phone-in interviews? Will Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch still act as if they are his bitches? If the past is any indication, Fox will continue to bend over and take it in order to keep cashing in on the ratings bonanza – journalism and democracy be damned.

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

Tonight there will be another Republican primary debate, offering America another chance to observe a field of candidates who will compete to see who is the most biased against Muslims, Latinos, and African Americans; the most anxious to wage perpetual war with other people’s children; the most insensitive to the poor; the most oblivious to the dangers of Climate Change; the most averse to the equal rights of women and gays; and the most likely to side with corporations to wreck the economy and corrupt democracy. It should be a barrel of laughs.

And just for fun, here is the most accurate representation of Donald Trump I’ve yet to see:

SNL’s Michael Che On Donald Trump’s “Phone Sex” Appeal To Racist Republicans

Posted by on December 13, 2015 at 3:36 pm. NO Comments :

Just as some portion of the mainstream media is beginning to report accurately on the overt racism of Donald Trump, Michael Che of Saturday Night Live comes up with an alternate theory that makes sense:

“At this point Trump is the political equivalent of a phone sex operator. He’s just whispering whatever dirty little racist fantasies Republicans want to hear.”

trump-phone-sex

The segment on last night’s SNL Weekend Update is one of the funniest bits of the whole campaign season. Che’s premise is that Trump is not actually racist at all, despite all the evidence pouring out of his own mouth. Che notes Trump’s prior associations with people like Don King and Apprentice contestant Omarosa. He says that…

“I don’t believe that Donald Trump is a racist. He’s just pandering to the most prejudiced segment of the country. He’s hustling them. […] None of what he’s saying is true. You don’t just develop racism overnight on the campaign trail. Racism is embedded deep down in a person’s soul. I’ve looked into that man’s eyes. Donald Trump doesn’t have a soul.”

Indeed, Trump appears to have no moral center. His positions on issues have spun wildly from being pro-choice to total opposition to any abortion; from advocating tax increases for the wealthy to proposing across-the-board tax cuts; from favoring universal health care to dismissing ObamaCare as a disaster; from floating an isolationist foreign policy just a few weeks ago that would have Russia fighting with Syria against ISIS to his new promise to “bomb the shit out of ISIS?” He even praised Hillary Clinton effusively calling her a “terrific woman,” but he now says that she was “the worst Secretary of State in the history of the United States.”

Either Trump is nursing multiple personalities or he is just adopting positions that he thinks he can exploit to advance his craving for power and adulation. He does have an eager audience among ill-informed Tea Party discontents who don’t mind being lied to (see the Trump Bullsitopedia for a growing catalog of his lies). In fact, like the phone sex patron, it seems to turn them on. They have an uncanny ability to let their imaginations subsume reality so long as it satisfies their political lusts.

However, it doesn’t seem possible that someone could so fiercely promulgate such ugly rhetoric without that sort of bigotry being ingrained in them. A decent, tolerant person with respect for others would choke and stammer trying to say the hateful things that comprise Trump’s platform. Trump says them with such confidence and certainty that he could not possibly be putting it on. Perhaps Che’s contention that Trump lacks a soul could account for his being able to pitch this hate speech. But either way it means that he is fully capable of harboring the most vile forms of bigotry. And Che is addressing it in what may be the most effective way – with ridicule.

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

Who’s Donald Trump Bashing Now? A Principal Owner Of Fox News

Posted by on December 12, 2015 at 7:47 pm. 2 Comments :

Another day, another juvenile insult hurled by thin-skinned, crybaby Donald Trump. You have to wonder how Trump would respond to foreign leaders who were critical of him were he president. Judging by his past childish behavior he would counter criticisms from Vladimir Putin by calling him a loser; Kim Jong Un by mocking his height; and Angela Merkel would be deemed fat and/or ugly. Then he’d stick out his tongue, blow raspberries, and grin as if he’d accomplished something.

Fox News Donald Trump

That kind of diplomacy is the best of what we can expect from Trump. As evidence, he just engaged in a twitter clash with Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. Alwaleed is a member of the royal Saud family of Saudi Arabia. He is also the largest shareholder of 21st Century Fox (the parent corporation of Fox News) outside of the Murdoch family. In response to Trump’s racist and unconstitutional proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, which include Alwaleed himself, Alwaleed tweeted…

“You are a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America. Withdraw from the US presidential race as you will never win.”

And Trump, fully displaying the level of his maturity, responded…

“Dopey Prince @Alwaleed_Talal wants to control our U.S. politicians with daddy’s money. Can’t do it when I get elected.”

OK, the “dopey” part is typical Trumpian douchery. But what followed deserves some analysis. First of all, Trump has no moral ground to attack someone for having inherited wealth. Trump got his start with his daddy’s money and then proceeded to fail repeatedly in his business ventures. In fact, had Trump simply invested his inheritance in a Dow Jones index fund, he would be three or four times richer than he is today.

Secondly, Alwaleed isn’t trying to control U.S. politicians. He is simply expressing his opinion. It is Trump who, by his own admission, tried to control politicians for decades with his donations to their campaigns. And now he using his wealth to try to buy the White House (which he would only deface with his gauche taste and demeanor.

The spectacle that Trump is making of himself is precisely what Alwaleed called it: a disgrace. And Trump’s response just makes things worse. After all, “dopey” Alwaleed is #34 on the Forbes Magazine list of billionaires with $24.8 billion dollars. Trump is #405 with $4.3 billion – about one-sixth of Alwaleed’s fortune. Since Trump constantly tries to use his wealth as proof of how great he is (in his own mind), then Alwaleed is six times greater. Additionally, Alwaleed rescued Trump when he was floundering financially by buying his yacht, the Trump Princess (now rechristened as Kingdom 5KR), and his stake in the Plaza Hotel, for which Trump could not make his payments.

It needs to be said that Alwaleed is not a exactly a paragon of virtue. While he is a businessman/investor and not a politician, his country is one of the worst civil rights violators in the world, that discriminates against women, gays, and people of different faiths. But his remarks on this matter, and many other public issues, are fairly progressive and tolerant of diversity. It would be interesting to see what impact he would have if were elevated to a leadership role in his government. But that only makes his criticism of Trump more powerful because, if someone coming from a country with such a dismal record can righteously shame Trump, then Trump has has really sailed off the edge of the Earth.

Finally, it is significant that Trump is directing his puerile insults at one of the principle owners of Fox News. He has been a major beneficiary of the network’s coverage of his campaign. Media Matters has compiled data that shows Trump has dominated Fox’s airtime. And he achieved that despite having engaged in numerous, well-publicized feuds with the network. He has maligned many of their top people, including anchors, commentators, and all the way up to the executive suites of Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch.

Nevertheless, Fox News continues to lick Trump’s Ferragamos and treat him like their master. This swipe at Alwaleed is just the latest example of his arrogant disdain that not only goes unpunished by Fox, but gets rewarded with more fawning coverage and fierce defense every time he lets loose another gaffe, lie, or other expression of his overt hatefulness and fascistic tendencies.

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

It’s uncanny how Trump’s glassy-eyed supporters cling desperately to him no matter how much he lies to them (see the Trump Bullshitopedia). But equally bizarre is how Fox News clings to him no matter how abusive he is. They are like a battered spouse who come back for more after every beating. And sadly, the rest of the media isn’t much better at turning away from their batterer.

WTF? Donald Trump Backed By KKK, Thinks He’ll Win 100% Of Black Vote

Posted by on December 11, 2015 at 3:11 pm. 9 Comments :

There is a point at which Donald Trump’s repugnant reality TV persona crosses over the line from merely hateful, nativist demagoguery to psychopathic delusion. Some will argue that the line was crossed long ago, but whatever doubt remains has just been obliterated.

Donald Trump

Yesterday Politico published an in-depth article detailing the broad-based admiration for Trump among America’s white supremacists. That ought not to come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to Trump’s campaign. On the day he announced that he was running he slandered Latinos by characterizing Mexican immigrants as rapists and murderers. He went on to insult pretty much every minority constituency in the nation, culminating with his most recent racist and unconstitutional proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the country. These views have resulted in a surge of support from the KKK crowd. From Politico:

“The Ku Klux Klan is using Donald Trump as a talking point in its outreach efforts. Stormfront, the most prominent American white supremacist website, is upgrading its servers in part to cope with a Trump traffic spike. And former Louisiana Rep. David Duke reports that the businessman has given more Americans cover to speak out loud about white nationalism than at any time since his own political campaigns in the 1990s.”

Indeed, Trump has made it easier for bigots to come out of the closet and proudly exalt their white heritage over the minorities they fear and regard as inferior. Given his overtly racist rhetoric, that is not surprising. What is surprising is that Trump’s campaign not only doesn’t think he will be hurt by his hate speech, but what they actually believe they can achieve is mind-boggling. Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney and executive vice president at the Trump Organization, told Yahoo News…

When asked how much of the African-American vote the campaign wants to win, Cohen had a perfectly Trumpian answer: All of it. “Our goal is 100 percent.”

That’s right. 100%! If that isn’t a symptom of megalomaniacal psychosis than Napoleon was a misunderstood wallflower. Trump would be exceedingly fortunate with a showing in the teens. He has done nothing but alienate black voters. A recent meeting he held with black pastors turned into an embarrassing affair after he told the press that they were endorsing him. Many of them had to correct the record and very few ended up making an endorsement. But Cohen went on to make an observation that touched on the truth at the beginning, but then fell completely apart.

According to Cohen, Trump needs to win black voters because other minority groups won’t support him: “The truth, yeah, I’m trying to coordinate it because I am mindful of the fact that, you know, there are coalitions and I’m talking about now like Hispanic coalitions that … will not support Trump,” Cohen explained. “And that’s OK because the ones that don’t like Trump aren’t even here legally and they can’t vote, so it doesn’t really matter, right?”

This doesn’t even make sense. Cohen is saying that Trump needs to pack in black voters to replace Latinos who will not vote for him. To the extent that he needs to find constituencies to replace those he’s insulted, that’s true. But then he asserts that those Latinos he’s lost can’t vote anyway. So according to his own warped logic, there aren’t really any lost votes that need to be replaced by African-Americans. And setting aside the incoherence of that logic, he is further demeaning Latino-Americans by accusing them all of being here illegally. But not only are they a significant percentage of the citizen population, they are the fastest growing voter demographic in the nation.

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

This would be a good time to remember that Trump had previously asserted that, despite his hostile rhetoric, he intended to win the Latino vote as well. Back in July he said that…

“I have a great relationship with the Mexican people. I have many people working for me […] They love me, I love them. And I’ll tell you something, if I get the nomination, I’ll win the Latino vote.”

See? He loves them. And they love him because they work for him. And everybody loves their boss, don’t they? Especially bosses who insult you and treat you like crap (A few days ago employees of Trump’s International Hotel in Las Vegas voted to unionize in order to attain fair wages, respect, and dignity). Apparently, now that great relationship with Mexicans has soured. Although he still has his great relationship with “the blacks,” as he calls them. At least until he decides to throw them overboard too. But none of this better get back to the Klan, the only group in this story that is actually supporting Trump’s candidacy.

Fox Nation Promotes A Racist Hate Group’s Twisted Defense Of Donald Trump

Posted by on December 9, 2015 at 8:17 pm. 3 Comments :

FrontPage Mag, the online organ of David Horowitz’s right-wing Freedom Center, regularly publishes virulently anti-Muslim screeds intended to spread disinformation and fear. Horowitz is a radical rightist who has been called “the godfather of the modern anti-Muslim movement” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. His organization is a fringe assembly of wingnuts that is tied to notorious Islamophobes like Pamela Gellar and Daniel Pipes. And that makes it a perfect source for the bigots at Fox Nation.

Seeking to shore up Donald Trump’s widely lambasted proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, FrontPage reached back thirty-five years to post an article titled “Jimmy Carter Banned Iranians from Coming to the U.S. During the Hostage Crisis.” The apparent purpose is to exonerate Trump by suggesting that Carter did the same thing. There’s just one little problem: It isn’t the same thing at all.

Fox Nation

It takes a deliberately obtuse individual to find any similarity between what President Carter did when Americans were being held captive in Iran, and what Trump is proposing now. Iran is a sovereign nation with an identifiable and accessible governing body. In 1979, in what became known as the Iranian Hostage Crisis, students, with the support of the government, took over the American embassy in Tehran and held fifty-two diplomats hostage. Responding to that act of terrorism, Carter implemented a series of sanctions against the nation of Iran to pressure them to release the hostages.

Among the measures taken by Carter was the breaking off of diplomatic relations, suspension of trade, freezing financial assets, and this one that was included in the FrontPage article to vindicate Trump:

“Invalidate all visas issued to Iranian citizens for future entry into the United States, effective today. We will not reissue visas, nor will we issue new visas, except for compelling and proven humanitarian reasons or where the national interest of our own country requires.”

That is what FrontPage and the Fox Nationalists think is comparable to Trump’s desire to prohibit all Muslims, from all nations, from entering the U.S. based on their religion. Carter was imposing sanctions on the citizens of a country that was unlawfully detaining Americans. That is a reasonable reaction to an act of aggression by sovereign state. It is how diplomacy is conducted in order to pressure an antagonistic country into complying with international law.

Trump, on the other hand, is advocating a ban on all individuals of a particular faith. They may have nothing to do with any other nation or entity that is in conflict with the U.S. They may, in fact, be supporters of the U.S. who seek to travel here in order to help in the fight against terrorism. They may be doctors or scientists or teachers who cherish Western freedoms. They may be diplomats or politicians from Canada or Italy or Indonesia. They may be relatives of American Muslims who simply want to visit or reunite with their families. The one identifying characteristic prohibiting them from entry under Trump’s proposal is their religion.

That sort of religious bigotry is antithetical to everything for which America stands. It violates the very principles that inspired the first Europeans to venture to a New World. And, unlike the sanctions imposed by Carter, there is no discernible benefit that could be derived from imposing it. Nevertheless, here is the nearly incoherent argument offered by FrontPage:

“Now unlike Muslims, Iranians were not necessarily supportive of Islamic terrorism. Many were and are opponents of it. Khomeini didn’t represent Iran as a country, but his Islamist allies. So Trump’s proposal is far more legitimate than Carter’s action. Carter targeted people by nationality. Trump’s proposal does so by ideology. […] Classifying Iranians as a group is closer to racism than classifying people by a racist supremacist ideology that calls for the mass murder and enslavement of non-Muslims, as ISIS is doing today.”

To set the bar for idiocy as low as possible, the very first sentence of their argument implies that all Muslims are “supportive of Islamic terrorism.” They go on to make the absurd contention that “Khomeini didn’t represent Iran as a country.” WTF? And based on those ludicrous assertions, they conclude that Trump’s proposal is “far more legitimate than Carter’s.” This is literally too stupid to respond to.

But they aren’t done embarrassing themselves. The next half-baked notion they float is that targeting citizens of a nation with which you are in conflict is racist, which by definition, it is not. At the same time they dismiss that notion that targeting people by religion is racist, which by definition it is. And they close by again implying that all Muslims practice the sort of perversion of Islam that is practiced by ISIS.

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

This is the sort of garbage “journalism” that Fox News has chosen to pluck out of the hate mongering fringe in order to defend Donald Trump. That tells you just how desperate they are to maintain their appeal to Trump’s bigoted supporters. It is a marriage made in hell that only furthers the interests of America’s enemies.

Donald Trump Says He Is Not Bothered By Comparisons To Hitler. Is The GOP?

Posted by on December 8, 2015 at 8:08 pm. 11 Comments :

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

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

Donald Trump

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

When asked about those concentration camps by Michael Scherer of Time, Trump refused to say he would have opposed them. Instead, he said that he “would have had to be there at the time to tell you, to give you a proper answer.” The rest of the civilized world doesn’t need to be there to know that it was a horrific violation of human rights. Would Trump have had to be there during slavery to give a proper answer?

Trump’s fascist tendencies are apparent in his signature issue, a border wall to keep out those inferior foreigners. And he goes even further by suggesting that foreigners already in the country be rounded up, herded into boxcars, and deported using the deadly model from the 1950’s charmingly called “Operation Wetback.” He wants to create a database of American citizens based on their religion and require Muslims to wear identifying badges. He uses the media (mostly, but not exclusively, Fox News) to stir up irrational fears based on an ever-expanding catalog of lies (See the Trump Bullshitopedia). And, sadly, the media sheepishly complies with his campaign of propaganda.

The question now is: Where does the Republican Party go from here? With an avowed fascist currently leading their primary for president, the GOP has to decide which side they’re on. They simply cannot abide a candidate espousing Third Reich doctrine and expect to be taken seriously. Some of the other GOP contenders have distanced themselves from Trump’s most recent comments, and RNC chairman Reince Priebus even made a public statement of disapproval, an almost unheard of move for a party boss.

But that’s hardly enough. Earlier this year the Republican Party made all their candidates sign loyalty oaths promising to support the Party’s nominee regardless of who it is. But given the grotesque course of Trump’s campaign, that would mean pledging to support America’s foremost fascist. Anyone who honors a pledge to support Herr Trump for president is unfit for public service in a free nation. This sentiment was boldly expressed today by President Obama’s press Secretary, Josh Earnest (video below) who said that Trump’s proposal to ban all Muslims…

“…disqualifies him from being president. And for Republican candidates to stand by their pledge to support Mr. Trump, that in and of itself is disqualifying.”

So far, none of the other GOP candidates has had the integrity (guts?) to publicly declare that they would not support Trump if he is the nominee. That is partly due to their innate cowardice, as they do not want to alienate Trump’s current constituency of fascist-friendly voters. Why they want those voters in their corner is a sick mystery. But a part of it is also due to their fear that Trump might ditch the GOP and run as a Third (Reich) Party candidate. A recent poll shows that 68% of his glassy-eyed disciples would vote for him were he to run as an independent. And Trump is reminding his Republican pals of this in his twitter feed.

So Trump is wrapping his GOP peers around his middle finger. But how much sway does he really have? He can’t possibly win as an independent. While more than two-thirds is a significant chunk of his base, it is a tiny slice of the electorate. Do the math: About 30% of the American people identify as Republican. Trump has about 30% support within the Republican Party. So that’s about 9% of the population at large. Those who would follow him to a third party reduces that by 30%. So Trump would get a measly 6% of the national vote from Republicans, plus whatever independents and Democrats would crossover. In short, he would lose in a landslide.

The problem for the GOP is that, in a close race, that 6% could swing the election to the Democrat. And that’s why Republicans are running scared and failing to show the character to renounce Trump. However, if they don’t renounce Trump they are doing serious damage to their reputation which could cost them more than 6% come November. So the only course of action for them is to have some intestinal fortitude and do the right thing. They need to modify their loyalty oath to exclude Trump from among those whom they would support as the GOP nominee. This shouldn’t be that hard for them because Trump has already hinted that he is ready to violate the pledge.

If Trump acts first and bolts the Party they can’t ever regain the dignity that would come by having kicked him out. But if they move first they can at least brag that they held to their principles and turned their backs on fascism (at least Trump’s brand of it). But they better move fast. Trump is just unpredictable (and egotistical) enough to make a surprise announcement before anyone expects it. And since the GOP has little to lose, they would be smart to cast him out now. Unfortunately for them, they may not be that smart. Of course, that would be quite fortunate for the Democrats.

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

[Update:] Donald Trump continues his Anti-American Crusade: “These are people that are outside the country, so we’re really not talking about the Constitution. And it’s not about religion. This is about safety.” In other words, in pursuit of his warped idea of safety he would scrap the Constitution.

Pathological Liar Donald Trump Is Calling Other People Liars Which, Of Course, Is A Lie

Posted by on December 6, 2015 at 3:46 pm. 4 Comments :

The volume of excrement spewing from the mouth of Donald Trump continues to increase by the day. The latest eruption comes from a speech he gave in Davenport, Iowa, where he made baseless accusations against Saira Khan, the sister of terrorist gunman Syed Farook.

Donald Trump

In an interview (video below) with NBC’s Chris Jansing, Khan revealed that she, and other members of her family, were shocked by her brother’s involvement in the attack. She was clearly distraught and described it as a nightmare. But when Trump watched the interview he saw more than the average mortal would be able to see.

Trump: I watched the sister of the guy last night on television, right, and I’m pretty good at this stuff, and I watched her, she had the veil, the whole thing, she’s talking about the brother. […] I thought she was lying so much. I’m good at this. I thought she was a total liar. I watched her being interviewed last night, right? She lied about him. She didn’t know he felt this way? She knew. And a lot of other people knew, too.

So The Donald is “good at this stuff?” What is he talking about? Reading people’s minds? What he’s good at is libeling people without a speck of evidence. For him to say flatly that “she knew” is a malicious assertion that could result in serious harm physically, emotionally, and to her reputation. Trump is effectively saying that she is an accomplice to terrorism. And for a pathological liar like Trump to impugn the honesty of anyone else is just ludicrous.

A couple of years ago Glenn Beck similarly implied that an innocent person was involved in the Boston marathon bombing. Beck is now being sued for his reckless and bigoted comments. And the same thing should happen to Trump. However, this defamation fits nicely with Trump’s prior remarks last week wherein he said that family members should be targeted in military strikes, which would constitute war crimes.

Trump: When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don’t kid yourself when they say they don’t care about their lives. You have to take out their families.

This focus on the family is a rapidly developing pattern for Trump. With today’s libel against Ms Khan, and last week’s advocacy of war crimes, Trump is showing that he has no regard for innocent human life. It’s a position he comes to through his innate racism and a desire exploit the fear of his paranoid followers. Even worse, it is steeped in the sort of unmitigated ignorance and delusion that produced his fantastical claim that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey were celebrating the fall of the World Trade Center buildings.

Trump’s disturbing assault on family members, whose beliefs he can’t possibly know, took another turn toward the nauseating hate-mongering that has become the trademark of his campaign. On CBS’ Face the Nation this morning he whipped up another slap at families and simultaneously added another bald-faced lie to the Trump Bullshitopedia:

Trump: [The 9/11 hijackers] put their families on airplanes, couple of days before, sent them back to Saudi Arabia for the most part. Those wives knew exactly what was going to happen.

There’s just one small problem with that wild assertion. Only one of the nineteen hijackers was married. No doubt Trump saw “thousands and thousands” of terrorist housewives boarding planes on September 9th, taking with them their knowledge of Bin Laden’s plans. And if anyone disputes his claims he will back them up with hundreds of his twitter followers who also saw the phantom planes. Mass dementia is working well for Trump. It’s probably something he learned from Fox News.

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