Election

Democrats Call Postmaster General to Urgent Hearing on Trump’s USPS Sabotage

Posted by on August 16, 2020 at 10:50 am. 4 Comments :

Among the most blatant signs of Donald Trump’s aspirations to tyranny is his deliberate assault on the United States Postal Service. It’s an obvious attempt to make it harder for Americans to cast their votes this coming November. And in pursuit of that goal, Trump installed Louis DeJoy, a wealthy campaign donor with no relevant experience, as the executioner of his grossly anti-democratic agenda.

Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi

Trump himself admitted his intentions to purposefully dismantle postal operations in order to disrupt the delivery of ballots to and from state election offices. He recently told Fox News that Democrats are requesting funding because they “need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots.” And if they don’t get it “that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it.” This perverse strategy is driven by Trump’s inability to deal with the fact that he’s losing bigly to Joe Biden, someone he regards as a mentally deficient socialist.

https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1293896544668782592

As it turns out, sabotaging the Postal Service isn’t particularly popular with the American people. A whopping “70 percent of voters support a mail-in option, including 88 percent of Democrats, 71 percent of independents and 50 percent of Republicans.” And they have risen up to demand that Trump’s destructive policies be rescinded.

Now the House of Representatives is answering the call. The chair of the House Oversight Committee, Carolyn Maloney just announced that she is scheduling an “urgent hearing” on the matter and has requested DeJoy’s appearance to testify. Her letter to DeJoy charges that…

“Over the past several weeks, there have been startling new revelations about the scope and gravity of operational changes you are implementing at hundreds of postal facilities without consulting adequately with Congress, the Postal Regulatory Commission, or the Board of Governors. Your testimony is particularly urgent given the troubling influx of reports of widespread delays at postal facilities across the country—as well as President Trump’s explicit admission last week that he has been blocking critical coronavirus funding for the Postal Service in order to impair mail-in voting efforts for the upcoming elections in November.”

This is positive development that, at the very least, will keep the issue at the forefront of the media’s attention. It will force the Postmaster General to justify his actions. That is, if he doesn’t chicken out and refuse to show. And it will make clear the connections to White House pressure tactics and the potential illegal interference by the Trump campaign.

As a side benefit, the hearing is scheduled for August 24, which is, coincidentally, the first day of the Republican convention. It was previously reported that Trump is plotting to upstage the Democratic convention by hopping around the country for political appearances on each day of the Democrats’ event. His travel plans culminate in Biden’s home town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on the same say that Biden is delivering his acceptance speech.

So, under the circumstances, the Trump schemers can hardly complain about the scheduling of the Oversight Committee hearing. In fact, Democrats should continue to host events throughout the GOP convention and consider having Barack Obama give an national address in support of Biden on the the final day when Trump bellows out his latest “American Carnage” horror story as he accepts the nomination of his Republican confederates. Give the GOP a dose of their own medicine. This may be one of those rare circumstances where turnabout really is fair play.

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

According to Trump, He’s Losing Bigly to a Mentally Deficient Socialist

Posted by on August 15, 2020 at 1:29 pm. 5 Comments :

Desperate politicians have been known to make monumental mistakes. And in the case of Donald Trump, numerous mistakes and even purposeful malfeasance. This often occurs when they observe their campaign circling the drain and everything they try to reverse the trend fails miserably. They end up in a downward spiral that only accelerates their descent into madness. It’s ultimately a self-destructive, but unyielding compulsion.

Donald Trump Circling the Drain

As Trump’s fortunes continue to disintegrate, he resorts to the most infantile and hostile components of his character, or lack thereof. He lashes out with insults, flagrant lies, and attempts to tarnish the reputations of his perceived enemies. He knows he can’t rehabilitate his abhorrent public image, so he tries to bring his opponents down to his level. That’s a long walk.

What we are seeing from the Trump campaign these days is the manifestation of that strategy. He is devoting virtually all of his campaign rhetoric to maligning Joe Biden as “sleepy,” “corrupt,” and/or “a far-left radical socialist” who will “destroy America.” But how Biden can be both mentally deficient and an evil genius has not been explained.

There is, however, an unintended consequence of this tantrum throwing tactic. If Trump defines Biden as a wild-eyed leftist radical, as well as suffering from cognitive decline, Trump is admitting something devastating about himself. After all, he is losing to Biden in most national polls by double digits. He is also losing in almost every crucial swing state. And it isn’t just the popular vote where Biden has a commanding lead. Electoral College estimates are currently predicting a landslide victory for Biden.

So Trump’s fantastical fictions about Biden’s ideology and psychological state have the effect of humiliating himself for not being able to prevail over such an allegedly pathetic opponent. If Trump can’t beat a commie with dementia, he might as well drop out of the race. He’s already been reduced to a previously unthinkable act: praising Hillary Clinton:

If the biggest difference between 2016 and 2020 is how much “smarter and sharper” Clinton was, then why is Trump still getting crushed by Biden? What’s more, while the enthusiasm for Trump among his cult disciples is pretty good, he isn’t counting the the enthusiastic opposition to him that is powering Biden’s campaign. And the numbers aren’t in yet for the boost Biden will get from selecting Kamala Harris as his running mate.

Finally, Trump takes another swipe at Fox News, something he has been doing with frequency lately, despite simultaneously running to Fox for cover every few days. But he does have a point. Even some reliable Trump-fluffers on his State TV network are noticing his weaknesses. Fox’s political editor, Chris Stirewalt just published an op-ed that made the case that “Trump is starting to sound desperate.” Starting to?

Trump himself is falling off the far side of the sanity fence, and the American people can see it. He is embracing the QAnan conspiracy. He’s plotting to heckle the democrats during their convention next week. And his defiling of democracy – and the Constitution – by sabotaging the Postal Service is Trump’s most brazen step toward tyranny to date.

Yet this brand of perverse politicking can only prove to be futile. The American people don’t support such anti-patriotic, power hungry, viciousness. And they certainly won’t get behind a loser who can’t compete with someone he claims is worse than Stalin with Alzheimer’s. Not only is the accusation preposterous, it highlights how impotent Trump is going into the final days of the campaign.

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

Trump’s Egomaniacal Plot to Upstage the Democratic Convention

Posted by on August 13, 2020 at 1:20 pm. 9 Comments :

There is nothing that irritates Donald Trump more than when he is not the center of attention. His malignant narcissism kicks in bigly if something in the news cycle is deemed more important than his promulgation of lies, undeserved boasts, infantile insults, or relentless hostility and petulant whining. After all, this is the man-baby who once bragged that he is “the most fabulous whiner.”

Donald Trump, Subway

The Democratic National Convention will begin on Monday, August 17, and run until Thursday August 20. This is the quadrennial event where the Party’s nominee is officially designated and the campaign’s themes are rolled out as the election season gears up for the last lap to Election Day. Ordinarily, both parties suspend their political activities during their opponents’ convention. It’s a courtesy that allows each to present their best case to the American people without belligerent interruptions.

Of course, nothing about the Dystopian Era of Trump is ordinary. And his arrogance and vanity won’t allow him to shut his mouth for a few days to honor the respectful traditions of a functional democracy. Trump is succumbing to his unique brand of snotty conceit with the announcement that he intends to spend his time during the Democratic convention heckling them and otherwise making an ass of himself. USA Today reports that…

“President Donald Trump will hit the road next week while Democrats rally around Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris during the Democratic National Convention. […] A week-long series of events will include a visit to the city where Biden was born — Scranton, Pennsylvania — on Thursday, Aug. 20, the same day the former vice president is scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech.”

Trump has a long history of trying to manipulate the media to upstage Democrats or grab attention for himself from whatever else the press deems newsworthy. He has been doing this at least as far back as the Republican presidential primaries in 2016, Trump bowed out of a Fox News debate because he was afraid to face moderator Megyn Kelly. Then he scheduled his own media event at the same time, pretending it was a benefit for veterans. However, he later lied about and failed to disburse the funds he raised until after he was caught by the press.

More recently, Trump tried to upstage the first joint appearance of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris by scheduling another of his pointless coronavirus briefings (which the media should not be covering at all). And today Trump attempted to grab the spotlight again by announcing a phony “peace” agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Trump even employs this tactic by saying something outrageous and despicable to deflect the outrageous and despicable thing he said the day before.

If Trump goes through with this cynical and self-serving charade during the Democratic convention, Democrats need to reciprocate during Trump’s Republican convention the following week. They should schedule newsmaking affairs during Trump’s most engaging events. Which should be easy to counter-program considering that the GOP’s speakers are likely to be less than compelling. They haven’t released a list yet, but in 2016 they featured such luminaries as Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson, has-been Scott Baio, Ben Carson, and Ted Cruz.

If Democrats place Barack Obama’s first public appearance with the Biden/Harris ticket during Trump’s acceptance speech on the 27th, how many people do you think will be watching Trump? We already know what he’s going to say: Democrats are radical leftists who want open borders, crime in the streets, gun confiscation, and Satan worship.

Plus, Democrats will give healthcare to all citizens, pursue racial justice, seek income equality through fair taxation and corporate responsibility, and reverse the perils of climate change. Oh wait, those are all things that the American people favor overwhelmingly. Along with restoring America’s reputation internationally, and taking steps to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

So bring it on, Don. The American people already despise you. Trump has never reached 50% in approval polling, a feat that no other president can claim. He is currently losing to Biden in every national poll, as well as in most polls of the crucial swing states. His desperate antics are not likely to rescue his floundering campaign now. All he has left is cheating and Russia. But those are indeed serious threats and Democrats need to be vigilant and determined to overcome them. While things are looking pretty good for Biden and the Democrats, this is not the time to stand down.

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

Scaredy Trump Flees to Fox News After Biden Chooses Kamala Harris

Posted by on August 12, 2020 at 1:25 pm. 3 Comments :

On Tuesday Joe Biden announced the selection of Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate. The choice was universally acclaimed by all those not affiliated with the Trump Cult or Fox News. For his part, Donald Trump – the KKK’s favorite president – slandered Biden as a racist for choosing a Black woman to join his ticket. And he’s trying on “phony” as his latest infantile nickname for Harris.

Donald Trump, Fox News

The stench of fear and desperation coming from the Trump camp is unmistakable. He is getting crushed by Biden in every national poll, as well as all of the crucial swing states. He has no substantive criticism of either Biden or Harris, so he resorts to elementary school taunts, shameless lies, and pitiful whining.

Naturally, the first place Trump went after getting the bad news about Harris was his safe place in the arms of coronavirus spreader, Sean Hannity at Fox News. He knows that Harris is unquestionably a strong, experienced woman with a sharp intellect and tongue. And there is nothing that scares Trump more. He also knew that Hannity would comfort him in his hour of need, and feed him potential attack lines for the days ahead as the Biden/Harris ticket rolls out.

In fact, that’s exactly what Hannity did with his opening wet kiss to Trump on the subject of race (video below). Unfortunately, Trump is too unfocused and mentally infirm to concentrate on anything for more than ten seconds. Consequently, his response lurched manically into unrelated topics, ignoring the far more relevant subject matter that Hannity hoped he could corral Trump into. Trump’s meandering reply touched on the few topics that his fractured mind is capable of retaining. Remember, these are responses to a question about race:

“Well, first of all, what you said about Russia, the New York Times is fake reporting. And the Washington Post likewise. I always try to figure out which is worse. And then you have CNN and, frankly, ABC, CBS, NBC. […] But you know the sad thing is you [Hannity} have so many incredibly talented writers, journalists, frankly, including yourself, cause I consider you really a journalist to the largest extent.”

“They got it [the Russia “hoax”] wrong and they got Pulitzer prizes. The Pulitzer Prize is worthless as far as I’m concerned.”

“Now it finds out that we caught Obama, Biden. That’s why I didn’t think that Susan Rice could get it because she’s part of this whole illegal thing that happened.”

“Look at Hillary Clinton where she paid for the fake dossier.”

Huh? These are just a robotic recycling of Trump’s Lamest Hits. He’s on auto-play, rewinding through the nightmares that have lodged like neuro-parasites in his diseased brain, feasting on what’s left of his frontal lobe. Even Hannity – who Trump considers a journalist – was utterly incapable of guiding Trump into a coherent cognitive dialogue.

The remainder of this “interview” weaved through a soggy morass of subject matter that had little to do with Biden or Harris. Trump shoveled nonsense about windmills lowering property values, rigged mail-in voting, and his paranoid obsession with Obama’s “crimes” against him. However, he only managed to address the coronavirus pandemic for about thirty seconds at the close, and only to lie about nonexistent vaccines and therapies.

This is the current state of America’s political leadership. It’s resting in the tiny hands of a sociopathic narcissist who can’t complete a thought, or stay on topic, even when guided by a bootlicking sycophant. It would be hysterical if there weren’t already so many tragic consequences for so many suffering Americans.

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

Why is Trump Doing (and the Media Covering) His Newsless Coronavirus Briefings?

Posted by on August 11, 2020 at 1:44 pm. 2 Comments :

Last April Donald Trump fired himself as the Coronavirus Task Force spokesmodel. It was a termination necessitated by the obvious harm he was doing to his already floundering reelection campaign and the campaigns of his fellow Republicans. No one lamented his three month absence considering the fact that, due to his ignorance and ego, he had nothing of value to contribute anyway.

Donald Trump TV Set

Trump himself complained that the briefings served no purpose and were a waste of time. “The American people are getting nothing but Fake News,” he whined about an event where he was the dominant speaker. That’s quite a confession.

So it was with some surprise that Trump renewed his canceled broadcasts last month. The new version of the Trump Virus Show was recast with only the eponymous star. The supporting cast of doctors, epidemiologists, and other experts were sacked, presumably because their knowledge and ability to communicate upstaged Diva Donald.

So now we are, once again, witnessing the absurdity of the President of the United States being reduced to the daily recitation of dry statistics that could be easily read by an intern or an elementary schooler, either of whom would do a better job. Trump’s stodgy, emotionless oratory couldn’t possibly be more annoying.

This ought not to be dismissed as just another peculiarity of the Trump Era. There is, of course, a deadly pandemic ravaging the nation and the world. The economy is in shambles with a record number of people unemployed, high rates of evictions and foreclosures, business bankruptcies increasing, and more Americans seeking assistance from welfare agencies and food banks.

Yet somehow Trump finds the time to stand before the press – who he repeatedly maligns in Stalinist terms as the “enemy of the people,” – and performs his reality TV shtick. He disseminates provable lies, yells at and insults reporters, shamelessly lavishes undue praise on himself, and viciously attacks Democrats – and even Republicans – that he perceives as adversarial or disloyal.

Most of the time consumed in Trump’s “briefing” is wasted on matters having nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic. He regales in the performance of the stock market, which his policies are artificially propping up for the benefit of the wealthy and is a poor indicator of the economy that is currently in recession. He weaves fictions about his alleged legislative achievements. And he desperately invents electoral news that casts him as the victor in contest that exists only in his demented mind.

These charades are actually poorly disguised alternatives for the campaign rallies and other blatant politicking that he can’t pull together. Trump is reported to be despondent after weeks of not getting his ego stroked by worshipful disciples. So he demands attention by pretending to stage news conferences that are devoid of any actual news.

For that reason, the media should show some integrity and decline to service Trump’s pathetic and narcissistic neediness. He has proven repeatedly that he has nothing newsworthy to convey. So by showing up, the press is acting as his campaign’s communications staff. They are giving him free airtime and allowing him to spread his propaganda, lies, and hate speech.

If Trump wants to rant about Democrats and pay tribute to himself, he can pay for ads like any other candidate. In the meantime, the press can send junior reporters with cameras to document Trump’s meltdowns and then air whatever turns out to have some substantive news value, if anything. Short of that, the media needs to step back and stop helping to further Trump’s electoral aspirations.

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

Trump is Lying About – and Trying to Manipulate – the Presidential Debates

Posted by on August 6, 2020 at 3:20 pm. 2 Comments :

Apparently it hasn’t been enough for Donald Trump to rail maniacally about voting by mail. Or to attack his own medical experts for truthfully warning about the worsening coronavirus pandemic. Or to threaten to ban TikTok, a Twitter app that sometimes hosts messages that are critical of Trump. Or to whine incessantly about Fox News (aka State TV) when they aren’t sufficiently worshipful.

Trump Fear

Nope. It has not been nearly enough to satiate Trump’s massive and fragile ego. Now he is turning his wrath on the Commission on Presidential Debates, the independent, non-partisan organization that has been producing these general election encounters for almost fifty years. True to form, Trump cannot enter into any activity without angrily stomping his bone spurred feet until he gets the undeserved attention demanded by his addled-brain, malignant narcissism. Consequently, Trump took to his Twitter machine to bellow…

In order to give his imperious grumbling some additional oomph, Trump dispatched his equally schizoid personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to fire off an urgent missive to the Commission with a set of utterly irrational, albeit self-serving, requests. However, it’s hard to take seriously a plea that opens and closes with a disparaging remark about Joe Biden finally being, “available to leave his basement for the fall debates.” Stay Classy, Rudy.

Giuliani’s letter sought to change the terms of the already agreed upon debate schedule to add another meeting between Trump and Biden in early September because…

“By the time of the first presidential debate … as many as eight million Americans in 16 states will have already started voting. [Giuliani claimed to want to] avoid having millions of Americans disenfranchised by not being able to see and hear the two major party candidates debate before they have ballots in-hand.”

For Giuliani and Trump, or any Republican, to complain about disenfranchising voters after having gutted the Voting Rights Act, and worked so hard to eliminate early and weekend voting, close polling places, purge registration rolls, and draw preposterously gerrymandered districts, is Olympic-grade hypocrisy.

There is, however, a notable logical fissure in Giuliani’s demands. The vast majority of the states don’t allow for any voting prior to the first debate, which will be held on September 29. And the few that do provide ballots before then, do not require that they be returned until election day. Which means any voter who receives a ballot can simply hold onto it until after any or all of the debates before making their decisions and mailing it in. Although it is best to return ballots as soon as possible to facilitate tabulation, it is not required.

What’s more, voters this year are particularly committed to their presidential preference already. According to a recent poll by CBS News, most voters say that they “strongly support their candidate” (77% of Trump supporters / 74% of Biden supporters). Nine in ten say they would never consider the other candidate. So barring a catastrophic meltdown, the debates may not have much influence over the election outcome. And by all appearances, it’s Trump who would be most susceptible to the meltdown scenario.

In addition to Trump’s ludicrous scheduling alterations, he also weighed in on who he thinks should moderate the debates. Note that the candidates have never selected the moderators for these debates in the past. And the reason for that is perfectly illustrated in Trump’s ultra-partisan list of preferred moderators. Out of 24, nine of them are from Fox News, including notorious Trump-fluffers like Maria Bartiromo. The list also includes some shameless bootlickers from the New York Post, Christian Broadcasting Network, and the Wall Street Journal.

The Commission sent Giuliani their response that can be summarized as a big “NO” on every count. Surely Trump will regard that as a personal slight and throw a Twitter tantrum casting himself as the victim of a “Deep State” plot to destroy him. Because, sadly, that’s what we’ve all come to expect from the Crybaby-in-Chief. But his infantile tactics won’t help him get his way this time. And his well-founded fear of being humiliated is driving him to ever more deranged outbursts, such as…

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

Crybaby Trump Runs to Fox News Following His Latest Media Fiascoes

Posted by on August 5, 2020 at 2:03 pm. 5 Comments :

The flop sweat gushing from Donald Trump is flowing like a tsunami the closer we get to Election Day. His polling continues to languish near historic lows for both reelection and job approval. And even his traditional allies are politically distancing from him for fear of being swept away themselves. it’s a downward spiral that shows no sign of slowing down.

Donald Trump, Mask, Fox News

Trump’s response to the imminent peril that he finds himself in has been to triple down on the lies, insults, and fear mongering, that have been the staples of his campaign. As a result he lashed out at Dr. Deborah Birx, his hand-picked Coronavirus Task Force medical expert, as “pathetic” just because she told the truth for a change. He flip-flopped on his opposition to mail-in voting (but only in Florida where he needs the votes of senior citizens who might not otherwise cast ballots). He made a ludicrous and unconstitutional proposal to delay the election. And he even threatened to ban TikTok from the United States in retaliation for criticism on the app from people like Sarah Cooper.

But that’s not all. Trump’s recent interview by Jonathan Swan of Axios exposed his shallow and hostile knee-jerk defensiveness and inability to engage in a coherent discussion. A PolitiFact analysis identified 22 false statements in the interview. And in a desperate effort to counteract the pitiful image he displayed, he immediately sought refuge in the warm embrace of his Fox News sycophants.

In the past three days Trump has done three phone-in interviews on Fox. One with his BFF Sean Hannity. One with Fox’s Senior Trump-Fluffer, Lou Dobbs. And on Wednesday morning, a full hour (video below) with the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends. Here are a few of the lowlights:

ON SUSPENDING THE PAYROLL TAX:

FOX: What’s your plan for businesses when it comes to the payroll tax cut?
TRUMP: Well, I may do it myself. We’re negotiating right now. I have the right to suspend it. And I may do it myself. I have the absolute right to suspend…ah, the payroll…ah, do the payroll tax. We call it a payroll tax suspension.

Did our “stable genius” president come up with the idea of calling suspending the payroll tax a “payroll tax suspension” himself? More importantly, does he know that the payroll tax is used exclusively to fund Social Security, and that his proposed suspension would put the program at risk? And finally, he clearly doesn’t know that he has no authority whatsoever to suspend or otherwise alter tax laws passed by Congress. To his great dismay, he is not the American Dictator.

ON OPENING SCHOOLS:

FOX: What is the latest in your view as to how these schools should reopen?
TRUMP: My view is schools should reopen. This thing is going away. It will go away like things go away. And my view is that schools should be open. If you look at children, children are almost – and I would almost say definitely – but almost immune from this disease.

My view is that Trump is almost – and I would almost say definitely – but almost completely insane. He repeats himself ad nauseam without ever answering the question or making an intelligible point. And above all, he is comfortable with exposing children and their families to a deadly virus that is still out of control due to his negligence and incompetence.

ON OBAMA’S EULOGY FOR JOHN LEWIS:

FOX: Do you agree that [Obama’s eulogy for John Lewis] seemed like a campaign speech and less of a eulogy?
TRUMP: I thought it was a terrible speech, it was an angry speech. It showed there’s anger there that people don’t see. He lost control and he’s been really hit very hard by both sides for that speech. That speech was ridiculous.

You really have to wonder if Trump even saw Obama’s inspiring and heart-felt tribute. It is Trump’s review that is “terrible” and “angry” and utterly “ridiculous.”

ON HIS 2ND TERM:

FOX: Mr. President, what is your second term agenda? What are your top priorities?
TRUMP: I want to take where we left – we had the greatest economy in the history of the world. We were better than any other country. We were better than we were ever. We never had anything like it in this country […] What I want to do is take it from that point and build it even better.

Trump went off on a deranged rant about everything from unemployment to the stock market to how awful our allies are. What he never bothered to mention was anything about his second term agenda.

Needless to say, no one on Fox News challenged Trump’s lies or even bothered to ask a follow up question. They merely tossed him softballs and let Trump ramble on incoherently for twenty minutes. So Trump gets away with claiming he can unilaterally undo tax legislation, baselessly project his own anger onto Obama, and failing to articulate an agenda for the future. And for the record. Trump unleashed another 20 falsehoods on the Fox interview.

Which is why the one thing Trump said that is remotely connected to reality was just slightly off the mark. Referring to his prediction about the forward course of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump babbled that “This thing is going away. It will go away like things go away.” However, that typically inane Trumpism is more aptly applied to his presidency. And for those of you with exceptionally strong stomachs and nothing better to do, below is the full Fox and Friends interview.

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

In Desperate Reversal Trump Pleads with His Supporters to ‘Vote By Mail’

Posted by on August 4, 2020 at 12:22 pm. 5 Comments :

For several weeks Donald Trump has been ranting in his customary incoherent manner about the risks of voting by mail. He insists that it is a process that is rife with fraud, despite not having any evidence to support his alarmist raving. To the contrary, all the evidence shows that it is safe and secure, and has been for decades.

Every study conducted to ascertain the reliability of mail-in voting has concluded that there is no problem other than trivial numbers of incidental errors. David Lublin, an elections expert and professor at American University in Washington, D.C. told ABC News that…

“Voter fraud has not been a widespread problem in the United States. It’s just not remotely a widespread problem that, in fact, usually when claims are made, the more they’re investigated the more they disappear.”

Even a Commission on Election Integrity set up by Trump himself in 2017 failed to document any fraudulent voting and, humiliated, was disbanded a few months later.

So it is with particular curiosity, although not remotely surprising given his penchant for hypocrisy and lies, that Trump has reversed himself completely and is now embracing mail-in voting, but only because it is now in his interest to do so

Trump’s tweet starts off with the tacit admission that he has been deliberately misrepresenting an alleged difference between mail-in voting and absentee voting. But everyone other than Trump knows that there is no difference whatsoever in the processes for requesting or casting ballots. They are just different names for the same thing. What’s more, Trump concedes that voting in this manner is both “Safe and Secure, Tried and True.” While he singles out Florida, the same is true for every other state.

This striking turnaround comes just hours after Trump reiterated his baseless charge that voting by mail is an attempt to rig the election and will result in massive fraud. A few days ago Trump unleashed a maniacal tirade declaring that, due to mail-in voting, “This is going to be the greatest election disaster in history.” He likely meant that not as a warning, but as a promise of what he intends to do.

The reason for this frantic u-turn is likely that Trump has finally been convinced that his anti-voting harangues are actually hurting his own reelection prospects. Republicans across the country have been begging him to stop this rhetorical nonsense because they see how badly it is affecting their campaign efforts for both the White House and down-ballot races for Congress, the Senate, and local offices.

The real purpose of Trump’s assault on democracy has been to suppress the vote. He and the GOP have been focused on reducing voter participation for years. They know that when more people vote, Democrats win. Trump even admitted this last April when he told Fox News that it “doesn’t work out well for Republicans.” He went on to complain that Democrats were “crazy” for supporting vote-by-mail, saying that “They had levels of voting, that if you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” For once, he’s right.

To achieve his nefarious anti-democratic ends, Trump is attempting to sabotage the Postal Service. He is refusing to allocate necessary funding for continued operation. He has advocated for privatization, which would utterly destroy the 250 year old, constitutionally mandated institution. He recently installed Louis DeJoy, a major campaign donor, as the new Postmaster General. DeJoy is already ordering slow-downs and other measures to impede service with the intention of disrupting the election.

Trump obviously doesn’t care about the adverse effect this will have on voting. And he certainly doesn’t care that a majority of Americans support mail-in voting. But he is also ignoring the fact that a crippled post office would have trouble delivering Social Security checks, prescription medicines, and other critical necessities. It could literally cost lives. But Trump’s purposeful mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic has already taught us that he couldn’t care less about any of that.

However, now that Trump has become aware that he might also suffer some ill effect of his campaign against mail-in voting, he is callously and selfishly changing his tune. Whether this will have any effect on his cult disciples is another question. They have already initiated demonstrations to protest mail-in voting by burning their own applications. If MAGAts don’t want to vote, that’s something Democrats should eagerly encourage. Feel free to retweet/share this:

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

PATHETIC: Attack Dog Trump Snarls at Dr. Birx for Daring to Tell the Truth

Posted by on August 3, 2020 at 2:50 pm. 4 Comments :

You have to wonder how anyone can lower themselves to working for Donald Trump. The rancid patterns of his perverse and egomaniacal behavior are so reliably steeped in punishing vengeance that it’s impossible to ignore the certainty that eventually you will become his victim. What measure of denial prevents people from seeing that?

Donald Trump Angry

On Monday morning Trump provided yet another example of his steaming wrath, this time directed at an otherwise loyal member of his sycophantic Coronavirus Task Force. In a tweet that began by insult House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Trump stumbled into a bitterly insulting stab at Dr. Deborah Birx:

First of all, Trump’s sniveling whinery about Pelosi is ramped up to at least eleven. What he describes as “horrible” was actually pretty tame. Pelosi was asked if she had confidence in Dr.Birx. To which she calmly replied “I don’t have confidence in anyone who stands there while the President says ‘swallow Lysol and it’s going to cure your virus.'” No rational person could argue with that.

Secondly, Trump indicates that his anger is rooted in criticism of Dr. Birx being “too positive on the very good job we are doing” on combating the TrumpVirus. But that’s precisely why she has lost the confidence of Pelosi and every other knowledgeable person. Only the most heartless and uncaring cretins could celebrate 157,000 dead Americans and nearly five million sickened as a “positive” outcome.

Finally, Trump got to the point by making the accusation that Birx “took the bait & hit us.” He then called her “pathetic.” And what was so pathetic about Birx’s remarks? She simply said that “What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread. It’s into the rural as equal urban areas.”

Birx was absolutely correct. Despite her generally embarrassing performances as Trump’s dancing puppet, Birx had a rare moment of honesty that corresponded to the facts. And Trump wasn’t having it. So while Pelosi gently conveyed that she lacked confidence in Birx, Trump viciously disparaged her as pathetic. And then he accused Pelosi of saying “horrible things.”

What’s more, Trump’s White House Director of Strategic Communications, Alyssa Farah, went even further saying that “It is deeply irresponsible of Speaker Pelosi to repeatedly try to undermine & create public distrust in Dr Birx.” What does Farah think that Trump is doing when he castigates Birx, Dr. Fauci, and other members of his task force whenever they have the audacity to place their expertise above his flabby gut feelings?

No one has done more to undermine his own team than Trump. He doesn’t even allow them to attend the briefings anymore. Which may be for the best since they are usually just photo-ops for his reelection campaign.

In addition to his tweet attack on Birx, Trump also praised himself for his tragic mishandling of the Coronavirus pandemic, lied again about cases being created by testing, ranted about the “fake” news, indulged in his obsession with TV ratings, and bragged about the puny crowds who attended his event in “Frorida.” In other words, business as usual in the Dark Circus of Trump’s Dystopian World.

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

Trump Clings to Pitiful Fox News Polling Analysis that Mangles Reality

Posted by on August 2, 2020 at 1:23 pm. 2 Comments :

As Election Day draws nearer, Donald Trump’s prospects for reelection become more distant. All of the national polls show him losing to Joe Biden by substantial margins. Even worse, Trump is losing in every crucial swing state. Biden is even competitive in the traditionally red states of Texas and Georgia.

Donald Trump

With less than 100 days to go, Trump has to recognize that he is deep trouble. Although, with the severity of his malignant narcissism, he may have convinced himself that is universally beloved. But the truth is that his personal and job approval ratings are swirling the drain. His policies are rejected by broad majorities of the American people. His opportunities for in-person campaigning are constrained by the Trump Virus, ironically a problem exacerbated by his own negligence and incompetence. and it’s only been getting worse for him as time goes by.

Consequently, Fox News is stepping up their efforts to defend Dear leader with ludicrous analyses of polls that are inherently awful. Host Jesse Watters delivered a monologue on Saturday night that selected one poll that he managed to spin so furiously he might have created a black hole of derp. Watters led off a segment he dubbed “The Trump Turnaround” by saying that “You can feel the momentum shift in the presidential race. It showed up in the polls too, in key battleground states.”

It’s hard to know what Watters was actually feeling, but it could not have been momentum. He was citing a poll conducted by Change Research for CNBC. They are a pollster that is frequently an outlier that leans to the right. According to their methodology statement, the poll “reaches voters via targeted online ads that point people to an online survey instrument.”

Huh? So respondents self-select by clicking on Internet ads. That is hardly a scientific process for statistical data analysis. However, even this dicey poll had nothing positive for the Trump camp. The take that Watters tried to sell to dimwitted Fox News viewers (and to Trump) was that this poll was less horrible for Trump than the previous one.

Watters noted that the lead Biden holds over Trump in six “battleground” states (Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) were smaller than the poll published two weeks prior. What Watters fails to mention is that they are still leads. That’s right, Biden is beating Trump in every one of these states, and Watters thinks there is good news in that.

Watters also neglected to inform his Fox Cult following that the leads reported in this poll are significantly smaller than the leads reported in every other poll. Comparing these results to the average of recent polls shows Biden’s cumulative lead in the swing states is literally double what the Change Research survey found. So naturally this prompted Watters to aim this admonishment at his audience:

“Don’t believe the lies you hear from the media or on social media about a Biden Victory. This is going to be a very close election. But President Trump has the edge.“

https://twitter.com/WattersWorld/status/1289728874293518337

Concluding that “Trump has the edge” when he is behind in every instance is a feat of Olympian bullshittery. Which is, of course, what Fox News is most famous for. And it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump retweeted this segment to bask in the glow of his epic failure. But if Watters and Trump want to believe this so badly, let’s not spoil it for them. Reality will reveal itself in its own time.

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