Wankery

Trump’s Morning Tweetstorm Was Transcribed Verbatim from Screwball Rant on Fox News

Posted by on May 21, 2018 at 3:02 pm. 0 Comments :

A rainy weekend in Washington, D.C. left Donald Trump with nothing to do but post tweets dripping with panic and desperation. So he assumed his “Golden Throne” and began tapping out nine messages regaling against the law enforcement agencies of his own administration that all have directors he appointed. He concluded with an authoritarian “demand” that the Justice Department investigate itself regarding its investigation of the 2016 presidential campaign. Which would, of course, be considered improper interference and obstruction of justice in a normal world.

Trump Baby

On Monday Trump must have determined that his weekend tantrum wasn’t sufficiently unhinged, so he resumed his raving with another series of tweets. In this volley of manic distress, Trump decided that it wasn’t necessary to unload his own psychoses. Instead he simply had some poor schnook serve as his stenographer and regurgitate what he just watched on Fox News:

John Brennan is the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and a frequent Trump critic. He tweeted on Sunday that congressional leaders would bear the responsibility if they “continue to enable Mr. Trump’s self-serving actions.” That’s what set off Dan Bongino, a familiar face on Trump’s favorite TV show, Fox and Friends.

Bongino’s diatribe was pure fury and bluster with no substance or facts whatsoever. In other words, ordinary Fox News histrionics. He even destroyed his own premise by noting that Brennan briefed everyone, including Trump and both sides of Congress, about the infamous Steele Dossier. Had this been a “political hit job” the only parties notified would have been Democrats and Trump opponents.

More to the point, it is Trump’s obsessive addiction to anything and everything that appears on Fox News that is troubling. He has the resources of the world’s largest and finest intelligence agencies, but he relies instead on rejects and has-beens whose only credentials are as talking heads on a shamelessly biased cable “news” network. And on the basis of what he sees on Fox he makes decisions that will impact the nation and the world.

For the most part, Trump’s decisions lately have been narrowed to whatever he sees as what’s in his best personal interest. The Russia collusion story is almost all he talks about. And in his twisted mind, the story is solely about the asinine “Deep State” conspiracy to destroy his presidency. On that front he is getting plenty of help from Fox News. For instance, on Monday morning Fox host Maria Bartiromo, who used to be a business analyst but is now competing for the Alex Jones Crackpot Award, told her viewers that “President Obama, it seems to me, was politicizing all of his agencies: the DOJ, the FBI, the IRS, the CIA; they were all involved in trying to take down Donald Trump.”

Of course. It was Obama all along. Never mind that Republicans regarded him as an affirmative action dunce who never earned his academic or political achievements. He was also an evil genius who masterminded the anti-Trump crusade that’s threatening the most powerful man on the planet. It’s these sort of delusional visions and insane conspiracies that fuel Trump’s crusade to demean all of the institutions of American government. If his survival is reliant on the destruction of the country, then that’s a price Trump is willing to pay. And Fox News will be right there to help him along.

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

Fox News Fingers ‘The Single Most Dangerous Person to the Agenda of President Trump’

Posted by on May 20, 2018 at 3:48 pm. 2 Comments :

You can count on Fox News to be on top of any threats to the supremacy of Donald Trump and his totalitarian regime. Since Fox News is the designated media arm of the Trump White House and the President’s most passionate protector, they would naturally be the most ardent champion of Trump’s interests.

Jeanine Pirro Fox News

Consequently, one of Trump’s favorite Fox mouthpieces, “Judge” Jeanine Pirro, went on one of her spittle-inflected rants in defense of the Cheeto Jesus she worships. Her Saturday night massacre was jam-packed with unfounded allegations against Trump foes like James Comey, Hillary Clinton, and the FBI, among others. She bristled at this being “the one year anniversary of the Mueller investigation staffed with the singularly most biased attorneys in American history.” Never mind that special counsel Robert Mueller is a life-long Republican, as is Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General who appointed him.

Pirro’s tantrum then veered off into tales that Democrats “chuckled” when Trump claimed he had been wiretapped. She insists now that the claim was true. But it was widely proven to be just another of his delusional outbursts with no basis in reality. She continued with allegations of a “shadow government” and “deep state” clinging to control, despite the fact that Trump and his appointees have been in power for more than a year. She invented fictional accounts of FBI agents conspiring to interfere with a presidential election and overthrow the President. And ignoring the dozens of indictments along with five guilty pleas by close Trump associates, she swore that he hasn’t been “touched” by any of the ongoing probes. Really? Most legal observers would say that he’s had a full body massage (with no happy ending).

But perhaps the most darkly entertaining portion of this wild-eyed segment was Pirro’s assault on one of Trump’s first and most loyal advocates. Former Senator Jeff Sessions was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump. He faithfully followed the candidate around the country like a devoted puppy. And for his devotion he was given his own Justice Department to play with. However, Pirro sees in him something different and far more ominous:

“What, ladies and gentlemen, is unmistakable in all of this, is that the single most dangerous person to the agenda of President Trump, the Republican party and ultimately to all Americans, is the Attorney General of the Untied States himself, Jeff Sessions.”

The danger that Sessions represents to America is something we can all agree on. But perhaps for different reasons. From Pirro’s perspective he “has done nothing to make anyone responsible for the blatant corruption” she asserts has plagued the FBI. She complains that he has “fought the release of telling documents” that in her cartoon brain would somehow exonerate the President or incriminate his enemies. And by failing to purify Trump’s aura and condemn his foes to purgatory, Sessions, she says, “has done nothing to create confidence that wrongdoers will be accountable.” Of course, her definition of accountability is the incarceration of all Democrats and the observance of the divinity of Trump. She closes with this hallelujah moment:

“With all the power and might of the Department of Justice behind him, he continues to do nothing. He refuses to take them out in cuffs. The most powerful prosecutor in the world, the man who holds the scales of justice in his hands, hides behind the coattails of a Rod Rosenstein – a man we’ve never even heard of – who is in fact behind all of Jeff Sessions decisions, who is in fact running our Department of Justice.”

There really isn’t anything more that could be added to that drooling screed. It proves once again that Fox News is deeply embedded in the inner regions of Trump’s rectal cavity. This assault on Sessions could not have been broadcast without the knowledge and permission of the White House. It signals some tough sledding ahead for Sessions. Which could be dangerous for Trump because Sessions knows where all of the bodies are buried. And if he feels like he’s been rolled over by a convoy of buses, he could easily become the next flipper on Mueller’s plate.

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

Way Out of His League? Sarah Huckabee Sanders Has Delusions of Trump’s Grandeur

Posted by on May 19, 2018 at 11:31 am. 2 Comments :

While Donald Trump cowers in the safety of his White House residence (or his Palm Beach resort), his press secretary shows up on State-TV (aka Fox News) for a pity party with Sean Hannity. They spend much of their segment whining about how Trump is a victim of the press that just doesn’t like him no matter how awesome he is.

Fox News, Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has the unique distinction of turning the daily White House press briefings into an extended presentation of lies and propaganda that surpasses any of her predecessors. The media participants in these charades, from across the political spectrum, openly lament that they can’t believe what comes out of her mouth. That absence of confidence is a real threat to the American system of democracy that relies on a free press. But since she represents a president who has repeatedly referred to the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people,” it would be naive to expect anything resembling honesty or integrity from her or this administration.

And so it was on Friday as Sanders canoodled with Hannity to malign the media in general and CNN’s Jim Acosta in particular (video below). “it’s unreal,” she grumbled, “the amount of negative coverage that comes from the media covering this White House.” Continuing, she said:

“Not just because it’s so one-sided, but because there’s so many good things they could be talking about. The economy is booming. ISIS is on the run. Remaking of the judiciary. Getting rid of the individual mandate. The foreign policy and the relationships that this president has built. Every single day there’s a good news story to tell. And yet ninety percent of the coverage is negative.”

For the record, the economy was booming for seven of the eight years Obama was president, after he guided it to recovery from the Bush recession. Trump stumbled into this expansion and immediately took credit for it. However, now that he has been at the helm for a year, the economy has rapidly cooled. It’s almost six months into 2018 and the Dow Jones is laying flat year-to date.

As for the other items that Sanders regards as “good news,” remaking the judiciary is a euphemism for packing it with ultra-conservatives who will favor corporations over people; getting rid of the ObamaCare individual mandate is already resulting in higher premiums and fewer people being covered; and Trump’s foreign policy is a perverse shift from alignment with our allies to cuddling up to totalitarian foes like Vladimir Putin and Xi Xiaoping. His biggest so-called accomplishments are a scheduled meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (which may never happen, or produce the results he’s promised), and moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem (which has already cost more than sixty lives).

Still, Sanders insists that there’s “a good news story to tell” every day, even as reports pile up about Trump’s collusion with Russia and corruption connected to his business and personal affairs. There has never been an administration so mired in political malfeasance as the Trump Crime Family. And yet, Sanders and Hannity place all the blame on the media for doing their job. Sanders even addresses a direct challenge to CNN’s Acosta who expressed an interest in interviewing Trump:

“Just a little note to Jim. I think he should stick to going one-on-one with me because President Trump is way out of his league. And I don’t think he wants to take on that challenge cause he’s definitely not gonna win.”

First of all, Sanders has never gone one-on-one with Acosta, and she likely never will. She only encounters him in the daily briefings where she usually cuts him off without answering his questions. As for Trump being out of Acosta’s league, if that were true Trump would jump at the chance to be interviewed by someone he believes he could shred. The fact is that Trump has not had allowed an interview with anyone outside of the friendly media bunker he’s sheltered in for over a year. And he hasn’t had a solo press conference since the one he gave just after his inauguration.

Trump is quite obviously afraid to face someone who might ask questions relevant to his conduct as president. It’s Trump who’s afraid to take on the challenge of an interview with Acosta or anybody else other than bootlickers like Hannity and Jeanine Pirro and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends. It’s the same reason that Trump is scared to sit for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller. He and his handlers are afraid – with good reason – that Trump will get himself in deeper trouble by lying. Because when it comes down to it, Sanders is right when she says that Trump is out of their league. He’s way below them in every way imaginable.

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

Fox News Senior Douchebag Asks: Why Would the Left Be Defending Violent Street Gangs?

Posted by on May 18, 2018 at 3:20 pm. 2 Comments :

On Thursday Donald Trump engaged in a discussion of immigration issues and created yet another controversy over his prejudice and dehumanization of whole classes of people. There is some dispute over whether Trump was referring to all immigrants or only MS-13 gang members when he said that “They aren’t people. They’re animals.” But there is no dispute that even bringing up gangs in a conversation about immigration is a deliberate attempt to associate immigrants with violent criminals.

Fox News, Tucker Carlson

Trump tried to justify his comments in a tweet wherein he insisted that he was talking only about MS-13. He whined about the “fake news” media purposefully misreporting his remarks. But even giving him the benefit of a doubt as to who he was talking about doesn’t change the fact that he was maligning all immigrants by making this association.

Not surprisingly, the Trump-fluffers of Fox News immediately scrambled to his defense with ludicrous allegations of media misbehavior. They uniformly accused the press of acting in bad faith and deliberately posting untruths in order to hurt the President. That’s nothing but a severe case of mass paranoia. And one of the worst sufferers of this malady is Fox’s Tucker Carlson. The poor guy seems to have the permanently furrowed brow of someone who is simultaneously dumbfounded and hostile. On his program Thursday night he launched into a recklessly slanderous diatribe that only certified his overt bias and inbred hatred for anyone not like him (video below). “Why would the left,” he began “be defending the country’s most violent street gang?” Which not a single person on the left ever did. He continued:

“Trump has made them irrational. That’s part of it. But the left also senses a threat to its most basic worldview. MS-13 is a living reminder that the left’s position on immigration is fundamentally a lie. The media tell you every day that every immigrant, legal or not, is a future brain surgeon or tech company founder. Therefore, immigration controls are unnecessary.”

That rant by Carlson is as clear an example of a cognitive meltdown as you will ever encounter. First of all, Carlson imagines some mysterious leftist worldview that is being threatened by the existence of MS-13. That makes no sense at all. And he delivers this nutty theory right after claiming that the left has been defending MS-13. Which one is it, Tucker? Is the left defending the gang or are they threatened by it?

Then Carlson launches into an attack on both immigrants and reality. He demeans the contributions of immigrants with his assertion that lefties wrongly believe that all immigrants have potential to achieve some form of greatness. Let’s just set aside the fact that many of America’s most successful and innovative companies were indeed founded by first or second generation immigrants (Tesla, Google, Reddit, Amazon, Yahoo, Ebay, Apple). In fact, that’s true of almost half of the S&P 500.

However, progressives also recognize the hard work performed by immigrants in the agricultural sector, as well as restaurants, hotels, and healthcare. And nowhere in the agenda of the left has there been a claim that “immigration controls are unnecessary.” Only that they are fair, reasonable, compassionate, and true to the American ideals expressed by the Statue of Liberty. But those are qualities that are foreign and abhorrent to right-wingers like Carlson.

Carlson’s hate-fest concluded with a tribute to his Dear Leader. He literally parroted the idiotic notion that Trump laid out in his address announcing his entry into the 2016 presidential campaign:

“If they admit that MS-13 is actually bad and must be stopped, they’d have to also admit that when some countries send their people here they aren’t sending their best.”

Of course, there isn’t a single person on the left who has any trouble condemning MS-13 as being something that is bad and must be stopped. However, everyone with a functioning brain knows that immigrants to the U.S. have not been sent here by by their native countries. Whether those immigrants are the best or not, they come here by their own volition. Carlson and Trump believe that there is a governmental authority that selects who will emigrate to America. And then they wonder why the left is constantly mocking them for their stupidity and preposterous ideas. Maybe it’s because they keep defending the country’s most asinine concepts.

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

Fox News Senior Douchebag Tucker Carlson Demonstrates Why No One Should Ever Do His Show

Posted by on May 16, 2018 at 12:45 pm. 1 Comments :

Anyone who has watched more than five minutes of Fox News knows that the network is a wholly dishonest purveyor of right-wing lies and propaganda. Throughout the day they broadcast flagrantly biased stories that advance the interests of Donald Trump and the Republican Party. But it’s more than that. They are actually serving as an arm of the White House and the GOP by coordinating their messages and featuring Republican operatives and candidates almost exclusively.

Tucker Carlson Fox News

Among the most repugnant Trump-fluffers on Fox News is Tucker Carlson. He is a proud white supremacist who believes that Democrats hate America. On Tuesday night Carlson conducted a harangue (as opposed to an interview) with New Mexico congressional candidate, Pat Davis (video below). What brought this particular Democrat to the attention of Fox News was a campaign ad that held nothing back with the opening line, “F*ck the NRA.”

Needless to say that has caused much of the conservative snowflake community to belly flop onto their fainting couches. Oh my, a cuss word. This is from the same people who idolize the has-been schlock-rocker and NRA board member Ted Nugent, who has repeatedly dropped f-bombs while demanding that various politicians “suck on my machine gun.” See this for a compendium of Nugent’s violent obscenities.

The exchange between Carlson and Davis is a perfect demonstration of why no Democrat should ever lower themselves to appear on that thoroughly useless program. Carlson relentlessly badgered Davis with irrelevant questions, but wouldn’t give him ten seconds to try to provide a substantive answer. For example, When Davis explained that “If a curse word on TV offends you more than pictures of dead children in Parkland or Newtown then your priorities are all wrong,” Carlson interrupted to ask if rudeness would save lives. Huh?

Following that, Carlson asked Davis “How many NRA members have committed mass shootings?” Who cares? First of all, law enforcement doesn’t collect NRA membership data when investigating crimes. But more importantly, Davis’ ad did not attack NRA members, it attacked the organization that is known for opposing any and all reasonable measures to reduce gun violence. Davis tried to explain that to Carlson who refused to listen in between inappropriate chuckling and snide remarks.

Having proven absolutely nothing, other than that he’s an obnoxious buffoon, Carlson changes the subject again. He criticizes another ad by Davis that says that AR-15s can fire 150 rounds in fifteen seconds. Carlson disputes that and asks Davis how that would work. And Davis tells him. But Carlson continues to insist that it’s impossible and that Davis, a former police officer, doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Aren’t we supposed to respect our men and women in blue? Carlson belittles Davis’ service by saying “I know that you were a police officer, or you claim to have been.”

Davis provided support for his statements about AR-15s on website. He certainly wasn’t going to be able to do that on Carlson’s show with interruptions every ten seconds. And whenever Davis was making a salient point Carlson would laugh or sneer or mock him. Eventually, Carlson cut the segment short shouting abruptly, “Interview over! Cause you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

There is one lesson that can be learned from this disastrous affair. There is no reason – ever – for any Democrat, liberal, or even reasonable Republican, to sink so low as to appear on Carlson’s hate-fest. You will not be able to persuade him of anything regardless of the facts you present. His audience doesn’t care what you have to say and will cheer on his repulsive and childish taunting. He is an ignorant bully whose sole reason for being is to act superior and insult anyone who disagrees with him. Appearing on his show will never result in an informative interview. It will result in Carlson hanging by his tail and throwing feces at you.

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

Donald Trump Accuses Members of His Own White House Staff of Treason

Posted by on May 14, 2018 at 2:37 pm. 1 Comments :

The morale at the White House just took another deep dive into the abyss of the Shakespearean tragedy it has become. Donald Trump’s administration is already notable for suffering the worst retention rate in history with dozens of top-level staffers resigning or being fired in just the first year. This is a crumbling house of cards that Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, called “a very functioning place of business.”

Donald Trump

The White House has recently been described in strikingly negative terms. One account calls it “the most toxic working environment on the planet.” The official who told this to Axios went on to say that:

“Usually tough times bring people together. But right now this atmosphere is ripping people apart. There’s no leadership, no trust, no direction and this point there’s very little hope. Would you want to go to work every day not knowing whether your future career was going to be destroyed without explanation?”

In the midst of that turmoil, it isn’t surprising to see many insiders anxious to leak to the media. According to a new report by Axios they are doing so, in part, to set the record straight and protect themselves from jealous coworkers. So Trump’s response to this dreadful lack of leadership was to post this harangue on Twitter:

Note the obvious paranoid psychosis in that brief tirade. First of all, if he’s referring to “so-called leaks” by the “Fake News Media,” then there isn’t really anything to complain about as far as leaks go. In his view the information is false and, by definition, not a leak. Secondly, Trump doesn’t need any help from anyone to “look as bad as possible.” He’s doing that very well on his own.

Nevertheless, Trump is outraged that anyone in his employ would exercise their free will and talk with people in the media about the train wreck over which he presides. And his response to that demonstration of disloyalty to the King is to accuse the fiends of treason and threaten them with capture and punishment.

This president is certainly not the first one to be stung by insiders talking out of class. But he is the first to charge them with crimes punishable by death. And that is what makes Trump’s totalitarian tactics so dangerous and unambiguously contrary to the American values of freedom and democracy.

If Trump wants to stop leaking from his staff, the best and easiest way is to inspire them to have admiration and respect for his leadership. He’s quite clearly incapable of that, so he resorts to this sort of intimidation and bullying. Which isn’t going to work. In fact, it will just make things worse for him. So, Mr. Trump, please proceed.

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

Judge Jeanine on Fox News: Donald Trump ‘Fulfilled the Biblical Prophecy of the Gods’

Posted by on May 13, 2018 at 3:49 pm. 6 Comments :

So you think you’ve heard it all from Fox News? You think they have gone as far into the stratospheric fringe as it’s possible to go? Do you think there is a limit to the sycophantic Trump-fluffing that will be broadcast on the network known for its slobbering devotion to the Donald? If so, you’re not giving the tunnel-blind cultists at Fox enough credit.

Donald Trump Messiah

On Saturday evening, “Judge” Jeanine Pirro led off her program with her usual “Opening Statement,” which is typically an homage to Trump and/or an attack on his critics. She has perhaps the most virulently crazed demeanor of anyone on Fox, with wild-eyed tirades and sanctimonious condemnation in her voice. She could be an attraction at Jurassic Park with her teeth-baring facial expressions and her sharpened rhetorical claws.

As outrageous as her weekly televised tantrums have been in the past, she really outdid herself with the latest episode. Reporting from Israel, her topic was Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. It’s an unnecessarily controversial action that is likely to provoke an increase in hostilities in the region, and make our diplomats more vulnerable to violence. But never mind that, Trump has made up his mind to pander to his ultra-Chrisianist base among American evangelicals. And naturally, Fox News and Pirro are all for it. This excerpt is all that you’ll need to grasp the depth of her madness (video below):

“Donald Trump sent Iranians, who are the descendants of Persia, a message to reflect on their own history, and that it was the king of Persia who, 1000 years before Mohammad was even born, said that Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish people’s country.

“There will be no Ottoman empires or Shia nations that will destroy Jerusalem any longer. Donald Trump recognized history. He, like King Cyrus before him, fulfilled the biblical prophecy of the gods worshiped by Jews, Christians and, yes, Muslims, that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish state and that the Jewish people deserve a righteous, free and sovereign Israel.”

Well, isn’t that considerate of Pirro to deign to lecture Iranians on their own past. But her anointing of Trump as having “fulfilled the biblical prophecy of the gods” goes farther than anyone at Fox News has ever gone to suggest the Messianic holiness of their Dear Leader. This is not an overreaction to Pirro’s sermon. She explicitly likens Trump to King Cyrus, who was regarded by the Jews as anointed by God and, in the view of some, a Messiah. So now it has come to pass that this greedy, foul-mouthed, narcissistic, desecrator of women is the heir to the throne of Heaven? Is she fucking serious?

The only interest that right-wing Christianists have in Israel is that they are praying for it to be conquered by the beasts of hell so that they can proclaim the commencement of Armageddon and the subsequent return of their savior. They would likely root for the Anti-Christ because his arrival presages these events. And that may be the real reason they are so devoted to Donald Trump. Because, really, who does he seem more like: Jesus or the Anti-Christ? Any Christian who has trouble answering that question has been watching too much Fox News. Because as we now know, Fox News is now officially the Sacred Pulpit of the Rapture.

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

Giuliani’s Mouth Erupts Again, Says Trump Lied About Not Interfering with AT&T/TimeWarner Merger

Posted by on May 12, 2018 at 10:00 am. 0 Comments :

It really says something when your brand new attorney can’t stop making incriminating statements about you. Rudy Giuliani recently made the news when he publicly announced to the world that Donald Trump reimbursed his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, for the $130,000 hush money payout to Stormy Daniels. That was something that Trump had been denying for months.

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump

Following that gargantuan gaffe, Giuliani went on a whirlwind tour of the media with clarifications that only made matters worse. If we didn’t know better, we’d think that he’s working for Robert Mueller and giving the special counsel more evidence of Trump’s guilt. What else could explain his relentless trashing of his own client?

Well, he’s done it again. On Friday Giuliani gave an interview to the Huffington Post wherein he sought to defend Trump from allegations arising out of Cohen’s suspicious financial dealings with a variety of corporations that have obvious interests in Trump’s decision making. Cohen took in millions from the likes of Novartis, Korean Aerospace, AT&T, and even a Russian oligarch connected to Vladimir Putin. All of these funds were funneled through the same account Cohen used to payoff Stormy Daniels.

The AT&T payola holds special significance to Trump considering their still pending merger with TimeWarner (parent of CNN). Trump’s Justice Department is currently suing to block the deal. So any involvement by Trump would violate both legal ethics and his statement that he would not interfere. Giuliani’s latest verbal misfire was launched while attempting to clear Trump of the perception that he was being influenced by Cohen and the money received from AT&T. Giuliani said that:

“Whatever lobbying was done didn’t reach the president. He did drain the swamp … The president denied the merger. They didn’t get the result they wanted.”

OK then. So Giuliani is now contradicting Trump’s assertion that he wouldn’t get involved. Giuliani is explicitly saying that Trump did step in to deny the merger. In effect, Giuliani is calling the President a liar. And as if to confirm Giuliani’s assessment of Trump as less than honest, Trump himself joined in with a tweet saying:

Of course, the media has reported that repeatedly. But more to the point, Trump is agreeing with Giuliani that the opposition to the merger is proof that Trump wasn’t improperly influenced by Cohen and AT&T. Which would only be true if the premise that Trump had something to do with it holds. Therefore Trump is now calling himself a liar for saying that he had not interfered.

Saturday morning Giuliani was once again walking back something he said that hurt his client in the White House. He told CNN’s Dana Bash that Trump didn’t interfere after all. So the merger is still being contested by Trump’s Justice Department, which Trump proudly boasted about in his tweet. It’s just not because of anything that Trump said, allegedly, despite Giuliani’s previous statement and Trump’s months of bashing the merger on the campaign trail.

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

If this is confusing you, you’re not alone. There has to be a reason that AT&T would pay Cohen $600,000 after Trump’s inauguration. Cohen has no discernible skills or knowledge relating to the communications industry or mergers and acquisitions. What he had to sell was access to the President. AT&T now says that their contract with Cohen was a mistake. Obviously, since the DOJ is still suing them. But the fact that the merger is still being contested in court doesn’t exonerate Trump. It just reveals that Trump hates CNN even more than he loves money. And he doesn’t care who he has to screw over to achieve his goals.

UPDATE: Giuliani is now telling CBS News that he’s standing by his Friday comments that Trump denied the merger. So we’re back to Trump interfered. Is anyone else getting nauseous?

Trump’s Dingbat ‘Friends’ at Fox News Said the ‘Failing’ New York Times Ignored a Story they Actually Broke

Posted by on May 11, 2018 at 2:39 pm. 1 Comments :

On Friday Morning Fox News aired an episode of Donald Trump’s favorite TV show, “Fox and Friends,” that was chock full of the sycophantic silliness that has become the hallmark of the program. They featured segments about a Republican congressional candidate who is predicting a “red” wave in California; an interview with pundi-clowns Diamond & Silk; and a piece blasting Democrats for actually holding CIA Director nominee Gina Haspel accountable for her record.

Fox News Friends

In addition to those hard hitting examples of “real” journalism, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes also discussed a news story with profound foreign policy significance. It concerned the reported capture of five top members of ISIS. This military success was important enough to have warranted a tweet from Trump on Thursday. However, the point that co-host Pete Hegseth was most eager to make was that the “failing” New York Times ignored the story, presumably because it might reflect positively on Trump.

There’s just one problem with that. It was the New York Times who broke the story on Wednesday and was the first news outlet in the U.S. to report it. Consequently, that’s likely where Trump and Fox picked up the news and repackaged it for their audiences. But that didn’t stop Hegseth from flipping through the pages of today’s Times (video below), vainly looking for the story they published two days ago, and whining:

“I looked for the ‘five ISIS leaders captured’ in the failing New York Times, and in the print edition today, I have not seen it yet.”

Try looking in Wednesday’s paper, Einstein. It’s cute that Hegseth uses Trump’s infantile nickname for the Times, proving that the President and the network are joined in a State-TV operation that would make Vladimir Putin jealous. And never mind the fact that the Times is pulling in record profits. The purpose of Trump’s insults is not to convey any accurate information, but to baselessly malign journalists who dare to tell the truth about him. Just like he did last month when he tweeted:

Since then, Trump did add two more lawyers (Rudy Giuliani and Emmett Flood) and parted with both John Down and Ty Cobb. So the Times, as usual was right. But Trump never bothered to correct his misstatement. Nor has Fox News corrected the lie about their ISIS story. This is typical of the way Fox News operates and should be expected to continue. They are as much a disreputable stain on journalism as Trump is on government.

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

Tyrant-Loving NRA/Fox News Hack Warns: ‘It’s Time for Us to Protect the Crown’ (Trump)

Posted by on May 10, 2018 at 4:24 pm. 0 Comments :

Members of the Fraternity of Right-Wing Crackpots occasionally make the fatal mistake of saying something that accurately represents what they truly believe. Under ordinary circumstances they try fervently to mask their ugly opinions behind pseudo-populist dogma that appeals to low-information dweebs who like being lied to. But their arrogance and undeserved self-confidence works against their own interests and sometimes results in unauthorized eruptions of candor.

Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

An excellent example of that occurred when Dan Bongino, a Fox News contributor and NRA spokesman, delivered a motivational speech to encourage his followers to vote in November (video below). Motivational speeches from the conservative perspective are generally rants filled with fear mongering, race baiting, and/or falsehoods designed to instill irrational anger. And this one was typical in that respect.

Bongino started on a low note by making a peculiar defense of the Trump administration’s record of failure. ““I think what’s starting to happen here folks,” he began, “is I think Trump and his team are finally getting their sea legs.” Wow. And after only fifteen months in office. This is supposed to be a pep talk? Then Bongino rattles off what he thinks are Trump’s successes: North Korea, Iran, tax cuts, unemployment, eliminating the ObamaCare mandate, cutting Obama regulations, and reversing climate change reforms. All of these are issues on which the American people sharply disagree with the Trump administration. So it’s hard to honestly portray them as successes. But Bongino was just getting started:

“I think the voter out there is finally starting to get excited, and finally starting to realize that if we lose this election, make absolutely no mistake. If we lose the House, this president will in fact, be impeached. There’s no question about it. It’s time for us to protect the crown.”

“Protect the crown”? This little slip exposes the mentality of the far-right in America. They really do think that Trump is a strongman dictator who should allowed to do anything he wants without the annoying interference of Congress, the judiciary, or – god forbid – the people. They prefer to be ruled over by a paternal tyrant, rather than govern themselves the way the Founders intended.

To be fair, Bongino did catch himself and tried to walk back the “crown” remark, but only because he was afraid of what Media Matters might say. Then he shouts defiantly “You know what I mean. Get out and vote.” What he means is that their vote is necessary to prevent Trump from being impeached. Whether or not that’s true, he’s admitting that there is a legal basis for impeachment that might succeed. That’s a great position for him to take – for Democrats. Now the Democrats don’t even need to campaign on impeachment because Republicans like Bongino are reminding the nation that Trump is a criminal who won’t escape accountability by the law if the Congress changes hands.

What’s curious about this catalog of alleged “winning” is a subject that was conspicuously left out: Guns. That’s right, the NRA’s mouthpiece didn’t even mention guns once. The entire tirade was focused on a bevy of other purely political issues. This puts the lie to the claim that the NRA is gun owners advocacy group. They are a nakedly partisan political organization that is doing the bidding of their Republican masters. That is, when they aren’t lobbying for the firearms manufacturers (or Russians) who bankroll their operation. And in order to achieve the goals of the GOP (Greedy One Percent) they are willing to abandon long-held American principles of democracy and follow wannabe dictators lock-step into tyranny.

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