Wankery

Trump Flunky Propagandist’s Attempt to Take Down CNN is a Flaming Pile of Failure

Posted by on October 14, 2019 at 1:22 pm. 8 Comments :

We haven’t heard from ultra right-wing video mangler and truth distorter, James O’Keefe, for quite a while. There’s a good reason for that. He has been busy slapping together bullshit “exposés” that no one with a functioning brain has had any interest in watching. This ethically-challenged slime merchant has done a pretty darn good job of making himself a laughing stock and an irrelevant never-was.

Fox News, James O'Keefe

That said, O’Keefe just released his latest effort at maligning the media. But all he’s accomplished is to prove just how persistently stupid he is. In this episode O’Keefe purports to have planted a mole inside CNN with the intention of collecting damning video with which to slander the network. Unfortunately for the would-be news stalkers, all they collected was stale opinions of a few malcontents and some fairly routine remarks by Jeff Zucker, Chairman of CNN parent WarnerMedia News and Sports.

In a short clip that was posted on Twitter, O’Keefe discovered the shocking revelation that Zucker wanted his newsroom to “stay very focused on impeachment.” OMG! So Zucker was instructing his team to pay close attention to the biggest political story in years. And O’Keefe thinks that’s scandalous.

O’Keefe also showed video of a couple of low-level CNN employees privately expressing personal anti-Trump views. Which means that they’re aligned with the majority of the American people. They were not giving these views on the air and they had no authority whatsoever to direct news reporting. But O’Keefe wants people to believe that they represent CNN and that there aren’t any pro-Trump staffers at the network. Of course, that’s absurd. O’Keefe just edits out anyone who doesn’t advance his phony narrative.

As evidence of that, a sliver of reality managed to stick to O’Keefe’s video, contradicting his whole premise. He recorded Zucker saying that he knows that the network employs “a lot of people that are friendly with Lindsey Graham.” Exactly! They are some of the pro-Trump staffers that O’Keefe is exicising from his propaganda piece. And all Zucker said about that was that CNN reporters shouldn’t be “friendly” with Graham. Which, of course, is the ethical position for journalists to take with their subjects. So O’Keefe is actually accusing Zucker of being ethical.

The jewel of this clip appears to be a segment wherein O’Keefe’s mole clandestinely recorded Zucker making statements that O’Keefe seems think are controversial. Well, we report, you decide (video below):

Zucker: I think what’s going on in America right now is really fundamentally the result of years of fake news, conspiracy nonsense from Fox News. … The fake conspiracy nonsense that Fox has spread for years is now deeply embedded in American society. And frankly, that is beyond destructive for America, and I do not think we should be scared to say so.

The HORROR! Zucker articulated out loud a truth that every rational, objective American already knows. Fox News is a deceitful, dishonest, biased, purveyor of manufactured propaganda on behalf of Trump and the Republican Nationalist Party. And the lies that Fox disseminates promote ignorance and division. This is what O’Keefe believes constitutes hard-hitting investigative journalism.

O’Keefe pretends to be a “guerilla” journalist who is only interested in media fairness and transparency. However, his own exploits have been heavily weighted to conservative politics and conspiracy theories. He was arrested and convicted of unlawful entry into a U.S. senator’s office. He was also caught trying and failing to “seduce” a CNN reporter. He also lost a $100,000 lawsuit for libel. This is the character of the guy assaulting CNN’s reputation.

And THIS JUST IN: Trump tweeted about O’Keefe’s bogus Veritas project. Because it’s also the character of our Dumbass-in-Chief.

Naturally Trump heard about it from Tucker Carlson of Fox News who cast CNN as “State Media.” Which is weird since they’re asserting that CNN is against the current State of Trump. What’s more, Carlson made the hilariously incredulous comment that “As of Monday night, we have not independently verified the [O’Keefe] tape … But we have no reason to believe any of this is fake.” Really? No reason other than O’Keefe’s many years of being caught lying? Also, Trump’s speculation about suing (for what, exercising First Amendment rights?) follows on his asinine talk of suing Nancy Pelosi for doing her job as House Speaker.

It’s funny though, while O’Keefe, sees himself as a media crusader, he never goes after Fox News where their “reporters” feign objectivity while blatantly sucking up to Trump. Why hasn’t O’Keefe done anything about Trump’s Attorney Genuflector, William Barr, meeting privately with Fox boss Rupert Murdoch? Why hasn’t he reported that Trump himself called Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott to bitch about their coverage of him? Maybe because O’Keefe is a fraud and a failure who is destined to be ridiculed for exposing nothing but his own impotent hackery.

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

The full 19 minute video is available for anyone with the stomach to sit through it.

Ignoramus-in-Chief: Trump Thinks He Can Sue and/or Impeach Nancy Pelosi

Posted by on October 13, 2019 at 10:58 am. 4 Comments :

The march toward total and utter mental infirmity continues apace as Donald Trump nears his inevitable impeachment. The symptoms of Cornered Rat Syndrome are becoming more obvious and more severe. The deranged ranting at his cult rallies is simultaneously laughable and frightening. And all the while his sycophants in politics and the press deepen their adoration of Dear Leader as they would a king or a god.

Donald Trump

On Saturday at the so-called “Values” Voters Summit – a right-wing propaganda festival masquerading as a Christian revival meeting – Trump showed up to slather some embarrassingly overt pandering around. During the course of his tiresome and repetitive oratory, he threw in a variety of absurdities that illustrate his growing fear and desperation. For instance, he yammered something about “They are using the IRS against me.” Nevermind that his appointees are running the agency, or that he didn’t bother to explain who “they” are. He also babbled on that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “hates our country” because she’s engaging in the constitutional process of investigating his flagrantly impeachable crimes.

However, with a doubt Trump’s hysteria reached fever pitch when he unleashed a load of throbbing gibberish aimed at members of Congress who are doing their jobs (video below). And it’s important to note that they are acting on behalf of the American people who broadly favor Trump’s impeachment and removal from office according every recent poll, including one by Fox News. Trump’s tantrum was the perfect example of just how ignorant and incoherent he is in these late stages of his psychoses. Referring to his perceived enemies on the Hill, Trump impotently bellowed that…

“We’re going to take a look at it. We’re going after these people. These are bad, bad people. I actually told my lawyers, I said sue them anyway. He’s got immunity. But they can’t sue them for that. I said sue them anyway. Even if we lose, the American public will understand. And sue Nancy Pelosi. Or maybe we should just impeach them. Because they’re lying and what they’re doing is a terrible thing for our country.”

If lying is the criteria that Trump wants to use, than there are more than 12,000 articles of impeachment waiting for Trump. More worrisome for Trump though, is that the lawyers he said he spoke with are goofballs like Rudy Giuliani and William Barr. So maybe they failed to grasp the fact that members of Congress cannot be sued for their official duties or remarks made in congressional proceedings. That’s actually spelled out in the Constitution’s “speech and debate clause” (Article I, Section 6). Furthermore, Trump’s threat to “sue them anyway” could make him subject to charges of judicial harassment, the willful exploitation of the legal system with malicious intent.

Additionally, Trump’s interest in impeaching Pelosi and Schiff is just more fantastical ramblings from an ill-informed whiner with delusions of tyrannical powers. There is no facility in the Constitution for impeaching members of Congress. This is just another example of Trump’s mush-headed hostility carrying him off into a bizarro world where he is blissfully omnipotent. And apparently, his goofballs (aka lawyers) don’t have either the intellect or the courage to tell him he’s nuts.

This combination of abject stupidity and absence of rational advice is going to insure that things will continue to devolve as Trump’s fortunes, and mental capacity, whither into ash. So the question facing America now is whether to buy more popcorn or Prozac. Or both to be on the safe side.

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

Attorney Genuflect Barr Inadvertently Tags Trump World as ‘Organized Destruction’

Posted by on October 12, 2019 at 1:42 pm. 4 Comments :

The administration of Donald Trump has suffered unprecedented chaos and personnel turnover. Trump is on his third Chief of Staff. He is about to name his fourth Homeland Security Secretary. His current Communications Director is the fifth person to hold that jobs. He’s had at least 55 high-profile departures, and that isn’t counting dozens more at mid-levels.

William Barr, Donald Trump

However, his second Attorney General, William Barr, appears to be fulfilling the criteria that Trump values most in his underlings: 100% pure, unadulterated, and blind loyalty. Barr has been acting as Trump’s de facto personal lawyer, despite that being wholly improper and unethical for the nation’s top law enforcement official. He routinely takes Trump’;s side on controversial legal issues without regard for legal precedent or even reasoning. He has even inserted himself into the congressional impeachment inquiry in ways that make him subject to potential impeachment himself.

On Friday Barr gave a speech at Notre Dame University where he took some positions that are far afield from his duties as Attorney General (video below). In fact, he sounded more like one of Trump’s evangelical political boosters than a lawyer representing the American people. His remarks condemned the “ascendancy” of “secularism” as the cause of every social problem from mental illness, to violence, to drug abuse. And his sermonizing went even further to blast through the wall separating church and state. For instance, he said that…

“Among the militant secularists are many so-called progressives. But where is the progress? We are told we’re living in a post-Christian era. But what has replaced the Judeo-Christian moral system? What is it that fills the spiritual void in the heart of the individual person? And what is the system of values that can sustain human social life? The fact is that no secular creed has emerged capable of performing the role of religion.

Thank you Pastor Barr. In that one brief paragraph Barr has maligned progressives as anti-religion militants who advocate for the abandonment of social values. His remedy, of course, is more religion, rather than respect for the Constitution and the law. But he wasn’t finished. He further stated that…

“This is not decay. This is organized destruction. Secularists and their allies have marshaled all the forces of mass communication, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and academia in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values.”

Whoever Barr is calling “Secularists”, he is claiming that they have taken total control over all of the media and educational institutions in the country. Of course, if that were true there would never have been a Trump presidency. What Barr is really saying, without any awareness of it, is actually a condemnation of his boss. No one has been more assaultive of religion and traditional values than Trump. He’s a thrice-married, adulterous, prideful, profane, greedy, liar.

Donald Trump spent much of his life consumed by popular culture. He worked in mass communications and entertainment for fourteen years as the host of a reality TV game show. He also had a regular slot on Fox News for a segment of Fox and Friends called Mornings with Trump. And he even operated his own Trump University, although that ended when he was found to have committed fraud and ordered to pay $25 million in restitution and penalties to his students/victims.

So Barr is inadvertently telling the truth about the immorality of Trump. Everything in his speech applies more to the President than the progressive patriots he’s attacking, including the violence, drug abuse, militance, and spiritual vacancy. But more importantly, Barr’s transformation into Trump’s preacher is just another frightening diversion from the legitimate role of government by the Trump administration. It’s further evidence that Trump is steering the nation toward a fascist-style theocracy that would crush our constitutional democracy. And it makes impeaching Trump a ever more urgent imperative for the American people.

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

Is This the Most Disgusting, Embarrassing, Dishonest Trump Performance EVER?

Posted by on October 11, 2019 at 11:00 am. 6 Comments :

Okay, okay. Trying to single out the most disgusting performance by Donald Trump is a job too big for any mortal. There’s just too much material that covers too much nauseating ground. It ranges from serious matters like the caging (and deaths) of children, to his loathsome mockery of the disabled, to embarrassing scenes of ignorance like his belief that stealth fighters are actually invisible.

Donald Trump Zombie

That said, Trump held another of his Cult Revival Meetings on Thursday in Minneapolis where he ventured into territory that no sane person would dare to go. He attacked with lies the children of his political foes. He gushed over his Trump-fluffing Fox News sycophants. He devolved into infantile profanity saying that Joe Biden was only a good Vice-President because he “kissed Obama’s ass.” And the rest of the hour-plus public tantrum was replete with lies and hate. But nothing could have been as vomit-inducing as Trump acting out an entirely fake orgasm scene between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page:

It’s still not remotely comprehensible that this deviant creature is currently the “president” of our great nation. He is constantly demeaning the office of the presidency with displays of immaturity, ignorance, and conceit. And that’s the good news. Because he is simultaneously creating conditions for a more hostile, dangerous, bankrupt, and unlivably filthy world.

One of the more repulsive side issues stemming from the video above is that Trump is doing something that he has been whining about for weeks. During a House Intelligence Committee hearing, Chairman Adam Schiff delivered an opening statement that included a brief paraphrasing of Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Ever since, Trump has berated Schiff with completely false allegations that he invented that dialog and presented it as if Trump had said it himself. That’s an outright lie. Schiff prefaced those remarks by saying clearly that Trump’s phone call “reads like a classic organized crime shakedown. Shorn of its rambling character, and in not so many words, this is the essence of what the President communicates.”

Nevertheless, Trump’s hysteria reached fever pitch as he repeatedly demanded that Schiff resign or be impeached (which isn’t a thing in Congress) for the imaginary offense that exists only in Trump’s diseased brain. But in the video above Trump was actually doing what he falsely charged Schiff with. He invented a dialog between Strzok and Page and presented it to his glassy-eyed disciples as if it were real. And what makes this dishonesty and hypocrisy even worse is that in the same speech he repeated his false charge against Schiff, saying that “He had to make up a fake conversation and deliver it to the United States Congress and the American people. It was a total fraud.”

The closer Congress gets to impeaching Trump, the more severe his symptoms of Hysterical Impeachment Syndrome are getting. His lies are further stretching the boundaries of reality. He’s lashing out at Fox News (aka State TV). And his cult worshiping followers are bowing down to him as if to a king or a god. And the frightening part is that it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

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

Republicans See Trump as a King (or God) While He Behaves Like a Sniveling Coward

Posted by on October 9, 2019 at 1:05 pm. 6 Comments :

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to understand why those who support Donald Trump continue to do so, despite the mountains of evidence against him. The Mueller report documented that Trump had welcomed and encouraged assistance from Russia, and then sought to obstruct justice by covering it up. And the Ukraine affair, wherein he tried to extort a foreign government for his political benefit, is proof that he has no qualms about doing it again.

Donald Trump Messiah

More facts are being revealed every day, and the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry is proceeding surprisingly rapidly. This has resulted in Trump secluding himself in his bunker and refusing to cooperate in any way with the inquiry. For someone who fiercely insists that he has done nothing wrong, Trump is trying awfully hard to prevent the evidence he asserts would exonerate him from ever coming out.

In the meantime, the StormTrumpers in Congress and the press are digging in deeper than ever. They are no longer simply offering words of support, they are canonizing Trump as some sort of superhuman sent from above to save mankind. It’s a bizarre twist in what would ordinarily be a political debate, but is turning into a test of devotion to the Almighty.

On Tuesday a Fox News legal analyst, Gregg Jarrett. argued that Trump was innocent of any wrongdoing because “abuse of power” wasn’t prohibited by the Constitution. Not only is that false, it’s a remarkably stupid argument in favor of tyranny. On Wednesday a couple of Trump’s evangelical leaders weighed in with equally grotesque positions on Trump’s behalf. The Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed said that American evangelicals “have a moral obligation to enthusiastically back” the president. Really? A moral obligation to back a thrice-married, profane, lying, adulterer, who conspires with America’s enemies? Then Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White said that “To say no to President Trump would be saying no to God.” So Trump, her eyes, is on a par with the King of Kings?

And speaking of Kings, Joseph DiGenova, a lawyer and supporter of Trump, told Laura Ingraham of Fox News that the efforts to impeach Trump were “regicide” (killing a king). So now they are admitting that they regard Trump as a king rather than a president who is subject to the tenets of democracy and to the law.

These aberrant views are disturbing, to say the very least. And it isn’t coincidental that they are becoming more extreme as Trump’s situation becomes more dire. He is sinking like a stone into into an abyss of legal trauma that is likely to portend the end of his presidency and perhaps his freedom. And what is becoming abundantly clear is that – he knows it.

On Wednesday morning Trump unloaded a tweetstorm of thirty-three (so far) tweets or retweets. And nearly half of them were were about his precarious position with regard to impeachment. He went after his favorite new nemesis, Rep. Adam Schiff. He repeatedly blasted the whistleblower for having alleged ties to Democrats. Although why that is relevant is puzzling since the “transcript” of Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky – and Trump himself – corroborated the assertions in the whistleblower’s complaint.

Trump also ranted about impeaching Schiff (which can’t be done), having a rematch with Hillary Clinton (which won’t be done), and making excuses for having betrayed our Kurdish allies in Syria (which is being done). But his most ridiculous tweet was one that made this flagrantly untrue claim:

There isn’t a single poll that shows Trump with only 25 percent favoring impeachment. In fact, every recent poll has that number between 49 and 58 percent, with support for impeachment having huge gains in the past couple of weeks. The only possible explanation for Trump’s wildly unreal number is that a Washington Post poll had 25 percent of just Republicans favoring impeachment, and Trump is trying to spin that as the entire electorate. It’s not. But it’s a damn high number for just Trump’s own party. By the way, this would not be the first time that Trump tried to pass off a GOP-only number as more broadly representing all voters. But is he lying or is he just incapable of comprehending simple data?

The frantic pace of Trump’s tweeting tells the story of his declining mental state. He is plainly freaking out over what he must know is his doomed fate. And it is this cowardly, terror-stricken, impotent, weakling that Republicans and evangelicals are bowing down to as their savior. So Trump has managed to not only ruin the Republican Party, he is even turning the religious right into a pathetic, idol worshiping, cadre of glassy-eyed disciples who can’t even pretend to adhere to the principles of their alleged faith.

The problem with this is that Trump likely believes his own hype. and there is a risk that he will seek to lead a perverse revolt with his deranged followers of 2nd Amendment wackos, conservative conspiracy theorists, and holy warriors. Of course, they won’t get far, but the damage they are capable of would still be unfortunate, even though minor. Let’s hope they’re not stupid enough to try it.

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

Holy Kowtow: Trump-Fluffers on Fox News Come Out in Favor of ‘Abuse of Power’

Posted by on October 8, 2019 at 12:26 pm. 8 Comments :

As more evidence of Donald Trump’s betrayal of American principles and laws is revealed, he is sinking further into an abyss of fear, paranoia, and desperation. His language is becoming more maniacal and his attacks are losing any semblance of sanity. It’s a painful spectacle to watch for patriotic citizens.

Fox News, Donald Trump

Likewise, Trump’s defenders at State TV (aka Fox News) are similarly abandoning logic and reason, and are foregoing any effort to employ facts in their pursuit of excusing Trump’s rancid dishonesty and criminality. Their arguments have devolved into denying objective reality – including Trump’s own statements – or insisting that his public pronouncements were merely jokes (which would be appalling by itself). They swing wildly from “Trump didn’t do that” to “Okay, he did it, but everybody does it” to “So what, it isn’t illegal” to frantic howls of “Witch Hunt!”

Now the Fox News defensive line has taken up a brand new and wholly repulsive approach to Trump’s misdeeds. Fox and Friends legal and political analyst, Gregg Jarrett, offered his predictably sycophantic exaltation of Trump. The segment sought to ignore Trump’s blatantly unlawful attempts to extort Ukraine’s President Zelensky into digging up dirt on Joe Biden. And Jarrett’s glassy-eyed apologia was ludicrous on its face (video below).

“The fact of the matter is the President’s conversation was not a crime, it’s not an impeachable offense. In the beginning Democrats and the media said ‘Oh, the conversation is a crime.’ Until the Department of Justice Criminal Division said ‘We looked at the transcript. It’s not a crime. It’s not a campaign violation.'”

Of course it is a crime to seek anything of value from a foreign government to benefit a U.S. political campaign. And it’s even worse when the pressure applied is the withholding of military aid that was allocated by Congress. What’s more, Jarrett’s suggestion that the decision of Trump’s lackey, Attorney General William Barr, has any legal merit is preposterous. But he wasn’t finished:

“So now Democrats have embraced this amorphous concept known as ‘abuse of power’ which is nowhere in the Constitution. And the trouble with that is that it’s this sort of shifting sands of subjective interpretation that can be abused for political reasons. Exactly what the framers did not want.”

Jarrett is actually arguing that abuse of power is not prohibited by the Constitution and that the Founders never intended for it be grounds for impeachment. That goes against every principle that America was founded upon. The impeachment language in the Constitution was specifically included as a remedy for abuse of power. Alexander Hamilton explicitly regarded it as a guard against “the abuse or violation of some public trust.” It is exactly what the Framers DID want.

The fact that the phrase “abuse of power” isn’t in the Constitution is irrelevant and, really, silly. A lot of things are not in the Constitution, including abortion, separation of church and state, executive orders, right to privacy, homosexuality, freedom of expression, and lots more. But there is abundant case law that defines constitutional rights that weren’t in the original document. That is, in fact, what the Founders intended. It’s why the Constitution was so short and had provisions for amendments.

For Jarrett to bemoan the “shifting sands of subjective interpretation” is ironic since that’s precisely what he’s engaging in. Except his interpretation is at odds with the Framers – and reality. He’s literally arguing that abuse of power – which was the impetus for the revolution against the British monarchy – should be permitted. It’s an advocacy of tyranny. And he wants to bestow that limitless authority unto his Dear Leader Trump. Which is especially troubling since Trump is a wannabe dictator who is already acting as if he has it.

Addendum: On Tuesday, Trump shill Joe DiGenova appeared on Laura Ingraham’s show and called the whistleblower a “suicide bomber.” He also referred to the impeachment as “regicide” (killing a king). Which, of course, means he thinks that Trump is a king. Which, of course, means that he is an un-American idiot.

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

UNBELIEVABLE: Is Trump Kidding About Syria Like He Was About China and Biden?

Posted by on October 7, 2019 at 1:52 pm. 4 Comments :

If there is one thing that Donald Trump has demonstrated that he excels at, it’s betraying his friends, associates, and even his family, when it suits his purpose. Anyone doing business with him, personal or otherwise, knows that he is likely to turn on them with bitter aggression should they fail to show sufficient adoration and unqualified loyalty. In short, he simply cannot be trusted.

Donald Trump

On Monday Trump provided a horrifying example of his shameless disloyalty. He announced that he will be abandoning America’s Kurdish allies in Syria after they bravely sacrificed their lives on our behalf in the war against ISIS. It’s a decision so impulsive and reckless that it immediately drew rebukes from some of Trump’s staunchest supporters, including Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, Mike Huckabee, Liz Cheney, even Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. Even Fox News was torn apart (video below) as Brian Kilmeade argued with his Fox and Friends co-hosts about Trump’s abhorrent betrayal.

Trump’s stated reasoning for throwing our friends under the tank mainly rests on wanting to end a protracted fight on foreign land and handing off that responsibility to Turkey and Europe. It’s a shockingly shallow analysis that completely ignores the security and national interests of the United States. But Trump still foolishly regards himself as a “stable genius” and only heeds his own “great and unmatched wisdom.”

However, Trump’s actual reasons are more likely to involve issues he hasn’t mentioned. For one, there is his personal financial affairs in Turkey. And then there is his affection for and allegiance to authoritarian dictators like Erdogan. And of course he may just be attempting to divert attention from the breaking news related to his impending impeachment. That includes the revelation that there are now multiple new whistleblowers lining up to tell the truth about him. And there was a court ruling that requires him to produce eight years of his tax returns.

Another major problem with Trump’s announcement on abandoning the Kurds is that there is very little reason to believe him. He is a notoriously pathological liar (more than 12,000 lies documented) who often contradicts himself in the space of a single sentence. What’s more, even his supporters are lately excusing his most ridiculous comments as “jokes.” That was the case when he appeared before a media scrum and asked Ukraine and China to investigate Joe Biden. That is literally the crime that is fueling Congress’ impeachment inquiry.

So it didn’t take long for suck-ups like Rubio, Rep. Jim jordan, Sen. Ron Johnson, and a frantic flurry of Fox Newsers to insist that it was just a joke. But if that was just a joke, despite being said without a hint of a smile and reiterating similar prior statements, then which of Trump’s comments are we supposed to take seriously? It seems that every time he says something that is offensive, dangerous, contrary to U.S. policy, or just objectively stupid, he or his defenders say he was only kidding. Here are a few examples:

Consequently, the American people have no reason to believe Trump when he says he will withdraw from Syria. But even worse, Syria, Turkey, the Kurds, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Europe likewise have no reason to believe him. After all, he may just be kidding. His word is about as trustworthy as a snake oil salesman or a Trump press secretary (but I repeat myself). And while it is troubling that Trump makes absurd and dangerous decisions like this one about Syria, it is equally troubling that he can’t be believed about this or anything else.

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

And You Thought Trump Was Nuts? Wait Til You See Giuliani on Fox News!

Posted by on October 6, 2019 at 2:23 pm. 1 Comments :

Watching Donald Trump descend into a steaming abyss of madness is horrifying for Americans who love their country. Although most can’t deny feeling at least a smidgen of satisfaction and relief that a dangerous sociopath is suffering the well deserved consequences of his betrayal. Trump is lost in a toxic fog of rancid anger and fear that threatens to turn every artery in his jellified skull into tiny anueristic IED’s

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump

Lately Trump’s desperation and paranoia has driven him to furious and false attacks on his perceived enemies including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Intelligence Committee chairman, Adam Schiff. He has made incoherent defenses of his obviously illegal entreaties to Ukraine and China. And his own behavior and words are turning out to be the best justifications for his impeachment.

However, as stunningly bizarre as all of his antics have been for the past few weeks, he has some stiff competition in the race for Psycho of the Year. His own personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is challenging the Lunatic-in-Chief with some memorable routines in the Fox News Cirque du So Lame. On Friday Giuliani told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum that his mission is “to disrupt the world.” And on Sunday Giuliani was interviewed by Fox’s MediaBuzz host, Howard Kurtz. To say it was a hot mess would be far too mild. Giuliani was a virtual advertisement for cocaine-infused Red Bull. See for yourself:

WTF is he talking about? After telling Kurtz, a Trump-friendly Foxie, that he should be ashamed of himself, Giuliani took out what he said was “thirty years of articles,” which far pre-date Joe Biden’s term as Vice-President. What this has to do with the four year old Ukraine affair is anyone’s guess. But Giuliani was so hyped up that Kurtz couldn’t stop him to go to commercial.

A second clip in that thread shows Giuliani shushing Kurtz and calling him “pathetic” as the host tries to ask him about the “transcript” of Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky and Trump’s own confession to extortion on national TV. Naturally, those questions weren’t answered. And while Giuliani was whining about being interrupted (which he wasn’t), the chyron below him read “Ukrainian says no evidence of Biden Wrongdoing.” That’s a Fox chyron!

A third video clip shows Giuliani responding to Biden’s suggestion that news programs stop booking him due to his constant and flagrant lying. So in the midst of his continued whining about imaginary interruptions, Giuliani raises a brand new issue saying that “We haven’t moved to Romania yet. Wait til we get to Romania.” We’re waiting, Rudy. Then he asserts that “they” are laughing at us. If by “us” he means himself, I’ll have to agree. And once again, Kurtz can’t get him to shut up long enough to end the segment.

With impeachment becoming an inevitability, Trump couldn’t be in more trouble. Well, unless he were saddled with a nutcase like Giuliani as his attorney. Giuliani has been reduced to spewing third-rate conspiracy theories and wailing like a insolent child who was denied a fourth cupcake. He makes no sense whatsoever as he connects dots that only he can see. And this is the legal counsel that Trump is relying on to get him through this debacle. No wonder he’s flipping out.

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

Desperation Time: Trump Aims Tweet Tsunami At One of His Biggest Fox News Fluffers

Posted by on September 29, 2019 at 10:59 am. 3 Comments :

The walls are closing in around Donald Trump and he knows it. With the House of Representatives conducting an official impeachment inquiry, the President is exhibiting clear signs of a psychotic meltdown, the likes of which have never been seen in the Oval Office. He’s suffering from a severe case of Hysterical Impeachment Syndrome and taking on the tactics of the Nazis he admires.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Fake

On Sunday morning this display of desperation reached a boiling point as Trump unleashed a massive tweetstorm against one of his most reliable defenders. Ed Henry of Fox News has become a bona fide Trump-fluffer in his role as a Fox & Friends co-host. But that is apparently not enough to inoculate him from the gnawing animus of a cornered presidential rat. Following a segment of the Trump & Friends program, Henry was mobbed by angry StormTrumpers who were orgasming over what they thought was a takedown by Fox’s Trump attack dog, Mark Levin (video below).

In fact, Levin just spent a couple of minutes screaming at viewers about nonsense that never addressed the substance of Trump’s tribulations. He began by badgering Henry about why he hasn’t asked for the identity of the whistleblower. Of course the answer to that is obvious to those who aren’t infected by Levin’s cult worship of Trump. The whistleblower statute was designed to protect people from retribution and, in this case, violence and potential charges that Trump himself implied could lead to execution.

Levin bellowed that he wants to “know all about the whistleblower … What kind of dogs they’ve had, how many marriages they’ve had, if they had a DUI” Notice that he doesn’t want to know if the whistleblower is telling the truth or has corroborating evidence. He is only interested in irrelevant personal issues that are only useful for smear campaigns. Levin continued by mocking the need for the whistleblower’s anonymity merely because “his life might be in danger.”

Levin also ranted about why the whistleblower wasn’t being questioned by congress. For the record, the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff (who’s resignation Trump has impotently demanded), has already announced that the whistleblower will be interviewed by the Committee. But Levin plowed forward making the absurd assertion that nobody has identified any laws that were broken by Trump’s extortion of the President of Ukraine. For starters, there’s extortion. And there’s campaign finance violations, witness intimidation, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy.

Trump was so aroused by the reactions to Levin’s high-volume tirade that he retweeted twenty (20!) comments by random Twitteristas praising him. They included such brilliant and dignified retorts as “Ed Henry just got his ASS handed to him by Mark Levin,” and “Levin just tore Ed Henry to shreds,” and “Levin sure put that lying shit head Ed Henry in his place,” and “Levin ripped Ed Henry a new one.” Who can argue with logic like that?

So now Ed Henry is among the Fox News untouchables who Trump’s cult followers are ordered to despise. He joins Shepard Smith and Chris Wallace. But what’s peculiar about this is that Henry is a devoted Trump-fluffer himself. Among his glassy-eyed defenses of Dear Leader, Henry has lied about seeing Trump’s non-existent border wall. He falsely claimed that “Hollywood has been threatening to blacklist” Trump supporters.
He celebrated a court ruling against Obamacare that could cause millions to suffer saying that it was “a little gift ahead of Christmas.”

When Trump has reached the point that he is attacking even his most faithful media shills on his favorite Fox News program, you know that he’s gone over the edge. It’s a state of fearful derangement that is only going to get worse as time goes by. And Trump isn’t doing himself any favors by maligning the Fox News protectorate that he needs to continue gaslighting his base. So buckle up, America. Trump is determined to make this a bumpy ride to impeachment.

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

Hysterical Impeachment Syndrome: Trump Issues Impotent Demands that Adam Schiff Resign

Posted by on September 27, 2019 at 1:11 pm. 4 Comments :

Donald Trump is previewing his regularly scheduled Weekend Tweetstorm with a special Friday edition. And the lengths he goes to to exalt himself and malign his critics is reaching new levels of hysteria and panic. If Trump thinks this sort of behavior is consistent with that of an innocent man, he is suffering from a deeper case of dementia than anyone previously imagined.

Donald Trump

Trump’s morning rant follows Thursday’s late night flurry of Fox News videos, many of which proposed a bizarre theory that impeaching Trump would hurt Democrats more. It’s clear from their nasty reactions, however, that they don’t really believe that. And Trump’s own response is escalating in animosity – and incoherence – by the minute. For example:

So much derp in one “liddle” tweet. First of all, Trump is outraged that CNN omitted an apostrophe from his infantile prefix to Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s name. So outraged that he forgot the difference between an apostrophe and a hyphen. He also forgot how to spell the word “describing.” And he thinks that this punctuation atrocity somehow changes his meaning in a “dishonest” way.

Trump then moves on to bash the New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker (and for some reason his wife) for writing a story about Trump’s phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that clearly included an extortion threat. Trump has been denying the reality of that even after the incriminating memo summarizing the call was released. But the worst part of this tweet was Trump’s assertion that Baker “should not even be allowed to write about me.”

Trump continues to have the delusional impression that he’s a tyrannical monarch who gets to decide who and what is permitted in the free press that he repeatedly calls, in Stalin’s words, “the enemy of the people.” That burning hatred for the Constitution was further reflected in Trump’s next tweets that continued his attack on Schiff:

Apparently Trump doesn’t grasp the concept of paraphrasing with emphasis to make a point. That’s what Schiff was doing. He even prefaced his remarks (video below) by saying that Trump’s phone call “reads like a classic organized crime shakedown. Shorn of its rambling character, and in not so many words, this is the essence of what the President communicates.” So contrary to Trump’s brazen lie, Schiff was not “supposedly reading the exact transcribed version of the call,”

What’s more, nobody has to make Trump sound horrible or look guilty. Trump does an excellent job of that without assistance. Which makes his demand that Schiff resign all the more pathetic and shimmering with the impotence of a wannabe dictator who doesn’t know that he lacks the authority he imagines he has. But Trump wasn’t through with Schiff.

It’s ironic that Trump would call Schiff “sick” in a tweet where he once again makes an absurd demand that Schiff “must resign and be investigated.” Notice the backwards order that Trump puts those in: resign, then be investigated. Trump followed that up with an all-caps tweet that his conversation with Zelensky was “perfect.” If that was perfect, what kind of horror would mediocre be? (Note: Why does he keep saying “perfect,” a word that is generally reserved for things like hanging pictures or seasoning chicken dinner?) Trump also claimed that Democrats are “now to be known as the DO NOTHING PARTY!” Nevermind that they have passed more than 200 bills that Mitch McConnell is blocking in the Senate.

Finally (well, for now), Trump took a wild swing at the whistleblower, who he said without explanation “isn’t a Whistleblower at all.” That contradicts his own Acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, who told Congress under oath that the whistleblower and his account of the events, was credible and made in good faith. Trump, nevertheless, whined that the complaint was inaccurate and speculated baselessly that it was the work of either a leaker, a spy, or a partisan operative.

At this point Trump is just sending conspiratorial trial balloons into the polluted air that he’s making worse with the incessant and toxic exhaust from his own mouth. And the frequency and fury of his Twitter tirades is only exacerbating the public perception of his guilt. A poll on Thursday showed a thirteen point increase in Americans who think Trump should be impeached. And that’s even before many of these latest revelations had time to percolate through the mediasphere.

Long story short: Trump is revealing a measure of fear that is weighing heavily on him. But that may be the most sane response he’s had to any of this controversy to date. Fear would be precisely the right emotion under these circumstances. So if he’s scared it’s because he has good reason to be.

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