Month: December 2016

Trump’s Campaign Of Lies Is Portrayed As ‘Refreshing’ By His VP Mike Pence

Posted by on December 5, 2016 at 12:54 pm. 6 Comments :

A couple of weeks ago the Oxford Dictionary selected “post-truth” as its Word of the Year for 2016. They define it as the preference for emotion and personal belief over objective facts. That’s been the operative model for Donald Trump’s campaign from the very start. Now his top staff are cementing the strategy into his developing presidency.

Trump/Pence

Trump recently tweeted that he would have won the popular vote but for the “millions of people who voted illegally.” That nonsense won him his 61st Pants-On-Fire lie from PolitiFact. He never bothered to provide any evidence to support the claim. And the evidence provided by his spokespersons didn’t even address the subject.

It’s clear that Trump and his minions have no respect for the truth. One of his most prominent surrogates, Scottie Nell Hughes of CNN, came right out and admitted it. In a recent radio interview she said that “There’s no such thing, unfortunately, anymore as facts.” We are truly over the rainbow here, folks.

The latest tunnel-blind defense of Trump’s brazen dishonesty goes even further to malign the existence of facts. His Chief of Staff nominee, Reince Priebus, was asked by John Dickerson of CBS’s Face the Nation about Trump’s tweet. Priebus responded saying:

“Here’s the thing, no one really knows. You don’t know. […] I think the president-elect is someone who has pushed the envelope and caused people to think in this country. He’s not taking conventional thought on every single issue.”

Indeed. He has caused people to think – that their President-Elect is a pathological liar. What Priebus is calling “pushing the envelope” and “unconventional thought” are better known to most people as bullshitting. This parade of euphemisms continued on the Sunday TV news circuit with VP-Elect Mike Pence. George Stephanopoulos asked him if Trump had “a right to make false statements.” Pence replied that:

“It’s his right to express his opinion. […] And I think the American people find it very refreshing that they have a president who will tell them what’s on his mind.”

Once again, propagating purposeful falsehoods is framed benignly as expressing an opinion. These people don’t think there’s any difference between a politically partisan spin on a personal belief and a demonstrable fact. They are actually seeking to abolish the concept of facts in order to dispense their fabrications without consequences. It’s the same approach they take to disparaging the media. They don’t do it as responsible criticism, but as a means to eliminate any critical judgment of their deliberate distortions of reality. And to that end, Trump tweeted this defense of his obsession with Twitter:

Of course, what he really objects to are those rare occasions when the press does cover him accurately and honorably. Sad.

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

TWEET CHALLENGE: Alec Baldwin Mercilessly Trolls An SNL-Obsessed Trump

Posted by on December 4, 2016 at 1:19 pm. 2 Comments :

Donald Trump continues to demonstrate that he is temperamentally unfit to be president. As president-elect he is still exhibiting a level of thin-skinned narcissism that portends serious trouble ahead for America. Rather than focusing on the critical issues that face the nation, Trump busies himself with Broadway play reviews, media bashing, and attacks on TV comedy shows.

Alec Baldwin Trump

On Saturday night Trump once again went after Alec Baldwin for his satirical portrayal on Saturday Night Live. The opening segment mocked Trump’s Twitter addiction as so sever that it interfered with his national security briefings. Indeed, Trump has been neglecting those briefings since Election Day. Ironically, Trump jumped onto Twitter to respond with a bitter and substanceless put-down:

Trump has called SNL “unwatchable” before, but he’s still watching. Clearly he’s preoccupied with anything and everything that has to do with himself. The good news for Baldwin is that he can’t get any worse. It’s all uphill from here. Alec.

Baldwin had an appropriate reply to Trump’s tweet that turned the humor into something more serious:

Donald Trump is the first candidate in more than half a century to refuse to release his tax returns. We have learned from other sources that he didn’t pay income taxes for eighteen years. However, we still don’t have detailed information about his unsavory business ties. Those may include gross conflicts of interest and relationships with criminals or foreign operatives.

Trump has not taken up Baldwin’s challenge. And I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for him to do so. The standard way Trump handles these sort of matters is to ignore them until he can think of a distraction. He has already posted a stream of tweets defending his atrocious deal to pay the Carrier Corp a bribe to get them to keep an Indiana plant open. For that price Carrier is still sending half the jobs from that plant to Mexico. That’s what dealmaker Trump thinks is a good deal.

Hopefully, the media that Trump despises will keep some pressure on him to release his taxes. This problem doesn’t go away just because he won the Electoral College vote. In fact, it’s even more important now because he will soon be making decisions that impact his own businesses. The American people have a right to know if their president is a crook. Now where have I heard that before?

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

Watch the SNL opening here:
https://youtu.be/tI3g_laToxE

Is There An ‘Obama TV’ Network In The President’s Future?

Posted by on December 3, 2016 at 12:26 pm. 1 Comments :

The media has been appropriately focusing on Donald Trump’s transition activities and its unending string of embarrassing and dangerous flubs. In the meantime, little has been said about what President Obama plans to do after he leaves the White House. Former presidents take different paths in retirement from government service. Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter went deep into charitable work. The Bushes merely slipped into near reclusive anonymity. And they all have libraries to promote.

Obama

However, President Obama is a unique figure in American history. He is, of course, the first African-American president. But he is also a pioneer in the age of digital media. He beat Donald Trump to social media and embraced its benefits without making an ass of himself. Combine that spirit of innovation and his natural communication skills and a prospective future in media seems plausible.

That’s exactly what is being speculated about by people in the Obama sphere. Jake Horowitz of Mic is reporting that:

“President Barack Obama has been discussing a post-presidential career in digital media and is considering launching his own media company, according to multiple sources who spoke on background because they were not authorized to speak for the president.

Obama considers media to be a central focus of his next chapter, these sources say, though exactly what form that will take — a show streaming on Netflix, a web series on a comedy site or something else — remains unclear. Obama has gone so far as to discuss launching his own media company, according to one source with knowledge of the matter.”

The article is careful not to introduce too much hype. Horowitz notes that some sources are downplaying the possibility. Also, the White House says that Obama “has no plans to get into the media business after he leaves office.” Such denials are to be expected and they haven’t quelled the background noise circulating around the idea. There is even talk about a relationship with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg who met with Obama recently in Peru.

Obama may be the most media-focused president in history. He frequently comments on the state of the media and offers insightful criticism. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone he observed that:

“I’ve got the majority on my side, and a healthy majority on my side. The problem is, we’ve got all these filters. Look, if I watched Fox News, I probably wouldn’t vote for me either. Because you’ve got this screen, this funhouse mirror, through which people are receiving their information. How to break through that is a real challenge.

And that:

“I think the question I’d have when it comes to the media is, ‘How do we create a space where the truth gets eyeballs and is entertaining,’ and we can build a common conversation.”

Truth has been the big casualty in the 2016 presidential campaign. We have a president-elect who has accumulated the longest list of provable lies of any other candidate on record. And the outbreak of fake news has become a defining characteristic of social media. It’s impact on the election is difficult to quantify, but studies show that it was far more prevalent among conservatives. Also, there is no doubt that foreign operatives (i.e. Russia) have been instrumental in its distribution.

Fox News, of course, is an ever-present stain on journalism. They have made it their mission to relentlessly attack the President and anything remotely progressive. Simultaneously, they steadfastly promote right-wing politicians and policies. What’s more, they virtually created Donald Trump with the gift of billions of dollars of free airtime.

Prior to the election, when it appeared that Trump would lose, there was speculation that he would might launch a media venture. There were several good reasons why that would fail miserably. However, Obama could have better odds in a difficult marketplace. He is near the top of his popularity as he approaches the end of his term. And his wide network of politicos and celebrities could shape an appealing roster of programming.

One thing is certain: the media is in dire need of a fundamental transformation. It needs to abandon the tabloid sensationalism and conflict model of news. Respect for facts, as opposed to symbolic balance and false equivalencies, needs to be reinforced.

The press is the only profession identified by name in the Constitution. That’s because the framers knew that democracy is unworkable without an informed electorate. What we have now is a vastly disinformed electorate. If Obama were to enter the media with the intention of resolving that problem it could be a more important part of his legacy than the presidency.

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

Here’s a preview of what Obama TV might look like (courtesy of The Colbert Report):

Trump Shill Exposes His Deranged Political Philosophy: ‘There’s No Such Thing As Facts’

Posted by on December 2, 2016 at 6:20 pm. 5 Comments :

America has just endured a campaign marked by an unprecedented flood of deliberate falsehoods emanating from a presidential candidate. While politicians are notorious for stretching the truth, never before has it been taken to these extremes. If nothing else, Donald Trump gets credit for mangling the truth beyond all recognition (see the Trump Bullshitopedia)

Trump / Scottie Nell Hughes

Now we have confirmation from a prominent surrogate that this was a strategy, not merely a character flaw. Scottie Nell Hughes has appeared daily on CNN espousing the Trump doctrine and defending his racist and ignorant outbursts. Like every Trump surrogate, she exhibited no shame when sanitizing his vulgarities and whitewashing his bigotry. Many observers have wondered how she and other StormTrumpers could back him up with a straight face. Wednesday on the Diane Rehme radio show, Hughes cleared up the mystery.

The conversation turned toward Trump’s assertion that “millions of illegal votes” cost him the popular vote. Never mind that there is no evidence to support the charge and that Trump failed to provide any. This is something that he does with reckless abandon whenever he has the urge. And right on cue, Hughes defended him with the same lack of proof. But then then she went further and made a startling confession regarding his political philosophy:

“I hear half the media saying that these are lies. But on the other half, there are many people that go, ‘No, it’s true.’ And so one thing that has been interesting this entire campaign season to watch, is that people that say facts are facts—they’re not really facts. […] Everybody has a way of interpreting them to be the truth, or not truth. There’s no such thing, unfortunately, anymore as facts”

Good golly Miss Scottie. That may be one of the most brazenly demented claims since Napoleon said that “In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.” And to be fair, Trump kinda proves that Napoleon may have had a point. However, Hughes is making a blanket statement that things that are demonstrably true do not exist. That explains a lot about Trump’s record of lies throughout his campaign. If there are no facts, then he wasn’t lying when he said there were thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11; or that U.S. corporations pay the highest taxes in the world; or that climate change is a hoax created by China. All of those statements are provably false.

Hughes went on to say that “amongst a certain crowd” Trump’s claims are true, and therefore it’s as good as a fact. She says that if “people believe they have facts,” then they do. Unfortunately for her, by definition a belief is not a fact. Hughes, and the bulk of Trump’s followers, have succumbed to a cult mentality wherein the affirmations promulgated by the leader are regarded as gospel.

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

The voice of reason on the broadcast was provided by Glenn Thrush of Politico. He remarked that he had to “pick my jaw up off the floor” before responding. Then he said this:

“There are no objective facts? That is an absolutely outrageous assertion. Of course there are facts. […] I think that what is very revealing – an important thing that Scottie Nell Hughes is saying – is that there are no facts. I think that it is an intended result of this campaign and administration to think that there aren’t any facts. It’s all opinion so we’re gonna sort of manipulate the things that we care about. I believe that the job for the media and civil society now is essentially to say that there are such things as facts. So the line may be drawn here.”

It seems absurd to have to assert the existence of facts. But that’s the world that has been ushered in by Trump and his Legion of Liars. They can’t possibly persuade anyone to support them if they have to rely on reality. Consequently, they are determined to create their own reality and suck the weak into it. Whether or not the media does its job remains to be seen. But they haven’t got much of track record with which to instill confidence. Stay tuned. Or not.

Donald Trump Absolutely HATES Veterans, And His Latest Candidate For VA Chief Proves It

Posted by on December 1, 2016 at 9:00 am. 2 Comments :

If you didn’t already believe that we’re living in a bad parody of America, this news should clinch it. The awful names that have been floated for posts in the Trump administration defy reason. Most have no experience at all in the fields for which they were chosen or are being considered. Many represent 180 degree flip-flops from the promises Trump made throughout his campaign. They consist mainly of politicians, Wall Street barons, and fellow billionaires. If this is “draining the swamp,” apparently the swamp drains directly into the White House.

Trump Palin

However, the newest name to surface from the Trump Tower of Babbling is especially confounding. ABC News is reporting that Sarah Palin is under consideration for Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The only question is: WHY?

The fact that Trump could seriously consider Palin for this job is further proof that he is dangerously incompetent. It reveals conclusively that he harbors some deep hostility toward veterans. Otherwise, how could he entertain this half-term governor, failed VP candidate, reality TV host, and fired Fox News contributor? She has demonstrated no skills that would prepare her for managing the largest of all federal agencies. Particularly one that is in dire need of reform and competent management.

Like Trump, Palin has talked a lot about veterans. but has shown little aptitude for resolving problems. In her own family she has a son who served in Iraq, but has also been arrested for beating up his girlfriend and wielding an AR-15 rifle while intoxicated. And somehow she blamed that on President Obama. It didn’t take long, though, to hype herself on Facebook for the VA gig as soon as word broke.

Palin may be the perfect symbol for the Trump administration’s commitment to the needs of veterans. After all, he held a phony telethon to raise money for veterans when he wanted an excuse to ditch a GOP primary debate. Then he failed to deliver the funds he claimed to have raised. He is also known for maligning vets with PTSD as weak people who couldn’t “handle it.” And who can forget his insult to John McCain, and all POWs, for having been captured.

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

Palin’s consideration might just be a bone thrown to an early supporter (and she is not the only candidate). Or she may be being pushed by Trump advisor, and white nationalist, Stephen Bannon. In 2011 Bannon produced a crocumentary about Palin that went almost immediately to video – and the bargain bins at that. Whatever the reason for her name surfacing as a possible VA chief, it is bad news for veterans. She has no skills that suggest an ability to perform the job. She’s just another Fox News leftover who comprise a surprisingly large percentage of Trump’s candidate pool. That’s what America gets for electing a reality TV game show host to the presidency.