Day: 1/15/2017

Trump Cancels MLK Day Visit To African American Museum To Spite John Lewis

Posted by on January 15, 2017 at 5:46 pm. 5 Comments :

This Monday is the national holiday commemorating the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s a day when the whole country recognizes the contributions of one of America’s greatest civil rights leaders.

This year, for the first time, there is a Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. where people can pay their respects to his wisdom and his message of love and unity. Even President-Elect Donald Trump planned to spend some time there on the holiday. That is, until The Donald embarked on a Twitter tirade lambasting another civil rights hero for exercising his rights.

Donald Trump, Martin Luther King

Rep. John Lewis has been an advocate for equality for more than fifty years. He marched alongside King and participated in untold demonstrations for freedom for all. On more than one occasion he risked his own life for these principles.

This weekend Lewis was interviewed for a segment on Meet the Press. He told moderator Chuck Todd that he would not be attending the inauguration because he didn’t consider Trump to be a “legitimate” president:

“I don’t see this President-elect as a legitimate president. I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.”

Lewis is not alone in that opinion. There are reportedly a couple of dozen members of Congress opting out of the inaugural festivities. In response to Lewis, Trump took to Twitter (as usual) and revealed his notoriously thin-skin. In a disrespectful and racist reply, Trump maligned Lewis as “All talk, talk, talk – no action.” History proves that to be a blatant lie. Trump also called Lewis’ Atlanta district “horrible” and “crime infested.” That’s also untrue.

Subsequent to this war of words, Trump’s transition team announced that he would not be visiting the museum after all. They cited an unspecified scheduling conflict as the reason. However, it seems like more than a coincidence that this conflict should arise right after Trump goes off on Lewis. What’s more, the Museum is not just a repository of African American history, including the parts where Lewis played a significant role. It is also the result of legislation first introduced in Congress by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia.

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

Does Trump really have another sudden, more pressing engagement on MLK’s birthday? Perhaps. There is some skepticism on whether Trump had ever planned to go at all. According to BuzzFeed, Trump’s transition team asked the Smithsonian about a visit, but never actually scheduled one. But people can draw their own conclusions given the available evidence. And Trump’s own temperament should be part of that analysis. His famously juvenile tendencies suggest that a spiteful rejection of this sort would be typical Trumpian behavior.

Hysterical TV Listing Compares Trump Inauguration To A Nightmarish Twilight Zone

Posted by on January 15, 2017 at 1:07 pm. 6 Comments :

With less than a week until Donald Trump is sworn in to office, the world is still incredulous. Many wonder how a vulgar, thin-skinned, racist, pathological liar, with countless conflicts of interest, and unsavory ties to Russia, ever got to this point.

Trump TV Listing

However, a television writer in Scotland may have had the best reaction to this unsettling state of affairs. Damien Love writes the program synopses for Scotland’s Sunday Herald. In this week’s listings he described the Trump inauguration in a uniquely troubling way:

President Trump: The Inauguration

4pm, BBC One/ STV

After a long absence, The Twilight Zone returns with one of the most ambitious, expensive and controversial productions in broadcast history. Sci-fi writers have dabbled often with alternative history stories – among the most common is the “What If The Nazis Had Won The Second World War” setting – but this huge interactive virtual reality project, which will unfold on TV, in the press, and on Twitter over the next four years, sets out to build an ongoing alternative present. The story begins in a nightmarish version of 2017 in which huge sections of the US electorate have somehow been duped into voting to make Donald Trump president. It sounds far-fetched, and it is, but as it goes on it becomes more and more chillingly plausible. Today’s feature-length opener concentrates on the gaudy inauguration of President Trump, and the stirrings of protest and despair surrounding the ceremony, while pundits speculate gravely on what lies ahead. It’s a flawed piece, but a disturbing glimpse of the horrors we could stumble into, if we’re not careful.

Love’s satire perfectly captures some very real concerns. This is indeed “a nightmarish version of 2017” and “a disturbing glimpse of the horrors we could stumble into.” And the fact that other countries perceive the new American government this way forecasts a worrisome decline in respect for the nation. This snarky TV listing is, unfortunately, just a preview of what’s to come.

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

Trump TV