Month: November 2017

Trump-Fluffing: What Fox News is Thankful for This Holiday Season

Posted by on November 24, 2017 at 1:40 pm. NO Comments :

Many Americans are spending this weekend sharing their gratitude and hopes for the future around the family table. It’s a tradition that encourages a positive expression of unity and appreciation for the good fortune and fellowship they’ve enjoyed over the past year.

Fox News Thanksgiving

But leave it to Fox News to cast a bleak shroud over these festivities. In a segment they labeled as “Political Thankfulness This Holiday Season” (video below), the wingnutty network set off on a negative course to demean their ideological foes and spread ludicrous analyses of recent electoral events.

The segment began with Fox News anchor Ed Henry exclaiming that there is “So much to be thankful for this time of year, even when it comes to politics, believe it or not.” Then, as an example, Henry cites an op-ed by conservative Marc Thiessen stating the he’s “grateful that Hillary Clinton is not president.” It’s the only example of thankfulness he mentions. With “so much to be thankful for,” he can only come up with something to be thankful against. And of course, it’s a childish swipe at a grandmother in Chappaqua.

From there the segment devolved into an absurd political dialog that featured Julie Kelly from the ultra-rightist National Review. Her remarks demonstrated just how far from reality Republicans have ventured. Referring to the recent election in Virginia where Democrats trounced the GOP, Kelly deliriously mused that:

“I do think that the Virginia elections were a good sign for Republicans in Congress. I mean Donald Trump is far more popular with the Republican base than the Republican Congress is.”

Losing a historic race that put a Democrat in the governor’s office and may have flipped the legislature to Democrats for the first time in years is “a good sign” for Republicans? And if that isn’t enough evidence of a severe cognitive malfunction, Kelly’s reasoning focuses on Trump’s popularity? Doesn’t she know that he has the worst approval ratings of any president in modern times? Yet she regards that pathetic data as positive because her party’s approval in Congress is even worse? Really? At this rate, she’s gonna be downright ecstatic when the GOP loses control of the House and the Senate next year.

Kelly then added that she doesn’t think the losses in Virginia were a wake up call directed at Donald Trump. Never mind exit polls that explicitly cited Trump as a primary reason for their anti-GOP votes. And following that ludicrous election analysis, host Henry agreed saying:

“Julie, you’re absolutely right. The voters are watching. This is a golden opportunity for the Republican Party. We’ll see if they blow it or not.”

Fair and balanced? Henry, who used to be Fox’s White House correspondent, concurs with the utter nonsense Kelly just disgorged. And he revels in what a fantastic advantage it is for Republicans, so long as they embrace it. Happy times all around at Fox News.

There was, however, something significant left out of this Thanksgiving commemoration. And it’s something that a majority of Americans actually are thankful for. It’s the progress being made by special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into the corruption and treason of Donald Trump and his criminal accomplices in Washington and Moscow. No doubt Fox News will cover any report about Trump’s impeachment as a golden opportunity for the GOP. Either that or they’ll just ignore it, call it fake news, and blame it all on Hillary.

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

On This Thanksgiving Day Donald Trump Insults the Troops and Graciously Thanks – Himself

Posted by on November 23, 2017 at 11:11 am. 3 Comments :

Today most Americans are gathering in their homes and preparing to feast on traditional Thanksgiving fare while avoiding irritating arguments with crazy uncles who watch too much Fox News. It’s a day that is often commemorated by presidents and other politicians with heartfelt remarks to the nation expressing what we all have to be thankful for. Previous Commanders-in-Chief (Bush, Obama, etc) actually traveled to bases in war zones to personally thank soldiers for their sacrifice. And when they didn’t do that they volunteered at aid centers for the homeless. They at least made an effort to display some compassion and empathy for those of us undergoing sacrifice or hardship.

Donald Trump

And then there is Donald Trump. Too preoccupied with his own comforts, he spent the holiday in the opulence of his luxurious Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Palm Beach, Florida. He has now spent 100 days of his 307 days since inauguration in one of his branded properties. That’s a third of his presidency away from the White House where taxpayers foot the bill for his selfishness and aversion to work. And he couldn’t be bothered to express genuine thoughts of the day, so he read a prepared speech to soldiers stationed in Afghanistan.

Trump’s speech (video below) was a typically embarrassing paean to himself. Disguised as an expression of gratitude for the troops, he made certain that all of the real praise was for his own imaginary greatness. For example (emphasis added):

“Everybody’s talking about the progress you’ve made in the last few months since I opened it up. We opened it up, we said go ahead, we’re going to fight to win. We’re not fighting anymore to just walk around, we’re fighting to win.”

“We’re being talked about as an armed forces. We’re really winning. We know how to win. But we have to let you win. They weren’t letting you win before. They were letting you play even. We’re letting you win.“

“The fight against ISIS, it’s coming our way. Coming our way. Big, big difference. A lot of things have happened. They say we’ve made more progress against ISIS than they did in years of the previous administration. That’s because I’m letting you do your job.“

In addition to the obvious and repugnant exaltation of himself, Trump also managed to insult everyone in the military prior to his election who were fighting and dying and, by the way, winning. He truly believes that the only reason there has been any success in this endeavor is because of him. Never mind that he hasn’t done a damn thing to change the mission or the rules of engagement in the war theater.

And if that’s not enough, Trump exploits and trivializes this video visit with the troops to make blatantly political remarks that misrepresent his term in office. He delivers his robotically repeated boasts about the stock market and unemployment rates that he’s had absolutely nothing to do with. Then he makes a pitch for his tax reform bill that gives corporations and the wealthy huge tax cuts and raises taxes on everyone else. And then he informs the troops that that is what they are fighting for.

How inspiring. Our soldiers must be so proud to know that they are defending the profits of wealthy robber barons whose sons and daughters will never see a battlefield or make such sacrifices. And as they continue to put their lives on the line, Trump will continue to take credit for their achievements and insult them and their peers who served under previous administrations. All of that must make this the happiest Thanksgiving ever – for Donald Trump.

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

POLL: More Republicans Are Totally Cool With Candidates Who Are Sexual Predators

Posted by on November 22, 2017 at 2:05 pm. 1 Comments :

The sudden rash of revelations about men who harass or abuse women is a positive step forward for equality and decency. It doesn’t matter which side of the political aisle the perpetrator is on. Anyone who uses their position or power to commit sexual assaults needs to be called out and suffer appropriate consequences.

Donald Trump

At least that’s the view of Democrats in a new poll by Quinnipiac. When asked whether they would still consider voting for a candidate who has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, a plurality of Republican respondents (43%) said they would. In other words, they don’t think that it’s a disqualifying factor for a public servant to have committed sexual assaults.

The same survey broke out results for Democrats who have a completely different perspective. Eighty-one percent said that they would not consider voting for a candidate with such a dirty background. So this should put to rest the fallacy that there is no difference between the political parties. The difference, at least so far as this question is concerned, is that one side isn’t bothered by perverts, and the other side is. Which side are you on?

Donald Trump took sides this week when he told reporters that he still backs the pedophile candidate for senate in Alabama, Roy Moore. Like many of his fellow Republicans, Trump cited as a reason for supporting Moore his concern about passing a tax bill that gives corporations and the wealthy a huge break. So having a pervert in the senate is acceptable if he’s a right-wing pervert who will advance the interests of the one percent. Trump’s objection to Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, is that he’s a liberal. Which in the view of the President is worse than being a child molester.

Hopefully most Americans don’t share that demented opinion. Particularly those in Alabama who will be voting in three weeks. But we already know that we can’t count on Fox News to exhibit any sense of decency. The network that has ingrained sexual abuse into their corporate culture is predictably behind Moore and praises Trump’s endorsement.

The problem for Trump is that he can’t make a principled condemnation of Moore without it leaking into his own history of sexually predatory behavior. There are at least sixteen women who have made credible accusations against him. Yet even after all of the sleazeballs who have been taken down in recent weeks, Trump is still skating away untouched. If anyone should be driven from office it’s Trump. And if his collusion with Russia, financial corruption, undermining the free press, or being a pathological liar and malignant narcissist aren’t sufficient reasons, then his sexual depravity and criminality should be.

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

Fox News Sinks Even Lower: Hires Crackpot Racist Birther Mark Levin For Weekend Program

Posted by on November 21, 2017 at 3:33 pm. 2 Comments :

As evidence that Fox News is descending ever further down the rabid hole, they just hired radio talker Mark Levin. Anyone who thought that Rupert Murdoch’s sons were going to moderate the networks extremist right-wing blather can put those fantasies aside. Levin is the worst of the worst who has embraced the most ludicrous conspiracy theories and engaged in the most heinous hate speech.

Fox News Mark Levin

Levin is an OT (Original Trumpster) who has been fawning over Donald Trump from the start of his presidency. Although during the campaign he was a Ted Cruz supporter and lashed out at Fox News saying “it’s not the Fox News Channel — it’s the Fox Channel, and the Donald Trump super PAC.” He should have stuck with that assessment. Instead, he now works for them. He is also a close friend of Sean Hannity, who has been featuring Levin on his show for several weeks. For a primer on Levin’s ultra-conservatism, check out these rhetorical departures from reality that he has propagated over the years (courtesy of Media Matters):

  • Trump Gave Levin One Of His First Interviews As A 2016 Presidential Candidate.
  • Trump’s Claim That Obama Ordered A Wiretap Of Trump Tower Came From Talk Radio Host Mark Levin
  • Obama Is A “Low-Life” And A “Racist”
  • Part Of Obama’s “Agenda” Was To “Change The Racial Makeup” Of America With The “Importation Of Millions And Millions From The Third World.”
  • “There’s Been More Genocide, More Rape, More Enslavement Under This President [Obama] Than Any President In Modern History.”
  • Jewish Obama Donors Are “Self-Haters” Who “Despise Their Own Country.”
  • Obamacare Supporters Are “Brown Shirts.”
  • GOP Should “Stop Chasing Genitalia” To Win Elections.
  • Levin Compared Marriage Equality To Incest, Polygamy, And Drug Use.
  • Levin Claimed That Greenhouse Gases Were A Nonissue Because “Carbon Dioxide Is Necessary For Plants.”
  • Attorney General Eric Holder Committed “Hate Crimes” By Conducting Civil Rights Investigation In Ferguson After Shooting.
  • “There’s Nothing Controversial” About A Tweet Comparing Muslims To Nazis.

From all appearances, Sean Hannity has taken over Fox News. Levin is one of his goto guests who reliably bashes President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and all things liberal. Hannity also recently got Fox News to hire former Glenn Beck protege Tomi Lahren. And now the Hannity show is so consumed by conspiracy delusions that it is challenging Alex Jones for the Conspiracy Crackpot Crown. Among Hannity’s obsessions is Hillary Clinton, who has become such a regular feature of the show that CNN’s media correspondent, Brian Stelter, suggested renaming it The Clinton Scandal Hour.

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

Unfortunately for Fox News, Hannity’s programming philosophy is a proven catastrophe. That style of unhinged wingnut outrage is wearing thin and losing viewers. His program, which recently moved to a time period opposite MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, is frequently getting beat in the ratings race. That’s something that was unheard of a couple of years ago. And the addition of screaming screwball Levin isn’t likely to turn anything aroung for Fox. So let’s all welcome Mark Levin to the Titanic of cable news.

SRSLY? Breaking on Fox News: ‘Hillary Clinton is Toast’

Posted by on November 20, 2017 at 2:26 pm. 4 Comments :

For the past couple of years Fox News has refocused their standard Republican propaganda machine to more narrowly serve as Donald Trump’s personal PR and defense team. They have worked furiously to spin his innumerable gaffes and blunders as examples of some perverse brilliance. While at the same manufacturing distractions and phony news items intended to draw attention away from Trump’s idiocy, incompetence, and failure.

Hillary Clinton

One of the most frequently used tactics by Fox News is to toss out spurious allegations against Trump’s critics and political foes. At the top of the list for that ploy is, of course, Hillary Clinton. Trump can’t seem to suppress his fetish for the woman who got three million more votes than he did. And Fox News is just as obsessed by her refusal to crawl into a cave for her remaining days.

The latest manifestation of Fox’s fixation on Clinton came in the form of an opinion by contributor Liz Peek. Her story was headlined “Hillary is Toast: Scandals Finally Catch Up with Clintons.” Coming more than a year after the presidential election, it is quite a scoop for Fox News to herald the end of Clinton’s political career. They must be proud to have broken this news after only – everybody else on Planet Earth. And the profound insights in the story begin with this keen observation:

“Hillary Clinton is done, finished, kaput. Dogged by scandals old and new, out of step politically, her excess baggage has morphed into an entire baggage train, dragging her towards political oblivion.”

You have to wonder why both Trump and Fox News relentlessly harp on the question of Clinton’s relevance if they are truly convinced that she has none. The article, however, answers that question by noting that “While it is refreshing to consider the landscape unadorned by Clintons, Republicans will miss her.” And that’s precisely why Fox won’t stop blabbering about her whenever they need to shift attention away from another patented Trump Fuckup. In this case it has something to do with the President’s cowardly silence on the GOP’s pedophile candidate for the senate in Alabama, Roy Moore. Unable to conjure up a suitable response, they go deploy the Clinton deflection:

“As charges of sexual aggression swirl around prominent figures on the left and right, Bill Clinton’s gross and possibly criminal behavior is getting a second look. […] It is high time Bill Clinton’s misdeeds and Hillary’s defense of them received bipartisan condemnation.”

Getting a second look? You mean the first time around, when it was investigated for months and ended in an impeachment, wasn’t sufficient? And it’s fair to say that the condemnation was totally bipartisan when even Al Gore declined to embrace Clinton during his campaign to succeed him. These are just lame and baseless arguments intended to divert the American people from the harsh realities of Trump’s own sexual perversions and crimes. And if Republicans think that Trump is being treated unfairly because Bill Clinton got away with his misconduct, then let’s be sure Trump receives only the punishment that Clinton did and no more. That would, of course, be impeachment.

Trump Clinton

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

The rest of the article wound aimlessly between debunked GOP myths like the Uranium One deal and whining that Hillary has the audacity to embark on a book tour. It’s funny, you never hear any similar complaints when John McCain, Bernie Sanders, Mitt Romney, or any other defeated male candidate writes and promotes a post-campaign book. The truth is that Fox News and Trump and the rest of the Republican Party are addicted to the Clintons and are largely responsible for their continued prominence in the press. In fact, they may just be what Hillary is most thankful for during this Thanksgiving holiday.

Rachel Maddow Grabs Another Weekly Win From Fox News and Floundering Sean Hannity

Posted by on November 19, 2017 at 3:11 pm. NO Comments :

A few weeks ago Fox News had to realign their schedule due to all the sexual perverts being terminated. First they lost Bill O’Reilly, and then Eric Bolling. They also lost Megyn Kelly, who was a victim of the sexual abuse from both O’Reilly and Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. These scandals gutted most of the network’s primetime lineup. Today they are left with newcomers Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham.

Rachel Maddow

Sean Hannity is the lone holdover and he’s not not exactly holding his own. For one thing, his support for the pedophile Republican senate candidate in Alabama, Roy Moore, is costing him advertisers (see Stop Hannity). His fear and desperation resulting from that caused a major meltdown on Sunday as revealed in a series of hysterical tweets. But his problems don’t end there.

Last week Rachel Maddow pulled off another ratings victory over her new competition. Not that they are competing for the same viewers, but having a Nielsen win during your time period is an important factor in the television marketplace. Maddow’s strength in the ratings against the biggest draw on Fox News is a significant development and a dire dilemma for Hannity.

Maddow and Hannity actually split the week with each winning two nights (Maddow was preempted on Friday by a special program). However, the average over the four nights favored Maddow. That’s because her wins were with larger margins, and where she came in second it was close. All of this points to the weakness of Hannity’s program despite being the top rated show on Fox.

Maddow’s success has had a positive effect on the rest of MSNBC’s primetime. The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell took on Fox’s new Laura Ingraham show and beat her three out of four nights. The same was true for The Eleventh Hour with Brian Williams in it’s battle with another new entry for Fox, Fox News @ Night. The only weak spot for MSNBC is All In with Chris Hayes. But although it isn’t delivering big audience numbers, it has become a sort of Emmy magnet. Hopefully over time viewers will appreciate the high quality of the show and tune in more.

As for Fox, clearly their replacement programs are not performing particularly well. But the bigger problem is that the cornerstone of the schedule, Hannity, is not only failing to maintain the network’s long-time dominance, but it’s also less viable financially as its advertisers fall away. In their last quarterly report, Fox News disappointed stockholders with a seventeen percent drop in ad revenue.

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

Fox’s troubles are not going to go away anytime soon. Their audience shows signs of weariness with knee-jerk, right-wing propaganda. Some of them want to know what is actually happening in the world, not the Fox News manufactured version of it. And the glassy-eyed ultra-conservatives are starting to drift off to other news outlets like Breitbart that aim to out flank Fox from the right. Even the efforts of Donald Trump, who has been feverishly hyping Fox, have not helped. It’s likely that the fate of Fox News and Trump are going to be tightly bound together in a Titanic sinking. We just have to wait until the iceberg (Russia? Mueller? Sex crimes?) takes its inevitable toll.

Sean Hannity Unleashes His Inner-Trump In a Full-Psycho, All-Caps Twitter Rant

Posted by on November 19, 2017 at 12:56 pm. 1 Comments :

The surest sign that someone is becoming unmoored from what’s left of their sanity is an all-caps upchuck on Twitter. It signals the impending collapse of mental stability along with a sense of grave desperation. And that’s precisely the state of mind that must be burdening Sean Hannity of Fox News.

Donald Trump Sean Hannity

In the past few weeks Hannity has been the subject of an advertiser backlash due to his repugnant support for the pedophile Republican candidate for senate in Alabama, Roy Moore. His knee-jerk affinity for a man who has been accused of serious sexual misconduct by multiple women has proven too much for many of his commercial sponsors.

The campaign to inform advertisers of the risks of being associated with Hannity (Stop Hannity) is being advanced by Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America. So Hannity has focused his outrage on Carusone in the most deranged manner he can: a series of aimless, insulting, dishonest outbursts on Twitter. In this online tantrum, Hannity baselessly accuses Carusone of being an anti-Semitic, homophobic, racist. For example:

https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/932247467697102849

There is so much wrong with that tweet it’s hard to know where to begin. Let’s start with the fact that Carusone is gay and his husband is Jewish. So there goes the homophobic, anti-Semitic allegations. Hannity offers no proof whatsoever of any racism on Carusone’s part. Additionally, Hannity directs this tweet to CNN and its media correspondent, Brian Stelter, asking why they would support those heinous behaviors that don’t actually exist. And one has to wonder what made Hannity think that anyone at CNN would take his criticisms seriously considering his relentless bashing of the network as “Fake News.” Finally, Hannity ended his tweet with a link to fake account on Twitter pretending to be Carusone (here is his real account).

Exacerbating the lunacy of this tweet is the fact that Hannity posted it five times in five minutes. The exact same message (although he swapped in different photos), one after another. After he got that out of system he continued his tirade with a tweet asserting that Media Matters “is atrocious as they are the most anti free speech, pro censorship group in America.” Consistent with right-wing doctrine, Hannity regards free speech as a one-way principle. He can say whatever bullcrap he wants, but no one else can reply or disagree. If they do it’s an attack on his constitutional rights.

Sean Hannity has always been an ultra-rightist shill for the GOP (Greedy One Percent). But since the election of Donald Trump he has devolved into the Fox News version of Alex Jones. He’s become America’s preeminent conspiracy theorist and hate monger. His manic idolatry of all things Trump has made him a favorite of the President who, it’s reported, calls him almost daily. CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin has observed that their relationship has resulted in what he calls “the Sean Hannity Presidency.” “The only response Donald Trump has to any political event now,” Toobin notes, “is identical to that of Sean Hannity and Fox News.”

Indeed, it is impossible to distinguish any difference between Trump’s ignorant, unhinged rhetoric, and that of Hannity (or Tucker Carlson, or Laura Ingraham, or Jesse Watters, or the loonies on Fox and Friends). The only question is, is Trump the president Fox News created, or is Fox News the PR division of the Trump administration?

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

Angelo Carusone was interviewed Sunday on CNN’s Reliable Sources. Watch it here:

Trump-Fluffing Fox News Host Actually Says ‘There Are No Allegations Against the President’

Posted by on November 18, 2017 at 11:27 am. 2 Comments :

The Age of Alternative Facts is in full swing. Donald Trump’s administration has ushered in era that unabashedly traffics in verifiably false information and deliberate deceit. They are literally proud of their ability to disseminate lies and they do so even after the lie has been revealed.

Maria Bartiromo Fox

However, they could not do it alone. Fortunately for Trump et al, they have an alleged “news” network that is just as brazen in its embrace of falsehoods as Trump. Fox News recently fortified its already ultra-biased lineup with known Friends of Don who are happy to distort reality on his behalf. The network appears to be digging in as a response to the clouds of doom hovering over the White House in the shape of Russia.

Fox also has another propaganda spewing channel that serves the interests of the President. The Fox Business Network pretends to be a financial news outlet, but its programs are just as politically slanted as anything you’d see on the Fox News mothership. A crystal clear example of that came on Friday during a segment on Mornings with Maria featuring the “Money Honey” (her own promotional tag that she sought to trademark), Maria Bartiromo (video below). In this exchange with former Deputy Secretary of Labor, Christopher Lu, Bartiromo gives Trump absolution for his past sexual crimes and misdemeanors:

Lu: As your own network has reported there are now, I think, eight or nine women who have made allegations against Roy Moore. There is probably an equal number who have made allegations against the President. […]
Bartiromo: Just to be clear, there are no allegations against the President.
Lu: There are allegations against Donald Trump from an earlier time.
Bartiromo: He said during the campaign that wasn’t true. In fact, didn’t he say also that, you know, all of this will come to light and there will be a lawsuit? I mean… we’re talking about a situation where we have a picture with the guy’s hands on her breasts.

No allegations against the President? Has she been in a coma? There are at least sixteen women who have come forward with credible allegations of Trump’s sexual harassment and/or abuse. See this video that features many of them describing his misconduct in their own words. Even Trump’s press secretary acknowledged the allegations. Although she bizarrely claimed that they should not be investigated because he denied them. That’s a peculiar legal position that implies that once a suspect denies the charges, the matter should be dropped.

Bartiromo seems to be taking the same position with her remarks about Trump’s denials. And what point she is trying to make with her reference to Trump’s threatened lawsuits is a complete mystery. It certainly doesn’t prove innocence. Especially since Trump chickened out and never followed through on the threat. Also notable is Bartiromo’s assertion that there is a picture showing Sen. Al Franken’s hands on a woman’s breasts. However, the picture clearly shows that he is not touching her, but pretending to and mugging for the camera.

Bartiromo then literally stutters through an attempted justification of her ludicrous denial of documented events. She ends up awkwardly complaining that it’s an apples to oranges comparison. And she’s right. There is a single accuser against Franken, who has been a frequent guest on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, and whose charges mainly describe bad attempts at humor. While there are at least sixteen accusers against Trump who all describe behavior that is abusive and probably illegal. Apples and oranges.

Bartiromo was once considered a credible financial journalist. But since her move from CNBC to the Fox family she has transformed into just another right-wing shill. Her recent interview of Trump was widely ridiculed as an embarrassing exercise in sucking up. And now she has taken her hackery to the next level with comments that totally contradict reality.

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

HUH? WH Press Sec Says Trump’s Sexual Abuse Shouldn’t Be Investigated Because He Denies It

Posted by on November 17, 2017 at 2:25 pm. 5 Comments :

The more Donald Trump and his flagrantly dishonest administration diverge from reality, the harder it is for them to maintain any semblance of coherence. Their lies just keep getting more absurd, which requires ever more ludicrous justifications and defenses. That state of affairs was perfectly illustrated Friday morning when Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, was asked to comment about the allegations against Sen. Al Franken.

Sarah Huckabee-Sanders

The question put to Huckabee-Sanders sought an explanation for why Trump’s history of sexual harassment and abuse should be dismissed while Franken is being subjected to harsh criticism from all sides. After all, There is just one accuser against Franken, but at least sixteen against Trump. [See all sixteen in this moving video that features Trump’s victims in their own words]. What’s more, the allegations against Franken are closer to bad humor and disrespect than to harassment. The incidents described occurred in public with witnesses and clear, but misguided, comedic intentions. Actual sexual abusers generally seek out privacy to commit their heinous acts.

Trump has been uncharacteristically silent with regard to the allegations against Republican senate candidate Roy Moore. The White House said that he doesn’t have time to respond to every news item. But that excuse didn’t seem to apply when it came to Franken. Trump managed to find the time to tweet this:

Let’s set aside Trump’s typically infantile name-calling, his misspelling of “Frankenstein,” and his baseless assumptions about additional photos. The fact that he could post this message despite his own repugnant record of gross, and potentially criminal, behavior, shows astonishing hypocrisy and self-deception. And that psychological impairment appears to be contagious. Take, for instance, this exchange during Friday’s White House press briefing (video below):

Reporter: If it’s fair to investigate Al Franken in the allegation made by his accuser, is it also fair to investigate this president and the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by more than a dozen women?
Huckabee-Sanders: Look, I think that this was covered pretty extensively during the campaign. We addressed that then. The American people, I think, spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president.
Reporter: But how is this different?
Huckabee-Sanders: I think in one case specifically, Sen. Franken has admitted wrongdoing and the President hasn’t. I think that’s a very clear distinction.

Indeed, that’s a very clear distinction. But not in the way she thinks. The fact that Franken has admitted wrongdoing and apologized makes the need for an investigation less imperative. Why probe something that isn’t in dispute? Conversely, Trump’s stubborn denials and attacks on his accusers should make an investigation necessary to resolve the discrepancies between Trump’s version of events and those of the sixteen women he allegedly abused. In effect, Huckabee-Sanders just made the case for initiating an investigation of Trump. Thanks, Sarah.

And just for the record, the American people spoke very loud and clear when they gave Hillary Clinton three million more votes than Trump got. And his approval ratings from day one of his presidency have been historically low. Polls even show that a plurality of voters favor impeaching Trump. So there’s that.

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

And What About Trump, the Sexual-Predator-in-Chief: This Must-See Video Needs to Go Viral

Posted by on November 16, 2017 at 12:02 pm. 1 Comments :

For several weeks the issue of harassment and abuse of women has taken center stage. It is something that is long overdue. Women have had to suffer in silence and fear as more powerful associates took advantage of them. It’s a big step forward that they are being paid attention to now and that there are consequences for the perpetrators. Well, some of them.

Donald Trump

Harvey Weinstein has lost his job and his company. Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K. are now pariahs in their industry. GOP senate candidate Roy Moore, is still hanging on, but is being abandoned by more of his own supporters everyday. However, there is a notable omission among the ranks of sleazeballs who have grossly abused women who trusted them. Donald Trump appears to be getting away with his despicable and criminal behavior.

Trump’s abusive acts have been well known for some time. He even admitted to criminal sexual assault in the video from Access Hollywood. But he was elected president anyway by so-called “family values” voters who dismissed his contemptible conduct in favor of rank party politics. And he has the full support of Fox News, a network whose corporate culture virtually encourages sexual harassment. Now Brave New Films has produced a video that compiles sixteen of Trump’s accusers describing the acts committed against them. It’s a moving presentation that needs to be seen by as many people as possible:

Brave New Films has a website that hosts this video and makes the point that no one should be excused for such heinous behavior. It occurs by aberrant men in every walk of life, every industry, and every political party. And justice must be served on an equal basis without favoritism. As is pointed out on the website: “[O]ur current president isn’t immune to being held accountable.” That ought to mean that if other perpetrators lose their status and position, so too should Donald Trump.

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

Allowing Trump to remain in the White House sends a terrible message to all Americans, particularly women and girls. If Trump isn’t impeached for obstruction of justice, collusion with Russia, financial corruption, undermining the free press, or being a pathological liar and malignant narcissist, then his sexual depravity and criminality should be more than reason enough.