Month: February 2018

Donald Trump in His Own Deplorable Words/Lies: ‘I Never Said Give Teachers Guns’

Posted by on February 22, 2018 at 9:49 am. 4 Comments :

Thursday morning’s tweetstorm from Donald Trump is typically filled with nonsense. It’s tempting to ignore these psychotic outbursts. They rarely have anything of substance or value in them. But he leads off with such a brazen and dangerous lie that it would be journalistic malpractice not to point it out and give it the ridicule it deserves. So buckle up. This is, unfortunately, our president talking.

Donald Trump AR-15

OK, I’ll give you that. You never said “give teachers guns.” But you did say to arm teachers (an utterly boneheaded idea). So they would have to buy the guns themselves? That fits your soulless agenda to cut funding for schools and school safety. And you just signed a bill that disallows tax write-offs when teachers use their own money for supplies. Also, note what you said about guns in schools a couple of years ago.

Immediately? You mean after they recognize that there’s an emergency situation, retrieve the gun from a safe location, load the gun, and – oh never mind. The teacher would be dead before any of that could happen. And in the meantime the kids would have been left on their own without the guidance of the teacher to secure their safety.

Parkland had had an armed security guard and police presence. That didn’t deter Nikolas Cruz. And even if there was a deterrent, it would only result in the shooter selecting another target, like a church, restaurant, mall, park, concert, etc. We would have to have armed guards, sales clerks, pastors, and more patrolling everywhere in your prison-like, dystopian world.

See above. And WTF do you mean by offensive? Do you intend to have teachers go out and hunt potential shooters?

Not sufficient. The availability of military assault weapons will insure higher body counts when “sickos” act out.

And you love the NRA. Why not? You took $30,000,000 from them to help Russia get you elected.

You’re the master of “all talk, no action,” so as usual, nothing will get done. Just like DACA. Correction: You do sometimes take action, but it always makes things worse.

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

The Media Needs to Stop the False Argument of Arming Teachers and Fortifying Schools

Posted by on February 21, 2018 at 3:42 pm. 5 Comments :

One week ago a deeply disturbed young man entered his old school in Parkland, Florida, with an AR-15 and ended the lives of fourteen students and three adults. Ever since then the survivors and classmates of the victims have demonstrated a rare and inspiring resolve to make Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School the last site of a such a tragedy. If they succeed they will have beaten the odds, because survivors from Columbine to Sandy Hook have said the same thing.

Samuel Zeif Parkland

Many of the Stoneman Douglas students have made passionate and rational cases for taking military style assault weapons off the market. That solution has been predictably opposed by conservatives and NRA shills in Congress. And, of course, Donald Trump is siding with the obstructionists and mass murderers union. But one of the most galling responses to the demand for common sense gun safety reform is the notion that teachers should be put on the front lines by arming them with commensurate fire power.

That is maybe the most boneheaded solution imaginable. For one thing, it only makes the teachers more likely to be the first victims of the shooter. It also requires the teachers to turn their attention away from securing the students while they engage in a firefight. And it relies on the assumption that an armed teacher will be at the the specific location of the shooting with a weapon in hand. In real life scenarios that is an unrealistic assumption. The teacher might be in a different classroom. And their guns would probably be locked up for safekeeping. Since shootings like the one in Parkland usually last about three minutes, the tragedy would have occurred before an armed teacher could show up.

But what makes this suggestion so inappropriate as a potential solution is its narrow focus on schools. What would happen if every school in America were to be rebuilt as a fortress with armed teachers and security guards and snipers on the rooftops? Besides, that is, making our kids go to school in prison of war style institutions? If a shooter were to plot a mass murder under these circumstance, he would simply select a different target.

How would fortifying schools protect children who gathered at McDonalds on the way home after school? How would it protect them in the mall, or a concert, or at church, or at a playground in the park? Would all of those places also have to be re-envisioned as prisons with weapon-toting sales clerks and volunteer parents on patrol? Would American society be turned into one big gulag where any suspicious person might be gunned down by an overeager pseudo-cop?

Trump met with a group of students, parents, and teachers on Wednesday afternoon and told them that he supports concealed carry for teachers. He ignored entirely the subject of taking these weapons off the streets. The only other solution he proposed was for opening old-school mental hospitals where people with psychological problems could be held after being “nabbed” by the thought police. Bear in mind that the vast majority of people with mental illness are not dangerous or violent.

Why isn’t the media addressing these obvious flaws whenever the armed teacher solution is proposed? Our kids and country will not be safer because schools are converted into frightening destinations where learning would be nearly impossible. The only things that all of the potential sites for a massacre like the one at Stoneman Douglas High (or Las Vegas, or the Pulse nightclub, or the Sutherland Springs church) had in common was the means of execution and the tears of grieving friends and family.

No matter how many times the gun fetishists insist that guns are not the problem – guns ARE the problem. There may be many other facets of a comprehensive response, but the problem will never be solved until the weapons that produce the severity and quantity of casualties are removed from the equation. And that won’t happen until the NRA whores are removed from politics. That may be the silver lining that is being revealed by the brave and passionate Parkland students who are finally getting the voices of victims to be heard. Students like Samuel Zeif:

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

Fox Nation is Morphing into a Streaming Video Feeding Tube for the Fox News Cult’s Superfans

Posted by on February 21, 2018 at 8:50 am. 1 Comments :

In its ongoing mission to brainwash weak minds, Fox News is taking a major step into the video streaming business. They have announced that their community website and right-wing news aggregator, Fox Nation will soon become a subscription service that Fox’s glassy-eyed disciples can pay for without a cable account.

Fox Nation vs. Reality

The announcement states that the new Fox Nation will launch by the end of the year with original programming rather than reruns of Fox News Channel content. But that doesn’t mean that Fox favorites like Sean Hannity and Tomi Lahren won’t be featured frequently to spin the news and stir outrage. These and other Fox regulars will be producing exclusive commentaries for the new venture. John Finley, Fox News senior vice president, described the new offering saying that…

“Fox Nation is designed to appeal to the Fox superfan. These are the folks who watch Fox News every night for hours at a time, the dedicated audience that really wants more of what we have to offer.”

In other words, the network that is devoted to misinforming America is providing their wingnut junkies with an endless supply of moonbat juice to keep them riled up and free from the emotional complexities of reality. This is just what the person who already watches Fox News for hours needs. And the persons they are most likely catering to are superfans like Donald Trump. These zealots will surely appreciate how the new Fox Nation will “take a further look at the big issues of the day” and provide an opportunity for “interaction with all of FNC’s popular opinion hosts and personalities.”

The Fox News announcement heralded this new enterprise in terms that will be familiar and comfortable for their faithful devotees, noting that “insiders consider Fox Nation another step toward digital supremacy.” And whatever other types of supremacy they favor will be icing on the cake.

Fox Nation has long been a website that catered to the most extreme rightist crackpottery. They have posted links to articles by notorious conspiracy theorists and dedicated propagandists. They have altered headlines and content to comply with the conservative doctrines they espouse. And they have not been averse to spewing outright lies, as documented in my two books: “Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Community’s Assault On Truth” and “Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.” (Both available on Amazon). And there is no reason not to expect exactly the same sort of news distortion and purposeful deception from whatever the new Fox Nation turns out to be.

Trump’s White House is Shutting Down For CPAC, the Annual Orgy of Wingnut Conservatism

Posted by on February 20, 2018 at 2:14 pm. 3 Comments :

It’s time once again for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) put on by the American Conservative Union. This affair is a four day circle jerk of right-wingers wallowing in their muddy pit of country club white nationalism. And this year the roster of speakers has a particularly notable stench of political devotion that borders on religious idolatry.

Donald Trump CPAC

The largest contingent of conference guests comes from the White House. Beginning with Donald Trump himself making a return appearance, and extending down the line of command to various cabinet secretaries and political operatives. It’s a baker’s dozen of Washington apparatchiks who are committed to proselytizing the President’s agenda. And the sheer quantity of StormTrumpers shows that this convention has only one mission: Propaganda. Here are the White House attendees:

  • Donald Trump
  • Eric Trump
  • Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the President
  • Don McGahn, Counsel and Assistant to the President
  • Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
  • Scott Pruitt, Director of the Environmental Protection Agency
  • Betsy Devos, Secretary of Education
  • Rick Perry, Secretary of Energy
  • Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior
  • Linda McMahon, Small Business Adminstration
  • Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
  • Ronna McDaniel, Chair of the Republican National Committee
  • Kayleigh McEnany, Spokesperson for the RNC

Joining the army of Trumpsters are their partners in propaganda, Fox News. A network that has the audacity to put the word “news” in their name is proving that they are nothing but shills for a corrupt presidency. The cadre of Foxies include two thirds of their primetime lineup. And they are supported by several paid contributors:

  • Sean Hannity
  • Laura Ingraham
  • Jeanine Pirro
  • Sebastian Gorka
  • Dana Perino
  • Elizabeth Peek
  • Katie Pavlich
  • Mark Levin
  • Sara Carter

And that’s not all. There are several other people that will be familiar to Trump’s followers and Fox News viewers. People like “sheriff” David Clarke, John Bolton, James O’Keefe, and the GOP chair of the House Intelligence Committee (and future felon), Devin Nunes. Also, Wayne LaPierre of the NRA, whose name was omitted from the speakers list because he’s toxic. And let’s not forget Marion Le Pen, the leader of France’s neo-Nazi party.

Trump has been having a horrible week. He has had to deal with a top aide who was accused of wife-beating. He has exhibited his inability to respond like a human being to the tragedy in Parkland, Florida. He unleashed a torrent of tweets exposing how frightened he is about the tsunami of political and legal jeopardy he faces.

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

So he is undoubtedly looking forward to his appearance at CPAC. It’s an opportunity to get in front of an adoring crowd and pontificate incoherently for an hour and be applauded for it. The audience will cheer wildly as Trump lashes out at their favorite enemies – liberals, democrats, minorities and, of course, the media. They’ll rise to their feet whenever he utters a word about a wall or a former “crooked” opponent. And Trump will get his fix of adulation from his glassy-eyed disciples before he has to return the “dump” on Pennsylvania Avenue and lay in bed worrying about when special counsel Robert Mueller’s hammer will come down.

Trump Thanks Fox News for Helping Him Ignore His Duty to Protect and Defend the Constitution

Posted by on February 20, 2018 at 11:52 am. 3 Comments :

Once again, Donald Trump is caught convening with his “outhouse” cabinet (too crappy to be in the kitchen) on Fox News rather than knowledgeable professionals. The “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends delivered another of their “Presidential Daily Briefings” to the only person in their audience that matters to them.

Fox News

The segment (video below) reiterated a White House talking point meant to distract from the reality that Russia invaded the United States with a massive and well-financed attack on our democratic system. They advanced the lie that President Obama didn’t do anything about Russia’s election tampering. In fact, Obama did quite a bit. He expelled thirty-five Russian “diplomats” and imposed new sanctions. These were actions that Trump’s soon-to-be National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, assured Russia would not be carried out if they won the election. Obama also tried to get Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell to sign on to a bipartisan public announcement revealing the Russian operations. McConnell refused, and Obama thought it would appear political if he were to proceed without GOP support. It could be argued that Obama could have done more, but not that he did nothing, as Trump did in this tweet:

Of course, Trump never has an original thought, and he didn’t in this case either. He was reacting to the policy dictates put forth on Fox and Friends. In addition to the tweet above, Trump also tweeted a quote that played on the Fox News program of Obama saying that…

It needs to be noted that Obama was talking about Trump’s campaign hysterics that Obama and Hillary Clinton were conspiring to steal the election. He was not talking about the sort of tampering that we know Russia engaged in. That’s a significant distinction, but one that Fox and Trump are too dimwitted to figure out. Or more accurately, too dishonest to admit. So Trump’s “Friends” merely repeated their well-rehearsed lines:

Brian Kilmeade: If you look at the President’s track record, it’s been anything but strong when it comes to Russia. [Steve Doocy had to interject that Kilmeade meant President Obama]
Steve Doocy: But here’s the thing, ultimately. Barack Obama was the president of the United States when Russia was meddling with our election. Trying to sow discord. So why didn’t he, as the chief executive of the country, stop it? And now, fast forward to now, what’s the narrative become? Forget about the fact that it happened on Obama’s watch, now it is ‘Well you know it looks like the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians.’ Which there is no evidence, absolutely none that that happened. All we found out Friday with the Mueller indictment was there was this place called the troll factory. Spent about a hundred thousand dollars and put out a few Facebook ads. That’s it.”

First of all, there is plenty of evidence of Trump’s collusion, starting with Donnie Jr.’s meetings with Russians (which he initially lied about) in Trump Tower. There are verified connections between Trump, Wikileaks, and Russia, who Trump begged to hack Clinton and release the stolen emails. There are more than a dozen Trump associates who met with Russians and lied about it. And no one knows what further evidence special counsel Robert Mueller has that won’t be disclosed until he concludes the investigation.

What’s more, Doocy’s deliberate disinformation about Mueller’s indictments misstates the facts. It wasn’t a hundred thousands dollars and a few Facebook ads. It was over a million dollars a month and thousands of Facebook and other Internet posts seen by millions of Americans.

More importantly, Trump appears to be conceding now that the election interference did occur. And while he’s obsessing over Obama’s response, he’s ignoring that he has done nothing himself. To the contrary, he is letting his pal Vladimir Putin off the hook. Trump refuses to impose sanctions that were voted on nearly unanimously by Congress. And although he will criticize everyone from Obama to Clinton to Oprah, he has never said a cross word to or about Putin.

No matter what Trump thinks of Obama, he has a responsibility as the current president to protect and defend the country. But he’s never even had a cabinet level meeting on the threat of Russia’s election tampering. Nor has he directed his intelligence and law enforcement agencies to address the matter. If he thinks that Obama was negligent, then what is he saying about himself? It’s almost as if he’s happy with Russia’s political intrusions and wants them to continue. Or maybe that they have something on him that is costly to his financial empire or personally embarrassing. Nah – couldn’t be any of that. Could it?

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

Who Was Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Why Would Donald Trump Have Hated Her?

Posted by on February 19, 2018 at 11:05 am. 5 Comments :

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Parkland, Florida school, where fourteen kids and three adults were murdered by a maniac with an AR-15 assault weapon, has become a flash point in the debate for gun safety. That debate has been driven mainly by the student survivors themselves. Their passionate and articulate commitment to finally making change happen is one of the few signs of hope in the aftermath of yet another massacre.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas

However, little has been reported about the namesake of the school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas. As it turns out, she was an inspiring woman who was a fierce advocate for speaking out on matters of importance. During a life of activism and personal sacrifice she was quoted as saying “You have to stand up for some things in this world.” She lived those words throughout her life and inspired others to do the same. In 1993 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bill Clinton. And while in the White House that day she was invited to witness the signing of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (the Brady Bill).

But that isn’t the only eerie coincidence about Douglas and the specific focus of her activism. According to a biography on the National Park Service website:

Marjory Stoneman Douglas, born April 7, 1890 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, graduated from Wellesley with straight A’s with the elected honor of “Class Orator.” That title proved to be prophetic.

In 1915, following a brief and calamitous marriage, she arrived in Miami, working for her father at the Miami Herald. She worked first as a society reporter, then as an editorial page columnist, and later established herself as a writer of note. Here she took on the fight for feminism, racial justice, and conservation long before these causes became popular.

So Douglas began her professional career as a journalist. Or as Donald Trump would say “an enemy of the American people.” She went on to champion women’s rights, something Trump has ridiculed and whose personal history of sexual harassment and assault demonstrates extreme disrespect and misogyny. Douglas was also a proponent of civil rights and racial justice. That contrasts with Trump’s overt bigotry and that of his base, which includes KKK and Nazi leaders and organizations. And finally, Douglas was best known for her environmental activism and her work to conserve the Florida Everglades. She wrote a landmark book on the subject titled, The Everglades: River of Grass.

Trump surely doesn’t know anything about Douglas or her lifelong dedication to service and social change. But if he did he would certainly despise her and attack her with a flurry of furious and derogatory tweets. He would insult her and make up stupid nicknames. And he would express his opposition to everything she stood for. All of this adds a rather somber poignancy to the tragedy in Parkland. But it may explain the stirring and righteous reaction from the students who probably do know Douglas and her work. They are likely inspired by quotes like this one: “I believe that life should be lived so vividly and so intensely that thoughts of another life, or of a longer life, are not necessary.”” And it may explain the heartrending intensity of their oratory as exemplified in this speech by student Emma Gonzalez:

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

Moscow is Laughing: Trump’s Sunday Morning Tweetstorm is More Unhinged than Usual

Posted by on February 18, 2018 at 1:31 pm. 6 Comments :

It’s panic time at the White House. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictments against Russians for election tampering are bringing the culpability of Donald Trump ever closer to the surface. And the best confirmation of that is the ferocity of Trump’s frantic and implausible denials. He is behaving like a cornered rat that is consumed with fear.

Donald Trump

Consequently, he is resorting to his standard means of projecting his fear outward. Secure in his Twitter safe space, Trump is lashing out at phantom foes and perceived enemies with ludicrous accusations, insults, and shaky justifications. His Sunday morning tweetstorm was bursting with madness and paranoia. It’s astonishing that someone hasn’t told him how guilty this hysteria makes him look. And it’s a symptom of his sickness that he thinks any of this helps. Let’s delve deeper into the diseased mind of Trump:

Trump has accidentally conceded something that is surely true. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. But it isn’t because of committee hearings and investigations. It’s because of how successful they were in putting their puppet at the helm of the American government. And they probably also think it’s pretty funny that he has proven to be so incompetent at governing. And the fact that Trump is advancing the agenda of Vladimir Putin and defending him against fellow Americans who see through these crimes is worth a guffaw or two in the Kremlin.

And then there’s this:

Trump’s desperation is showing in that it’s no longer enough to just attach childish nicknames (“Liddle”) to his opponents. He is now elongating them with ridiculous descriptions (“leakin’ monster of no control”). Sounds a little like Trump is accusing Rep. Adam Schiff of having a gastrointestinal problem. More to the point, Trump is actually admitting now that there was Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Although he is misdirecting the blame to his favorite black nemesis, Barack Obama. However, Trump is lying about what Schiff said. The Democratic congressman was talking about a missed opportunity to deal with hacking after an incident in 2014 with Sony Pictures. It was a call for more transparency that Schiff believed might have been a deterrent to the Russians who came along later.

But Trump wasn’t through yet:

This is just patently false. There is no poll by McLaughlin that puts Republicans ahead of Democrats in a generic congressional ballot. In fact, Democrats lead the GOP in almost every match-up on this. If Trump isn’t consumed with fear, then why is he lying?

Finally:

Trump really thinks the American people are stupid. And with regard to his followers, I can’t argue with that. He has been saying for months that the whole Russia investigation was a hoax, not just the the matter of collusion (which is also not a hoax). He actually told reporters that he had asked Putin about the meddling and that Putin denied it. And Trump insisted that he was satisfied with Putin’s word, saying “Every time he sees me, he says, ‘I didn’t do that,’ and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.” How thoughtful. Trump believes his friend Vladimir, but not the American intelligence professionals who work for him. And if you need more evidence of Trump dismissing Russian election tampering, just listen to Trump himself:

Update: Later on Sunday Trump (who doesn’t have time to watch TV) saw Oprah Winfrey on 60 Minutes interviewing voters in Michigan. And, having no presidential work to do, he posted a new tweet attacking her:

WOW! Trump thinks Oprah is insecure? Mr. Small Hands, Big Buttons? The same Trump who constantly insults enemies with childish nicknames; who needs to brag incessantly about his imaginary awesomeness; who lies with every breath; who is obsessed with former political foes and past failures; who is clearly scared and panicked about his legal future? That Trump thinks Oprah is insecure?

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

Trump’s Dep. Press Secretary: Democrats and the Media Have Created More Chaos than Russia

Posted by on February 17, 2018 at 3:24 pm. 3 Comments :

The propaganda push to clear Donald Trump of all responsibility for the Russian interference in the 2016 election is in full force. The chair of the Republican National Committee has blamed it all on President Obama. Fox News is trivializing it as Rocky and Bullwinkle stuff. And now the White House Deputy Press Secretary, Hogan Gidley, is making statements that baselessly allege crimes by Democrats that are worse than what the Russians are alleged to have done.

Fox News Gidley

On Saturday morning’s episode of Fox and Friends (where else), Gidley was stroked – I mean interviewed – by the “Curvy Couch” potatoes in a segment that addressed the indictments against Russia by special counsel Robert Mueller. Gidley’s remarks were so offensive and dishonest that I’ll just leave them here with little commentary (video below):

“First of all we have to understand, this began in 2014 under then-President Barack Obama’s nose. He didn’t do a thing about it. Long before Donald Trump announced for president this was going on. Also it points out clearly that in this process there was no collusion, as you just pointed out. The President said it multiple times. This makes it clear and concise for the American people and proves the President correct. No collusion between Donald Trump, his campaign, and Russia. And also, I think this is important too. It did not affect the outcome of the election whatsoever.”

First of all, what we really have to understand, is that the fact that Russia began interfering in American elections in 2014 does not vindicate Trump. It actually makes it worse that he and his associates had anything to do with foreign operatives who were already engaged in espionage against the United States. And the Mueller indictments do not in any way say that there was no collusion or that the outcome of the election was not affected. They simply say that these particular indictments are not alleging that. Which leaves the door wide open for such allegations in future indictments.

But if Gidley wants to assert that Mueller is proving Trump correct, that’s fine. It makes it that much harder for them to later say that Mueller is biased and try to fire him. However, Gidley had not yet reached the most disgusting part of his interview. He continued:

“What the Russians were trying to do, as outlined by Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, was create chaos in the American election system. And I’ll just say this: There are two groups that created chaos more than the Russians. That’s the Democrats and the mainstream media who continued to push this lie on the American people for more than a year. And, quite frankly, America should be outraged by that.”

Really? So Gidley is now contending that Democrats and the American media are more guilty of election tampering and fraud than the Russians who have just been indicted by a Grand Jury? He is essentially accusing Democrats and journalists of being a bigger enemy than Russia, and of criminality on a scale that exceeds actual spies from a hostile foreign nation. And the twerps on Fox and Friends just sat there and nodded in agreement. The whole bunch of them are so determined to exonerate their beloved Orange Messiah that they are willing to make scurrilous accusations of treason. It’s an attack on both democracy and the free press. And it’s another new low for the Trump White House.

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

Trump-Fluffing Fox News Pundit Calls Russian Indictments ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle Kind of Stuff’

Posted by on February 17, 2018 at 10:39 am. 3 Comments :

In the hours following special counsel Robert Mueller’s latest set of indictments, there has been flurry of frantic activity over at Fox News. The desperation of Donald Trump’s phalanx of sycophants rushing to his defense is thick enough to slice with a scimitar. When they aren’t celebrating Trump’s imaginary vindication, they are insisting that the charges are meaningless. To these bipolar shills Mueller has either produced a profound success or a pitiful failure. Or, of course, it was all Obama’s fault.

Fox News Schlapp

Case in point: On Special Report, the afternoon Fox program that is cited as its flagship “news” hour, they hosted a hard-boiled Trump supporter who demonstrated the absurdity of wingnut media. Matt Schlapp is the chairman of the American Conservative Union and is married to Mercedes Schlapp, the White House Director of Strategic Communications. In a fit of pique that threatened to burst a blood vessel, Schlapp offered a unique simile to illustrate his opinion of the Mueller indictments (video below):

“This is rather absurd. This is like Rocky and Bullwinkle kind of stuff. When I think of Russian collusion in our elections I am offended. I think it’s repulsive. Is this what it was? It was thirteen guys having some rallies?”

Boris and Natasha must be laughing their cartoon asses off. Schlapp’s attempt to trivialize these charges is an anguished plea for help. His first blatant cognitive lapse was to mistake that the thirteen indictments means there were only thirteen participants in the Russian operation. Rest assured that the White House, despite their outer dismissals, is not amused. These are serious violations of the law and they imply further legal jeopardy for the President and his crime family.

But never mind that. Reality is fungible to the goons who make up the Trump Defense League. This outburst by Schlapp is typical of the imprimatur that Fox News wants so badly to stamp on this affair. That’s why he goes unchallenged by guest host Mike Emanuel. Schlapp’s main point that the whole Russian espionage campaign was a silly plot devised by a small band of losers is a lie that is explicitly addressed in the indictment which states that hundreds of people were involved with an annual budget of millions of dollars:

“The ORGANIZATION employed hundreds of individuals for its online operations, ranging from creators of fictitious personas to technical and administrative support. The ORGANIZATION’s annual budget totaled the equivalent of millions of U.S. dollars.”

No one on Fox News corrected this material falsehood. Which explains why Fox News viewers are so clueless about the facts of pretty much any topic that is covered by Fox. The network deliberately misinforms their audience and leaves them to wallow in ignorance.

Schlapp continued with his disinformation rant by shifting the blame to the right’s favorite black president/villain saying that “Obama should have stopped it.” And he concluded by saying that undermining the foundation of our nation’s democracy “is not worth a year of the country’s time,” and that the charges are “ridiculous and not true.” He is so adamant in his arguments that you have to wonder if he is now serving as the defense counsel for the indicted Russians?

If so, Schlapp would have to take a backseat to Trump, who has been litigating the innocence of Putin’s spies for more than a year now. However, these indictments prove that Russian meddling in the 2016 election was not, as Trump whines, a hoax, or a witch hunt, or fake news. It is a cyberwar, and any complicity on the part of any American is treason.

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


Full video of the segment from Fox News can be seen here.

Trump’s GOP Chair on Mueller’s Indictments Against Russia: It’s Obama’s Fault (No, Really)

Posted by on February 16, 2018 at 3:30 pm. NO Comments :

The Office of the Special Counsel announced today that thirteen Russians have been indicted for crimes related to interference with elections in the United States. This is part of Robert Mueller’s investigation that has already produced indictments against Donald Trump associates Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, and George Papadopoulos (the latter two having pleaded guilty). This is a significant development that further exposes the unsavory connections between Russia and Trump.

Obama Trump Tweet

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Republicans leaped out in front of the story to accuse the real culprit in this affair: President Obama. That’s right, despite there being no mention of the former president or his activities in the indictments, the GOP wants to make sure that the American people will nevertheless hold him accountable. Ronna Romney McDaniel, the chairperson of the Republican National Committee, told Fox news (of course) this shortly after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made the announcement:

That is perhaps one of the most ludicrous diversions from reality that the loony-right has made – well, this hour. There’s much more looniness to come. But for the record, it was the Obama Justice Department and FBI that led the investigations into the Russian activities and supplied most of the evidence that Rosenstein cited in his indictment. There is an argument to made that these affairs should have been made public sooner, but the Obama administration maintained an abundance of caution so as not to influence the election themselves. That’s a worthy topic for debate. However, what is not debatable is Trump’s response to the indictments:

The fact that Russia began these operations before Trump’s candidacy only affirms that they have long been a hostile foreign entity who ought not to have been embraced as partners by the Trump campaign. Trump’s claim that the results of the election were not impacted is plainly false. All that Rosenstein said about that is there is no such allegation in this set of indictments. That’s not the same as saying it didn’t occur. It’s possible, even likely, that more indictments are still being prepared. Nevertheless, Trump reiterated his misreading of the indictments in an official statement saying that:

The President “is glad to see the Special Counsel’s investigation further indicates—that there was NO COLLUSION between the Trump campaign and Russia and that the outcome of the election was not changed or affected.”

Again, that is not what the indictments said. Particularly with regard to collusion. The indictments repeatedly refer to “the defendants and co-conspirators.” The co-conspirators are not identified at this time, but there are numerous references to contacts made by the Russian defendants and people in the Trump campaign. Contrary to the spin by Trump and Fox News, Bloomberg reports that “Mueller Still Investigating Possible Collusion, Source Says.” Trump is desperate to dismiss the apparent complicity of his campaign and thinks that simply saying it isn’t so will be enough to persuade his Deplorable base. And the GOP is similarly determined to advance that lie. Kayleigh McEnany, the RNC spokesperson tweeted that:

She must not recall that the election was on November eighth. And if it’s her contention that the Russian interference was directed against Trump rather than for him, she should read the indictment that says:

“Defendants posted derogatory information about a number of candidates, and by early to mid-2016, Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (‘Trump Campaign’) and disparaging Hillary Clinton.”

Finally, State-Run TV (aka Fox News) was playing its part in the Trump propaganda offensive. The RNC’s McEnany rushed over to the Fox studios to spew the party line in the minutes following Rosenstein’s announcement. Her frantic spin was that “Today marks the day that the Democrats’ Russia collusion conspiracy theory unraveled,” and that “Democrats deceived this country and they were caught today.” Seriously, that was the official GOP take on the news that Russia had interfered with the election of Donald Trump – a contention that he has repeatedly said was a hoax.

Now that Trump is apparently conceding that there was interference by the Russians, will he correct his previous denials and apologize? Will he finally implement the sanctions that Congress voted for overwhelmingly? Or will he continue shield his pal Vladimir Putin from any consequences for having tried to destabilize America’s democracy. It’s notable that his response to these new indictments is focused solely on how they affect him. He cries, falsely, that there is no collusion. But he doesn’t once acknowledge the harrowing allegations that Russia was meddling in our election in order to destabilize our democracy. Isn’t he, by oath, supposed to be protecting and defending the Constitution, not himself?

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

In summary, according to Trump and the GOP, the Russians worked against Trump. The indictments prove that there was no impact on the election and that there was no collusion on Trump’s part. And that it was all Obama’s fault anyway. The lesson that America truly needs to learn from all of this is to “Just say ‘No’ to drugs.” And let’s hope these Republican junkies get the help they so obviously need. Because if they aren’t high, then they have much more serious mental problems.

UPDATE: Sean Hannity boards the “It’s Obama’s fault” train. I’m shocked!