Month: April 2018

Zombie Obsessed Trump Keeps Saying Things Are ‘DEAD’ Even Though They Definitely Aren’t

Posted by on April 30, 2018 at 5:41 pm. 5 Comments :

There is something terribly wrong Donald Trump. Of course, that isn’t going shock most readers. Trump’s deranged mind and malignant narcissism are well known, and the acute symptoms are all too visible, even to lay persons. He acts out with tantrums and juvenile histrionics whenever he is criticized or doesn’t get his way. He’s worse than a colicky toddler who refuses to be ignored.

Donald Trump

However, there is another problem that has a more morbid quality. Whenever Trump gets a burr up his butt over something, he just lashes out declaring it dead. He thinks that his baseless declaration is sufficient to affirm the demise of whatever it is he’s opposed to. Unfortunately for him, that isn’t only untrue, it makes him look like a fool and a weakling who can’t achieve any goal except with meaningless ranting.

The latest incident of this psychosis is Trump’s assault on the White House Correspondents Dinner (WHCD). For the second year in a row he has been too afraid to show up himself, and instead organized a rally to assemble his most devoted disciples for an extended public ego-stroke. The dinner featured comedian Michelle Wolf’s stinging roast of Trump and his staff. She also hit liberals and the media, but none of that registered in Trump’s micro-focused brain. Having only absorbed whatever was about himself, Trump responded with predictable rage:

Of course, the WHCD is not dead at all. Every year there is a comic routine that is lambasted by snowflakes who can’t take a joke. And Trump’s reaction is particularly hypocritical considering his practice of disgusting insults and personal attacks. He is the definition of a “total disaster and an embarrassment,” and a far worse example since he is the President and not just a comedian.

As for his assertion that the WHCD is “dead,” that’s just another in a long line loopy death sentences from Dr. Trump. Here are a few of others that are just as delusional as the one above:


This came after Michael Cohen, his personal attorney, had his home and offices raided. There is no evidence of any breach of privilege, especially after Trump himself told Fox News that Cohen does only “a tiny, tiny, little fraction” of legal work for him.


First of all, it was Trump who tried to kill DACA by rescinding the executive action President Obama implemented. But it is alive and well because his rescission was struck down by federal courts.


In an effort to prop up his widely disparaged proposal for trade tariffs, Trump actually maligned some core industries of the American economy. While these industries are experiencing changes related to technology and global trade, they aren’t dead. But his tariffs could put an end to them.


Continuing to beat on this tattered drum, Trump still peddles his “Russian Collusion Hoax” theory that was last year’s PolitiFact “Lie of the Year.”


Despite his determined efforts, Trump has never managed to outright kill ObamaCare. He has repeatedly tried to sabotage it, with varying results. But it’s still firmly in place and popular.


OK. He got one right.


But he’s still way off on his attacks on the media. CNN is enjoying its highest ratings in years. And MSNBC is regularly beating Trump’s State-Run TV network, Fox News. Even the Washington Post and the “failing” New York Times are pulling in record revenues.

A lot of these crackpot outbursts can be traced back to an early comment Trump made at the beginning of his campaign. He actually proclaimed that “The American Dream Is Dead.” That one sort of encompasses all of the other death notices. And thankfully, Trump’s assessment of the nation is just as ludicrous as all of the other bleak projections he’s unfurled.

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

Conservative Leader Says ‘Journalists Shouldn’t Be the Ones to Say Trump is Lying’

Posted by on April 30, 2018 at 1:03 pm. 4 Comments :

America’s right-wing has distinguished itself as a vocal opponent of the free press and the First Amendment. For many decades they have made reporters a convenient foil for their failures and an object of their hatred. And today they are obediently following Donald Trump’s lead in casting the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the American people.”

Donald Trump

When Michelle Wolf performed a comedy routine at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday, the wrath of the right was triggered once again to malign her for going to far with her jokes. They were bitterly offended that she had the gall to call out Trump and his chief spokesperson, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, for repeatedly and brazenly lying to the public. Never mind that what Wolf said in jest on Saturday was nowhere near as offensive as what Trump says seriously every day. And his petty revenge rally held the same day as the WHCD provided several examples.

Among those outraged by Wolf was Matt Schlapp, TV talking head and the chairman of the American Conservative Union, which produces the annual Conservative Action Political Conference (CPAC). Schlapp, it should be noted, never bothered criticizing Trump for mocking a disabled reporter, or attacking Mika Brzezinski’s “bleeding face,” or grabbing women by the pussy, or any number of other atrocious remarks. But he couldn’t stop himself from complaining about Wolf’s completely valid criticism of Trump and Huckabee as liars. In an interview with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota (video below), Schlapp said that Wolf’s routine was beyond the pale, and that:

“We have big political disagreements in this country. And I thinbk it’s wrong for journalists to take that next step. And granted, she’s a comedian, but plenty of journalists do it as well – is they take the next step. Just present the facts. Let the American people decide if they think someone’s lying.

“Journalists shouldn’t be the ones to say that the President or his spokesperson is lying. Because what that does to fifty percent of the country is it makes them feel they are not credible to listen to.”

At risk of stating the obvious: Journalists should absolutely be the ones to say that the President or his spokesperson is lying. It is the express duty of reporters to present the facts at all times. And when any public official misrepresents or distorts the facts, they need to be corrected unambiguously. And it’s much more than just pointing out that a comment differs from reality. The honesty of our political representatives is a crucial part of democracy, and they shouldn’t be let off the hook when they lie.

Conservative journalists have never been shy about calling Democrats liars. They used the term when criticizing President Obama for saying about the Affordable Care Act that “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” They said Hillary Clinton lied about Benghazi. Trump himself accused Clinton (falsely) of lying under oath to the FBI. But suddenly it is now “beyond the pale” to point out Trump’s lies.

Perhaps the rightist snowflakes have to draw a line because of the unwieldy quantity of lies that Trump exudes. Admittedly, it is a huge burden to have to monitor his unrelenting mendacity. But it has to be done, and journalists are exactly the right people to do it. They have the facts at their disposable and a platform for setting the record straight. Which is why Trump and shills like Schlapp hate the press so much.

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

Trump Towering Inferno? National Enquirer Attacks President’s Attorney Michael Cohen

Posted by on April 29, 2018 at 2:37 pm. 1 Comments :

Everyday there are more indications that Donald Trump’s shoddily constructed shelter from the scandals enshrouding him is collapsing. His closest allies are abandoning him and his administration, or are being cast out by him unceremoniously. Trump ends up being protected by incompetents with the same set of sleazy principles that he embraces.

Donald Trump, National Enquirer

After the raid of the home and offices of Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney, the President set out to distance himself from his long-time friend and lawyer. He told the hosts of Fox and Friends that “Michael is a businessman, he’s got a business. He also practices law.” Continuing he said that prosecutors are “looking at something having to do with his business. I have nothing to do with his business.” And when asked by Steve Doocy what percentage of his legal work is handled by Cohen, Trump said it’s “a tiny, tiny, little fraction.”

That description of their relationship amounts to trump throwing Cohen under a freight train. Cohen’s lawyers had just argued in court that Trump was one of his primary clients, along with Sean Hannity. But Trump is calling him a liar. Hannity also called that a lie. These characters are purposefully fleeing from any suggestion that they are connected to Cohen. And the reasons have to do with what is expected to be uncovered in the items collected in the raid.

Now another prominent friend of Trump is bravely running away. The National Enquirer is a gossipy tabloid whose chairman, David Pecker, is a close friend of the President. It has reliably boosted Trump on its front page, and attacked his political foes. However, the headline on the latest issue is joining in the rapidly escalating disavowals of Cohen. It reads: “Trump Fixer’s Secrets and Lies!” The article says that:

Cohen “is under the spotlight, as scandals swirl around his boss, and some are questioning Cohen’s role, alleging blackmail, threats, hush-money payoffs – and even collusion with Russia. The president is in the hot seat because of his lawyer.”

Indeed he is. And he knows it. There is speculation that Cohen is likely to “flip” on Trump and tell the feds every little dirty detail that he knows. And having been the President’s consigliere for at least a decade, he knows a lot.

For the National Enquirer to publish such a damning story about a Trump ally is an astonishing turn of events. This is, after all, the magazine that paid former Playmate, and Trump mistress, Karen McDougal $150,000 for a story that they never published. That’s a tactic known as “catch and kill” that is used to bury negative news so that no other publisher can report it. Recent headlines from the Enquirer include fawning praise for Trump and brutal attacks on his enemies. For instance:

  • How I’m Cleaning Up Obama’s Mess
  • The Donald Trump Nobody Knows
  • Trump Takes Charge
  • FBI Plot To Impeach Trump
  • Obama’s Secret Plot To Impeach Trump
  • Trump Must Build The Wall
  • Proof Obama Wiretapped Trump
  • Trump Must Be Prez
  • Hillary: Six Months To Live
  • Hillary Framed Trump Family
  • Hillary Caught In Sex Scandal Cover Up
  • Hillary Going To Jail

So now the Enquirer is piling on Michael Cohen. This coincides with Trump’s blatant distancing himself from Cohen and nearly pretending that he hardly knows him. Trump is preparing for Cohen’s rumored intention to turn state’s evidence. He even posted a Twitter rant that implied that if Cohen sings, he will be lying. Trump said that “Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories.”

It appears rather likely that Cohen is going to turn on Trump and his pals at the Enquirer are helping to discredit him before his testimony is revealed. And seeing as how the paper has been such a dedicated Trump-fluffing comrade, it’s inconceivable that the Enquirer would have published a story like this without Trump’s knowledge and approval. Therefore, the ground must be shifting under both Cohen and Trump. And a legal earthquake may be about to shake things up. Stay tuned.

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

In Schizoid Speech, Trump Exposed His Son’s and Campaign’s Collusion With Russian Spy

Posted by on April 29, 2018 at 8:26 am. 2 Comments :

On Saturday America was treated to a pair of events that are best described as bizarre and controversial. It began with Donald Trump’s petty revenge for journalists throwing a party in Washington to celebrate the First Amendment. Too afraid to attend, Trump held another of his hate-mongering, ego-stroking, campaign-style rallies. Shortly thereafter, the White House Correspondents Dinner featured a routine by Michelle Wolf, something that frightens Trump and the GOP even more than journalists – comedy! And from a (gasp) woman!!!

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

The right will try to make Sunday all about Wolf’s admittedly raunchy routine. They’ll say it was vulgar and insulting. And they’ll manage to keep a straight face despite supporting a president who has made vulgar and insulting the hallmark of his public persona. It’s a core part of his appeal to his disciples who drooled over him at the Michigan rally.

Trump’s speech mainly covered familiar, and now tedious, territory with jabs at all of usual targets. But he didn’t fail to satisfy those hoping for new derangments of old numbers. On that score he offered up a threat to “close down the country” as if it were one of his bankrupt casinos. He also threatened Montana Senator Jon Tester with some unspoken, heinous secret that would end his political career.

But perhaps the most peculiar revelation in his address was his admission that his campaign – and specifically his son, Don Jr. – actually did collude with the Russians (video below). Although, true to form, he probably had no idea what the heck he was talking about. The confession came in a segment focusing on the collusion issue, when he blurted out:

“Have you heard about the lawyer? For a year a woman lawyer was like, ‘Oh, I know nothing, know nothing.’ Now all of a sudden she is supposedly involved with government. You know why? If she did that – because Putin and the group said, ‘You know, this Trump is killing us. Why don’t you say you’re involved with government so that we can go and make their life in the United States even more chaotic?

“Look at what’s happened. Look at how the politicians have fallen for this stuff. Russian collusion. Give me a break. The only collusion was the Democrats colluded with the Russians. And the Democrats colluded with lots of other people. Take a look at the intelligence agencies.”

Let’s break that down. Trump is saying that the Russian lawyer that we know had a meeting with Don, Jr. and other members of Trump’s campaign staff, was recently told by Vladimir Putin to say that she’s involved with the Russian Government. OK. So she’s taking orders from Putin. Which means that she IS involved with the Russian Government. Therefore, Don, Jr. and company DID collude with Russia by meeting with this admitted spy to discuss obtaining stolen Hillary Clinton emails in order to damage her campaign and boost Trump’s.

That’s Trump’s theory? One that incriminates himself, his campaign, and his family? He is so unfathomably stupid that he doesn’t realize that he just told America that his son conspired to help Russia subvert our democracy. And it doesn’t even matter if he knew at the time. Because if he didn’t, that just means he got played by Putin. And who’s to say he isn’t still getting played?

Are you listening to this, Robert Mueller? It’s really very simple. Trump previously confessed on national TV to obstruction of justice with the firing of James Comey. And now he’s admitting this collusion in a public, televised (by Fox News only, of course) congregation of true believers. What’s more, he follows that up by lashing out wildly at Democrats in a pathetic display of consciousness of guilt. How much more proof do we need than all of these admissions straight from the horse’s ass?

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

Trump’s Anti-WHCD Speech Was Even Crazier Than His Fox and Friends Freakout

Posted by on April 28, 2018 at 6:47 pm. NO Comments :

Donald Trump held another of his campaign style rallies on Saturday evening instead of attending the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, as almost every other president has done. The reason is his obvious fear of encountering real journalists, even in a friendly, social environment. So he fled to the safety of an auditorium full of his precious deplorables who he could depend on to stroke his fragile ego.

Donald Trump

The speech was fairly typical Trumpian blather that ran through his greatest hits like a Top 10 radio station. But following the catastrophically embarrassing spectacle he unleashed a few days ago on Fox News, the similarities are hard to ignore. The “interview” on Fox and Friends was really just a thirty minute psychotic episode by Trump that even the “Curvy Couch” potatoes were frantically trying to interrupt and put an end to before Trump totally flamed out.

They were too late. And now Trump has repeated that disaster before a live audience that was broadcast in its entirety on (only) Fox News. Trump rambled on incessantly, often making little sense, and frequently repeating his litany of lies that his disciples devour like famished piranha. What follows is just a taste of Trump’s latest deranged quotables:

On Immigration: “These people pouring across are votes for Democrats. They’re not voting for Republicans. A lot of times they don’t even know what they are doing or why they are doing it.”
Of course, undocumented immigrants are not voting for anybody. There has never been any credible evidence of such voting, even by Trump’s own disgraced (and disbanded) election integrity commission.

On Border Security: “And if we don’t have border security we have no choice. We’ll close down the country.”
We will? And how exactly will we do that? Under what authority?

On Education: “Nobody knows what a community college is.”
Except that everybody knows what a community college is. Whenever Trump says that nobody knows something, he means that he didn’t know it.

On Democrats: “A vote for a Democrat in November is a vote for open borders and crime.”
Trump often says that Democrats are pro-crime and supporters of illegal drugs and gangs. It’s an absurd charge that only affirms how delusional and hateful he is.

On Patriotism: “We’re going to be proud of America again.”
If a Democrat had said this the right-wingers would have gone completely berserk. In fact, when Michelle Obama talked about being proud of America, that’s just what the GOP did.

On Diversity: “Are there any Hispanics in the room? Not so many? That’s okay.”
He sounded so disappointed. You have to wonder whether he was asking so that he could have them deported.

On the V.A. Secretary Debacle: “I know things about (Sen. Jon) Tester that I could say too. And if I said them, he would never be elected again.”
Here we have Trump making vague accusations of some heinous secret that he doesn’t bother to back up. It’s pure McCarthyism.

On North Korean De-nuclearization: “One of the fake news groups this morning, they were saying “What do you think President Trump had to do with it?” How about everything?”
Setting aside that Trump is once again taking full credit for something he had little to do with, in this case it hasn’t even happened. And it may never happen.

Corey Lewandowski Speaks: “Thank you for supporting Donald Trump as our next president of the United States.”
“Our next president?” That shows how stuck these numbskulls are in campaign mode.

And finally, Trump bravely addressed the matter of Russian collusion in a way that would make any crackpot conspiracy theorist weep with admiration. He was attempting to dismiss news reports that the Russian lawyer who met with his son and other campaign operatives was actually a Kremlin spy. So he portrayed it all as a plot against him:

“She did that because Putin and the group said that ‘This Trump is killing us. Why don’t you say you’re involved in government so that we can go and make their life in the United States even more chaotic.'”
Having zero evidence of this wild claim didn’t stop Trump from feeding it to his hungry cult followers. And besides, what could possibly make Trump’s circus of pandemonium more chaotic?

The day after Trump melted down on Fox and Friends, Kellyanne Conway appeared on the same program to lavish praise on his ravings and even announce that he wants to come back every month to do the same thing. Ironically, Democrats want him to that also. But he apparently wasn’t waiting another month. Instead he booked this hall in Michigan and repeated the rhetorical mayhem all by himself. Can America really stand three more years of this?

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

Trump’s GOP: A Majority Embrace His Stalinist Rant that ‘the Media is the Enemy of the People’

Posted by on April 28, 2018 at 11:18 am. 2 Comments :

There are innumerable ways in which Donald Trump has damaged the United States during the last fifteen tumultuous months. Even setting aside his unsavory connections to Russia and his role in helping them subvert our democracy, Trump’s negative impact is historically catastrophic. It’s ironic that he repeatedly brags that he has done more in his first year than any other president. Because he’s right, although not in the way his narcissistic dementia leads him to believe.

Donald Trump GOP

Trump has brazenly ignored long-standing principles for financial conflicts of interest. He has terminated regulations that protect citizens from environmental harm, consumer abuse, healthcare, and workplace safety. He has promoted discrimination against vulnerable communities encompassing race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. He has recklessly dangled the prospect of war with nuclear powers like Iran and North Korea. He has violated laws associated with ethical governing and has been frequently repudiated by the federal courts. And he has generally lowered the standards for civil discourse with his infantile name-calling, insulting, bullying, slandering, and outright lying.

But nowhere in this morass of corruption and immorality has Trump been more destructive than with his hostility to the free press and the First Amendment. He has made attacking the media a core component of his march to authoritarian rule. His cries of “fake news” whenever any journalist dares to report facts that he doesn’t like ring out across the landscape of the deplorable disciples that he cultivates. And it’s having an overtly dangerous effect on the national political environment.

A new poll by Quinnipiac asked voters this question: “Which comes closer to your point of view: the news media is the enemy of the people, or the news media is an important part of democracy?” The response by all respondents shows that a majority consider the media to be “an important part of democracy” (66 -22 percent). And while that 44 point difference is significant, it’s still frighteningly low. But it was brought down by one particular group of respondents. A majority of Republicans (51%) said that the media is “the enemy of the people.” No other demographic sector came anywhere close to that.

The phrasing of the question was clearly designed to elicit support or opposition to Trump’s infamous disparagement of the press. He has frequently called the media “the enemy of the people” in his rallies and public statements. It’s a concept he borrowed from dictators like Joseph Stalin. But the fact that it has caught on with so many Republican voters is more than a little disturbing. It indicates that Trump is successfully infecting a segment of the population with an ideology that is flagrantly anti-American. And worse – it’s pro-totalitarian dictatorship.

Fortunately, other results from the survey are more comforting:

  • Voters trust the media more than Trump to tell the truth about important issues: 53 – 37 percent.
  • The vast majority of voters say that Trump should not fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller: 74 – 13 percent (including 59 – 25 percent among Republicans).
  • More people believe James Comey than Trump: 54 – 35 percent.
  • More voters believe that the Russian government has compromising information about President Trump: 53 – 35 percent.
  • American voters disapprove of the job Scott Pruitt is doing as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: 52 – 25 percent.

Still, that doesn’t absolve the Republican Party from embracing a despicable philosophy that denigrates the press and disrespects the Constitution. If they have problems with the media they should seek to reform and/or improve it, while still cherishing its ideals. Their position that it’s an opponent of democracy casts it as something that needs to be defeated and done away with. And that makes them the real foes of democracy.

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

After Manic Meltdown on Fox and Friends, Trump Says He Wants to Come Back Once a Month

Posted by on April 27, 2018 at 1:24 pm. NO Comments :

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result, then Donald Trump is institutionalizing insanity as a standard operating doctrine for his presidency. Throughout his term in office he has stubbornly clung to blatant lies and policy proposals that defy logic or reason, even after he has been apprised of the errors in his alleged thinking.

Fox News, Kellyanne Conway

On Thursday morning Trump called in to Fox News to frantically unravel in a half hour interview – or more accurately, a frothing tantrum – with his fawning Fox and Friends. In the course of the spectacle, Trump admitted that he lied about how long he was Russia; threw his lawyer, Michael Cohen, under a freight train; contradicted his prior claim that he knew nothing about the Stormy Daniels affair; threatened to interfere with Justice Department activities and personnel; declared James Comey guilty of something or other; and lashed out at Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and, of course, the media. He was so deranged that the hosts actually struggled to interrupt his extended outburst and eventually cut him off.

The consensus reaction to the segment from across the media was that Trump was “unhinged,” “shocking,” “bonkers,” “bizarre,” “jaw-dropping,” “unwieldy,” “crazy,” “surreal.” And those were the more diplomatic descriptions. It was so awful that retired Four Star US Army General Barry McCaffrey tweeted that he is “Worried about health of Pres Trump.” Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’ attorney, said that “the President should appear on Fox and Friends every morning.” And he just might get his wish.

Trump’s White House counselor, Kellyanne Conway, visited Fox and Friends on Friday morning and the subject of Trump’s appearance the day before naturally came up. Ordinarily it wouldn’t be surprising for a paid shill to fiercely defend the President, but under these circumstances it might have been better to let the memory of this public breakdown subside. Instead, Conway doubled down in a bigly way. After conceding that Trump is “a tough act to follow with yesterday’s interview,” the creator of “alternate facts” proceeded directly to her alternate universe (video below):

Conway: The president had a great time bringing his case directly to the American people, as he does on social media and in these bilateral Q & A’s certainly at the south lawn, and in the press pool sprays, and with other interviews. And the president has said that he would like to, perhaps, come once a month and as news breaks.
Doocy: Wait. Come to Fox and Friends once a month? (Giggling and clapping) WOW!
Kilmeade: Alright. Fantastic. That’d be great.
Conway: He said he’d like to replicate that on pretty much a monthly basis. And you know, back in the private sector he was on every week. Every Monday.

Indeed. Trump did have a weekly call-in segment on Fox and Friends, prior to seeking the presidency, called “Mondays with Trump.” It was the launching pad that Fox News provided for Trump’s future political campaign. But after Thursday’s debacle, it’s unfathomable how anyone could suggest that they would want to “replicate” that epic embarrassment. Only in Trump World could someone get a pie in the face, slip on a banana peel, into a pile of manure, with their pants falling down, and think “Gee, we should do this once a month.”

Also during Trump’s interview, he gave himself an A+ for his performance in office. It’s that sort of self-delusion that makes it possible for him and his disciples to pretend that a nationally broadcast catastrophe was a huge PR success. But if he is determined to have a regular gig at Fox again, he should know that there’s a lot of support for him to do that – among Democrats. Go for it, Donnie.

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

Mueller Will Find that Trump Committed Criminal or Impeachable Offenses Says – a Fox News Poll?

Posted by on April 26, 2018 at 4:26 pm. NO Comments :

Donald Trump has turned his seething hostility for the media into a familiar chant that anything critical of him is “fake news.” Simultaneously, he has relentlessly hyped his pals at State-Run TV (aka Fox News). One of the best examples of that was seen Thursday morning when Trump called in to Fox and Friends for a half hour of tongue bathing.

Fox News Trump

However, it will be hard for Trump to dismiss the results of a new poll that puts him in a decidedly negative light. Otherwise known in the rest of the media as a realistic assessment of his floundering presidency. The new poll is by Fox News, and it has very little for which Trump can supply his usual narcissistic boasting.

To begin with, Trump’s approval rating is a pitiful forty-four percent. That’s down a point from last month’s poll. Likewise, his disapproval rose a point to fifty-three percent. He’s underwater on specific issues like Immigration, Syria, and Russia. And he’s treading water on the economy and North Korea. More specifically on the economy, survey results say that fifty-seven percent of voters say that Trump’s economic policies only help “people with more money.”

With regard to Trump’s unsavory connections to Russia, several question were asked that don’t bode well for the President. For instance, A majority of fifty-one percent say that Trump has not been tough enough on Russia. A plurality of forty-nine percent say that it’s extremely or very important that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia should continue. Only twenty-nine percent say that it should not. Fifty-six percent say that it is at least somewhat likely that Mueller’s investigation will find that Donald Trump committed criminal or impeachable offenses. More worrisome is that seventy-one percent think Trump will fire Mueller before the investigation is complete. It’s clear the American people are concerned that Trump might interfere with an investigation that they believe will show Trump to be a criminal.

Finally, many Trump supporters are fond of defending his belligerence, his disrespect for the institutions of government and the media, his infantile insults and divisiveness, his brazen and repeated lying, as just the consequences of an outsider whose mission is to turn Washington upside down and “drain the swamp.” However, on the question as to whether the disruption Trump brought to Washington is a good or bad thing, a plurality of forty-six percent said that it’s bad.

Trump’s practice under these circumstances is to ignore any news that falls short of fawning adoration. So even though this poll was produced by the only news network he respects, he will certainly pretend that it doesn’t exist. Just as he has ignored the latest results of his favorite pollster, Rasmussen. Ten days ago Trump tweeted proudly that he had cracked fifty-one percent. Since then he has dropped to forty-seven percent. And that’s still higher than the consensus numbers complied by RealClear Politics, which show an average approval of 41.8 percent.

Expect these numbers to decline further as Trump continues to embarrass himself with more public meltdowns. And expect him to ignore those declines, except to get even more frantic and unhinged as he realizes the walls are closing in around him.

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

Psycho Trump Goes on Fox and Friends to Prove Conclusively that Fox News is State-Run TV

Posted by on April 26, 2018 at 2:02 pm. 7 Comments :

In the past fifteen months Donald Trump has provided abundant evidence that he is an unqualified fruitcake with crackpot tendencies. His mental health has been plausibly questioned by professionals in the psychiatric field. Much of that evidence came straight from his speeches and the few interviews he has given to friendly media. But on Thursday morning on Fox News he really outdid himself.

Fox and Friends

Trump was actually returning to his roots with a call-in interview on Fox and Friends, Prior to seeking the presidency Trump had a regular spot on the program called “Mondays with Trump.” So with this homecoming he should have been expected to feel comfortable with the “Curvy Couch” potatoes who helped launch his political career. The problem is that he may have felt too comfortable.

This was not so much an interview as a half hour of unbridled lunacy, with Trump lashing out at every perceived enemy that came to mind. He blasted Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, James Comey, the Justice Department, Democrats, the Mueller investigation, and, of course, the “fake” news. If he were a transient on a downtown corner spouting off like this he would have been picked up and taken to the nearest psyche ward. It was an unprecedented and frightening spectacle.

The entire segment is worth watching if you have a strong stomach. In parts he admitted to previous lies, like how long he was Russia. He also contradicted a prior statement about his knowledge of Michael Cohen’s hush money payout to Stormy Daniels. In fact, pretty much played the “Michael who?” card by saying that the man who has been his personal attorney for years did very little legal work for him. It took federal prosecutors just a couple of hours for that statement to become testimony in pending litigation. And Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, reacted gleefully to the interview by saying that “I think the President should appear on Fox and Friends every morning.”

Perhaps the loopiest part of this unhinged departure from sanity was when Trump went on an extended rant against the media. It was a sight to behold. Equal parts hostility toward legitimate journalists and unswerving devotion to Fox News. This is incontrovertible proof that Trump and Fox have sworn a blood oath of loyalty (video below):

Trump: The people have to understand how dishonest the news is. And in all fairness to Fox, you guys don’t always treat me great. But you treat me fairly. It’s not like Fox is perfect for me. They’re not. They’re tough. But at least it’s fair. When you look at some of the others, you look at CNN, they’ll have a council of seven people, and of the seven people, every one of them is against me. I’m saying where do they even find these people?
Kilmeade: I’m not your doctor Mr. President, but I would recommend you watch less of them.
Trump: I don’t watch them at all.
Doocy: That makes it easy.

Trump thinks that Fox News is tough on him? No wonder he won’t be interviewed by anyone else. He’s frozen with fear of real questions that would require intelligence and thoughtful analysis to answer. That’s why he has not had a solo press conference in over a year. And he hasn’t given an interview to an unfriendly network in nearly as long.

It’s startling that he thinks that CNN’s political panels are all anti-Trumpers. Apparently he missed the sycophantic stylings of Jason Miller, Paris Dennard, Jack Kingston, Kayleigh McEnany, Ken Cuccinelli, Mike Shields, Ben Ferguson, etc. I’m also saying “Where do they even find these people.” And it’s cute that Brian Kilmeade suggests that Trump watch less of CNN and, presumably, more of Fox. But Trump seems to be way ahead of him. However, his assertion that he doesn’t watch CNN at all flies in the face of his own comments.

Trump: I watched last night, I tell you why. I watched leakin’, lyin’, Comey last night, and I hated to do it. You know, one of the reasons people say “You’re still lookin’ good, Mr. President. How do you do it?” Well, one of the things I’ve been able to do, which is something I never thought I had the ability – I would always watch – when I was – frankly now I don’t have time for two reasons: There’s too much, and I don’t have time.

Who is telling Trump that he looks good? That’s just cruel. But it’s interesting that Trump has two reasons that he doesn’t have time to watch CNN, and one of them is that he doesn’t have time.

Trump: But I would watch, whether it’s good or bad, I would always watch. I have an ability – I don’t watch NBC anymore. They’re as bad as CNN. I don’t – and by the way, I made them a fortune with The Apprentice. Think of that one.
Doocy: Your alma mater.
Trump: No, but I made them a fortune. You would think that these guys would treat me great. I made them a fortune, so they treat me horribly. And they treat me falsely.

Trump seems to believe that if the entertainment division of a media corporation earns money from his program, the news division is obligated to report only positive stories. Like everything else in Trump’s life, he thinks he can just buy the kind of coverage he wants. And the Fox News hosts didn’t disagree with him.

Trump: But just one thing, I don’t watch things that I can put it out of my mind. And I never, ever thought that that would be possible. And you know what that does? It keeps you on the ball. It keeps you – you keep your sanity. And it works very well. But last night I did watch a liar, leaker and his performance, by the way, was horrible.

Somewhere in this word salad of Trumpian blathering he thinks he represents a sane man simply observing the media. Or not doing so, as he is now insisting. He even expects people to believe that he can put negative news out of his mind. And if this interview is supposed to be an example of that, he really is out of his mind.

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

Thanks to Donald Trump the U.S. Falls to 45th Place in the World Press Freedom Index

Posted by on April 25, 2018 at 12:12 pm. 3 Comments :

There is no question that Donald Trump is a bitter enemy of of press freedom and the Constitution’s First Amendment. He has relentlessly maligned the media in an attempt to persuade his followers that he is the only source of truthful information about the government and his administration. It’s a tactic that has been favored by authoritarian tyrants throughout history.

Donald Trump Censorship

Now Reporters Without Borders has released their latest annual study on international press freedom. The World Press Freedom Index is a ranking of the status of the media around the world. The study asserts that threats to press freedom and to journalists are growing, and warns that “hostility towards the media” is “openly encouraged by political leaders.” And the study’s opening paragraphs are clear about the sources of these escalating threats:

“More and more democratically-elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracy’s essential underpinning, but as an adversary to which they openly display their aversion. The United States, the country of the First Amendment, has fallen again in the Index under Donald Trump, this time two places to 45th. A media-bashing enthusiast, Trump has referred to reporters as ‘enemies of the people,’ the term once used by Joseph Stalin.”

Trump’s attacks are are rooted in his seething fear that honest journalism will educate the public about his incompetency and criminality. So he has taken to calling any reporting that is critical of him “fake news”. While most Americans see through this infantile name-calling, his base of “Deplorables” devour it with an all-consuming ignorance and cultish devotion.

Trump has no regard for the harm he is doing to the nation and the world, whose dictators have adopted the Trump model for destroying the press. The study notes these threats as it goes into deeper detail with descriptions of the dangerous hostility that Trump holds for the the media that he is determined to undermine. What follows is the section of the study that focuses on the United States and its media-hating leader:

“In 2017, the 45th President of the United States helped sink the country to 45th place by labeling the press an ‘enemy of the American people’ in a series of verbal attacks toward journalists, attempts to block White House access to multiple media outlets, routine use of the term ‘fake news’ in retaliation for critical reporting, and calling for media outlets’ broadcasting licenses to be revoked. President Trump has routinely singled out news outlets and individual journalists for their coverage of him, and retweeted several violent memes targeting CNN.

The violent anti-press rhetoric from the White House has been coupled with an increase in the number of press freedom violations at the local level as journalists run the risk of arrest for covering protests or simply attempting to ask public officials questions. Reporters have even been subject to physical assault while on the job.

Press freedom violations in the country of the First Amendment in fact have become so frequent of late that RSF joined a coalition of more than two dozen press freedom organizations to launch the US Press Freedom Tracker in August, which documented 34 arrests of journalists in 2017, the majority while covering protests (find out more on the tracker).”

This study is just the latest verification of how destructive Trump’s anti-media mission is, and the scale with which it produces tangible harm. He has previously been cited as an an unprecedented threat to press freedom by the Committee to Protect Journalists. And he isn’t getting any better with time. He just sent out a fundraising email that explains his decision not to attend the White House Correspondent’s Dinner this weekend. It should be noted that this is an annual event for charity that almost always features the sitting president, who joins in the lighthearted roast. But Trump whined to his donors, “Why would I want to be stuck in a room with a bunch of fake news liberals who hate me?”

Trump’s gnawing loathing for the press is also apparent in his avoidance of any scrutiny by independent journalists. He has not had a solo press conference in over a year. The only one he has held as President was shortly after his inauguration. Nor has he submitted to an interview with anyone other than friendly “news” outlets like Fox News and the Christian Broadcasting Network in nearly a year.

Unfortunately for our frightened president, his cowardice has been noticed by the majority of America’s citizens. They understand that a leader who is afraid to face the press is not a leader at all. Consequently, surveys that asked who the people trust more – the media or Trump – consistently show that the people have greater trust for the media than for the spineless cretin temporarily occupying the White House. And that, at least, is a hopeful sign for the future.

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