Month: April 2018

Was EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt Ambushed on Fox News Under Orders From Donald Trump?

Posted by on April 5, 2018 at 12:03 pm. 2 Comments :

Every now and then somebody on Fox News strays from the herd and does or says something critical of Donald Trump. It’s a rare event that is mostly confined to outliers like Shepard Smith or a courageous guest. In most cases it is treated as the aberration that it is and quickly buried under the rush of Fox’s typical pro-Trump propaganda.

Fox News, Scott Pruitt, EPA

On Wednesday, however, the criticism came from an unlikely source. Ed Henry, the chief national correspondent for Fox News, interviewed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, Scott Pruitt (video below). In what Pruitt must have assumed would be a friendly media encounter, he was surprised by the aggressive tone of Henry’s inquiries. The questions addressed some of the most controversial scandals that have erupted during his tenure at the EPA.

Henry asked Pruitt why he went around Trump to give two top aides raises after the President refused the request. When Pruitt said that it was staffers who did that and that he didn’t know anything about it, Henry pushed back asking Pruitt to confirm that he didn’t know what was going on in the department he was supposedly running.

Henry also asked how renting a Washington, D.C. apartment at sweetheart rates from the wife of a lobbyist with business before the EPA was “draining the swamp.” Pruitt replied that there was nothing untoward about the arrangement. So Henry offered examples demonstrating that his $50.00 a night rental was way out of line with Washington rates for residences or hotels.

This appearance of actual journalism at Fox News is peculiar in general, but downright bizarre for Ed Henry.. He is one of the most squishy Trump-fluffers on Fox News. He is a frequent co-host of Trump’s favorite Fox show, Fox and Friends. There was a time in the past when Henry passed himself off as a straight-up reporter. But then he was suspended by Fox for having had an extramarital affair. When he returned to the air it was like he had been given a new mission to serve as a Trump sycophant. Perhaps it was the price of his reinstatement.

So why would Henry suddenly show some gumption and take on Trump’s EPA boss? The most plausible theory is that he was ordered to do so. And those orders could only have come from one place: Donald Trump. Fox wouldn’t independently direct Henry to go on the attack. They would have to have had instructions. And Trump has reasons to want Pruitt to look bad in public. With the scandals he has brought to the White House, including ludicrous spending for things like first-class air travel and a $40,000.00 secure phone booth in his office, Trump might be looking for excuses to fire him.

The signs are cropping up throughout the White House. When asked about Pruitt’s status Wednesday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it was “under review.” Deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley was similarly non-committal saying that he “can’t speak to the future of Scott Pruitt.” It sounds very much like Trump’s people are bailing on Pruitt. They would not do that without permission. Nor would Fox News. So it would be interesting to find out if there were any communications between Trump and his State-run TV network that directed Henry to filet Pruitt. He has been meeting with Fox Newsers much more in recent weeks, which suggests that their already close relationship is getting even closer.

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

Court: Bill O’Reilly Can’t Suppress Past Sexual Harassment Settlements – Trump Should Be Worried

Posted by on April 4, 2018 at 1:40 pm. NO Comments :

Disgraced former Fox News shill, Bill O’Reilly, has been reduced to running a little-visited video blog. His ranting is identical to the fact-averse garbage he spewed on Fox, but is only seen by a few hundred of Billo’s deadenders. For the most part he is too insignificant to bother reporting about. However, a recent court ruling could have ramifications that far exceed his puny reach.

Bill O'Reilly, Donald Trump

A federal court just ruled on a motion by O’Reilly to suppress his past sexual harassment settlements. The court ruled against O’Reilly’s motion to seal the settlement agreements he had previously imposed on multiple women who accused him of harassment. As CNN reported:

“Deborah Batts, the judge presiding over the defamation suit, ruled Tuesday that O’Reilly ‘has failed to present compelling countervailing factors that could overcome the presumption of public access’ to the agreements. Batts also said O’Reilly ‘has not even come close to rebutting this First Amendment presumption’ that favors public access to documents.”

It is likely that as a result of this, details of O’Reilly’s abusive behavior that were not known before will become public as this defamation suit proceeds. Not that that will have much impact on his perception by most Americans who already know that he’s a sleazeball. But the decision foreshadows circumstances that are certainly going to arise for Donald Trump.

Trump is also being sued for defamation by women who allege sexual harassment and/or abuse. Adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who has been litigating to rescind a Trump non-disclosure agreement, recently amended her suit to include allegations of defamation by Trump and his attorney, Michael Cohen. In addition, former Apprentice contestant, Summer Zervos, filed a lawsuit charging that Trump defamed her in the course of denying her allegation of sexual assault. Two weeks ago a judge denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the case.

In both the Daniels and Zervos suits, the defamation consisted of Trump’s public remarks disparaging his accusers as liars. So whether or not these women prevail in court rests on their ability to provide evidence that their assertions are true. Both have already demonstrated that that won’t be a problem. What’s more, there are at least a dozen other women who could file similar complaints.

Trump has adamantly denied that he engaged in any sexually inappropriate behavior. But he went further than that to declare himself the victim and his accusers of perpetrating “one of the great political smear campaigns in the history of our country.” Those comments, which were aimed at all of his accusers, are unambiguously defamatory. And he even threatened to file lawsuits himself:

“Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign. Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”

The ruling in the O’Reilly case portends the legal peril that Trump faces for his own abusive conduct. And his public, self-incriminating statements only make matters worse. It could mean that many of the allegations against him will be aired more fully as these lawsuits proceed. And finally the women he victimized will get the justice due them, and our Sexual-Predator-in-Chief will face the consequences of being a reprehensible jackass. For some idea of just how disgusting Trump is, watch the video below of the women he assaulted describing their ordeals.

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.

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

Sucks To Be Trump: More Americans Trust the ‘Fake’ News than the President

Posted by on April 3, 2018 at 12:01 pm. 7 Comments :

It’s always easy to tell when Donald Trump is frightened by the political and legal perils he encounters. His first reaction is predictably to grab his phone and tweet out incoherent rants. They might be about issues he incompetently tries to advance, or about people he perceives as enemies. But often it’s about the media that he despises for doing their job.

Donald Trump

Most of the time Trump disparages the free press in a transparent attempt to inoculate himself from criticism. It’s a pathetic spectacle that everyone can see through, but worse, it’s anti-democratic. Sometimes he goes on the attack just to convince himself that he is loved by the American people, despite reality. On Tuesday morning Trump did the latter with a tweet lauding his alleged popularity:

Let’s just set aside the baseless and deranged “Cheatin’ Obama” crap (who cheats more than Trump? Ask any of his three wives) and focus on the substance. Rasmussen is one of the most egregiously biased pollsters, well known for skewing their results to favor Republicans and conservatives. So Trump’s numbers in this poll are unreliable and far outside the range of every other pollster. The RealClear Politics average for Trump currently shows an approval of 41.8 percent, disapproval 53.2 percent. That negative 11.4 percent gap averages the latest twelve surveys. Rasmussen is the only pollster who gives Trump a positive (+1) rating. The next closest is Fox News, whose number (-7) is not exactly something to brag about. No poll (except for Rasmussen) gives Trump a rating higher than 45 percent. Gallup has his approval at only 39 percent.

It’s also notable that since Trump posted his tweet, even the Rasmussen numbers have become negative, flipping to 50 disapprove. That’s one of the risks of depending on polls for your self-esteem. They change. Nevertheless, Trump is likely still wallowing in his delusional state of magnificence. However, by tweeting “Thank you to Rasmussen,” he is demonstrating that he doesn’t know what polls are. They are not favors to the subjects of the surveys and it’s peculiar to thank them for their results. Well, maybe Rasmussen is an exception to that as well.

UPDATE: Two days later, Trump dips again in Rasmussen poll. He’s now at 47% approve, 51% disapprove, with 41% strongly disapprove.

Another survey that was released Monday was from Monmouth University and covered the public view of Trump and the media. Like other polls before it, Monmouth found that Americans trust the media more than they do Donald Trump. That’s gotta sting the President who has been striving furiously to turn the nation against the press. The detail shows that 48 percent of Americans trust CNN more than Trump (35% trust Trump more). Forty-five percent trust MSNBC more than Trump (32% for Trump). Even 30 percent trust Fox News more than Trump (20% for Trump). Although the Fox numbers also show that a plurality of 37 percent trust both equally. This affirms that Trump’s base is still immovably stuck in the low thirties.

There are some other interesting results in this survey. Notably the fact that most Americans believe that the media, at least occasionally, reports “fake” news. And many them believe that it is done deliberately “in order to push an agenda.” That’s indicative of the harm done by a leader who has no respect for the free press and seeks to delegitimize journalism generally in order to escape accountability. But it also makes Trump’s trust levels even worse in context. The American people still trust the media more than Trump even though they think that what the media reports is occasionally fake. Which means that they think Trump is even more fake. Let’s see if he tweets anything about that.

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

Donald Trump, Who Has No Time for TV, Thinks It’s ‘So Funny to Watch Fake News Networks’

Posted by on April 2, 2018 at 3:57 pm. 4 Comments :

The most anti-media president in the history of the country is once again attacking the free press. Donald Trump spent Monday morning posting racist tweets filled with lies about immigration and DACA, but that’s another story. In the midst of his tantrum he couldn’t help inserting a tweet reaffirming his aversion to the press and propping up a media enterprise that rivals Fox News for its sycophantic propagandizing.

Donald Trump

The tweet in question was utterly devoid of any factual information. It was wholly an effort to defend Sinclair Broadcasting, a right-wing tool of the administration and the GOP. Sinclair recently distributed a script to its nearly 200 stations nationwide that they forced their anchors to recite. And the folks at Deadspin put together a video collage of the groupthink editorial that went ultra-viral (video below). So of course Trump had to drop whatever he was doing (golfing? tweeting? Watching Fox News? Certainly not working) and come to Sinclair’s defense. He tweeted:

Yeah, it was hysterical. It’s always a laugh riot to see what happens when fascist media outlets order their employees to read Goebbels-inspired, Trump-approved doctrine against their will. Many of the Sinclair anchors were repulsed by the mandatory script, but fearing retribution, could only say so anonymously. One troubled reporter did however make his displeasure known in a tweet:

In case you didn’t notice, that’s a reporter from a local station in Los Angeles that’s owned by Fox News. Let that sink in. A Fox News reporter is disgusted by Sinclair for pushing biased garbage. That’s how low Sinclair has sunk with their latest homage to Dear Leader Trump. It isn’t exactly a tribute to the First Amendment. Or as comedian John Oliver says:

“Nothing says we value independent media like dozens of reporters forced to repeat the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult.”

The President’s tweet may aim to support Sinclair’s journalistic integrity, but it’s actually additional proof that Sinclair is a mouthpiece for the administration. Any reputable news enterprise would find it distinctly uncomfortable to be hailed for their supplication to a political leader. That’s not their job. Real journalists are dedicated to covering government aggressively to root out corruption and self-dealing. Fox News has made a name for itself as the nation’s top Trump-fluffer and, consquently, isn’t taken seriously by their journalistic peers. Sinclair is now attempting to challenge Fox to see who adores the President more.

What’s peculiar about Trump’s tweet (besides everything about it) is that it indicates that he watches a significant amount of what he calls “fake” news. He explicitly says that watching CNN and NBC News is “funny” to him. But he still has time available to watch Sinclair broadcasts which he praises as “superior.” Which raises questions about his remarks earlier this year wherein he insisted that:

“Believe it or not, even when I’m in Washington or New York, I do not watch much television. People that don’t know me, they like to say I watch television — people with fake sources. You know, fake reporters, fake sources. But I don’t get to watch much television. Primarily because of documents. I’m reading documents. A lot.”

That contradicts what White House insiders told The New York Times. They say that Trump spends at least four hours a day watching TV, and sometimes as much as eight hours. The evidence of that is often demonstrated by Trump’s Twitter feed. It is full of instances where he’s tweeting about something that he just watched on Fox and Friends. Plus, he is in frequent communication with Fox News shills like Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro. And that’s not even counting the Fox yakkers who Trump has appointed to White House jobs.

UPDATE: Trump continued his tantrum on Tuesday with another unhinged tweet:

Says the Liar-In-Chief. Honest observers of the media know that the only fake news networks that “knowingly have a sick and biased AGENDA” are Fox News, Sinclair, and their ilk. But it’s typical of Trump to accuse others of what he and his pals are guilty.

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

For your viewing pleasure via Deadspin: How America’s largest local TV owner turned its news anchors into soldiers in Trump’s war on the media.

Hellbound? Donald Trump Blatantly Lies Before Entering His Easter Sunday Church Service

Posted by on April 1, 2018 at 2:20 pm. 3 Comments :

The support that Donald Trump gets from the allegedly Christian faithful has always been peculiar and illustrative of a unique brand of hypocrisy. Trump may be the most flagrantly irreligious person to ever occupy the White House. He insists that he doesn’t have to ask God’s forgiveness because he doesn’t do anything wrong. He can’t cite a single bible verse when asked, and can’t explain the ones that are inserted into his prepared speeches. And his entire agenda goes against everything that the historical Jesus stands for.

Donald Trump Messiah

On this Easter Sunday, Trump, wife Melania, and nearly forgotten daughter Tiffany, attended church near his Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. On the way into this holiest of holidays service, Trump stopped to answer a few question from reporters. Everyone knows by now that the truth is a foreign concept to this president. But outside of church, prior to a celebration of one’s savior rising from the dead, ought to cause one to think twice before lying to the entire nation – again. But not Trump. Replying to a question about DACA (video below) he said that…

“A lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA. And we’re gonna have to see. They had a great chance. The Democrats blew it. They had a great, great chance. But we’ll have to take a look.”

Either Trump still has no idea what DACA is or he simply doesn’t care about spewing obvious falsehoods. It’s a given that his supporters won’t catch the lies in that comment, but God probably will. First of all, DACA recipients must have been living in the U.S. continuously since 2007, and had to be sixteen or younger when they entered. No new arrivals would be covered by DACA or any of the immigration bills Republicans in Congress have already rejected.

As for those bills, after originally saying he would sign whatever bipartisan legislation Congress sent him, he reversed himself and refused to back any of the congressional bills. So it wasn’t Democrats who “blew” their chance. They cooperated with their colleagues, but Trump reneged on his promise. And it should not go unnoticed that it was Trump who killed DACA in the first place and he could reinstate it at any time if he wanted to. Earlier in the day Trump tweeted some of the same lies about DACA that he told the reporters at church:

In addition to his misrepresentation of Democrats and DACA, the President referred to a “Catch and Release” law that doesn’t actually exist. If the border patrol isn’t allowed to do its job, it’s because of Trump, to whom they report. And Trump’s choice of Easter as the day to proclaim that the DACA deal is dead confirms his callous insensitivity. Then there’s his curious talk about “caravans” of immigrants pouring into the country, which was totally unsubstantiated. Plus, it was taken verbatim from Fox and Friends forty minutes earlier. And the good Lord knows that Fox News can’t be trusted to tell the truth either. Case in point, they posted this tweet Easter morning:

Let’s set aside that this is hardly a newsworthy scoop that Fox had to rush out to their dimwitted audience. Or that they didn’t post any tweets of Nancy Pelosi or other Democrats wishing everyone a Happy Easter. What’s interesting about this is that the photo is of the Trump Klan on Easter of 2017. Apparently Fox News couldn’t find a picture of the Trumps celebrating the holiday this year (because there isn’t one), so they dredged up an old one to make it look like Trump was joining America in this year’s celebration.

Most of the country is already aware of – and fed up with – the lying from both Trump and Fox News. But if you thought that they might refrain from being so shamelessly dishonest on this of all days, you would be wrong. They have no shame, and they obviously don’t care who knows it.

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

Donald Trump Fires His Daughter Ivanka In An Easter Sunday Staffing Rebirth

Posted by on April 1, 2018 at 10:19 am. 2 Comments :

Virtually every alleged achievement that Donald Trump talks about is portrayed as the greatest accomplishment of its kind in the history of the world. Needless to say, that is never actually true. However, there is something that Trump could claim as record-setting if he were of a mind to. That’s the pace at which he has lost members of his administration, from cabinet secretaries to personal assistants. The people he touted as “the best” have scattered like leaves in a hurricane.

Ivanka Trump

Now the President has made what may be the most surprising personnel decision since his inauguration. His daughter Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner, have been exiled from their White House posts, according to sources familiar with the situation. Insiders say that Trump was generally satisfied with the progress (or deliberate lack thereof) on the projects that were assigned to them. But he was infuriated by comments that Ivanka has made to the press in recent weeks. For instance:

  • During the Alabama Senate special election, Ivanka appeared to criticize Republican Roy Moore saying that “There is a special place in hell for people who prey on children.”
  • In remarks that could easily be attributed to her father’s record of serial sexual harassment and assault she said “I have no reason to doubt the victims’ accounts.”
  • Speaking about the GOP tax bill, Ivanka said “I’m really looking forward to doing a lot of traveling in April when people realize the effect that this has.” That was interrupted by Trump as meaning that she wanted to get out of town so she wouldn’t have to answer difficult questions about why it failed to help anyone.
  • For some inexplicable reason Trump saw this comment as whining: “There is a level of viciousness [in the media] I was not expecting.”
  • And this sentiment may have been the most maddening of all: “I really try to avoid getting drawn into politics. […] I care more about the country than politics.” Trump is adamant that all of his team put his political interests above everything else. Ivanka crossed a line here.

In addition to those blunders, Ivanka also made an unforgivable error on Twitter last Christmas by aiding and abetting the enemies in the War on Christmas:

There were hints of these terminations recently in the news. Reports from inside the White House indicated that Trump was secretly steering Chief of Staff John Kelly to help him push Javanka out. Kelly was said to be amenable to this because he never thought she should have had an official role in the administration in the first place.

Also, recent disclosures by porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal may explain Trump’s willingness to cut Ivanka loose. They both independently revealed that Trump told them that they remind him of Ivanka. Therefore, he has an inexhaustible pool of potential replacements for the position of First Daughter. So why not take advantage of this holiday weekend to start the process of upgrading? What better day than April First/Fools? 🙂

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

UPDATE April 2, 2018: In case you haven’t already figured it out – – – April Fools! Sorry to disappoint y’all. I wish it were true too. Maybe soon all the Trumps will be gone.