Day: 4/14/2018

SRSLY? Corey Lewandowski Tells Fox News That the ‘Situation with Assad’ is Obama’s Fault

Posted by on April 14, 2018 at 2:01 pm. 3 Comments :

It didn’t take long for Fox News to broadcast their official response to the Syrian chemical weapons crisis – or any problem that rankles Donald Trump’s administration: Obama did it! That’s right. And the reason that Trump had to renege on his campaign promises to refrain from getting America mired in any more foreign conflicts, like the one in Syria, is the same as as his excuses for all of his other lies and blunders.

Barack Obama, Donald Trump

In a segment on Fox News, Trump shill Corey Lewandowski disseminated the pre-approved White House doctrine regarding any and all scenarios that negatively impact the administration (video below). It was a prime example of the robo-speak that is emblematic of the Trump regime. It was also the very same position that Trump himself tweeted years before. Lewandowski said that:

“The reason we’re in this situation with Assad is because Barack Obama drew a line in the sand which meant nothing. There were no teeth behind it. The chemical weapons that were supposed to be a red line in the previous administration meant nothing. And we’re here today, and people lost their lives in Syria, because the previous administration did nothing to prevent it from happening.”

For starters, Lewandowski must have forgotten that Trump already executed a military response to a prior use of chemical weapons by Assad last year. He insisted that it would send an unmistakable message to Assad that continuing such atrocities would not be tolerated. Apparently the message was not as clear as Trump thought. Especially after he announced that he would be pulling U.S. troops out of Syria shortly.

The question that no one on Fox News is asking is: How would Obama’s actions years earlier have changed any of the outcomes following Trump’s more recent actions? If Trump’s bombing raid last year didn’t deter Assad, why would Obama’s raid five years ago have done it? Are they just admitting that Obama would have done it better?

Now let’s take a look at whether Obama did anything after Assad’s use of chemical weapons during his term. The fact is that Obama forcefully denounced Assad and advocated for a military response. However, unlike Trump, he sought congressional approval (as the Constitution requires) in order to ensure that the action had the full support of a united nation. He beseeched the GOP-controlled legislature to come together in this effort saying:

“Here’s my question for every member of Congress and every member of the global community: What message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight and pay no price? What’s the purpose of the international system that we’ve built if a prohibition on the use of chemical weapons that has been agreed to by the governments of 98 percent of the worlds’ people and approved overwhelmingly by the Congress of the United States is not enforced?”

The response by Congress was worse than voting down an authorizing resolution. The Republicans in charge would not even permit the measure to come up for a vote. And it was clear that if they had, a majority of Republicans would have voted against it. Which is especially interesting considering what Trump was saying at the time:

So according to Trump, Obama needed congressional approval to bomb Syria (which he tried to get), but Trump can do whatever the hell he wants? That’s the mindset of a flaming hypocrite, and a wannabe dictator.

None of these facts are likely to persuade Fox News, or their glassy-eyed viewers, to change their minds about Obama being the source of everything bad in the world. He will continue to be the excuse they cling to for any of the failings by Trump and the Republican Party of (avoiding) personal responsibility. This is just the way that the right-wing has their propaganda wired. And it’s convenient that they have a “news” network that is amenable to serving as their State-run TV outlet.

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

SAYS WHO? Michael Cohen, Trump’s Fixer, Reportedly Lied About Being in Prague -Dossier Confirmed?

Posted by on April 14, 2018 at 11:00 am. NO Comments :

Donald Trump’s repetitious and hollow declarations that there was “no collusion with Russia” and “no obstruction of justice” have never had any substance to back them up. They were always the ravings of a frightened man exposing to the world his consciousness of guilt. And along with the spin by his sycophants in politics and punditry who insist that there is “no evidence” of any wrongdoing, he continues to stubbornly deny the reality that most Americans plainly see.

Michael Cohen

One of the most frequent claims from the Trump camp is now crumbling to dust. For months they have been castigating the Christopher Steele dossier, a document provided by a respected former British spy, as “fake” news. They pretend that none of it has been verified, even though much, but not all, of it has been. And they assert that the whole investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller should be terminated and discarded because it sprung from the “phony” dossier. For the record, the dossier was a small part of the justification for FISA court authorization of surveillance of certain Trump associates.

One of the claims in the dossier that had been vehemently denied was that Trump’s personal lawyer, and mob fixer, Michael Cohen, had traveled to Prague to meet with Russian operatives. Cohen was adamant that he was never there and tweeted a picture of the front of his passport to prove it. Although how the cover of a passport proves anything has yet to be revealed.

However, a new report by the McClatchy Washington, D.C. bureau undermines Cohen’s denials and asserts that contrary evidence is already in the hands of Mueller’s team. The article quotes sources who confirm his visit to Prague and his meetings with suspicious foreign characters. They include Konstantin Kosachev, an ally of Vladimir Putin who has since been sanctioned for meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Also present were hackers under the supervision of the Kremlin with access to the stolen emails of Hillary Clinton and John Podesta. If this article is true, Cohen has a lot of explaining to do. And not the least of his problems will be that he also made his denials in testimony to Congress which, if false, is a federal crime. The McClatchy story notes that:

It would also be one of the most significant developments thus far in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of whether the Trump campaign and the Kremlin worked together to help Trump win the White House. Undercutting Trump’s repeated pronouncements that “there is no evidence of collusion,” it also could ratchet up the stakes if the president tries, as he has intimated he might for months, to order Mueller’s firing.

That looks pretty bad bad for Cohen, Trump, et al. And the article goes into significantly more detail about the meeting and the alleged conspirators. Cohen has responded to the story in a tweet that calls it “bad reporting” and claims that it was “proven” that he wasn’t in Prague. Of course, none of that is true and he offers no further proof. But if you were to press him him about the allegations that he actually was in Prague, he might just respond by asking his now famous question: “Says who?”

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