Crybaby Trump Throws Tantrum, Cancels Summit with North Korea Because His Feelings Got Hurt

It’s official: The President of the United States has the emotional maturity of a four year old. Donald Trump’s infantile, punitive and reckless behavior has long been a source of unnecessary risk to the nation. And on Thursday morning he demonstrated one of the reasons why he cannot be trusted to lead a marching band, much less a country.

Donald Trump

The background: Vice-President Mike Pence was interviewed on Fox News by Martha MacCallum on Monday. During that softball suck-up Pence managed to start an international incident. He told MacCallum that the U.S. could end up pursuing the “Libya model” in North Korea. By which he was inferring, deliberately or otherwise, that if Kim Jong Un gave up his nuclear weapons program he might still be assassinated like Muammar Gaddafi. Choe Son Hui, a vice minister in North Korea’s foreign ministry, responded by calling Pence a “political dummy” and, elaborating, said that:

“As a person involved in the U.S. affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice president.”

The most peculiar part of that statement is that Choe was surprised by Pence’s ignorance and stupidity. A seasoned diplomat ought to have been aware that this is the standard state of affairs in the Trump administration. Nevertheless, this exchange resulted in Trump throwing another of his juvenile tantrums and taking the extraordinary step of canceling his much anticipated summit with Kim.

This was the summit meeting that Trump has been bragging about for weeks. He considered it a monumental achievement that his predecessors were incapable of pulling off. In reality, every previous American president knew that North Korea was trying to manipulate the U.S. into granting them recognition and legitimacy they did not deserve. While past presidents were strong enough to avoid that trap, Trump caved.

It was also the summit meeting that Trump’s sycophants in Congress and the media praised as so historically profound that Trump should be given the Nobel Peace Prize. Members of the Republican Freedom Caucus in the House officially sent a letter to the Nobel nominating committee seeking to place Trump’s name into consideration. Under the circumstances, they must be pretty embarrassed now.

But even more embarrassing is Trump’s letter Kim Jong Un. He began by expressing his appreciation for Kim’s cooperation in setting up the June 12, meeting in Singapore. And as an attempt to imply that it was North Korea’s weakness that initiated the discussions, Trump added “We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant.” If it was totally irrelevant then why did he mention it this letter? To normal, non-narcissists the measure of something’s irrelevance is that it doesn’t get mentioned. But that wasn’t even the worst part of Trump’s painfully self-serving letter. He also wrote that:

“Based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting. Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place.”

Trump failed to note that it was the “anger and open hostility” of Pence that generated the response from North Korea. But more to the point, Trump is virtually admitting that he is retaliating out of spite by saying that this cancellation would come at “the detriment of the world.” No responsible leader would take such an action if he believed that the whole world would suffer. He would set aside his personal animus for the sake of the greater good. The intelligent, diplomatic response would be to take up whatever differences he had when the two leaders met. But that would require Trump to have some intelligence and diplomacy.

Additionally, Trump’s letter escalated the tensions between the U.S. and North Korea with a thinly veiled threat of war:

“You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.”

And this is the man that Republicans (and Trump himself) think is worthy of consideration for a Nobel Peace Prize? Trump later spoke at the White to explain his his decision to cancel the meeting. In that address he provided no new details or rational justification for his decision. However he did add a bizarre comment asserting that South Korea and Japan…

“…are willing to shoulder much of the costs of any financial burden – any of the costs associated – by the United States in operations if such an unfortunate situation is forced upon us.”

Really? Will that come before or after Mexico pays for his idiotic border wall? These are precisely the sort of comments and actions that should prevent North Korea (or any other country) from being surprised by Trump’s ignorance and stupidity. He is an egocentric imbecile who puts his own interests before those of the country, or even the world. Hopefully the foreign diplomats who have to deal with this nonsense are prepared to be bigger than Trump and act accordingly. Otherwise we are all in big trouble.

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

Trump Breaks His Own Record for Lies-Per-Minute in Desperate ‘WITCH HUNT’ Frenzy

The constant pressure to perform must be excruciating for Donald Trump. As the most prolific liar in presidential history he needs to continuously up his game or risk falling behind rival liars like Sean Hannity and his own son, Don, Jr. But if anyone is up to the task, it’s the current (for now) Liar-in-Chief.

Donald Trump

In a spurt of surprising activity for the usually lethargic septuagenarian, Trump raised the ante for America’s liars by putting out an impressive number of unambiguous falsehoods Wednesday morning. He began with his forte, Twitter, to post some flagrantly egregious lies. Leading off was a tweet that implored his Deplorables to “Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State.” Of course, there is no “Deep State” and the only things turning are his former friends and associates. For instance, the business partner of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who just copped a plea and will be cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller.

That didn’t stop Trump from declaring that “Phony Collusion with Russia [is] a made up Scam.” Albeit one that has already produced dozens of indictments and five guilty pleas. He then deftly segued to an attack on the former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper. Trump quoted Clapper as saying “Trump should be happy that the FBI was SPYING on his campaign.” But Clapper never said that. He actually said that Trump should be happy that the FBI investigated Russians infiltrating his campaign. Clapper made these comments on The View, but Trump didn’t learn about them until they were part of a segment on Fox and Friends. And that’s where Trump got his bastardized quote.

Finally, Trump went after one of his favorite enemies, former FBI Director James Comey. He repeatedly called Comey a liar who is in big trouble. But then he delivered one of his famous untruths that “a lot of [imaginary] people have said.” According to Trump:

“You go into the FBI, and a lot of those great people working at the FBI, they will tell you. I did a great service to this country by firing James Comey.”

The only problem with that statement is that it conflicts sharply with reality. In an annual survey of FBI agents and employees, Comey was given overwhelmingly positive reviews. The survey was taken just two months before Trump fired Comey and revealed that:

“Former FBI Director James Comey was widely admired by agents who worked for him, winning high scores in anonymous surveys for his values and trustworthiness, even as he became embroiled in controversies over investigations related to the 2016 election.”

Knowing this, would Trump still think that “those great people working at the FBI” are still great? And in addition to these brazenly false outbursts by Trump there was an epically succinct expression of his hostility to the truth in another tweet that said simply, but loudly (in all caps):

Never mind that Trump’s hand-picked FBI Director, Chris Wray explicitly denied in congressional testimony that there was any such thing as a witch hunt being conducted by the Bureau. And that Trump’s former CIA Director, and current Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, told Congress that there was no “Deep State” in the CIA, FBI, NSA, Justice Department, or the State Department. So the most senior members of Trump’s administration are joining in calling out the President as a liar. Which makes you wonder how long it will be before he’s calling them liars. Also, whether they will be part of the administration for very long. We’ll see.

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

Fox News Host Sympathizes With Poor Kim Jong Un Having To ‘Murder His People All Day Long’

The spectacle of a major cable “news” network flagrantly acting as the PR agent for the President of the United States is a frightening sign of America’s drift to totalitarianism. But that’s what has been happening for the past year as State TV (aka Fox News) has shamelessly shilled for Donald Trump 24/7. You know it’s bad when Bret Baier, the principle news anchor on Fox, concedes that the network’s hosts cause problems for him by acting as mouthpieces for Donald Trump.

Fox News, Pete Hegseth

This embarrassing display of sycophancy, however, took a sharp turn into the absurd on Wednesday morning during an episode of Trump’s favorite TV show, Fox and Friends. The “Curvy Couch” potatoes were engaged in their customary Trump-fluffing when co-host Pete Hegseth replied to a question about why North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, would agree to meet with Trump. His first response was that Kim “wants a picture with the American president.” And if you think that was about as idiotic as this program can get, you aren’t giving them enough credit. Hegseth continued to speculate as to Kim’s innermost thoughts (video below):

“The guy who wants to meet with Dennis Rodman and loves NBA basketball and loves western pop culture, probably doesn’t love being the guy that has to murder his people all day long. Probably wants some normalization.”

So there you have it. Kim is just a misunderstood pop culture fan who revers human rights but has been forced into being a homicidal madman by circumstances out side of his control. We’ve all been there. Kim really doesn’t enjoy being a murderous dictator and he’s just been waiting for someone like Donald Trump to come along and free him from this nightmare. Leave it to Fox and Friends to figure this out while the rest of the “fake News” is distracted by Trump’s treasonous criminality and the failures and corruption of his administration.

For the record, Hegseth is close to the President, who reportedly calls him during White House meetings to get his opinion. Trump even considered appointing him to lead the Veterans Administration, a job for which Hegseth has zero experience. However, he and Trump share a fondness for sexual misconduct over which they would surely bond.

Believe it or not, it’s possible to be a partisanly biased news network without justifying oppressive tyrants. But Fox News is so bent over backwards for Trump that they will actually soft-pedal assassinations of political opponents (see Vladimir Putin). Their determination to find something positive for Trump, no matter how repulsive the situation, is the undisputed priority for these fawning bootlickers. It’s how they can forgive Trump for his innumerable affairs and sexual harassment and abuse. It’s why they are comfortable with his pathological lying. And it’s their way of sustaining their adoration of a vulgar ignoramus who seeks his own authoritarian kingdom over which he can rule.

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

GOP Dimwits Want 2nd Special Counsel to Probe the Dept of Justice – Why Dems Should Go Along

For months Donald Trump has been attacking special counsel Robert Mueller as hopelessly biased and bent on driving him from the White House. Never mind that he is a life-long Republican who was appointed by the Republican Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein. And both them work closely with Trump’s Republican Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, and his Republican FBI Director, Chris Wray.

Donald Trump GOP

Despite that one-sided, right-wing assembly of the top law enforcement officials in the country, Trump continues to whine that he’s a victim of some clandestine, Democratic cabal that’s aligned against him. Clearly he is suffering from a severe case of paranoia, and the deep-seated fear that his criminality will be exposed. That has led to his frantic tweets accusing the FBI of spying on him (they weren’t) and demanding that the Department of Justice investigate:

That “demand” is typical of Trump’s disregard for the independence of the justice system and his compulsion to abuse the power of his office. Not surprisingly, his comrades in the Republican Party are all too willing to go along with this un-American assault on the institutions that protect our nation’s laws. A collection of wingnut GOP’ers have banded together to insist that the Department of Justice appoint a second special counsel. This would be be tasked with investigating the investigators currently investigating the President.

Among those making this demand are Freedom Caucus members of the House, Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan who adamantly declare that “The DOJ cannot investigate itself.” So these GOP truthseekers, who have long opposed the very concept of special counsels, are now calling for one of their own. And they should get one.

Think about what they are proposing. They want someone to probe the inquiries regarding Russian collusion with Donald Trump. Therefore, AG Sessions, who recused himself due to his involvement with the Trump campaign, would have to recuse himself from this matter as well. So Deputy AG Rosenstein would be the person to appoint the new special counsel. But these congressional Republicans are already convinced that Rosenstein is part of the “Deep State” conspiracy against Trump.

What’s more, since Rosentstein chose, Mueller, a staunch Republican, to lead the Russia probe, he might be compelled to choose a Democrat for the new counsel post probing Mueller and the FBI. How do you suppose the Freedom Caucus would react to that? Too bad. It’s not their job. Of course the party affiliation of the new counsel wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) guarantee any particular outcome. However, the new counsel would have the authority to probe all matters that involve, or stem from, the operations of the Mueller probe.

The thing that the Republicans demanding a new special counsel are not anticipating, is the possibility that such an investigation would produce even more evidence of wrongdoing by Trump, his family, and his associates. All of that would fall within the scope of the new counsel’s authority. And even if there weren’t new legal pitfalls for Trump, the likelihood that they would find any misconduct on the part of Mueller’s team is minuscule. Which means the new counsel would probably end up validating Mueller’s conclusions.

Of course, any result that proved to be detrimental to Trump would be immediately dismissed by the GOP and attacked for being biased. Even though the whole project was the result of the GOP’s whining in the first place. They could hardly complain that the investigation that they demanded should then be set aside and forgotten. But, of course, they would do just that. So it might be fun to let them have their way with the request and see what a new counsel would turn up. It couldn’t be any more ridiculous than everything that’s happened since Trump announced his candidacy.

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

HUH? DHS Secretary Says She’s ‘Not Aware’ of Intelligence that Russia Tried to Help Trump

The United States was the victim of a concerted cyber attack by Russia throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. That fact is undisputed by every U.S. intelligence agency with jurisdiction over the subject. Even the Republican-run Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Putin preferred Donald Trump and was deliberately aiding his candidacy while working against Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

So it comes as some surprise that Trump’s Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, responded to reporter’s inquiries at a House briefing on election security by saying that she wasn’t aware of any such assessment (video below):

“I don’t believe I have seen that conclusion – that the specific intent was to help President Trump win. I’m not aware of that,” said Nielsen. She said that, in her opinion, Russia was only trying to “disrupt our belief and our own understanding of what’s happening.”

Seriously? This is the top domestic security official in the U.S. government. She is responsible for maintaining the safety and integrity of the nation’s voting systems and the confidence of the American people that their votes count. But she claims not be aware of established facts that expose severe flaws in our electoral processes and pose an existential threat to our democracy.

The conclusion that Russia sought to aid Trump is not in dispute. It was confirmed as far back as January 2017 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a report that unambiguously stated that:

“We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.”

If Nielsen is actually unaware of these undisputed facts regarding Russia’s election interference, then she is either lazy or incompetent. There is no excuse for her not knowing about this fundamental report or the serious threats to Homeland Security that are enumerated in it.

If Nielsen is merely feigning ignorance on behalf of her boss, then she is complicit with his propaganda and criminal negligence. Trump has repeatedly denied the reality that Putin was helping his campaign. He surely doesn’t want members of his cabinet contradicting him. That could lead to further erosion of his denials regarding his collusion with Russia and financial improprieties by himself and his family.

But Nielsen, like all federal officials, took an oath to “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” She works for the American people. She did not swear allegiance to a wannabe dictator who insists that all of his minions kowtow to him and protect him from bad publicity or criminal liability. And if she doesn’t understand that she should resign and stop helping Trump to soft-pedal Russia’s hostilities against the United States.

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

Trump’s Morning Tweetstorm Was Transcribed Verbatim from Screwball Rant on Fox News

A rainy weekend in Washington, D.C. left Donald Trump with nothing to do but post tweets dripping with panic and desperation. So he assumed his “Golden Throne” and began tapping out nine messages regaling against the law enforcement agencies of his own administration that all have directors he appointed. He concluded with an authoritarian “demand” that the Justice Department investigate itself regarding its investigation of the 2016 presidential campaign. Which would, of course, be considered improper interference and obstruction of justice in a normal world.

Trump Baby

On Monday Trump must have determined that his weekend tantrum wasn’t sufficiently unhinged, so he resumed his raving with another series of tweets. In this volley of manic distress, Trump decided that it wasn’t necessary to unload his own psychoses. Instead he simply had some poor schnook serve as his stenographer and regurgitate what he just watched on Fox News:

John Brennan is the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and a frequent Trump critic. He tweeted on Sunday that congressional leaders would bear the responsibility if they “continue to enable Mr. Trump’s self-serving actions.” That’s what set off Dan Bongino, a familiar face on Trump’s favorite TV show, Fox and Friends.

Bongino’s diatribe was pure fury and bluster with no substance or facts whatsoever. In other words, ordinary Fox News histrionics. He even destroyed his own premise by noting that Brennan briefed everyone, including Trump and both sides of Congress, about the infamous Steele Dossier. Had this been a “political hit job” the only parties notified would have been Democrats and Trump opponents.

More to the point, it is Trump’s obsessive addiction to anything and everything that appears on Fox News that is troubling. He has the resources of the world’s largest and finest intelligence agencies, but he relies instead on rejects and has-beens whose only credentials are as talking heads on a shamelessly biased cable “news” network. And on the basis of what he sees on Fox he makes decisions that will impact the nation and the world.

For the most part, Trump’s decisions lately have been narrowed to whatever he sees as what’s in his best personal interest. The Russia collusion story is almost all he talks about. And in his twisted mind, the story is solely about the asinine “Deep State” conspiracy to destroy his presidency. On that front he is getting plenty of help from Fox News. For instance, on Monday morning Fox host Maria Bartiromo, who used to be a business analyst but is now competing for the Alex Jones Crackpot Award, told her viewers that “President Obama, it seems to me, was politicizing all of his agencies: the DOJ, the FBI, the IRS, the CIA; they were all involved in trying to take down Donald Trump.”

Of course. It was Obama all along. Never mind that Republicans regarded him as an affirmative action dunce who never earned his academic or political achievements. He was also an evil genius who masterminded the anti-Trump crusade that’s threatening the most powerful man on the planet. It’s these sort of delusional visions and insane conspiracies that fuel Trump’s crusade to demean all of the institutions of American government. If his survival is reliant on the destruction of the country, then that’s a price Trump is willing to pay. And Fox News will be right there to help him along.

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

Fox News Fingers ‘The Single Most Dangerous Person to the Agenda of President Trump’

You can count on Fox News to be on top of any threats to the supremacy of Donald Trump and his totalitarian regime. Since Fox News is the designated media arm of the Trump White House and the President’s most passionate protector, they would naturally be the most ardent champion of Trump’s interests.

Jeanine Pirro Fox News

Consequently, one of Trump’s favorite Fox mouthpieces, “Judge” Jeanine Pirro, went on one of her spittle-inflected rants in defense of the Cheeto Jesus she worships. Her Saturday night massacre was jam-packed with unfounded allegations against Trump foes like James Comey, Hillary Clinton, and the FBI, among others. She bristled at this being “the one year anniversary of the Mueller investigation staffed with the singularly most biased attorneys in American history.” Never mind that special counsel Robert Mueller is a life-long Republican, as is Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General who appointed him.

Pirro’s tantrum then veered off into tales that Democrats “chuckled” when Trump claimed he had been wiretapped. She insists now that the claim was true. But it was widely proven to be just another of his delusional outbursts with no basis in reality. She continued with allegations of a “shadow government” and “deep state” clinging to control, despite the fact that Trump and his appointees have been in power for more than a year. She invented fictional accounts of FBI agents conspiring to interfere with a presidential election and overthrow the President. And ignoring the dozens of indictments along with five guilty pleas by close Trump associates, she swore that he hasn’t been “touched” by any of the ongoing probes. Really? Most legal observers would say that he’s had a full body massage (with no happy ending).

But perhaps the most darkly entertaining portion of this wild-eyed segment was Pirro’s assault on one of Trump’s first and most loyal advocates. Former Senator Jeff Sessions was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump. He faithfully followed the candidate around the country like a devoted puppy. And for his devotion he was given his own Justice Department to play with. However, Pirro sees in him something different and far more ominous:

“What, ladies and gentlemen, is unmistakable in all of this, is that the single most dangerous person to the agenda of President Trump, the Republican party and ultimately to all Americans, is the Attorney General of the Untied States himself, Jeff Sessions.”

The danger that Sessions represents to America is something we can all agree on. But perhaps for different reasons. From Pirro’s perspective he “has done nothing to make anyone responsible for the blatant corruption” she asserts has plagued the FBI. She complains that he has “fought the release of telling documents” that in her cartoon brain would somehow exonerate the President or incriminate his enemies. And by failing to purify Trump’s aura and condemn his foes to purgatory, Sessions, she says, “has done nothing to create confidence that wrongdoers will be accountable.” Of course, her definition of accountability is the incarceration of all Democrats and the observance of the divinity of Trump. She closes with this hallelujah moment:

“With all the power and might of the Department of Justice behind him, he continues to do nothing. He refuses to take them out in cuffs. The most powerful prosecutor in the world, the man who holds the scales of justice in his hands, hides behind the coattails of a Rod Rosenstein – a man we’ve never even heard of – who is in fact behind all of Jeff Sessions decisions, who is in fact running our Department of Justice.”

There really isn’t anything more that could be added to that drooling screed. It proves once again that Fox News is deeply embedded in the inner regions of Trump’s rectal cavity. This assault on Sessions could not have been broadcast without the knowledge and permission of the White House. It signals some tough sledding ahead for Sessions. Which could be dangerous for Trump because Sessions knows where all of the bodies are buried. And if he feels like he’s been rolled over by a convoy of buses, he could easily become the next flipper on Mueller’s plate.

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

Fox News Outs FBI Informant For Trump After Warnings It Would Create Security Risks

There is one cable news network that has made its proclamations of hyper-patriotism a part of its brand since the day it was founded. Fox News incorporates American flag logos into virtually every graphic that appears on the screen. And its hosts and guests relentlessly sermonize on the divine infallibility of the nation under almost any circumstances.

Donald Trump Fox News

The exceptions to this rule are those that involve their Dear Leader, Donald Trump. Whenever there is some controversy regarding the investigations into his collusion with Russia, financial corruption, or sexual misconduct, Fox News immediately changes course to lambaste the government institutions charged with keeping the nation safe and enforcing the law. Patriotism goes out the window whenever the FBI or other intelligence agencies begin to close in on Trump’s criminality.

A foreboding example of this emerged this weekend as reports that the FBI employed informants to ascertain whether Trump’s campaign was working with Russian operatives to help him win the election. Trump took to Twitter to post a frantic series of posts denouncing these investigations and misrepresenting the FBI’s conduct. Trump characterized the Bureau as “implanting” spies in his campaign for political purposes. In reality, they were seeking information about possible crimes using undercover sources, which is in keeping with their mission to protect the public, including Trump. But now the obviously panicked President is threatening his own Justice Department with ludicrous demands:

There is, of course, no evidence that any political shenanigans were being undertaken by the FBI or the Obama administration. But Trump’s interest in interfering with undercover investigations poses a serious problem for law enforcement. He and his sycophants in the right-wing press have been calling for the FBI informant’s identity to be revealed. However, that information would likely lead to security risks for both the informant and any other operation he might have been involved with. People’s lives may literally be at risk.

So naturally Fox News went ahead and reported the informant’s identity. Never mind the damage it does to ongoing inquiries or human lives. According to an article by Fox News, the Daily Caller (a website founded by Tucker Carlson who currently hosts a primetime show on Fox) was first to identify the informant. That news was subsequently regurgitated by the New York Post, which is owned by the same parent company as Fox News. So at least three members of the Fox family have been actively outing an undercover FBI asset.

The original stories about this informant were published by the New York Times and the Washington Post. Neither one disclosed his identity. But both were apparently correct despite Trump’s tedious accusations of them being “fake” news. However, Fox had no problem with endangering Americans and American interests. What’s ironic, though, is that this reckless brand of pseudo-journalism didn’t even support their premise that this was all a clandestine plot to destroy Trump. Their own article notes that the informant was not a deep state Obama spy, but had previously worked for the administrations of Nixon, Ford and Reagan.

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

In conclusion, what we have here is an attempt by Fox News to assist Trump in defaming the FBI in order to help a criminally suspect president. And their attempt fails due to the partisan affiliation of the informant who, it turns out, is a staunch Republican. But it succeeds in endangering American lives and ongoing investigations to protect the country in matters that may be unrelated to Trump. So we should all recognize Fox News for their stalwart patriotism that they demonstrate by deliberately hurting the country and its citizens.

Way Out of His League? Sarah Huckabee Sanders Has Delusions of Trump’s Grandeur

While Donald Trump cowers in the safety of his White House residence (or his Palm Beach resort), his press secretary shows up on State-TV (aka Fox News) for a pity party with Sean Hannity. They spend much of their segment whining about how Trump is a victim of the press that just doesn’t like him no matter how awesome he is.

Fox News, Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has the unique distinction of turning the daily White House press briefings into an extended presentation of lies and propaganda that surpasses any of her predecessors. The media participants in these charades, from across the political spectrum, openly lament that they can’t believe what comes out of her mouth. That absence of confidence is a real threat to the American system of democracy that relies on a free press. But since she represents a president who has repeatedly referred to the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people,” it would be naive to expect anything resembling honesty or integrity from her or this administration.

And so it was on Friday as Sanders canoodled with Hannity to malign the media in general and CNN’s Jim Acosta in particular (video below). “it’s unreal,” she grumbled, “the amount of negative coverage that comes from the media covering this White House.” Continuing, she said:

“Not just because it’s so one-sided, but because there’s so many good things they could be talking about. The economy is booming. ISIS is on the run. Remaking of the judiciary. Getting rid of the individual mandate. The foreign policy and the relationships that this president has built. Every single day there’s a good news story to tell. And yet ninety percent of the coverage is negative.”

For the record, the economy was booming for seven of the eight years Obama was president, after he guided it to recovery from the Bush recession. Trump stumbled into this expansion and immediately took credit for it. However, now that he has been at the helm for a year, the economy has rapidly cooled. It’s almost six months into 2018 and the Dow Jones is laying flat year-to date.

As for the other items that Sanders regards as “good news,” remaking the judiciary is a euphemism for packing it with ultra-conservatives who will favor corporations over people; getting rid of the ObamaCare individual mandate is already resulting in higher premiums and fewer people being covered; and Trump’s foreign policy is a perverse shift from alignment with our allies to cuddling up to totalitarian foes like Vladimir Putin and Xi Xiaoping. His biggest so-called accomplishments are a scheduled meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (which may never happen, or produce the results he’s promised), and moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem (which has already cost more than sixty lives).

Still, Sanders insists that there’s “a good news story to tell” every day, even as reports pile up about Trump’s collusion with Russia and corruption connected to his business and personal affairs. There has never been an administration so mired in political malfeasance as the Trump Crime Family. And yet, Sanders and Hannity place all the blame on the media for doing their job. Sanders even addresses a direct challenge to CNN’s Acosta who expressed an interest in interviewing Trump:

“Just a little note to Jim. I think he should stick to going one-on-one with me because President Trump is way out of his league. And I don’t think he wants to take on that challenge cause he’s definitely not gonna win.”

First of all, Sanders has never gone one-on-one with Acosta, and she likely never will. She only encounters him in the daily briefings where she usually cuts him off without answering his questions. As for Trump being out of Acosta’s league, if that were true Trump would jump at the chance to be interviewed by someone he believes he could shred. The fact is that Trump has not had allowed an interview with anyone outside of the friendly media bunker he’s sheltered in for over a year. And he hasn’t had a solo press conference since the one he gave just after his inauguration.

Trump is quite obviously afraid to face someone who might ask questions relevant to his conduct as president. It’s Trump who’s afraid to take on the challenge of an interview with Acosta or anybody else other than bootlickers like Hannity and Jeanine Pirro and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends. It’s the same reason that Trump is scared to sit for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller. He and his handlers are afraid – with good reason – that Trump will get himself in deeper trouble by lying. Because when it comes down to it, Sanders is right when she says that Trump is out of their league. He’s way below them in every way imaginable.

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

Fox News Senior Douchebag Asks: Why Would the Left Be Defending Violent Street Gangs?

On Thursday Donald Trump engaged in a discussion of immigration issues and created yet another controversy over his prejudice and dehumanization of whole classes of people. There is some dispute over whether Trump was referring to all immigrants or only MS-13 gang members when he said that “They aren’t people. They’re animals.” But there is no dispute that even bringing up gangs in a conversation about immigration is a deliberate attempt to associate immigrants with violent criminals.

Fox News, Tucker Carlson

Trump tried to justify his comments in a tweet wherein he insisted that he was talking only about MS-13. He whined about the “fake news” media purposefully misreporting his remarks. But even giving him the benefit of a doubt as to who he was talking about doesn’t change the fact that he was maligning all immigrants by making this association.

Not surprisingly, the Trump-fluffers of Fox News immediately scrambled to his defense with ludicrous allegations of media misbehavior. They uniformly accused the press of acting in bad faith and deliberately posting untruths in order to hurt the President. That’s nothing but a severe case of mass paranoia. And one of the worst sufferers of this malady is Fox’s Tucker Carlson. The poor guy seems to have the permanently furrowed brow of someone who is simultaneously dumbfounded and hostile. On his program Thursday night he launched into a recklessly slanderous diatribe that only certified his overt bias and inbred hatred for anyone not like him (video below). “Why would the left,” he began “be defending the country’s most violent street gang?” Which not a single person on the left ever did. He continued:

“Trump has made them irrational. That’s part of it. But the left also senses a threat to its most basic worldview. MS-13 is a living reminder that the left’s position on immigration is fundamentally a lie. The media tell you every day that every immigrant, legal or not, is a future brain surgeon or tech company founder. Therefore, immigration controls are unnecessary.”

That rant by Carlson is as clear an example of a cognitive meltdown as you will ever encounter. First of all, Carlson imagines some mysterious leftist worldview that is being threatened by the existence of MS-13. That makes no sense at all. And he delivers this nutty theory right after claiming that the left has been defending MS-13. Which one is it, Tucker? Is the left defending the gang or are they threatened by it?

Then Carlson launches into an attack on both immigrants and reality. He demeans the contributions of immigrants with his assertion that lefties wrongly believe that all immigrants have potential to achieve some form of greatness. Let’s just set aside the fact that many of America’s most successful and innovative companies were indeed founded by first or second generation immigrants (Tesla, Google, Reddit, Amazon, Yahoo, Ebay, Apple). In fact, that’s true of almost half of the S&P 500.

However, progressives also recognize the hard work performed by immigrants in the agricultural sector, as well as restaurants, hotels, and healthcare. And nowhere in the agenda of the left has there been a claim that “immigration controls are unnecessary.” Only that they are fair, reasonable, compassionate, and true to the American ideals expressed by the Statue of Liberty. But those are qualities that are foreign and abhorrent to right-wingers like Carlson.

Carlson’s hate-fest concluded with a tribute to his Dear Leader. He literally parroted the idiotic notion that Trump laid out in his address announcing his entry into the 2016 presidential campaign:

“If they admit that MS-13 is actually bad and must be stopped, they’d have to also admit that when some countries send their people here they aren’t sending their best.”

Of course, there isn’t a single person on the left who has any trouble condemning MS-13 as being something that is bad and must be stopped. However, everyone with a functioning brain knows that immigrants to the U.S. have not been sent here by by their native countries. Whether those immigrants are the best or not, they come here by their own volition. Carlson and Trump believe that there is a governmental authority that selects who will emigrate to America. And then they wonder why the left is constantly mocking them for their stupidity and preposterous ideas. Maybe it’s because they keep defending the country’s most asinine concepts.

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