Month: June 2018

WITCH HUNT? Trump’s Latest Tweets Expose His Rapidly Accelerating Desperation and Fear

Posted by on June 23, 2018 at 12:17 pm. NO Comments :

And on it goes. Once Donald Trump decides to throw a tantrum over some perceived unfairness directed at him (which is anything that he regards as less than slobbering adoration), he latches onto it like a pit bull with a bloody steak bone. He won’t let up no matter how definitively he is shown to be deserving of the criticism or how badly he is proven to be wrong about whatever he is raging against.

Donald Trump

On Saturday morning Trump was at his usual post: hate-tweeting everything he just saw on Fox News and blathering about what a victim he is of the evil forces seeking to undermine his presidency. Has there ever been a leader who whined more, and was so proud of it? Seriously, he actually bragged about being “the most fabulous whiner.” And determined to hang on to that record, Trump tweeted another in his series of blind attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of his collusion with Russia and other associated crimes:

For a “rigged” witch hunt, it has managed to bag an exceptionally large number of witches. There have already been dozens of indictments and four guilty pleas. Some former Trump associates are cooperating with the special counsel, and there is speculation that Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, may soon join that group.

And it’s because of those facts that Trump is exhibiting some acute behavioral distress. The levels of obvious desperation and frantic fear keep increasing with each new incriminating revelation that emerges. Trump grows more distraught every day and with every new and panicked tweet. The frequency of those Twitter outbursts tells a story that is hard to interpret as anything but severe terror on Trump’s part.

David Gelles, a CNN producer, has compiled an accounting of Trump’s twitter activity, specifically with regard to his mentions of the scary “Witch Hunt.” The numbers reveal a progression into the dread that is haunting Trump’s diseased psyche:

Notice that just this year Trump has stepped up his “Witch Hunt” postings from one in January, to twenty-two, so far, in June. At this rate he’ll be posting nothing but “Witch Hunt, Witch Hunt, Witch Hunt, Witch Hunt, Witch Hunt…” by July. And it’s no wonder. There is a fair chance that Mueller will issue a report before the end of August. If he doesn’t, he will likely have to wait until after the midterms in November because he won’t want to release a report within sixty days of an election.

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

So Trump may be anticipating a conclusion to the investigation sooner rather than later. Hence the ramped up panic-tweets. Trump has never been a good poker player. He has tells that give away virtually everything that’s on his diminished mind. This Twitter activity is a pretty reliable indicator that he’s shaking in his Ferragamos. And for the country’s sake. let’s hope his fear is justified.

Fox News Shill Admiringly Compares Trump’s Child Internment Camps to American Ghettos

Posted by on June 22, 2018 at 4:17 pm. 11 Comments :

The flagrant racism of Donald Trump and his cult congregation of glassy-eyed Republicans and wingnut pundits continues to sink ever further into the abyss. On Friday we saw the repulsive spectacle of a Fox News host, Brian Kilmeade, defend Trump by saying that the kids being separated from their families were just foreigners who we can blithely disregard. “Like it or not,” Kilmeade said, “these aren’t our kids. Show them compassion, but it’s not like he’s doing this to the people of Idaho or Texas.” Get it? This would only be a real problem if the kids were from Idaho.

Fox News, Rachel Campos-Duffy

On a day when there are still a couple thousand children being held hostage by Trump’s government, the President held an event at the White House to talk about Americans killed by immigrants. Never mind that there are far more Americans killed by Americans who Trump never bothers to show any sympathy for. Including children at schools like Marjory Stoneman High whose white, Christian murderer is an American citizen. Trump never invited the parents of those victims to the White House.

Fox’s Laura Ingraham has been a reliable spokesperson for the cretins who think that ripping babies from their mothers’ arms is a justifiable form of border security. She recently dismissed the thought of any harm inflicted on the immigrant children by saying that their detention facilities were just like “summer camp.” If she attended summer camps like that it might explain how her mind got so twisted and callous.

On Ingraham’s Thursday program she interviewed Fox News contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy, who expressed an opinion that is surely widely held among conservative dirtbags. In an attempt to minimize the horror experienced by a kidnapped child, Campos-Duffy compared their incarceration to the conditions at many inner city housing communities (video below):

“I spoke to some African-Americans who say, ‘Gosh, the conditions of the detention centers are better than some of the projects that I grew up in,’ The detention centers are far safer than the journey that these children just came on. People aren’t stupid.”

However, Campos-Duffy just proved that not only are some people stupid, they are also nauseatingly heartless. It is mindnumbingly idiotic to compare urban housing to forced internment camps for children stolen from the loving care of their parents. Campos-Duffy apparently cannot comprehend the terror of a lost child who is being held by strangers who provide no comfort or care. That’s the sort of experience that can literally scar a child for life.

But Campos-Duffy made another point that she is certainly too dense to notice. She inadvertently pointed out the inhumane conditions at some of the “projects” where low income Americans live. She’s admitting, without realizing it, that those living conditions are extraordinarily harsh and that it is shameful that a nation as wealthy as the United States would permit it. That’s something that is not talked about enough in the media, especially the conservative media that Campos-Duffy calls home.

Nevertheless, the comparison is still horribly wrong. To be sure, there are hardships for low income families living in impoverished, and sometimes dangerous, neighborhoods. But they are living there with their families, friends, and other sources of support from the community. They are not minor prisoners in a state facility without parental companionship or security. And the fact that Campos-Duffy and her Fox News cohorts can’t see the difference is a sad testament to their inhumanity.

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 Rips Media Attacks on Women in Trump Admin – Ignores Abuse of Women By Trump

Posted by on June 21, 2018 at 4:14 pm. 2 Comments :

Kimberly Guilfoyle is one of the conservative co-hosts on the Fox News daily program “The Five.” She is a reliable mouthpiece for Donald Trump and his right-wing, Republican agenda. Last year she was even a candidate for the post of White House press secretary, but lost out to Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Fox News, Donald Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle

In an interview for the uber-rightist website Daily Signal, Guilfoyle expressed her concern for traumatized children being separated from their parents on the border. No, wait, scratch that. How ridiculous. Actually Guilfoyle was expressing her concern for the poor, beleaguered women who work in Donald Trump’s White House. Some would say that they, too, have been traumatized. According to The Hill, Guilfoyle’s sympathies included these remarks:

“It’s sad because these are really incredible bright, strong, patriotic women serving their country, admirably, at great personal sacrifice,” […]

“They’ve been dealt an unfair hand by the media who’s just very dishonest in the way that they cover them, portray them, and really dishonor the sacrifice and the service that they give to all of us, each and every day.” […]

“I just wish [the media] were better about, in fact, being honest about what the accomplishments are, what the sacrifices are. And really, the personal attacks are just quite disgusting. I felt and experienced personal attacks myself based on beliefs and being a conservative woman.” […]

“I just think it’s unfair. It’s not building other people up, that’s for sure. I certainly don’t like it when other women do it to one another.”

First of all, the apparent purpose of both the women and the men in the Trump administration is to disseminate lies and glorify their leader. To the extent that the thanklessness and disrepute that go along with job is a sacrifice, it’s their own fault. And Secondly, when did Guilfoyle ever criticize her conservative comrades for the unfair and dishonest attacks against women like Michelle Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Hillary Clinton, Loretta Lynch, Samantha Power, or Susan Rice? Guilfoyle’s sudden sensitivity is glaringly disingenuous and hypocritical.

What’s more, Guilfoyle utterly ignores the fact Trump has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by at least sixteen women (see video below). He’s even admitted to criminal assault in the infamous Access Holywood recording. But apparently Guilfoyle thinks it’s worse to endure the criticism of partisan politics than the personal agony inflicted by a sexual predator.

What makes Guilfoyle’s complaints even more absurd is that she works for Fox News, a network whose corporate culture virtually encourages sexual harassment. Former honchos at the network (i.e. CEO Roger Ailes, President Bill Shine, Bill O’Reilly, Eric Bolling, etc.) were examples of an atmosphere that was distinctly hostile to women. However, perhaps her concern is of a more personal nature. With speculation about Sanders’ quitting, Guilfoyle may still be in the running for a job in Trump’s White House. And boosting her prospects this time is the fact that she is currently dating Don Jr. That’s a relationship that would prohibit her from doing any commentary on her boyfriend’s father at a reputable TV network. But then, the operative word there is “reputable,” which has never applied to Fox News.

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

SRSLY? Fox News is Now Promoting Itself as the Exclusive Network for Trump Propaganda

Posted by on June 21, 2018 at 9:23 am. 3 Comments :

Anyone who has watched more than a couple of minutes of Fox News knows that it is a purveyor of non-stop Trump-fluffing. The program hosts are evangelists of White House doctrine, wholly devoted to the mission of the reality TV game show host currently playing the President of the United States. Fox News has succeeded in cornering the market in ultra-rightist blather and Trumpian sycophancy.

And now they have apparently decided to take some pride in their partisan bias by bragging about it on the air. This moment of self praise came during a rally Donald Trump headlined in Duluth, Minnesota on Wednesday. The scheduling of this rally was peculiar itself considering that Trump had canceled a picnic for members of Congress earlier the same day. His reason for the cancellation was that “it didn’t feel right,” due to the still roiling controversy over his policy of ripping apart immigrant families. But apparently it felt right enough to fly to Minnesota and appear at a campaign rally where he ranted incoherently about how awesome he is and how much he hates anyone who disagrees.

During the television coverage of the rally by Fox News, the network abandoned any sense of humility – and journalistic integrity – by placing a message on screen touting their undisguised fealty to Dear Leader Trump. The chyron read “Trump Rally Live & Only on Fox News. Other Networks Ignore Presidential Rally.”

Fox News, Donald Trump

So it’s apparently official now: Fox News is the Propaganda Ministry of the Trump Regime. Not only is Fox advertising that they will air every sacred word of their White (House) Messiah, they are also disparaging their competitors who choose to respect the conventions of professional journalism. Legitimate news outlets should only air live campaign events when there is something credibly newsworthy about them. No one can make that claim about a Trump event with a straight face. For the most part Trump has been delivering the same speech for months/years as if he were a washed up oldies band trotting out his hits from the seventies: “Lock Her Up.” “Build the Wall.” “Make America…” blah, blah, blah.

While Fox News whines that other networks are ignoring a presidential rally, what they are actually doing is ignoring a painfully unpresidential public psychotic breakdown. They are avoiding poisoning the airwaves with Trump’s flagrant self-promotion and insulting diatribes. They are refusing to provide free airtime for a partisan rant before an audience of glassy-eyed disciples. Which means that Fox News, by contrast, is willingly doing all of that with an unrestrained sense of pride and self-satisfaction. They are letting everyone see their undying loyalty to Trump and commitment to his warped, divisive, and anti-American mission.

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

And then there’s this:

Trump: ‘I’d Rather Be Strong’ and Heartless than Be ‘Overrun With Millions’ of Criminal Immigrants

Posted by on June 20, 2018 at 1:09 pm. 6 Comments :

The president who called immigrants “animals” and described them as “infesting” America has backed down on his abhorrent policy that ripped children from the arms of their mothers and fathers. Never mind that he and his surrogates insisted that this “horrible” policy that doesn’t exist was created by Democrats and was just like “summer camp.”

Donald Trump

Now Donald Trump, who previously said that only Congress could fix this, has allegedly fixed it (see update below). He was adamant that he couldn’t do anything about it, but now he holds a televised ceremony asserting that he is doing something about it. Either he was lying then or he just signed an illegitimate document.

However, we must not forget that Trump knew exactly what he was doing when he implemented the family separation policy. Team Trump repeatedly admitted that it was a deliberate effort to provide a deterrent to immigrants and others seeking asylum. He also tried to use the issue – and the children – as ransom for support for his idiotic border wall. And even as he prepared to sign this executive order, he articulated his view that any expression of compassion was a sign of weakness that he rejected:

“If you’re really, really pathetically weak, the country is going to be overrun with millions of people. And if you’re strong, then you don’t have any heart. That’s a tough dilemma. Perhaps I’d rather be strong.”

It is not surprising that Trump is averse to human empathy. He has demonstrated that amply over the many years of his public life. But his open preference for being strong as a direct alternative to having heart is further evidence of his unfitness to lead a compassionate nation. What’s more, he continues to portray immigrants as invading hordes who aspire to overrun the nation and strip “patriotic” Americans (white Christianists in Trump’s view) of their rights and privileges. The “millions” of invaders, though, are an obvious scare tactic to trigger more hatred from his glassy-eyed disciples.

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

It remains to be seen whether Trump’s temporary “solution” actually solves anything. He will still claim that Democrats are obstructing a more comprehensive reform. And of course, he will try to take all the credit for solving a problem that he created. But that must not be allowed. It’s important to make sure that he doesn’t exalt himself as the savior of the children now that he was forced to reverse his noxious policy. What he did was a moral atrocity. It will have been a moral atrocity after it’s stopped. Some of the damage to these kids will be permanent, and the perpetrators deserve permanent scorn for what they’ve done. We must never forget or forgive this sort of heinous government activity. #BlameTrump

UPDATE: The text of the executive order has been publishes and it’s predictably weak. It has loopholes relating to its implementation only when “appropriate and consistent with law and available resources.” So he could still ignore it by saying that it violated some law (as he has been doing) or he doesn’t have the money.

Fox News Defends Traumatizing Kids Because ‘President Trump is Not Gassing Children’

Posted by on June 19, 2018 at 3:34 pm. 3 Comments :

Ever since the story broke about how Donald Trump is ripping children from the arms of their mothers and fathers, Fox News has been trying very hard to help the President obfuscate the issue. They have been variously claiming that it wasn’t happening, or it that it was happening before Trump, or that it was an act of mercy, or that it was horrible but the fault of Democrats. They have been so shaken by the public reaction that they can’t seem to pick a lie and stick to it.

Fox News Todd Starnes

Now Todd Starnes of Fox News Radio has found a whole new approach to the matter. He’s delighted that he can defend Trump’s child abuse initiative by noting that the President isn’t gassing children. No, really. Here is what he said:

“President Trump is not gassing children. President Trump is not loading up train cars with illegal alien children and sending them to the death camps. Lady Liberty is in tears because the Democrats and the mainstream media would rather side with illegal alien invaders than stand alongside their fellow Americans. That’s treasonous and that’s traitorous in my book.”

When you have to sink to finding the goodness in your policies by being able to say they aren’t as bad as Nazi atrocities, you might want to rethink those policies. Unfortunately for Trump and the Republican Party, it’s too late for that. They are now married to this heinous practice after repeatedly sending out administration officials to defend it.

And Fox News may be the worst among them all. Their hosts from Fox and Friends in the morning, to Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity at night, have all taken Trump’s side. They try to portray the detention centers as “summer camps” where kids are confined by “walls of chain-link fences” which, for some reason, are not cages. They claim the kids have regular meals, televisions, and play sports. That is, when these toddlers aren’t curled up in foil blankets, crying for their mothers.

And Starnes calls critics of this cruelty “treasonous” and “traitorous” based on his perception of them as siding with “illegal alien invaders.” That’s right. He sees these children as warriors from hostile nations, and anyone who has compassion for their suffering is betraying America.

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

For the past week there have been a lot of nauseating efforts to justify what the Trump administration is doing to these kids. But Starnes may have hit peak assholiness. At the same time he has rather succinctly summed up what Trump and the GOP have wrought. They are apparently aiming for a horrendous method of terrorizing children and deterring asylum seekers without quite reaching the depths of the Third Reich. Perhaps we should congratulate them on their success.

No Evidence of Bias: Trump’s ‘Witch Hunt’ Lie Gets Burned to Ashes By Democratic Congressman

Posted by on June 19, 2018 at 12:40 pm. 5 Comments :

Last week the Inspector General of the FBI released a comprehensive report on the Bureau’s handling of probes into Hillary Clinton’s email. Donald Trump and his fluffers in the right-wing media immediately set out to convince the American people that the report “totally exonerates” him. It didn’t do anything of the sort.

Robert Mueller Trump

However, facts have never stopped Trump and Co. from blathering incoherently about his infallible awesomeness. And his obsessive need to constantly exalt himself was exhibited yet again on Tuesday during a speech before the National Federation of Independent Businesses. Although it was difficult to find anything in his address that related to independent businesses.

The speech (which aired in full only on Fox News) was a typical Trumpian stemwinder that caromed wildly between unrelated subjects primarily focused on praising himself and smearing his critics. He once again falsely blamed Democrats for his own policy of traumatizing innocent immigrant children. And, of course, he ranted idiotically about Democrats wanting open borders and welcoming MS-13 gang members. He accused the media of helping child traffickers. He proposed cutting off aid to countries where immigrants come from (which would only result in more people needing to leave those countries). And he actually adopted the crackpot conspiracy that the children in his concentration camps are “crisis actors.”

Included in this televised meltdown was another stab by Trump to pretend that the FBI’s IG report exonerated him from charges being investigated separately by special counsel Robert Mueller. The IG’s report had nothing at all to do with that. Trump’s latest tantrum was triggered by hearing himself saying the name of Hillary Clinton. He segued from that to a conclusion that the IG report had incriminated Clinton. It didn’t. Trump whined:

“Didn’t she already have her chance? I tell you what, when you read that IG report with these really dishonest people – and I was never a ‘Deep State’ guy – lemme tell ya, we got some bad people that are doing bad things. But when you read that IG report about how she got away with what she got away with, it’s a disgrace.”

Back in the real world, the report did not find any wrongdoing by Clinton whatsoever. In fact, it wasn’t even part of the purpose of the inquiry. The IG was looking into the the conduct of the Bureau and it’s employees. It did find that there was some inappropriate activities by the director, James Comey, and a couple of agents. But on the whole it concluded that Clinton was more often the victim of the bad behavior at the Bureau, and that it likely led to disadvantaging her – not Trump – in the election.

This fact was addressed in a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee where the IG, Michael Horowitz, and the current FBI Director, Chris Wray, testified. The Republicans on the committee were uniformly focused on trivial aspects of the report that they twisted into impotent attacks on Clinton. However, they ignored the more salient aspects, including the conclusion. The Democratic ranking member of the committee, Elijah Cummings, did not ignore that. Cummings, quoting the IG report, said:

“We found no evidence that the conclusions by the department prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations. Rather, we determine that they were based on the prosecutors’ assessment of the facts, the law, and past department practice.”

No Evidence of Bias. That should put a big fat period on the debate over whether the FBI acted out on any internal bias. It should, but when you’re dealing with a dishonest crybaby like Trump, and his genuflecting defenders, anything goes. Trump will never stop whining about his delusional “Witch Hunt” because deep down he knows that it is a false narrative.

He knows that he’s guilty and that he’s very likely going to be exposed and held to account. He sees his former lackeys (Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, etc.) flipping on him, or getting ready to. And nothing he does hinders the progress of special counsel Mueller. So he has little else to offer in the way of a coherent defense other than to shout maniacally in all caps. And that is already wearing thin.

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

Be Aware: After Trump is Forced to Reverse His Child Abuse Policy, He’ll Take All the Credit

Posted by on June 18, 2018 at 11:14 am. 5 Comments :

There is uncommon agreement across the political spectrum that Donald Trump’s arbitrary and abhorrent policy of ripping children from the arms of their mothers and fathers is unconscionable and unsustainable. At least outside of Congress, where Republicans continue to support this madness. Even former First Lady Laura Bush has condemned the practice, calling it “cruel,” “immoral,” and “heartbreaking.”

Donald Trump, Immigrant Children

But the Trump administration has been twisting itself into ninth level Mobius strips trying to deny, obfuscate, or otherwise absolve themselves of responsibility for the horror they have wrought. Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, had the gall to say flatly that “We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period.” And that’s after Trump himself admitted to the policy saying that “We have to break up families. The Democrats gave us that law.” Never mind that it has been well documented that there is no such law and that this is wholly a policy of the Trump administration, and the Democrats had nothing to do with it. It could be reversed by the stroke of a pen by Trump alone. Or even by legislation passed by the Republican controlled Congress. Trump doesn’t need the Democratic votes he keeps whining about.

Trump’s own senior staff admit that this is their doing. “If you don’t want your child separated,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions, “then don’t bring them across the border illegally.” Of course, these asylum seekers are not breaking any laws. And speaking about family separation, Trump’s Chief of Staff, John Kelly, said “A big name of the game is deterrence [and] it could be a tough deterrent.” In both cases they are advocating cruelty and human rights abuse as a deterrent for a civil border violation.

Trump is still lying about his responsibility. He tweeted Monday morning that “It is the Democrats fault for being weak and ineffective with Boarder Security.” Although he isn’t even effective enough to spell “border” correctly. He also tweeted that “Children are being used by some of the worst criminals on earth as a means to enter our country.” Actually, he’s close. Children are being used by some of the worst criminals on earth (Trump and the GOP) as a means to hold them hostage to Republican demands for an idiotic and useless wall along the nation’s southern border.

With the near unanimous revulsion for Trump’s policy, it is inevitable that it will be rescinded. It may come from Congress or the White House, but it seems unthinkable that it would be permitted to continue, even by Republicans who, so far, have shown zero compassion. And with a rescission there will also likely be an attempt on Trump’s part to take credit for it. That’s what he does. He is genetically incapable of taking responsibility for any of his failures, but he is psychotically obsessed with taking credit for everyone else’s achievements (ask Obama).

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

While it’s important to point out that this mess is all Trump’s doing, and that he is lying when he blames Democrats for his own heinous policy, it will be equally important to make sure that he doesn’t exalt himself as the savior of the children once he is forced to reverse his policy. What he’s doing is a moral atrocity. It will have been a moral atrocity after it’s stopped. Some of the damage to these kids will be permanent, and the perpetrators deserve permanent scorn for what they’ve done. We must never forget or forgive this sort of noxious government activity. #BlameTrump

Winning? Donald Trump Brags that He’s the Leader of a Beautiful New ‘Master Race’

Posted by on June 17, 2018 at 8:45 am. 1 Comments :

This has been coming for months now. When Donald Trump rode down his golden escalator to announce his candidacy for president, he immediately struck a tone of superiority. His political introduction included a flagrantly racist characterization of Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals. And thus was born America’s first mainstream movement of white nationalism.

Donald Trump

Through a combination of feigned populism, media blindness, Democratic incompetence, and Russian collusion, Trump actually made it to the White House. Now he is fulfilling his mission to revive the Third Reich in the New World. And if you think that’s somewhat over the top, take a look at what he tweeted Saturday:

This is the statement of a full-on, Nazi-style, wannabe dictator. It’s asserting the “supremacy” of his followers as a “Master Race” of mentally advanced physical specimens with a blind loyalty to a totalitarian demagogue. It further threatens the wrath of their surging strength as they gain more power. What’s more, the President refers to his StormTrumpers as “my supporters” rather than voters or citizens. And this isn’t the first time that Trump has portrayed the yokels he commands as being advanced models of humanity. At a campaign rally in August of 2016 he said:

“I mean, we have great people. We have the most loyal people. We have the smartest people. You know, so many of my people, they’re so smart. They like to say, well, Trump, I don’t know if he’s got this right — let me tell you, we have the smartest people. We have the people that are the smartest, and the strongest, and the best and the hardest working.”

The funny thing about this is that Trump’s disciples hardly match the description he tweeted, with the exception of their unquestioning loyalty. They are not exactly geniuses by any measure. That’s proven simply by their support for someone as uncommonly ignorant as Trump (who doesn’t know the difference between “countries” and “country’s”). And their fabled physicality is best portrayed by morbidly obese, toothless hicks in unwashed overalls.

What Trump is really depicting in this tweet is what his followers are like in his narcissistic fantasies. And failing that, he flatters his congregation of losers in an attempt to secure their undying devotion. He also pretends that he is leading a movement of electoral victories, despite the rash of embarrassing losses Republicans have suffered most of this year, and the looming “blue wave” being predicted this coming November (but don’t get cocky, Democrats). So the message in his tweet, while outwardly celebrating a Hitlerian crusade, is actually the delusions of a pathetic, Fuehrer wannabe. It’s just #Sad and more than a little #Nauseating.

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

Fox News is Literally Lobbying for Revocation of the Constitution’s Protection of the Free Press

Posted by on June 16, 2018 at 11:17 am. 3 Comments :

On Thursday Donald Trump’s Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, presided over the White House’s (no longer) Daily Press Briefing and proceeded to turn it into a farce by evading questions and outright lying. That, of course, is nothing new. It’s the Standard Operating Procedure for the Trump Communications Office. But what has transpired on Fox News since then is deeply disturbing (which isn’t really new either).

Fox NOT News

At the briefing there were numerous reporters seeking to get Sanders to explain the administration’s position on it’s own policy of ripping children away from parents of asylum seekers. She spent much of her time affirming Trump’s blatant lie that Democrats were responsible for a law that forced him to carry out this heinous practice. But there is no such law. This abuse of human rights was wholly the work of Trump and his cohorts.

When confronted with these facts, Sanders went into a bunker mentality, refusing to answer direct questions or repeating unresponsive talking points. She even descended into personally insulting reporters for merely quoting things she just finished saying. She twisted bible verses in a cynical attempt to support her unconscionable defense of child abuse. And she displayed a callous disregard for the welfare of innocents.

Naturally, Fox News praised Sanders and the Trump administration without reservation or concern for the children. But they went even further to suggest that any criticism, or even just the pursuit of answers, was unpatriotic and disrespectful to a leader they believe must never be challenged. Fox News attacked the journalists who pressed Sanders for answers as animals, which is the same word Trump uses to describe undocumented immigrants. Coincidence?

On Friday two of Fox’s most prominent hosts actually advocated openly for censorship and the suppression of independent journalism. They flagrantly campaigned to silence dissenting voices in the media by prohibiting them from doing their jobs. That’s more than an attack on the reporters, it’s an attack on the Constitution. It violates the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of the press. However, it also puts the grotesque, fascist ideology of Fox News on display for all to see. Cases in point, these commentaries by Fox’s Lou Dobbs and Jesse Watters:

Dobbs: You would think someone would be assigned to slap the hell out of somebody. We’ll talk to our panel tonight about whether it’s time the bar some of these so-called journalists from the White House briefing room permanently.

Watters: These people don’t belong there. They are jokes. They need to start ripping press passes away. If you’re going to act like a wild animal, you don’t belong there.

Remember, the reporters they are criticizing were trying to get answers about the Trump administration’s practice of tearing apart families and warehousing babies in concentration camp-like facilities. So who are the animals? And this isn’t the first time that journalists have had their jobs threatened in this manner. On Tuesday, Trump’s 2020 campaign manger, Brad Parscale, tweeted that CNN’s Jim Acosta “should immediately have his press credentials suspended.” And Trump’s senior counselor, Kellyanne Conway, appeared shortly after that on Fox and Friends to concur with Parscale’s totalitarian-friendly tweet.

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

There is something especially contemptible about an alleged “news” enterprise calling for the suppression of the rights of fellow journalists. But Fox News is unabashedly doing just that. They want all reporting to consist only of drooling adoration of Trump and anything less than that must be quashed. This is more evidence (as if it was necessary) that Fox is not a news outlet at all. They are the PR division of the Trump administration and an obedient purveyor of unvarnished propaganda. And if they are allowed to succeed with their mission to suppress free speech we can wave goodbye to the freedom and democracy upon which it relies.