A couple of months ago, and only a few weeks after he left his wife and five children, Don Trump Jr. went public about his red-hot romance with Kimberly Guilfoyle, a co-host of Fox News’ The Five. The announcement presented an obvious ethical conflict by having an alleged news commentator in a relationship with the son of the President, the most covered subject in the news. Not that Fox News ever cared about journalistic ethics. Most of their commentators, hosts, and guests are openly deferential to Donald Trump, if not outright advocates (see Sean Hannity).
On Friday it was revealed that Guilfoyle will no longer be fluffing for daddy Trump on Fox News. There was no reason given for the separation. Neither Guilfoyle nor Trump Jr has commented as of the time of this writing. However, it is believed that she will be going to work for the pro-Trump Super PAC, America First. The only comment by Fox News was a one line farewell that said they had “parted ways.” No mention of her twelve years of service to the network, or her legal analyses, or her hosting duties. And no well wishes for her future endeavors.
Which raises questions about whether Guilfoyle voluntarily left Fox to go on the campaign trail with her boyfriend, or if Fox News had pangs of guilt over employing the paramour of the President’s progeny. Yashir Ali of the Huffington Post is reporting that there are three sources saying that she did not leave voluntarily.
UPDATE: In addition to the foregoing, there are also reports that Guilfoyle was terminated due to sexual misconduct that “included showing personal photographs of male genitalia to colleagues”
Regardless of the circumstances of her departure, it really won’t create any waves in the flow of the political universe by having a Fox News Trump flunky essentially transferring to a different division of the Trump PR enterprise. The Trump administration and Fox News are, after all, two legs of the same beast. Guilfoyle will continue doing what she has in the past, but without her own seat on the set in the Fox studio. She will even likely continue to appear on Fox News as a surrogate for her lover’s father. And she’ll be interviewed by her former colleagues in a mockery of what journalism is supposed to be. In the end, she is just another Fox Newser who has been sucked into the Trump orbit, and she can be relied upon to obediently exalt Dear Leader, just as she always has.
Posted by Mark NC on July 20, 2018 at 11:21 am.
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When Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki he prohibited any media coverage of their discussion. Consequently, the American people have been left in the dark about what he did and said with the Russian dictator he is so clearly infatuated with. We know only what he said in the post-summit press conference, which is mainly that he trusts Putin more than he trusts his own intelligence agencies.
In the days that followed the meeting Fox News has been feverishly trying to mop up Trump’s mess with ludicrous excuses and irrational defenses. They even aired a flagrant propaganda video that was so inept it actually confirmed that Trump is a liar. They really didn’t need to work so hard at Trump’s absolution considering that his followers are blindly loyal cultists who are incapable of thinking anything Trump does is bad.
On Friday morning Fox News floated a new theory about Trump’s omnipotent brilliance and dominance over Putin. The “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends were engaged in their daily Trump-fluffing when co-host Steve Doocy unveiled how he thinks Trump outsmarted his BFF Vladimir (video below):
“What will be very interesting is if the President sat down with Putin and they had that private meeting on Monday of two hours. Nobody knows what they said, except the translator, who everybody on Capitol Hill and the political left would love to talk to.”
For the record, not everybody on Capitol Hill wants to talk to the translator. Democrats made a proposal to subpoena her, but Republicans voted it down. These are the same Republicans who are threatening to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for not turning over vol;umes of documents in the name of transparency. But I digress. Back to Doocy:
“None the less, it will be interesting if the President said to him, ‘Vladimir, you’ve gotta stop it. You’ve gotta stop with the meddling.’ If he said that on Monday to him and then he shows up, let’s say mid-October, before the midterms, and it’s still going on, what do you think the President would say then?
“He’d say ‘Look, I thought we had a deal here. I thought you were gonna stop it.’ So it looks like, if that were true, the President would have a little chip to play against Mr. Putin. ‘Look, you’re not doing it? I’m not gonna go along with the Ukraine, Israel, Syria, the plans we had made, maybe not so fast.'”
Doocy is suggesting that Trump used election tampering as a condition for agreement to a larger deal. Is he friggin’ kidding? The only consideration with regard to Russia interfering with American democracy is that it is unacceptable, intolerable, and that it must not occur under any conditions. Period. It is not a “chip” to be played in some diplomatic game. The only thing that a responsible president would say is “Stop it now or there will be serious consequences.” Also, how could Putin agree to to stop tampering with our election when he insists that he isn’t doing it?
And as if it isn’t bad enough to reduce the sanctity of our democracy to dealmaking with murderous tyrants, Doocy’s speculation also suggested that, in exchange for leaving our elections alone, Trump would put the status of international crises in Ukraine, Israel, and Syria up for grabs. Everything is apparently fodder in the “Art of the Deal” presidency (a book that Trump didn’t actually write). The welfare of millions of people, including long-time allies, can just be traded away for hollow promises from known liars.
This is just the sort of thing that makes testimony from the translator all the more necessary. And it reinforces the need to prevent Trump from engaging in these affairs behind closed doors where his ignorance and deceit can be exploited and/or concealed. The proposed second meeting with Putin that Trump is seeking should be canceled, or at least chaperoned by reputable adults. Because if Fox News hosts are speculating, in favorable terms, that Trump might trade away America’s democratic security for the welfare of innocent people, then truly any horror you can imagine is possible.
Steve Doocy: If Trump told Trump to stop election meddling, and if Putin keeps on meddling, that means Trump will have a card to play with Putin pic.twitter.com/bGMjAAebvu
In one of the worst weeks for Donald Trump since his election (aren’t they all?) Fox News is once again fulfilling their mission to shield him from any and all criticism. It doesn’t matter to them that Trump has explicitly taken the side of Russia, a nation with hostile intentions toward the United States, and denigrated our intelligence community as having less credibility to him than Vladimir Putin. The only thing that matters is that they advance their propaganda effort on behalf of the White House at all costs.
The only problem is that sometimes they are not very good at it. Case in point: On Thursday morning Trump’s favorite Fox News program, Fox and Friends, compiled a little video montage that they intended to serve as proof that the President “recognized Russian meddling many times.” Well, everyone recognized it. But Trump seems to have requested it. Never mind that he has repeatedly refused to affirm Russia’s sole culpability for an extensive campaign of cyber espionage aimed at helping Trump’s candidacy and hurting Hillary Clinton’s. Every intelligence agency with jurisdiction over these matters has come to the same conclusion: it was Russia, and only Russia. And it was ordered personally by Vladimir Putin. What’s more, despite Trump’s weakness on standing up for American interests, he is now known to been fully briefed on Russia’s activities before he was even inaugurated. So he has been bald-faced lying ever since.
Trump embarrassed himself, and all of America, at his meeting with Putin. By stating again that he didn’t see why Russia would have engaged in election hacking, he confirmed where his loyalties lie. He tried to walk back those comments the next day, but no one was buying it. Coming to the rescue now are the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends. They put together this video of Trump’s remarks that they thought would neutralize the criticism that was overwhelming the White House:
Really? There are three separate clips edited together in that video, and everyone one of them shows that Trump is a liar. In all three he failed to hold Russia accountable for the cyber attacks by interjecting that it might have been someone else and not Russia at all. He said that:
“As far as hacking, I think it was Russia. But I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people.” […and…]
“Well I think it was Russia. And I think it could have been other people in other countries. It could have been a lot of people interfered…I think it was Russia, but I think it was probably other people and/or countries…It was Russia, and I think it was probably others also.” […and…]
“Well, the Russians had no impact on our votes whatsoever. But certainly there was meddling. But probably there was meddling from other countries and maybe other individuals.”
In other words, Trump thinks that it was Russia, except that he also thinks it probably wasn’t. What could be more clear? Snark aside, how can Fox and Trump actually think that this video corrects his abhorrent comments acquitting Putin of all guilt for election hacking? It literally affirms Trump’s belief that Putin is innocent. Fox News is undoubtedly proud of this propaganda clip. Especially after seeing that Trump himself found it so persuasive that he tweeted it to his millions of Deplorable disciples (who will view it as total vindication). It was only one tweet in a flurry that also castigated the “fake news media” as “going crazy,”“wanting war,” and, as always, being “the real enemy of the people.” That’s the overarching theme of the Trump presidency. He regards murderous dictators like Putin and Kim Jong Un as strong leaders whose friendship he craves. But Americans carrying out their journalistic duties as defined in the Constitution are “the real enemy.”
Posted by Mark NC on July 19, 2018 at 10:19 am.
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It’s less than four months until election day. These midterms may be among the most consequential in history. The current Republican Party is worse than ineffective. They are knowingly complicit with a president who openly favors America’s enemies over the patriots who put their lives on the line in her defense. They are enabling Donald Trump’s assault on democracy and the Constitution.
As we approach the November election, Trump is participating in the process in a manner that is unprecedented. He literally declared his candidacy for reelection within days of his inauguration. And he hasn’t stopped campaigning in the seventeen months he’s been in office. His rallies, staged in safe GOP strongholds, are pits of hostility and aggression toward fellow Americans. Not to mention the media that he castigates in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.”
However, Trump is electioneering in another way that is more consistent with his twitsted persona. He regularly tweets out endorsements of GOP candidates that have kissed his – let’s say ring – even during Republican primaries. But there is something oddly familiar in these tweet-dorsements. They all seem like they were written by a computer programmed to spout cliched Republican talking points. For instance:
“Kevin has been strong on Crime, the Border, the 2nd Amendment, and he loves our Military and Vets.”
“Brian is tough on crime, strong on the border and illegal immigration. He loves our Military and our Vets and protects our Second Amendment.”
Matt Gaetz is…”Strong on Crime, the Border, Illegal Immigration, the 2nd Amendment, our great Military & Vets”
Kevin Cramer is…”tough on crime, strong on borders, loves our Military, and our Vets”
Clay Higginsis…”fighting for Border Security, our Military and are Vets. He is tough on Crime”
Ron DeSantis…”is strong on Borders, tough on Crime & big on Cutting Taxes – Loves our Military & our Vets”
Henry McMaster…”is tough on Crime and strong on Borders, Health Care, the Mititary and our great Vets”
“Donovan, who is strong on Borders & Crime, loves our Military & our Vets, voted for Tax Cuts”
Asa Hutchinson is for…”lower taxes, border security, and crime prevention. Asa loves our military and our veterans”
Marsha Blackburn is…”Great on the Military, Border Security and Crime.”
Rick Saccone is…”tough on crime & border. Loves 2nd A & VETS”
LATE ADDITIONS:
Brian Kemp … is tough on crime, strong on the border and illegal immigration. He loves our Military and our Vets and protects our Second Amendment.
John James is strong on crime and borders, loves our Military, our Vets and our Second Amendment.
Troy_Balderson of Ohio is … strong on crime and borders, loves our Military, our Vets and our Second Amendment.
David Kustoff … is strong on crime and borders, loves our Military, Vets and Second Amendment.
Go VOTE TODAY for Foster Friess – He will be a fantastic Governor! Strong on Crime, Borders & 2nd Amendment. Loves our Military & our Vets. He has my complete and total Endorsement!
Rick Scott of Florida is doing a fantastic job as Governor. … He is strong on Crime, Borders, and loves our Military and Vets. Vote for Rick on Tuesday!
Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona is doing a great job. … Doug is strong on Crime, the Border, and our Second Amendment. Loves our Military & our Vets.
Martha McSally is an extraordinary woman. … She is Strong on Crime, the Border and our under siege 2nd Amendment. Loves our Military and our Vets.
…Mike Braun, a very successful businessman who is campaigning to be Indiana’s next U.S. Senator. He is strong on Crime & Borders, the 2nd Amendment, and loves our Military & Vets. Will be a big night!
Kevin Stitt … is strong on Crime & Borders, the 2nd Amendment, & loves our Military & Vets. He has my complete and total Endorsement!
Paul Cook … loves and supports our Military and Vets. He is Strong on Crime, the Border, and supported Tax Cuts.
Matt Rosendale … is strong on Crime, the Borders, & will save your Second Amendment from the onslaught. Loves our Military & Vets!
Dave Hughes is … strong on Crime, the Border, our 2nd Amendmen, Trade, Military and Vets.
@JayWebberNJ is running for Congress in the 11th District of New Jersey. He is outstanding in every way. Strong on Borders, loves our Military and our Vets. Big Crime fighter. Jay has my Full and Total Endorsement!
Senator Hyde-Smith, who has a very important Election on Tuesday. She is an outstanding person who is strong on the Border, Crime, Military, our great Vets, Healthcare & the 2nd A. Needed in D.C.
Senator John Cornyn has done an outstanding job for the people of Texas. He is strong on Crime, the Border, the Second Amendment and loves our Military and Vets. John has my complete and total endorsement.
Fred Keller of the Great State of Pennsylvania has been an outstanding State Rep … Strong on Crime, Second Amendment, Military, Vets
Dan Bishop is strong on Crime, Loves our Military, Vets, 2A, and great Healthcare. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!
Martha (McSally) is strong on Crime and Borders, the 2nd Amendment, and loves our Military and Vets. She has my Complete and Total Endorsement!
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina has really stepped up to the plate. Thom is tough on Crime, Strong on the Border and fights hard against Illegal Immigration. He loves our Military, our Vets and our great Second Amendment. I give Thom my Full and Total Endorsement!
Greg [Murphy] is tough on Crime, Borders, and loves our Second Amendment, our Military and our Vets. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!
Daniel Cameron is tough on Crime, Strong on Borders, and will fight for our Second Amendment. Daniel will never let you down. He has my Full and Complete Endorsement!
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith is…tough on Crime, Strong on the Border and Illegal Immigration…She loves our Military and our Vets and protects our Second Amendment. Cindy has my Full and Total Endorsement! #MAGA
Senator Jim Risch of the Great State of Idaho has been an incredible supporter of our Agenda! He is tough on Crime, Strong on Borders, and will continue to fight for our Second Amendment.
SenCoryGardner has done a fantastic job representing the people of Colorado. He really knows how to win. Strong on Crime, Borders & the 2nd A, Cory fights hard for our Military & Vets.
Senator Ben Sasse … is great with our Vets, the Military, and your very important Second Amendment. Strong on Crime and the Border, Ben has my Complete and Total Endorsement!
Governor
Matt Bevin … continues to protect your very important Second Amendment. Matt is Strong on Crime and the Border, he Loves our Great Vets and Military. Matt has my Complete and Total Endorsement.
Tate Reeves … is strong on Crime, tough on Illegal Immigration, and will protect your Second Amendment.
Someone needs to fix that broken playback loop. All of these candidates seem like they are the same person. They will surely behave in identical, lock-step obedience to Dear Leader. Trump sounds like he can’t express an original thought. He certainly can’t assess the candidates he’s backing in any intelligent way. He doesn’t know most of them, and his endorsement is a purely partisan effort to pack Congress with mindless sycophants who will nod and applaud everything he says. Hence the mindless, repetitive nature of his endorsements.
For Americans who are truly concerned about having a treasonous Putin lapdog in the Oval office, it is imperative that we exhaust every bit of our energy and determination to get to the polls and vote in November. The welfare of our nation depends on it. Republicans cannot be trusted to do the right thing, or to hold Trump accountable for his criminal actions. This is serious. Be sure to vote and to get as many people as you can to vote as well. Vote like your life depends on it. Because it does.
Donald Trump was interviewed by Jeff Glor of CBS News on Wednesday afternoon. It’s gotten to the point where it is almost irrelevant when Trump says things in any public forum due to the increasing frequency of his lies and deliberate attempts to disseminate disinformation. But when he ventures out from the safety of his Fox News cocoon or his Twitter feed, we may want to pay a little attention.
There wasn’t much news made during this interview. But Trump is frantically trying to do some damage control following his disastrous flop in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin. His first efforts to walk back the overtly treasonous statements he made failed miserably. So he’s spreading it even thicker now. When Glor asked Trump directly, “Do you hold [Putin] personally responsible” for the 2016 election hacking, Trump replied (video below):
“Yeah, I would because he’s in charge of the country. Just like I consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country. So certainly, as the leader of a country, you would have to hold him responsible. “
Oh really? Does that mean that Trump holds himself responsible for the 2,000+ children who were ripped from their parents arms, frightened and crying? Does he hold himself responsible for not being able to reunite those families now, and not even knowing where some of the children are? How about the opioid epidemic? Is he responsible for its growth and the lack of suitable care? And speaking of care, does Trump take responsibility for having sabotaged ObamaCare, putting millions of American lives at risk?
Is Trump going to take responsibility for the jobs lost because companies like Harley Davidson and BMW are moving their operations out of the U.S. because of Trump’s trade wars? Will he fess up to being responsible for the trillion deficits that are coming due to his tax “reform?” And while he’s at it, he might take some of the blame for stocking the Washington swamp with low life cretins like Scott Pruitt, Tom Price, Ryan Zinke, Betsy DeVos, etc.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for Trump to actually live up to his claims of being a responsible head of state. He has distinguished himself as the biggest whiner to ever occupy the Oval Office. He actually bragged about it. He blames shamelessly everyone else for his screw-ups while exalting himself as the Second Coming of the Messiah. Glor also asked Trump if he thought Putin lied to him, since Putin denies interfering with our election. Trump said that he “didn’t want to get into” whether or not Putin lied. Isn’t that sweet? He doesn’t want to hurt Vlad’s feelings. How’s that for taking responsibility?
On Wednesday morning Donald Trump was asked if Russia is still targeting U.S. elections with the intent of influencing future outcomes. He responded with a categorical “No.” That, of course, contradicts his Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, who said Monday that Russia is still engaging in “ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy.” That’s Trump dismissing the intelligence community that he said on Tuesday has his “full faith and support.”
With support like that the intelligence community might as well just lay down in front of the bus and grit their teeth. There appears to be no principle that Trump is not willing to subvert, even within hours of having asserted it. That must make it very hard for his supporters to know what the heck they are supposed to believe. Ordinarily, cult leaders like Trump stake out definitive positions that their disciples can latch onto and recite in unison at rallies. “Lock her up” and “build the wall” are effective examples of that. But there is no such chantable slogan about the Russia affair.
In the meantime, Trump’s base (and I do mean base) is proving to be even more delusional than Trump himself. In a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, Republicans are siding with Vladimir Putin against American intelligence assessments with regard to whether Russia interfered with the 2016 election:
“A majority of registered voters, 59 percent, agree with the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia attempted to influence the U.S. election, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found. But only 32 percent of Republicans think that is true compared to 84 percent of Democrats.”
So only a third of the Republicans in this survey agree with the U.S. government agencies that study this matter in their role as defenders of the nation. But what’s even more surprising is that only a third of Republicans agree with Donald Trump, who now says that he agrees with the intelligence community.
To be fair, the Republican electorate can’t possibly know what they are supposed to believe. Trump changes his position almost hourly. So they aren’t getting the sort of cues that cult members are accustomed to. And lord knows that aren’t capable of thinking for themselves. That leaves them scattering like frantic ants whose Capitol Hill has been washed away.
And that’s why Trump’s followers are infinitely more dangerous than Trump. He is one person who can (hopefully) be brought to justice and effectively neutralized. But his minions are less manageable and more unpredictable. They include NRA-theists and militias who are convinced of the existence of a “deep state” cabal determined to take their guns and throw them into gay-run, liberal, re-education camps. And they will align with any entity that strokes their egos and affirms their paranoid delusions. Especially if it features the sort of totalitarian control that makes them feel so cozy and pampered and safe. Which explains their affinity for Putin and Kim Jong Un – and Donald Trump.
Donald Trump held a brief press avail during a meeting with congressional Republicans on Tuesday afternoon. And he took the opportunity to attempt some damage control for what he did Monday when he blatantly sided with Vladimir Putin. But his explanation was one of the lamest walk-backs ever.
Trump’s adventures in damage control began with the false assertion that he has always supported the intelligence community. That is contradicted by dozens of statements over the past several months that explicitly reject their assessment of Russia’s election tampering and hacking.
“I’ll begin by saying that I have full faith and support for America’s great intelligence agencies. Always have. And I have felt very strongly that, while Russia’s actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election, let me be totally clear in saying that – and I’ve said this many times – that I accept our intelligence community’s conclusions that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. A lot of people out there.”
First of all, Trump said that he now accepts the intelligence community’s conclusions. But in the same sentence he continues to latch onto the nonsense that there “could be other people.” That’s not the conclusion of the intelligence community. That’s Trump’s way of avoiding a full denouncement of his Russian handler, Vladimir Putin. He’s leaving Putin some wiggle room. But according to every U.S. agency with jurisdiction there was only one country that unlawfully attacked us during the 2016 presidential election.
Then Trump went into an explanation wherein he said that he was confused as to what the big deal was following the press conference. So he said that he got a transcript and discovered that he misspoke on a single word. And therefore, he wanted to make a clarification that he thought should have been obvious:
“In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t.’ The sentence should have been ‘I don’t see any reason why it WOULDN’T be Russia.’ … Sort of a double negative. So you can put that in, and I think that probably clarifies things pretty good by itself.”
Trump’s claim that he misspoke when he said “would” is wholly unbelievable. Not only does it not change the context of his original remarks, it ignores the entirety of what he said Monday that he left uncorrected. His extensive comments during the Putin-Trump press conference were filled with references that steered culpability away from Russia. And changing one word leaves the rest of his treasonous comments unchanged and in effect. It doesn’t alter his stated opinion that “President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
In addition to those pitiful pseudo-retractions, Trump once again went off about collusion, which he said there was none of, and that all the voices in his head agree with him. Then he launched another of his famous “Blame Obama” tirades where in he also lashed out at John Brennan and James Clapper – you know, intelligence officials – who Trump said were profiting from TV appearances. He accused them all of “burying” the election hacking story. Never mind that the Obama administration actually reacted appropriately, expelling dozens of Russian operatives, throwing them out of two compounds, and restricting visas for many more Russians not currently in the U.S. He would have done more, but GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell wouldn’t cooperate.
Finally, why would anyone believe Trump at this point? He doesn’t even believe himself. He had to read the whole statement from prepared remarks he was probably forced to make. And he stuttered through it like he had never seen it before. At one point he said that his administration would “repeal” Russia’s efforts to interfere with our upcoming elections. He meant “repel,” but pretended that he meant both.
What’s more, Trump’s original statement was so egregiously offensive that it produced immediate scorn from across the political spectrum. He would have known instantaneously that he made a terrible mistake, if it were a mistake. He had plenty of opportunities to issue a correction. He could have told Hannity during the interview he gave right after the Putin tryst. He could have used his preferred method of communications by tweeting a correction. His press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who did reply to the commotion his comments made, might have told reporters then that he misspoke.
But none of those things were done. And twenty-four later he reads a ridiculous, alleged “clarification” that didn’t even alter the meaning of comment. Saying “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia,” is not the same as saying “Russia did it, and they better not do it again.” In the end, Trump’s absurd excuse changed nothing at all, and his un-American actions are just as repugnant today as they were yesterday – and the days, weeks, and months before that.
Posted by Mark NC on July 17, 2018 at 11:14 am.
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It’s only Tuesday and already Donald Trump has sold out the United States to Russia, our perennial enemy and the country whose military intelligence corrupted our democratic process during the 2016 presidential election. And by all accounts is still doing it. Trump’s betrayal at the joint press conference with Vladimir Putin could not have been more obvious and dangerous.
The President of the United States actually said that he trusts Putin more than he trusts his own intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The reaction to this traitorous behavior was swift and nearly unanimous. Even many of the reliable Fox News shills veered from their customary Trump-fluffing to condemn the President for throwing America under the bus.
The exceptions to that were just who you might predict. Trump ran with his tail between his legs to be consoled by Sean Hannity at Fox News immediately after the disastrous press conference. And eager bootlickers like Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro came to Trump’s defense with nearly incomprehensible rationalizations for his glassy-eyed infatuation with Putin. And Putin himself chose Fox News as the network he would give his first post-summit interview to.
Which makes the following report from a Kremlin pool correspondent all the more understandable. Dmitry Smirnov is a journalist with the Special Corps of Komsomolskaya Pravda. He was covering the Putin-Trump summit in Helsinki, Finland, and had this to say after Putin’s interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News (translated from the Russian in the tweet):
“Another gift to Trump: In Helsinki Vladimir Putin gave an interview to the American channel Fox News, owned by the US president.”
Owned by the US president? Not technically. However it is easy to understand how someone could have made that mistake. Fox News has been accurately described as America’s version of State TV. They feverishly defend Trump and shield him from any and all criticism. They tenaciously struggle to validate his glaringly evident lies. And they work furiously to smear his opponents and to advance crackpot conspiracy theories in order to misdirect the public’s attention from Trump’s abject failures.
But Trump doesn’t own Fox News. Rupert Murdoch does. Which is a distinction with very little difference. Murdoch is an unrelenting supporter of Trump throughout his media empire. He permits his “reporters” to post stories that are wholly lacking in facts, but abound in one-sided, extremist opinions. He even lets them act as Trump surrogates and mouthpieces at political events. That’s something that no reputable news organization would tolerate.
So the Russian correspondent was not far off base with his tweet. Perhaps the only thing that he got wrong was the direction of the ownership reference. It may be less accurate to say that Trump owns Fox News than to say that Fox News owns Trump. Either way, it’s an incestuous and unethical relationship that tarnishes them both – and hurts the media and the country.
Monday morning Donald Trump held hands with his bestie, Vladimir Putin, for the duration of a surreal press conference wherein he repeatedly took Russia’s side on every issue (here are some must see excerpts). It was a festival of betrayal the likes of which have never been seen.
The reaction to this internationally televised farce was nearly unanimous disgust and, for most Americans, anger and embarrassment. Trump refused to condemn Russia for interfering with our election. He dismissed his own intelligence agencies in favor of Putin’s promises. He kept bringing up debunked conspiracy theories about Democratic computer servers and Hillary Clinton’s emails.
It was a pitiful sight that marked Trump as the deceitful dotard that he has become known to the world as. And he received the reception that he deserved from most rational observers. Which, of course, leaves out Sean Hannity. On his radio show Monday morning he unleashed an extended rant defending Trump and denigrating his critics. That included some of Hannity’s Fox News colleagues. Hannity said in part:
“These Republicans have been so pathetically weak. They have been so feckless. They have been so visionless.”
And it only got worse from there. Let’s review just who Hannity is referring to, and what they said that rattled Hannity so:
Abby Huntsman: No negotiation is worth throwing your own people and country under the bus.
Stuart Varney: It was not a very forceful presentation from President Trump with Putin standing right next to him. Not forceful at all.
Neil Cavuto: Trump’s performance was disgusting. I’m sorry. This is the only way I feel. It’s not a right or left thing to me. This is wrong. A U.S. president on foreign soil talking to our biggest enemy…is essentially letting the guy get away with this.
Trish Regan: This was clearly not his best performance… He should have defended us! He should have defended his own intelligence community.
General Jack Keane: What happened today is stunning and disappointing.
Brit Hume: Because Trump is unable to see past himself, he sees the Russia meddling investigation as only about him and the collusion claim, and thus calls it a witch hunt.
Shepard Smith: Shameful, disgraceful, treasonous. Three of the descriptions of what Trump did today in Helsinki.
John Roberts: There is a growing consensus tonight across this land that the President threw the United States under the bus.
And those are just the folks from Fox News. Republican politicians like John McCain, Jeff Flake, and Lindsey Graham weighed in as well. Even the Worm of – I mean the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, distanced himself from the Trump train wreck. It’s no wonder that Trump chose Hannity for his post-summit interview, which was so lame it doesn’t even warrant a review. But it was probably just the sort of tongue bath that would restore Trump’s orange glow.
The long-anticipated (well, not really that long) summit between Donald Trump and his boss, Vladimir Putin, is now history. And history will surely record this as one of the most troubling displays of subservience to a foreign enemy by an American president ever witnessed. Trump’s flagrant deference to Putin throughout the press avail following their suspiciously private tete-a-tete should horrify every American.
There is no better way to illustrate just how dangerous Trump’s Putin-worship is than by simply transcribing his own words. They reveal a man who is locked in the throes of advanced senile dementia. What follows are the verbatim responses to selected questions by our brazenly traitorous president as he cowers before the dictator he idolizes and embarrasses America before the entire world:
QUESTION: Mr. President, you tweeted this morning that it’s U.S. stupidity, foolishness, and the Mueller probe that is responsible for the decline in U.S. relations with Russia. Do you hold Russia at all accountable for anything in particular. And, if so, what would you consider that they are responsible for? TRUMP: Yes I do. I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish. We should have had this dialog a long time ago. A long time, frankly, before I got to office. And I think that we’re all to blame. I think that the United States has now stepped forward, along with Russia. And we’re getting a chance to do some great things. Whether it’s nuclear proliferation, in terms of stopping. Have to do it. And ultimately that’s probably the most important thing we can be working on.
But I do feel that we have both made some mistakes. I think that the probe is a disaster for our country. I think it’s kept us apart. It’s kept us separated. There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it. People are being brought out to the fore, so far as I know, virtually none of it related to the campaign. And they’re gonna have to try really hard to find somebody that did relate to the campaign. It was a clean campaign. I beat Hillary Clinton easily. And frankly, we beat her – and I’m not even saying from the standpoint – we won that race. And it’s a shame that there can be even a little bit of a cloud over it. People know that. They understand it. But the main thing we discussed also- zero collusion. And it has had a negative impact on the relationship of the largest nuclear powers in the world. We have ninety percent of nuclear power between the two countries. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous what’s going on with the probe.
Notice that he didn’t answer the question as to what responsibility Russia has for the decline in U.S. relations. He’s putting all the blame on the U.S. Outside of a few vague references to “both” sides, every example is one that holds only America accountable. And then he wanders off into a defensive posture concerning his collusion with Russia during the 2016 election and the tainted victory he still can’t stop obsessing over.
QUESTION: Why should Americans and why should President Trump believe your statement that Russia did not intervene in the 2016 election? Do you have any evidence that U.S. intelligence agencies have provided? And would you consider extraditing the twelve Russian officials that were indicted last week by a U.S. grand jury? TRUMP: Well I’m gonna let the President (Putin) answer the second part of that. But as you know, the whole concept came up, perhaps a little bit before, came out as a reason why the Democrats lost an election which, frankly, they should have been able to win because the electoral college is much more advantageous to Democrats, as you know, than it is to Republicans. We won the electoral college by a lot. 306 to 223, I believe. And that was a well fought battle. We did a great job.
And frankly, I’m gonna let the President speak to the second part of your question, but just to say it one time again, and I say it all the time, There was no collusion. I didn’t know the President. There was nobody to collude with. No collusion with the campaign. And every time you hear all of these – twelve and fourteen – it’s stuff that has nothing to do with – and frankly they admit that these are not people involved in the campaign. But to the average reader out there, they’re saying well maybe that does it doesn’t and even the people involved, some told mis-stories. And in one case the FBI said there was no lie. There was no lie. Somebody else says there was. We ran a brilliant campaign and that’s why I’m president.
Once again, without addressing the actual question, Trump is fixated on his election fetish as he hijacks a question directed at Putin. And he continues to try to absolve himself of his obviously guilty conscience with regard to colluding with Russia.
QUESTION: President Trump, just now President Putin denied having anything to do with election interference in 2016. Every U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. My first question for you, sir, is who do you believe? My second question is, would you now, with the whole world watching, tell President Putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016, and would you warn him to never do it again? TRUMP: Well, let me just say that we have two thoughts. We have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server. Why haven’t they taken the server? Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee? I’ve been wondering that. I’ve been asking that for a month. And I’ve been tweeting it out, and I’ve been calling it out on social media. Where is the server? I wanna know where is the server? And what is the server saying.
With that being said, all I can do is ask the question. My people came to me – (Director of National Intelligence) Dan Coats came to me and some others – they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be. But I really do wanna see the server. But I have confidence in both parties. I really believe that this will probably go on for a while. But I don’t think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server. What happened to the servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC. Where are those servers? They’re missing. Where are they? What happened to Hillary Clinton’s emails? Thirty-three thousand emails gone, just gone. I think in Russia they wouldn’t be gone so easily. I think it’s a disgrace that we can’t get Hillary Clinton’s three thousand emails. I have great confidence in my intelligence people. But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.
In a stark diversion from the question, Trump veered off into an incoherent rant about the DNC server, a wholly imaginary controversy (you can find the truth about the server matters here and here). But more worrisome is Trump’s explicit renouncement of American intelligence. He very plainly took sides with Putin saying that, despite the unanimous conclusions of his own intel resources, he doesn’t “see any reason why it would be” Russia. His manic obsession with some nefarious servers is rooted in ludicrous conspiracy theories. And he still can’t let go of the non-issue of Clinton’s emails, which he says “in Russia they wouldn’t be gone so easily.” That’s more proof that he prefers the Russian model of tyranny to America’s democracy.
Trump goes on to say that he has “great confidence in my intelligence people,” but that that was overridden by his admiration and awe that “Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” Well, in that case we should all just let it go. Would Putin lie to us? And just before cutting off any further questions, Trump interjected a totally off-topic swing at Peter Strzok, who recently made the GOP inquisitioners in Congress look like rabid fools.
What we all witnessed in this press conference was the public Trump literally bending over for Vladimir Putin and choosing to trust our enemy more than our own intelligence professionals and patriots. Which has to make one wonder what happened behind the closed doors of the Treason Summit. And this is not just the opinion of partisan lefties determined to destroy Trump. Immediately following the press conference many conservative pundits and politicians spoke to the horror they just suffered through. They include: Neil Cavuto, Brit Hume, John Roberts, and Abby Huntsman of Fox News. And Republican senators Jeff Flake and Lindsay Graham Even Dick Cheney’s daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney. And to top it all off there is this exchange between the press and Putin that tells the whole story of collusion:
QUESTION: Did you want President Trump to win the election? And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that? PUTIN: Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.
Notice that Putin appears to have answered both parts of the question: his preference and his directions. And if that isn’t enough for the highly complicit congressional Republicans to finally get off their asses and remove Trump from office, than there is absolutely no hope left for their cursed souls.
