The Vanishing Witch Hunt: Why Trump Has Been Scared Off of His Fetish with Mueller’s Russia Probe

For most of the past two years Donald Trump has been bellowing like a banshee stuck in a time loop that made him repeat the same tedious whining continuously: witch hunt, Witch Hunt, WITCH HUNT! It’s been a mantra that he hopes the recitation of which will cause his recurring nightmares of treason and prison to subside. But despite his commitment to constant verbal regurgitation of the phrase, he has not found any comfort or relief.

Donald Trump, Witch Hunt

Trump is a trembling wreck whose every public comment is drenched with the fear that consumes him. He is a non-stop fountain of complaints, criticisms, and most of all, whining (Although he also brags about being the “most fabulous whiner”). But there has been a curious change in his recent behavior.

Taking a look back at Trump’s Twitter feed reveals something that requires some explanation. Back in May, Trump tweeted twenty times about what calls the “Witch Hunt.” Of course, he’s referring to the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller of his unsavory connections to Russia, obstruction of justice, and other assorted crimes. Mueller has already found numerous “witches” who have been indicted, convicted, and/or pleaded guilty. Trump’s tweets continued in June with twenty-seven more. Then there were twenty in July and twenty-five August.

However, that was the end of the Witch Hunt Tweetstorming. In September Trump tweeted about the Witch Hunt only five times. And in October it was down to one single Witch Hunt tweet. And that one was more about his dissatisfaction with his own Justice Department than with Mueller’s Russia probe. What could have caused this frightened retreat from a refrain that he was singing so incessantly

Well, Politico is now reporting a possible cause of Trump’s backing off his Witch Hunt obsession. And it’s a blockbuster, if true. They are asserting that Mueller may have already subpoenaed Trump to appear before a Grand Jury:

“Since mid-August, [Mueller] may have been locked in proceedings with Trump and his lawyers over a grand jury subpoena – in secret litigation that could tell us by December whether the president will testify before Mueller’s grand jury.”

“We know that on August 16th (the day after Giuliani said he was almost finished with his memorandum, remember), a sealed grand jury case was initiated in the D.C. federal district court before Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell. We know that on September 19, Chief Judge Howell issued a ruling and 5 days later one of the parties appealed to the D.C. Circuit. And thanks to Politico’s reporting, we know that the special counsel’s office is involved (because the reporter overheard a conversation in the clerk’s office). We can further deduce that the special counsel prevailed in the district court below, and that the presumptive grand jury witness has frantically appealed that order and sought special treatment from the judges of the D.C. Circuit.”

The circumstances surrounding these events suggest that a particularly important witness is the subject of thest court proceedings. Whether or not it is Trump it’s too soon to confirm. But it is more than speculation. And the timing coincides with Trump’s reduced Witch Hunt tweeting. That would make sense because if negotiations like this were taking place, even Trump wouldn’t be stupid enough to foul it up with deranged outbursts on Twitter. Would he?

Plus there’s another peculiar affair that was reported on Tuesday. Some nefarious pro-Trump shills appear to be trying to smear Mueller with phony charges of sexual misconduct. But it’s blowing up in their faces. Note also that Trump’s attorneys, Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, have been mysteriously out of the public eye. And if Giuliani isn’t shoving his way in front of a TV camera, something serious has to be going on.

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

Time will tell if this story pans out. And the period following the midterm election would be the perfect time for these legal disclosures to take place. Mueller, the consummate professional, would not have interfered with the election within the sixty days that is traditionally a quiet period for these sort of proceedings. But after the election he’s free to make whatever disclosures are appropriate. And that is probably what is giving Trump the frights this Halloween.

Stephen Colbert did a pretty good (and funny) summary of Wohl’s incompetent role in this:

The Most Devoted Trump-Fluffers on Fox News Repudiate His ‘Enemy of the People’ Spiel

Donald Trump is losing his grip on the most reliable lap dogs that State TV has to serve up. The “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends have long been Trump’s goto toadies. Even before he was a candidate for president, he had his own weekly segment on the program called “Mondays with Trump.” And ever since it has been the Fox News show that he has appeared on most frequently when he needed some ego stroking or damage control.

Fox News Friends

The hosts of Fox and Friends rarely have any disagreement with Trump. But on Tuesday’s program there was a surprising rift on a matter that Trump holds dear. His frequent references to the media in language he stole from Joseph Stalin as “the enemy of the people” has become almost as ubiquitous in his public pronouncements as “Make America Great Again, “Lock Her Up,” or “Build the Wall.” So this exchange between co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade is bound to rattle his dentures (video below):

Doocy: So there he is talking about his term, “enemy of the people.”
Kilmeade: I really wish he would lose that term. It doesn’t help anybody. It doesn’t push back on the media that he wants to push on…The press isn’t the enemy of the people.

Kilmeade added that “that broad statement does a lot of damage.” And Doocy joined in saying that Trump “probably feels like they are not doing him any favors, and so he doesn’t like them,” but “are they the enemy of the people? I don’t think so, either.” So even though Doocy tried to soften the blow, they both firmly rejected Trump’s favorite hateful characterization of the press that he despises so much. In fact, Doocy’s soft-serve actually makes the criticism even more harsh because it implies that Trump has only been saying that about the media to punish them for not being more adoring. Which, of course, is true.

UPDATE: Fox’s Martha MacCallum has also condemned Trump’s reckless rhetoric:

“When he points at the press in the back of the room and calls them the enemy of the people, that is wrong,” MacCallum said in a Women Rule podcast interview earlier this fall. “And it exacerbates the situation.” When asked her perspective on the president’s calling the media “fake news,” the host added: “I find it disturbing. I think it’s a mistake.”

Lately Trump himself has tried to walk back his neo-fascist approach to the free press. He now says that he never meant the phrase to apply to all of the media, just the “fake” media. That, however, is typical Trumpian bullshit. Because he also says that the fake media is the largest percentage of the media. How large? According to Trump, “A big chunk, okay? … ‘80%.’”

Consequently, Trump can’t pretend that he’s just singling out a few bad apples. He still wants to malign the whole field of journalism, especially when it doesn’t sufficiently suck up to him. But now he is losing the support of the most glassy-eyed disciples in the Church of Trump. That’s gotta hurt the big Narcissist-in-Chief. Where does he go if he can’t go 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.

An Alleged (and Smelly) Smear Campaign Against Robert Mueller is Burning Up the Internet

The StormTrumpers are on the march. Whenever Donald Trump is in trouble, there is a rapid response team of defenders who fan out across the InterTubes to either deny that there is anything untoward afoot, or to clumsily try to change the subject with unrelated and unfounded distractions.

Robert Mueller Trump

Something like that may be going on now as a bombshell story broke regarding special counsel Robert Mueller. Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic published a story on Tuesday about an alleged scheme to tarnish the otherwise pristine reputation of Mueller with accusations of sexual harassment or assault. Bertrand’s article reported that:

“A company that appears to be run by a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist offered to pay women to make false claims against Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the days leading up to the midterm elections—and the special counsel’s office has asked the FBI to weigh in.”

The story has all the ingredients of a risque melodrama. It revolves around a woman who says that she was offered $20,000 to make a public accusation of sexual misconduct against Mueller. There was no truth to the charges. The woman, who identified herself as Lorraine Parsons, said that the offer came from a private intelligence firm called Surefire Intelligence. This firm has connections to a GOP activist named Jack Burkman and a notorious pro-Trump conspiracy theorist, Jacob Wohl. Wohl had already been hyping a “scandalous” Mueller story since Tuesday morning.

Bertrand’s article contains more details along with some provocative speculation. And there is more here from NBC. At this early stage of the story it’s impossible to ascertain whether there is any substance to it. But it shouldn’t surprise anyone if it turns out to be true. This is the sort of depravity that dirty tricksters like Wohl and Roger Stone and Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft engage in on a regular basis. And Burkman is well known for having led his own investigation of the deplorable and debunked conspiracy theory about the murder of Seth Rich.

While it would be prudent to wait for more information to develop before coming to any conclusions, there is one lesson that can be learned and applied for future targets of similar allegations. The first thing that Mueller did after being apprised of this affair was to refer it to the FBI and ask them to investigate it. That’s the behavior of an innocent man. Unlike that of now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh – and his protectors in Trump’s White House and the Republican Party – who all refused to cooperate with a comprehensive probe into the charges against him.

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

Presumably we will hear more about this as information becomes available. And the FBI’s report will also shed light on the matter, assuming it’s released to the public. In the meantime, it will be interesting to watch the right-wing conspirators twisting in the wind as they struggle to make excuses for the crimes that are being alleged and unveiled. Generally when they resort to this sort of underhanded activity, their nervous reactions tend to expose their eventual guilt. Keep the popcorn handy for this one.

Trump Accidentally Admits that Fox News Really is the State TV Division of His White House

Continuing to demonstrate the cowardice that is an integral part of his nature, Donald Trump gave yet another interview to the only network that he isn’t afraid to be questioned by. He appeared on Fox News with the sickly sycophantic Laura Ingraham for a few minutes of fluffing interspersed with incoherent and irrelevant weaving and dodging.

Fox News, Laura Ingraham

The interview broke absolutely no news, making it the pointless waste of time that everyone expected. It was just Trump bragging (lying) about imaginary accomplishments and whining about how he is so beaten up by reporters. Seriously, this tough talking pile of unworthy conceit is actually so weak that, by his own account, those pesky, lightweight news nerds are ripping him to pieces. The only thing that can be described as a revelation from this softball fest is something Trump said that he didn’t mean to reveal (video below).

In a discussion that was ostensibly about his Stalinist references to the media as “the enemy of the people,” Trump tried to justify his reckless hyperbole by claiming that “It’s my form of telling the truth.” Because everyone needs their own “form” of the truth. Then he let this actual example of truth inadvertently slip out:

“We have a lot of supporters. You know that better than anybody. All you have to do is look at your ratings.”

What Trump is saying is that the proof of his popularity is evident in the ratings of Fox News. Really? That must mean that Fox News is an official arm of Trump’s administration and that their fortunes are inextricably intertwined. Which is true, but it’s not something you hear them confess very often.

The interview also addressed a couple of other media related matters. In the following exchange Ingraham helped Trump out by citing a harsh comment by a guest on CNN (who later apologized, which neither Ingraham or Trump acknowledged even though it happened hours before the interview):

Ingraham: There was a woman who was on CNN a short while ago saying that you have radicalized more people than ISIS — that was CNN today.
Trump: Well, that must be some kind of a sick woman. When I say “the enemy of the people,” I’m talking about the fake news and you know it better than anybody.

What Trump isn’t saying is that when he talks about the fake news he means almost all news, and probably everything other than Fox News and a few wingnut websites. Trump never gives an adequate explanation for his use of the “enemy of the people” line even after he is asked about it directly:

Ingraham: How does it help expand your base, to call them [the media] the enemy of the people? How does it help America heal?
Trump: That’s a very good question. Before we finish though – So we’ve done a great job with North Korea…”

Whereupon Trump changed the subject and Ingraham never brought it back up. Why should she when her assignment is to comply with the Fox News mission of falsely maligning Trump’s critics and defending him from any and all criticism aimed his way. She did that throughout the interview. And she even capped it off with this bit of twisted unfairness and imbalance: “You know they [the media] are going to be biased. […] They’re never going to be fair to you.” Left to the imagination is Ingraham’s unspoken elaboration that Trump can always rely on Fox News for unconditional fawning and slobbering tongue baths. Like the one she just gave him.

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

Trump’s Asinine Threat to Send 5,000 Troops to the Border is Savagely Ridiculed on Fox News

The news of a so-called “caravan” of Central American migrants marching north toward the United States is tailor made for a Fox News freakout. Which is why Fox News has been freaking out about it for the past couple of weeks. They actually created the story for the express purpose of advancing the prospects of Trump’s Republican Nationalist Party in the upcoming midterm election.

Donald Trump, Immigrant, Child

Donald Trump himself has latched onto the issue in the most nauseating fashion as he falsely maligns these refugees as criminals and gang members. His latest tweet on the subject was a festival of lies and xenophobic hate:

Of course, Trump has zero evidence to support his vicious claims. And he’s ignoring the fact that these peaceful travelers do intend to enter the U.S. legally. Presenting yourself to immigration officials at the border is precisely the legal process for people applying for refugee status. But Trump is determined to slander folks who are already frightened and desperate. What’s more, he has adopted of the language of the murderer who just killed eleven worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue. That’s a real criminal who cited the caravan in hostile messages just before his rampage, and referred to the migrants as “invaders.”

Trump’s request that the migrants “go back” is a peculiar outburst at people he seems to believe are on the road with smart phones reading his tweets. Does he think that they will just turn around and return to homes they reluctantly abandoned because their lives were at risk? But what’s worse is his threat regarding the waiting military. Trump is literally threatening to slaughter these refugees for seeking safety in the land of the free.

Meanwhile at Fox News, the one anchor that occasionally exhibits some measure of sanity, Shepard Smith, took note of Trump’s latest mental breakdown (video below). And Smith was brutal in his assessment of the absurdity in Trump’s plans. Smith said that:

“The U.S. will deploy some 5,000 troops to the U.S. border as early as tomorrow as thousands of migrants make their way north from Mexico. Tomorrow. The migrants, according to Fox News reporting, are more than two months away, if any of them actually come here. But tomorrow is one week before the midterm election, which is what all of this is about. There is no invasion. No one is coming to get you. There’s nothing at all to worry about.”

So Smith not only pointed out the fallacy in Trump’s deranged policy, but he also identified the real reason that this issue is being discussed. The refugees are a thousand miles from the U.S. and are traveling by foot. They don’t represent any sort of threat whatsoever, and least of all, an imminent one that requires immediate deployment of troops. The only imminent threat is to the Republican Nationalist Party’s grip on political power. And that’s the only reason why Trump is demagoguing this issue and turning refugees into criminal hordes of subhuman invaders. And it’s just the sort of preposterous hate mongering that Trump’s Deplorable cult followers will suck up with relish.

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

Nice work Shep:

For Halloween Trump is Wearing His Zombie Dictator Costume and Demanding that the ‘Media Must End!’

It must be Halloween, because Donald Trump is getting even uglier. But sadly, it’s not a costume. The reprehensible and boorish behavior of our beastly President has been problematic since his nightmarish inauguration. He has persisted in governing like the dictators that he fawns over, and continues to dispense a flagrantly racist and hateful message to his frighteningly ignorant and glassy-eyed cult followers. Now, as his presidency sinks further into an abyss of historically low approval, he is acting like the wounded beast that becomes even more irrational, violent and dangerous.

Donald Trump Zombie

Last week was a painful microcosm of what the Era of Trump has brought to the United States. But neither the attempted mail bombings, nor the murder of Jewish worshipers, was enough to prod Trump from his throne of arrogant insensitivity and all-consuming narcissism. He refuses to take any responsibility for the horror that he is unarguably contributing to via his racist rhetoric and embrace of a doctrine of pure bigotry and hatred.

Rather, Trump is projecting the blame onto his favorite target for contemptuous vilification: the media. He incoherently argues that the press is responsible for the decline in civility merely because they report what he actually says and does. And his hostility toward the media is escalating in concert with his rejection by decent Americans. As the nation worries about mail bombs, and mourns the senseless loss of life, Trump is making matters worse by hate-tweeting the press. It bagan Sunday night and continues into Monday:

This is a series of unhinged outbursts that is unsupported by any factual data – or reality. It is just Trump throwing a deranged tantrum because he has no other outlet for his irrational anger and fear. I makes no sense whatsoever to assert that the media is responsible for the the sort of hatred that was expressed by last week’s acts of domestic terrorism. Surely the media hasn’t been directing any violent rhetoric at the victims of those assaults. That is all Trump. The media is only guilty of reporting his blatantly bigoted frenzies as they occur.

Worst of all in this tirade of venomous animosity toward the press is Trump’s demand that the “Fake News Must End!” Let’s be clear about this. He is literally calling for an end to the free press. Like all wannabe dictators, Trump doesn’t want to be bothered with journalists telling the people about the malicious and criminal activities he is up to. So he either wants the press silenced or delegitimized, at least in the eyes of his most rabid disciples. And we know that when he says the “Fake News Must End,” he is referring to most of the media because he told us so. Just a couple of months ago he attempted to make a distinction between the media and the “fake” media. But he qualified it by saying that “It is the FAKE NEWS, which is a large percentage of the media, that is the enemy of the people!”

So he wasn’t talking about a few bad apples. He explicitly said that what he calls the “fake” media is the largest percentage of the press corps. And if he now insists that the “fake” media must end, he is, therefore, calling for an end to the largest percentage of the media. Presumably that means he would be cool with just keeping Fox News around to continue in their role as State TV. And that would be a frightening prospect for America – and the world – as Trump tries to rule in the mold of Joseph Stalin, from whom he stole the “enemy of the people” line about the media.

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

The circle of fascist aspiration is rapidly closing. But next week Americans will have an opportunity to throw a wrench into the works. However, the only way to effectively put obstacles in the way of Trump’s neo-Nazi trainwreck is to show up at the polls with five or six of your friends and family. Don’t let this chance to save the country slip away by being complacent or pessimistic. This is for real. Vote as if your life depends on it. Vote early if you can. But VOTE!

Trump’s Heinous Attack on Tom Steyer, a Jewish Democrat and Target of the MAGABomber

Already? It didn’t take long for Donald Trump to back off of his obviously disingenuous calls for unity and peace following the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. In fact, it took less than twenty-fours. On Sunday morning Trump could no longer contain his regnant impulses, so he let loose on Twitter in a display of rancid anti-Semitism and a heinous disregard for human life.

Donald Trump

The latest target of Trump’s hostility is billionaire Tom Steyer, a prominent Democratic donor and vocal critic of the President. Trump’s tweet was both hostile and dishonest. In other words, business as usual for our loathsome, Pathological-Liar-in-Chief. The offensive tweet ignored every moral principle that a conscientious leader would ordinarily have. It said:

Let’s break that down. First of all. Trump is admitting that he lied when he said that he doesn’t watch CNN. He often quotes from segments on CNN and criticizes their coverage of him. But in this tweet he plainly admitted that he watched the whole interview. Trump also lied about not having seen Steyer before. Almost a year ago to the day, Trump tweeted about the “Wacky & totally unhinged Tom Steyer, who has been fighting me.” Indeed, Steyer is the founder of Need To Impeach, which has already accumulated more than 6.1 million signatures of Americans seeking to remove Trump from office due to his well documented treasonous behavior and repeated violations of law.

Trump’s infantile compulsion to insult people was evident again with an absurd characterization of Steyer as “wacky,” “crazed,” and “lunatic.” Whatever you think of Steyer’s opinions, his demeanor is always composed and dignified. Trump is just projecting a description of himself onto someone for whom it is plainly unfitting. What’s more, Trump is revealing his jealousy of Steyer, who is a true self-made billionaire (unlike Trump, who got, millions from his father), with a peculiar and unsupported reference to him “running out of money.” And then, of course, Trump alludes to Steyer as being a potential rival in 2020, which Steyer has never affirmed.

In the interview with Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union (video below), Steyer made a strong case refuting the false equivalency that conservatives allege with regard to violence against political leaders. He argued that there may have been perpetrators on both sides, but only one side has been flagrantly advocating the sort of hostilities that result in real, physical harm. And Trump is at the helm of that advocacy with his calls to assault protesters, his support for “body slamming” journalists, and his labeling political opponents, and the media, as enemies.

However, the worst part of Trump’s tweet is that he posted it just days after it was revealed that Steyer was a recipient of a mail bomb from the now infamous “MAGABomber.” Trump has not expressed any sympathies directly to any of the targets of that virulently pro-Trump domestic terrorist, including two former presidents. But now he is overtly attacking one of those targets. Additionally, Steyer is half-Jewish, which makes Trump’s tweet even more reprehensible considering the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue the day before.

It seems that every day Donald Trump exposes more of the noxious hatred and ignorance that is the core of his character, or lack thereof. And with this one tweet he has reaffirmed his relentless dishonesty, his insensitivity toward people who have suffered tragedies, and his brazen bigotry. You have to admit that he has a unique talent for being the worst human being to ever occupy a place of power in the United States. And that’s an accomplishment that surely fills him with pride.

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

Trump, Once Again, Blames the Victims for Not Having More Guns in Synagogues and Churches

The Era of Trump continues to unfold with repeated incidents of violence and tragedy. And through it all, the President regards himself blameless for the horrors that take place on his watch. But what’s worse is that he has no plans to do anything about it except offer “thoughts and prayers” while denying any responsibility for his own hate-speech and the easy accessibility to deadly weapons.

Trump Charlotsville

On Saturday morning there was another mass shooting, this time in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Law enforcement officials are reporting multiple fatalities and wounded. The suspect is in custody and is reported to have yelled that “All Jews must die,” prior to murdering innocent worshipers in cold blood.

Donald Trump spoke to reporters briefly on the matter as he left the White House Saturday morning. He was expected to make remarks about the shooting at the Pittsburgh synagogue. However, he opened with a promo for his speech later in the day at the Future Farmers of America conference. Naturally he had to put all of the attention on himself before addressing the tragic event.

When he got around to the shooting he said that “It’s a terrible, terrible thing that’s going on with hate in our country and all over the world.” It’s a surprisingly ironic comment coming from someone who is so personally responsible for that hate. But then he engaged in the following exchange with a reporter (video below):

Reporter: Mr. President, do you think you need to revisit gun laws?
Trump: Well, again, this has little to do with it. If you had protection inside, the results would have been far better. This is a dispute that will always exist, I suspect. But if they had some kind of protection inside the temple, maybe it could have been a very much different situation. They didn’t.

First of all, Trump is either lying or is woefully uninformed about the facts. There actually was an armed guard in the synagogue. And three trained security guards were wounded by the shooter. This has been the case in a many of the mass shootings that occur in the U.S., but they rarely prevent the sickening loss of life. Guards are to be commended for their courage and commitment, but a shooter who arrives a semiautomatic assault weapon, and without warning, can cause a lot of damage before a defender can even get to the scene. Stopping people from getting weapons like those used in most of these incidents is a far better solution that cuts the off the rampage at its source. But Trump, and his cohorts in the NRA-captive Republican Party, refuse to even consider that option, despite the endless bloodshed.

More troubling is Trump’s routine assertion that the victims are to blame for their own murders because they weren’t armed to the teeth in their temple. And by being peaceful worshipers, Trump believes that they, not the murderer, bear responsibility for their deaths. Trump and his ilk believe that America needs to become an armed fortress where everyone is packing heat in the event they encounter a wrongdoer. That’s a nauseating vision of a violent, dystopian society that would only pile up more innocent bodies in our streets.

This is just another tragic event wherein a shooter with obvious ties to right-wing doctrine and bigotry has brought sorrow to innocent families. And our nation is burdened with a heartless president, who previously found common ground with similarly bigoted crackpots who chanted “Jews will not replace us,” as they marched through the streets of Charlottesville, North Carolina. That ended in tragedy as well, and Trump’s response was that “there are very fine people on both sides.” And that sort of dismissal of overt prejudice is what emboldens more murderous cretins like the one that just shot up this synagogue.

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

Conspiracy-Theorist-in-Chief: Trump Floats Fake MAGABomber ‘Stuff’ as Politically Motivated

Friday morning there was good news out of Florida regarding the MAGABomber. Authorities have confirmed that a suspect, Cesar Sayoc, Jr, is in now custody. He is described as a Florida resident with ties to New York and a criminal past. And while that sounds a little like Donald Trump, it’s actually just a like-minded supporter with pro-trump, anti-media stickers plastered over most of his van. Now who would ever have guessed that?

MAGABomber, Donald Trump

Meanwhile, Trump himself spent the morning whining profusely about the sorry state of America and how everyone in it is out to get him. His latest tweetstorm is a prime example of the narcissism fueled state of rage that he is in virtually all the time. He began with this bit of crybaby bawling:

Apparently Trump is furious that the media can criticize the President “at will.” They didn’t even have to get official permission from the White House. What do they think this is? A democratic republic with a free press, or something? And the only reason that anyone blames him for the “current spate of bombs” is because he’s demonstrably responsible. Trump’s relentless and reckless attacks on his political opponents and the press have created an atmosphere that emboldens fringe characters like Sayoc. Trump complains that he is called “unpresidential” for criticisms. But the reality is that his criticisms are overtly hostile and explicitly advocate violence.

The next tweet shows just how unhinged Trump has become with regard to how the media has been reporting this domestic terrorism. Trump believes that it’s all about him and a plot to damage his presidency and the Republican prospects in the midterm election:

Trump leads off by gaslighting the nation with phony assessments of the state of the Republican campaign. If anything, the early voting is benefiting Democrats, as is the massive fundraising advantages that Democrats are enjoying. So Trump resorts to belittling the domestic terrorism by his supporter as “this ‘Bomb’ stuff.” It’s downright sickening that Trump’s reaction to mail bombs being sent to prominent Americans is to whine about the political ramifications, rather than the threat to human lives.

Furthermore, Trump’s complaint about a news story distracting from the election is absurd and hypocritical. He’s been demagoguing about the Central American refugees for weeks now, in an effort to influence his base of cult voters. Never mind that they are not expected to reach the U.S. border until at least a month after the election. By the way, the news is still talking about politics. Even Fox News.

Finally, Trump posted a laughably conspiratorial tweet about Twitter removing his followers and making it harder for new ones to join:

This is the sort of brilliant, expert analysis you might expect from Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, or Diamond & Silk. Which is almost certainly where he got it. And it isn’t the first time that Trump has ranted – with zero evidence – that he and other rightists were the victims of social media bias. He has even promised to stomp the boot of government down on Twitter, Google, etc., if they didn’t bend to his will.

Trump’s claim that the number of his Twitter followers has declined from a “Rocket Ship” to a “Blimp” is not supported by any documentation. Like almost everything else he says, it’s backed up by his big fat assumptions based on nothing but an overactive imagination. If anything, any declines are more likely attributable to the fact that more than half of his followers are fake (and probably Russian).

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

Throughout all of this blathering idiocy, Trump is failing any test of leadership by focusing the country on unity and a determination to make our politics more civil and our people safer. He hasn’t even reached out to the victims in this matter, which include two former presidents. He only sees these things in terms of how they affect him personally. But that’s been his modus operandi since even before he was President. So don’t expect him change or “pivot” to acting presidential. Any who still thinks that’s a possibility is terminally naive.

Blaming the Victim: Trump is Still Attacking the Media One Day After Mail Bombs Were Sent

There is one notable character trait that Donald Trump displays whenever he is confronted with criticism of any kind. He immediately dismisses it, rejects any responsibility, and points fingers at his critics and victims as the real problems. That holds true whether Trump is accused of fumbling on national security, committing sexual assault, or any other of his numerous failures.

Donald Trump

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump is already blaming the media for the mail bombs sent to the media, as well as many other Trump critics. His knee-jerk response to any negative news is to fire back at those who have suffered the most. And under no circumstances apologize or accept fault in any degree. With Donald Trump the buck stops everywhere except with him. And the latest example of that is his tweet Thursday morning:

So one day after mail bombs were sent to at least nine of his critics, Trump lashes out at the victims and blames them for the attacks. What’s more, the tweet contains heinous and unsupported lies. Beginning with his estimation of the cause of the “anger we see today in our society.” There is no one more responsible for that anger than Trump. And there is no one more angry than Trump. He is perpetually enraged and screaming invectives at all the things he hates about America, its people, and its institutions.

Trump also accuses the media of “purposely false and inaccurate reporting.” Of course, he offers no evidence of that. The truth is that any reporting that reflects negatively on him, he rejects as “fake news,” no matter how well documented and verified. Nevertheless, in Trump’s diseased brain it is the media that is “hateful.”

For Trump to continue with this sort of inflammatory rhetoric just one day after the worst attempted mail bombings in American history is both reprehensible and, from him, expected. Some news reports complimented his opening remarks at the Wisconsin cult rally on Wednesday night that called for unity. But thy must have forgotten that it only takes a few hours (sometimes minutes) for Trump to return to his typical thuggery and lash out at anyone who dares to tell the truth about him. Just moments after his wholly disingenuous and call for unity, Trump accused the media of “endless hostility.”

And he isn’t alone in attacking the victims. Naturally, State TV (aka Fox News) rushes to his defense in order to protect him from the onslaught of unbridled truth tellers. For example, the sycophantic Trump-fluffers on Outnumbered made sure to charge Maxine Waters with bringing on the mail bomb attack herself. And Fox contributor Newt Gingrich told reporters that the media has “earned” the label “enemy of the people.” Ultra-Trumpist Lou Dobbs tweeted (then deleted) “Fake News – Fake Bombs.” Even Trump’s press secretary joined in the assault on the media with a particular focus on CNN.

If anyone needs a refresher course on who is most responsible for the uncivil tone and advocacy of political violence in the nation, the video below, courtesy of Mashable, does a pretty good job of compiling the documentation that exposes Trump’s horrific record of hatred and division.

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