Day: 1/21/2019

Fox News Airs Ruth Bader Ginsburg Obituary Pic – What Would They Say if CNN Did the Same to Trump?

Posted by on January 21, 2019 at 7:02 pm. 5 Comments :

You wanna talk about “Fake News”? The most consistently dishonest news network, and Donald Trump’s personal State TV media division, Fox News, made a terrible mistake on Monday morning. They ran a graphic that implied that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died.

Donald Trump, Obituary Pic

This is not only a bad mistake, it is a morbid revelation that Fox News keeps such graphic materials handy and ready to broadcast at a minutes notice. To be fair, all news outlets have obituaries prepared in the event of the death of any famous person. They keep the files handy so that the news can be announced quickly without having to create it from scratch on the spot. But it is unusual for them to be queued up for live airing unless the person has been reported to be on their deathbed.

The error occurred during Trump’s favorite program, Fox and Friends. Shortly afterward, co-host Steve Doocy acknowledged the mistake and apologized saying:

“We need to apologize. At the beginning of Ainsley’s interview with a professor, a technical error in the control room triggered a graphic of Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a date on it. We don’t want to make it seem anything other than that was a mistake. That was an accident. We believe that she is still at home recovering from surgery. Big mistake in the control room.”

No kidding. The thing is, if this had happened on any other network with – for instance – a graphic of Donald Trump, Fox would have devoted half the show to it and insisted that it was a deliberate slur for which the network should be immediately shut down and the people responsible stripped of their citizenship and deported.

Following that, it would be picked up on subsequent programs throughout the day until it reached the peak of frenzy during Fox’s primetime block. Then Sean Hannity would declare that the whole thing was actually a threat to assassinate Trump and he would call for the arrest of the CNN anchors and executives.

Fortunately, this happened on Fox News so all that was required was a ten second acknowledgement and then we would never hear another word about it. No explanation for how it occurred. No word on who was responsible or what the consequences would be. And no comment from Ginsburg, the victim of this blunder, or any attempt to deliver a personal apology. But rest assured that the next time CNN or the New York Times misspells Melania’s name (as Trump did), there will be hours of attacks on what they call “Fake News.” And Trump himself would weigh in with his condemnations of “the enemy of the people” hoping for his demise.

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

Trump’s Martin Luther King Jr Tweet Reveals the Hypocrisy of His Own Hostility to Equality

Posted by on January 21, 2019 at 12:51 pm. 1 Comments :

One of the great ironies in American politics is the rush to embrace Dr. Martin Luther King Jr by the very same people who so adamantly opposed him and his movement. In 1983, 90 representatives (77 Republicans, 13 Democrats) and 22 senators (18 Republicans, 4 Democrats) voted against honoring Martin Luther King Jr. with a federal holiday. However, today the Republican Party officially (if not enthusiastically) celebrates King’s legacy in public statements and events.

Donald Trump, Martin Luther King

As for Donald Trump, he has a sketchy history of recognizing this day’s importance to the nation. It’s almost always a perfunctory tribute that appears forced and disingenuous. This year he had no plans to mark the holiday at all until reports of that neglect caused him to rush out to the King Memorial in D.C. for a couple of minutes. The year before that he announced that he would visit the new Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, but canceled it in a petty fit after being criticized by Rep. (and civil rights hero) John Lewis.

Trump did, however, manage to squeeze out a couple of tweets for the occasion this year. One was a purely propaganda video with no message, just images of him and Mike Pence laying a wreath at the King Memorial. The other tweet actually included some commentary on the subject:

That’s almost an appropriate message to honor this day and Dr. King’s contribution to the country. But part of this message is undercut by current events. In this tweet Trump specifies that “the place of our birth” does not negate the fact that “we are all created equal.” But Trump is feverishly seeking to discriminate against people for that very reason.

The nation is now in the midst of the longest government shutdown in history. And all because Trump is demanding that Congress fund his vanity wall on our border with Mexico. In his tedious justifications for this funding, Trump maligns the Latino refugees seeking asylum in the U.S. as murderers, rapists, and drug traffickers. What’s more, he is committing political extortion by threatening DACA applicants and recipients of Temporary Protected Status (both programs he is trying to terminate) with deportation if his demands aren’t met.

This is not the way people who are created equal are treated in a just society. But it is the way that Trump and his Republican Nationalist Party are treating people who are fleeing violence and poverty. And it’s the way they are treating people who were brought here as children and have lived here their whole lives. Under these circumstances, for Trump to pretend that he cares about the principles that King fought for is completely absurd.

If Trump means what his tweet says about the place of our birth not precluding us from being treated equally, then he should immediately reopen the government and initiate procedures to process the asylum claims of all refugees, and provide DACA and TPS recipients permanent residency and a path to citizenship. That’s what he should do. But don’t hold your breath waiting for Trump and the GOP to behave honorably or to honor the spirit of Dr. King.

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