The Ludicrous Fox News ‘3 Mexicos’ Chyron Wasn’t Nearly as Bad as What They Actually Said

On Sunday Morning Fox News set out reestablish their status as the supreme purveyors of rank idiocy. And they accomplished that goal with a graphic presentation of both their stupidity and racism. This feat occurred during another one of their regularly scheduled segments demonizing and dehumanizing immigrants from south of the border.

Donald Trump, Immigrant, Child

While the three co-hosts of Donald Trump’s favorite morning show, Fox and Friends rattled on about the alleged “crisis” on the border, there was a graphic that said “Trump Cuts U.S. Aid to 3 Mexican Countries.” Of course, there aren’t three Mexican countries. That’s just Fox’s way of disparaging all brown people in Central and South America as being the same undesirables. However, as bad as that careless foul-up was – and even given their hurried correction – what they actually said during the segment was even worse. And that can’t be dismissed as a mistake.

The piece started off with Pete Hegseth summarizing everything wrong that Fox disseminates regarding immigration:

“Cutting payment – aid payment – to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras over the fact that those countries have been unable to contain the flood of migrants heading through Mexico to our southern border. So yesterday we talked about potentially shutting down the southern border … this is a big move. This is one of the few punitive measures the executive branch has still, to these countries to say ‘get it under control.'”

First of all, the migrants from Central America are fleeing the poverty and violence that threatens them and their children. Cutting humanitarian aid will only make it more difficult for these countries to resolve the problems they have with crime and scarcity. So any thinking person would understand that Trump’s actions can only exacerbate the problems he’s pretending to want to solve.

Jedediah Bila then added that Trump “came in strong” with his tweets threatening to close the border and gushed that “It seems to me he’s standing tall on this issue. He’s not backing down. I don’t blame him.” And Ed Henry chirped along in worshipful harmony saying “Yeah, it might take drastic measures.”

Trump’s notion of cutting aid is only surpassed in reckless ineptitude by his intent to close the border. That will in no way advance a solution to the problem, but it will severely harm American businesses and workers. Even Trump’s Republican allies in Congress have ridiculed the idea. And the complaint by the Foxies that the three Mexicos have been unable to “contain the flood of immigrants” ignores Trump’s own whining that it’s the U.S. that hasn’t been managing what he considers to be a national emergency. Hence his wall fetish.

When all is said and done, Fox News continues to say and do the most preposterously illogical things in their mission to frighten and disinform their audience of Deplorables. And sadly, at that they happen to be quite good.

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

Judge Jeanine Pirro Returned Saturday Night – on Fox News and SNL – And Both Were Hysterical

Two weeks ago “Judge” Jeanine Pirro was suspended from her weekly perch on Fox News after she made comments so reprehensible that they even offended the suits at Fox. Pirro attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar whose Muslim faith, according to Pirro, was incompatible with the United States Constitution. Despite the nearly universal disgust for Pirro’s hate speech, she retained the fervent support of Donald Trump. who begged Fox News to return her to the air.

Jeanine Pirro Fox News

On Saturday night Trump got his wish. Pirro once again hosted her Trump-fluffing White Nationalist Hour with all the drooling ferocity she had before her brief suspension. She obviously learned nothing from her time-out, and offered no apology. Her “Opening Statement” segment addressed the release of the “summary” of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report by Trump’s plant in the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barr. However, it began with a torrid tirade that might better have been directed at Trump:

“When someone lies to you, do you just say ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll get over it’? Well that’s not how our system works. There has to be accountability. There has to be a consequence. Because as the President himself said ‘This should never happen again.’ And I can guarantee you it will happen again unless we make an example of the traitorous, treasonous group that accused Donald Trump of being an agent of the Russian government.”

Except for that last line that disputed accusations of Trump being a Russian agent, Pirro’s rant could have been a righteous assault on the relentless dishonesty of Trump. His flagrant lies and avoidance of accountability really is not the how system ought to work. And there definitely should be consequences for Trump and his vast army of criminal accomplices.

Pirro went on to warn that investigations like the one Mueller conducted could become “a blueprint for a future effort to overthrow the government.” But she got it completely backwards. Mueller was probing activities that included undermining our democratic election by Trump and a hostile foreign country. He was the one working to prevent government corruption. She further advised her viewers not to be “satisfied with the Mueller report,” which makes sense considering the fact that neither she nor any of her viewers have seen it. What’s more, what little we do know about the report is insufficient to vindicate the President. But what she meant was that they shouldn’t be satisfied with what she claimed was Trump’s exoneration, a conclusion that the report explicitly denied. And finally, she closed with a demand to stop all of Trump’s critics, by throwing them in jail, with what she called “behind the bars justice.”

A little later in the evening, Saturday Night Live weighed in with an appearance by Pirro (as played by Cecily Strong) during the Weekend Update news segment. It was a nearly identical portrayal of the injudicious judge who is pretty funny herself, albeit unintentionally. She made a point of thanking her superfans, the “mean, horny men laying on in-home hospital beds and white prison gangs who control the remote on Saturdays.” And I defy anyone to differentiate between Pirro’s wild-eyed raving and Strong’s satirical take on it. If anything, Strong’s impression was too understated.

Fox News Flat Out Lies that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Compared Climate Change to 9/11

It’s never exactly breaking to news to report that Fox News has broadcast something that is blatantly contrary to reality. In fact, it would be easier to point out when they say something that’s even marginally true. Nevertheless, it’s important to set the record straight lest we allow their lies to linger and get a foothold on the weaker minds that populate their audience of Deplorables.

Fox News, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

On Saturday morning, Donald Trump’s favorite breakfast club, Fox and Friends, put together a segment that was obviously intended to deceive. The target of their dishonesty was a familiar one: Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), for whom they have developed a perverse obsession. The subject of the segment was emblazoned on their chyron which read “Ocasio-Cortez Compares Climate Change to 9/11.” There’s just one little problem with that. AOC never did anything of the kind.

The “Curvy Couch” potatoes began the segment with a clip (video below) of AOC making a point about the of the Trump administration’s utterly incompetent response to the tragic hurricane in Puerto Rico. She said that:

“On the events on September 11, 2001, thousands of Americans died in the largest terror attack on US soil. Our national response was war in one, then eventually two countries. Three thousand Americans died in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria. Where is our response?”

So AOC did make some mention of 9/11, but it had nothing to do with climate change. And it wasn’t even a comparison to the devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico. She was only observing that this country can devote resources to a disaster when it has the will to do so. She was comparing the response, not the event. But the hosts of Fox and Friends were more committed to attacking AOC than to reporting what she actually said. Not that she didn’t address climate change in the hour long town hall she did with Chris Hayes of MSNBC. She did, and in a very profound and compelling manner. But Fox News never played that part:

“Our greatest existential threat is climate change. And to get us out of this situation – to revamp our economy, to create dignified jobs for working Americans, to guarantee healthcare, and elevate our educational opportunities and attainment – we will have to mobilize our entire economy around saving ourselves and taking care of this planet.”

The producers of this Fox program also appended a bit of video to the end of their clip that was unrelated to the rest of it. It showed her commenting about the critics of the “Green New Deal,” saying that she “didn’t expect them to make total fools of themselves.” That comment was actually a response to a video montage of Republicans and Fox News shills (which is redundant, I know) attacking her. And after maligning and misrepresenting her for the whole piece, the Fox hosts suggested that she should come on their show. Yeah, right. At least Fox didn’t compare her to Hitler and Stalin like it did a couple of months ago.

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

Poor Fox News is Pathetically Bragging About a Few Days of Beating MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow

Fox News was once the dominant news network on cable TV. It was so far ahead of its competition that it seemed unthinkable that it could be challenged. That’s mainly because they corralled all of the Deplorable right-wingers into one barnyard pen, while the rest of the television news was dispersed across many other channels. But it was still a marketing angle they could use as a cudgel against their competitors.

Fox News, Rachel Maddow

In recent years that domination has has dissipated substantially. And particularly in the past few months, MSNBC has caught up, and quite often surpassed Fox news in the ratings. Rachel Maddow’s program has been crushing Sean Hannity, her direct time period competitor, on a nearly nightly basis ever since the midterm elections last November.

In what seems to be a reaction to the surging performance of MSNBC, Donald Trump took measures to prop up Fox News which acts as his personal, state TV mouthpiece for propaganda. He’s has fervently promoted his fave hosts including Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, and Jeanine Pirro. He even did so on Thursday night at his latest cult rally in Michigan. It’s often hard to tell whether Trump thinks he’s working for the American people or for Fox’s PR department.

Fox News has also started to boast about their ratings. They featured a story on their website’s home page that celebrated what they called “Maddow’s Deep Dive.” What makes this extraordinary is that this isn’t the sort of thing that any network does. When was the last time anyone has seen CBS or CNN make a story about their ratings a news item? That’s generally reserved for the TV trade press. But even more embarrassing for Fox is that they have to do this at all. They are effectively conceding that they have been the big losers of late and now are proud that they’ve had a few days where they aren’t in the ratings cellar. It’s an admission that they are underperforming MSNBC and it is therefore cause for joy that they came out on top for a while.

It should be noted that this “success” for Fox News is occurring just after the release of a four page letter by Trump’s plant in the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barr. The letter purports to be a summary of the 400+ page report by special counsel Robert Mueller. But it is a gross misrepresentation of that document by all accounts. And that includes the account of Fox’s senior legal analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano, who says that there is evidence of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the full report. So it’s natural for Maddow’s viewers to take a break from what can be considered a slow news cycle, while Fox’s viewers pile in to get their pro-Trump fantasies gassed up.

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

Whether or not this constitutes a trend in the ratings, or is a temporary blip remains to be seen. But the fact that Fox News was compelled to throw a party simply because they edged out Maddow – who rose from nowhere to become a giant killer – just proves that Fox is worried and has to brag about briefly beating a show that they used to ignore as unworthy of their attention. Maddow and MSNBC are clearly making Fox so nervous that they can’t even hide it. That’s great news for MSNBC.

Fox News Senior Legal Analyst: Adam Schiff is Correct on Evidence of Trump Conspiracy and Obstruction

The Republicans in Congress have been going absolutely batty over what they regard is the total exoneration of Donald Trump by the Mueller Report – which none of them have seen a single page of. They are even escalating their attacks on Trump’s Democratic critics to include absurd demands for apologies and the resignation of House Intelligence Committee Chair, Adam Schiff. Trump even weighed in on that matter in a typically reckless, dishonest, and hostile tweet.

Donald Trump, Robert Mueller

So you have to wonder how Trump and his MAGA Martinets will respond when they hear that the senior legal analyst at fox News agrees with Rep. Schiff. In a conversation with host Neil Cavuto (video below), Andrew Napolitano presented the bare legal facts that demonstrate Trump’s complicity in conspiratorial endeavors with Russia and efforts to cover them up. Napolitano noted that special counsel Robert Mueller “must have found some evidence of a conspiracy,” and that “there obviously is evidence of obstruction of justice.” He elaborated on those points during the interview:

“I think that Congressman Schiff is correct. In that report will be evidence of the existence of a conspiracy. Not enough evidence to prove the existence beyond a reasonable doubt. In that report will be evidence of obstruction of justice, interfering with an FBI investigation for a personal gain. But not enough evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.”

That just happens to be precisely the case that Schiff has been making for months. He told CNN that:

“There was a big difference between whether there was evidence of collusion – and I think that evidence is in plain sight – and whether you can establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a criminal conspiracy.”

So all the hoopla by the right and the devoted cult followers of Trump is, as usual, just the yammering of ignorant partisans who are more interested in feeding their fantasies than in accepting reality. And the reality is that there is abundant evidence of criminality by Trump and his associates. Whether a prosecutor could obtain a conviction by the standards that apply in a courtroom is irrelevant to the discussion of whether the President’s activities were immoral, unethical, or proof of his unfitness for office.

The key point here is whether there is sufficient cause to proceed with efforts to release the Mueller Report in full and complete the investigation into Trump and Russia’s documented interference with the 2016 presidential election. Some of Schiff’s colleagues in Congress expressed their rage that anyone would continue to doubt that the President was vindicated. But Schiff masterfully put them in their place with an emotional and fact-filled response to their personal disparagement of him. “You may think it’s OK,” Schiff said, “how Trump and his associates interacted with Russians during the campaign. I don’t.”

And the America people don’t think it’s OK either. Which is why Schiff and the Democrats in Congress need to continue their efforts to bring light to the nefarious affairs of Trump et al, by demanding the release of the full Mueller Report and issuing subpoenas, if necessary, for Mueller and Attorney General Barr. The nation deserves to know, as another unscrupulous president once said, whether or not their president is a crook. Because if we don’t stop him now, he’ll just do it again (which he probably already is).

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

Trump is STILL Colluding With Russia (and Fox News) to Deny Putin’s Election Interference

It’s been four days since the Mueller Report has NOT been released – only the four page cover up by Trump’s plant in the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barr. In that short span of time the right-wing media has been furiously crafting a brazenly false narrative that imagines that Donald Trump was exonerated even though Barr’s letter explicitly denies it and the American people don’t buy it.

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

Included in the campaign to vindicate from Trump are demands that the media apologize for accurately reporting about Trump’s crime-riddled administration. Which is ironic since it’s Trump who should be apologizing to special counsel Robert Mueller. For more than two years Trump has engaged in reckless character assassination, accusing Mueller of being a corrupt, dishonest partisan on an illegal witch hunt.

What’s more, the media’s MAGA Martinets are also calling for the President to actually escalate his war against the First Amendment. And perhaps the new king of anti-free press hysterics is the Fox News host of their alleged business channel, Stuart Varney went on an extended rant (video below) that proved nothing except for how valuable psychoactive pharmaceuticals could be if certain unhinged TV yakkers were taking them. Varney began his tirade by saying that:

“Now is the time for a presidential counterpunch. President Trump is good at this. Have a go at him and he’ll come right back at you, big time. Now is the time to counterpunch the media. For two years they’ve let their hatred show. I used to soften that word and say they have contempt for the President. No no, they hate him.”

Isn’t “contempt” actually strong than “hate”? And does Varney really believe that Trump hasn’t already been punching at the press with his Stalinist-inspired denunciations of it as “the enemy of the people” and “the opposition party”? He continued:

“For two years they’ve indulged in a orgy of hatred that colored absolutely everything. For two years they preened themselves, assuming the moral high ground. They’re the elite. They’re above the rest of us. They told us the President of the United States was a Russian agent. They told us he was a traitor. They breathlessly reported the most outrageous statements. They gave themselves prizes. Listen to this. It’s from the Pulitzer Prize awarded jointly to the New York Times and the Washington Post. I’ll read it.”

“For deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that dramatically furthered the nation’s understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election.”

Varney then mocked this tribute as referring to leaks to the press by former FBI director James Comey, and the false allegations against Hillary Clinton for allegedly funding the infamous Steele dossier. What’s peculiar about this is that Varney is attacking the Pulitzer awards for their recognition of reporting on the “Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election,” not the accusations that Trump and his criminal associates conspired with Russia.

Russia’s efforts to illegally influence our election have been documented and affirmed by everyone from the U.S. Intelligence community to the Mueller report, according to Attorney General Barr. But this rabid rundown by Varney is denying that the election interference ever occurred. And Trump posted this video on his Twitter feed. Which can only mean that he is, once again, denying Russia’s involvement in tampering with the election. In that way Trump is still colluding with Russia by taking their side, absolving them of guilt, and making it easier for them repeat their crimes in 2020. Vladimir Putin must be ecstatic.

And Varney wasn’t through. He wrapped up this atrocious gift to our enemies in the Kremlin by lavishing adoring praise on Trump and lashing out again at the media:

“The counterpunch has already started. Good! The Trump campaign has sent a letter to news outlets telling them to employ quote ‘basic journalistic standards’ when booking guests who have made outlandish and false claims. Way to go Mr. President.”

For the record, that letter to TV news outlets was pretty funny. It called on them to refuse to book any guests who had proven themselves to be repeated and unrepentant liars. It singled out politicians like like Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Adam Schiff. But it more accurately described people like Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, whose absence from the airwaves would make them decidedly more trustworthy.

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

Trump Pumps Fox News Ratings Despite Their Primetime Shows Losing to MSNBC Four Months Straight

There is a stench of desperation in seeing a president so brazenly genuflecting to a sycophantic “news” enterprise. Especially one that serves as his personal State TV mouthpiece. But that’s what has transpired between Donald Trump and Fox News. It’s gotten to the point where he appears to be acting more like the president of Fox News PR and Marketing than of the United States. Just last week he posted ten videos of Fox programs touting his eminence.

Donald Trump Sean Hannity

Trump’s devotion to Fox News is so all-consuming that it takes up more than half of his Twitter feed. He tweets more about Fox News than about “witch hunts,” although many of his tweets combine both of those subjects thanks to Fox’s own obsession over that particular conspiracy rant. But on Tuesday Trump took the additional step of bragging on Fox’s behalf about their ratings:

There’s a lot to unpack here. First of all, Trump already declared that the media has lost its credibility many times, going back nearly two years. Secondly, the Mueller investigation that he calls a “witch hunt” has produced dozens of indictments and seven convictions, so far. And with the release of the Barr Letter (allegedly summarizing the Mueller Report), Trump even praised special counsel Robert Mueller as “honorable.” Thirdly – well, we don’t really need to go into the absurdity of Trump’s self characterization as “your all time favorite duly elected President, me!” His historically low approval polling settles that question.

Finally, Trump leaped into the TV marketing and promotions game by hyping what he thinks are good numbers for Fox News. It needs to be noted that that is NOT his job! But he persists in boasting as if Fox’s performance reflects on him personally, which in many ways it does. But his analysis is pitifully ignorant. His assertion that the Mueller news affected the ratings race is based solely on the steam emanating from the various orifices in his head (and perhaps other body parts as well). But more importantly, Mueller has been in the news all month and the ratings over the course of more than just the one day that Trump is focused on tell a completely different story.

For the month of March so far, Rachel Maddow has beaten her competition, Sean Hannity, in the all-important advertising demographic of 25-54 year olds. And in total audience they are separated by a miniscule fifty thousand viewers, with both coming just short of three million on average per night. Longer term, though, Maddow has crushed Hannity for the past four months straight.

So Trump is going out of his way to celebrate the ratings on a single night that has no bearing on the overall ratings picture. It’s what losers in the media do when they haven’t got a real story of success to pitch. And Trump is going all out to help his pals at Fox. He has scheduled his first post-Barr Letter interview for Hannity’s program Wednesday night. Although it’s a stretch to call these love fests interviews since they mainly consist of Hannity feeding Trump narratives he can brag (and lie) about. Undoubtedly the faithfull MAGA cultists will tune in for more of their regularly scheduled propaganda. But the real test will come in the days and weeks following these staged, reality TV style events.And if the past four months is any indicator, we won’t be seeing any more of these Trump pumps on his Twitter feed.

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

FLOP: After Two Years of ‘Witch Hunt’ Smears, Trump Flips, Says Mueller ‘Acted Honorably’

On Tuesday morning Donald Trump once again made the blatantly false assertion that the Mueller report exonerated him. Never mind that neither he, nor the American people, have seen it. His remarks are based solely on the recklessly biased “summary” crafted by his plant in the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barr.

Donald Trump, Witch Hunt

Trump is now telling reporters that “The Mueller report was great. It could not have been better.” He said that just seconds after calling it a “witch hunt.” And once again, he has not seen the report and has no idea what what it says or the evidence it reveals of his criminal activities and obstruction of justice. Some reports say that he didn’t even read Barr’s summary, but was briefed by the White House counsel who read him selected passages.

Nevertheless, Trump and his Martinets of MAGA have been bitterly critical of the Mueller probe. They have incessantly characterized it as a “witch hunt,” a “hoax,” and an “Illegal” attempt to stage a coup against him. Trump’s insults directed at Mueller were shamelessly malicious, particularly considering that Trump’s life of deceit, exploitation, racism, and failure, cannot be compared to Mueller – a true American hero and lifelong public servant.

And yet, in the days before Mueller completed his probe, the StormTrumpers were still banging the drum for Mueller character assassination. And they were furiously determined to undermine the investigation’s credibility. For instance:

  • RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel: This was a politically motivated witch hunt from day one.
  • Trump’s Campaign Team: Democrats allowed this WITCH HUNT to go on for 2 YEARS.
  • Don Trump, Jr: 2 yrs of constant attacks, the largest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.
  • Sen. Rand Paul: I’ve been saying for the last two years this was a partisan witch-hunt without substance.
  • And of course, Donald Trump: This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!

But that was then, and this is now:

Jon Karl, ABC News: Do you think Special Counsel Mueller acted honorably?
Trump: “Yes, he did. Yes, he did.”

It’s striking how effortlessly Trump can glide between such diametrically opposed positions. It’s as if he has no recollection of what he said just a few days (or hours) prior. Or more likely, he simply doesn’t care. All he cares about is what’s in his best interest at the moment. And for someone who has flagrantly lied more than 9,000 times since his inauguration, what else can be expected?

So now Trump, and his defenders in the press and politics, are demanding an apology. For what? Mueller successfully secured thirty-seven indictments and seven convictions, so far. And the asset forfeitures from Paul Manafort alone more than pay for the entire cost of the investigations. The only person who obviously deserves an apology is Mueller. And the same Trump sycophants are insisting in a display of true totalitarianism that anyone who is critical of Trump be banned from the airwaves. However, the criteria proposed would actually end up banning nearly everyone who works in the White House, including Trump.

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

The bottom line is that Donald Trump is fiercely devoted to gaslighting the American people. They can’t believe anything he says. They could not believe his cries of “witch hunt” in the past, and they can’t believe his praise of Mueller now. It won’t last anyway when/if the whole report is released. And Trump is already moving on to new gaslit proclamations with a tweet that declares that “The Republican Party will become ‘The Party of Healthcare!'” This comes just a few hours after his administration announced it would kill healthcare for millions by backing a legal effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) with no alternative. And on it goes.

HAH! Trump Campaign Memo Makes Strong Case for Banning Lying Trump Surrogates from TV

It’s was just two days ago that special counsel Robert Mueller completed his investigation of Donald Trump and the nefarious connections to Russia by the President and his close associates. And it’s been less than twenty-four hours since Attorney General William Barr released his deliberately distorted letter that misrepresented even the few sentence fragments from Mueller’s report that Barr bothered to cite.

Donald Trump

However, that was plenty of time for the Republican Political Machine to contrive their propaganda offensive and to craft a brazenly false narrative that Trump has been exonerated and that his critics are witch hunting liars. The project they rushed to implement included a bizarre memo from Tim Murtaugh, the Director of Communications for Trump’s 2020 campaign. Murtaugh’s memo echoed what most of the GOP Surrogate Squad has been saying: Barr’s letter is “a total and complete vindication of President Donald Trump.” Of course, Mueller’s actually words dispute that. He literally wrote that his report “does not exonerate” Trump, at least with regard to obstruction of justice.

The rest of the memo consisted primarily of a list of Democrats who made truthful statements about Trump and Russia. They included Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Rep. Eric Swalwell, DNC Chair Tom Perez, and former CIA Director John Brennan. Each of them correctly noted that there is abundant evidence that Trump did in fact conspire with Russians to advance his election prospects. Murtaugh sent the memo to TV producers in an effort to poison the media trough by baselessly accusing the Democrats of lying.

Notice that the only argument that Murtaugh makes to support his allegations is what Barr wrote in his highly partisan interpretation of the Mueller report, which he has so far refused to make public. And on the basis of that he asks TV bookers to reconsider inviting Democratic guests for interviews. It’s a familiar dictators’ ploy to silence their opponents by starving them of media exposure. But perhaps the most ludicrous paragraph in the Murtaugh memo was the question that he proposed for TV bookers to ask themselves:

“Does this guest warrant further appearances in our programming, given the outrageous and unsupported claims made in the past.”

That’s a darn good question. The only problem for Trump’s whiny comms director is that if the media takes his advice, and uses that criteria for future bookings, it would be the end of all television appearances for Trump’s senior counsel Kellyanne Conway, his press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, his campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany, his son Don Jr., and pretty much anyone else who works for Trump. They are a team of recidivist liars who, when they aren’t mangling the truth, are feverishly trying to deflect and divert from the topic at hand. And of course, Trump’s record breaking 9,000+ lies would make him off limits for TV bookings.

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

So, come to think of it, this is a pretty good idea. Television news would be far better off without these tale-spinners butchering what should be an informative public discourse. Most of the time their interviews devolve into shouting fits wherein they cravenly try to filibuster the limited time available for their segment and avoid giving any substantive answers. So while Murtaugh meant to impose a thinly disguised demand for censorship, he ended up offering a solution to the pollution on the airwaves by dishonest Trump-fluffers and sycophants. We owe him our thanks.

COVER UP: Barr’s Summary of the Mueller Report on Trump is a Deliberate Distortion of Reality

First things first. No matter what Donald Trump and his MAGA Martinets would have you believe, the final report by special counsel Robert Mueller has not been released and what has been released does not exonerate Trump. The summary written by Trump’s intensely partisan Attorney General William Barr was purposefully crafted to sweep the facts under the rug and consequently does not vindicate the president.

Donald Trump, Robert Mueller

The simple fact that we know nothing more today than we knew yesterday is not going to stop Trump’s legions from spinning a baseless fairy tale of his virgin purity. However, we need to remember two critical facts: 1) Mueller secured dozens of indictments for hundreds of crimes with seven felony convictions so far; and 2) that Barr is the AG who Trump hand-picked due to his publicly expressed views opposing the special counsel and supporting an expansive interpretation of presidential powers.

With specific reference to the letter that Barr sent to Congress, he quoted very little from Mueller’s actual report. And what he cherry-picked was conspicuously aligned with his preconceptions. For instance, according to Barr, Mueller found that there was a campaign of disinformation by Russia to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, something Trump has vehemently denied. And yet, in Barr’s retelling he did not find that any “U.S. person or Trump campaign official or associate conspired or knowingly coordinated” with Russia in those efforts.

But all this tells us is that Mueller didn’t establish such coordination, not that it didn’t happen, or even that there isn’t considerable evidence to suspect it. That’s why it’s so important to see the whole Mueller report so we know precisely what his investigation uncovered, as opposed to Barr’s interpretation. And with the qualification of “knowingly” conspiring, Barr leaves out the obvious encouragement by Trump of Russia’s activities through and his defense of the allegations against his pal Vladimir Putin.

Mueller also concluded that “Russian government actors successfully hacked into computers and obtained emails” from the Clinton campaign and the DNC, which were disseminated by WikiLeaks. Trump actually praised these flagrant violations of federal law. So these activities can still constitute crimes that may not have been committed in conjunction with the Russian government, but with outside players like Wikileaks and others with affiliations to Russia.

With regard to obstruction of justice, Mueller was clear that evidence existed that pointed to Trump’s guilt. But for some reason he backed off making a judgment. He wrote that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” That is in direct contradiction to Trump’s self-serving response following the release of Barr’s summary wherein he falsley claimed that Mueller’s report (which he hasn’t seen) proved “there was no collusion with Russia, there was no obstruction whatsoever,” and it was a “complete and total exoneration.” None of which is true based on anything in Barr’s letter. Trump further portrayed himself as a paranoid victim of an “illegal takedown” and called for totalitarian-style investigations of Mueller’s probe, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, the FISA court and others in what he derisively called “the other side.” Trump still seeks to divide America with that rhetoric.

Both Barr and Trump have flagrantly spun what little was revealed of the Mueller report. But that only leaves us with more questions than answers. It is already known that Trump admitted on national television to obstructing justice by firing FBI director James Comey. Likewise it’s known that Trump’s son, son-in-law, and campaign chairman met with Russians in Trump Tower to acquire Hillary Clinton’s stolen emails. And the coordination with Wikileaks, who sourced their info from Russian operatives, is also on the public record. So even if Trump didn’t personally conspire with Russia (which cannot be dismissed), many of his surrogates did, and they lied about it until evidence forced them to come clean.

At the very least, Trump aided and abetted Russia’s documented efforts to interfere with the election in order to propel Trump to victory. He did so by openly encouraging Russia to continue their nefarious activities. He did so by denying that Russia’s criminal acts occurred even after his own intelligence agencies affirmed them. And he failed to shore up the nation’s defenses against further such interference that is still going on to this day. For these reasons it is imperative that Mueller’s full report be made public so that the American people can see all the evidence that he compiled and not have to rely on the prejudicial conclusions of Trump’s conflicted Attorney General.

The American people are not going to be satisfied by Barr’s biased appraisal of data he is plainly slanting while refusing to disclose it to the public. That is ironically spelled out in stark terms in a new poll by Fox News. The hostility directed at Mueller by the Trump contingent who disparaged him as a “Deep State” villain engaged in a “Witch Hunt” makes their newfound confidence in him surreal, and disingenuous and cult-like in the squishyness of their principles.

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

Before this is over Trump should be shamed into apologizing to Mueller for maligning his character for the past two years. And if Republican politicians and pundits want to rest on Mueller’s report as evidence that the President is innocent of impeachable offences, they need to reverse course on smearing him and join the call for his report to be released in full. What’s more, they need to cooperate with congressional inquiries that have a different mandate and are more directly answerable to “We the People.”