Photo-Flop: Trump in North Korea Brags of ‘Great Friendship’ with Brutal Dictator Kim Jong Un

Prior to running for president with the help of Russian propagandists and American white nationalists, Donald Trump had another career. No, it was not as a real estate tycoon. His record as a businessman was rife with failure and self-aggrandizing lies. What he was best known for was being the host of a reality TV game show that consumed fourteen years of his life. Real billionaires wouldn’t have time for that nonsense. That was his job.

Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un

Unfortunately, Trump has taken that work experience with him into the White House. He has behaved in precisely the same manner that a television junkie would. Everything he does is papered over with his obsession for how he looks. His entire presidency is a quest for good publicity. That’s why he despises the media so much for daring to report on what he actually does and says. He misses his TV world everyone just smiled and praised him.

This was the case on his recent junket to Japan for the G20 conference, and his subsequent diversion to the Koreas. In Japan Trump tried desperately to appear important, although he failed to produce any substantive benefit for the U.S. However, he did joke with his buddy (boss?) Vladimir Putin about Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. Even worse, he complained to Putin about the media, saying that he would like to “get rid of them.” They shared a hearty laugh.

Trump’s next destination was South Korea. But before he left Japan he sent a Twitter invitation to KIm Jong Un to meet him at the DMZ for a handshake. On its face that is a contrived and pointless exercise in diplomatic foolishness. And when it occurred it turned out to be even worse that might have been expected. Once again, nothing of substance was achieved. It was an embarrassing photo-op that joined a nuclear-armed madman with the leader of North Korea. And Trump’s remarks at the meeting should worry every American (video below):

“We got to meet, and stepping across that line was a great honor. A lot of progress has been made. A lot of friendships have been made. And this has been, in particular, a great friendship. So I just want to thank you. […] A lot of really positive things are happening. Tremendous positivity. Really great things are happening in a lot of places. We met and we liked each other from day one. And that was very important.”

First of all, stepping across the DMZ line was an empty gesture that only succeeded in elevating the international profile of Kim. There is no honor in that. Secondly, there was absolutely no progress made on any initiative. And anything positive must still be a closely held secret because Trump didn’t offer any examples. However, Trump did note that Kim’s acceptance of the invitation made Trump look good, which is, as always, his singular concern.

But the most troubling part of this message was Trump’s reaffirmation of his affinity for foreign dictators with reputations for brutality and oppression. We must never forget that Kim is a tyrant who starves his own people, imprisons hundreds of thousands in gulags, and executes his critics, including journalists and family members. Also, he has refused to keep a single promise made at previous summits with Trump. His nuclear ambitions are in tact and progressing.

Nevertheless, Trump still trusts Kim, showers him with cringe-worthy flattery, and considers him a great friend. Can you imagine Trump during World War II treating Hitler or Stalin the same way? You don’t have to answer that.

The symbolic triviality of Trump crossing the DMZ is representative of his whole presidency – or life for that matter. He is pitifully pretending to have achieved something in order to polish his public persona. He isn’t interested in the welfare of the country or the American people. And his ego-driven antics are so transparent that they only serve to embarrass him and our nation. The sooner he is removed from office and held accountable for his many crimes the better.

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

FFS: Trump Whines to Putin About American Media, Says He’d Like to ‘Get Rid of Them’

With each new day Donald Trump manages to debase and humiliate America with his reckless and hateful comments and tweets. And this noxious behavior seems to get ramped up when he ventures overseas. This often results in his creating international incidents that stir up more controversy back home. It’s as if he thinks he has some sort of immunity from criticism while on foreign soil, so he lets his guard down and unleashes ever more embarrassing and destructive commentaries.

Donald Trump

One example that occurred during Trump’s trip to Japan was his response to questions from reporters about Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. Taking the side of Vladimir Putin again, he told the press that Putin “strongly denies” any meddling in the election. This is after U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously concluded that they did. It’s after the report by special counsel Robert Mueller that explicitly cited the “sweeping and systematic fashion” with which Russia interfered. And yet Trump thought it was appropriate to joke about the matter with Putin. When asked if he would tell Putin to stop his interference, Trump turned to Putin with a smirk and said “Don’t meddle in the election, President.” They both laughed.

Another example was when Trump told reporters that “nobody has directly pointed a finger” at Mohammed bin Salman for the brutal murder and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamil Khashoggi. Well, that’s if you consider the CIA and the United Nations nobodies. Then Trump went further to refer to MBS as his “friend.” Which places him on a lower rung than Kim Jong Un, with whom Trump fell in love.” But still pretty cozy.

However, nothing Trump said comes close to the abhorrent comment he made about his relationship with American media. Of course he is well known for maligning them in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” And he has threatened both reporters and news organizations with prohibitions and suppression of their First Amendment rights. But on this occasion Trump went further by actually expressing his interest to “get rid of them.” That led to this nauseating exchange (video below):

Trump: Fake … fake news. Great term, isn’t it? You don’t have that problem in Russia. We have it. You don’t have it.
Putin: Yes, yes. We also have. It’s the same.

It is astonishing, even for Trump, that he would engage in a jovial discussion about the presence of a free press in America with the dictator of a country where journalists are often murdered for being critical. To the extent that Trump was correct about Russia not having the problem, it’s only because the “problems” in Russia are dead. And Trump favorably pointing out that Russia is free of these journalist pests exposes his thinly veiled jealousy. Clearly he wishes that he didn’t have that problem in the U.S.

The sheer quantity of heinous Trumpian scandals is threatening to overwhelm our capacity for shock. But we must never allow ourselves to become numbed to this sort of loathsome rhetoric. It is vile, unconscionable, dangerous, and un-American. It cannot be tolerated or dealt with passively as if it’s merely a childish tantrum. It is the language of tyrants, and aspiring autocrats like Trump. Do not forget, or forgive. Trump must be held accountable and restrained from pursuing his perverse and corrosive agenda.

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

Dumba** Rumor Monger Trump Says Democrats are Changing Name to the Socialist Party

One of the only true records that Donald Trump has achieved as president is his Olympic-class achievement of having told more than 10,000 lies. It’s hard to imagine anyone taking that trophy from him. He is a leader in both quantity and sheer audaciousness, considering his unflinching ability to utter absurd, known falsehoods and to repeat his flagrant dishonesties ad nauseum.

Fox News, Socialism

However, having reached the pinnacle of prevarication, Trump is now broadening his horizons with a new form of deceit – Rumors! In an interview on Thursday, Trump thought he found an opportunity to take a jab at those he considers to be America’s most vicious adversaries. No, it wasn’t Russia or North Korea or ISIS or even Central American refugees. It’s just the plain old Democrats for whom his hatred is unbound. The Rumor-Monger-in-Chief told the interviewer that…

“I heard there’s a rumor the Democrats are going to change the name of the party from the Democratic Party to the Socialist Party.”

Let’s set aside the fact that there isn’t anything wrong with being a socialist. In fact, most Americans are socialists, whether they know it or not. Everything from Medicare to fire stations to interstate highways to public schools and libraries are societal benefits born of socialism. But Trump and his ignoramus Deplorables have no idea what the word means. They just use it as a handy pejorative because they don’t have vocabularies that allow them to converse above a third grade level.

And just to intercept the likely excuse that Trump and his defenders will probably serve up, you’ll notice that there isn’t a hint of a smile, or any indication that Trump was trying, in his pitiful way, to be funny. He’s simply casting out an asinine insult that has no basis in reality in order to malign his sworn enemies and to incite others to join him in his hate fest.

Not surprisingly, Fox News has already joined Trump’s Contempt Choir. On Trump’s favorite Fox News morning show, Fox and Friends, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes reveled in a segment bashing the Democratic primary debate (which they also did the day before) that featured a full screen graphic that blared “Socialism Takes the Stage.” Once again, these clods couldn’t provide a definition of socialism if an immigrant child’s life depended on it. (OK, that’s a bad example because they would give a damn about an immigrant child’s life).

This is more support for the argument that Democrats should pay any attention to what Trump or Republicans say about them. The have been calling Democrats socialists for decades, even when they advocated for the same policies. They would call the most conservative Democrats socialists just to keep the phony narrative intact. Presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg was asked a question about this by Joy Behar on The View and had a pretty darn good response (video below):

“Literally anything we do they’re going to call socialist. If it’s conservative they’ll call it socialist because it’s coming from Democrats. If it’s further left they’ll call it socialist. So let’s not worry about what they’re calling it. Let’s worry about whether it’s a good idea … Call it whatever you like, but let’s get it done if it’s a good idea. And the others can argue about what label to slap on it.”

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

Fox News Smears Democratic Debate Host Rachel Maddow in a Fit of Hysterical Hypocrisy

The first night of the 2020 Democratic primary debate was a refreshing departure from the infantile politics of the Donald Trump era. There was no childish name-calling; no hostile outbursts; no hateful displays of misogyny, racism, or other forms of bigotry; no narcissistic delusions of grandeur; and no shameless lies. Remember when politics used be like that?

Rachel Maddow, Fox News

However, Trump himself was watching and couldn’t help injecting his unique brand of loathsome immaturity. He began with a typically whiny criticism in a one-word tweet that just said “BORING.” Probably because it lacked the histrionics of a kindergarten full of cholicky crybabies like Trump. And it went downhill from there. He later mocked a brief technical glitch that lasted about six seconds. And he followed that up with a fake video of the glitch.

It didn’t take long for State TV (aka Fox News) to weigh in with their own “fair and balanced” debate analysis. It consisted of a report by their media correspondent Brian Flood, and was headlined “PEACOCK PROPAGANDA? Media critics blast NBC over far-left opinion host Rachel Maddow’s role at Democratic debate.” It’s cute that Fox News still has the gumption to criticize other networks for being biased. But this report really stretched the boundaries of idiocy.

First of all, Flood quoted four “media critics” for his article. All four of them from ultra-rightist outlets that could be relied on to despise MSNBC and Rachel Maddow regardless of how they performed. They included Glenn Beck’s BlazeTV, the noxious Accuracy in Media, the venerable wingnuts at the Media Research Center, and the Daily Caller, a website founded by Fox’s own Senior White Nationalist, Tucker Carlson.

Flood began his rant by lying about Maddow being “too biased for The New York Times.” In fact, the Times only indicated that they would prefer their reporters sticking to programs that were focused on news without opinion. Flood failed to mention that the Times had the very same restrictions on almost every program on Fox News.

Then Flood tried to portray Maddow’s debate questions as a “softball fest” because she asked about things like climate change and the report by special counsel Robert Mueller. Of course these are serious issues that every candidate should address. Particularly Democratic candidates because these are the issues that are most important to their constituents.

Holding candidates accountable on the subjects that matter most to the electorate is apparently being too soft according to Flood and Fox News. But then again, Fox is the network that has been working overtime to spin the Mueller report as having exonerated Trump when it explicitly said that it didn’t. And lately they have been frantically trying to sweep the latest allegations of rape against Trump under the carpet.

Finally, Flood posted a flurry of tweets that criticised Maddow and MSNBC. They included frequent Fox News contributors like Mollie Hemingway, Jonah Goldberg, and Dan Bongino. Every one of them are virulent opponents of all things liberal or Democratic. Is it any wonder that Flood’s article concluded that “media critics” were universally negative toward the debate? He didn’t bother to ask anyone who was independent or left leaning.

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

It would be interesting to see how Fox News would handle a Republican primary debate. But it doesn’t appear that we’ll have the opportunity, even though there is a credible candidate running against Trump. Bill Weld is the former two-term Republican governor of Massachusetts, but he can’t even get a town hall or an interview on Fox News. Did they get an order from Trump to bury Weld? What do you suppose they are afraid of? Other than – obviously – Rachel Maddow.

Wannabe Dictator Trump Proposes Violating Constitution Due to Supreme Court’s Census Decision

The examples of Donald Trump trying to subvert the Constitution that he allegedly swore to defend keep piling up. Whether it’s his efforts to suppress the media that he calls “the enemy of the people,” or enriching himself with money from foreign governments, or his attempts to ban immigrants based on their religion, or his phony national “emergency” to get funding for his border wall, or his threats to engage in warfare without the consent of Congress. Trump has demonstrated that he has zero respect for the document that defines America’s principles.

Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

On Thursday morning the Supreme Court issued a ruling that dashed the Trump administration’s hopes of perverting the census by adding a question on citizenship. The Court sent the matter back to the district court that already ruled against Trump. But rather than respecting the decision, Trump lashed out on Twitter (of course) with a flagrantly contra-legal suggestion:

It won’t surprise anyone to learn that Trump is incapable of grasping why the citizenship question is improper and discriminatory. His only interest is in distorting the census results by smothering responses from immigrant residents. He doesn’t know that the census is a count of ALL those residing in the United States, without respect to citizenship. And his purpose – along with the Trump Republican Nationalist Party – is to repress the representation of districts that traditionally vote Democratic.

It’s a purely political motivation that is driving Trump. But his intention to delay the census for his partisan benefit is also unpatriotic and unconstitutional. The census is stipulated to take place by Article I, Section 2 of the US Constitution. It isn’t voluntary or discretional. And federal law goes even farther to assign an April 1st date for the census to be undertaken. Trump’s tweet, therefore, expresses a blatant desire to breach the Constitution and federal law – again. Ironically, the census is found in the same section of the Constitution that grants Congress the sole power of impeachment. Maybe that’s why Trump is avoiding it.

The fact that Trump can announce these criminal acts so publicly is reflective of his disrespect for the law and his aspirations for the powers of the tyrants he admires (Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping, etc.). He often comments on his jealously of their despotic rule. And remarks like these refute any claim that he might have just been joking.

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

The American people want and deserve an accurate census. And Trump’s efforts to undermine that for his own purposes have – for the time being – been blocked. But the real patriots in this country need to remain vigilant, because Trump has shown that he will continue to defile the Constitution every chance he gets if he isn’t stopped. It’s shocking and sad that we are all now conscripted into having to defeat the President’s unconstitutional ambitions.

Fox News is Already Trash-Talking Mueller’s Upcoming Congressional Testimony

When you are Donald Trump’s State TV media mouthpiece, why should you wait three weeks until one of the most potentially consequential congressional hearings of all time? That must be the thinking in the editorial suites of Fox News as they prepare to malign and belittle Robert Mueller, who will be testifying before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees on July 17.

Fox News, Robert Mueller

On Wednesday morning the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends brought up the subject of Mueller’s upcoming testimony. They were clearly worried about what he might say and how the public might respond to a complete airing of the conclusions of the special counsel’s investigation. That may be because objective analyses of the report agree that it is a virtual criminal indictment of Trump and his associates.

The report states unequivocally that there was Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election that was intended to help Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton. It states that Trump could have been indicted, but for a controversial Justice Department memo that recommends against the indictment of a sitting president. And it enumerates at least ten instances of obstruction of justice committed by Trump.

Much of these conclusions were lost in the media cacophony that erupted when the report was released. And most the cacophony was orchestrated by Fox News and Trump’s dishonest and tedious repetition his “no collusion, no obstruction” mantra.

So when Mueller testifies next month it will be the first time that the American people will hear the special counsel explain the often ambiguous passages in his report. He will surely be asked whether he would have indicted Trump were it not for the DOJ memo. He will be asked if he was referring to impeachment when he said that the Constitution provided ways to hold the President accountable other than through the criminal justice system. He will be asked to make a distinction between not having sufficient evidence to indict and not having any evidence. And he will be asked about the spurious charges that he and his team were conflicted, and claims that the investigation was biased from the start.

It will interesting and informative for most Americans to hear the answers to these and other questions. But not for the Trump-fluffers at Fox News. They would prefer to sweep Trump’s crimes under the carpet. And with that goal in mind, they have already begun a campaign to denigrate the hearings and slander Mueller (video below). Fox and Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade came out swinging wildly on Wednesday saying that…

“I don’t think he knows the details of the report. He is like the King of England on this. He assigns the people. They’re gonna say ‘Why are most of them Democratically affiliated? Aren’t you concerned about the perception if you hire people like that to do this job? Do you understand why some feel there was an agenda in there?'”

Really? First of all, there is no King of England. But more to the point. Kilmeade’s assertion that Mueller was ignorant of the details of his own report is ludicrous. And Kilmeade failed to back up that nonsense with anything resembling logic or reason. In fact, he immediately veered off into a rant about the makeup of the special counsel’s team. And even that was a lie. Mueller himself is a lifelong Republican who was appointed by a Republican (Rod Rosenstein), who was appointed by Trump.

This is just another example of Fox News shilling for the President they worship like a cult leader. They are laying the groundwork to dismiss whatever truths come out of the hearings. Because there is nothing more dangerous to Trump’s Republican Nationalist Agenda than the truth. So be prepared for more of this unhinged hostility between now and July hearings. And expect Trump to join in with his own deflections and lies. In fact, Trump has three weeks to contrive some national “emergency” to completely torpedo the hearings or otherwise diminish their effectiveness in informing the American people. This is how aspiring dictators behave. And Fox News is fulfilling its role as Trump’s Ministry of Propaganda.

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

Trump Floats Ludicrous ‘Big Secret’ Theory for Obama Not Endorsing Biden

Donald Trump’s opinion on the candidates in the Democratic presidential primary is about as useful as Bill Cosby’s dating tips. Trump is a notorious pathological liar who uses any opportunity to disparage his political foes as an invitation to spin lame, and often profane, fairy tales that have no relationship to reality. Why any reporter would ask him for his opinion on this subject is a mystery.

Joe Biden, Donald Trump Baby, Fake News

Nevertheless, that’s what a reporter from The Hill did on Tuesday morning. Trump was asked about the prospect of facing Vice-President Joe Biden in the general election, and his response was typically shallow, insulting, and untrue (video below):

“How he doesn’t get President Obama to endorse him. There has to be some reason why he’s not endorsing him. He was the vice president. They seem to have gotten along. And how President Obama’s not endorsing him is rather a big secret.

“Then he goes and lies and said, ‘I asked the president not to endorse me.’ Give me a break. He’s embarrassed by the fact that Obama’s not endorsing him, so he goes out and says, ‘I asked President Obama not to endorse me.’ Well, he was trying to get the endorsement. So it could be that President Obama knows something. But there is something going on in that brain of his.”

The “big secret” is that former presidents, and most party leaders, never endorse candidates during a primary. It would be considered bad form to discriminate between members of your own party. So they generally remain neutral until a nominee is selected by voters, whereupon, they issue their endorsement. Were they to endorse one candidate, but another eventually wins the nomination, the nominee would be diminished as a second choice for not having had the original endorsement.

It isn’t surprising that Trump doesn’t know this, because it’s just one of the many things his universal ignorance encompasses. But what is a bit surprising is that he seems to forgotten that he refused to endorse his own vice-president, Mike Pence, when asked. During an appearance on his favorite Fox News morning show, Fox and Friends, he awkwardly babbled that “You can’t put me in that position. But I certainly would give it very strong consideration.”

So what is Trump’s “big secret” for not endorsing Pence? There has to be some reason why he’s not endorsing him. He’s the vice president. They seem to have gotten along. So it could be that Trump knows something. But there is something going on in that “brain” of his.

Trump is not the best person to bring up big secrets. After all, he has been fighting for years to keep his tax returns secret. Likewise his college transcripts. He buries reports by his own administration that reveal the dangers of climate change and the mistreatment of immigrant children. He pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to silence his mistresses. And he is currently prohibiting members of his administration, and other close associates, from testifying before Congress. You don’t think he has something to hide, do you?

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

Ex-Fox News Reporter Scorches the Network’s ‘Right-Wing Hosts’ and ‘Partisan Misinformation’

Viewers of Fox News will remember a frequent face on the network during many of the elections for the past couple of decades. He was such a ubiquitous presence he was referred to endearingly as Campaign Carl. However, Carl Cameron retired from Fox News after twenty-two years a couple of years ago. And if anyone is wondering what happened to him since, well, you might be surprised.

Fox News Sad

Cameron just announced his participation in a new Internet news aggregation site called Front Page Live. He formed it with David Romm of ThinkProgress to be “an antidote to the Drudge Report.” The founders plan to provide a platform for progressive news along with opportunities to take action on causes like climate change and liberal politics. And unlike Drudge, their focus will be on accurate news stories, rather than flagrantly slanted propaganda of shills like Breitbart and Infowars and … Fox News.

Cameron released a video (see below) explaining his new venture, and he didn’t mince words about his former employer and colleagues at Fox:

“What’s a former Fox guy doing here on Front Page Live partnering with progressives? Well, it’s about facts, not partisanship. The idea of fair and balanced news appealed to me. But over the years, the right-wing hosts drowned out straight journalism with partisan misinformation.”

Indeed, the State TV hucksters at Fox News (Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends, and more) have submerged the network with a deluge of falsehoods. Note that Cameron didn’t merely criticize partisan information, but explicitly called it what it is: Misinformation. He could have gone even further to label it disinformation and would still have been correct. He continued with some biting commentary on Donald Trump saying that:

“I have a unique insight and understanding of how the right operates and literally 30 years of covering Donald Trump. Trump’s a conman. He DID collude, and coordinated with Russia to get elected. He encouraged them to intervene in the 2016 election on live television. We all saw it. And recently he said he’d accept their help again because he sees nothing wrong with it. And yes, he is still helping Russia by refusing to take strong actions again a future cyber attack.

This is a remarkable transformation. Cameron says that he kept his political views to himself while at Fox News because he was interested in being a journalist. Had Fox known that they would have fired him. It will be interesting to see if the new website is able to generate the kind of viral news dissemination that Drudge has managed for the conservative media. At least it’s satisfying to see that someone was able to shed the mantle of the wingnut cult and renounce the professional liars at Fox. There may be hope after all.

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

Still Obsessed with Losing the Popular Vote, Trump Babbles Incoherently About Winning It

The United States of America is currently burdened with a president who suffers from a sever case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Donald Trump’s psychological impairments are obvious to objective observers and represent a clear and present danger to the welfare of the nation – and the world. He is utterly incapable of performing the duties of the presidency without placing his own interests before those of the people he is sworn to serve.

Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton

Trump’s raging ego and self-exaltation has been demonstrated time and time again in the two and half turbulent years that he has occupied the White House. He cannot admit mistakes even when the evidence is unarguably documented. He incessantly brags on his own behalf for “accomplishments” that don’t exist. Those include “resolutions” of problems that he created himself like a firefighter moonlighting as an arsonist. And he has repeatedly forced his subordinates to sit around a table and utter slobbering tributes to him in a perverse spectacle of supplication and sycophancy.

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump continues to be plagued by one particularly humiliating failure. His historic loss of the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election gnaws at him like a famished piranha. He can’t stop thinking about it, or lying about it. And that fetish reared its ugly head again in an interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press Sunday morning. The discussion was pure Trumpian bombast and delusion (video below):

Todd: You didn’t like the fact that you lost the popular vote. That bothered you didn’t it?
Trump: Well I think it was a – well again, I’ll say something that again is controversial. There were a lot of votes cast that I don’t believe. I look at California…
Todd: Mr. President, that’s just…
Trump: Excuse me. Take a look at Judicial Watch. Take a look at their settlement. California admitted to a million votes. They admitted to a million votes.
Todd: A million votes of what? What are you talking about?
Trump: Judicial Watch made a settlement.
Todd: About what?
Trump: There was much illegal voting. But let me tell you about popular vote. I like popular vote. I think I do better with the popular vote.

Trump is still insisting that millions of illegal votes were cast in California, despite having been thoroughly debunked without a shred of evidence. And his comment that there were “votes cast that I don’t believe’ is both deranged and frightening, given the approaching 2020 election.

But then Trump wades into lunatic territory with his demand to look at a settlement with the ultra-rightist Trump-fluffers at Judicial Watch. Trump claims that it reveals an admission by California authorities that “a million votes” were cast illegally. Trump couldn’t explain what he was talking about, even after prodding by Todd. So he clumsily changed the subject.

The settlement that Trump was referring to was one wherein California agreed to remove a million and half votes “inactive” voters from the registration lists. These were names of people who had not voted in several elections and had either died or moved. There was not a single one that had cast any vote, much less an illegal one. As reported by the Associated Press:

“At issue was how election officials were handling records of voters who hadn’t voted in repeated elections and were not part of active voter rolls in the state. […] Paul Mitchell of the nonpartisan research firm Political Data Inc. called the case insignificant because it involves inactive voters who ‘are not getting voting materials, they are not casting ballots, they are not showing up in precincts.'”

Trump’s flagrant lies sound more and more like the rambling blather of senile old coot with a tenuous grasp of reality. And it’s always aimed at glorifying himself in a manner that is wholly undeserved and positively loony. His preposterous self-image is all the more ridiculous considering that he is the only president in the history of Gallup polling to have never cracked 50 percent approval.

And yet, Trump still believes that, but for some imaginary voter fraud, he won the popular vote, and would do so again. This sort of mental infirmity would be bad enough in your crazy retired uncle who sits on the porch all day yelling at clouds. But for someone who holds the nuclear launch codes, and threatens to annihilate foreign countries, this is untenable and downright scary.

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

Trump’s Sick Affection for Tyrants Now Includes Iran, He Says ‘I’m Gonna Be Their Best Friend’

America is undergoing an unprecedented assault from within that emanates from the highest reaches of its government. From the very beginning of his presidency, Donald Trump has exhibited a perverse affinity for murderous dictators all over the world. This fetish began with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, extended to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and stretched further to include China’s Xi Jinping and others.

Donald Trump, Ayatollah

Now Trump is putting on display his love for yet another deadly and abhorrent regime. This is one that has famously articulated its desire for “death to America.” And it has been a threat to the United States and its allies for decades. Which makes it all the more disturbing that Trump told reporters on Saturday morning that he wants to “Make Iran Great Again.” Yep. those are his exact words. And what’s more, he expressed his personal hope that “I’m gonna be their best friend.”

This outpouring of affection for a hostile regime that is one of the world’s biggest sponsors of terror was triggered by the recent clash between Iranian and U.S. forces in the Strait of Hormuz. After Iran shot down an American surveillance drone, Trump ordered a retaliatory strike that he later rescinded. It was a display of incompetence, chaos, and lies that can only serve to damage America’s interests and reputation.

So naturally Trump took it upon himself to hail his ineptitude it as a stroke of brilliance. And on Saturday, during his peculiar “chopper talk” session with the press, Trump said this:

This is eerily similar to Trump’s comments regarding North Korea. He seems to believe that dangling the prospect of an American-provided economic expansion is what all of these dictators are yearning for. And he also believes that he can engineer that economic boom for any foreign country he chooses. All they have to do is submit to whatever he says with unbending obedience.

Furthermore, Trump insists that if Iran agrees to some unspecified terms regarding their nuclear capabilities, he will see to it that they become a wealthy nation. What’s troubling about this is that he is making no demands with regard to Iran’s support for terrorism or their human rights atrocities both inside and outside of Iran. He’s saying that if Iran agrees to a rollback in their nuclear programs (which they already did under President Obama), Trump will embrace them and enrich them so they can finance more savagery throughout the world.

And the cherry on top of this nightmare pie is that Trump is promising to be Iran’s best friend. You know, the “death to America” folks. Trump even gave Iran a pat on the back for not shooting down another plane on Friday. In this highly suspicious story, Trump thanked Iran saying “I think that was a very wise decision, and I think that’s something that we very much appreciate.” Let that sink in. Trump is sending his “appreciation” to Iran for not shooting down our plane. How thoughtful.

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

Meanwhile, Trump offers nothing but animus and scorn for our friends and allies. He lambastes Mexico, Canada, and Europe at every opportunity. Still, Trump is spreading his friendship pretty thin. He has promised to be best buddies with Russia, North Korea, and China. Never mind the horrific roles they play on the international stage. And set aside how these offers of fellowship are reserved for hateful tyrants. Now we can add Iran to the list of brutal governments that have won Trump’s heart. How does any of this advance American interests?