Month: June 2019

Sean Hannity Gaslights America: Spins Trump’s Treasonous Remarks As ‘A Genius Setup’

Posted by on June 13, 2019 at 4:49 pm. 3 Comments :

Every aspiring dictator worth his salt has a media enterprise at the ready to peddle his version of an obviously fabricated, self-serving reality. And for Donald Trump that has always been Fox News. The network that was born as a propaganda tool for right-witn purveyors of policies that benefit only corporations and the wealthy quickly adapted to the Era of Trump and aligned their most prominent, primetime shills with the White House approved messaging.

Fox News, Sean Hannity

Leading the pack of StormTrumpers at Fox News is Sean Hannity, a sycophant so devoted that the shows up to speak at Trump’s cult rallies and appears in his campaign videos. Hannity has proven that he will do and say anything to support Dear Leader, no matter how deceitful, immoral, ar absurd.

So naturally when Trump takes a gaping bite out of his own bone-spur infested foot, Hannity is right there with the ketchup and a Diet Coke to help wash it down. On Wednesday Trump essentially confessed to George Stephanopoulos that he unlawfully received information from Russia and would be happy to do so again with any hostile foreign nation. It was an unambiguous admission of a “high crime” that would merit impeachment. Hannity’s response to this criminal treachery was to herald it as a brilliant ploy to discombobulate the hapless Democrats saying that “In many ways that was a genius setup because the media mob will fall right into his trap” See? Trump was only pleading guilty to treason in order to punk the libs. And Hannity continued (video below):

“Listening is much different than, let’s see, lying, spying, and paying for Russian lies and spreading it through the media by ‘deep state’ operatives and then using it as a basis for a FISA warrant … Why are they not so outraged about Hillary paying for Russian lies, disinformation, Comey generously using the unverifiable data from Russia to spy on the Trump campaign and get a FISA warrant? No doubt, by the way, this will all get another round of fake, phony, moral selective outrage over that interview, but it’s a perfect setup because if they are outraged about that then how can you not be outraged over what I just said?”

Needless to say, that voluminous disgorgement was nothing but more of the fantastical mythologies that Hannity is famous for. His first goto deflection is to bring up some old, debunked lies about Hillary Clinton. And his defense of Trump isn’t that he’s innocent, but that he’s only as guilty as (he says) Clinton is. That’s like Ted Bundy defending himself by claiming that the fictional Hannibal Lecter was way worse.

If this is the best that Hannity and Fox News can do to persuade their Deplorable, and easily fooled, viewers that Trump didn’t actually admit that he has taken, and will gladly take in the future, disinformation from operatives working for foreign enemies, then it’s clear they are running on empty. They are now having to literally scrape the bottom of their propaganda barrell. It’s a pathetic spectacle, but one that was inevitable considering how much bullshit they’ve been spreading around for the past few years.

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

COLLUSION: Trump is Committing Treason in Order to Resuscitate His Floundering 2020 Campaign

Posted by on June 13, 2019 at 11:57 am. 10 Comments :

It is impossible to understate the profoundly evil nature of what Donald Trump told George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday. In an extended interview, Trump not only justified his prior collusion with Russia in the 2016 election, he also placed an open call for hostile foreign governments to do the same thing in 2020. It’s an unambiguous attempt to seek assistance from America’s enemies. This is Trump’s reelection campaign strategy.

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

The interview was an astonishing performance by an unabashed traitor to American laws and principles. What follows are a few of the most egregious segments that are profoundly disturbing and utterly inexcusable.

Stephanopoulos: But should [Don Jr] have gone to the FBI when he got that email?
Trump: Okay, let’s put yourself in a position: you’re a congressman, somebody comes up and says, “Hey I have information on your opponent.” Do you call the FBI? You don’t– I’ll tell you what. I’ve seen a lot of things over my life. I don’t think in my whole life I’ve ever called the FBI. In my whole life. I don’t–you don’t call the FBI.

Actually, Trump has called the FBI at least twice according to FOIA documents, but only when it’s to his personal benefit.

Stephanopoulos: Al Gore got a stolen briefing book. He called the FBI.
Trump: Well, that’s different. A stolen briefing book. This isn’t– this is somebody who said, “We have information on your opponent.” Oh, let me call the FBI. Give me a break, life doesn’t work that way.

It’s not different. The information that Trump was seeking (Clinton’s and DNC emails) was also stolen information on his opponent. And calling the FBI is precisely the way it works, even according to Trump’s own FBI director, Christopher Wray. So Trump responded that…

Trump: The FBI Director is wrong. Because, frankly, it doesn’t happen like that in life.

Trump: If somebody comes into your office with oppo research– they call it oppo research–with information that might be good or bad or something, but good for you, bad for your opponent, you don’t call the FBI. I would guarantee you that 90 percent, could be 100 percent, of the congressmen or the senators over there, have had meetings–if they didn’t they probably wouldn’t be elected.

Here Trump is trying to conflate normal opposition research with his collusion with foreign governments, which is illegal. Then he cites some statistics that he’s pulled from his – assumptions and justifies the criminality because, as he says, everybody does it. So therefore it’s okay?

Stephanopoulos: Your campaign this time around, if foreigners, if Russia, if China, if someone else offers you information on opponents, should they accept it or should they call the FBI?
Trump: I think maybe you do both. I think you might want to listen, there’s nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country, Norway, “we have information on your opponent.” Oh, I think I’d want to hear it.

Norway? It’s funny how Trump can’t bring himself to mention Russia. But more to the point, what he’s describing here is collusion, plain and simple. He goes on to say that he wouldn’t report it to the FBI because “the FBI doesn’t have enough agents to take care of it.” Sure, because there are only 13,412 special agents and 20,420 support professionals.

Trump may have point. 33,000 FBI agents might not be enough to investigate all of the crimes that he has committed. In this interview he said once that he might alert the FBI to unlawful communications with foreign governments. But he said four times that he wouldn’t. And he said it again in a series of tweets on Thursday morning:

Notice that the examples he uses are our allies. Once again, he refuses to implicate Vladimir Putin and his pals in the Kremlin. He also fails to mention whether these talks included getting dirt on his opponents. He is deliberately trying to deflect from the real issue. And unfortunately, that will work on his Deplorable followers and his shills at Fox News.

The bottom line is that Trump’s remarks are a direct invitation to our enemies to engage in hacking or other illegal activities and pass along what they steal to Trump. He has already told them that he’d listen. So why wouldn’t they do it? He is unambiguously soliciting a criminal act. And for that alone Trump should be impeached and imprisoned.

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

Hannity Attacks Maddow and Winds Up Admitting that He and Fox News are ‘Fake News’

Posted by on June 12, 2019 at 1:01 pm. 8 Comments :

MSNBC just announced that their panel of moderators for the first Democratic primary debate will include Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie, José Diaz-Balart, Chuck Todd, and Rachel Maddow. And as might be predicted, the last name on that list has already stirred some controversy.

Rachel Maddow, Sean Hannity, Fox News

Rachel Maddow is unambiguously opinionated. Her program covers the news from a liberal perspective, although always dedicated to presentations that rely on factual sources. Whether or not it’s appropriate for her to be a moderator for a political debate is – well, debatable. But it’s MSNBC’s decision to make and her performance can be judged on the merits. That is, unless you’re Sean Hannity of Fox News. In which case Maddow must be preemptively denounced with childish nicknames (ala Donald Trump) like “Roswell Maddow” and absurd slurs that portray her as “left of Mao, by public admission” (an admission that exists only in Hannity’s cartoon brain).

Hannity devoted a whole segment of his program on Tuesday to this manufactured controversy, and brought in Sean Spicer and Jesse Watters to add their “unbiased” analysis (video below). Hannity led off by referring to Maddow as…

“Tinfoil hat-Maddow, the single biggest liar, conspiracy theorist in the country, the person that pushed the Russiagate lies night after night.”

Never mind that the role of “biggest liar, conspiracy theorist” has long been held by Hannity himself. He has pushed destructive falsehoods ranging from Obama’s birth certificate, to Pizzagate, to the Seth Rich murder, and to countless and malicious assaults on special counsel Robert Mueller. But Hannity was unable to cite a single alleged conspiracy theory promoted by Maddow. With regard to Trump’s unsavory connections to Russia, and his obstruction of justice, Maddow has actually broken stories that have held up over time. But that wasn’t the worst of Hannity’s drooling outburst. In response to the news of Maddow’s selection as a moderator, he offered a programming proposal of his own:

“Here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll have a debate moderated by me, the Great One [Mark Levin], Rush Limbaugh, Jesse [Watters] can join us, and Laura [Ingraham] and Tucker [Carlson]. How’s that?”

How’s that? That’s actually pretty funny. Hannity just slogged through several minutes of whining about how prejudicial and dishonest Maddow is, and thus unfit to be a moderator. So what’s his method of balancing out this partisan tilt? Countering it with his own flavor of prejudice and dishonesty. He is, in effect, admitting that he and his Fox News colleagues are as unfit to moderate a debate as he says Maddow is. It’s kind of like Hannity telling a schoolmate “You’re mother would win an ugly contest, unless my mother was a contestant. How’s that?”

For the record, Maddow already moderated a Democratic primary debate. Back in 2016, she was on a panel during a debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. At the time, Howard Kurtz of Fox News didn’t think she was the right choice. But he nevertheless said that “Rachel Maddow did a pretty good job in questioning Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at MSNBC’s Democratic debate last night.” And why wouldn’t she? She’s a Stanford graduate and a Rhodes Scholar with a doctorate in political science. Hannity is a dropout who rose to fame as a radio shock jock.

Hannity’s meltdown over this issue is typical of his bombastic response to everything that Democrats or liberals do, whether or not there is any cause. He is oblivious to the fact that a primary debate (as opposed to the general election) is a partisan event to begin with. He’d probably be shocked to learn that every one of those debaters are Democrats. And it’s not as if he and Fox News have distinguished themselves during their many interviews (aka tongue baths) with Trump, who is too scared to be interviewed by anyone on MSNBC or CNN. So much for being fair and balanced.

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

WTHolyF? Fox News Hysterically Whines that CNN and MSNBC ‘All Seem to Be Opinion Shows’

Posted by on June 11, 2019 at 2:26 pm. 4 Comments :

Well, we are through the looking glass, folks. Of course, that’s been said so many times in the Era of Donald Trump that most of us have built up an immunity to it. But on this occasion there is real concern that the fantasy (nightmare) weavers at Fox News have abandoned any pretense of reality.

Donald Trump Fox News

In a segment on Monday night’s episode Stuart Varney’s Fox Business program, the host interviewed Fox News’ media correspondent, and host of MediaBuzz, Howard Kurtz. The discussion was a particularly obtuse analysis of the editorial positions on MSNBC and CNN. It began with Varney calling out his competition for “Anti-Trump coverage” that is “wall to wall on those two networks.” And that led to this bizarre exchange with Kurtz (video below):

Varney: What’s your judgment, Howard, when two all news networks carry one single editorial message, which is resist Trump for everything and get him out? I mean, you’re a media guy. You can’t be that pleased that two major networks are going so consistently down that opinion road.
Kurtz: I wouldn’t go quite that far. I think there are some fair reporters at both networks. But certainly when you turn on the primetime shows, and it’s getting increasingly hard during the day, they all seem to be opinion shows. I mean, you know, you’ve got these panels that are six to one anti-Trump. I mean, there’s no secret about it. That’s the way they’re being programmed.

Seriously? That’s a media analyst on Fox News, the network that is best known today as “State TV” due to its unflinchingly adoring coverage of Trump and his Republican Nationalist Party. Fox News has dedicated it’s primetime block to three of the most biased Trump-fluffers on television (Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Tucker Carlson), Hannity even shows up to speak at Trump’s cult rallies.

As for panels that are partisanly skewed, Fox doesn’t leave that to just their primetimers. They begin with “Fox and Friends” in the morning. Then “Outnumbered” is aptly named with four (and sometimes five) right-wingers out of five co-hosts. And in the afternoon they have “The Five,” which is another four to one conservative pile-on. So Fox News actually designs their shows to have multiple wingnuts ganging up on a lonely alleged liberal. Neither MSNBC or CNN has such a program.

Kurtz did criticize Trump for advocating a boycott of CNN’s parent company, AT&T, in order to punish CNN. And even Varney acknowledged that MSNBC was doing well in the ratings prior to the release of the report by special counsel Robert Mueller. Kurtz agreed and made the point that MSNBC’s viewers might have fallen off due their disappointment that Mueller wasn’t more aggressive in his indictment of Trump. That’s actually a pretty good explanation for MSNBC’s recent ratings slump, although it’s still the second highest rated cable news network.

However, for Kurtz to stare into the camera and complain about the partisan tilt of MSNBC and CNN is hypocrisy on an Olympian scale. At least both CNN and NBC have actual news divisions that break stories and win awards. But for him to do that without even the slightest acknowledgement of Fox’s extreme political prejudices, marks him as the same sort of propagandist as Varney, Hannity, and the rest of Fox’s flunkies. If it wasn’t such a serious breach of journalistic ethics, it would make a hilarious sketch for Saturday Night Live.

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

This Is Impeachable: Trump is Now Governing By Secret Initiatives with Foreign Leaders

Posted by on June 11, 2019 at 12:20 pm. 4 Comments :

There is already an abundance of evidence that Donald Trump has broken numerous laws that warrant, at the very least, an impeachment inquiry. They include over 127 communications with Russian operatives during the 2016 campaign, at least ten instances of obstruction of justice, multiple cases of financial and tax fraud, and much more. Many of these criminal breaches were spelled out in the report by special counsel Robert Mueller. And even Fox News has stated unequivocally that there is evidence of both collusion and obstruction.

Donald Trump

Nevertheless, it seems that Trump commits new crimes everyday. And the startling part of that is that he often admits on television. Which is precisely what happened on Tuesday morning during one of his now infamous helicopter press conferences. There were many absurdities and lies during this live mental breakdown, but on a couple of occasions Trump actually incriminated himself as something of a dictator and/or traitor.

Both of these confessions involved Trump revealing that he has been secretly engaging in foreign policy affairs and making agreements that have not been vetted, ratified, or even seen by Congress. What’s more, he still refuses to disclose the substance of these agreements to anyone. Take for instance his declaration of a secretly negotiated agreement with Mexico. In a dramatic moment, Trump pulled a single piece of paper from his pocket and said…

“That’s the agreement that everybody says I don’t have. [Reporter asks to see it] No, because I’m gonna let Mexico do the announcement at the right time. But here’s the agreement. It’s a very simple agreement.

First of all, there’s a reason everybody says he doesn’t have an agreement. It’s because Mexico said so, along with multi-sourced reporting that the terms Trump is celebrating were actually negotiated months ago. It’s also highly suspicious that Trump just happened to be carrying this alleged agreement with him on his way to his helicopter. not to mention that one piece of paper hardly represents what would have to be a complex treaty.

The second item was Trump’s disclosure that he had just received another love letter from Kim Jong Un. This time he didn’t produce a paper prop as proof of the correspondence, but he was clearly moved:

“I just received a beautiful letter from Kim Jong Un. I can’t show you the letter obviously. But it was a very personal, very warm, very nice letter. I appreciate it. And I’ll say it again, I think that North Korea has tremendous potential…under his leadership.”

This is the sort of mushy romance that Trump previously revealed when he said last year that he and Kim “fell in love.” But why can’t he show it to reporters – and the American people? After all, he is merely our representative, not a king. If he is getting letters from hostile foreign leaders, they are part of the public record of the Office of the President, not his personal stash.

By admitting that he is conducting these negotiations in secret, and committing the nation to agreements that haven’t been seen by anyone but him, Trump is confessing to yet another set of impeachable offenses. He doesn’t have the authority to negotiate in that capacity, nor to obligate the nation to the terms of an undisclosed agreement. Congress needs to put an end to this tyrannical behavior. And the only way to do that is by including these offenses in the Articles of Impeachment that they should already be drafting.

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

WINNING? Donald Trump’s Presidency Affirms his Mastery of the Art of Destroying Deals

Posted by on June 10, 2019 at 2:27 pm. 1 Comments :

Last week Donald Trump made a big deal about his dealmaking prowess. After petulantly threatening to impose ill-advised tariffs on Mexico if they didn’t obediently comply with his demands on immigration, Trump triumphantly declared that he had won this manufactured showdown with the announcement of a new border agreement. Needles to say, this is more of his typical bluster and bragging about something he had not actually done.

Donald Trump

In reality, the terms to which Mexico agreed were negotiated months ago and had nothing to do with his recent tariff temper tantrum. Additionally, there was no agreement for Mexico to buy more agricultural products from the U.S. as Trump dishonestly tweeted. What’s more, Trump’s assertion that there is a secret pending agreement with further concessions has been flatly denied by Mexico’s foreign minister.

Trump disgorged an extended tweetstorm on Monday morning complaining that the media was misrepresenting his alleged achievement. He naturally focused on his perennial foe, the New York Times, which he once again referred to in Stalinist terms as “enemy of the people.” He said, without support, that their story had “been proven shockingly false,” and asked when they would admit that the story was a fraud and “Sick Journalism.” Instead, the Times responded saying:

So Trump’s made up controversy over Mexico was resolved with a made up victory celebration. That is a repeating pattern in Trump’s presidency. In fact, the self-proclaimed master of the “Art of the Deal” (which was ghost written for him by Tony Schwartz), is actually a notorious failure. A recap of his half term in office reads like a resume of flops. Trump has now…

  • Failed to secure an immigration deal with Mexico.
  • Pulled out of a denuclearization deal with Iran.
  • Failed to get a deal with China on trade.
  • Abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty.
  • Ditched the Paris Accords on Climate Change.
  • Backed a bungled Brexit.

In addition, Trump has been an epic washout with Congress, failing to secure…

  • A bill to build and repair infrastructure.
  • An agreement on reducing drug prices.
  • Funding for his vanity border wall.
  • Any progress on improving healthcare.

If this is the record of Trump when he’s winning, we should all be terrified of what will happen when he’s losing, or at least when he can no longer deny it. The only initiative that Trump can claim to have prevailed on is his Tax Scam that was passed by a deeply partisan, GOP controlled Congress. And on that he only succeeded in getting it passed. The actual consequences of the bill have been devastating for most Americans, specifically those who aren’t among the ultra-rich. Trump’s deal fumbling is so conspicuous that even his pals in the Kremlin are mocking him:

Trump’s vain self-promotion will undoubtedly continue as he sinks ever further into the abyss of failure. And remember, he was a recidivist loser before he became President. He had at least four bankruptcies (including casinos) and numerous product flops like Trump Vodka, Trump Shuttle, Trump Steaks, and Trump University.

You can always tell what is stirring the most anxiety in the crybaby President by what he tweets about with the most frequency and ferocity. This weekend he tweeted about Mexico more than twenty times. The only thing that he’s more obsessed with is trying to convince everyone that there was “no collusion, no obstruction” in the Russia scandal. Which, of course, the Mueller report has plenty of evidence of both. Even Fox News says so. And if that isn’t a signal that Trump’s winter is coming, nothing is.

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

Trump Defiles ‘Freedom of Speech’ in a Bizarre Defense of His White Nationalist Supporters

Posted by on June 9, 2019 at 11:54 am. 3 Comments :

If it’s Sunday, it’s time once again for Donald Trump’s regularly scheduled Sunday Morning Tweetstorm. This is where the crybaby President of the United States of America lashes out at all of the perceived slings and arrows of outrageous paranoia. And on this episode Trump outdoes himself by fouling the foundational American principle of freedom of speech.

Donald Trump

This isn’t just another one of Trump’s reckless slurs of the press in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” Although he does, as usual, fling that bag of tweet-poop as part of his tedious and repetitive robo-ranting. That would be bad enough, but Trump higher, and more odious, aspirations on this occasion. So after complaining in several tweets that a story in the New York Times misreported that his “agreement” with Mexico on immigration was “fake news,” (it wasn’t), Trump unleashed this morsel of derp:

To be clear, Trump is coming to the defense of some virulently racist white nationalists (e.g. his base) who Twitter and other social media recently suspended from their platforms. The bannees include cretins like avowed neo-Nazi Paul Nehlen, conspiracy crackpot Alex Jones, hate monger Laura Loomer, hoaxster Jacob Wohl, and boss of the violent, neo fascist Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes.

Trump not only wants these abhorrent stains on society returned to Twitter, he wants them returned “without restrictions,” a privilege that no one else on Twitter enjoys. And according to Trump, not doing so would amount to a breach of their right to free speech.

Once again, Trump needs a lesson on the Constitution. The freedom of speech that is protected by the First Amendment is a prohibition imposed on the government. Private businesses can set their own rules, and do so in their terms of service. But there is a disturbing irony in Trump complaining about these repulsively violent StormTrumpers being suppressed while he is openly trying to destroy any media outlet that dares to criticize him. That is actually a breach of the First Amendment because he is the head of the government. Just last week he called for a boycott of CNN’s parent company, AT&T, in order to punish the news network for reporting on what Trump actually does and says. It is unprecedented for a U.S. president to push for a boycott of an American company with more than 250,000 employees.

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

For Trump to set himself up as a protector of free speech is patently absurd. The hallmark of his presidency is one of bullying and repression. And this isn’t the first time he’s tried to bully the social media community. He even took it upon himself to censor his critics on Twitter. Until the courts stepped in, Trump was blocking those critics from commenting on his Twitter posts. And yet, Trump has the audacity to cite freedom of speech as his reason for promoting the dissemination of vile messages of hate and violence. But then again, that’s really the only message he has.

Uh-Oh: Fox News Law Expert Makes a Strong Case for Trump’s Impeachment

Posted by on June 8, 2019 at 11:51 am. 2 Comments :

Returning from another “Make America Gag Again” trip abroad, Donald Trump was greeted by a nation shamed by his boorish behavior and prideful display of ignorance. He insulted the memories of American heroes and embarrassed himself at diplomatic events. It was a spectacle of incompetence and ego that was heralded by his State TV (aka Fox News) bootlickers.

Donald Trump, Andrew Napolitano

Upon his return to the U.S., Trump immediately launched into one of his favorite, and most obvious diversionary tactics. He hurled impotent threats of punitive tariffs at Mexico if they didn’t do something about the migrant situation. But he quickly caved in because even the Republicans in Congress recognized that those tariffs would be devastating to U.S. businesses. The deal he reached was nothing more than a warmed over version of what already exists.

What Trump is attempting to divert attention from is the increasing support in Congress, and the general public, for his impeachment and prosecution. That support is driven by the mounting evidence of his criminal activity and obstruction of justice. But if anyone thinks that this is a purely partisan movement, they haven’t been watching Fox News lately.

The Senior Legal Analyst for the right-wing network, Judge Andrew Napolitano, just released a video wherein he outlines in detail why impeaching Trump would be legally well founded. And he bases his analysis solely on what is already publicly available via the report by special counsel Robert Mueller. Ironically, this is the report that Trump originally said “totally exonerated“ him. But now he and his shills at Fox News are denouncing it as “pure, political garbage.” That, however, is not the opinion of the top legal expert at Fox (video below):

“While there was some evidence of collaboration between Russian agents and the Trump campaign – like 127 telephone communications between them – there was not enough evidence to establish the crime of conspiracy.”

It’s important to note that insufficient evidence to indict is not the same as no evidence. And 127 phone calls has to be more than social or coincidence. Napolitano also raised the fact that there were “roadblocks” to Mueller’s investigation of the President and that they were put there by Trump. That, according to Napolitano, was obstruction of justice:

“If the subject of a criminal investigation tells the people that work for him to lie to the FBI and falsify evidence so that the FBI will not find out whatever the subject does not want them to know – as Mueller said Trump did between ten and eleven times – that is obstruction of justice and it is for a corrupt purpose.”

Napolitano goes on to explain that obstruction of justice is an impeachable offense and was used against both Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. He also debunks the theory that sitting presidents cannot be indicted, because that would imply that they are above the law, which would be a breach of American jurisprudence that says that no one is above the law.

In his conclusion, Napolitano observed that “Democrats are hungry for [impeachment]” and that “the evidence is there.” That’s an unambiguous judgement that the likelihood of Trump’s guilt is sufficient to warrant further investigation, trial, and removal from office. And this isn’t some wild-eyed, radical, Democrat saying so. All of which puts Trump in the uncomfortable position of being convicted in the court of conservative opinion. And that was the last bastion of his defense. The rest remains for Congress to do its job and uphold the dignity of their institution and of the nation.

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

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6044897633001/#sp=show-clips

Asshattery: Hannity Lashes Out at Mueller and the Report Trump Said ‘Totally Exonerates’ Him

Posted by on June 7, 2019 at 11:12 am. 6 Comments :

There’s a point at which it is impossible to ignore that Donald Trump and his sycophantic bootlickers at Fox News are anything but irredeemably deranged. That point actually came long ago, but they keep reaffirming it every day with new and more absurd diatribes intended to sanitize Trump’s criminal presidency. It’s a futile exercise in shameless hackery that can only be pursued if one has zero self respect or integrity.

Fox News Sean Hannity

So naturally, Sean Hannity jumps in with both feet to demonstrate how devoid of reason the right’s defenses of Trump can be when they really put their diseased minds to it. On Thursday night he complained bitterly about Nancy Pelosi saying that she didn’t want to impeach Trump, she wanted him in prison. Hannity portrayed that as the sort of comment made in “banana republics.” Apparently he forgot that Trump leads his cult rallies in chants of “lock her up” every time hillary Clinton’s name is mentioned.

Then Hannity devoted most of the rest of his Fox News Trump-Fluffing Hour to the premise that Robert Mueller (a decorated war hero and life-long Republican public servant) is actually the leader of an evil liberal cabal bent on orchestrating a coup against the impeccably virtuous Trump regime. Never mind that Trump has been implicated in numerous criminal activities that extend from his private businesses to his presidential campaign to his inauguration and to his hopelessly corrupt administration. Not to mention his many conspicuous attempts to obstruct justice.

The whole of Hannity’s argument is that the report issued by special counsel Robert Mueller somehow proves that he set out from the start to frame Trump. Which is a pretty startling charge considering that Trump himself described the report as “complete and total exoneration“ and that Mueller “acted honorably.” But Hannity wasn’t having any of that (video below):

“We start tonight with a massive development out of the Mueller partisan witch hunt. Tonight more evidence has emerged that Bob Mueller’s 448 page report was nothing but pure, political garbage garbage full of errors put there purposely. […] He and his merry band of all Democratic donors, no Republican donors, all Trump haters – that means they lied in that report.”

Most of Hannity’s loopy rambling was based on the ludicrous and unsupported musings of conspiracy crackpot John Solomon. He was unable to comprehend that a Russian operative identified in the Mueller report might also have met with U.S. intelligence agents without that meaning he was a actually an American agent himself. In fact, U.S. intelligence agents actually make a point of encountering foreign agents as part of their investigative and surveillance duties. But that didn’t stop Hannity from making this the basis for his unhinged rant. And his preposterous attacks on Mueller just escalated as he went on. For instance:

“What this ends up being is outright deception, outright lying by Mueller, and of course his Democratic donor friends that he appointed.”

“Everything Mueller said in 9 1/2 minutes was false, it was phony, it was fake, it was innuendo, and Attorney General Barr pretty much bailed him out.”

“The pattern is clear. What we see now time and time again. The special counsel manipulates information to unjustly impugn a duly elected president of the United States.”

So Hannity is convinced that Mueller, who was appointed by a Republican Assistant Attorney General, who was himself appointed by Trump, is a Democratic plant tasked with spreading lies to destroy Trump. What an amazingly devious plot. How did Democrats get these Republicans – and even Trump – to participate in this Machiavellian scheme? But Hannity wasn’t through. He still needed to reinforce Trump’s whiny defense tactics by shamelessly parroting them:

“There was no collusion. There was no obstruction on the Trump campaign’s part. There was no conspiracy. All the Trump haters on Mueller’s team, well they just reverted to plan B. That’s a 448 page smear campaign. They created a document definitely intended to fuel even more lies, more conspiracy theories from Democrats and, of course, their allies in the abusively biased and corrupt media mob. It was a political hit job from the beginning through and through. And the President was right, it always was a witch hunt. And as far as Mueller was concerned, mission accomplished.”

Mission accomplished, indeed. Hannity truly served his purpose as Trump’s valiant martinet, maligning all those who dared to criticize Trump or attack him with the truth that he so despises. It’s a wonder how Hannity gets through these drooling harangues without bursting a vein in his forehead. But he does it in service to his master and Dear Leader who, despite holding the most powerful job in the world, is a pitiful victim of a bunch of snowflake Democrats and liberals. So sad.

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

Still Not Presidential: Trump’s D-Day TelePrompTer Spiel Marred By Disgraceful Political Rant

Posted by on June 6, 2019 at 11:24 am. 6 Comments :

On the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, Donald Trump delivered a well-crafted speech paying tribute to both the fallen heroes and our wartime allies. He particularly distinguished himself by not wandering off-script and into one of his notoriously deranged, self-serving, and hostile tirades directed at his perceived political foes. And right on cue, much of the press covering the event remarked with some measure of astonishment that Trump might have finally become “presidential” and grown into the job.

Donald Trump, Presidenty

Really? How many times does this have to happen? On several occasions during his tumultuous presidency, Trump has managed stick to the words prepared for him by his professional speech writers. And each time he completes that feat the media fawns over him and his allegedly newfound respectability. But without exception Trump has disappointed them by reverting to his normal boorish self, usually within a few hours.

This time was apparently no different. Shortly after Trump delivered his premasticated oratory, Fox News released a clip of an interview he did with one of their primetime Trump-fluffers, Laura Ingraham. She sat with him for this insolent banter at the Normandy American Cemetery. Ingraham initiated the inappropriate dialog with a blatantly political question about whether he would mind if special counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress. Trump mustered up his trademark loathsomeness and offered this reply (video below):

“He made such a fool out of himself because, what people don’t report is the letter he had to do to straighten out his testimony because his testimony was wrong.”

First of all, Trump is confused because there has not been any “testimony” by Mueller. And let’s just set aside the fact that Trump is now staunchly opposed to Mueller testifying about the report that he says exonerates him. Because all innocent people want to suppress what they contend is proof of their innocence, don’t they? Also, it’s unseemly for Trump (a five time draft dodger) to be attacking Mueller (a decorated war hero) on this occasion, and at this place.

The meat that goes along with this whine is Trump’s assertion that Mueller “made a fool out of himself” because of some mysterious letter that allegedly admitted he was wrong about something that Trump fails to identify. The only plausible letter that Trump could be referencing is one that Mueller put out after his press conference on the completion of his investigation. But that letter merely affirmed his position on the relevence of a Justice Departemnt memo regarding whether a president could be indicted while still on office. The letter didn’t change anything about what Mueller said in either his press conference, or in the report itself. He stood by his conclusions that his office “would not reach a determination…about whether the President committed a crime” and that “if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”

Of course, Trump wasn’t through embarrassing himself and America. For the second time in a week he breached diplomatic protocol by devolving into rank politics while overseas. His comments about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (complete with a new, infantile nickname) were bizarrely unprovoked and insulting:

“But Nancy Pelosi, I call her Nervous Nancy, Nancy Pelosi doesn’t talk about it. Nancy Pelosi is a disaster, okay She’s a disaster. Let her do what she wants, you know what? I think they’re in big trouble.”

So while the press is all starry-eyed about Trump’s prefab speech, it’s important to remember that Trump will always be Trump. It’s a painful exercise to have to endure the media’s affinity for staged rhetoric when we know that Trump doesn’t mean a word of it, or even understands what he’s reading. And he can be counted on to revert to his customarily vile character before even a single day goes by. Just has he has done this time as well.

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

https://twitter.com/joshscampbell/status/1136653145369526272