Month: December 2019

IT’S A CULT! Trump’s Assault on the Press has Poisoned a Generation of Republican Chumps

Posted by on December 13, 2019 at 1:19 pm. 6 Comments :

The impeachment of Donald Trump has passed another milestone as the House Judiciary Committee voted to send two Articles of Impeachment to the full House. Article One is “Abuse of Power” and includes Trump’s extortion of a foreign leader, as wells as his efforts to coerce a foreign government to interfere with an American election. Article Two covers “Obstruction of Congress” and Trump’s attempts to cover up the crimes he committed in Article One.

Donald Trump

The prospect of being only the third U.S. president ever to be impeached is gnawing at Trump and driving him to bizarre behaviors such as Thursday’s 123 tweet day, a record for the Tweeter-in-chief. And on Friday Trump’s tweetstorming raged on with an emphasis on how adored he thinks he is by the American people. He posted several tweets alluded to that imaginary popularity, including the following:

The reality is that Trump is struggling in recent polling, including that of his favorite pollster, the utterly biased and disreputable Rasmussen, where he’s dropped three points since the impeachment hearings began. But Trump has even bigger problems as his support narrows to the fringe confines of his most loyal cult disciples. This fact of Trump’s sad life is borne out in a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Their study of how the media is perceived by different sectors of the population reveals that…

“On item after item, Republicans consistently express far greater skepticism of the news media and their motives than Democrats. […] Even more telling, the analysis reveals that divides emerge within party – particularly the Republican Party – based on how strongly people approve of Trump’s performance as president.”

It’s no secret that Trump has conditioned his followers to despise the constitutionally protected free press, which he calls “the enemy of the people.” But even among Republicans, the degree of animosity spikes in concert with the degree of Trump worship. The Pew study found that “The vast majority (79%) of Republicans say journalists have low or very low ethical standards.” Of those about one-third (31%) say journalists have very low ethical standards. However among the most fervent of Trump’s GOP supporters 40% say journalists’ ethics are very low. So the Deplorable set is far more distrusting of the media than their Republican chums.

This is undoubtedly the result of constant disparagement by Trump. He can’t seem to go a single day without instructing his hordes to hate the press. And that hostility is clearly transferring from Trump to his truest believers. But even so, this support is not nearly in the range that Trump says it is. According to Pew, it isn’t 95%, but only about 64% of GOPers who “strongly” approve of how Trump is handling his job as president. Even if you add the “somewhat approvers” (18%) it still only comes to 82%.

So no matter how you slice it, Trump is passing off fake numbers to boost the perception of his alleged acclaim and to massage his fragile ego. The good news for Trump is that his most faithful devotees will believe whatever he tells them. The bad news is that they are a small and dwindling cadre of dimwits.

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

TRIGGERED II: Trump is Clearly Losing It – Fear of Impeachment Has Fried His ‘Brain’

Posted by on December 12, 2019 at 12:46 pm. 7 Comments :

On Wednesday Donald Trump displayed an astonishing capacity for hysterics by posting 77 tweets in one day. His twittering was done mostly in the morning while Congress was holding hearings on his impeachment. It was a horrifying spectacle that exposed Trump as a whining coward who is incapable of controlling his frayed emotions.

Donald Trump, Toilet, Bathrobe

Now on Thursday, Trump has surpassed his all-time record for daily tweets. Once again, he accomplished this feat before lunchtime by posting 108 tweets, 86 of which were retweets of primarily GOP members of Congress and bootlicking media sycophants. This brings a total of 437 tweets in the past week.

Trump is apparently trying to flood the zone with inanity, because there was almost nothing of substance in this avalanche of social media ego-stroking. You have to wonder who he thinks is reading this bullcrap, other than weary media analysts. And he seems to have quit the presidency, because his OCT (Obsessive-Compulsive Tweetery) is a full time job.

The vast majority of Trump’s tweets were tiresome clips of Republicans evading the facts that so compelling affirm Trump’s guilt. Their talking points were so tightly aligned that you could hardly tell one from another. However, there were a few tweets that merit attention, primarily due to their utter assholiness. And leading the list would have to be Trump’s attack on 16 year old climate crisis activist Greta Thunberg:

So Trump took some time out of his tweetstorming to bully a girl who is showing real courage in the fight for her future and that of the Earth. No doubt Trump is perturbed that Greta was named Time Magazine Person of the Year instead of him. And his complaint that she has an anger management problem is pure projection considering his near constant state of frothing rage.

Also notable is Trump’s brazen self-promotion of his own private business, the Mar-a-Lago golf club in Palm Beach, Florida.

It takes some real cojones to violate the Constitution while you are being impeached. But that’s exactly what Trump is doing here. It violates the Constitution’s emoluments clause to exploit the office of the presidency for personal profit. And by using his official Twitter page to announce that the resort’s season is open, Trump can’t wave this off as just posting his itinerary.

And what Trump tweetfest would be complete with his attack on the free press:

Not only is Trump disparaging – and lying about – the media, he is wrapping his assault in a blanket of narcissism. He is crediting the ratings of Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, for good or ill, to himself. What’s more, he believes that by reporting positively about him, any network would enjoy greater success. Which of course is absurd considering the fact that MSNBC frequently beats Fox.

A couple of other tweets merit some note. In one he says that he is “Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China.” But he’s said this many times before and it has never been true. What’s he’s really doing is manipulating the stock market that reacts feverishly to any remarks from the White House. In the other tweet of note, Trump complained “Why aren’t Germany, France and other European countries helping Ukraine more?” The only thing wrong with that is everything. Those countries are helping Ukraine with over $16 billion in aid. So Trump is, as usual, lying.

UPDATE: Trump finished the day with a grand total of 123 tweets!

The sheer volume of tweets by Trump is indicative of his crippling anxiety. To post that many tweets requires hours of scrolling, reading and watching videos. So it’s safe to say that Trump isn’t doing anything else but tweeting. It’s also safe to say that he is not just concerned about the impending impeachment, he is profoundly disturbed and suffering from a severe mental infirmity. This puts the nation at grave risk. and it makes it all the more urgent that he quickly be impeached and removed from office.

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

TRIGGERED: Trump’s Twitter Tirade Shows How Scared He is of Impeachment

Posted by on December 11, 2019 at 2:17 pm. 6 Comments :

Donald Trump likes to pretend he’s a pillar of strength. But his idea of a strong man is one who swats at his foes with infantile insults, bellows arrogantly, and constantly praises himself for being so awesome. He is, in fact, a typical bully who is frightened by his own shadow. Every opportunity he’s had to demonstrate any courage, he has quickly retreated in abject cowardice.

Donald Trump, Twitter

One of the best indicators of Trump’s seething fear is his Twitter account. He predictably reacts to challenging situations with obvious and searing anxiety. And Wednesday morning was an ideal example of this. In a flurry of furious twittering, Trump posted 61 tweets, all before 11:00 am. The vast majority of the posts were retweets of bootlicking GOP members of Congress, Fox News and other right-wing media, and sycophantic Trump stuffers …er… staffers. And the topics were almost exclusively his impeachment and the report by the Justice Department’s Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, which Trump surely couldn’t understand.. This is not behavior that reflects confidence or bravery. To the contrary, it is indicative of panic and insecurity.

So what was going on while Trump was tweeting so frantically? The Senate Judiciary Committee was hearing testimony from Horowitz. His report on the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe concluded that the FBI had acted properly, with justification and free of partisan political bias. After weeks of hopeful anticipation that this report would prove Trump’s relentless assaults on the FBI were valid, the report actually sucked all the air out his anti-FBI hysteria. Naturally, this would stir Trump’s ire, and not even his Attorney Genuflect, bill Barr, could mollify him.

Much of the morning session of this hearing was devoted to a side show that was barely relevant to the subject matter. The Republican chairman of the committee, Lindsey Graham spent 7 1/2 minutes reading salacious emails between the FBI’s Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. These were emails that were critical of Trump and were made public months ago. Graham’s point in this redundant, soap opera theatrics was to assert that, because they held these critical views, they were unfit to have any role in the FBI investigation. Never mind that they, in fact, didn’t have decision-making roles, and that the IG also found that there were FBI agents who were pro-Trump. So the Bureau did not lean one way the other. Trump and company have been lying about all of this for months.

If Graham’s point was that anyone who held negative views of Trump should be prohibited from sitting in judgment of him, he may have fallen off the edge of his already feeble argument. During the 2016 primary campaign, Graham himself said that Trump was a kook, crazy, and unfit to be president. So by Graham’s own standard he should be disqualified from chairing these hearings.

Trump’s slanderous commentaries on Strzok and Page may be coming back to haunt him. Page just announced that she is filing a lawsuit against the DOJ and the FBI. As of this date, Trump is not named in the suit, but his antics could surely be fodder for litigation. He has slandered Page as “incompetent,” “corrupt,” “pathetic,” “stupid,” “a dirty cop,” and more. A few weeks ago Trump staged what can only be described as a mock orgasm. And just this week Trump unloaded this blatant falsehood:

Telling lies, acting like an imbecile, exhibiting signs of severe paranoia and dementia, are not characteristics of strength. Trump is clearly afraid and it is oozing out of every pore of his trembling body. And posting more than five dozen desperately defensive tweets before lunch is proof positive that Trump can’t handle the pressure. All the more reason to get him out of the White House before he causes even more harm.

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

Attorney Genuflect Bill Barr has Fully Morphed Into a Fox News Trump-Fluffer

Posted by on December 10, 2019 at 1:20 pm. 5 Comments :

On Monday the Inspector General of the Justice Department released his report on the origins of the Russia probe. The top-line conclusion was that it “did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI.” Yet somehow Trump embraced the report with delusional glee. He even boasted that it was “one of our great achievements.”

William Barr, Donald Trump

Now Trump’s Attorney Genuflect, Bill Barr, is disputing the very same IG Report that a deranged Trump said was a victory for him. This is the sequel to the aftermath of the report by special counsel Robert Mueller, when Trump insisted that it “totally exonerated” him, while simultaneously disparaging it as a hoax and a witch hunt. It takes a mind that is either brazenly dishonest or severely dysfunctional to attack a report that you also claim vindicates you. But that is what Trump did then, and is reprising now.

Barr was interviewed by NBC’s Pete Williams on Tuesday morning (video below). The whole interview was a bizarre affair that exposed Barr’s flagrant biases and his abandonment of principle, integrity, and honesty. He demonstrated that he is not the Attorney General for the people of the United States, but a shill for private citizen Trump. His remarks reflected the glassy-eyed devotion of a cult follower whose adoration for Dear Leader is unflappable. Barr began by dismissing three years of criminality by Trump and Company:

“I think our nation was turned on its head for three years based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by a completely irresponsible press.”

Barr is forgetting that in the past three years many of Trump’s closest associates have been indicted and convicted, including Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Micheal Cohen, and Roger Stone. And there were dozens of other indictments that are still pending. Plus, Mueller’s report found at least 270 contacts between the Trump team and Russia-linked operatives. That is hardly the result of a “bogus narrative.”

By blaming his slanderous criticisms on the press, Barr is just parroting his White House Overlord and the glassy-eyed sycophants on Fox News. The AG continued in this vein sounding more like Sean Hannity and Alex Jones than the chief law enforcement officer of the nation. Barr made the ludicrous and unsupported assertion that Trump “was clearly spied upon” by the FBI. Then he continued saying that…

“From a civil liberties standpoint, the greatest danger to our free system is that the incumbent government use the apparatus of the state … both to spy on political opponents but also to use them in a way that could affect the outcome of an election.”

First of all, Trump was not spied on, he was investigated. Barr is using language that is deliberately prejudicial. No police officer engaged in collecting evidence would ever say that they were “spying” on a murder suspect. What’s more, the FBI wasn’t even investigating Trump. They were legitimately probing the suspicious activities of individuals connected to his campaign.

It’s also troubling that Barr refers to valid and justified FBI investigations as “the greatest danger” to our system of government. Apparently he thinks it’s worse than Russians hacking our elections and launching massive campaigns of propaganda in support of Trump. Barr also doesn’t seem concerned that Trump “used the apparatus” – not of the state – but of a foreign state “in a way that could affect the outcome of an election.’ This was evidently not a problem for Barr. In fact, he appears to think it’s commonplace and acceptable:

“Presidential campaigns are frequently in contact with foreign persons. And indeed, in most campaigns there are signs of illegal foreign money coming in.”

WHAT? That’s not only false, it’s insane. No campaign professional would agree that such contact occurs “frequently,” if ever. And if Barr has proof that “most campaigns” are receiving “illegal foreign money,” why on Earth isn’t he prosecuting anyone?

He went on to falsely state that “there was and never has been any evidence of collusion” with Russia. In fact, the Mueller Report said that, while he could not unequivocally establish such collusion, there was actual evidence. Just not enough to indict. What’s more, Mueller affirmed that Trump “welcomed and encouraged” Russian interference in the 2016 election, and then sought to cover it up. That alone should warrant his impeachment.

On Tuesday morning Trump relaunched his attack on the FBI. This time against Christopher Wray, the FBI Director that Trump himself appointed. Wray’s offense was to affirm the findings of the independent Inspector General. The one Barr that is discrediting and publicly humiliating. Bill Barr is a disgrace to the office of Attorney General. He deserves to be impeached and removed from office every bit as much as Trump does. He is purposefully reorganizing the Justice Department as the defense team and PR operation for a corrupt president. And isn’t that Fox News’ job?

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

Trump’s Mental Disabilities Prevent Him from Understanding the Inspector General’s Report

Posted by on December 9, 2019 at 3:17 pm. 5 Comments :

On Monday the long-awaited report about the FBI’s Russia probe by the Inspector General of the Justice Department was released. Donald Trump, Republicans, and the vast right-wing conspiracy had been insisting for weeks that this report would provide damning proof that Democrats and the imaginary “Deep State” were conspiring to stage a “coup” against Trump.

Donald Trump, Deep State

Now, with the release of this report it’s clear that the hopes of the Trump cultists have been thoroughly dashed on the rocks of reality. The conclusions by Inspector General Michael Horowitz could not have been stated more plainly:

IG Report: We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI’s decision to seek FISA authority.

Among the findings were key revelations that upend the Trump regime’s favorite fallacies. For instance, the FBI did not use the Steele dossier to open the Russia probe. Also, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were not decision-makers. None of the hair-raising charges espoused by the wingnut set were upheld.

The report did identify a number of bureaucratic mistakes and flaws in the processes. But the bottom line was that none of these minor mishaps impacted the integrity or honesty of the work of the FBI and its senior officials, including Director James Comey, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, or anyone else in the Bureau. The report unambiguously declares that the investigation of Trump campaign operatives was fully justified and that its conduct was free of partisan politics.

However, despite the clarity of the report, Trump offered up his own bizarre and delusional analysis when asked by reporters after the report was made public (video below):

Trump: The IG report just came out and I was just briefed on it and it’s a disgrace what’s happened with respect to the things that were done to our country. It should never again happen to another president. It is incredible, far worse than I would’ve ever thought possible and it’s an embarrassment to our country, its dishonest, it’s everything that a lot of people thought it would be, except far worse.

What report was he reading? There is no plausible way a person could utter that nonsense unless they were clinically insane or purposefully intended to deceive. For this report to be “far worse” than Trump “ever thought possible,” it would have to have uncovered evidence of something worse than treason, because that’s what Trump had called the Russia investigation in the past. There was, of course, nothing in the report that supported that hysterical take. Although, Trump did get affirmation from his Attorney Genuflect, Bill Barr, who said that “The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions.” Which the IG Report most definitely didn’t do. Then Trump continued…

Trump: They fabricated evidence and they lied to the courts and they did all sorts of things to have it go their way and this was something we can never allow to have to happen again. The report actually, and especially when you look into the details of the report are far worse than anything I would’ve even imagined. What they were doing and what they would’ve done if I didn’t make a certain move, a certain move that was a very important move because it would’ve been even worse if that’s possible. And they might’ve been able to succeed, this was an overthrow of government, this was an attempted overthrow and a lot of people were in on it and they got caught, they got caught red-handed.

There is also no evidence of anyone fabricating evidence or lying to the court, as Trump is alleging. And naturally, he won’t provide any examples of such activity, because there aren’t any. Trump often speaks in vagaries to avoid having to support his preposterous assertions. Another example of that is his reference to a “very important move” that he says prevented even worse atrocities – for him. He’s talking about his firing of Comey, an action that should itself result in an Article of Impeachment for obstruction of justice.

Finally, Trump’s deranged claim that the Russia probe was “an attempted overthrow” of the government is both false and strikingly paranoid. He further claims that there were “a lot of people in on it” that he now says have been “caught red-handed.” Who the hell he’s talking about is a mystery. None of the people that Trump has been viciously slandering for the past couple of years has been charged with any crime, or even cited for administrative errors.

In short, the FBI has been fully exonerated by an independent Inspector General who was appointed by Trump. And Trump has been shown to be a malicious liar. His mental infirmity is still on display with crazy comments that amount to dubious declarations of victory. “I think,” Trump said, “I’m gonna put this down as one of our great achievements.” Really? That says something about what he regards as his other alleged “achievements.” Namely that they are all in his mind and only exist to fluff his super-sized, narcissistic ego.

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

Trump Unleashes a Wacky New Tweetstorm of Lies About Corruption in Ukraine

Posted by on December 8, 2019 at 11:07 am. 2 Comments :

The Republican Party is demonstrating an evermore eager determination to abandon principles and embrace the dishonesty and self-exaltation of Donald Trump. As his impeachment in the House nears, Trump has escalated his efforts to muddy the debate with proven falsehoods about his interactions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Donald Trump, Toilet, Bathrobe

Trump has lately taken the position that the only thing he was interested in with regard to releasing military aid to Ukraine was the alleged corruption in their government. Never mind that the State Department had already affirmed that the concerns about corruption had been resolved and the aid was approved for disbursement. And forget the fact that Trump never even mentioned corruption in his phone calls with Zelensky. He spoke only about the mysterious DNC server and the Biden family. Which raises the question: If Trump believed that Ukraine was too corrupt to get aid funds, then why did he think they were capable of conducting an investigation of the Bidens?

There is no doubt that Trump engaged in an extortion plot to force Ukraine to join the Biden smear campaign or forfeit aid that they desperately needed to fight Russian aggression. Trump even admitted it on national TV. And yet, Trump continues to brazenly lie about his affairs with Zelensky.

During his regularly scheduled Sunday Morning Tweetstorm, Trump posted a flurry of tweets quoting Sen. Ted Cruz defending the President. And when you have to rely on Ted Cruz for your defense, let’s face it, you’ve already lost. Cruz was the target of numerous attacks by Trump, including allegations that he wasn’t eligible to be president because he was born in Canada, and that his father participated in the plot to assassinate John Kennedy, and even that his wife was ugly. Cruz responded by calling Trump a “pathological liar,” “utterly amoral,” “a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country’s ever seen” and “a serial philanderer.” That was then, this is now…

Suffice to say that none of that bears any resemblance to the truth. Democrats have never “admitted” that they can’t prove a crime. Quite the opposite. Extortion, bribery, obstruction of justice, campaign finance violations, and witness intimidation are all crimes. Not that any crime is necessary to warrant impeachment, but the fact is there are many that Trump violated.

What’s more, Cruz is reiterating the falsehood that Trump was concerned about corruption. And of course, he fails to provide any scrap of evidence of that. So instead, he employs the common GOP deflection of accusing the Bidens of crimes for which there has never been any proof. But the worst of what Cruz said was in this same interview on Meet the Press (video below). Host Chuck Todd asked him…

TODD: Do you believe Ukraine meddled in the American election in 2016?
CRUZ: I do! And I think there’s considerable evidence of that.
TODD: (Incredulously) You do?
[…]
TODD: Is it not possible that this president is capable of creating a false narrative about somebody in order to help him politically?
CRUZ: (Laughing) Except that’s not what happened. The President released the transcript of the phone call. You can read what was said on the phone call.
TODD: You, yourself thought the Biden part was troubling.
CRUZ: Chuck, let me point out a game that the media is playing.

Whereupon Cruz proceeded to avoid the question and change the subject. But he maintained his position that Ukraine had interfered with the 2016 election, a position not shared by any of the experts in the intelligence community. Cruz asserted that Ukraine’s interference consisted of a Ukrainian official writing a newspaper op-ed that was critical of Trump. That’s freedom of speech, not election interference. And it’s not remotely similar to Russia’s covert campaign of espionage, hacking, and a massive social media propaganda project.

Nevertheless, these are the arguments that Trump sought to focus on with multiple quote-tweets of Cruz. It exposes his desperation more than anything else. And while it’s obvious that Trump and his sycophantic surrogates are furiously trying to shift the subject to Joe Biden, none of that absolves Trump of guilt for the many crimes he has committed. So WTF is the point? Regardless of what happens with Biden, Trump still deserves to be impeached, removed from office and prosecuted.

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

Do Not Believe THEM! That is Trump’s Order to His Faithful Cult Followers About the Media

Posted by on December 7, 2019 at 5:00 pm. 5 Comments :

The messianic aspirations of Donald Trump continue to be displayed by Dear Leader on a daily basis. His reckless pronouncements of acceptable standards of obedience are made clear as he lashes out at any and all sources of criticism, particularly those that have the audacity to tell the truth about him.

Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

In a recent tweet Trump made it clear that he opposes a common and necessary part of responsible and professional journalism. Unidentified sources are an indispensable part of collecting information that is being actively suppressed or misrepresented. They have been a factor in the uncovering of untold crimes and behavior that is improper and unethical on the part of public officials. And the information they have provided has been praised by members of both parties as well as law enforcement. But then we have Donald Trump…

This is a bizarre commandment issued by a person who is obviously consumed with anxiety and the fear of having his criminal behavior exposed. He is well aware of the criminal activities that he has engaged in and is frantic that others will learn the truths he is hiding. Consequently he has decreed that his subjects close their eyes and ears to reality and believe only what he tells them.

Notice that Trump isn’t merely suggesting that people take care to consider the veracity of what they see and hear. He is instructing them to “not believe ANY article or story you read or see that uses ‘anonymous sources.'” None of them, regardless of how accurate, well documented, and corroborated by named sources. He dictates that only stories with “an actual living name” are acceptable under his doctrine.

This is wrong on many levels. First of all, he’s not really referring to stories with “anonymous” (i.e. unknown) sources. He’s really talking about “unidentified” sources. These are sources whose identity is known to the reporters and editors, but who don’t want their identities to be made public for fear of retribution. In these cases the reporters have confirmed their credibility and suitably to provide information.

Furthermore, Trump’s assertion that “The Fake News Media makes up many ‘sources say’ stories,” is entirely unsubstantiated and as often as he has said it, he has never offered any proof. Trump just brazenly attaches this assertion to any story that he doesn’t like.

Often the unidentified sources that Trump is whining about are people in his own administration. In fact, the White House regularly holds officially, sanctioned anonymously sourced calls with reporters where they demand that the calls be attributed only to “senior administration officials.” And Trump himself routinely cites anonymous sources in his remarks to the press. He frequently prefaces his implausible comments to say that “people say…” or he asserts that “I’ve heard…” this or that nonsensical claim. He also tells stories about people without names who have come to him with ludicrous tales that coincidentally support some ridiculous position he’s taken.

A recent example includes his claim that unnamed “people” are telling him that they have to flush their toilets 10 or 15 times. Really? People who have the unique opportunity to talk to the President of the United States are telling him about their troubles in the bathroom? Setting aside that improbability, if anyone else were reporting this Trump would insist that they not be believed because the sources are not identified.

The Trump commandment that his disciples can “only accept information” under conditions that he deems fitting is just the latest demonstration that he is not leading a political party, but a cult. And as the cult leader, the only truths are those he deems acceptable. But what’s most frightening about this is that there are people who subscribe to this madness. And if Trump tells them not to believe any stories with anonymous sources, they will obey – unless they are his stories.

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

The Real Horror Show: Trump vs Trump on Democrats and the Economy

Posted by on December 6, 2019 at 11:59 am. 4 Comments :

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its report for the month of November on Friday morning. Its top-line numbers looked pretty good, although there are caveats that need to taken into consideration, such as the fact that in November 42,000 striking GM auto workers went back to work at the conclusion of the strike.

Donald Trump Rally Trash

Nevertheless, Donald Trump does what he always does whenever there is some ostensibly good news reported: He takes credit for it. Of course, there is nothing in Trump’s record that can be plausibly cited as having any impact on the labor market. In fact, virtually every initiative that might help American workers has been bottled up in congress by GOP Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, including infrastructure projects and a minimum wage increase. But didn’t stop Trump from tweeting that…

As usual, Trump is speculating about imaginary world that would be a utopia were not for his political foes conspiring against him – and America – at every turn. That is the textbook reaction of a malignant narcissist who has convinced himself of his indisputable supremacy. What it is not, however, is anything recognizable as the truth.

Many studies have been published that prove that the economy almost always does better during Democratic administrations than Republican. Nine of the last 10 recessions have been under Republicans. And since World War II, 24.4 million more jobs created under Democratic presidents. Also, real GDP growth was 44% higher under Democratic presidents. Meanwhile, unemployment has been 18% higher under GOP presidents.

That said, perhaps one of the most relevant voices in this debate is that of Donald Trump who, in 2004, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that “I’ve been around for a long time and it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.” Here he is in his own words:

So Trump may have correctly labeled the economic hard times our country has endured as a “horror show,” but he has forgotten who the real monsters are. It isn’t really surprising that Democrats have performed better economically. The Republican agenda is tightly focused on corporations and the wealthy who horde their prosperity. Only when the middle class prospers does the broader economy succeed. The Republican economy is currently running record deficits and running on fumes that will eventually choke the nation into recession. And if the country wants to return to its past healthy economic environment, it had better reject the Republican facade of growth and embrace the real world results of the Democrats.

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

Fox News Legal Analyst: Trump Will Testify at Senate Impeachment Trial

Posted by on December 5, 2019 at 1:59 pm. 6 Comments :

On Thursday morning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made it official that the House would draft Articles of Impeachment against Donald Trump. It isn’t known yet what specific charges will be included, but it’s fairly certain that they will focus on Trump’s extortion of the President of Ukraine and obstruction of justice. However, the possibilities for additional charges are numerous, including perjury, campaign finance violations, witness intimidation, and self-dealing.

Donald Trump, Impeach

It is almost a bygone conclusion that the House will vote to impeach Trump. His fate in the Senate is more difficult to predict. While most Republican senators have been marching lock-step with Trump, his flagrant breaches of law and obstruction could produce a public backlash that makes them think twice about supporting him.

How the Senate trial unfolds will have a significant impact on the final vote. But there is one particular potential event that could be groundbreaking. While Trump has done everything imaginable to throw obstacles in front of the impeachment inquiry, there is some speculation that he might show up to testify on his own behalf.

One of those predicting that is Andrew Napolitano, the Fox News Senior Legal Analyst. Napolitano, who said last month that “the evidence of his impeachable behavior is overwhelming,” also recently said that if he were a member of Congress he would vote to impeach Trump. His is virtually alone at Fox taking that position. And now he is predicting that Trump will testify under oath at his Senate impeachment trial. Napolitano was asked by Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer “If you go to a Senate trial, who testifies on behalf of the president?” Napolitano replied…

“Himself … I think it will be the most dramatic legal political event in the history of our era. With the president of the United States testifying under oath in front of the chief justice, and the full Senate and 200 million people watching on television.”

Is Napolitano right? It’s hard to tell. There two distinct paths for Trump going forward.

PATH #1: Trump will testify because he believes that he is his own best spokesperson. He is a malignant narcissist who is convinced that everything does is “perfect” and that it is impossible for him to fail at anything he attempts. He believes he is better than all of his critics and could outsmart them on the Senate debate field. So of course he’ll testify.

PATH #2: Trump will never testify because he’s scared witless of being cross-examined by the aggressive and hostile Democratic lawyers prosecuting his impeachment. He knows that he is prone to lying in order to achieve his goals, but that in this forum that would only subject him to additional charges of perjury. And he can’t remember his past lies well enough to be consistent. What’s more, he knows the truth. He knows what he’s done and that he will be asked about his activities in detail. How could he respond? If he tells the truth he’s incriminating himself. But if he lies he’s perjuring himself.

So it remains to be seen which of Trump’s psychoses will prevail. Will it be his narcissistic confidence and delusions of grandeur? Or will it be his fear and consciousness of guilt. Either way it’s clear that Trump doesn’t have any good options. In the meantime he’s assuming a brave face on Twitter and asking that congress move quickly to the Senate trial:

This is the typical childish name-calling strategy that Trump employs when under pressure. He can’t respond substantively to the charges against him, so he calls his critics “crazy.” That wouldn’t cut it in a court of law, or in the Senate. But if he’s so keen on compelling the testimony of Adam Schiff and the Bidens, maybe he should be patronized, so long as he also agrees to allow the testimony of Mick Mulvaney, and Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton, and Dan McGahn,, and Rudy Giuliani. Then he might actually be right about the Senate trial “reveal[ing], for the first time, how corrupt our system really is.”

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

SRSLY? Trump Cites Fox News Shills as ‘Legal Scholars’ to Dismiss Impeachment Report

Posted by on December 4, 2019 at 2:51 pm. 3 Comments :

The impeachment of Donald Trump has now moved from the House Intelligence Committee to the House Judiciary Committee. And with that the legal arguments for the constitutional grounds for impeachment are coming to the forefront of the public discourse. A panel of law professors are the first witnesses to appear before this committee. But Trump has his own laughably obtuse ideas on the matter.

Donald Trump, Constitution

Trump held several press avails with foreign leaders during his trip to London for the NATO summit. In each of them he managed to deliver blatantly political screeds that exalted himself and maligned his critics. But on one occasion he offered his opinion of the report written at the conclusion of the House impeachment hearings. Not surprising, he was less than impressed. He had the following exchange with a reporter (video below):

REPORTER: Do you want to comment on the House Democrats impeachment report that came out last night and the hearing today?

TRUMP: Well, I saw it and it’s a joke. Everybody is saying it. I watched reviews. I watched Sean Hannity. I watched Laura Ingraham. I watched Tucker Carlson. I watched a lot of other legal scholars.

REALLY? So now Trump is passing off right-wing hacks on Fox News as the “legal scholars” he relies on to shape his views of impeachment. That’s even worse than his actual lawyers (i.e. Rudy Giuliani) and the other TV attorneys that he depends on for advice. And he’s admitting to watching an awful lot of TV while he’s at this international summit. He went on to site his longtime friend Alan Dershowitz and the Bill Clinton special prosecutor, Ken Starr, as additional sources of his legal opinions.

For some reason Trump failed to note that Fox News’ Senior Legal Analyst, Andrew Napolitano, concluded that the evidence of Trump’s impeachable behavior is overwhelming. He also left out the commentaries by Napolitano and staunch pro-Trump sycophant Andrew McCarthy, who both disputed the anti-impeachment arguments of committee witness Jonathan Turley. However, Trump did go on to repeat some of his recent lies relating to his popularity:

“I will tell you it’s a uniform statement pretty much right down the road. What they’re doing is a bad thing for the country. It’s of no merit. And the Republican Party has never been more unified, ever. They have never been as unified as they are right now.

“I’ve never seen anything like it where you have 197-0 where the Senate is very angry about it. I think the Senate I can say is angry. The Republican Party is angry. A recent poll came out 95% approval rating for me in the Republican Party which is a record. “

“197-0?” There are only 100 senators and about half of them are Democrats. And never mind that it is entirely irrelevant whether the Republican Party is unified. They are expected to be united in defense of their president. That doesn’t have any bearing on his guilt. And more to the point, Trump’s assertions as to the unity of the GOP being uniformly in favor of Trump is simply false. He has never been able to provide a source for 95% approval, but a recent poll put the number at 74%. And majorities of the American people are solidly in favor of impeaching Trump and removing him from office.

Trump is living in a fantasy world where he is beloved by all and everyone agrees with him on everything. The truth is that he is the most unpopular president in modern times who has never even hit 50% approval. And it’s downright pathetic that he has to resort to partisan hacks like Hannity to justify his delusions on the legality of impeachment. He might as well be citing Lionel Hutz.

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