Month: May 2020

Even Trump Doesn’t Believe His Lies that the Economy Will Rebound Quickly

Posted by on May 21, 2020 at 12:53 pm. 2 Comments :

The strongest argument that Donald Trump had for reelection was his contention that the economy was booming and that he was the reason why. Of course, neither of those things are true. Before the emergence of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the economy was a house of cards being propped up by artificially low interest rates, a federal Reserve Board that was printing money, and Trump’s disastrous tax cuts for corporations and the rich that benefited the stock market, but not the overall economy.

Donald Trump Apocalypse

Trump was and is desperate to push off an inevitable recession (or worse) until after the election in November. So he’s employing shady tactics to disguise how shaky the economy actually is. The pandemic isn’t helping him except as a convenient excuse to blame for the declining GDP and rising unemployment. And he’s pretending that those metrics wouldn’t be in place but for the health crisis. Even more disturbing, Trump is pushing to “reopen” the nation far too soon to ensure the safety of the American people. Make no mistake, the only reason Trump is advocating this perilous course is to juice the economy and his reelection prospects.

The truth is that the U.S. economy has been teetering for the past 12 to 18 months. Credit is stretched beyond sustainable limits. Trade is at record lows, partly due to Trump’s idiotic tariffs. Markets for real estate, oil, transportation, and banking have been noticeably fragile. So even when the effects of the pandemic are removed, prosperity will not magically return. And you’ll never guess who knows that.

Despite his daily (hourly) tirades directed at the press, wherein he insists that he’s done everything perfectly and there’s nothing to worry about, Trump is well aware of the economic trouble that is lying in wait. He has repeatedly said that there will be a rapid rebound and that the country will soar to heights greater than ever before this year is out. However, that optimism is not present in the management of his own businesses. The Miami Herald is now reporting that…

“Trump National Doral Miami, President Donald J. Trump’s Miami-Dade resort hotel and golf course, has announced 250 workers who were originally furloughed indefinitely will now be permanently laid off. […] ‘Unfortunately, it now appears that the adverse effects of the COVID-19 outbreak upon our business will be longer and more substantial than previously was foreseeable.'”

So while Trump is telling the press that there is going to be a historic booming economy in the coming months, he is drastically cutting his work force at one of his signature properties. In other words, while he’s lying to the people about their economic future, he is making sure that he won’t be overextended during the downturn that he knows will be severe and enduring. And he is forcing the hardships onto working folks who are already struggling to survive.

This is typical of Trump’s self-serving approach to governing. It’s the reason he pressured the Fed to lower interests rates that resulted in him saving millions of dollars on his outstanding debts. It’s the reason he’s so anxious to get businesses open again, like his own that have reportedly cost him about 30% of his net worth

And it is now the reason that Trump is terminating hundreds of workers that he previously promised to rehire, due to what he openly recognizes will be a prolonged economic recession or depression. But while he is taking these steps to preserve his own wealth, he continues to deceive the American people with happy-talk of the imaginary economic utopia that only he can produce. Anyone who believes that drivel deserves what they get. The sad thing is, the rest of us will suffer along side them. Which makes it all the more important to make certain that you, and everyone you know, vote Trump out in November.

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

BLACKMAIL: Trump Threatens American Voters in Scheme to Suppress Voting

Posted by on May 20, 2020 at 1:20 pm. 5 Comments :

Every recent national poll is showing Joe Biden with a significant lead over Donald Trump (for instance). Biden is even leading in most of the crucial swing states (Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Arizona, and Florida). That’s obviously bad news for Trump. However, the best indication that Trump is scared witless of losing the upcoming election is his frenzied and feeble attempts to prevent the American people from exercising their right to vote.

Donald Trump

Trump knows that the more people who vote, the less likely it is that he – or his Republican confederates – will prevail in November. So his only option is to try to prevent voters from casting ballots. That’s a particularly complicated endeavor this year with the coronavirus making many people nervous about exposing themselves to infection at in-person polling sites. The obvious solution to that problem is to expand mail-in voting across the country.

Consequently, Trump and the GOP (Greed and Oppression Party) are committed to prohibiting this safe and secure method of voting. They are bellowing about imaginary election fraud as the reason for their obstructionism. But, try as they may, they’ve been pitifully unable to make that case with any factual evidence to back up their wild claims. And in the absence of proof, Trump is now posting Twitter rants that are flagrantly untrue. Trump tweeted…

Breaking: Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path! [NOTE: Trump deleted this tweet and reposted adding the word “applications” after “absentee ballot.”]

State of Nevada “thinks” that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can’t! If they do, “I think” I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections. @RussVought45 @USTreasury

First of all, Trump is lying about absentee ballots being sent out. What has been sent is only applications for absentee ballots that voters can fill out and return. Trump is also lying about this being illegal. The states have every right to do this and to conduct their elections as they see fit. The federal government has no jurisdiction over this whatsoever.

Worst of all is Trump’s brazen threat to withhold federal funds from states that choose to permit mail-in voting. That’s the same sort of blackmail that Trump tried to impose on Ukraine in order to get them to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. That’s what got him impeached. What’s more, Trump doesn’t even have any legal authority to withhold such funding. Congress would have to do it, and it’s a pretty safe bet that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t cooperate with Trump’s extortion plot. Also it is distinctly repulsive that Trump would even consider denying critical funds during a raging pandemic. That would only increase the suffering and the death toll.

It’s notable that Trump’s threat was narrowly cast only at states with Democratic governors. That’s an observation that was made by the woman who Trump snidely referred to as Michigan’s “rogue Secretary of State.” In response to his blatantly partisan tantrum, she tweeted…

Not only have those Republican-led states approved mail-in voting, the American people are overwhelmingly in favor of it. A recent poll showed that “72% of all U.S. adults, including 79% of Democrats and 65% of Republicans, supported a requirement for mail-in ballots.” And members of the military have been doing it for decades. And guess who else is in favor of it? Donald Trump, who actually votes by mail himself.

So is Trump confessing to committing election fraud? Or he is just saying that it’s okay for him, but not for any other American citizens? Trump’s relentless assertions that mail-in voting is rife with fraud has never been supported by facts. He even formed a White House committee to certify his charges, but it was later disbanded having found nothing untoward. Yet he continues to make the same charges.

Trump, however, recently gave away his deceitful game by admitting that Democrats participating in mail-in voting “had levels of voting, that if you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” He is so determined to clamp down on voter’s rights that he embarked on a campaign to do away with the Postal Service in order to make mail-in voting impossible.

And there you have it. Trump is openly confessing that the real intent of opposing mail-in voting is to suppress voter turnout. This is something that Republicans have been trying to do for decades. They likewise have sought to prohibit early voting, weekend voting, and any other method of making it easier for citizens to cast ballots. And they engage in extreme gerrymandering in order to disenfranchise voters they disapprove of.

This is more proof that Trump and the Republican Party are actually scared of voters being able to express themselves. They are, in fact, scared of democracy. They know that the only way they can win is to shut down access to the ballot. That’s particularly true for low income people, working people, and people of color. And now it’s also true for people who have concerns about exposure to a deadly virus that has already taken the lives of more than 92,000 Americans due to Trump’s negligence and incompetence.

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

Schizo Trump Loves/Hates Fox News and Misses their Sexual Predator Boss

Posted by on May 19, 2020 at 1:51 pm. 4 Comments :

On Monday Donald Trump unleashed another in his series of desperate deflections from the COVID-19 crisis that he has tragically exacerbated by his negligence and incompetence. He volunteered to a press gaggle that he is taking the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to ward off the coronavirus.

Donald Trump, Fox News

Of course, as with everything Trump says, it needs evidence before it can be regarded as truthful. If he is taking it he is exposing himself to serious health risks for a treatment that has no proven efficacy. If he’s lying he’s encouraging his dimwitted cult followers to assume those risks. Either way it is an obvious attempt to steer the news cycle away from his inept and deadly mishandling of the raging pandemic.

Media manipulation may be the one skill that Trump puts any real effort into refining. He has proven his willingness to manufacture distractions at precisely the moment he is being scrutinized for some act of idiocy or scandal. But he doesn’t really have to be any good at it because he has Fox News to refurbish his floundering PR in the wake of his incessant bumbling. Which makes Trump’s schizophrenic, flip-flopping attitude toward Fox all the more bizarre. Tuesday morning Trump took to his Twitter machine to cheerlead for his favorite Fox News morning show, Fox and Friends.

In addition to celebrating the ratings of his Foxic friends, Trump engaged in the infantile name-calling that is the hallmark of his presidency. He is especially perturbed by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough who has been an effective critic. Recently Trump began lobbing slanderous allegations that Scarborough murdered an intern twenty years ago. But Trump’s glee over the ratings victory for Fox comes in stark contrast to a tweet he posted just a few hours before:

There is so much wrong with that tweet that it’s really going to need some deeper analysis. First of all, anyone who watches Fox knows that the network is far more pro-Trump now than ever. With a prime time line up that consists of dependable Trump-fluffers like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Tucker Carlson, there is a unanimity of opinion that would make North Korea’s media operation jealous. A recent example is how they virtually swapped out their coronavirus coverage in order to hype the phony “Obamagate” conspiracy theory.

Secondly, Trump is not “looking for a new outlet,” he’s already found one. He has been busily promoting the One America News Network (OANN), a tiny, little-watched, video blog that is even more worshipful of Dear Leader Trump than Fox. In fact, some of Trump’s financial backers recently bought OANN, which suggests that it may become his television home after he loses in November.

As for Trump “miss[ing] the great Roger Ailes,” that’s his testimonial to the now deceased CEO of Fox News who was terminated due to mounting evidence of his sexual harassment and assault. Ailes not only committed vile acts himself, but he actively covered up the misconduct of his colleagues like Bill O’Reilly, often paying millions to secure the silence of their victims. Naturally a sexual predator like Trump would find camaraderie in an equally nauseating pervert.

Finally, Trump’s fluctuating opinion of Fox News is just further proof of his mental infirmity. He can’t seem to remember whether he loves Fox or hates it. Here is just a sampling of the frothing hatred Trump has recently aimed at Fox News;

Despite the attacks on Fox above, he has also been dishing out effusive praise to Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo, Greg Gutfeld, Laura Ingraham, Brit Hume, Mark Levin, and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends. Plus, he’s done recent interviews with Fox and Friends, Bartiromo, Hannity, and Jeanine Pirro. Nearly all of his interviews since becoming president have been on Fox. So which is it, Donnie? Is Fox News part of the liberal, Democratic, Deep State, cabal that’s out to destroy you? Or is it Trump’s loyal bastion of unflinching support and blind adulation? Well, it depends on what day it is.

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

WHUT? Supreme Court Filing Reveals that the Trump Impeachment is Ongoing

Posted by on May 18, 2020 at 3:23 pm. 4 Comments :

Donald Trump’s behavior is typically flush with the frenzy of a man consumed by desperation and fear. He is perpetually hostile and driven by an all-consuming obsession with attacking and insulting his perceived enemies. And by his own paranoid admission, he sees enemies all around him all the time.

Donald Trump, Impeach

This state of manic psychosis would be challenging and troubling for anyone. But when the U.S. president is suffering from such a mental infirmity it puts the welfare of millions at risk.

To be sure, Trump does have valid reasons to be overcome by crippling anxiety. First and foremost, Trump has the weight of nearly 90,000 American deaths on his shoulders, due primarily to his negligence and incompetence. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. He is also under investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies for criminal malfeasance in both his personal and political activities. Most recent polling shows him to be losing in his reelection bid to Joe Biden, both nationally and in many swing states. He has got to be cracking up over polls that show the American people trust CNN more than Trump. His cabinet is full of corruption, such as his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who is under scrutiny for pushing out an inspector general who was investigating an illegal Saudi arms deal. And imminent Supreme Court rulings are expected that could force him to turn over the tax returns that he has long fought to keep secret.

Now there is a new sword dangling above Trump’s head. A court filing by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee has opened up a chapter in the Trump soap opera that many may have assumed was closed. Last December Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of justice. Those convictions were then sent to the Senate where the Republicans in charge refused to hold him accountable. Trump tweeted that the Senate’s inaction represented a “full vindication and exoneration,” which it surely did not. He was – and is still – impeached for life. But in Trump World the case was closed, but for the relentless whining that is still ongoing. But now CNN is reporting that…

“The Democratic-led House of Representatives on Monday told the Supreme Court that the House needs secret Mueller grand jury materials to determine if there is new evidence of impeachable offenses involving President Donald Trump.”

“‘The Committee’s impeachment investigation related to obstruction of justice pertaining to the Russia investigation is ongoing,’ Douglas Letter, the House general counsel, said in a court filing Monday. ‘If this material reveals new evidence supporting the conclusion that President Trump committed impeachable offenses,’ Letter said, ‘the Committee will proceed accordingly — including, if necessary, by considering whether to recommend new articles of impeachment.'”

So among all of the reasons Trump has for hysterically venting his anger and frothing trepidation of a life beset by legal peril, he still has to worry about being impeached – again. But whether or not that comes to pass, the release of the potentially incriminating grand jury materials sought by Congress could be the nail in his reelection hopes. This is just the sort of news that triggers Trump’s deranged Twitter tantrums. So expect even more unhinged raving as we go forward.

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

Daddy Can’t Have Rallies, Whines Trump Spawn In Lie-Riddled Fox News Rant

Posted by on May 17, 2020 at 11:46 am. 3 Comments :

Proving that he is still living in a fantasy world where everything he does is perfect and universally revered, Donald Trump tweeted Sunday morning that “Doing REALLY well, medically, on solving the CoronaVirus situation.” Never mind that there are now nearly 1.5 million cases and 89,000 deaths in the U.S., and those numbers continue to rise. This is another “Mission Accomplished” moment for Trump.

Donald Trump, Sick Sense

In the meantime, Eric Trump is serving Fox News duty by visiting with Fox’s Senior Trump-Fluffer, “Judge” Jeanine Pirro (video below). The Trumps continue to exploit Fox News for their official propaganda dispatches despite Trump’s increasingly frequent complaints that the network “doesn’t deliver for US anymore.” Clearly they still regard Fox as their special delivery carrier of choice, particularly with bootlicking sycophants like Pirro, Sean Hannity, and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends.

In this latest episode of “Inebriety Apprentice,” an ever eager Eric sought to attract daddy’s attention and love by diminishing the tragic perils of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, while simultaneously dispensing flagrant falsehoods about Joe Biden. In Trump World, politics takes precedence over dead Americans. Eric led off with an obviously ludicrous claim that “Biden loves” the nation being locked down, a condition that is wholly attributable to his father’s negligence and incompetence. He went on to mock Biden for “making some horrible blunders,” which is ironic considering the shoddiness of the rest of this tantrum. For instance, Eric said that Democrats…

“…think they’re taking away Donald Trump’s greatest tool, which is going into an arena and fill it with 50,000 people every single time. They’ll milk it every single day between now and November 3rd. And guess what? After November 3rd Coronavirus will magically all of a sudden go away and disappear and everybody will be able to reopen.”

First of all, Trump has never drawn 50,000 people to any of his cult rallies – or even half that, much less done it “every single time.” Eric is suffering from the same Crowd Size Inflation Disorder as his father. It’s a disease that is rooted in inferiority and impotence anxiety. Secondly, Eric’s assertion that the coronavirus will “magically all of a sudden go away” after the election implies that it’s a nothing but a political hoax. Does that mean the 90,000 dead Americans will spring back to life and 36 million people will return to jobs that were never gone on November 4th?

Eric’s assertion that drawing allegedly large crowds is daddy’s “greatest tool” actually puts Trump in a trivial light. Any good cult leader (Jerry Falwell, Jim Jones, Adolf Hitler, etc.) can do that. A good president should have more significant tools and skills like intelligence, insight, and compassion, characteristics that the Trump family sorely lacks. Eric also cited as Papa Trump’s “greatest asset” that “the American people love him [and that] he’s relatable.” Not according to pretty much every poll that shows Trump has had a majority disapproval throughout his presidency. He even rates lower on trust than his nemesis, CNN. You know that’s gotta sting. But Eric wasn’t through…

“So make no mistake, to a lot of them this is a very cognizant strategy that they’re trying to employ. It’s no different than the nonsense that they’re trying to throw in the Hope Act. No different than the mail-in voting they want to do all of these places. No different than wanting illegal immigrants to vote in our country. It is a cognizant strategy and it’s sad. And again, it’s not gonna be allowed to happen and we’re gonna win in November.”

Let’s get it out of the way that having a “cognizant strategy” isn’t sad at all. The word means “having or showing knowledge or understanding. So naturally Eric misused it. As for the “nonsense” in the Hope Act, apparently Eric is opposed to a bill “that would streamline and modernize how eligible recipients can access services to alleviate hunger and food insecurity, receive affordable housing, and expanded banking services.” Actually, he probably meant the HEROES Act that allocates additional relief funding for those impacted by the ongoing pandemic. But he made a “horrible blunder.”

Eric is also opposed to making voting more accessible in a manner that won’t make citizens chose between exercising their rights and staying alive. And he’s inventing some initiative that no one has proposed to allow illegal immigrants to vote.

What’s curious is that Eric’s grievance about daddy not being able to have a rally could be rectified by daddy just having a rally. The only one stopping Trump from bringing his glassy-eyed disciples out of their bunkers to congregate and spread their germs is Trump. Democrats aren’t locking the President into the White house against his will. So Eric’s protest is really just more petulant whining as a means of shifting blame for his own failures to others. Like Father, like son.

What’s more, Eric is appearing with Pirro on Fox News where the management has mandated that employees work from their homes. Both Eric and Pirro are safely conversing from the comfort of their respective mansions. If this is all a big Democratic hoax, which is what the shills on Fox News are telling their dimwitted viewers, then why don’t they simply revoke the order to work from home and bring everybody back into the studio? That’s a question that no one on Fox will ask, much less answer. And it’s a concept that is far too complex for the likes of little Eric.

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

Joe Biden Brilliantly Nails Trump’s Descent Into Corruption and Tyranny

Posted by on May 16, 2020 at 11:24 am. 14 Comments :

From day one of his accidental presidency, Donald Trump has exhibited clear signs of his aspirations to emulate the brutal dictators that he so admires (Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin). His reverence for the trappings of totalitarianism has been thinly disguised as he openly exchanged love letters with his autocratic heroes and behaved in a manner that mimicked their oppressive methods of governing.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden

On Friday evening Trump committed yet another act of obvious abuse of power. Hoping to avoid media scrutiny, he quietly sent a letter to Congress indicating his intention to fire Steve Linick, the State Department’s Inspector General. Linick just happened to been investigating misconduct by Trump’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

The Inspector General’s position is supposed to be an independent watchdog post to protect the integrity of government agencies. That’s why Trump could not fire Linick outright, but had to give Congress a 30 day notice. Unfortunately, due to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s blind obedience to Trump, it is still likely that nothing will be done about this, at least from McConnell’s perch.

This negligence on the part of Republicans in Congress is all the worse considering that this isn’t the first time that Trump has fired an IG who was investigating his administration. Nor is it the second time. Or the the third. Linick’s dismissal follows that of Inspectors General Christi Grimm (Health and Human Services), Glenn Fine (Defense Department), and Michael Atkinson (Intelligence Community). Each of these people were non-partisan career professionals who served administrations of both parties. Each of them were probing misconduct in the Trump administration. And all of this took place within a six week period.

Trump has been executing a slow-motion version of a Saturday Night Massacre, wherein he’s terminating honorable public servants who were doing their jobs on behalf of the American people. His brazen lawlessness seems to be growing unchecked ever since the Senate failed in their duty to remove him from office after his impeachment.

Trump is becoming ever more desperate in recent days as the coronavirus death toll for Americans approaches 90,000. Which is another even more tragic consequence of the GOP’s acquiescence to Dear Leader. Lately Trump has been fixated on a thoroughly imaginary “scandal” that he has been calling “ObamaGate.” There is no rational explanation for what he’s alleging, and given the opportunity, even he couldn’t define it. But he has been tweeting up a storm with links to rabid Obama haters making bizarre and unsupported accusations.

On Saturday morning Trump embarked on a raging Twitter-palooza that included one tweet saying that “Scandal has defined the Obama Administration.” Which is peculiar considering there is not even a hint of any untoward activity by President Obama over the eight years of his presidency. However, there is nothing but scandal and corruption engulfing Trump and his confederacy of criminals, many of whom have already been indicted and convicted.

So Trump’s current obsessive acting out against IGs is just his way of trying to put a lid on the discovery of his raging malfeasance in office. He is writhing in fear of losing in November and being held accountable for his presidential crime spree. He knows that his approval ratings are plummeting and most polls show Joe Biden beating him nationally, as well as in many of the crucial swing states. So it is especially sweet to see Biden excoriating Trump in a succinct yet effective tweet of his own:

Indeed. While there are many former Trump staffers who have left his employ under a cloud, the only person Trump ever fired for wrongdoing was his disgraced National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, who got the ax for lying to both the administration and the FBI. But now Trump is praising Flynn after having had his Attorney General, Bill Barr, drop all charges against him. Never mind that Flynn had confessed and pleaded guilty twice.

Trump keeps demonstrating that he will cozy up to those who swear their unflinching allegiance to his White House mob family. Loyalty to him always takes precedence over loyalty to the United States or its Constitution. And he will continue to poison the waters of justice in order to avoid being held accountable for his innumerable crimes. You have to wonder if there is any breach of law or ethics that will provoke Republicans to act with integrity and dignity and patriotism. but don’t hold your breath.

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

Fox News Leads the Trump Charge Against Coronavirus Relief for the American People

Posted by on May 15, 2020 at 12:53 pm. 5 Comments :

As the nation continues to suffer through the worst pandemic in a century, Donald Trump continues to downplay the risks and seeks to force the American people back into unsafe workplaces. His record thus far has resulted in more than 1.4 million people infected and more than 86,000 deaths. But apparently that isn’t enough for Trump and his GOP confederates.

Fox News, Democratic Wish List, Coronavirus, Trump

On Friday morning Trump held a press conference to announce his “plan” for developing a vaccine. True to form, the plan consisted of nothing but happy-talk and bragging about imaginary achievements. He baselessly claimed that there would be a vaccine before the end of the year, contradicting the estimates of every credible immunologist. Even worse, he insisted that people would return to work whether or not there was a vaccine. Trump still fails to grasp that there can be no resolution of this crisis without a vaccine, along with universal testing, tracking, and treatment.

Predictably, State TV (aka Fox News) is backing Trump 100% in two significant ways. First, they are practically ignoring the the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic throughout their broadcast day. In its place they are feverishly flaunting the phony “ObamaGate” conspiracy theory that no one – including Trump – can even define. And secondly, what little coverage of the pandemic they do offer is starkly skewed to a far right perspective that is generally reserved for fringe Internet trolls.

For example, Fox News did a segment on the HEROES Act, a Democratic congressional initiative to provide relief for those impacted by the pandemic. The Fox angle was focused squarely on what they considered to be inappropriate funding programs. According to Fox (and featured in their on-screen graphic above), there were five primary targets of their criticism:

  • $1,200 payments for certain undocumented immigrants.

    • These include adults who were brought here as children and who have been working, paying taxes, and even serving in the military. But even were that not the case, undocumented immigrants are still members of our communities and require assistance in order to mitigate the spread of the virus.

  • $3.6 billion for mail-in voting.

    • This is required in order to insure the safe conduct of the upcoming election in November. That’s something that Trump and Republicans don’t care about since they prefer it when fewer people vote. Trump even said that with higher levels of voting “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” What’s more, recent elections in Wisconsin where mail-in voting was prohibited by the GOP resulted in at least 52 people becoming infected with the coronavirus. Finally, both Trump and Fox News have been trying to bankrupt the Post Office in order to suppress voting access.

  • $20 million for arts and humanities.

    • This is a category of relief that Republicans are fond of disparaging, but which the American people support. Particularly during times of hardship, like those we are now experiencing. It’s also a sector of the economy that employs millions of Americans who are not otherwise covered by previous relief programs. Plus, financially it’s a pittance.

  • $100 million for domestic violence prevention.

    • It’s hard to figure out why they would include this on their hit list. Are they in favor of domestic violence? And there is evidence that quarantining has increased the incidence of such violence.

  • Bank loans/financial services for cannabis businesses.

    • This was clearly added in order to exploit the association to illicit drugs. However, in the real world, cannabis is actually a valid medicine that many Americans rely on.

It’s safe to say that most Americans would approve of the items in this Democratic “Wish List.” But to make matters worse, here are some of the items that Fox News left out:

  • Another $1,200 one-time payment to everyone, up to $6,000 per family,
  • $1 trillion in aid to state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to help offset revenue losses due to the pandemic shutdown and retrain public employees.
  • $200 billion in hazard pay for the essential workers.
  • A 15% increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
  • $75 billion for testing and contact tracing as well as free treatment for coronavirus.
  • An extension of the $600 bump to weekly unemployment insurance payments through January.
  • $175 billion in new money for rent, mortgage, and utility payments.
  • $25 billion in emergency funding for the Postal Service.

This is a positive agenda of support for the American people that Trump is already threatening to veto. One of his treasured initiatives that he is holding the bill hostage over is a payroll tax cut. That’s a deliberate attack on Social Security which is funded by that tax. Furthermore, with 36 million people out of work, that’s not even a tax cut that would provide much benefit. Those unemployed Americans already have zero payroll tax deductions. And another of Trump’s sticking points is his proposal to prohibit lawsuits against corporations where employees are harmed by lax safety precautions related to the coronavirus. So Trump wants to force people back to work and then indemnify the companies if those people get sick or die.

But none of this has to make any sense. It only has to be played over and over again on Fox News to keep their glassy-eyed cult followers in line. They are not an especially cerebral crowd and can be easily trained to obey the edicts of Dear Leader as manifested by his media machine. The good news is they are a small cadre of crackpots who will ultimately have little impact on the direction of the nation. And November can’t come too soon.

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

Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo is Angling for Trump-Fluffer of the Year Award

Posted by on May 14, 2020 at 11:59 am. 9 Comments :

Donald Trump’s fear of being interviewed by anyone but Fox News is still driving his media schedule. On Thursday he got another tongue bath by Fox’s Maria Bartiromo, who has become one of the network’s most glassy-eyed disciples of the Trump Cult. Her questions were such sycophantic pablum that they would have embarrassed a North Korean State TV shill.

Fox News, Donald Trump, Maria Bartiromo

The entire interview was nothing but pure propaganda, as Bartiromo failed to challenge Trump on any issue, and her follow-ups mostly consisted of obediently nodding her head in agreement. But perhaps the most preposterous and troubling exchange occurred as she was wrapping up the interview and slipped into her best impersonation of a butt-kissing supplicant (video below):

Bartiromo: This is toward the end of your first term as president and this entire term has been dominated by resistance. You’ve gotten so much done: Tax legislation, international things, so much done. And yet the FBI take-down effort, pushback on all of your Supreme Judges, a complete drama around Brett Kavanaugh, the Democrats in Congress attacking your call with the Ukraine leader, then an impeachment trial.
Trump: Over nothing. Over absolutely nothing.
Bartiromo: And you keep…I’ve never seen anybody that can take a punch and get right back up and keep punching. Where does this resilience come from that you keep getting things done in the face of all of this?

Bartiromo makes groupies look respectable. She led off with a stream of unbridled praise for Trump’s alleged achievements, but could only list one, his tax cuts for the rich. Then she rattled off what she regarded as Trump’s obstacles, beginning with the inane conspiracy theory that Trump is calling “Obamagate.” Trump told Bartiromo that it was “the biggest political scandal of all time.” And Bartiromo giddily agreed. But when she asked Trump to explain what it is, he wandered off into an incoherent and unrelated rant about Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, never returning to actually answer the question. And Bartiromo failed to press him on it.

Following that, Bartiromo complained on Trump’s behalf about “pushback” he received on his Supreme Court nominations, as if that never happened to any other president. She didn’t bother to mention how Mitch McConnell single-handedly denied President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, even the courtesy of a hearing. That was followed by Bartiromo’s insipid references to Trump’s impeachment, characterizing it as an annoyance and not the historic event that only two other presidents have been subject to.

Finally, Bartiromo mustered up all her courage, batted her eyes, and confessed her adoration for Dear Leader’s divine strength and endurance in the face of an onslaught of evil. In her eyes he is just so powerful and dreamy. She could hardly get all of her tributes out due to the drool flowing from her quivering, orange-stained lips.

And that was just from the last couple of minutes of the interview. The rest of this fawning romance video was equally as crammed with adulation and hero-worship. On Trump’s part, he predictably peppered the hour with his trademark bullying, boasting, and bullshit. For instance…

  • Trump lied about coronavirus fatality estimates, saying that 100,000 (which is up from his previous estimate of 60,000) should be regarded as a victory because it wasn’t 2,000,000.
  • Trump threatened to prosecute and jail President Obama and Joe Biden for crimes that he couldn’t name.
  • Trump tried to rewrite history by claiming that Putin wanted Hillary to win in 2016, even though Putin himself – and all of the U.S. intelligence community – said that Putin wanted Trump to win and helped him to do so.
  • Trump Lied about having built “new” wall along the southern border, which Bartiromo agreed with, despite the fact that not a single mile of new wall has been built.
  • Trump repeated his oft told lie that the U.S. was “taking in billions of dollars” in tariffs from China.

Trump closed by making a bizarre and callously insensitive comment about what he considered to be the positive side of a deadly pandemic. “The one thing about the Plague,” Trump bragged, “is that it said Trump was right.” WTHF is wrong with this so-called man? He is utterly devoid of any human-like attributes of sympathy. He is like the creature from Alien that is wholly focused on his own survival and will destroy anything that gets in his way. Except the movie is far more entertaining than watching Trump on Fox News. If you have the stomach for it, here’s the full tongue bathing …er… interview on Fox.

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/MollyJongFast/status/1260933694790922242

Trump Whines that ‘Rich Guys’ Profit From the Stock Market that He’s Manipulating

Posted by on May 13, 2020 at 1:25 pm. NO Comments :

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is a human tragedy of epic proportions. And due to Donald Trump’s negligence, incompetence, and sometimes deliberate mishandling of the federal government’s response, more than 83,000 Americans have lost their their lives. Current estimates indicate that the number of fatalities is going to increase to 147,000 by August.

Donald Trump, Stock Market

However, this isn’t just a public health crisis. The nation’s economy has taken a historic hit as the country is virtually shutdown in order to mitigate the spread of the virus. More than 20 million people have lost their jobs, and small businesses are struggling to remain viable. The stock market is currently in bear market territory, down about 23% from its recent highs.

The mitigation efforts have been working, but because Trump is worried more about the economy and his floundering reelection prospects than he is about human lives, he is pushing to force people back into dangerous workplaces far too soon. And in the midst of all of this, Trump took time away from his Fox News viewing on Wednesday morning to post a tweet whining about people who are making money trading on the volatile swings in the stock market:

Seriously? There is so much wrong in that brief twantrum that it demands further analysis. First of all, who are these “so-called ‘rich guys'” Trump is complaining about? Wouldn’t they actually be the sort of people that he associates with on a regular basis? And what’s wrong with traders placing bets on the market, which is exactly what they always do, pandemic or not?

What’s more, Trump’s complaint is glaringly incoherent. He begins by implying that there’s something wrong with people trying to drive stock prices down in order to make a profit. This is his way of attempting to make excuses for the recent declines. But then he immediately reverses course, noting that the same people are also driving prices up. That would make their efforts a wash. So what the heck is his problem? He is, as usual, not making any sense. But he thinks this blather will persuade the dimwits who follow him that there’s nothing wrong with the economy.

This sort of trading is common on Wall Street. And there isn’t anything illegal about it. Every stock transaction is a “bet” and experienced traders know that. If Trump were truly interested in unlawful activities, he might have said something about the Trump-fluffing GOP senators – Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler – who sold off millions of dollars of stocks that were plainly at risk before the markets collapsed. Those sales were also after they both had attended hearings that outlined the coming pandemic risks, but turned around and told their constituents that everything was fine. They are currently being investigated by the Senate ethics committee.

In addition to that, Trump and his family were also invested in pharmaceutical companies that stood to gain from the pandemic’s turmoil. Among those investments was the company that manufactures hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that Trump was irresponsibly promoting as a treatment for the coronavirus.

Trump’s interest in the markets has been ongoing throughout this crisis. He has taken a personal interest in seeking to prop up the markets artificially by pressuring the Federal Reserve Board to lower interests rates. But for some reason he failed to mention that in doing so, he would save millions of dollars on the outstanding variable interest rate loans he owes to foreign banks. Trump was also surely concerned about the fact that revenues for his own real estate holdings were down 30% since the pandemic began. That may explain in part why he’s so anxious to get everyone back to work.

So if anyone was trying to manipulate the markets, it was Trump. His coercion of the Fed and his relentless and misguided happy-talk were all designed to increase his own wealth and to juice his reelection campaign. In light of that, his question as to whether the actions of traders was “barely legal” takes on a whole new meaning. Most likely, Barely Legal was the just the name of the last magazine the Trump subscribed to.

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

ORANGE CRUSHED: More Americans Trust CNN than Either Trump or Fox News

Posted by on May 12, 2020 at 2:06 pm. 8 Comments :

In recent days Donald Trump has been exhibiting surging symptoms of acute paranoia, anxiety, and desperation. Two days ago he posted a near record 124 tweets in one day. They ran the gamut of his typical fetishes from ego-drenched bragging about imaginary achievements, to vicious insults aimed at his perceived enemies, to delusional assertions of non-existent crimes committed by political adversaries. If Trump were on a street corner reciting the content of his tweets he would be quickly escorted to the nearest asylum for observation.

Donald Trump, Coronavirus

On Tuesday morning the out of control tweetstorming continued with Trump posting another 32 twantrums, all before 10:00am. While this behavior is not unheard of for Trump, there is clearly something that has triggered this escalation of hysterics. And more than likely it has something to with his downward spiraling approval ratings and the polls that show him losing to Joe Biden nationally, as well as in most of the crucial swing states. Trump’s hijacking of the Coronavirus Task Force briefings backfired badly as his lies and belligerence turned off most Americans who were more interested in getting useful information about the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

A new poll is now affirming that what remains of Trump’s already tattered reputation has taken a series of severe blows. His overall approval is still underwater (45%) and has never exceeded 50% at any point during his accidental presidency. What’s more, a paltry 36% of the American people trust the information Trump provides about the coronavirus. That compares to 74% who trust the Centers for Disease Control, 67% who trust Dr. Anthony Fauci, and (and this has gotta sting) a majority of 55% who trust CNN, 19 points higher than those who trust Trump. That’s in line with previous polling that found the same preference for what Trump refers to is Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.”

There is some more worrisome news for Trump in the details of this poll. The support for Trump is tightly bound into his base, which at this point is more of a cult. How else would you explain that Trump’s glassy-eyed disciples trust him more (84%) than they trust Dr. Fauci (61%)? As reported by CNN…

“Republicans are more apt to say that they trust the information they get about coronavirus from Trump (84%) than they are to say they trust the information they get from Dr. Anthony Fauci (61%), the nation’s top infectious disease expert, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (72%). Among Democrats, just 4% say they trust the information they get from the President, well behind the 81% who say they trust Fauci or the 80% who trust the CDC. Overall, CNN (55% trust) inspires far more trust than Fox News (35%), with those figures also divided by party.”

Democrats are plainly more persuaded by science than by partisan hackery and political lie factories. Can’t say the same for Republicans. And the American people have made their choice with regard to news sources. While Fox News is still higher rated, that’s only because their audience is glued to the right-wing propaganda network day and night, while the majority of the country gets their news from a variety of more credible sources, both national and local.

Trump surely has many reasons to be mired in a crushing meltdown. His polling is in the gutter. His reelection prospects are fading. The Supreme Court is hearing cases that could result in his finally having to reveal his tax returns. And he is rightfully being held accountable for the suffering and death caused by his negligent and incompetent mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. Not that he cares about that. What’s boiling his thinning blood is that, in addition to those other triggers, he knows that the American people – and the people of the world – see him as a failure and a clown who was never fit to be a leader. And that is the sort of judgment that weighs most heavily on narcissists with unchecked delusions of grandeur, like Trump.

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