Blindered Trump Flunky Larry Kudlow Doesn’t See a Recession Now, Or in 2007 Either

Posted by on August 18, 2019 at 11:25 am. 1 Comments :

The past week has generated considerable concern about the state of the economy. And among the most anxious observers is Donald Trump, who knows that his reelection is dependent on being able to tout a positive outlook. However, due to his own ignorance and incompetence, the real world isn’t cooperating. The stock market is down for the third consecutive week. The dreaded “yield curve inversion,” a fairly reliable signal of an imminent recession, took place. And there’s a global slowdown in manufacturing and consumption.

Donald Trump Rally Trash

So how is the Trump White House responding to these warnings that will impact every American? They are sending out their most accomplished liars to peddle utterly false impressions of the health of the economy. Topping that list is Trump’s Director of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow. He’s a notorious failure whose record for accurate predictions is almost comical. The President hired him after watching his Trump-fluffing performances on Fox News.

On Sunday morning Kudlow made the news talkies circuit to blatantly mislead the nation about their economic future. His performance was notably ineffective, at least partly because he appeared to be stinking drunk, which the Internet couldn’t help but notice. More importantly, his summary of the rosy scenario that the White House is pitching could not have been more deliberately deceitful. In an exchange with NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, Kudlow engaged in this fantasy (video below):

Todd: The private sector seems to be concerned about the trade war with China, that there are some rough waters ahead. Maybe a recession, that those odds have risen. What do you see?
Kudlow: Well, I tell you what. I sure don’t see a recession. […] Most economists on Wall Street towards the end of the week have been marking up their forecasts for the third and fourth quarter. That echoes our view. What we’ve got here, consumers are working at higher wages. They are spending at a rapid pace. They’re actually also saving while they’re spending as an ideal situation. So actually I think the second half of the economy is going to be very good in 2019. No, I sure don’t see a recession.

First of all, it is patently untrue that “most economists on Wall Street … have been marking up their forecasts.” To the contrary, many have been sending up flares to warn of what they see as an inevitable decline. To be sure there are those with more optimistic views, but those types of Pollyannas have always been around just prior to the sky actually falling. Case in point…Larry Kudlow in 2007, who insisted that “The pessimistas were wrong…There’s no recession coming.” That was just a few months before the worst recession in nearly a century:

Kudlow went on to justify his horribly missed call by lying that “Every other forecaster” was saying the same thing. While he was not alone, there were some more accurate predictors, including current presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren. And Warren is cautioning people to be aware of another similar downturn. Some of the indicators are economists’ estimates of third-quarter GDP growth at about two per cent, way short of the four percent that Trump promised. Also, the manufacturing sector is slumping with output that has fallen 0.4 percent in July. Plus, the University of Michigan’s survey-based index of consumer confidence fell sharply in August, reaching its lowest level since 2016.

Meanwhile, Trump is telling his glassy-eyed disciples attending his cult rallies that “You have no choice but to vote for me, because your 401(k), everything is going to be down the tubes. Whether you love me or hate me, you have got to vote for me.” So did Trump just admit that voting for him would result in an economic catastrophe? That would be uncharacteristically honest of him.

Of course, he didn’t actually mean that. He was engaging in his classic brand of fear mongering to make sure his cult followers stay frightened and in line. But the truth is that Trump couldn’t care less about the financial prospects of the American people. He is solely focused on his own interests – either personal finances or reelection – and that is what’s driving everything he does and says. His Deplorables won’t learn that until it’s too late. But hopefully they will be spared that suffering, which can be avoided if citizens come together to vote Trump out or back Congressional efforts to impeach him.

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

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Is Trump’s Obsession with Crowd Size Masking His Latent Insecurity and Impotence?

Posted by on August 17, 2019 at 1:30 pm. 4 Comments :

On Thursday Donald Trump held the latest of his White Nationalist Cult Rallies in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was a routine outing wherein he regaled his disciples with the same old playlist of rancor and lies that comprise every Trump event. Apparently the StormTrumpers never tire of hearing him call Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas, promise to build a an idiotic wall on the southern border, lie about Democrats, and brag about himself for things he never did.

Donald Trump, Toilet, Bathrobe

Another staple of Trump’s rally protocol is to deliver post-event reports about how awesome and beloved he is. The size of his crowds has been an obsession since the pitiful attendance at his inauguration. Judging by the attention that he continues to pay to this self-flattery, it’s more important than anything he says in his rambling, mostly incoherent speeches. And the aftermath of this address was no different. In an attempt to create a false impression of his indomitable popularity, it was not sufficient to post a single boastful tweet. No, it took five frantic tweets for Trump to hail the worshipful adulation of his cult followers.

The tweets covered a variety of egocentric obsessions including: a general thanks for showing up; a specious claim to record breaking attendance; another false assertion that the “Placed (sic) was maxed out”; a command to look at what he vainly called “tremendous overflow“; and finally, he reiterated, without evidence, that he had drawn the “Biggest crowd EVER,” while also whining about the media coverage, which he said was “fake” and the work of “the enemy of the people.”

Needless to say, Trump was lying about his “maxed out” crowd. And the proof of that was in video images on Fox News of empty seats directly behind him as he was speaking. Another notable problem with these tweets is that they violate federal law. While Trump is allowed to hold campaign rallies, his Twitter feed is an official platform of White House business. As such it cannot be used for politicking. Not that federal law would deter a recidivist criminal like Trump.

There is good reason for a sick braggart like Trump to be plagued by – and over-compensating for – his own inadequacies. A recent poll by his pals at Fox News found that the top four candidates for the Democratic nomination for president (Biden, Warren, Sanders, and Harris) handily beat Trump in 2020 general election match ups. In fact, Trump doesn’t even break 40 percent. He’s also trying to avoid the reality that his failed economic policies are leading the nation into the Trump Recession. All of this portends disaster for the Trump reelection effort.

Still, with the abundance of bad news that surrounds him, you have to wonder what sort of deranged mind is so singularly focused on persuading everyone that he is the subject of undying adoration. Rather than present himself as a competent steward of the government who is working hard to make things better, Trump is singing his own praises as a public attraction. This is a holdover neuroses from being a reality TV personality. Even worse, it’s Trump’s malignant narcissism that drives him to such humiliating gestures of self-acclaim.

A garden variety egotist would be satisfied with others paying him tribute. But Trump surpassed that level of psychosis decades ago. He’s a knotted ball of insecurities who knows deep down that he’s an incompetent failure. And that suppressed knowledge dooms him to an existence of flaccid impotence as a leader and a man. The problem is that it’s also hurting an entire nation of innocent victims of his ignorance and misdirected vengeance. Hopefully, we won’t have to stand for that much longer. If Trump isn’t impeached, he is likely going to suffer the ultimate humiliation when he’s voted out of office and indicted for crimes against America.

UPDATE: On Saturday afternoon Trump added fourteen (14!) more self-congratulatory tweets, mostly from random, anonymous fans slobbering over him. He’s even sicker than I thought.

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


The Propaganda Pact Between Fox News and Trump Revealed in Disturbing New Emails

Posted by on August 16, 2019 at 1:25 pm. 1 Comments :

The parasitic relationship between right-wing Republicans and Fox News has been well documented for most of the network’s existence. Few people were fooled by their original tagline (which they have since abandoned) that declared the network “fair and balanced.” The partnership of an ultra conservative Australian media mogul (Rupert Murdoch) and a Republican media consultant (Roger Ailes) was enough to paint a clear picture of the political bias built into the operation.

Donald Trump Fox News

Nevertheless, it is still worthwhile to make note of significant confirmations of Fox’s deceitful intentions, especially when it comes from within the organization itself. That’s what happened when Jeremy Barr of the Hollywood Reporter published emails that were acquired by a non-profit group through the Freedom of Information Act. The correspondence shows just how tightly integrated Fox News is with Donald Trump and his administration. The network was caught red-handed doing the bidding of the White House and its executive branch departments.

“A trove of Treasury Department emails released to the non-profit organization Democracy Forward and provided exclusively to The Hollywood Reporter this week paint a picture of a close, friendly bond between the Trump administration agency and two news organizations, Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network.

“The 270 pages of email correspondence were obtained as part of a Freedom of Information Act request and detail conversations that took place in 2017 and 2018.”

Among the brazenly inappropriate interactions were several that occurred between Fox News anchor David Asman and Treasury Department spokesman Tony Sayegh, who is also a former Fox News contributor. Asman actually gave Sayegh policy advice prior to Trump’s massive tax scam reform. “Take the BIG TAX CUTS NOW,” Asman suggested, “a long-term deal with small cuts is useless.” A few days later Asman told Sayegh that the network would be airing a segment on Trump’s tax policies and promised Sayegh that “You’ll like it.”

On another occasion, Treasury aide Jason Chung contacted Fox to ask that they make changes to a Fox Business Network article. The author of the article was only too happy to comply, responding
“Jason, I just did exactly what you asked me to do.” And last year emails were uncovered that show that Fox News allowed the White House to approve a script for a segment with Scott Pruitt, the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency at the time. That was such an egregious breach of journalistic ethics that Fox even addressed it, but only with a vague statement that they had “disciplined the employees involved.”

The marriage of Trump’s White House and Fox News is as strong as ever. They share numerous personnel who have worked for both entities. Fox can always be counted on to savagely malign Trump’s critics and political foes. And Trump-fluffers like Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Tucker Carlson, and Lou Dobbs can be depended on for endless epistles of adoration. These and other network shills will predictably rise to defend Trump no matter how repulsive his words or deeds, as demonstrated by how they turned baby cages into summer camps. On Thursday Fox was the only cable news network to air Trump’s New Hampshire cult rally live. We can expect that sort of special treatment to continue, while any bad news for Trump (and there has been a lot lately) is suppressed.

Fox is even muzzling reports of its own poll that showed Trump disapproval at a near record high. The poll also showed that all four of the Democratic candidates tested in the poll (Biden, Sanders, Warren, and Harris) beat Trump in 2020 matchups. Trump never even broke forty percent. The poll’s respondents gave a much higher favorability rating to the Democratic Party (51/45), than the Republican Party (41/54), which they rated as significantly unfavorable. And in a searing rebuke of Trump’s assessment of his own ability to unify the nation, 59 percent of voters said that he is “tearing the country apart.” No wonder Fox News isn’t giving much airtime to these poll results. And again, this is their own poll.

We can expect this sort of deliberate disinformation to persist throughout the upcoming presidential election cycle. Fox News will bury anything they deem to be negative for Trump, while lashing out viciously – and dishonestly – at Democrats and what they regard as their “fake” news competitors. They will continue to collude with Trump to produce flattering coverage of him and the state of the union, even if the nation plunges into recession, which seems increasingly likely. In fact, they will collude with anyone who seeks the same rightist objectives as they do. So as Trump said in the 2016 election: “Russia, are you listening?”

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


Trump’s Collusion with Russia and Obstruction of Justice are Still on America’s Mind

Posted by on August 15, 2019 at 1:01 pm. NO Comments :

There has been a flurry of profoundly significant news stories over the past few days and weeks. They include the stock market’s biggest point drop of the year (and a harbinger of recession), the death of Donald Trump’s pedophile pal, Jeffrey Epstein (and Trump’s promotion of an insane conspiracy theory explaining it), and a week of mass shootings in the streets of America (at least partially incited by Trump’s hostile and racist rhetoric).

Donald Trump Impeach

However, the biggest story of the year is one that has been on the minds of most Americans for months. Earlier this year special counsel Robert Mueller delivered his report on the activities of Trump and his campaign with regard to Russia’s attack on the American presidential election. The report contained damning evidence of tolerance at best, and conspiracy at worst, by Trump and his closest associates in Russia’s effort to install Trump as president. There were also multiple examples of how Trump engaged in blatant obstruction of justice to cover up his embrace of Russia’s attack and his complicity with it. Mueller himself affirmed those conclusions in his congressional testimony. It was so obvious that even the Senior Legal Analyst at Fox News reported that Trump’s actions were “unlawful, defenseless and condemnable.”

One of the most peculiar and disturbing characteristics of the Trump era is that his scandalous behavior is unleashed with such frequency and speed that it’s hard for most Americans and the press to keep up. And each new offense shoves the previous ones off of the front pages. But the matter of Trump’s treasonous collusion with Russia has managed to remain at the top of the nation’s conscience. And a finding by Politico reveals just how concerned the people still are:

“According to data obtained by POLITICO under the Freedom of Information Act, the special counsel’s final report was downloaded nearly 800 million times from DOJ’s website between its public release in mid-April and early July.” […]

“Mueller’s report didn’t do so bad on the commercial side, either, even with the DOJ making the special counsel’s findings available for free. Several publishers have been selling their own versions of the report, including one published by the Washington Post that spent 15 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.”

Nearly a billion downloads, and it’s still ongoing. That’s a remarkable statistic. Of course, this figure doesn’t account for some people downloading the report more than once. But that’s not likely to have happened very much. Even if everyone downloaded two copies it would be phenomenal. It would mean that every man, woman, and child, in the country got two copies (and then some). It represents an intense interest on the part of the American people to obtain the facts in this matter.

Members of Congress who are conducting their own investigations should be encouraged that their constituents are so engaged. Even when other news takes precedence over the Russia story, the people have not forgotten it. Recent polls show that up to 50 percent of voters favor impeachment. Even a Fox News poll (despite the fact that they lied about it). So while the country deals with other important issues like the economy and gun control, no one should neglect what is is the most troubling and overarching issue of our time: that the President of the United States welcomed and encouraged electoral help from a hostile foreign nation, and then sought to hide that from the law and the people.

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


Trump is Panic-Tweeting Fox News Denials of Imminent Threat of the Trump Recession

Posted by on August 14, 2019 at 12:13 pm. 3 Comments :

In case you haven’t noticed, Donald Trump has failed at nearly everything he promised to accomplish. There is no wall on the southern border. HIllary Clinton has not been locked up. He has no denuclearization deals with Iran or North Korea, no trade deals with China or Mexico or the EU, no infrastructure bill, and Obamacare has neither been repealed nor replaced.

Donald Trump, Stock Market

The one key issue that Trump has been clinging to for two years is his argument that the economy is booming. Let’s set aside for the moment the fact that that isn’t true. Many critical indicators such as wage growth and job creation are lagging (and trailing Obama’s record). But Trump has been using the stock market as his evidence of a strong economy. That, of course, demonstrates his ignorance of economics. The stock market only reflects the value of equities that are mainly traded by giant financial institutions. It is not a gauge of the economies health.

However, now even Trump’s misapplied measuring stick is biting him in the asinine analyses he’s been peddling. On Wednesday the market has fallen off a cliff, and specifically due to Trump’s ill-considered policies on trade and taxes. And the site of this downturn has thrown him into a tizzy of excuse-making. If he doesn’t have this to brag about, he’s got nothing but his racism left to hold his cult together.

Consequently, Trump unleashed a series of tweets intended to shore up the catastrophic financial news of the day. And they leaned heavily on his top economic advisers at the White House – er, I mean at Fox News. Trump’s Shadow Cabinet was busily papering over the bitter truth that everyone can plainly see. And Trump embraced it frantically for fear of having to take any responsibility. Rest assured that he will greedily steal credit for the economic boom times from 2010 to 2017, during the Obama administration, but blame Obama for the crash of 2019.

The tweetstorm began with a familiar Trump whine: “The Fed has got to do something! The Fed is the Central Bank of the United States, not the Central Bank of the World.” Indeed. And the Fed is doing its job. But that job is not to save the stock market. It is to manage inflation and to promote monetary and financial system stability. Trump only wants the Fed to cut interest rates for his own selfish interests. First, he hopes that it would artificially stimulate further over-exuberance in the stock market, boosting his reelection prospects. And secondly, it would reduce his own interest payments on over $350 million dollars of outstanding variable interest loans.

The next tweet was another Fox News reference wherein they blindly praised Trump’s tariffs saying that “you can’t tell me that it has hurt our economy.” That’s obviously true. Not the part that tariffs haven’t hurt the economy (they have), but the part where he says you can’t tell him that. And you can’t tell Trump that (or anything) either. It’s like yelling a non-existent border wall. He will continue to tell the same lies, even after he’s been proven to have lied.

Trump then tweeted that “Tremendous amounts of money pouring into the United States,” because “People want safety!” That completely contradicts the movement in the markets. Then Trump quote-tweeted another Fox flunky who said that Fed Chair Jay Powell was making mistakes by, among other things, being “data dependant.” Because why would anyone want to rely on actual data to make important decisions? That’s goes against the core philosophy of the Trump Doctrine of Alternative Facts.

LATE ADDITION: Trump squeezed out another couple tweets on this subject in the afternoon. One declared defensively, and without foundation, that “We are winning, big time, against China,” before deciding that “China is not our problem … Our problem is with the Fed.” That led into the second tweet that lashed out at “clueless Jay Powell” and the “CRAZY INVERTED YIELD CURVE!” This was not only a display of Trump’s wildly unbalanced mental state, but further evidence that he doesn’t have any idea what he’s talking about.

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

So as the stock market descends, Trump grasps for support from his State TV fluffers who he knows will always prop him up, no matter how ludicrous and desperately they have to revise reality. There is no coherent argument that justifies Trump’s failures but, fortunately for him, Fox News is adept at spinning lies for any occasion. And the glassy-eyed Deplorables will believe anything that Dear Leader tells them.


Daft Trump: Comedians and Conspiracy Nuts are More Credible than the New York Times

Posted by on August 13, 2019 at 12:49 pm. 3 Comments :

The wild speculation surrounding the death of pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein continues to unravel. Unfortunately, most of the unraveling is occurring in the tangled mash of broken synapses in what remains of Donald Trump’s scattered and paranoia-racked brain. The fact that an American president has sunk into such an abyss of madness is both embarrassing and frightening.

Donald Trump

The latest evidence that Trump has stepped off the sanity train is his defense for having retweeted a preposterous rant by a lunatic conspiracy crackpot. The tweet alleged that Bill and/or Hillary Clinton were conspirators in the death of Epstein. To add fuel to that fire, Fox News embraced this lunacy in an effort to provide cover for Trump. But on Tuesday Trump rushed to his own defense with a bizarre tirade that was littered with lies and appalling foolishness (video below). Speaking of the original tweeter, Terrence K. Williams,Trump said:

“He’s a very highly respected conservative pundit. He’s a big Trump fan. And that was a retweet. That wasn’t from me. That was from him. He’s a man who has half a million followers and he’s respected. And as you know, Bill Barr wants to do an entire investigation of the whole Epstein Matter.”

First of all, Williams is neither highly respected, nor a conservative pundit. He’s an aspiring comedian and devoted Trump cultist. So he is indeed a “big Trump fan,” which speaks to his poor judgment. Secondly, Trump seems to think that having retweeted Williams’ idiocy relieves him of any responsibility for it. But Trump himself affirms his agreement with the tweet, so whether he wants to admit it or not, he owns it. Trump then goes on to suggest that Williams’ 500,000 Twitter followers is some sort of validation for his blather. If that’s true, then Stephen Colbert – with 18.6 million followers – should be the next Secretary of State. This just shows that our reality TV president is still obsessed with ratings.

Finally, Trump says that his disreputable Attorney General, William Barr, is investigating all of this. Really? Barr is investigating the Clinton murder allegations? That would be a troubling signal that our justice system has completely collapsed. To be fair, at least, Barr would also need to probe the possibility that Trump was the mastermind behind Epstein’s death. After all, Trump had much greater access and opportunity, as well as far more to lose if Epstein talked.

Also on Tuesday morning, Trump was asked outright if he thinks the Clintons were involved in Epstein’s death. He replied, “I have no idea.” Let that sink in. The President of the United States is allowing for conjecture that a former president, and political foe, committed murder. He went on to implicate Clinton with allegations about trips on Epstein’s plane. What Trump isn’t saying is that those trips were often to attend charitable events, and there is no evidence of any hanky panky. Unlike what we know about Trump’s pussy-grabbing, porn star chasing, and Miss Teen America dressing room invading.

Trump also isn’t saying how many times he flew on Epstein’s plane and partied with Epstein in New York and Florida. There may not be as many plane rides because Trump has his own plane. But their relationship is well documented and much of it revolved around affairs with young women.

While the President regards Trump-fluffing comedians as “highly respected” pundits, he continues to malign professional news enterprises. He quote-tweeted a notorious wingnut from Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post saying that the New York Times is “no longer a news organization. It is now an agenda driven organization out to change the Country (for the worse!).” What’s more, Trump retweeted several posts from Breitbart, felon Dinesh D’Souza, and the disgraced and pathetic hack, James O’Keefe. So what we have residing in the White House is a psychotic conspiracy theorist who values cheesy comics and propagandists over experienced journalists. Is it any wonder why the nation is so ashamed of Trump?

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

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President Potty Mouth: Hypocritical Evangelicals Suddenly Triggered By Trump’s Profanity

Posted by on August 12, 2019 at 12:09 pm. 1 Comments :

From the earliest days of his presidential ambitions, Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters have been the so-called “evangelicals” who profess to be devout disciples of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have packed his rallies, raised millions of dollars, and voted with the blind loyalty of a glassy-eyed cult. They provided a base of political support that benefited from the unshakeable faith that only religion can muster.

Donald Trump Messiah

However, there are now some rumblings of discontent in the pews. Politico is reporting that some in the evangelical community are becoming uncomfortable with “Trump’s penchant for profanity,” despite the fact that it has been there for decades:

“Trump’s indelicate language has frustrated religious fans who have otherwise been staunch supporters of his agenda. They agree with his social policies, praise his appointment of conservative judges and extol his commitment to Israel — often tolerating Trump’s character flaws for the continued advancement of all three. But when it comes to ‘using the Lord’s name in vain,’ as Hardesty put it, ‘the president’s evangelical base might be far less forgiving.'”

Seriously? Naughty words are what is triggering the Trump faithful? Apparently they have no problem with Trump being on his third wife, breaching vows to God to be bound “until death do us part.” They aren’t troubled by his serial infidelity, including dalliances with porn stars while his wife was home nursing his newborn. They look past his lies and payoffs to cover up his sinfulness. And speaking of lies, they don’t seem to be bothered that he has told more than 12,000 of them just since his inauguration.

What’s more, while fainting at the sound of obscenities, these willfully blind believers have shown no concern for the caging of children, the blatant racism, the prideful boasting, the infantile and wrathful name-calling, the love letters exchanged with murderous dictators, the flagrant disrespect for the law, the determination to befoul the planet, the obsession with terminating healthcare for millions, and the ignorance of nearly everything, including the bible.

Early on Trump pretended to be a devout Christian solely for political gain. Never mind that his entire life has been a monument to lust, greed, and the rest of the seven deadly sins. When he was asked by Republican “Word Doctor” Frank Luntz, if he had ever asked God for forgiveness, Trump replied that he didn’t need to because he has never done anything wrong. No, really! He said that…

“I like to work where I don’t really have to ask for it. I like to do the right thing where I don’t actually have to ask for forgiveness. Does that make sense to you? You know, where you don’t make such bad things that you don’t have to ask for forgiveness. I mean, I’m trying to lead a life where I don’t have to ask God for forgiveness. […] Why do I have to repent? Why do I have to ask for forgiveness if you’re not making mistakes?”

That, of course, shows that Trump not only has a perversely delusional self-image, but he also has a painfully misguided interpretation of the tenets of his own alleged Presbyterian faith, including “original sin,” wherein all are born with sin and require God’s forgiveness for salvation.

The Politico article notes that some of Trump’s most annoyingly pious “spiritual” backers are not worried about his profane utterances. “We all wish he would be a little more careful with his language,” said Jerry Falwell Jr, “but it’s not anything that’s a deal breaker, and it’s not something we’re going to get morally indignant about.” And Fox News contributor Alveda King said that “she’s inclined to extend grace to the president when he swears or makes inappropriate comments.”

Well, isn’t that special? Funny that they don’t extend the same measure of “grace” to Democrats or liberals. In fact, last week the top story on the Fox News website was a condemnation of Democrats for using obscenities following a heartbreaking week of mass shootings. Naturally, it ignored Trump’s rampant ravings replete with rude rhetoric reserved exclusively for personal insults.

That’s the sort of hypocrisy that is to be expected from Fox News and the Trump Cult. And while there are a few voices of sanity, don’t expect things to change any time soon. Their eyes are so glazed over that they can’t see the depths of their delusion or of Trump’s reprehensible dishonesty and deception. These are the people who claim to be God’s messengers. And they’re the same people who insisted that Barack Obama was the anti-Christ.

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


Fox ‘News’ Embraces Trump’s Disgusting Lie that the Clintons Murdered Jeffrey Epstein

Posted by on August 11, 2019 at 9:01 am. 2 Comments :

On Saturday the United States of America entered a new era of political shame and disgrace. Donald Trump, whose embarrassing behavior has humiliated the nation from the day he was inaugurated, dived into an ever deeper abyss of debasement. He lowered himself to depths never before imagined for a U.S. president by blasting out to his 62 million Twitter followers a reckless accusation, with zero evidence, that a former president, and political foe, was guilty of murder.

Jeanine Pirro Fox News

Trump’s unconscionably grotesque charge that Bill and/or Hillary Clinton had somehow managed to kill pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in his prison cell is not only slanderous and unethical, it makes no sense whatsoever. After all, if anyone had the motive and opportunity to off Epstein it was his former pal, Donald Trump. The Clintons have been out of power for years, but Trump’s presidency, and freedom, would be on the line if Epstein talked.

That said, this wouldn’t be a good time to be casting aspersions on anyone without some documentation or testimony, even though that’s precisely what Trump has already done. And to make matters worse, his State TV affiliate, Fox News, has now joined Trump in spewing the very same ridiculous accusations. Jeanine Pirro, a Fox host and unabashed Trump-fluffer, brought up the subject on her primetime Saturday night program. And she made sure that her allegations were as explicit as they were unfounded (video below):

“We already know that Jeffrey Epstein had very high profile people like Bill Clinton flying on his “Lolita Express” airplane to his private island. Other people mentioned, there’s Prince Andrew, Sen. George Mitchell, Bill Richardson. A lot of people mentioned. So this is a guy who, to a lot of people I guess, would have been better off dead. So a federal criminal investigation might be looking at that aspect of it, might it not?”

Pirro asked this question of her guest, former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik. It should also be noted that Kerik is a felon who served time in prison for tax fraud and perjury committed while employed by Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Kerik affirmed Pirro’s implied charges by speculating about the motives of whoever took Epstein off of suicide watch.

To be sure, there are unanswered questions regarding how a prisoner who authorities already claimed had attempted suicide was able to hang himself in his cell. But by wrapping these questions in ludicrous and baseless conjecture about the Clintons, Fox News is sinking to new lows. Of course, they have never been a credible news enterprise, having been founded by a foreign, right-wing media mogul (Rupert Murdoch) and a Republican campaign consultant (Roger Ailes). But they are now crossing the line from a disreputable conservative propaganda outlet to a crackpot conspiracy theory dispensary that is willing to abandon reality – and sanity – in order to suck up to the lying, loathsome, abomination occupying the White House.

The names that Pirro rattled off were predictably partisan. And it was surely not an oversight that she deliberately left out Trump’s name, although it has been documented to have appeared on the passenger list for Epstein’s flights. What’s more, Pirro never even bothered to mention that the two had been friends, and abusers of young women, for years. These days Trump is pretending that he and Epstein had a falling out, but he offers no proof of that. And if anything, it was probably over a girl they both had designs on.

So now Both Trump and Fox News have shamelessly peddled some of the most asinine conspiracy theories ever dredged up from the bowels of the Internet. And they have forever stained what was left of their already tattered reputations. The time when they are removed from the national stage cannot come too soon. And hopefully the country can heal the wounds they’ve so callously opened. Unfortunately, we’ll still be stuck with the idiot jerkwads who have been lapping up that slime.

[UPDATE:] The White House Senior Director of Alternative Facts, KellyAnne Conway, went on Fox News and shamelessly defended Trump’s retweeting the conspiracy theory BS. She claimed he just wanted to have everything investigated, including all the people who had connections to Epstein. For some reason she left out Trump’s name among those people. And while she was at it, she made a preposterous argument that the Epstein matter was a hoax and, therefore, so was the matter of Russia interfering with the election. Sweet Jeebus, make it stop!

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


HOLY CRAPOLY: Trump Retweets Deranged ClintonBodyCount Epstein Murder Conspiracy BS

Posted by on August 10, 2019 at 5:09 pm. 2 Comments :

Just when you think that it couldn’t get any worse, Donald Trump proves that there is no bottom to the abyss of his loathsome cretinism. On a day that has been consumed by reports of the “suicide” of Trump’s long-time pal and pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, the president sinks lower than even his staunchest critics might have imaged.

Donald Trump

The Twitter feed of the President of the United States of America currently features a posting that promotes a disgusting conspiracy theory about Bill and Hillary Clinton that accuses them – without any evidence – of multiple murders. The post goes on to baselessly suggest that the Clintons are also responsible for the alleged suicide of Trump’s wingman, Epstein. The tweet that Trump has blasted out to his 62 million glassy-eyed followers was composed an alleged “comedian” named Terrence K. Williams, and asserts that “#JefferyEpstein had information on Bill Clinton & now he’s dead. I see #TrumpBodyCount trending but we know who did this!” It also features the hashtags “#ClintonBodyCount” and “#ClintonCrimeFamily.”

This would be horrendous if it were a posting on the account of Alex Jones’ Infowars (which has been banned from Twitter for advocating violence and other violations of the site’s terms and conditions), or some other crackpot who regularly spews ludicrous and imaginary bullshit. But it’s unbelievably nauseating that the President is so lacking in integrity, decorum, and decency. It’s further evidence (as if any more were needed) that Trump is unfit to serve in this office, or to even clean its toilets.

It’s also notable that Trump is not the only person to sink to these noxious depths in his administration. Lynne Patton is a regional administrator at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (and former wedding planner for Melania). She posted on Instagram that Epstein had been “Hillary’d,” with a hashtag that read “#VinceFosterPartTwo.” So apparently this is a coordinated effort on Trump’s part.

For the record, Epstein has had relationships with numerous prominent people, including politicians and business moguls. But the nutcases who are trying to smear the Clintons and others on the Democratic side are having to reach back decades for those angles. Yet they ignore that the person who is currently occupying the White House was close to Epstein for years and partied with him frequently. So while there is plenty of slime to spread around, only Trump is currently in a position of power that could have had both motive and opportunity to commit some foul deed.

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

Nevertheless, I’m not accusing him of anything other than being a slime bucket who gives credence to the nastiest unproven allegations. And as president he is not only demonstrating his own repulsive character (or lack thereof), he is staining the office that he was never fit to hold. There simply aren’t words strong enough to convey what an odious waste of flesh he is and how urgent it is that he be removed from office and sent to prison. And fortunately, there is a cell that just became available.


New Book Reveals 20 Frightening Examples of How Trump is Following Hitler’s Playbook

Posted by on August 10, 2019 at 11:28 am. 3 Comments :

Anyone who has been paying attention has observed the distinctly authoritarian tendencies that mark the presidency of Donald Trump. He insists that he alone is the solution to any problem. He claims that he’s empowered to do as pleases, despite the Constitution. He smears politicians and the press as “enemies of the people.” And he has a creepy infatuation with tyrannical dictators like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un.

Donald Trump, Adolf Hitler

Trump’s aspirations to dictatorship have hardly been secret. He has publicly yearned for powers that his heroes in Russia, China, and North Korea enjoy. That includes being president for life and eliminating his foes in the press.

And now a new book – When at Times the Mob Is Swayed – contains a detailed comparison of Trump’s modus operandi to that of Adolf Hitler. The author, Burt Neuborne, is a noted civil rights attorney who has served in the administrations of both Democrats and Republicans. And a portion of his book addresses similarities between Trump and Hitler that should frighten every American.

What follows are the headings for twenty serious points of comparison between the early Hitler and Trump. (See this excellent article for the details that flesh out each of these points):

  1. Neither was elected by a majority.
  2. Both found direct communication channels to their base.
  3. Both blame others and divide on racial lines.
  4. Both relentlessly demonize opponents.
  5. They unceasingly attack objective truth.
  6. They relentlessly attack mainstream media.
  7. Their attacks on truth include science.
  8. Their lies blur reality—and supporters spread them.
  9. Both orchestrated mass rallies to show status.
  10. They embrace extreme nationalism.
  11. Both made closing borders a centerpiece.
  12. They embraced mass detention and deportations.
  13. Both used borders to protect selected industries.
  14. They cemented their rule by enriching elites.
  15. Both rejected international norms.
  16. They attack domestic democratic processes.
  17. Both attack the judiciary and rule of law.
  18. Both glorify the military and demand loyalty oaths.
  19. They proclaim unchecked power.
  20. Both relegate women to subordinate roles.

These parallels between Hitler and Trump are impossible to ignore. And they should stir sufficient fear and resolve among the American people to rise up in opposition to what may be the most ominous threat to this country’s experiment in democracy since its founding. But no one should be surprised that Trump is a fan of one of the 20th century’s most grotesque villains. When he was campaigning for the Republican nomination for president, Trump was asked a question on this subject by George Stephanopoulos of ABC News:

Stephanopoulos: You’re increasingly compared to Hitler. Does that bother you?
Trump: No, what I’m doing is no different from FDR.

And there you have it. Donald Trump said he was not bothered by comparisons to Adolf Hitler. Can you imagine any other decent American answering that question the way Trump did? But then, why should he be bothered? He was running on the platform of the Nazi Party since he announced his candidacy. What’s more, he justifies his comfort with the association by positively referencing the Japanese internment camps built during the FDR administration, which are universally condemned as one of America’s most shameful actions.

The article above notes another comparison that is just as troubling as the one between Hitler and Trump. That’s the comparison between Hitler’s follower’s and the glassy-eyed Deplorables who exalt Dear Leader Trump:

“The Nazis did not overthrow the Weimar Republic. It fell into their hands as the fruit of Hitler’s satanic ability to mesmerize enough Germans to trade their birthright for a pottage of scapegoating, short-term economic gain, xenophobia, and racism. It could happen here.”

Sound familiar? There is a distinct stench of cult worship that allows Trump’s willfully blind disciples to forgive every sin he commits – from serial adultery, to blatant hate speech, to pitiful ignorance, to relentless lying. Their mesmerized adoration of Trump is identical to that of the Nazi generation that permitted otherwise common Germans to look the other way at abhorrent atrocities and crimes against humanity. Could it happen here? Let’s hope we never find out. But with Trump in the White House – and his cronies scattered throughout the administration – we’ll need to be vigilant and determined to insure that it doesn’t.

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