Fox News and Bill O’Reilly are Still Sucking – Up to Each Other

Posted by on March 27, 2018 at 8:47 am. 3 Comments :

You have to feel a little sorry for Fox News these days. They are in the impossible position of having to defend a sleazy, ignorant, narcissistic, greedy, racist, corrupt, pathological liar. Their sycophantic propaganda on behalf of Donald Trump must be getting harder and harder to manufacture. The shills that litter their airwaves are becoming more desperate for material with each passing day.

Fox News

So it’s understandable that they’ve turned to their disgraced former star, Bill O’Reilly, to try to shore up their flagging ratings. After all, he was merely found to have committed multiple acts of sexual harassment and assault. And the President has done that repeatedly, so what’s the big deal? If Trump can consider bringing back his domestic abusing former aide, Rob Porter (which is being discussed), then Fox News surely can bring back O’Reilly.

The Daily Beast is reporting that O’Reilly’s “Lies and Legends” is once again airing on the network. NOTE: Despite the title, it is not a documentary based on Trump’s presidency. How a network that was shamed into severing ties with their top rated star can even entertain the notion of putting him back on the payroll is something only a cretinous Fox executive could justify. But almost certainly won’t bother doing.

It’s fitting that on the same day that this news was announced, O’Reilly distinguished himself with his hokey “Tip of the Day” on Twitter. This tip set out to belittle the historic “March For Our Lives” that called on Congress to enact the common sense gun reforms that overwhelming majorities of the American people support. But it also slandered Fox’s competitor, NBC.

First of all, there were several reputable analyses of the march’s attendance in Washington, D.C., that put the numbers between 800,000 and a million. But O’Reilly referenced only a single source that was cited in an article on Fox News (where else?). O’Reilly’s only basis for calling the absurd 200,000 figure the “real” number is his wishful thinking and obvious bias. What makes this even worse is that Fox News also reported the 800,000 figure on the air (see image above). So is O’Reilly advising the few remaining losers who follow him to refrain from trusting Fox News? Nah, that would require the sort of n0-spin analysis that this worm has never been capable of.

The love affair between Fox and O’Reilly is clearly not over yet. But that’s only because neither of them have any other prospects. So both are forced to rely on each other out of desperation. O’Reilly’s public profile has been reduced to near total obscurity. And Fox News has employed so many sexual predators what’s one more brought back from the past? As their messianic Deal Leader would say: SAD.

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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WINNING? The Stormy Daniels Segment on 60 Minutes Outperformed Trump By Millions

Posted by on March 26, 2018 at 12:21 pm. NO Comments :

This could kill Donald Trump. Perhaps the most notorious personality flaw of the President (other than his pathological lying) is his malignant narcissism. His ego is so gigantic, and yet fragile, that he has to constantly convince himself that he is the smartest, handsomest, strongest, and bestest at anything and everything he ever attempts. He never stops bragging about what are mostly imaginary accomplishments that he portrays as breaking historical records.

Stormy Daniels Donald Trump

And particularly with regard to his TV performance, Trump falsely claims to have been the top rated personality for years on The Apprentice. So he’s going to take it very hard when he learns that he lost the television ratings war to a porn star. Stormy Daniels interview Sunday night on 60 Minutes delivered on the anticipation that preceded it. The first public comments by Daniels about her affair with Trump was compelling drama that included sex, violence, corruption, and even some humor.

But the part that will thrust Trump into another of his infantile tantrums is the fact that Daniels scored a much higher rating on the program than he did. The Nielsen overnights show that the Daniels interviewed was watched by by more than 23 million people and delivered a 16.3 rating/27 share. It was the highest rated episode of 60 Minutes in ten years. Which means, of course, that it beat Trump’s interview following the November 2016 election. That was also highly anticipated as it was the first interview of Trump as President-elect. But only 16.4 million people tuned in for that show. Stormy did more than fifty percent better.

You can bet that this is going to gnaw at our ego-driven Commander-in-Chief. After all, he is still obsessed with propping up his sore winner status over Hillary Clinton, who also beat him by millions of votes. And it’s only been a year and a half since that debacle. Trump just can’t get it out of his head.

This is a president who can’t talk about any subject with proclaiming himself the master of it. Whenever he addresses the tax reform bill that Congress passed, he says it was the biggest tax cut in history (it wasn’t). He says the stock market has risen more than during any other president’s first year (it hasn’t). He insists that he is the least racist person you will ever meet (so long as you’ve only ever met former Grand Wizards of the KKK).

Donald Trump is quite obviously suffering from a severe case of self-delusion. Virtually everything he takes credit for, he had nothing to do with. But he still demands recognition for having solved every problem he’s confronted. Never mind that he hasn’t repealed ObamaCare (despite repeatedly trying to sabotage it). He hasn’t ended terrorism (which he said would be so easy). And he can’t even get the Republican-controlled Congress to pay for his idiotic border wall (that Mexico was supposed to pay for). Reality notwithstanding, Trump exalts himself at every opportunity whether he deserves it or not. Here’s a tweet from September 2015 that proves how important this is to him:

The only way to characterize Trump so far in his presidency is as a loser. He can’t manage to keep people on his staff or attract competent administrators. His rallies are drawing smaller crowds with every event. And now he was beaten at the game he was so proud of for fourteen years by a woman who has never before been on television. He’s apparently afraid to even utter name. He will post insults on Twitter aimed at everyone from John McCain to Chuck Todd to Meryl Streep. But not a single word about Stormy Daniels. Perhaps he knows deep down that he is no competition for her. Or he knows what she knows about him.

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


Trump’s Brilliant Plan to Lure a Good Lawyer Who Can Stomach Him? Insult Them All

Posted by on March 25, 2018 at 11:04 am. 2 Comments :

As both a candidate and as president, Donald Trump has proven that he has one skill that towers over his critics and opponents. It isn’t the “Art of the Deal” as he demonstrated by caving in to sign a spending bill that he vociferously hates. It isn’t management and recruiting as his record turnover rate at the White House proves. And it isn’t political gamesmanship considering he can’t outplay either special counsel Robert Mueller or porn star Stormy Daniels.

Donald Trump

Trump’s greatest skill is his ability to recklessly insult anyone and everyone who he perceives to have opposed him, even in the most trivial matter. Consequently, he is having a difficult time attracting people to serve in his chaotic administration. As noted above, more people have quit or been fired than in any previous presidential administration. These are the people that he boasted were “the best” and would work diligently to MAGA the hell out of the nation.

Most recently Trump has suffered a breakdown in his legal team. This is a bad time for such problems with Mueller breathing down the wattle that passes for his neck, and multiple women aggressively challenging his assaultive behavior. His lead attorney, John Dowd, quit last week. And now the replacements he called in from Fox News, Joseph DiGenova and his wife Victoria Toensing, are abandoning plans to represent him.

This leaves Trump in a precarious position. He is in desperate need of reputable legal representation. His current personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, is a well known hack who spends more time on TV than in courtrooms. And prominent lawyers who Trump has tried to recruit (i.e. Ted Olson, Bob Bennett) have declined his requests. So given Trump’s inability to coax decent attorneys to work for him, he has embarked on what he probably thinks is a charm offensive:

That’s right. When no one with any credentials will have anything to do with you, it’s time to start insulting everyone and then just wait until the resumes pour in. Trump’s tweets are blatantly offensive to any prospects who might have considered joining his team. First he accuses them of being driven only by “fame and fortune.” That’s a personality flaw that is all too apparent in Trump himself, so it isn’t surprising that he thinks everyone else is just as egocentric. Then he asserts that they are only looking for opportunities to unfairly bill their clients. And that’s another example of Trump projecting his psychoses onto others.

What decent lawyer is going to want to represent Trump after he calls them all greedy and narcissistic? Plus, they have seen the way he treats people who work for him. Humiliation is part of the job in the Trump sphere. Which makes his claim that many lawyers want to represent him rather implausible. Perhaps he means the ambulance chasers who actually do fit his greedy narcissist profile. Or maybe he’s thinking of the crop of sycophantic Fox News “lawyers” who would happily shift their Trump-fluffing from television to the White House. They wouldn’t have to change a thing. Just follow Trump’s lead: Continue denying that there was any collusion with Russia, and keep attacking Hillary Clinton. They could do it in their sleep. But don’t expect any attorneys who are respected in their field to sign on with this dumpster fire. They know that they are likely to lose to Mueller’s powerhouse team, but more importantly, that exposure to Trump is a guaranteed career killer.

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


Fox News Turns on Donald Trump for the Worst Imaginable Reason

Posted by on March 24, 2018 at 2:12 pm. 5 Comments :

On Friday Donald Trump invited the press to an announcement that he was signing the spending bill just passed by the Republican controlled Congress. The President spent more time castigating the bill and his GOP comrades in Congress than he did explaining why he was bothering to sign it at all. It was clearly a distasteful burden that he was undertaking with great reluctance. And he isn’t the only one who felt that way.

Fox News Sean Hannity

Trump whined about having to sign a bill that was so chock-full of crap he didn’t like. Or more accurately, that it didn’t contain things that are even crappier. He said that he would never sign another bill like this one, and most Americans probably hope that’s true. Then he complained that Congress won’t give up more of their power by granting him a line-item veto. Of course, our idiot president doesn’t know that the Supreme Court ruled that unconstitutional twenty years ago.

The spectacle of Trump lambasting a bill as he was signing it is actually a rather good depiction of his pitiful proclivity for failure. Not only was he incapable of making the sort of deals that he constantly boasts would be so easy, he was admitting that Democrats beat him at every stage of this bill’s passage. If this is “winning” in his mind, let’s see more of it.

In addition to being bitterly unsatisfied with the bill, Trump also has to endure the scorn of his biggest fans – Fox News. There was a starkly atypical response by many of those who he usually relies on for blind, slobbering support. The entire primetime roster (and more) is angry that Trump signed this bill, and they said so on the air:

Sean Hannity: I personally wish the president vetoed this bill, made them stay in Washington. Make them keep their promises. What happened to the Republican party. Whatever happened to the party that believed in fiscal responsibility?

Tucker Carlson: We’re told we need this bill because of national security. But how secure is a nation that has no borders? Well about as secure as a political party that has no rationale for existing.

Laura Ingraham: It pains me to say this, but the president did have a choice. He could have called Congress back to town and make them pass a continuing resolution until his priorities were funded and we explain this mess to the American people.

Jesse Watters: This was a huge defeat for the President on a signature issue. It’s really, really bad. There’s no way to spin it.

Pete Hegseth: This is a swamp budget. A Mitch McConnell special. Democrats control the process. If Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are happy, the American people shouldn’t be.

[Late Addition] Jeanine Pirro: The omnibus bill that Republicans gave President Trump yesterday is a total betrayal of him and those who elected him.

The opposition to Trump’s approval of the spending bill was nearly unanimous among the Fox News regulars. But what makes this even more ridiculous is that they didn’t oppose the bill for what many would think were the obvious right-wing reasons. They didn’t complain about the 1.3 trillion dollar price tag. Or the expansion of the federal debt. Or the funding for Planned Parenthood. Or the additional sanctions on Russia. Or the many other budgetary increases for government agencies that Trump and Republicans have long promised to shut down.

Nope. What the Fox News critics are upset with is that Trump didn’t veto the bill due to its lack of funding for the border wall. They are actually livid that Trump didn’t keep his campaign promise to construct a ridiculous wall that would accomplish nothing. They would prefer that he had shut the government down until congress allocated funds for his precious wall. A wall that is opposed by the majority of Americans.

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

It’s actually pretty funny that the most fervent Trump-fluffers are hammering him over this stupidity. And you can bet that he is worried about it. He wouldn’t care if some experts in finance or economics were critical of his signing this bill. But if Fox and Friends and his pal Sean Hannity are slamming him for it, he’s gonna lose some sleep at Mar-A-Lago this weekend. And when he gets back to Washington it is a certainty that he will make some horrible decisions in an effort to regain their adulation. That is if he doesn’t have a stroke after watching Stormy Daniels on 60 Minutes.


Fox News Covers the March For Our Lives By Fixating on the One Parkland Student Who Supports the NRA

Posted by on March 24, 2018 at 12:50 pm. 3 Comments :

On Saturday there was a historical, nationwide demonstration in support of gun reforms and protecting the lives of America’s children – and adults too, for that matter. The demonstrators represented a broad swath of the American public, including Democrats, Republicans, young, old, NRA opponents and members. Millions of marchers turned out for this protest in 800+ cities, with more than half a million in Washington, D.C. alone.

Fox News

It is inspiring to see the passion and determination of the young people who are the catalyst for this movement. Many of them are students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the site of a shooting that took the lives of seventeen students and adults. Their efforts are having a bigger impact than most of the previous attempts to force our ineffectual congress to act on behalf of the majority of their constituents rather than the National Rifle Association and their campaign bribes.

But leave it to Fox News to deliberately distort the public discourse on these critical issues. While most other news networks are reporting continuously and live from demonstrations around the nation, Fox News “reporters” are remaining in their studios and delivering infrequent updates and interviewing opponents of those marching.

One of those opponents is Kyle Kashuv, a Stoneman Douglas student who supports the position of the NRA. That’s fine, and it’s his right to have and express his opinion. But Fox News is plastering their airwaves with this kid who represents a tiny minority of his peers – and the nation. Apparently Fox News couldn’t find any other kids who share his opinion, so they’ve been inviting him on repeatedly and hyping his appearances without interviewing anyone whose views are more consistent with the majority. For instance:

It can hardly be called “fair and balanced” to promote the views of a single individual whose views are decidedly outside of the mainstream. Yet Kashuv has been featured on just about every Fox News program throughout the day. That includes Donald Trump’s favorite show, Fox and Friends, where Kashuv and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes whined about his not being included on a recent Time Magazine cover (video below). NOTE: There were only five students on that cover so many others, including prominent movement leaders, were not in that photo. That fact notwithstanding, Fox’s Steve Doocy had the answer for why Kashuv was allegedly snubbed:

Doocy: I know why you weren’t included. I think, and according to what I’ve read, you support the Second Amendment. And the people who were featured on the cover have a different political point of view.
Kashuv: Well it’s clear that the people on the cover are pushing for gun reform. And they’re pushing for they don’t want to see weapons of war on the streets, like the AR-15. I mean, on the march itself, the march’s website, they listed how they want to ban AR-15s and I don’t agree with that.

First of all, the advocates for gun reform are not against the Second Amendment. They want the sort of common sense regulations that apply to other items in the Bill of Rights. Secondly, Kashuv reveals his own absurd position by saying that he doesn’t agree with those who want weapons of war off the streets. So he wants them on the streets?

They went on to discuss the role of the NRA in this debate. Kashuv was adamant that people who were pointing their fingers at the NRA were not helping to solve the problem. But he concluded by saying that:

“We can have all the legislation we want, but if the legislation isn’t actually being enacted or going through or doing what we should be doing, then what’s the point of legislation.”

Fox’s Pete Hegseth complimented Kashuv on making “a great point” and, in fact, he did. But what neither of them seem to grasp is that the reason legislation isn’t going through is because of the hold that the NRA has on weak, mostly Republican, politicians. You cannot have this debate without observing the toxic interference of the NRA.

This is how Fox News is filling its schedule on the day of the March For Our Lives. For them to hype a conservative opinion, to the exclusion of all other opinions, is not surprising. That’s what they do. But in this case they couldn’t even find a second source for the propaganda they want to disseminate. So they book the one source they have to the point of sheer tedium. What’s more, many of Fox’s pundits and hosts have spent the past several weeks demeaning the opinions of the kids who have been speaking out about gun violence. However, when they found one kid who has their bias, he is treated like a prophet and given an inordinate amount of airtime. It’s the same sort of hypocrisy that Fox News uses when they disparage celebrities who express themselves – except when its right-wing celebrities.

Expect to see more of Kashuv on Fox News in the coming days and weeks. And if their exploitation of this young man is carried to its logical conclusion, then expect to see him hosting his own Fox show or maybe becoming Trump’s next ATF director or even Attorney General.

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


Trump’s Brand New, Fox News Lawyer May Already Have Lost His White House Job

Posted by on March 23, 2018 at 12:41 pm. 1 Comments :

The “stable genius” in the White House is becoming less stable with each passing day. And contrary to Donald Trump’s denials that there is chaos within his administration, the rampant pandemonium is impossible to ignore. This week alone he has turned over several key positions and announced new hires that are amongst the least qualified stooges populating his staff. And that’s saying something.

Donald Trump

One of those hires, Joseph DiGenova, was just announced this week as the newest member of Trump’s legal team. He is replacing John Dowd who reportedly resigned after numerous differences of opinion with Trump over legal strategy. Dowd is said to be opposed to Trump agreeing to an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump apparently thinks he’s smart enough to scam his way through. Let’s all encourage that notion.

The acquisition of DiGenova, however, is more of a media strategy than a legal one. Trump wants someone he can dispatch to the press after he does something stupid like fire Mueller (or any of a thousand other stupid things he’s prone to doing). DiGenova fits the bill for that role given his long experience as a Fox News talking heel. There’s just one problem with this new direction, as reported by CNN:

Veteran Washington attorney Joseph diGenova’s role as part of President Donald Trump’s legal team is still in question, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

DiGenova’s hiring was announced on Monday by Jay Sekulow, counsel to the President. DiGenova, along with his wife and law partner, Victoria Toensing, had a Thursday meeting with the President, the sources said. Even so, diGenova’s role, as well as that of Toensing who is also in discussions about joining the team, are in flux. One source said no one has been officially hired.

The Thursday meeting was the first time the husband-and-wife legal team met with the President since the Monday announcement. One source said that while Trump liked their message, the President is not convinced they are right for the legal jobs.

Among the problems cited with DiGenova’s hiring is that his law firm, which includes his wife and fellow Fox News contributor, Victoria Toensing, has some significant conflicts of interest. They are already representing a couple of characters in the Trump/Russia probe who have been interviewed as witnesses by the special counsel. It would be difficult for DiGenova to represent both the President and his former associates who are testifying in the Mueller inquiry. So Joe may be gone before he even starts.

If this isn’t an example of chaos in the Trump camp, then what is? He is acting out so impulsively that he and his advisors can’t even spot the most obvious road blocks to their reckless plans. He is in a state of sheer panic and has no idea which way to turn. As a result he makes idiotic decisions that only make his precarious position worse.

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

We’ll have to wait and see what happens to DiGenova and whether or not he is voted off of Trump island. And then, of course, there will be the problem of who will be selected to fill the role DiGenova bombed out of. There are still a bunch of wingnut, Trump-fluffing, Fox News “lawyers” up for grabs. Alan Dershowitz, “Judge” Jeanine Pirro, Gregg Jarrett, and Kimberly Guilfoyle are all prospects that Trump might consider. And none of them would actually serve the purpose of advancing his legal interests. But they sure could get booked on Fox News to spread his lies and propaganda.

UPDATE: It’s official, DiGenova is off the Trump train.

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CNN President Blisters State-Run TV (aka Fox News) as ‘a Pure Propaganda Machine’

Posted by on March 22, 2018 at 6:51 pm. 3 Comments :

Two decades ago a conservative media mogul (Rupert Murdoch) and a right-ring political operative (Roger Ailes) colluded to form America’s first overtly partisan news network devoted to advancing a regressive agenda that favored corporations and the wealthy. And ever since Fox News has faithfully served it’s masters, all the while pretending to be “fair and balanced” journalists.

Donald Trump Fox News

For most of that time the rest of the media sheepishly approached Fox News as just another competitor. They rarely spoke honestly about how Fox was deliberately staining the one profession explicitly cited in the Constitution. Consequently, Fox got away with a lot of brazenly biased propaganda and managed to corral America’s Deplorables into a media pen where they felt safe and secure.

So it was rather surprising to hear CNN president Jeff Zucker’s criticism of Fox at the Financial Times’ “Future of News” conference on Thursday. He nailed Fox News in a way that few media executives have in the past twenty years. While nothing he said would be a revelation to anyone who has watched the network for more than two minutes, coming from a corporate media honcho it is borderline breathtaking. Here’s a quick summary of the highlights as reported by The Hollywood Reporter:

    Zucker said that…

  • Fox News “is really state-run TV. It is a pure propaganda machine, and I think does incredible disservice to this country.”
  • “The idea that it’s a news channel, I think, is really not the case at all.”
  • Fox News “has nothing on” the Russian government-run TASS Russian News Agency.
  • “I think they are lost in what is a complete propaganda machine.”

In addition, THR reports Zucker saying that “Fox News has changed substantially in the last two years, following the departure of late founder Roger Ailes. He described the change at the network as ‘shocking.'” However the only thing that might have changed is that in the post-Ailes era the executives at Fox were much less skilled at spewing rightist bullshit. Their deceitful machinations are more visible and sleazy. That may be what drove long-time Fox contributor Ralph Peters to quit the network that he now says he is “ashamed” to be associated with. According to THR Fox News was invited to participate in the event but declined.

Fox News continues to be the mouthpiece of the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s most dedicated defender. It serves as the personnel recruiting pool for the Trump administration. Among those tapped by Trump for White House posts were Heather Nauert, K.T. McFarland, Ben Carson, Sebastian Gorka, Richard Grennell, and Jonathan Wachtel. And just today Trump announced that Fox’s John Bolton will replace H.R. McMaster as his National Security Advisor. And even his legal team is now being stuffed with Fox News personalities, including Joseph DiGenova and, maybe his wife, Victoria Toensing.

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

CNN is not without its share of journalistic failures. They were among the news outlets that plastered the airwaves with Trump’s thoroughly un-newsworthy rallies (rants) during the campaign. And they still host Trump-fluffing flacks who are only there to further disseminate Trump’s lies. However, there has never been a presidential administration that was so rife with media shills from a single source. The only people that Trump recognizes are those he’s seen on TV. And the only TV he watches is Fox News. So after a year in office he still behaves like an intellectually shallow reality TV game show host, rather than the president that our nation needs. Hopefully he will be voted off this island soon by Robert Mueller’s team of Survivors.


John Dowd’s Exit Proves That Trump Can’t Be Trusted When He Says He Won’t Fire Mueller

Posted by on March 22, 2018 at 11:29 am. 3 Comments :

The legal team representing Donald Trump took a major hit on Thursday. His lead attorney, John Dowd, has reportedly resigned. This was the part of Trump’s defense that is focused on matters related to the special counsel investigation into his campaign’s connections to Russia. So along with the chaos that is rampant in the Trump White House, his personal legal affairs are similarly falling apart.

Donald Trump Robert Mueller

What makes this news especially significant is that less than two weeks ago Trump declared that he was happy with his legal team and any reports to the contrary were fake news. Naturally, he committed to that via his Official Presidential Announcement Office, Twitter:

In what may be a personal best for Trump, he only lied four times in that tweet. First, the New York Times is not failing. It is enjoying record high subscriptions and revenue. Second, the story is obviously not false, purposely or otherwise. Third, Trump did add a new lawyer – Fox News shill, Joseph DiGenova. And fourth, he apparently wasn’t all that happy with his lawyers, hence the Dowd departure. And that unhappiness was not a recent occurrence. As reported by the Times:

“Mr. Dowd, who took over the president’s legal team last summer, had considered leaving several times in recent months and ultimately concluded that Mr. Trump was increasingly ignoring his advice.”

What this tells us is that Trump cannot be trusted when he says that everything is hunky dory and there is no reason to suspect that there will be any changes in his administration. In fact, a Trump claim that someone on his staff has his complete confidence and isn’t going anywhere is the best indicator that he is about to be canned. Just ask former Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. If they are smart, Jeff Sessions, H.R. McMaster and John Kelly better have their bags packed.

By the same token, special counsel Robert Mueller should be keenly aware that Trump is aiming for his hide. Never mind the implausible statements from the White House that firing Mueller “is not being considered.” Of course it is. It is very likely the most prominent subject consuming Trump’s limited brain capacity. And as noted above, claims by Trump that somebody’s job is safe are merely precursors to their eventual and humiliating termination.

Democrats in Congress have been trying to pass legislation that will protect Mueller from Trump’s seething wrath. Acting on behalf of the majority of Americans, they have introduced bills that would either require such a termination to be affirmed by a panel of independent judges, or otherwise allow the special counsel to appeal the firing. Republicans have been forthrightly opposing these efforts. Their excuse is always that there is no risk of Mueller being fired because the President says so. But it’s clear that Trump’s word is worthless. And beyond these political concerns, there is the likelihood that firing Mueller would set off a constitutional crisis leading to impeachment.

The changes in Trump’s legal representation are just the latest example of his doing the opposite of what he said he would do. Almost everyone he has fired to date was forewarned by a “heartfelt” affirmation of confidence. Consequently, the GOP ought not to be calmed by Trump’s denials that he might fire Mueller. Quite the opposite, they should recognize that it’s at the top of his agenda. And the protective legislation that Democrats have offered should be passed as quickly as possible. Anything else would be a demonstration of willful ignorance and neglect of their civic duty.

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


The Coming Arms Race? WTF is Trump Tweeting About Now?

Posted by on March 21, 2018 at 4:22 pm. NO Comments :

Following Vladimir Putin’s reelection as president of Russia, Donald Trump called him to offer his hearty congratulations. The fact that Trump thinks that Putin deserves applause for masterminding a sham election is bad enough. But in the midst of ongoing atrocities related to Russia’s election tampering in the United States, and it’s complicity in executing opponents with nerve agents on British soil, it is utterly disgraceful. And he was even warned against sending congratulations by his top advisors, a warning that he ignored.

Donald Trump

Many Americans are outraged by Trump’s fealty to Putin, including a few Republicans who castigated him for praising the Russian tyrant’s undemocratic victory. But most Republicans are either defending Trump or remaining silent in the wake of yet another heinous act against the interests of America. And Trump’s greatest defender is, as usual, himself. In a Wednesday morning twitter rant, Trump tried to excuse sucking up to Putin by saying that…

First of all, Obama didn’t call Putin while Russia was still trying to undermine America’s democracy and attacking our allies with chemical weapons. Secondly, the media are not the only critics of Trump’s Putin-fluffing. Ask GOP senators John McCain, Jeff Flake, and Lindsey Graham. Thirdly, would Trump have also said that getting along with Hitler was a good thing?

But the most troubling part of this tweet-plomacy is Trump’s curious reference to Russia helping with “the coming Arms Race.” Is there something he knows that he isn’t telling us?

It should be noted that any suggestion that an arms race is developing has to recognize that Trump himself is waging it. He has railed for months about what he regards as a depleted and ineffectual U.S. military. During his campaign, and now as president, Trump has promised to build up the military with an infusion of billions of dollars. He has advocated more and newer nuclear weapons, as well as piling on additional conventional munitions.

What’s more, Russia doesn’t seem to be a particularly helpful party when it comes to an arms race. Putin recently showed off what he said were invincible new missiles that could be used against the U.S. and for which we would have no defense. If anything, Trump and Putin appear to be engaged in a mutually agreed upon escalation of weapons of mass destruction. Which would just make this the latest sweetheart deal that Trump has executed with his BFF.

It is no longer shocking when Trump says something false or stupid. That’s a nearly daily occurrence. But it is still worrisome when he makes dangerous comments that bring the country closer to conflict with foreign adversaries. Especially when those comments are contrary to the public policies and best interests of the nation.

By announcing that there is a “coming Arms Race,” Trump is alerting Russia and other nations of an intention by the U.S. to expand its military advantage. In effect, the comment has the potential to be the trigger for an arms race that didn’t exist previously. Hopefully somebody in the media will ask Trump what the heck he’s talking about. Although it may be too much to hope for that he actually knows.

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


‘I Am Ashamed’ To Be Associated With Fox News, Says Long-Time Military Contributor

Posted by on March 20, 2018 at 7:35 pm. 5 Comments :

Lt. Col. Ralph Peters (Ret) is a familiar face on Fox News. He has been doing commentary on military matters and foreign affairs for more than a decade. He has always been a hard-core spokesman for ultra-conservative views and a fierce opponent of all things liberal. He once called President Obama a “total pussy” on the air (for which he got a two week suspension).

Fox News Ralph Peters

For a little background, Peters is so radical that he once complained that the U.S. military needed to buck up and produce more civilian casualties in order to win the war on terror. He also advocated targeting the media for military attacks, including in the U.S. But more recently he has assumed a strident “NeverTrump” position. He believes that Donald Trump is Putin’s puppet and even announced on Fox that he would be voting for Hillary Clinton because he doesn’t “want Moscow’s man in the White House,” and that “Vladimir Putin has a deep hold on Trump.”

Bearing all of that in mind, the letter Peters released on Tuesday is all the more remarkable. In it he announced that he was severing his relationship with Fox News. And the substance and tone of the document is just plain shocking. For someone so devoted to the far-right agenda, Peters’ descriptions of Fox News must sting. And no matter how much of a war-mongering neanderthal he is, he seems to have solid grasp of how reprehensible and dangerous Fox News is. So read on in amazement (emphasis added):

On March 1st, I informed Fox that I would not renew my contract. The purpose of this message to all of you is twofold:

First, I must thank each of you for the cooperation and support you’ve shown me over the years. Those working off-camera, the bookers and producers, don’t often get the recognition you deserve, but I want you to know that I have always appreciated the challenges you face and the skill with which you master them.

Second, I feel compelled to explain why I have to leave. Four decades ago, I took an oath as a newly commissioned officer. I swore to “support and defend the Constitution,” and that oath did not expire when I took off my uniform. Today, I feel that Fox News is assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers. Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed.

In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts–who have never served our country in any capacity–dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller–all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of “deep-state” machinations– I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.

As a Russia analyst for many years, it also has appalled me that hosts who made their reputations as super-patriots and who, justifiably, savaged President Obama for his duplicitous folly with Putin, now advance Putin’s agenda by making light of Russian penetration of our elections and the Trump campaign. Despite increasingly pathetic denials, it turns out that the “nothing-burger” has been covered with Russian dressing all along. And by the way: As an intelligence professional, I can tell you that the Steele dossier rings true–that’s how the Russians do things.. The result is that we have an American president who is terrified of his counterpart in Moscow.

I do not apply the above criticisms in full to Fox Business, where numerous hosts retain a respect for facts and maintain a measure of integrity (nor is every host at Fox News a propaganda mouthpiece–some have shown courage). I have enjoyed and valued my relationship with Fox Business, and I will miss a number of hosts and staff members. You’re the grown-ups.

Also, I deeply respect the hard-news reporters at Fox, who continue to do their best as talented professionals in a poisoned environment. These are some of the best men and women in the business.

So, to all of you: Thanks, and, as our president’s favorite world leader would say, “Das vidanya.”

That hardly requires any elaboration. However, Fox News issued a brief and uncharacteristically weak response:

“Ralph Peters is entitled to his opinion despite the fact that he’s choosing to use it as a weapon in order to gain attention. We are extremely proud of our top-rated primetime hosts and all of our opinion programing,”

Fox didn’t even bother to refute any of Peters’ allegations regarding Fox’s devolution into a propaganda machine. Nor did they defend the assertions that Trump is a hapless asset of Vladimir Putin. They just bragged about their on-air shills (only those in primetime) and made a wholly nonsensical accusation that Peters was seeking attention. By quitting his job at a major cable TV network? Um, Okay. Let’s see if any of his former colleagues have the guts to join a long overdue and righteous exodus from Fox. Or they can stay and forever wallow in the treasonous glow of Comrade Trump’s State TV.

In the meantime, The Daily Show compiled some of Peters’ greatest hits. This is the guy who has now come around (finally) to the view that Fox News is “fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers.”

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