Fox News Finally Books Stormy Daniels’ Attorney for an Interview – And Buries it Near Midnight

Posted by on March 20, 2018 at 2:41 pm. 1 Comments :

In the weeks since Donald Trump was accused of paying off a porn star to cover up his affair, Fox News has labored to keep the story from getting any traction. The Washington Post reports that between March 5 and March 9, the network only mentioned Stormy Daniels’s name nine times in their primetime shows. That compared with 144 mentions on MSNBC and 141 mentions on CNN. And last week Fox News didn’t mention her once during primetime.

Fox News Stormy Daniels

This neglect did not go unnoticed by Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti. He told Ari Melber on MSNBC that “I haven’t received a single interview request, not one, from Fox News.” That’s after Avenatti appeared repeatedly on many other news programs and frequently broke new information. So his absence on Fox was undoubtedly deliberate.

As a result of Avenatti’s complaints, it can now be reported that Fox News was apparently shamed into reaching out to him with a request for an interview. Avenatti accepted the offer and will appear Tuesday night. But before anyone gets the idea that Fox is being fair and balanced, note that the offer is for a segment on “Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream,” a program that airs from 11:00 PM to midnight. So Fox is burying the interview on a late night show that frequently comes in third after MSNBC’s Brian Williams and CNN’s Don Lemon.

For a topic this important, it is journalistic malpractice to tuck it away in the wee hours. It would ordinarily be the sort of program that would bring Fox’s lips to watering. It has the tabloid salaciousness of sordid sex with an X-rated beauty queen, the intrigue of a political cover up, and the lawlessness of election tampering. If President Obama had paid off an erotica celeb to hide his tawdry promiscuity, Fox News would have turned it into twelve part mini series.

One has to wonder where the allegedly “news” focused programs on Fox are during all of this. Bret Baier and Shepard Smith have apparently declined to seek an interview with Avenatti. And even the primetime shills Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity, who you would think would love to grill this “floozy’s” rep, are laying low. Could that really be the result of independent booking decisions on the part of all of these Fox anchors? Not likely. More plausible is that an edict has been declared from on high in Fox’s executive suites that Stormy and her advocates are verboten during any time period when people are actually watching?

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

This is certainly additional evidence that Fox News isn’t really a news network. They are not making editorial decisions based on news worthiness or even ratings. They are deep-sixing a huge story that has shown persistence in the news cycle for weeks. They are obviously trying to mute the criticism that they have avoided this story by airing the interview but burying near midnight with an anchor most people have never heard of. And all of this is being done to shield Donald Trump from the embarrassment that is his actual life. But unfortunately for Fox News – and thanks to the sex angle – this story is getting out no matter how badly Fox wants to crush it. Only their own regular viewers will be left ignorant, as usual.

Find us on Google+
Advertisement:

Sean Hannity Lost What Was Left of His Alleged Mind in Bonkers Fox and Friends Spot

Posted by on March 19, 2018 at 3:08 pm. 4 Comments :

Some things just have to be seen to be believed – and even then it’s not always believable. Other times it takes too strong a stomach to even sit through the unbelievable thing. Sean Hannity of Fox News has generously provided examples of all of the above.

Fox News Sean Hannity

On Monday morning Hannity visited his colleagues at Fox and Friends to unload a pile defenses for his beleaguered Messiah, Donald Trump. The world around the President must seem to be falling apart as new revelations concerning his unsavory connections to Russia keep spilling out. Trump himself is in pure panic mode and is posting tweets that affirm his guilty conscience. So he is in dire need of a valiant defender to come to his aid. Unfortunately, all he has is the Doofus Squad on Fox and Friends and Sean Hannity.

Hannity’s segment with the “Curvy Couch” potatoes went off the rails from the start. What follows is his run-on, addled-brain meltdown just as it occurred on the air. Buckle in (video below):

“You’ve got the whole issue of Christopher Steele. You know, all this talk about Trump/Russia collusion, the only person that colluded in that campaign with the Russians, was Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton bought and paid for what turned out to be Russian lies. She fixes a primary election against Bernie. Then Hillary has a criminal investigation fixed for her. She tries to use Russian lies she pays for and funnels through Perkins Coie to Fusion GPS to hire a British foreign outsider who uses Russian contacts. Then the worst part of this whole story is then that unverified uncorroborated dossier is then brought before a FISA court when a FISA application, and three subsequent renewal applications to spy on a campaign associate and ostensibly the Trump campaign. Nobody told that judge, or any of those four judges, how it’s possible that Hillary paid for that. They never told them.”

And inhale. Before anyone hurts themselves trying to absorb that, here is a brief summary: Hillary Clinton bought a dossier on Trump that was mean.

That’s really all there is to it. Hannity just repeated the same issues with different words for two minutes. And none of it was true. Neither Clinton nor her campaign colluded with Russians. They did partially fund research that was started by the right-wing Free Beacon. And the firm that conducted the research hired a respected former British intelligence professional to collect information from Russian sources.

And what Hannity calls “the worst part of this whole story” was a blatant lie. Much, but not all, of the Steele dossier was verified. None of of it was found to be false. The FISA court was, in fact, told that the dossier was partially funded by political partisans. Even Devin Nunes, who chaired the hopelessly biased Intelligence Committee inquiry, admitted that in his Republican report. And it was not the sole – or even main – justification for the FISA warrant. What’s more, Hannity proves that he doesn’t understand the FISA application process. The renewals are required every ninety days and may not use justifications that were cited in previous applications. So the dossier could only have been used once, not four times.

Sadly, the people who watch Hannity and Fox and Friends will never be told about these factual details. They will only hear the rapid-fire allegations that they can’t logically follow, and the fear in Hannity’s voice. And that will be enough for them to be certain that these crackpot conspiracy theories are true. After all, the glassy-eyed disciples of Trump are no more sane than Hannity is.

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


Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst, Judge Napolitano, Calls McCabe Firing ‘Obstruction of Justice’

Posted by on March 19, 2018 at 12:49 pm. 2 Comments :

The President of the United States is trying his best to help his accusers make a case against him. Donald Trump’s relentless tweeting demonstrates what lawyers call “consciousness of guilt.” On Monday morning he posted a message that said nothing more than “A total WITCH HUNT with massive conflicts of interest!” These hollow cries for absolution do nothing to exonerate him, but rather they portray him as pathetic and desperate.

Fox News Judge Napolitano

Now Trump is even losing some his most reliable defenders. While most of Fox News continues to place themselves as human shields to deflect any criticisms, a couple of stragglers have wondered off the track. One of those is Judge Andrew Napolitano, senior judicial analyst for Fox News. He appeared on two Fox broadcasts Monday making remarks that will surely infuriate Trump, if his daycare nurses allow him to see it. The most damning commentary came during an interview with perplexed host Bill Hemmer. They were discussing the firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe when Napolitano said this (video below):

“Andrew McCabe is more likely than not to be a witness against the Attorney General’s boss, the President of the United States. I think that firing him in that environment could very well be interpreted as an effort to diminish his effectiveness as a witness. What’s that called? Obstruction of justice.”

Indeed. And obstruction is one of the key facets of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Elsewhere on State TV (aka Fox News) Trump’s sycophants have been fiercely insisting that Trump is innocent of every allegation against him, and that Mueller is a corrupt partisan who is part of the conspiracy to drive Trump from office. So this assessment by Fox’s top legal contributor is a significant departure from their propaganda doctrine.

Also, on the Fox Business Network, Maria Bartiromo assembled a panel of Trump fluffers to defend the firing of McCabe, whom they slandered as a liar. Bartiromo’s introduction falsely stated that McCabe was found to have lied by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). In fact, since the report has not been made public yet, all that is known is that Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that McCabe “lacked candor.” There is a reason that Sessions used those weasel words rather than asserting as fact that McCabe had lied. Most likely the OPR’s report didn’t find McCabe to be untruthful. And When Napolitano got a chance to speak he pulled the rug out from under Bartiromo and her pro-Trump panel:

“I have to tell you though, terminating someone a day before their pension kicks in – after twenty-on years of service, the number two person in the FBI – strikes me as spiteful and politically reckless. And it’s reckless because this person, McCabe is about to testify against Jeff Sessions’ boss, the President of the United States. Why would you fire him in this environment?”

To which Bartiromo replied:

“Don’t you think that people started getting upset when they heard that he was set to get a million dollars in his pension … because of some of the broad outcry from the public saying ‘Why is he, after what he just did…'”

“Broad outcry?” What “public” is she referring to? I doubt most Americans – even Fox News viewers – were aware of or upset about anything relating to McCabe’s pension. She is desperately grasping at imaginary straws. And neither Bartiromo nor her panel had any response to Napolitano’s characterization of McCabe’s firing as spiteful and reckless.

The fact that Napolitano is making the rounds at Fox to reinforce the absurdity and vindictiveness of Sessions and Trump should cause the President’s tiny heart to tremor. But he will likely only pay attention to his loyal supporters at Fox and Friends and his pal Sean Hannity. He did, in fact, tweet a promo for Hannity’s guest spot on Fox and Friends Monday morning calling it “great” before it even aired. Somehow he knew what to expect. And his obviously guilty behavior suggests that he also knows what to expect from Mueller, McCabe, James Comey, Michael Flynn, etc., when the special counsel investigation is complete.

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


This is ‘Real’ News? Fox and Friends Interview with Diamond and Silk Descends Into Lunacy

Posted by on March 18, 2018 at 1:35 pm. 2 Comments :

Last June Fox News retired their classic slogan “fair and balanced.’ It has taken nearly a year for them to come up with a new one. But earlier this month they revealed it to be “Real News, Real Honest Opinion.” Their promo promised that “It’s about to get REAL.” Which kind of implies that it’s been bullshit up until mow.

Trump Diamond and Silk

An example of what Fox regards as “Real News’ was on display Sunday morning on Fox and Friends. The “Curvy Couch” potatoes aired a segment about the firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. That’s a serious issue and demands serious attention and thoughtful analysis. So naturally Fox and Friends turned to YouTube vloggers Diamond and Silk.

For those of you who are unaware of this dynamic duo, they are African-American sisters who were confirmed nobodies until they pledged their unquestioning allegiance to Donald Trump. At that point they were snatched up by Fox News and other right-wing media as representatives of the black Republican perspective. Since polls show that Trump is viewed favorably by only about three percent of African-American voters, D&S made a profitable choice to become among the few black supporters of Trump in the media. They join such intellectual icons as Herman Cain and Omarosa as Fox News regulars.

On Sunday’s episode of Fox and Friends, the subject of McCabe’s abrupt dismissal after more than twenty years of service to his country came up and the insight of D&S was sought out (video below). The pair, who seem to perform only as a twosome, began their predictably negative harangue in harmony by complaining that McCabe has been offered work by Democrats in congress so that he can preserve his pension:

Diamond: What we don’t understand is how is it that the Democrats wanna offer McCabe a job so he can have money in his pocket, but they wouldn’t even come to the table for law abiding Americans to make sure we had money in our pockets. What are the Democrats trying to hide? What do McCabe have over the Democrats’ head? What are they covering up? Are they colluding? Maybe we need to bring in a special prosecutor to watch the Democrats and McCabe. Because we know Mueller is gonna turn a blind eye. That’s what I think.
Silk: And it sounds like a kickback, patty whack, give a dog a bone kinda deal.

If that sounds like the Real Housewives of Trumplandia rattling off cliched talking points, that’s because it was. Most of it had nothing to do with the question at hand. They just wanted to rant about Democrats covering up – who knows what, and colluding with – who knows who. So they shoehorned it into their routine. For the record, it’s the Democrats who have been working to put money into the pockets of the American people through increases in the minimum wage and tax reform that favors the working and middle classes rather than the rich and corporations. But D&S aren’t especially concerned with facts.

The rest of the segment was spent attacking MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle for making a trivial comment that Fox Christianists blew up into an unholy abomination. Ruhle merely expressed some curiosity at Trump’s choice for chief economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, suggesting that the decision was “God’s will.” That led to a couple of minutes of of outright sermonizing. And of course, the conclusion by D&S was that Democrats “despise Christianity.”

So Fox News spent nearly four minutes interviewing these ignorant blowhards who have no qualifications whatsoever to provide political analyses. That puts them in the same boat as most of Fox’s hosts and contributors. Almost none of them came to their roles with any experience in journalism or political science. And yet Fox now wants to characterize itself as the network of “real news.” But with cartoon characters like Diamond and Silk weighing in on matters as important as the President’s collusion with Russia to tamper with our elections, and obstruction of justice, they must have a very twisted definition of reality. Stay tuned for their a riveting debate on gun reform between Sean Hannity and Ted Nugent. Followed by a probing discussion of North Korea’s nukes with Happy Days’ Chachi, Scott Baio.

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


Saturday Tweetstorm: Is Donald Trump TRYING to Get Himself Impeached?

Posted by on March 17, 2018 at 3:19 pm. 1 Comments :

When the President’s schedule was released for this weekend there was nothing on it. He wasn’t going to Mar-A-Lago, or a campaign rally in coal country, or to visit a bunch of wall prototypes in the California desert. He wasn’t occupied with Little Rocket Man or Russia’s assassinations in the U.K. And having just fired his Secretary of State, he is probably gonna avoid further dismantling his cabinet for a few days so he doesn’t appear to be unstable (too late). But this abundance of leisure time for Donald Trump is never a good sign. Idle tiny hands are the Devil’s plaything.

McCabe and Mr. Mueller

As expected, Trump filled the empty morning hours on Saturday with adventures on Twitter. Even after a year it is surprising and disturbing that the leader of the free world can occupy himself so frequently with mini-tantrums on social media. But there he was in the White House residence tweeting away. And the subject that was dominating his infantile thoughts was, as usual, himself.

Trump was clearly obsessed with the reaction to the firing of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Never mind that he likely directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to execute the petty and vindictive termination. The timing was obviously intended to deprive a twenty-year veteran of law enforcement of his rightfully earned pension. But the larger purpose was to discredit McCabe as a witness against Trump in the still unfolding legal melodrama. Unfortunately for Trump, though, his tweets only serve to exacerbate his guilt. For instance:

In this missive Trump is proving that the firing of McCabe was tied directly to the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. A major target of that probe is obstruction of justice partly demonstrated by Trump firing FBI Director James Comey. And if Trump thinks he’s making points by referencing “the hard working men and women of the FBI,” then he’s apparently unaware that those worker greatly admire and support Comey and McCabe, and resent they way they’ve been treated. Which leads us to this:

Once again Trump is connecting recent events to the Mueller inquiry. However, he falsely asserts that the House Intelligence Committee cleared him when it is only the bitterly partisan Republican members who signed onto the committee’s disinformation report. And Trump’s accusations against the FBI don’t do anything to help his legal cause. Nor does the last of his morning tweets:

Trump’s moaning about “fake news” is just becoming tedious and a satire of itself. All he’s doing is reminding everyone that the press is reporting what is actually happening and that Trump hates it when they do that. And in this tweet he unwisely asks the questions “How many lies? How many leaks?” Which most people are already asking, but about Trump. But the best part is where Trump notes that “Comey knew it all, and much more!” Indeed he does. And he’s anxious to share what he knows with the American people.

Trump, on the other hand, is desperate to keep Americans from learning about what he has done, and is doing. That’s why his attorney is calling for an abrupt end to the Mueller investigation. It’s why his other attorney is trying to gag Stormy Daniels. At every turn Trump is focused on keeping his affairs (both sexual and political) secret. That’s what legal professionals call “consciousness of guilt.” And it’s what Trump displays with each new tweet he posts. It’s almost as if he has a legal death wish. He must hate the White House so much that he’s doing everything he can to get out of it. If only he knew how much we would all like to help him do that.

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

LATE BREAKING: Trump posted another guilt-dripping tweet Saturday afternoon:

No matter how many times he says there was no collusion, it doesn’t make it true. There is abundant evidence of collusion and he knows it. That’s why he keeps telling the same already debunked lies. Like that the Steele dossier (of which much was verified) was the basis for the special counsel investigation (it wasn’t). Or that the FISA court was mislead (they weren’t). And if this is a witch hunt, they have already nailed nineteen witches (indictments) with five pleading guilty. And they’ve only just begun.


Popcorn Time: War Breaks Out at Fox News Between Shepard Smith and Sean Hannity

Posted by on March 16, 2018 at 12:54 pm. 4 Comments :

The undisguised, ultra-rightist biases of Fox News are all too familiar to anyone who is paying attention. Particularly since the election of Donald Trump, who has built the Fox Team into a partisan media border wall that works ferociously to defend him no matter how dishonest or disgusting his behavior. Trump even treats Fox as his recruiting pool White House personnel.

Sean Hannity Fox News

However, there is one outpost of semi-sanity on the network that occasionally diverts from the Fox gospel. Afternoon anchor Shepard Smith has been known to propound actual facts in contrast to the deliberate lies and propaganda that infect the rest of Fox’s roster. Notably, he presented a reality-based summary of the Uranium One issue that many Fox squawking heads twisted into a perverse anti-Hillary Clinton harangue. He has also offered a more compassionate view of victims of gun violence than is generally exhibited by Fox’s NRA shills. These sort of segments have made Smith the most hated man on Fox News by Fox News viewers.

Predictably, the news that Smith just signed a new, multiyear contract with Fox News has landed with a thud among the Fox faithful who have been clamoring for him to fired. And a recent profile of Smith by Time Magazine wherein he expressed some candid opinions about his employer and colleagues isn’t going to make them any happier. Smith differentiated his role as a journalist with that of the “entertainers” who populate Fox’s primetime:

“We serve different masters. We work for different reporting chains, we have different rules. They don’t really have rules on the opinion side. They can say whatever they want. If it’s their opinion. I don’t really watch a lot of opinion programming. I’m busy.” […]

“I get it,” he says, “that some of our opinion programming is there strictly to be entertaining. I get that. I don’t work there. I wouldn’t work there.”

Smith is right. And his characterization of much of Fox’s programming as entertainment is consistent with what Fox News executives have said. News Corpse reported in 2015 a variety of admissions by Fox that they are not really in the news business. Among them the confession that Fox founder and CEO, the late Roger Ailes, gave to the Hollywood Reporter. He dismissed talk that Fox competed with other news networks, instead insisting that “We’re competing with TNT and USA and ESPN.”

But Smith’s remarks did not go unnoticed by his network-mate, Sean Hannity. As the Fox host most fiercely infatuated with Trump, Hannity took offense at being trivialized as an entertainer. He tweeted this response to Smith:

https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/974687899802374145
[Note: Hannity deleted this tweet. But you can still see it here]

Smith never mentioned Hannity in his profile, but Hannity had no reservations making this feud personal. His indignation is hysterical considering that he broke none of the “stories” (actually crackpot conspiracy theories) he itemized in his tweet. He merely regurgitated them from other sleazy sources that feed his wingnut fringe fantasies (Breitbart, Infowars, Gateway Pundit, etc.). And then he has the gall to sign off with Fox’s brand new slogan, “Real News.” Fox posted a promo for the new tagline that warned “It’s about to get REAL.” Which kind of implies that it’s been bullshit up until now.

Another problem with Hannity trash-talking Smith is that Hannity himself has denied being a journalist. Or maybe this calmly phrased tweet was just misunderstood:

https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/791132954298818561
[Note: Hannity also deleted this tweet. See it here]

Inquiring minds want to know: If Hannity is not a “journalist jackass,” then what kind of jackass is he? It’s almost impossible to tell because he keeps contradicting himself. On his radio show last August he insisted that “I’m a journalist but I’m an advocacy journalist.” Apparently Hannity is whatever he says he is at the time he’s saying it. Like most of what comes out of his mouth, it cannot be taken seriously or relied upon to be operative an hour later.

Poor Hannity must be terribly disturbed by how badly he is being crushed by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow lately. He was moved by Fox to directly compete with her a few months ago, but they may be regretting that now. All it did was affirm how weak he is as a TV personality. And while there are a lot of Fox viewers who would like to see Smith fired, there are many more American who would prefer that Hannity is sent packing. And you can help by signing on here: Stop Hannity.

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

Find us on Google+
Advertisement:

Fox News Laughably Mangles Report on Mueller’s Subpoena for Russia Docs From Trump Org

Posted by on March 15, 2018 at 2:27 pm. 3 Comments :

There was breaking news on Thursday about the investigation into Donald Trump’s unsavory connections to Russia. Special counsel Robert Mueller issued a new subpoena to the Trump Organization for all documents related to its dealings with Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. It’s a significant development that indicates that the investigation is continuing to expand and has the President squarely in its sights.

Robert Mueller Trump

So it will surprise nobody that Fox News found a way to report this news that is both trivializing and confusing. In fact, they made it sound like good news for Trump. The mission of Fox News, of course, is to act as a shield for Trump and his Republican backers by defending him, and maligning his critics, at all costs. To that end Fox News host Dana Perino broke into her program with a Fox News Alert to rapidly misinform their viewers before any morsels of the truth could get out. She interviewed reporter Catherine Herridge on the Mueller subpoena (video below):

Perino: The New York Times is reporting that special counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents related to Russia. Chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge is on Capitol Hill. Catherine, this news just broke right before the hour started.
Herridge: That’s right Dana. I’ve been making some phone calls and I spoke with one of the President’s personal attorneys who confirmed to me that the Trump Organization has been working closely and cooperatively with the office of the special counsel Robert Mueller. And at this time he was unaware that a subpoena had been issued, but he was going to check further. The key thing he said was the driving force, or the objective of the subpoena, whether it was in fact going down a new line of inquiry, or whether this was what they call a “wrap up subpoena” or a “clean up subpoena,” which is when you request records as you’re getting close to the end the of the investigation and you’re trying to tie up some loose ends.

First of all, it’s notable that Herridge only called Trump’s personal attorney to confirm this report, rather than someone at the Justice Department who would have knowledge of the subpoenas they issue. It’s also notable that Herridge didn’t identify the attorney she spoke with. Were these remarks off the record or anonymous?

More to the point, the introduction of the terms “wrap/clean up subpoena” muddies up the reporting. A quick Google of the terms found few results that weren’t referencing this Fox News segment. In fact, it’s a rather pointless distinction because all subpoenas are intended to secure information that’s relevant to the investigation and could lead to new paths of inquiry. But this spin by Fox News is intended to imply that the investigation is nearing completion and that nothing incriminating has been found. But they weren’t through trying to further deflect from the Trump/Russia connection:

Perino: So it might not signal a new aggressive approach by the special counselor?
Herridge: Well what we know through our own independent reporting is that the special counsel has been looking at the issue of the United Arab Emirates, and whether there was any financial input into the campaign by the United Arab Emirates, or whether there was a promise of better treatment after the election because of their support of then-candidate Trump.

Technically, that’s true. The UAE, along with other areas of financial misdeeds, is under investigation. But that has nothing to do with this new subpoena that specifically seeks documents from Trump related to Russia. This is an obvious dodge to create confusion and pretend that Russia isn’t the focus of this investigation. And the segment ended with a virtual admission that their furious spinning was probably all made up:

Perino: I’ve never heard of clean up subpoenas. I’m glad I had you on.
Herridge: I know. I learned of them recently too. That’s the kind of subpoena you want, apparently.
Perino: I used to work at the Justice Department. Someone was holding out on me.

See? It’s all very innocent. There’s nothing to worry about here. And the fact that these two experienced media professionals never heard of the type of subpoena that they just introduced on the air shouldn’t raise any suspicions. According to Fox News Mueller’s new subpoenas are not only uncontroversial, they are “the kind of subpoena you want.” It’s actually good news for Trump. And Fox News is the only place you’re gonna get that kind of twisted analysis.

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


Larry Kudlow is the Latest Contestant on Trump’s Reality TV Game Show Presidency

Posted by on March 14, 2018 at 3:06 pm. 3 Comments :

The mayhem at the White House is continuing as Donald Trump’s behavior gets ever more frantic and irrational. in the past few hours he has fired his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, the State Department’s top diplomacy aide, Steve Goldstein, and his personal assistant, John McEntee. There are rumblings from insiders that Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, and Veterans Administration director David Shulkin are also on the chopping block.

Fox News Trump Apprentice

As these vacancies open up, Trump will have the opportunity to name new appointees that will be better supplicants to his will. That has already played out with his nomination of current CIA director Mike Pompeo to replace Tillerson. And the news on Wednesday is that Trump has picked CNBC contributor Larry Kudlow to succeed the fired Gary Cohn as his chief economic advisor.

By selecting Kudlow, Trump is continuing a pattern of bringing television personalities into his administration. Mostly they have been from Fox News and include K.T. McFarland, Ben Carson, Sebastian Gorka, Richard Grennell, and Jonathan Wachtel. Former Fox and Friends co-host, Heather Nauert, was also tapped by Trump to be the State Department spokesperson last year. And now she has already been promoted to replace Goldstein. Her entire career has been with Fox News and she has no diplomatic experience whatsoever.

The departure of Trump’s communications director, Hope Hicks, last month has set off a flurry of speculation as to who would fill her shoes. Among those being considered is Fox News co-host of The Five, Kimberly Guilfoyle. She has been on deck for a Trump slot for quite a while. And another Fox and Friends host, Pete Hegseth, is reportedly being wooed to lead the Veterans Administration should Shulkin get tossed. Prior to joining Fox, Hegseth headed up a Koch brothers front group that pretended to advocate for veterans. But he has zero experience running a massive bureaucracy like the VA, nor has he ever worked in the health services field that comprises much of what the VA does.

Trump’s National Security Advisor, McMaster, is also teetering on the brink. His successor is rumored to be another Fox News contributor, John Bolton. He served in George Bush’s state department and as Ambassador to the United Nations. Consequently Bolton played a major role in the fabricated weapons of mass destruction excuses to invade Iraq, as well as in the disastrous administration of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obviously Trump is most comfortable working with TV personalities. It seems like his entire pool of possible job applicants come from the ranks of people he’s seen on Fox or other programs. His experience is so bereft of substance that he can’t possibly know anyone that has actual credentials in the jobs he needs to fill. And he wouldn’t want them anyway because they might not be photogenic. As a result, America will be burdened with shallow, unqualified amateurs running government agencies whose work affects us all. But at least they’ll look good when they sit down for softball interviews with Sean Hannity.

This is what Fox’s Laura Ingraham considers Trump “hitting his stride,” and “getting a really strong team in place.” And coincidentally, that’s exactly how Trump sees it. On Tuesday he explained to reporters that these White House shake-ups were just the normal fine tuning of personnel. “I’m really at a point,” he said, “where we’re getting very close to having the Cabinet, and other things, that I want.” That’s after a year in office where all of his original appointments were also his choices, but apparently not what he wanted. Ironically, not having the leadership one wants is something most Americans can relate to right now.

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


Fox News Excuses Tillerson Mess, White House Chaos By Saying that ‘Disarray is Trumpism’

Posted by on March 13, 2018 at 2:46 pm. 4 Comments :

The Tuesday Morning Massacre at Donald Trump’s White House rocked the political media. In the matter of a few hours Trump had fired the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Steve Goldstein, the State Dept spokesman whose announcement of Tillerson’s firing contradicted the White House story, and Trump’s personal assistant, John McEntee, whose dismissal was due to an investigation for “serious financial crimes“ (He was then immediately hired by Trump’s 2020 campaign).

trump-departures

However, over on Fox News the presidential pandemonium was given a much more positive spin. It didn’t represent the turmoil that everyone else was seeing. It was merely, as Fox political editor Chris Stirewalt said, “Trump being Trump.” In an interview (video below) with anchor Sandra Smith, Stirewalt dutifully pardoned the President for any malfeasance in office or mismanagement.

Smith: “Does this add to the speculation of disarray inside the West Wing? Or should one just decide that this is the way the President works?”
Stirewalt: “Well, both things could be true. Disarray may be the methodology. If disarray is a methodology, then perhaps that is Trumpism. But let’s also remember if we put this in context of what else is going on, we saw Donald Trump govern in 2017 as a very traditional kind of Republican president. In 2018 we’re seeing Trump being Trump. […] And so I think we are seeing here, maybe not disarray, but instead this real pivot back to core nationalist, populist Trumpism.”

See? It’s just Trump executing his plan perfectly. It’s all unfolding exactly the way he wants it to. Nothing out of order, or out of the ordinary. He is just “pivoting” back to his “core nationalist, populist Trumpism,” whatever the hell that is.

If those remarks weren’t ludicrous enough, Stirewalt also had to assert that last year Trump was “very traditional.” In what dystopian nightmare? 2017 was a year filled with lying, hypocrisy, and a policy agenda that was either preposterous or dangerous or both. It was the year that he tried (and failed) to repeal ObamaCare. He rescinded DACA by executive action. He pushed through a tax bill that enriched corporations and his wealthy pals to the detriment of everyone else.

And his personnel management was a historical disaster. There was a forty-plus percent turnover in top presidential posts. And just to put a fine point on Trump’s deranged perspective, he had this to say regarding his recent staff shake-up: “I’m really at a point where I’m close to having the Cabinet, and other things, that I want.” He’s been in office for more than a year and he’s just now getting to that point? God help us all if he ever actually gets there.

But leave it to Fox News to sugar-coat Trump’s incompetence. And it didn’t take them an hour to develop this public relations propaganda spiel. Just think what they’ll be saying by this evening when Sean Hannity goes on the air. By then Trump will be heralded as the most brilliant national leader of the millennium. And sadly, way too many glassy-eyed Fox News disciples and Trump cultists will believe it.

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


FAKE NEWS! That’s What Trump Called Media Reports that Tillerson Would Be Fired – Um, OK

Posted by on March 13, 2018 at 9:20 am. 2 Comments :

Another one bites the dust: On Tuesday morning it was announced that Donald Trump had fired his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. This move came after months of awkward conflicts between the President and his top diplomat. It was not an unexpected development, but most White House watchers probably thought it would come later, after the firing of H.R. McMaster, John Kelly, or Jeff Sessions.

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

For the record, Trump has previously denied all reports that he was even considering terminating Tillerson. In fact, he called it “fake news.” That was just three months ago:

Apparently they work so well together that he had to go. Maybe Stormy – I mean Melania – was getting jealous. So this was tweeted on Tuesday:

This is rather startling timing for such a major personnel change. Trump recently announced that he would be meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un by May. Now the United States will be breaking in a new Secretary of State and still has no ambassador to South Korea. There are also significant issues pending with Iran, Israel, China, Russia, and the U.K. But not to worry. As Trump said in November regarding his dangerously understaffed State Department “I’m the only one that matters.”

Rest assured that whatever you hear from the administration about Tillerson’s departure will be a lie. It is no coincidence that he was jettisoned the day after he forcefully charged that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in England. Trump was not about to allow any criticism of his BFF, Vladimir Putin. When given the opportunity on Monday to hold Russia accountable, the White House balked, leaving our U.K. allies in the lurch.

Let this be a lesson to anyone serving this president. If you say anything unkind about Putin, you’re out of a job. It’s almost worse than saying something unkind about Trump himself. Actually, it is worse. Tillerson called Trump a moron last year and didn’t get fired. Putin is apparently the third rail in the Trump White House.

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