Bill O’Reilly’s Incoherent Defense of Trump Affirms the Acute Mental Impairment of Both

Posted by on January 4, 2018 at 11:16 am. 2 Comments :

The new book by Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury, has exposed many of Donald Trump’s flaws and psychological frailties. The first-hand account from Trump’s allies in the White House is confirmation of what most Americans have observed for themselves for the past two years.

Bill O'Reilly Donald Trump

Now, in an apparent attempt to defend his long-time pal, Bill O’Reilly has actually caused further damage. His lame brown-nosing blurb is a disastrous failure as positive PR, but it’s likely O’Reilly doesn’t even know it. In a posting on his website, O’Reilly said that:

“The media is crazed over a new book that dishes some dirt about the Trump White House, but I say so what? As someone who has known the President for 30 years, I’m not surprised by anything he says in his private moments.”

Alrighty then. So if you’re not surprised by anything he’s reported to have said in the book, you are in effect confirming the accounts of him saying the deranged things that prove him to be “semi-literate,” “a f**king moron,” and “unfit to serve.” Thanks for joining the rest of the country in recognizing Trump’s inability to comprehend the job he’s allegedly doing. For someone who brags about being Trump’s friend, it is nice to see you respond so candidly about revelations that he’s ignorant and spiraling down into ever more sever mental infirmity. However, it’s a little troubling that your reaction is a callous “So what?” We’re talking about the supposed leader of the free world. But you’re comfortable with this behavior:

“Mr. Trump is a stream of consciousness guy, a man who says whatever is on his mind. Two minutes later, he may change his mind and say something contradictory. He has no inner editing voice, that I can tell you as an ear witness!”

Indeed. Trump has no inner editor, or more importantly, outer babysitter. The “quality” of not being able to retain a thought for more than two minutes is hardly something people look for in a national leaders. And your advice for the media is somewhat peculiar. You say that “what the media should be doing” is “to strengthen this country and expose corruption in government.” Which is precisely what they are doing when they reveal Trump’s failures and flaws.

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

Trump’s utter lack of honesty and principle puts the nation in peril. But you obviously have an affinity for your troubled friend because of all the things you have in common. Like him, you are a serial sexual predator who paid out a massive $32 million settlement to just one of your many victims. And being an apologist for Trump’s treason and corruption make you an accomplice. To which I’m sure your response would be “So what?”

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Certified Nutcase Donald Trump Tries His Hand at Psychoanalyzing Steve Bannon

Posted by on January 3, 2018 at 2:04 pm. 4 Comments :

The fate of the world is shifting by the minute. On Tuesday Donald Trump was tweeting threats to Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea, and comparing the size of his “nuclear button” to that of Kim Jong Un. By Wednesday the battle royale was between Trump and his former friend and White House aide, Steve Bannon.

Trump/Bannon

A new book by Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury, presents a revealing look into the Trump White House. Some of the first publicly released excerpts show how Bannon really feels about the president he once served with such apparently fawning loyalty. And it’s not a pretty picture. Bannon is reported to have said that Don Junior’s meetings with Russians were treasonous and that Daddy Trump knew about them, despite his denials.

The book contains many other revelations that expose Trump as a flagrant fool who commanded no respect from those around him. Rupert Murdoch, CEO of Fox News, reportedly called him a “f**king moron.” And an aide tasked with explaining the Constitution described Trump as becoming bored and unwilling to continue past the Fourth Amendment. But it’s the Bannon comments that have caught the attention of Trump and, therefore, the media. Consequently, Trump released an official reply from the White that was as unhinged as anything we have ever seen from this acutely disturbed pseudo-president. He said in part:

“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates. […] Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue.”

This is typical Trumpian behavior that he employs to distance himself from close associates he later turns against. Although the degree of unrestrained anger reflects someone shockingly unglued from rational thought. Often Trump’s wrath is aimed at those he regards as having personally betrayed him. Even when he initiated the break in the relationship as he did in this case by firing Bannon. Shortly after his termination, Trump had this to say about his former senior counselor: “Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone.”

Contrary to Trump’s outburst, Bannon was not merely a “staffer” on the sidelines of his presidency. Bannon was his campaign manager, and later the White House Chief Strategist with a seat on the National Security Council. In other words, the coffee boy. And Trump had a decidedly different opinion on the day that Bannon was released from his White House duties last August:

Just prior to his dismissal, Trump described Bannon in glowing terms calling him “a good person and I think the press treats him frankly very unfairly.” Now Trump asserts that Bannon has “lost his mind.” That’s a subject that Trump can claim some expertise on. Many psychiatric professionals have concluded that Trump is “too mentally ill to serve.” A group of psychiatric doctors and academics who met at Yale University found that Trump displays symptoms of a variety of mental illnesses, including antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders. That assessment agrees with others that found Trump suffering from “malignant narcissism” and an “inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality.” More recently, a doctor writing for The Atlantic noted Trump’s abnormalities in speech and movement that justified implementing routine mental evaluations for presidents.

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

Trump’s unbridled rage and fluctuating opinions are obvious symptoms of an acute mental disorder. And if something isn’t done about it soon, we can expect it to manifest in ever more perilous ways. That includes the potential for anything from continued soap opera melodrama in the White House to military conflicts and nuclear showdowns. And the more Trump feels threatened, either by former colleagues or special counsel investigations, the more dangerous he will become.


Fear and Desperation Spur Trump to Announce His Own ‘Reality TV’ Fake News Awards

Posted by on January 3, 2018 at 8:42 am. 4 Comments :

The current President of the United States is someone whose previous job was hosting a so-called reality TV game show. And that utterly irrelevant experience is showing as Donald Trump continues to embarrass himself and the nation on the world stage. His obvious intellectual and emotional inadequacies prove that he is ill-equipped for the job of president, which may explain why he spends so little time doing it.

Donald Trump

Much of the world faces crises that threaten the stability of international affairs. At times like these it is important to have a leader who recognizes the risks and provides security and solutions. Unfortunately, Trump offers just the opposite. In a series of ignorant tweets on Tuesday, the President managed to inflame everyone from Iranians to North Koreans to Pakistanis to Palestinians to his own “Deep State” Department of Justice. And true to form, his approach was childish and ego-driven. He actually got into a phallic showdown with Kim Jong Un over whose “Nuclear Button” was bigger.

Amidst this crazed tweetstorming, news broke that tightened the legal noose around Trump’s neck. In an op-ed for the New York Times, the founders of Fusion GPS say there are credible allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and that Republicans in Congress are suppressing it. So consistent with his psychological pathology, Trump is seeking to mask his fear with diversionary tactics. On this occasion his desperation could not be more transparent. He posted a tweet slamming the media in a way only a former TV game show host could:

Well gosh, we can all hardly wait for that. Who will win his BS awards? Do you think it might be the “failing” New York Times or “fake news” CNN? Perhaps there was a clue on his website where Trump posted a poll seeking to “Crown the King of Fake News.” The poll had only three questions, each asking whether a particular news item was “fake,” “faker,” or “fakest.” (Here’s a screen shot). Trump foreshadowed this gala awards ceremony a few weeks ago with a tweet that said:

So Trump has been thinking about having this contest for some time. And he was smart enough to exclude Fox News from the competition. He must have have known that Fox would dominate every category. In fact, shortly after that tweet Rasmussen Reports conducted a survey based on Trump’s fake news trophy idea. And surprisingly, for the notoriously right-wing pollster, “40% of all voters think Fox News should be the winner of the first annual Fake News Trophy.” CNN came in a distant second with only twenty-five percent of the vote.

We’ll be watching for Trump’s announcement on Monday for the results of his awards show. Even though the outcome could not be easier to predict. But no matter who “wins” the true award will still go to Donald Trump for being trusted less than the media he despises. Recent polling shows that, despite Trump’s attempts to smear the media, most Americans continue to trust the press more than they trust the President. It’s not even close. And part of the reason is that he engages in stupidities like this fake news award. Americans are smart enough to know that he’s only doing it to divert attention from his criminal and treasonous behavior that is being revealed more every day.

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


Trump Finally Leaves His Palm Beach Resort to Return to His Day Job: Watching Fox News

Posted by on January 2, 2018 at 2:23 pm. 3 Comments :

On Christmas day, Donald Trump posted a tweet wishing everyone a “great Christmas” (not merry?) and then promised that “tomorrow it’s back to work in order to Make America Great Again.” He then spent the next seven days at his luxurious Mar-A-Lago golf resort in Palm Beach, Florida. He had no presidential duties on his schedule and his only public appearances were on the golf course or at private galas.

Donald Trump Fox News

On January 2, Trump finally made it back to Washington, D.C., and the White House he has called “a dump.” It took him a week from his tweet, but he eventually returned to what he considers to be his job: Watching Fox News. That was apparent by the stream of tweets he posted Tuesday morning. Each one following closely a segment from that morning’s airing of Fox and Friends. He began the New Year Twittapalooza with a dark message that affirms his authoritarian tendencies:

In that one tweet Trump manages to breach a variety of principles required for a free society. First, he makes unsubstantiated allegations against Hillary Clinton, a former political opponent, and her aide, Huma Abedin. Trump actually calls for them to be jailed, without evidence, or even a trial. He was tipped to this nonsense while watching a correspondent from the Daily Caller on Fox and Friends. The Daily Caller is the website run by by Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Secondly, Trump disparaged the Department of Justice as a tool of the “Deep State,” a term of paranoia that he picked up from his pal, Sean Hannity. Of Course the Justice Department is currently run by Trump appointees and he recently said that he has the “absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department.” That’s a scary thought, and it isn’t true, but it calls into question his criticism that implies the whole institution is conspiring against him and his glassy-eyed disciples.

Finally, Trump made a point of dragging former FBI Director into this web of alleged criminals that he wants to lock up. That would be a legally perilous act since he would be persecuting someone that is a likely witness in charges that may be filed against Trump and his associates. It would add to the counts of obstruction of justice that might already be pending.

The tweet immediately following that one thanked Brandon Judd of the National Border Patrol Council. Judd had said some nice things about Trump on Fox and Friends a few minutes before the tweet. Obviously, Trump was watching and wanted to express his gratitude, along with promoting the utterly useless border wall that has become an obsession with him.

Trump also tweeted about the situation in North Korea, reprising his infantile use of the nickname “Rocket Man.”. He bragged that sanctions (which have been in place for years) were having a “big impact,” despite the fact that recent reports reveal that North Korea is planning new ballistic missile tests within the next few days. Apparently that wasn’t part of the report that Fox News aired, so Trump didn’t hear it. And we all know he relies on Fox rather than the intelligence agencies the president commands.

For someone who insists that he doesn’t have time to watch TV, he sure watches a lot of TV. And just one network in particular. Trump’s tweeting patterns have long been documented as regurgitations of something he just saw on Fox. He rarely has an original thought. And when he does, it’s likely to be praise to himself for something he had nothing to do with.

For instance, his tweet Tuesday morning citing a report that there were zero jet airliner fatalities in 2017. He attributed that to his having been “very strict” on commercial aviation. Of course, there is no record of his having done anything that would affect this statistic. What’s more, there were also zero jet airliner fatalities in the U.S. for the past eight years, long before his do-nothing presidency. However, Trump did repeal safety regulations for coal mining, and 2017 saw a surge in mining fatalities. Is he taking credit for that too?

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

With everything going on in the world today, it’s comforting knowing that Trump is so focused on what he thinks is his job. Because most Americans would rather he be watching TV and tweeting than creating international crises or adding to the domestic trauma and divisiveness he’s responsible for. Hopefully his babysitters in the White House will keep him glued to Fox News and out of the Situation Room.


Bill O’Reilly’s Two for 2018: 1) The Media Hates Trump 2) Evil Women Who Expose Sexual Predators

Posted by on January 1, 2018 at 3:33 pm. 4 Comments :

Everyone has been compiling “Best Of” lists for 2017. But not Bill O’Reilly, He’s jumping feet first into the new year with his “Two Big Stories Brewing for 2018.” The disgraced former Fox News star and serial sexual deviant is trying desperately to remain relevant in a world that has left him at the side of the road.

Bill o'Reilly Fox News

O’Reilly published a brief message on his deserted website that he hopes will rope people into subscribing to his “premium” service. Presumably that will buy you exclusive access to his ultra-arrogant perspectives on all the crap he hates and knows nothing about. The posting purports to identify a couple of stories that O’Reilly believes will dominate the new year. And both have a conspicuously self-serving slant. As O’Reilly tells it:

“First, the American media will continue to try and negate Donald Trump’s election to the presidency. This is by design. Most press chieftains despise everything about the President and their viewpoints are well known among their employees. Thus, negative stories about Mr. Trump will continue while positive stories will be suppressed.”

Poor Billo. He thinks that the media is conspiring to overthrow Donald Trump by viciously reporting the things he actually does and says. What a devious plot. And it is by design. It’s what journalists do. If Trump doesn’t want his words and actions to be documented, he got into the wrong business. And if O’Reilly thinks that covering the President accurately is an act of treason, he’s on the wrong planet.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that O’Reilly is upset by journalists doing their job. It’s what got him thrown from his ivory tower at Fox News. Reporters uncovered a bunch of settlements paid out to women who were victims of O’Reilly’s sexual abuse. That included a payment of thirty-two million dollars to one woman. Because the terms of the settlement impose a gag on the victim, we can only imagine what he must have done to justify that kind of compensation. Which brings us to O’Reilly’s second big story for 2018:

The second vital story this upcoming year is the payment and other compensation to women in order to smear the President and others. Vile attorney Lisa Bloom has admitted receiving big money from the likes of fanatical far left smear merchant David Brock in her quest to defame Donald Trump before the election. Bloom was also involved in attacking me.

“The FBI and IRS should be investigating Bloom, Brock and others. Will they? President Trump, for his own sake, should order it. That’s the real attempted subversion of the 2016 election – secret money being offered for defamatory testimony. The allegations are staggering.”

Notice how O’Reilly’s big story is one that involves someone who is attacking him? Surely it’s just a coincidence. Just because he was exposed as a serial sexual predator by multiple women who worked for him or Fox News (not exactly a den of liberals), what he calls a “smear” is next year’s hot topic.

For the record, O’Reilly is referring to a story that alleges that media watchdog David Brock contributed to a fund to help Trump’s victims in the event they required assistance with security. Making accusations against a president who is worshiped like a cult leader can be decidedly dangerous. And the funds were only for security-related purposes. There was no attempt to coerce testimony from anyone in exchange for money. In fact, that was explicitly forbidden by the attorney, Lisa Bloom. What’s more, the fund was later abandoned and the money returned because it ended up not being necessary. That’s what O’Reilly regards as a scandal worthy of Trump siccing the FBI on women who are already suffering, and their lawyers.

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

There is a strange irony, though, in O’Reilly’s whiny complaint. He’s trying to condemn others for donating a couple hundred thousand dollars to help victimized women come forward with the truth. But he’s the one that actually did pay out tens of millions, not to encourage openness and honesty, but to keep women from talking about his disgusting behavior. He would rather shut women up than help them speak out. And these are the stories that he thinks will, or should, fill the headlines this year. He might just get his wish, but not in the way he thinks.


The Lies Fox News Told in 2017 That They (Kind of) Admitted or Corrected

Posted by on December 31, 2017 at 2:15 pm. NO Comments :

Well, it’s that time of year. The time for end-of-year lists and collections of the best/worst whatever that we all endured for the past twelve months. The prospect of compiling such lists for 2017 seemed particularly daunting considering the wealth of material created by our sociopathic president, Donald Trump, and his PR division at Fox News. After all, no one was going to read through a 1,000 best/worst list for the year. And how could it be pared down to ten?

Donald Trump

So News Corpse found a category that would not be too overwhelming. Fox News has told literally thousands of lies this year. But they have only acknowledged or corrected a handful. That’s because they don’t practice the sort of journalistic ethics that a legitimate news enterprise normally would. In fact, their mission is to disinform and deceive. Consequently, they have no use for retractions or apologies. But News Corpse did document the rare occasions when Fox News was forced to at least make a comment about some blatantly false story that they leaked into the mediasphere. What follows are some stories that even Fox couldn’t pretend were true (kind of).

The Seth Rich Story

May 24: There is a conservative mythology that Democratic operative Seth Rich was assassinated by some nefarious lefty cabal because he leaked stolen DNC documents to Wikileaks. However, there’s no evidence of any such activity, and the police have concluded that the crime was a botched robbery. Nevertheless, Fox News, and especially Sean Hannity, repeatedly advanced the ludicrous conspiracy theory.

The Comey Files

July 11: Steve Doocy of Fox and Friends falsely reported that former FBI director James Comey made documents public that were classified as “Top Secret.” But Doocy had to retract that report the following day because it wasn’t true. Donald Trump retweeted the original false story, but never corrected the tweet.

Bogus Baghdadi

July 24: Fox News contributor Gen. Tony Thomas accused the New York Times of allowing a terrorist leader to escape. Then Fox weekend host Pete Hegseth elaborated on the charge that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would’ve been captured if not for the Times. The Times responded with proof that Fox’s story was false, but Fox continued reporting the same lies, as did Trump.

Smearing the Good Lawyers

September 9: Fox’s Greg Gutfeld rattled off some falsehoods that portrayed the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as charlatans and associates of violent nutjobs. He accused them of financial improprieties and failing to perform the legal they work that is their mission. The SPLC responded with a letter proving Gutfeld’s remarks to be false. But Fox ignored the letter and never corrected their libelous story.

The Verdict is In

December 5: Fox and Friends co-host Pete Hegseth erroneously reported that MSNBC failed to cover the not guilty verdict in the Kate Steinle murder trial. […] The false reporting by Hegseth was uncorrected for at least twelve hours despite the network being informed of the error.

Please, No Moore

December 10: A Fox News headline falsely asserted that “Roy Moore accuser admits she forged part of yearbook inscription attributed to Alabama Senate candidate.” There was just one little problem with that. The accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, never admitted any such thing.

It’s interesting to note that Fox News made a big deal about a few incorrect reports during the year by ABC News or CNN. These were portrayed as proof that the entirety of the media was fake. Many of Fox’s pundits went so far as to accuse the press of making these mistakes deliberately. And of course, that was Trump’s standard approach as he labeled everything “fake news.” However, Fox went to great lengths to avoid mentioning any of their own falsehoods when discussing this subject. They’re pure as the driven snow. It’s the same way they treat the subject of sexual abuse. Harvey Weinstein and Al Franken are always brought up as examples, but Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly are forgotten figures from some distant past.

To be sure, the list above doesn’t represent the full picture of Fox’s dishonesty. They continue to press flat out lies about the Uranium One deal, which their own “hard news” correspondent, Shepard Smith, utterly debunked. And Fox News is obsessed with tarnishing the reputation of the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller. If you watched nothing but Fox News you would come away believing that Mueller was an unscrupulous Democrat determined to crush Donald Trump with manufactured tales of collusion. Never mind that in reality he is a life-long Republican selected by a Republican Acting Attorney General, who was appointed by Trump.

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

Next year is almost certainly going to be more of the same. Fox News will defend Trump from any and all criticism, while writing new talking points for him to tweet. Trump will adopt Fox’s rhetoric and disgorge it on Twitter and to friendly reporters. Then Fox will cover what Trump said bringing the circle to a close, ready to recycle in an endless loop of lying. And on that depressing note, News Corpse would like to wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year.

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Delusional Donald Trump Declares That the Media Will ‘Have to Let Me Win’ in Lie-Riddled Interview

Posted by on December 30, 2017 at 3:27 pm. 2 Comments :

More than anything else, Donald Trump loves to congratulate himself as being the best at whatever he happens to be obsessing about at any given point in time. In his cartoon brain he has always done the most, rated the highest, known better, and achieved more than any recognized expert or experienced professional. For the most part his flaming ego is utterly out of control, but when it comes to slandering the media and opposing the free press, you just have to agree with him. He’s better at that than anybody.

Donald Trump

Channeling historical totalitarian dictators, Trump called the media “the enemy of the American people.” And he spends more time insulting journalists than he does golfing. On Saturday he posted another frantic tweet expressing his rage at a mediasphere that he can’t control:

A usual, that’s just plain ludicrous. He obviously loves to tweet and does it obsessively. And he is primarily the one who refers to the media as “fake.” It would be interesting if he ever provided an example of the “non-existent sources” he whines about. But he won’t because he can’t.

However, he recently took a few questions from a New York Times reporter who approached him at Mar-A-Lago. The resulting interview was an embarrassment of incoherence and self-exaltation. And true to form, Trump managed to unleash a steady stream of lies that spilled out at the rate of nearly one false claim per minute. But perhaps the most painfully stupid remarks were regarding his relationship with the media. He said that:

“Another reason that I’m going to win another four years is because newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if I’m not there because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes. Without me, The New York Times will indeed be not the failing New York Times, but the failed New York Times. So they basically have to let me win. And eventually, probably six months before the election, they’ll be loving me because they’re saying, ‘Please, please, don’t lose Donald Trump.’ O.K?”

To be sure, Trump has been good for ratings. The American people are aghast at what has assumed leadership in their country and they want to keep a close eye on it. That’s why viewership of MSNBC increased seventy-seven percent in 2017, far more than any other cable news network. However, no president is going to make or break the media. It’s an institution that has existed in America from the day it was born. It’s the only profession explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. It has had ups and downs, and will continue to do so in the future. But Trump’s presidency is no more newsworthy than the election of the first African-American president eight years ago.

The fact that Trump sees the role of the media only in terms of ratings demonstrates his shallow grasp of both politics and the press. He thinks everything hinges on the same metrics that his old reality TV game show did. And he sees himself as the star of an entertainment program that cannot survive without him. Of course any TV executive could tell him that when his show is cancelled, the network will carry on with new stars. And America will do likewise when he is impeached, resigns, or otherwise fails, and a new president assumes the role.

Trump’s example of the New York Times is ironically appropriate. He repeats robotically his catch phrase of the newspaper as “failing,” but in fact it has never thrived more than it does today with record digital subscriptions. What’s more, Trump’s logic (if you can call it that) which claims that the media will suddenly adore him six months before the next election doesn’t address why they didn’t fall in love with him prior to the last election.

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

Finally, Trump thinks that it’s within the power of the press to “let” him win. Surely the media can be influential to a significant degree, but if they had that kind of unchallenged control he wouldn’t be president today. And for him to suggest that the press would be forced to let him win in order to preserve their ratings shows how little he understands audience dynamics. Nothing would be more of a boost to television ratings than a good impeachment with plenty of drama stemming from treasonous Russian collusion, financial corruption, sex scandals, and the manufactured civil war threats from Trump’s PR division at Fox News. The networks would eat that (and him) up. So this is just another subject that Trump can’t understand because his acute narcissism clouds his already underwhelming intellect. Sad.


Rachel Maddow Dominates an Increasingly Hysterical Sean Hannity as 2017 Winds Down

Posted by on December 29, 2017 at 1:40 pm. 10 Comments :

This has not been a particularly good year for Fox News. After the disaster of 2016 that saw their founder and CEO, Roger Ailes, fired for multiple instances of sexual harassment and abuse, 2017 was supposed to be a year of rebuilding. However, their problems escalated as their biggest star, Bill O’Reilly, was also terminated for the same deviant reasons. Several other Fox News hosts and executives were likewise jettisoned, and they faced lawsuits for both gender and racial discrimination.

Rachel Maddow

That left Sean Hannity as the default face of Fox News. He was moved up to the 9:00 pm slot and expected to carry the primetime schedule with newcomers Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham. He would also be airing head-to-head against MSNBC phenom, Rachel Maddow. Surely the most embarrassing outcome for Fox News would be for Hannity to lose to a left-wing lesbian on a liberal network. But as the year comes to a close, that’s precisely what happened.

In the first half of December, Maddow outright beat Hannity nine out of eleven days in the coveted 25-54 year old advertiser demographic. On four of those days she also won in total audience. Her demo margin of victory was an impressive average of 656,000 viewers, more than 50,000 above Hannity’s average. And Maddow helped to carry her colleagues to wins over Fox News. Lawrence O’Donnell took five of eleven nights, and Brian Williams took six of the eleven. [Note: The second half of December is not included in this analysis because most of these programs had guest hosts].

What’s more, Maddow has been steadily pummeling Hannity throughout the year. The annual figures for these programs put Maddow in close contention with Fox’s long-running leaders. In total audience, Maddow grew an astonishing seventy-seven percent. In the 25-54 demo she was the number two program (after Hannity) following a seventy-four percent growth surge. And among younger viewers (18-49) Maddow was number one.

Along with those achievements in ratings, Maddow also won two News and Documentary Emmys this year, something Fox News has never done. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone. Fox News is not regarded as an especially reliable source for news. They exist only to pump disinformation into the muddled heads of Republican partisans and Donald Trump cultists. Their coverage of any issue is predictably focused on advancing right-wing politics and defending Trump for whatever outrageous thing he did or said that day.

And Hannity is the worst of the lot. He openly colludes with Trump, who he reportedly speaks with almost every day. He has appeared in campaign ads for the President. There is simply no more brazenly brown-nosed Trump-fluffer than Sean Hannity. Not even Trump’s TV babysitters on Fox and Friends. And as his fortunes decline, Hannity gets ever more extreme. He is outdoing Alex Jones’ Infowars for crackpot conspiracy theories. This year he has spent hours on pure nuttery like Pizzagate, the Seth Rich murder, Hillary Clinton’s email (still?), and most recently, his fetish for smearing special counsel Robert Mueller. Hannity has led the charge to slander Mueller as a corrupt, dishonest, charlatan determined to stage a coup against Trump. Never mind that Mueller is a decorated Marine veteran with a long and distinguished career in law enforcement. And a life-long Republican to boot.

2018 may bring even greater rewards for Maddow and her MSNBC colleagues. She has the intelligence and the insight to make some very dry subjects both interesting and educational. And there is clearly an audience for smart, honest news analysis. The country yearns for programming that is more light than heat. And that’s what Maddow specializes in. She never books hostile adversaries simply to provoke on-air fights the way Fox and CNN do. Her mission is to inform, not infuriate. And when truth is on one side of the debate, lies are never presented just to have a perception of balance. That’s the Maddow model, and the rest of cable’s newscasters should seek to emulate it. It’s obviously a winning strategy, with the added benefit of having journalistic integrity.

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


Trump Wishes for Some of ‘That Good Old Global Warming’ that Will Kill Millions

Posted by on December 29, 2017 at 8:57 am. 1 Comments :

After nearly a year, no one is particularly surprised when Donald Trump demonstrates just how stupid he is, but it is sometimes jarring to see how proud he is of it. And on Thursday night Trump provided a perfect example of both his painfully weak grasp of common knowledge, along with a massive dose of callous insensitivity toward the needless suffering of others.

Donald Trump Climate

This example came in the form of a thoughtless tweet that served no purpose other than to belittle sincere advocates for the health of the planet and its inhabitants. Trump tweeted:

By wishing for “a little bit of that good old Global Warming,” Trump is in effect wishing that millions of people suffer and die. He clearly doesn’t have even the slightest understanding of Climate Change, and thinks it’s cute to pray for more of it.

Let’s be clear, the record cold temperatures that are blanketing much of the Northeast and Midwest are, in fact, the result of Climate Change. Higher temperatures in arctic regions and oceans push frigid weather patterns farther south than they ordinarily go. And that’s why people from Maine to Minnesota will be shivering and many will be in mortal peril.

Trump and his science-denying ilk still don’t understand that aberrant weather patterns are a product of Climate Change (which is why scientists don’t call it global warming). He doesn’t know the difference between climate and weather. He can’t connect the incidence of extreme temperatures and natural disasters like hurricanes to the climate disruptions caused by human industry and behavior. And even when there are episodes of cold temperatures in one particular locality, in other places it is uncommonly warm. Southern California is in the eighties. Australia is experiencing record highs. So chills in New York don’t negate the fact that the planet’s climate is rising. 2016 was the hottest year ever. 2017 is set to be one of the three hottest years on record.

Trump’s flagrant ignorance is compounded by his brazen lying. Who knows what he’s talking about with regard to the United States spending “trillions of dollars” to protect against climate change. Efforts to mitigate climate disasters were being put into place internationally until Trump petulantly withdrew from the Paris Accords. But the cost never approached trillions. Fortunately, many states, cities and private companies repudiated the President and still intend to implement the initiatives outlined in Paris.

Finally, Trump tagged on a stony and insincere tip to “bundle up.” Really? That’s all he could muster for one of the coldest periods on record. Doesn’t he realize that people die under these circumstances? It was apparently too much trouble to post information on finding shelters for the homeless. Or to help those affected to stay warm in poorly insulated apartments and homes. Or to offer advice on how to prevent pipes from freezing or where to get help if someone is suffering from hypothermia. Just bundle up and mock science by wishing for the problem to get worse.

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


Fox News: ‘You Don’t Have to Like Donald Trump’ – America: We Already Know That, and We Don’t

Posted by on December 28, 2017 at 1:00 pm. 2 Comments :

The arguments by Donald Trump’s defenders are becoming more strained and ludicrous with every passing day. At the beginning they were happy to exalt him as an outsider who would “drain the swamp” and use his business skills to “Make America Great Again.” But as the nation got to know Trump better, these transparently phony marketing gimmicks made less and less sense.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump has been a leading member of The Swamp since its inception. As president he’s proven that by his appointments of The Swamp’s most ardent advocates to critical government positions where they have proceeded to fleece the country and enrich themselves. As for Trump’s business skills, most people now know that they consist primarily of scams and bankruptcies.

All of this makes it more difficult to lavish praise on a character that is so lacking in character. The Trump shill army has stopped pretending that he isn’t a serial sexual predator, and now dismiss the issue as having been decided by the election. They avoid any discussion of his financial corruption and self-dealing by staking claim to the current economy, which is still operating under the policies of Barack Obama. And now, even the simple assertion that they just have a personal affinity for the Tweeter-in-Chief is a bridge too far to cross. On Fox News’ Outnumbered, the normally fawning co-hosts all agreed that Trump is just plain not likable (video below):

Lisa Boothe: His Likability – he wasn’t well-liked, if you look at the polls in 2016, that didn’t matter.

Kennedy: The bottom line is a much better metric with most voters than whether or not you want to got to a cocktail party with Donald Trump.

Katie Pavlich: It’s going to be difficult for Democrats to argue against everyday people who are seeing their lives getting better. And the argument that $1,000-2,000 isn’t benefiting you really isn’t going to fly. I think it’s actually very offensive to people who think that is a significant amount of money, because it is. When it comes to how Democrats approach this, and President Trump’s approval numbers, you don’t have to like the President. It’s a likability thing. His approval rating isn’t necessarily based on his policies. His approval is based on not his policies, but his personality. You don’t have to like Donald Trump to like what he’s doing.

So it’s unanimous. Nobody likes Donald Trump. However, the suggestion that Americans still like what he’s doing is a total fabrication by the Fox News Trump=fluffers. The GOP tax scam that was just passed was literally one of the most unpopular bills in decades. Voters know that it rewards Trump and his wealthy pals at the expense of everyone else. And that same negative sentiment sticks to nearly everything Trump touches. The Gallup poll of issues puts Trump firmly underwater on every issue in the survey:

Approve Disapprove
Economy 45 51
Foreign Affairs 33 61
North Korea 35 60
Healthcare 31 64
Taxes 37 55
Immigration 39 60
Terrorism 46 53
Russia 30 66
Environment 32 63
Federal Budget 36 57
Relations w/News Media 34 64
Trade 45 51

Contrary to the glassy-eyed idolatry of Fox News pundits, Trump obviously has failed to connect with voters on any of the important issues that they care about. And now Fox News agrees that even his personality is repugnant. What does that leave for anyone to admire about Trump? His remedial oratory? His gross ignorance? His racism, misogyny, and xenophobia? His infantile behavior? Let’s face it, the only thing that anyone is going to like about Trump is how he looks in an orange jumpsuit as he’s being escorted out of the White House.

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