The evidence that Fox News is a constant source of hate speech that can potentially incite violence continues mount. This observation shouldn’t surprise anyone who watches the network with an open mind.
But now there is yet another real-world example of just how dangerous the network’s hostile rhetoric can be. As reported by the local CBS affiliate in San Diego, California…
“A La Mesa man who directed threats at the San Diego and Washington, D.C., offices of the Council on American-Islamic Relations a year ago was sentenced Tuesday to a year in jail and five years probation. John David Weissinger, 54, pleaded guilty last August to a charge of making a criminal threat, with hate crime allegations, and possession of an illegal assault rifle.
This is, unfortunately, not an uncommon occurrence. Muslim-Americans have been the victims of rising numbers of assaults as the heated dialog about terrorism is advanced in the media and by Republican presidential candidates like Donald Trump. Mother Jones reports that recent FBI data shows the number of hate crimes in general have declined, except for Muslim-Americans.
What makes this latest threat notable is the argument made by the lawyer for Weissinger in an attempt to persuade the judge to be lenient when sentencing his client. The lawyer said that…
“Weissinger has problems with alcohol, anxiety and depression and had just finished watching a week of Fox News coverage on the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris when he threatened the CAIR offices.”
This is a serious effort to explain why someone would commit an act of terrorism. After all, how could Weissinger be faulted for cracking under the pressure after a week of absorbing hate from Fox News anchors and guests characterizing all Muslims as dangerous radicals bent on murdering freedom-loving Christian Americans?
This legal tactic is, of course, patently absurd. Weissinger should not be granted any leniency based on such a flagrant attempt to absolve him of responsibility for his actions. However, it is not unrealistic to recognize that a major news enterprise engaging in a campaign of brainwashing their audience to despise a particular group of people can have an impact on weak-minded individuals. It has happened before.
Two years ago an Indiana man pleaded guilty to arson for having set fire to an Islamic Center in Toledo, Ohio. He was sentenced to 20 years, and when the judge asked him if he knew any Muslims or what Islam is he said “No, I only know what I hear on Fox News.”
Earlier this year an ordained minister in the Christian National Church pleaded guilty to plotting a massacre of the citizens of an upstate New York community of Muslims known as Islamberg. He justified his actions by claiming that the residents of Islamberg were planning a terrorist attack, a notion he picked up from a guest on Bill O’Reilly’s show who claimed that Muslims were training to launch domestic attacks.
These are not isolated incidents. There are many more documented cases of hostilities aimed at Muslims and others by viewers of Fox News. An especially troubling example occurred when a man inspired by Glenn Beck was apprehended on his way to San Francisco to murder employees of the ACLU and the Tides Foundation. And when this happens this often, you have to eventually conclude that it is either due to gross ignorance, or it’s deliberate.
Yesterday was a big news day for Sarah Palin. Not because this washed-up former reality TV character endorsed Donald Trump, a fellow former reality TV character, but because that well-staged political theater was interrupted by more troubling news about Palin’s famously dysfunctional family.
It was reported that Palin’s son, Track, was arrested for beating up his girlfriend and wielding an AR-15 rifle while intoxicated. But rather than going back home to attend to her families legal and emotional problems, Palin followed up her Trumpmania tour in Iowa with a another appearance in Tulsa, Oklahoma (video below). It was there that she brought up Track’s tribulations, without mentioning his name or his alleged crimes, as she sought to exalt her domestic abuser offspring as a hero saying…
“I can talk personally about this – I guess it’s kinda the elephant in the room – because my own family going through what we’re going through today with my son, a combat vet, having served in the Stryker Brigade, fighting for you all, America, in the war zone. But my son, like so many others, they come back a bit different, they come back hardened, they come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military so sacrificially have given to this country.”
It’s disturbing, to say the least, to hear Palin’s pontificating about the honor of America’s military in conjunction with the news that her drunken son punched and kicked a woman while brandishing a gun. That’s not exactly the best demonstration of military pride. And while it’s true that many veterans suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, that is not an excuse for domestic abuse. And it should not be used to callously dismiss violence in a stump speech at a political rally. But Palin wasn’t through, and it got much worse.
“It’s a shame that our military personnel even have to wonder if they have to question whether they’re respected anymore. It’s starts from the top. The question though that comes from our own President where they have to look at him and wonder ‘Do you know what we go through? Do you know what we’re trying to do to secure America and to secure the freedom that have been bequeathed us?'”
So it’s Obama’s fault that Track Palin got drunk and put his girlfriend in the hospital? Somehow, in Palin’s view, the President is to blame for every veteran’s psychological problems. And she also seems to think that PTSD is caused by not being respected enough on returning from a war, rather than by the horrific experiences inherent to war. Palin thinks that if everybody would just thank a vet, then coping with the nightmare of battle and seeing your buddies blown to pieces would be a cake walk. And she still wasn’t finished.
“So when my own son goes through what he goes through coming back, I can certainly relate with other families who kinda feel these ramifications of some PTSD and some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with. And it makes me realize more than ever, it is now or never for the sake of America’s finest that we have that Commander-in-Chief that will respect them and honor them.”
To Palin this is all about what her family “goes through.” Not once did she mention the victim and what she went through. Palin isn’t even denying what her son did. She is floating a possible insanity defense. In which case you might think she would have some sympathy for the victim. Instead, she ignores the battered woman, excuses her son’s violence, blames it all on the President, and closes with a brazenly political plea to vote for Donald Trump.
This sleazebag, with a son who is a divorced domestic abuser, a daughter with two out-of-wedlock kids from different fathers, a defender of the deviant Duggar family, a supporter of the racist Duck Dynasty Klan, and close friend of pedophile and advocate of presidential assassination Ted Nugent, presumes to lecture others on family values. And she campaigns for a racist, wannabe fascist tyrant who mocks the disabled even though she is the mother of a special needs child.
Has there ever been a more nauseating, heartless, self-promoting, ignorant, person in American politics? And yes, I’m talking about both of them – Palin and Trump. They are a perfect match of loathsome demagogues who feed off of each other and the dimwitted idolatry of their glassy-eyed followers. What a sick party the Republicans have devolved into.
Confirming rumors that Sarah Palin might crawl out from under her frozen tundra to endorse Donald Trump, the big moment came today in a statement from the Trump campaign. For Trump this means that his campaign has now been validated by perhaps the most comically ignorant mainstream politician in decades. He must be so proud. [Update: video of Palin’s endorsement speech added below]
Trump getting an endorsement from Sarah Palin is a fairly predictable turn of events. After all, both Trump and Palin are former reality TV characters who pretended to represent an entirely scripted version of their cartoon personas. Both of them are unashamed of displaying rank idiocy (and then defending it). Both of them are flagrantly racist, homophobic, and itching to declare war on any little country they think looked at us funny. Both of them support unfettered proliferation of guns in America, where more than 30,000 people die every year from gun violence. They even refuse to support legislation that would prohibit terrorists from getting guns. Both of them have a visceral hatred for President Obama and an unsettling infatuation with Vladimir Putin (Trump thinks they’d be best buds and Palin is hot for his bear-wrestling manliness).
Left in the lurch is poor, old, and universally disliked, Ted Cruz. Palin had previously backed Cruz’s senatorial campaign and they have been fast friends ever since. They also share a spiritual bond that Donald Trump, with his blatantly irreligious posturing, cannot possibly match. But getting jilted has inflamed Cruz to caution Palin that her endorsement of Trump would tarnish her reputation. Assuming for the sake of argument that Palin has a reputation capable of being tarnished, the gist of Cruz’s warning is that an association with Trump is a dirty affair. And Cruz knows dirty affairs as evidenced by his proud acceptance of an endorsement from Palin pal Phil Robertson of the Duck Dynasty (in the most bizarre political video I’ve ever seen).
The question now is: What can Trump expect to get from a Palin endorsement? Palin is a has-been political loser who resorted to trashy TV in order to salvage her floundering career and advance her greed and lust for attention. She was fired from Fox News (twice). Following that humiliation she launched an online video channel that went offline less than a year later due to lack of interest. Then she announced, with great fanfare, her hosting of a nightly program on the wingnut fringe “One America News” network. That lasted less than a dozen episodes. Notably, the second to the last episode was an interview of Donald Trump.
Palin’s most recent endorsement prior to this was of France’s Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, the leader of the openly fascist Front National Party (she lost). Palin praised Le Pen as the “It Girl” on whom she has a crush. Palin, Le Pen, and Trump all share the same ideology that advocates deporting all them evil foreigners, carpet bombing civilians, and imposing Christianity as the mandatory faith of their hoped-for theocracy. Then Palin could implement her plan to force everyone in the country to “speak American.”
And what’s in it for Palin? Well, Trump is easily the biggest spectacle in the GOP circus. Palin undoubtedly hopes that hitching her rickety wagon to Trump will get it rolling again. She has proven repeatedly that her primary motivations have always been promoting herself. Never mind that she is the mother of a special needs child who is embracing a man who callously mocked a reporter with physical disabilities. That’s not as important as getting a pitchman like Trump to raise your profile and hawk your books. Cruz would not be nearly as useful from that marketing perspective. Also, Cruz would not likely consider Palin for a cabinet post in his administration, while Trump has already speculated on it, specifically mentioning Energy Secretary.
What’s more, Palin’s base of support has dwindled severely. When was the last time anyone made reference to the Tea party in anything other than a joke? Palin even had a brutal falling out with Glenn Beck, who recently said that “I don’t care what Sarah Palin says any more. Sarah Palin has become a clown. I’m embarrassed that I was once for Sarah Palin. Honestly, I’m embarrassed.” Coming from someone that once described himself as a “rodeo clown,” that’s pretty scathing.
The farce surrounding Trump’s candidacy just keeps getting more bizarre. His pathological lies (see the Trump Bullshitopedia), his noxious bigotry, his unabashed ignorance, are setting new lows for a Republican Party that was already underwater. And now he’s excited about an endorsement from a washed up grifter whose public profile has been in a steep free fall for the past few years. She didn’t help John McCain get to the White House at the height of her popularity, so there’s no reason to think she would be much help to Trump, the guy who insulted McCain as not being a war hero because he had been captured and held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years. And there’s something else That Trump and Palin have in common, a complete lack of any sense of loyalty.
Here’s a heaping serving of Palin’s Word Salad.
[Addendum:] Last night Sarah Palin’s eldest son, Track, was arrested for punching his girlfriend and brandishing a gun while drunk. So while her son was facing multiple violent criminal charges in Wassilla, the Grizzly Mama was partying with Trump. It’s funny that a woman whose son is a divorced domestic abuser, and whose daughter has two out-of-wedlock kids, is constantly lecturing other people about family values.
The notion that Donald Trump is losing his mind is immediately suspect because it requires the presumption that he had a stable one to begin with. There is substantial evidence that Trump’s mental deficiencies have plagued him for decades, particularly the likelihood that he is suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).
Bobby Azarian, a cognitive neuroscientist at George Mason University, makes the case for Trump’s NPD in an article that delves into Trump’s psychosis. He warns of the potential risks of giving someone exhibiting such symptoms control over our nuclear codes:
“While a narcissistic personality might be one of the traits that allowed Trump to be such a successful businessman and reality TV star, it is also the trait that makes him potentially dangerous as a political leader.”
However, Trump’s cognitive failures extend beyond his obvious egomaniacal tendencies. He also appears to be exhibiting symptoms of dementia and severe memory impairment. Never mind that he repeatedly asserts that he has “one of the best memories of all time,” his recent lapses tell a different story. For instance…
On January 14, 2016, at the GOP debate, Trump spoke about the controversy over whether Ted Cruz is eligible to run for president under the constitutional requirement of being a “natural born citizen” (a controversy that Trump himself incited).
“You have great constitutional lawyers that say you can’t run. If there was a – and you know I’m not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty.”
Then, just three days later, Trump apparently forgot his promise and, when George Stephanopoulos suggested that he might have the necessary legal standing to bring a lawsuit, Trump said…
“Wow, that sounds like a very good case. I’d do the public a big favor. It’s a good idea. Maybe I’ll talk to them about it.”
That’s a three day turnaround from swearing on national TV that he wouldn’t file a lawsuit, to being highly interested in the idea. Another example that also involves Trump’s current closest rival for the GOP nomination, Trump responded in December to talk about a growing rift between him and Cruz:
“I really like Ted Cruz a lot. He’s doing well. I’m doing well. It’s not a contest between the two of us.”
Then, the following month, he once again was asked about their souring relationship, and he gave a very different response:
“He’s a nasty guy. Nobody likes him. Nobody in Congress likes him. Nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him.”
It didn’t take long to go from liking Cruz a lot to Cruz being “a nasty guy” who nobody likes. This is reminiscent of Trump’s stated feelings regarding Hillary Clinton. A couple of years ago he said that she was a “terrific” woman and a great Secretary of State, who he liked a lot (Bill too). These days he is saying that she was the “worst Secretary of State in history.”
On another occasion, Trump disgustingly mocked a reporter with disabilities. When he was challenged for such an obnoxious portrayal, he insisted that he wasn’t mocking anyone and that he didn’t know the reporter. But the reporter was able to prove that they did meet numerous times as he covered Trump’s business activities.
In addition to these lapses in memory, his broken mind also creates memories of incidents that never occurred. The most blatant example is his insistence that he personally saw news video of “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the fall of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. Of course, there were no such celebrations and, therefore, no such videos. He also claims to have seen videos showing that Syrian refugees are almost entirely young men. In fact, the overwhelming majority of refugees are women and children.
Donald Trump is a man that is clearly having difficulties discerning reality from fantasy. He cannot even recall things he said just a few days prior. When these incidents occur independently they may seem harmless and unimportant. But when viewed as a collection of recent cognitive failures, it is apparent that a real problem exists. Not only should he not be running for president, he should be getting medical attention under close observation.
A few months ago Republican “Word Doctor” Frank Luntz asked Donald Trump if he had ever asked God for forgiveness. Trump answered that “I am not sure that I have […] I don’t think in terms of that.” He still felt the same way when CNN’s Anderson Cooper gave him an opportunity to refine his remarks in light of the criticism and ridicule they produced. He stood firm because he is simply convinced that he doesn’t need to ask God for forgiveness since he never does anything wrong.
Well, he’s still as certain as ever of his divine infallibility. This morning he told CNN’s Jake Tapper (video below) that he continues to hold a “Get Out of Hell Free” pass and a waiver from any obligation to repent.
“I have a great relationship with God, I have a great relationship with evangelicals. In fact, nationwide I’m up by a lot. I’m leading everybody. But I like to be good. I don’t like to have to ask for forgiveness. And I am good. I don’t do a lot of things that are bad. I try do nothing that’s bad. I live a very different life than probably a lot of people would think.”
This latest assertion of saintliness comes with a new justification. Apparently the polls validate Trump’s bond with the Almighty. He doesn’t say precisely what percentage of the Gods surveyed attest to his holiness, but rest assured, it’s a lot. This may seem to be an unconventional method of demonstrating one’s piety, but for an egomaniacal narcissist like Donald Trump it’s the best you’re gonna get. Last July I laid out in detail why Trump’s views on religion, and his own perfection, were completely contrary to the the faith he pretends to practice.
Trump is effectively saying that a good Christian can avoid having to seek forgiveness from God by simply never making any mistakes. Who knew it was that easy? Of course, to do that would require a level of perfection not seen in about two thousand years from the perspective of believers. And yet he argues that he has achieved this pinnacle of purity. But if you ask the Presbyterian Church, of which Trump claims to be a member (although the church he said he attends denies it), they have a completely different interpretation:
“Presbyterians believe the Bible when it says that ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). Unlike crime, which involves the breaking of human law, sin is a condition of the heart or an expression of that condition where we are estranged from God and fail to trust in God.” […]
“Presbyterians believe God has offered us salvation because of God’s loving nature. It is not a right or a privilege to be earned by being ‘good enough.’ No one of us is good enough on our own — we are all dependent upon God’s goodness and mercy. From the kindest, most devoted churchgoer to the most blatant sinner, we are all saved solely by the grace of God.” […]
“Presbyterians believe it is through the action of God working in us that we become aware of our sinfulness and our need for God’s mercy and forgiveness. Just as a parent is quick to welcome a wayward child who has repented of rebellion, God is willing to forgive our sins if we but confess them and ask for forgiveness in the name of Christ.”
Trump seems to think that forgiveness is something that you request when you have told a lie, cut someone off in traffic, or cheated in golf. His understanding of religion is on the level of a four year old (no offense to four year olds). He has no concept of the tenets of his faith that regards all men and women as sinners. And setting aside the scriptural rendering, Trump doesn’t seem to think that his own mistakes (of which he has none) rise to the level of sins. That means his three marriages and serial infidelity are wholly virtuous in God’s eyes. His four bankruptcies that left thousands of creditors in the lurch were just divine accounting. His fraudulent Trump University that ripped off hundreds of “students” actually taught them a valuable lesson in dealing with charlatans. And these say nothing of his sins of greed, lust, and pride.
So despite his heresy, profanity, and obvious Messiah complex, Donald Trump is certain that evangelicals and other faith-based voters will flock to his holiness. If they do they are confessing that their faith is a fraud that can be spun by a political charlatan known for being a vainglorious self-promoter and a serial liar (See the Trump Bullshitopedia). They are willfully falling under the sway of a scam artist and celebrity cult leader. And by the way, these are the same people who have been calling President Obama the Anti-Christ for seven years.
The news this morning that up to six Americans incarcerated in Iran have been released ought to be met with gladness and relief. These people have suffered for more than a year as prisoners convicted of dubious crimes. Today their families got the news they have been hoping for and are gathering to celebrate freedom.
Sadly, that celebration is not being shared by Fox News or the Republican candidates for president. Their lock-step determination to find fault with President Obama no matter the circumstances takes precedence over actual events or the national interest of the country. These “patriots” will never miss an opportunity to run down America or make it look bad in the eyes of the world.
So despite the fact that Fox News has been using the Iranian prisoners for months to accuse President Obama of weakness, they are now framing the release as a hostage swap that benefits the Iranians. Fox reporter Catherine Herridge described it as “short-term elation, but long-term pain.” Fox contributor John Bolton called it “a diplomatic debacle for the United States.” In reality, it’s just another example of the Fox News lose/lose approach to reporting on the President. If he were to cure cancer they would complain that it was a socialist attack on pharmaceutical companies that cost hard-working oncologists their jobs.
And the circus of GOP aspiring presidential clowns could not rush to a microphone quickly enough to criticize the freedom arranged by the Obama administration. From their reactions you might have thought that the news was reporting that Americans were captured rather than freed.
Ted Cruz: We don’t know the details of the deal that is bringing them home. And then it may well be that there are some very problematic aspects to this deal.
Marco Rubio: We should not be involved in swaps. These things should never happen is my point. […] I think this has created incentives for more governments to do this around the world.
Donald Trump: I will tell you, it’s a disgrace that they’ve been there for so long. It’s a disgrace. Remember that. A total disgrace.
Mike Huckabee: They should’ve been released before we ever sat down at the negotiating table.
Chris Christie: We shouldn’t have to swap prisoners, these folks were taken illegally in violation of international law and they should have been released without condition.
Jeb Bush: I would say … if you do not release them, that there’s going to be military action, that that’s an act of provocation, an act of war.
Clearly these folks would have preferred a full-on war with Iran rather than diplomacy. They would have opted to send more Americans to fight and die in a Middle East quagmire. And the fact that the Obama administration successfully negotiated the freedom of our Americans in Iran is greeted with rancor instead of praise. It was the same reaction they had to the sailors who were held briefly after drifting into Iranian waters. The right-wingers considered it an act of war and were rattling their swords in hysterics. Obama resolved the matter with a phone call and the sailors went on their way in few hours. Just imagine if one of those cretins were actually president during these incidents.
At the very least the Fox News/GOP knee-jerks could have joined the families this weekend to appreciate their long-awaited reunion with loved ones, and returned to their partisan vitriol on Monday. But that’s not how Republicans, or Fox News work.
Last night’s Republican debate was so tightly managed and rehearsed that it revealed almost nothing about any of the candidates. That is, unless you weren’t already aware that they hate President Obama, Hillary Clinton, immigrants, taxes, healthcare, Muslims, and generally believe that America is weak and in danger of being destroy forever by some desert rats. Other than that…
The severity of the GOP contempt for all things Democratic and progressive was in abundant display. So much so that it was causing the debaters to articulate a cacophony of utterly asinine rhetoric aimed at the absent objects of their disaffection. And as a public service, News Corpse has compiled a few of the worst mind farts of the evening.
Chris Christie starts us off with a chilling threat for the President saying that “We are going to kick your butt out of the White House come this fall.”
I’m sure Obama is shaking in his boots. Even though he knows that he will be living in the presidential abode until next winter. And when he leaves it will be because his second term has expired and not because of anything that Christie or his GOP goons might do. What’s more, there is a better than even shot that the next resident of the White House will be another Democrat, but a decidely long shot that it would be Christie.
Donald Trump is next and, as usual, gives us a rich buffet of stupid from which to choose. For now I’ll go with his answer to the question “Are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America?” Trump said abruptly “NO!”
So The Donald is cool with the the unlimited sales of assault weapons, semi-automatics, automatics, grenade launchers, howitzers, etc. Additionally, his answer stipulates no limits on either guns or sales. So purchasers can be felons, or domestic abusers, or mentally ill, or terrorists. This is the sort of answer that can only come from someone who hasn’t bothered to think through the question. And wouldn’t that be a great attribute for a president?
Jeb Bush exhibited a unique form of delusion saying that “The idea that somehow we’re better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe.”
Does Jeb have the ability to recall that day seven years ago? The economy had just suffered its worst decline since the Great Depression. The stock market lost almost half its value. Unemployment soared to 10%. And some of the nations biggest financial and manufacturing concerns had to be bailed out by the government or disappear. Since then the stock market has more than doubled (even with the declines that occurred this week). Unemployment is down to 5%. America’s auto industry had its best year ever in 2015. Osama Bin Laden is quite dead, along with hundreds of other Al Qaeda and ISIS leaders. And yet, Bush seems to wish that we could return to the precarious position that his brother put the nation in due to his shoddy economic policies, tax cuts for rich, and embarking on two wars.
Marco Rubio is among the right-wingers who believe that there is nothing to fear but let’s all be afraid anyway. He fretted that “There is a war against ISIS, not just against ISIS but against radical jihadists terrorists, and it is a war that they win or we win.”
This is the same nonsense propounded by the rest of the GOP field. They actually think that under some bizarre circumstance ISIS could defeat the United States and compel our surrender. That is just ludicrous. Sure, they can do serious harm to individuals with terrorist tactics, but that’s a long way from a military defeat. The combined forces of Germany, Italy, and Japan could not beat the U.S. Only a an idiot would think that ISIS can.
Ben Carson didn’t add much to this debate. But he did preface his first answer by saying that “I’m very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came.”
The good doctor should know better than to open with a joke about falling asleep when the single most ridiculed part od his persona is that he seems to be on the verge of slumber at all times.
Ted Cruz seemed to think it would be a good idea to insult everyone in New York saying derisively that “I think most people know exactly what New York values are.”
Not only does that demean some twenty million Americans, it gave Trump an opening to play the 9/11 card. But this attitude isn’t new. Republicans have been openly hostile to much of America just because of political differences. They also hate Hollywood, San Francisco, Seattle, New Orleans, Austin, Chicago, Boston, and more. It’s a peculiar brand of selective patriotism.
These are the candidates that Republicans have to choose from. For the time being being they seem to be leaning toward the goofiest one in the bunch. And they don’t seem to care that Trump has based his entire campaign on self-exaltation, insults and lies (see the Trump Bullshitopedia). Maybe Republican voters are simply settling for Trump because the rest of the roster is equally ridiculous. They have resigned themselves to the fate that, if we’re gonna be stuck a preposterous candidate, why not go for the gold?
The 2016 presidential election is shaping up to be the first Reality TV campaign. Not only is the Republican front-runner the former star of a washed up celebrity game show, but now the biggest endorsement of the year has come from another surreality crackpot, Phil Robertson of Dick…er…Duck Dynasty.
It may be a little bit of a surprise that Robertson didn’t back his fellow TV character, Donald Trump, but the philosophical synergies between Robertson and Ted Cruz, particularly with regard to faith and theocracy, were just to strong to resist.
Robertson has clearly found a spiritual brother in Cruz, whose father is a radical Christianist minister. Cruz shares Robertson’s hatred of gays, his opposition to women’s reproductive rights, his intense fear of Muslims, and, most importantly, his overwhelming lust for guns. Robertson, like Cruz, is an unabashed phony. They are both multimillionaires pretending to be salt-of-the-earth populists. Cruz even graduated from Harvard Law School, just like that Kenyan socialist Muslim, Barack Obama.
Cruz has expressed his appreciation for Robertson’s endorsement and even appears in the video making the announcement (see below). The video is one of the most peculiar political documents ever produced. It features Robertson, face painted with black camouflage as if for a perverse hillbilly minstrel show, outlining his criteria for a president.
“My qualifications for president of the United States are rather narrow: Is he or she Godly, does he or she love us, can he or she do the job, and finally would they kill a duck and put him in a pot and make him a good duck gumbo?”
I’m not sure when killing ducks became a prerequisite for national leadership, but we’re talking about the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty here, so there may be a conflict of interest. More notably, Robertson’s quaint allusion to a candidate “loving us” can only be properly understood to mean a very specific group of “us.” That’s because Robertson, who believes that African-Americans were all happy as clams in the Jim Crow south, has a distinct definition of who his people are. This is what he told the Conservative Political Action Conference last year:
“You know what’s happened GOP? We’ve got too many ‘any others’ in the White House. It [the Constitution] wasn’t written for them.”
It’s fortunate that we have Robertson to stipulate for whom the Constitution was written or them liberal elitists might have got folks to think it was for “We, the people.” And that’s the sort of government that we can expect from someone like Ted Cruz who similarly segregates Americans into “us” and “them.” He recently declared that “the overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats.” And he said that shortly after having bragged about another endorsement from an abortion opponent who advocated murdering doctors and was himself affiliated with violent felons.
Anyone who has been paying attention to Donald Trump’s campaign is well aware that he is functionally illiterate. His speeches are nothing more than bragging about how awesome he thinks he is, and hurling childish insults at his opponents and critics. He has been rated as speaking at a third grade level (which may still be over the heads of his followers). And he repeats himself incessantly as if he has forgotten what he just said moments ago.
But there may be an even bigger problem than his inability to engage in an adult dialog. He may be suffering from terminal boredom. It appears that a surprisingly large number of people and things just bore The Donald silly. Of course, it may just be that his comprehension skills have declined severely in his golden (gaudy) years and he is unable to stay awake. After all, a couple of months ago he was complaining bitterly about the burden of a proposed three-hour debate, and recent reports show that his stamina on the campaign trail is alarmingly low. Ironically, he accuses his rivals of being “low-energy” or lacking “strength and stamina,” when they are demonstrably more active than he is.
These are issues that Trump should address with his doctor. They may be indications of more serious health problems. But regardless, there is abundant evidence that he is not capable of performing the duties of the President of the United States, either physically or psychologically. Here is a sampling of some of things that bore Donald Trump, beginning with his predictable disappointment with President Obama’s State of the Union speech last night:
The #SOTU speech is really boring, slow, lethargic – very hard to watch!
John Oliver had his people call to ask me to be on his very boring and low rated show.
#DemDebate was really boring but had a lot of fun live tweeting and picked up by far the most followers.
David Letterman’s Show Has Become ‘Boring And Mundane’.
The Oscar broadcast is really boring – where is the glamour and beauty?
One of the worst and most boring political pundits on television is @krauthammer. A totally overrated clown who speaks without knowing facts
Just tried watching Modern Family – written by a moron, really boring,
Adam Moss, editor in chief of @NYMag is quickly losing his reputation in that @NYMag has become so boring and so irrelevant.
The @nfl games are so boring now that actually, I’m glad I didn’t get the Bills.
The failing @nytimes should focus on fair and balanced reporting rather than constant hit jobs on me. Yesterday 3 boring articles, today2!
.@CNN has to do better reporting if it wants to keep up with the crowd.So totally one-sided and biased against me that it is becoming boring
Why don’t U [Bill O’Reilly] have some knowledgeable talking heads on your show for a change instead of the same old Trump haters? Boring.
Just cancelled my subscription to @USATODAY, Boring newspaper with no mojo — must be losing a fortune. Founder has always been a lightweight — just like his paper
I skipped a speech given years ago at Mar-a-Lago by dopey @GeorgeWill because he’s BORING—he never forgot!
Dopey Arianna @huffingtonpost is really after me–boring story after boring story…but I hear she is in big trouble!
Just finished reading a poorly written & very boring book on the General Motors Building by Vicky Ward. Waste of time!
I don’t know @SamuelLJackson, to best of my knowledge haven’t played golf w/him & think he does too many TV commercials—boring. Not a fan.
Obviously Donald Trump has a problem maintaining a normal level of interest. And it goes beyond just politics to include the media, sports, and entertainment. Imagine if a defective mind like that were responsible for national security. He may just find Yemen or Ukraine too boring to bother with. And it’s fairly certain that boredom would set in over matters related to big banks, civil rights, Climate Change, and campaign financing.
In some respects I know how Trump feels. I’m pretty bored with his racist, hateful, totalitarian, egomaniacal ravings. And apparently I’m not alone. A “supporter” at one of his rallies this week was ejected for shouting out“This is boring. Tell some jokes.” That’s a perfectly appropriate criticism for a candidate that only exists because of his celebrity and alleged entertainment value.
A couple of weeks ago Hillary Clinton correctly observed that Donald Trump has a “penchant for sexism.” He has demonstrated that repeatedly with his personal attacks on Megyn Kelly, Carly Fiorina, Rosie O’Donnell, and others. What’s more, he is a fierce opponent of a woman’s right to choose, and prohibiting pay and job discrimination based on gender. He is also on his third wife and wants to bang his daughter. In light of that record of misogyny, Clinton was actually pretty mild in her criticism.
What transpired next was a tirade of extraneous attacks from Trump directed at Bill Clinton’s decades-old infidelities that, while improper, do not in any way absolve Trump of his past and current repulsive behavior. It is merely an attempt by Trump to deflect attention from himself. And for that he has been getting plenty of help from Fox News. The network has endeavored to keep the focus narrowly on Clinton’s affairs with frequent stories dredging up the former president’s past, while ignoring Trump’s nauseating present.
Now a new poll conducted by Fox News shows that the result of this propaganda blitz may not be exactly what they intended. When women were asked who they thought was “more respectful of women” – Bill Clinton or Donald Trump – they responded overwhelming that it was Bill Clinton (55% to 31%).
Despite all the hard work by Fox and Trump, American women still prefer Clinton over Trump by a wide margin. So what is Fox to do now? Well, of course, they will assemble a panel of conservative women to refute their own poll.
All four of the women called upon for this Fox Business Channel segment are hard-core wingnuts. They include a Tea Partier, a conservative columnist, a former Bush aide, and even Donald Trump’s national spokeswoman. With four opinions represented, Fox somehow could not manage to include a single Democrat or Clinton supporter who might actually have agreed with their poll. The “fair and balanced” network made sure that only one point of view was supplied. And the results would be comical if they weren’t so sad. Here are some of the highlights as these right-wing spinners attempt to roll back what America’s women actually think:
Katherine Timpf (National Review): It can’t just be about ‘Oh Bill Clinton’s a bad guy.’ It’s what does it have to do with Hillary? It has to do with, if you look back at the way that Hillary treated these women who were accusing her husband of sexual assault, so far beyond the opposite of this new liberal feminist idea of they have a right to be believed, rather she called them names that I could not say on TV without getting suspended. So we need to look at that, and do put the focus on Hillary, but how she’s related to what happened then because she played a direct active role there. It wasn’t just Bill. She did some things that make me sick. It all makes me sick.
That comes very close to infringing on Sarah Palin’s “Word Salad” copyright. Timpf has virtually implicated Hillary in her husband’s affairs. She also doesn’t bother to include a single bit of truthful commentary, particularly the assertion that Hillary used language that could not be used on TV. Although I will agree that Timpf does appear to be sick.
Katrina Pierson (Trump spokeswoman): You’ll recall that this didn’t come up until she called him a sexist. She was thumping that woman’s card very hard. […] When you’re looking at who is being respectful or disrespectful to women if you’re in the media today, then you’re probably not gonna think so much of Trump because people don’t really remember everything that happened with Bill Clinton. We’ve got an entire generation of people who are still trying to figure out what this discussion is.
If she thinks that people in the media today are not exceedingly well-versed about the controversies of the Clinton years, she’s acutely delusional. Obviously the women responding to the poll didn’t have any trouble figuring out what the discussion is, and they recognize a cad when they see one.
Gina Loudon (Tea Party): People have short memories, first of all, so there’s the psychological component of that. But also, like Katrina said, there are generations of people that don’t even know what happened, but if you ask them who’s more trustworthy, the numbers on Hillary not being trustworthy are terrifying. And this is the other thing – Donald Trump hasn’t even begun to campaign against Hillary Clinton. […] My guess, Charles, is that the minute he starts to unleash on Hillary, she won’t even know what hit her.
So Loudon’s position is that it’s the people who are too ignorant to realize how horrible Clinton is and how awesome Trump is. The young ones never learned and the old ones have forgotten. What a bunch of idiots these women voters are, according to Loudon. Furthermore, Trump has been campaigning against Clinton for months. He has called her the “worst Secretary of State in history” (although he used to think she was a “terrific woman” and said that “I really like her and her husband both a lot”).
Cathy Taylor (GOP strategist and former George W. Bush advisor): I think we’re gonna see the tide shift quite a bit as we see Donald Trump continues on his path and starts to campaign as more of a general presidential campaign versus a primary campaign. Let’s remember that he has not really focused on women yet. He’s been very good to women as a businessman. And when you look at policies and policy recommendations, because policies are going to be more favorable, as with any of the GOP candidates, than Hillary Clinton. And let’s remember, there’s good guys and there’s nice guys. Bill Clinton may be a nice guy, Donald Trump is much more of a good guy.
Ms Taylor may need to wipe a bit of the drool off her chin. Trump actually has focused a great deal on women in this campaign, and it’s all been derogatory. Especially his policies, which are pretty much the same as the rest of the GOP and firmly rejected by majorities of women. As for the distinction between a “nice guy” and a “good guy,” I can only respond – WTF? Is this a political campaign or high school?
The video of this discussion (below) opened with a clip of Republican pollster and self-proclaimed “Word Doctor,” Frank Luntz, saying that “Trying to tie Bill Clinton into Hillary doesn’t make sense,” and that “You cannot win this election without getting at least 45% of the female vote.” But Republican candidates are doing everything they can to alienate women (and Latinos and African-Americans). And Fox News is making a desperate effort to clean up after them. The problem is that their efforts are so ham-handed that no one is going to be convinced by the ultra-partisans who are clearly acting as Trump’s surrogates. What’s most revealing about this is that Fox will hold nothing back when their conservative principles are being challenged. The challenger must be destroyed, even if it’s themselves and their own poll.
