Sarah Palin Confesses Her Girl-Crush On France’s Le Pen And The Fascist Front National Party

Ever since John McCain and Fox News burdened America with the addle-brained Mistress of the North, Sarah Palin, she has managed to unveil new ways of embarrassing herself and the country. In particular, she ranted about non-existent “death panels,” she accused President Obama of “palling around with terrorists,” and she affiliates with some rather conspicuously deviant characters like Ted Nugent. And now, in an op-ed for the far-right website Brietbart News, Palin has revealed her deep affection for a politician from France’s Front National, a party rooted in antisemitism and neo-fascism.

Sarah Palin

The article is a love letter to the modern Nazis of the French fringe who mirror Palin’s Tea Party politics of nativist, xenophobic, fear mongering and radical Christianist theocracy. She opens saying that…

“I have a political crush, but one I couldn’t vote for today – because she ran for office in France. Marion Maréchal-Le Pen is the new deserved ‘It Girl’ of French politics and a clear voice of courage and common sense in a country and continent in need of both.”

Obviously Palin relates to Maréchal-Le Pen due to her own tenure as an “It-Girl” in the early days of the McCain campaign before people heard her speak. And the love she has for this repugnant pol tells us that she is still as ignorant about the world as ever. Maréchal-Le Pen’s “courage and common sense” was soundly rejected by French voters yesterday as both she and her equally abhorrent aunt, Marine Le Pen, lost their bids for regional elective offices. Even in the wake of the tragic attacks last month in Paris, the French people could not abide the hateful politics of the Le Pen family.

Some additional morsels of idiocy in Palin’s op-ed include her assertion that…

“The Left wraps itself in political correctness and multiculturalism like a suicide vest. They’d rather blow up the whole country than admit the stupidity of thinking a nation can remain the same after inviting in millions of people who despise its values.”

Setting aside the offensive comparison of liberals, who are devoted to the principles of American freedom, to terrorists in suicide vests, Palin’s rhetoric asserts that there are millions of people who hate America that are being invited in. She doesn’t say who these people are, where they’re from or why they hate the country. The only plausible rendering of her word salad is that she is referring to Syrian refugees, of whom there will only be about 10,000, mainly consisting of families desperate to escape the terrorists who have overrun their homes.

Palin goes on to write something that actually has a ring of truth to it when she says that…

“Pundits are already seeing the similarities between Marion and Marine Le Pen, Donald Trump, and Sen. Ted Cruz.”

Indeed, the similarities could not be more obvious. Trump and Cruz represent the fascist wing of America’s Republican Party. They all hold the same views about kicking out all of the foreigners to whom they object. They all support carpet bombing of countries where some of our enemies reside, without regard for the innocent civilians that would be murdered as a result of that tactic, which has been designated a war crime. And they all believe that Christianity should be the basis of Western civilization and its governments.

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

When you take those positions and combine them with the conservative politics that elevate corporations over people, you wind up with the brand of fascism that Mussolini once said would be better called corporatism. And for Palin to point out that the Le Pen family and the GOP are ideological twins is actually a helpful contribution to the political dialog, although not in any way that she would understand.

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SNL’s Michael Che On Donald Trump’s “Phone Sex” Appeal To Racist Republicans

Just as some portion of the mainstream media is beginning to report accurately on the overt racism of Donald Trump, Michael Che of Saturday Night Live comes up with an alternate theory that makes sense:

“At this point Trump is the political equivalent of a phone sex operator. He’s just whispering whatever dirty little racist fantasies Republicans want to hear.”

trump-phone-sex

The segment on last night’s SNL Weekend Update is one of the funniest bits of the whole campaign season. Che’s premise is that Trump is not actually racist at all, despite all the evidence pouring out of his own mouth. Che notes Trump’s prior associations with people like Don King and Apprentice contestant Omarosa. He says that…

“I don’t believe that Donald Trump is a racist. He’s just pandering to the most prejudiced segment of the country. He’s hustling them. […] None of what he’s saying is true. You don’t just develop racism overnight on the campaign trail. Racism is embedded deep down in a person’s soul. I’ve looked into that man’s eyes. Donald Trump doesn’t have a soul.”

Indeed, Trump appears to have no moral center. His positions on issues have spun wildly from being pro-choice to total opposition to any abortion; from advocating tax increases for the wealthy to proposing across-the-board tax cuts; from favoring universal health care to dismissing ObamaCare as a disaster; from floating an isolationist foreign policy just a few weeks ago that would have Russia fighting with Syria against ISIS to his new promise to “bomb the shit out of ISIS?” He even praised Hillary Clinton effusively calling her a “terrific woman,” but he now says that she was “the worst Secretary of State in the history of the United States.”

Either Trump is nursing multiple personalities or he is just adopting positions that he thinks he can exploit to advance his craving for power and adulation. He does have an eager audience among ill-informed Tea Party discontents who don’t mind being lied to (see the Trump Bullsitopedia for a growing catalog of his lies). In fact, like the phone sex patron, it seems to turn them on. They have an uncanny ability to let their imaginations subsume reality so long as it satisfies their political lusts.

However, it doesn’t seem possible that someone could so fiercely promulgate such ugly rhetoric without that sort of bigotry being ingrained in them. A decent, tolerant person with respect for others would choke and stammer trying to say the hateful things that comprise Trump’s platform. Trump says them with such confidence and certainty that he could not possibly be putting it on. Perhaps Che’s contention that Trump lacks a soul could account for his being able to pitch this hate speech. But either way it means that he is fully capable of harboring the most vile forms of bigotry. And Che is addressing it in what may be the most effective way – with ridicule.

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


Who’s Donald Trump Bashing Now? A Principal Owner Of Fox News

Another day, another juvenile insult hurled by thin-skinned, crybaby Donald Trump. You have to wonder how Trump would respond to foreign leaders who were critical of him were he president. Judging by his past childish behavior he would counter criticisms from Vladimir Putin by calling him a loser; Kim Jong Un by mocking his height; and Angela Merkel would be deemed fat and/or ugly. Then he’d stick out his tongue, blow raspberries, and grin as if he’d accomplished something.

Fox News Donald Trump

That kind of diplomacy is the best of what we can expect from Trump. As evidence, he just engaged in a twitter clash with Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. Alwaleed is a member of the royal Saud family of Saudi Arabia. He is also the largest shareholder of 21st Century Fox (the parent corporation of Fox News) outside of the Murdoch family. In response to Trump’s racist and unconstitutional proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, which include Alwaleed himself, Alwaleed tweeted

“You are a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America. Withdraw from the US presidential race as you will never win.”

And Trump, fully displaying the level of his maturity, responded

“Dopey Prince @Alwaleed_Talal wants to control our U.S. politicians with daddy’s money. Can’t do it when I get elected.”

OK, the “dopey” part is typical Trumpian douchery. But what followed deserves some analysis. First of all, Trump has no moral ground to attack someone for having inherited wealth. Trump got his start with his daddy’s money and then proceeded to fail repeatedly in his business ventures. In fact, had Trump simply invested his inheritance in a Dow Jones index fund, he would be three or four times richer than he is today.

Secondly, Alwaleed isn’t trying to control U.S. politicians. He is simply expressing his opinion. It is Trump who, by his own admission, tried to control politicians for decades with his donations to their campaigns. And now he using his wealth to try to buy the White House (which he would only deface with his gauche taste and demeanor.

The spectacle that Trump is making of himself is precisely what Alwaleed called it: a disgrace. And Trump’s response just makes things worse. After all, “dopey” Alwaleed is #34 on the Forbes Magazine list of billionaires with $24.8 billion dollars. Trump is #405 with $4.3 billion – about one-sixth of Alwaleed’s fortune. Since Trump constantly tries to use his wealth as proof of how great he is (in his own mind), then Alwaleed is six times greater. Additionally, Alwaleed rescued Trump when he was floundering financially by buying his yacht, the Trump Princess (now rechristened as Kingdom 5KR), and his stake in the Plaza Hotel, for which Trump could not make his payments.

It needs to be said that Alwaleed is not a exactly a paragon of virtue. While he is a businessman/investor and not a politician, his country is one of the worst civil rights violators in the world, that discriminates against women, gays, and people of different faiths. But his remarks on this matter, and many other public issues, are fairly progressive and tolerant of diversity. It would be interesting to see what impact he would have if were elevated to a leadership role in his government. But that only makes his criticism of Trump more powerful because, if someone coming from a country with such a dismal record can righteously shame Trump, then Trump has has really sailed off the edge of the Earth.

Finally, it is significant that Trump is directing his puerile insults at one of the principle owners of Fox News. He has been a major beneficiary of the network’s coverage of his campaign. Media Matters has compiled data that shows Trump has dominated Fox’s airtime. And he achieved that despite having engaged in numerous, well-publicized feuds with the network. He has maligned many of their top people, including anchors, commentators, and all the way up to the executive suites of Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch.

Nevertheless, Fox News continues to lick Trump’s Ferragamos and treat him like their master. This swipe at Alwaleed is just the latest example of his arrogant disdain that not only goes unpunished by Fox, but gets rewarded with more fawning coverage and fierce defense every time he lets loose another gaffe, lie, or other expression of his overt hatefulness and fascistic tendencies.

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

It’s uncanny how Trump’s glassy-eyed supporters cling desperately to him no matter how much he lies to them (see the Trump Bullshitopedia). But equally bizarre is how Fox News clings to him no matter how abusive he is. They are like a battered spouse who come back for more after every beating. And sadly, the rest of the media isn’t much better at turning away from their batterer.


WTF? Donald Trump Backed By KKK, Thinks He’ll Win 100% Of Black Vote

There is a point at which Donald Trump’s repugnant reality TV persona crosses over the line from merely hateful, nativist demagoguery to psychopathic delusion. Some will argue that the line was crossed long ago, but whatever doubt remains has just been obliterated.

Donald Trump

Yesterday Politico published an in-depth article detailing the broad-based admiration for Trump among America’s white supremacists. That ought not to come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to Trump’s campaign. On the day he announced that he was running he slandered Latinos by characterizing Mexican immigrants as rapists and murderers. He went on to insult pretty much every minority constituency in the nation, culminating with his most recent racist and unconstitutional proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the country. These views have resulted in a surge of support from the KKK crowd. From Politico:

“The Ku Klux Klan is using Donald Trump as a talking point in its outreach efforts. Stormfront, the most prominent American white supremacist website, is upgrading its servers in part to cope with a Trump traffic spike. And former Louisiana Rep. David Duke reports that the businessman has given more Americans cover to speak out loud about white nationalism than at any time since his own political campaigns in the 1990s.”

Indeed, Trump has made it easier for bigots to come out of the closet and proudly exalt their white heritage over the minorities they fear and regard as inferior. Given his overtly racist rhetoric, that is not surprising. What is surprising is that Trump’s campaign not only doesn’t think he will be hurt by his hate speech, but what they actually believe they can achieve is mind-boggling. Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney and executive vice president at the Trump Organization, told Yahoo News

When asked how much of the African-American vote the campaign wants to win, Cohen had a perfectly Trumpian answer: All of it. “Our goal is 100 percent.”

That’s right. 100%! If that isn’t a symptom of megalomaniacal psychosis than Napoleon was a misunderstood wallflower. Trump would be exceedingly fortunate with a showing in the teens. He has done nothing but alienate black voters. A recent meeting he held with black pastors turned into an embarrassing affair after he told the press that they were endorsing him. Many of them had to correct the record and very few ended up making an endorsement. But Cohen went on to make an observation that touched on the truth at the beginning, but then fell completely apart.

According to Cohen, Trump needs to win black voters because other minority groups won’t support him: “The truth, yeah, I’m trying to coordinate it because I am mindful of the fact that, you know, there are coalitions and I’m talking about now like Hispanic coalitions that … will not support Trump,” Cohen explained. “And that’s OK because the ones that don’t like Trump aren’t even here legally and they can’t vote, so it doesn’t really matter, right?”

This doesn’t even make sense. Cohen is saying that Trump needs to pack in black voters to replace Latinos who will not vote for him. To the extent that he needs to find constituencies to replace those he’s insulted, that’s true. But then he asserts that those Latinos he’s lost can’t vote anyway. So according to his own warped logic, there aren’t really any lost votes that need to be replaced by African-Americans. And setting aside the incoherence of that logic, he is further demeaning Latino-Americans by accusing them all of being here illegally. But not only are they a significant percentage of the citizen population, they are the fastest growing voter demographic in the nation.

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

This would be a good time to remember that Trump had previously asserted that, despite his hostile rhetoric, he intended to win the Latino vote as well. Back in July he said that…

“I have a great relationship with the Mexican people. I have many people working for me […] They love me, I love them. And I’ll tell you something, if I get the nomination, I’ll win the Latino vote.”

See? He loves them. And they love him because they work for him. And everybody loves their boss, don’t they? Especially bosses who insult you and treat you like crap (A few days ago employees of Trump’s International Hotel in Las Vegas voted to unionize in order to attain fair wages, respect, and dignity). Apparently, now that great relationship with Mexicans has soured. Although he still has his great relationship with “the blacks,” as he calls them. At least until he decides to throw them overboard too. But none of this better get back to the Klan, the only group in this story that is actually supporting Trump’s candidacy.


Jonesin’ For Benghazi: Fox News Takes Another Hit From Their Stash Of ‘Smoking Guns’

With all of the media attention tightly focused on San Bernardino’s conjugal killers, you may have forgotten about a little pseudo-scandal that was previously the foremost fetish of Fox News and other right-wing media. Driven from the front pages was the Benghazi affair that had been the cudgel with which Fox News was beating up on Hillary Clinton for the past couple of years. Well, it’s back.

Benghazi

Thanks to the release of an email obtained by the rightist muckrakers at Judicial Watch, Fox News is once again satisfying its lust for the Libyan outpost that was attacked in 2012. And even though every investigation, including those conducted by Republicans in Congress, has found no wrongdoing by Clinton, President Obama, or any other government official, the obsession to cultivate a narrative that indicts Clinton for imaginary crimes remains in effect.

The email that is stirring the Benghazi stew is reported to be from the Defense Department to Clinton’s deputy chief of staff. Fox is claiming that it contradicts testimony made to Congress by former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. The email said in part…

“We have identified the forces that could move to Benghazi. They are spinning up as we speak.”

From that snippet, and absent any of the sort of research that real journalists do, Fox News immediately designated the email a “Smoking Gun” It was covered on Fox & Friends by former Survivor contestant Elisabeth Hasselbeck and retired judge Andrew Napolitano:

Hasselbeck: A newly released email from the Pentagon may be the smoking gun in the Benghazi investigation. The email addressed to top aides of Hillary Clinton shows the United States military was gearing up to respond to the Benghazi terror attacks. A message from then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s chief of staff reads this, quote, “We have identified the forces that could move into Benghazi. They are spinning up as we speak,” end quote. The email contradicts statements made by Panetta, who told the Senate after the attack that there was no time to get forces to Libya to try to save the people there. It now looks like the only thing standing between the terrorists who overran the compound and the four Americans who lost their lives was a green light from the State Department. Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano is here with reaction. This is big.

Napolitano: This is huge. And it’s extremely troublesome for the Obama administration today and for Mrs. Clinton.

Actually, this is just another in a long string of symptoms that can only be attributed to Smoking Gun Delirium Disorder. And every instance of Fox’s alleged smoking guns has turned out to be shooting soap bubbles. In this case it doesn’t take much work to determine that this email has no real significance. It does nothing to contradict Panetta’s testimony, in fact, it affirms it. Panetta explicitly cited the same military resources identified in the email when he appeared before Congress. And while Fox says that there was no response, the facts show that there were military deployments. However, neither his testimony nor the email indicates that the military response could come in time to intervene in the attack.

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

There is no doubt that this new smoking gun will suffer the same fate as all the others. Despite their desperate yearning for some nuclear fallout to land on Obama and/or Clinton, Fox News will come away disappointed. But that will not dissuade them from continuing to throw mud at the objects of their hate. They know that their audience will only retain the misinformation that was broadcast. And that’s because they drop the subject after it fails to advance their narrative. That’s why you haven’t heard about Benghazi since the last false email story. And it’s why you hear about it from Fox now that this story has been debunked.

Fox News


Fox Nation Promotes A Racist Hate Group’s Twisted Defense Of Donald Trump

FrontPage Mag, the online organ of David Horowitz’s right-wing Freedom Center, regularly publishes virulently anti-Muslim screeds intended to spread disinformation and fear. Horowitz is a radical rightist who has been called the godfather of the modern anti-Muslim movement” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. His organization is a fringe assembly of wingnuts that is tied to notorious Islamophobes like Pamela Gellar and Daniel Pipes. And that makes it a perfect source for the bigots at Fox Nation.

Seeking to shore up Donald Trump’s widely lambasted proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, FrontPage reached back thirty-five years to post an article titled “Jimmy Carter Banned Iranians from Coming to the U.S. During the Hostage Crisis.” The apparent purpose is to exonerate Trump by suggesting that Carter did the same thing. There’s just one little problem: It isn’t the same thing at all.

Fox Nation

It takes a deliberately obtuse individual to find any similarity between what President Carter did when Americans were being held captive in Iran, and what Trump is proposing now. Iran is a sovereign nation with an identifiable and accessible governing body. In 1979, in what became known as the Iranian Hostage Crisis, students, with the support of the government, took over the American embassy in Tehran and held fifty-two diplomats hostage. Responding to that act of terrorism, Carter implemented a series of sanctions against the nation of Iran to pressure them to release the hostages.

Among the measures taken by Carter was the breaking off of diplomatic relations, suspension of trade, freezing financial assets, and this one that was included in the FrontPage article to vindicate Trump:

“Invalidate all visas issued to Iranian citizens for future entry into the United States, effective today. We will not reissue visas, nor will we issue new visas, except for compelling and proven humanitarian reasons or where the national interest of our own country requires.”

That is what FrontPage and the Fox Nationalists think is comparable to Trump’s desire to prohibit all Muslims, from all nations, from entering the U.S. based on their religion. Carter was imposing sanctions on the citizens of a country that was unlawfully detaining Americans. That is a reasonable reaction to an act of aggression by sovereign state. It is how diplomacy is conducted in order to pressure an antagonistic country into complying with international law.

Trump, on the other hand, is advocating a ban on all individuals of a particular faith. They may have nothing to do with any other nation or entity that is in conflict with the U.S. They may, in fact, be supporters of the U.S. who seek to travel here in order to help in the fight against terrorism. They may be doctors or scientists or teachers who cherish Western freedoms. They may be diplomats or politicians from Canada or Italy or Indonesia. They may be relatives of American Muslims who simply want to visit or reunite with their families. The one identifying characteristic prohibiting them from entry under Trump’s proposal is their religion.

That sort of religious bigotry is antithetical to everything for which America stands. It violates the very principles that inspired the first Europeans to venture to a New World. And, unlike the sanctions imposed by Carter, there is no discernible benefit that could be derived from imposing it. Nevertheless, here is the nearly incoherent argument offered by FrontPage:

“Now unlike Muslims, Iranians were not necessarily supportive of Islamic terrorism. Many were and are opponents of it. Khomeini didn’t represent Iran as a country, but his Islamist allies. So Trump’s proposal is far more legitimate than Carter’s action. Carter targeted people by nationality. Trump’s proposal does so by ideology. […] Classifying Iranians as a group is closer to racism than classifying people by a racist supremacist ideology that calls for the mass murder and enslavement of non-Muslims, as ISIS is doing today.”

To set the bar for idiocy as low as possible, the very first sentence of their argument implies that all Muslims are “supportive of Islamic terrorism.” They go on to make the absurd contention that “Khomeini didn’t represent Iran as a country.” WTF? And based on those ludicrous assertions, they conclude that Trump’s proposal is “far more legitimate than Carter’s.” This is literally too stupid to respond to.

But they aren’t done embarrassing themselves. The next half-baked notion they float is that targeting citizens of a nation with which you are in conflict is racist, which by definition, it is not. At the same time they dismiss that notion that targeting people by religion is racist, which by definition it is. And they close by again implying that all Muslims practice the sort of perversion of Islam that is practiced by ISIS.

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

This is the sort of garbage “journalism” that Fox News has chosen to pluck out of the hate mongering fringe in order to defend Donald Trump. That tells you just how desperate they are to maintain their appeal to Trump’s bigoted supporters. It is a marriage made in hell that only furthers the interests of America’s enemies.

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Donald Trump Says He Is Not Bothered By Comparisons To Hitler. Is The GOP?

It had to come to this. Donald Trump’s affinity for Nazis was always just beneath the diseased skin of his repulsive rhetoric. Now, after months of promulgating brazenly racist views, advocating policies that are indistinguishable from those of history’s fascists, and promising to commit war crimes if elected, will anybody be surprised by it bubbling to the surface? Trump’s true face was exposed today when he was asked a simple question on Good Morning America:

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

Donald Trump

So there you have it. Donald Trump is not bothered by comparisons to Adolf Hitler. And why should he be? He has been running on the platform of the Nazi Party since he announced his candidacy. What’s more, he justifies his comfort with the association by positively referencing the Japanese internment camps built during the FDR administration, which are universally condemned as one of America’s most shameful actions.

When asked about those concentration camps by Michael Scherer of Time, Trump refused to say he would have opposed them. Instead, he said that he “would have had to be there at the time to tell you, to give you a proper answer.” The rest of the civilized world doesn’t need to be there to know that it was a horrific violation of human rights. Would Trump have had to be there during slavery to give a proper answer?

Trump’s fascist tendencies are apparent in his signature issue, a border wall to keep out those inferior foreigners. And he goes even further by suggesting that foreigners already in the country be rounded up, herded into boxcars, and deported using the deadly model from the 1950’s charmingly called Operation Wetback.” He wants to create a database of American citizens based on their religion and require Muslims to wear identifying badges. He uses the media (mostly, but not exclusively, Fox News) to stir up irrational fears based on an ever-expanding catalog of lies (See the Trump Bullshitopedia). And, sadly, the media sheepishly complies with his campaign of propaganda.

The question now is: Where does the Republican Party go from here? With an avowed fascist currently leading their primary for president, the GOP has to decide which side they’re on. They simply cannot abide a candidate espousing Third Reich doctrine and expect to be taken seriously. Some of the other GOP contenders have distanced themselves from Trump’s most recent comments, and RNC chairman Reince Priebus even made a public statement of disapproval, an almost unheard of move for a party boss.

But that’s hardly enough. Earlier this year the Republican Party made all their candidates sign loyalty oaths promising to support the Party’s nominee regardless of who it is. But given the grotesque course of Trump’s campaign, that would mean pledging to support America’s foremost fascist. Anyone who honors a pledge to support Herr Trump for president is unfit for public service in a free nation. This sentiment was boldly expressed today by President Obama’s press Secretary, Josh Earnest (video below) who said that Trump’s proposal to ban all Muslims…

“…disqualifies him from being president. And for Republican candidates to stand by their pledge to support Mr. Trump, that in and of itself is disqualifying.”

So far, none of the other GOP candidates has had the integrity (guts?) to publicly declare that they would not support Trump if he is the nominee. That is partly due to their innate cowardice, as they do not want to alienate Trump’s current constituency of fascist-friendly voters. Why they want those voters in their corner is a sick mystery. But a part of it is also due to their fear that Trump might ditch the GOP and run as a Third (Reich) Party candidate. A recent poll shows that 68% of his glassy-eyed disciples would vote for him were he to run as an independent. And Trump is reminding his Republican pals of this in his twitter feed.

So Trump is wrapping his GOP peers around his middle finger. But how much sway does he really have? He can’t possibly win as an independent. While more than two-thirds is a significant chunk of his base, it is a tiny slice of the electorate. Do the math: About 30% of the American people identify as Republican. Trump has about 30% support within the Republican Party. So that’s about 9% of the population at large. Those who would follow him to a third party reduces that by 30%. So Trump would get a measly 6% of the national vote from Republicans, plus whatever independents and Democrats would crossover. In short, he would lose in a landslide.

The problem for the GOP is that, in a close race, that 6% could swing the election to the Democrat. And that’s why Republicans are running scared and failing to show the character to renounce Trump. However, if they don’t renounce Trump they are doing serious damage to their reputation which could cost them more than 6% come November. So the only course of action for them is to have some intestinal fortitude and do the right thing. They need to modify their loyalty oath to exclude Trump from among those whom they would support as the GOP nominee. This shouldn’t be that hard for them because Trump has already hinted that he is ready to violate the pledge.

If Trump acts first and bolts the Party they can’t ever regain the dignity that would come by having kicked him out. But if they move first they can at least brag that they held to their principles and turned their backs on fascism (at least Trump’s brand of it). But they better move fast. Trump is just unpredictable (and egotistical) enough to make a surprise announcement before anyone expects it. And since the GOP has little to lose, they would be smart to cast him out now. Unfortunately for them, they may not be that smart. Of course, that would be quite fortunate for the Democrats.

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

[Update:] Donald Trump continues his Anti-American Crusade: “These are people that are outside the country, so we’re really not talking about the Constitution. And it’s not about religion. This is about safety.” In other words, in pursuit of his warped idea of safety he would scrap the Constitution.


Fox News Promotes Crazy Ex-Congressman’s Unhinged, Islamophobic Rant

On a day that has seen two Fox News loudmouths suspended for using profanity on the air, and the leading Republican presidential candidate (yep, Donald Trump) propose banning all Muslims from entering the United States (an idea so repulsive that Dick Cheney (!) said it “goes against everything we stand for and believe in”), there is still another lowlife wingnut competing for recognition as asshole of the day.

Fox Nation Joe Walsh

Former Illinois representative Joe Walsh (R-Loon) is a world-class nutcase who has called for beheading members of the media. He posted a video on his Facebook page (see below) to express his dismay over something he thought he heard Attorney General Loretta Lynch say. The resulting tirade was a spectacularly deranged descent into rank Islamophobia. So obviously Fox News featured it on their community website, Fox Nation, so as to spread the hate to the biggest audience possible.

Walsh: You got a problem Loretta Lynch? Well this is for you and everybody else in this country who is trying to shut me up.

[This paranoid douchebag seriously believes that scads of people are trying to shut him up, when there probably aren’t a dozen who even know that he’s talking]

Walsh: You come out today and you say you’re going to prosecute Americans who use anti Muslim speech? That doesn’t happen in this country. I can say whatever I want about Christians, Jews or Muslims.

[Actually, Lynch never said anything like that. More on that point later]

Walsh: I think Islam has a real freaking problem, alright? There is a cancer in Islam, and if they’re not going to learn to assimilate, I don’t want them in this country. You got a problem, Loretta Lynch, with me saying that? Then throw me in jail. […] Well you know what? I hope that there is a backlash. There should be a backlash. I’m going to encourage a backlash. And do you know what Loretta Lynch? If that bothers you, prosecute me.

[And not only is Walsh paranoid and delusional, he’s bitterly racist. And he is not shy about advocating violence]

Now let’s take a look at what Lynch actually said:

Lynch: When we talk about the First Amendment we [must] make it clear that actions predicated on violent talk are not American. They are not who we are, they are not what we do, and they will be prosecuted. My message not just to the Muslim community but to all Americans is: we cannot give in to the fear that these backlashes are really based on.

Notice that Walsh is trembling with anger at the thought that his God given right to hurl noxious insults at Muslims who have never harmed him might be infringed upon by the chief law enforcement officer of the land. He is absolutely furious that she would suggest something so un-American.

The only problem with Walsh’s bitchfest is that Lynch didn’t suggest anything of the kind. What she said plainly referred to “actions” not words. And in America, if you engage in violent actions that were incited by the sort of crackpot rhetoric that Walsh is dishing out, you can and will be prosecuted. It is also possible to be prosecuted if speech is deemed to have incited violence, but there has to an imminent threat and a direct causal association and intention. That’s much harder to prove.

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

So Walsh’s howling harangue was a big waste of time and energy wherein he completely misunderstood what Lynch said. It accomplished nothing other than to reveal what an ignorant, racist dickwad he is. It’s also an ideal illustration of what President Obama was warning against in his speech last when he said…

“We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam. That, too, is what groups like ISIL want. ISIL does not speak for Islam. They are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death […] the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are Muslim. If we’re to succeed in defeating terrorism we must enlist Muslim communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away through suspicion and hate.”


Foul-Mouthed Fox News Obama-Hater Is Given Time-Out By Puppet/Anchor

The seething hatred of President Obama by Fox News came gushing out this morning by one of the network’s most notorious hatchet men. Lt. Col Ralph Peters (whose name translates to “vomiting penises” in Slanglish) appeared on Stuart Varney’s Fox Business program to discuss/bash Obama’s Oval Office speech on terrorism last night.

Fox News Ralph Peters

Peters was virtually spitting teeth (video below) as he was unable to control his most primitive tendencies. In an otherwise mundane response to Varney’s inquiry as to “What was your commentary as the President’s speech unfolded?” Peters launched into a profane rant that barely addressed anything about the speech itself.

Peters: Well, first of all, he keeps speaking about “We can’t give in to our fears. Don’t be afraid.” Look Mr. President, we’re not afraid. [shouting] We’re angry. We’re pissed off. We’re furious. We want you to react. We want you to do something. You’re afraid. I mean this guy is such a total pussy it’s stunning.

Really? The President who presided over the capture and execution of Osama Bin Laden; who as Commander-in-Chief as ordered more than 8,000 airstrikes against ISIS; whose military missions have dropped more than 20,000 bombs on enemy targets; who has killed thousands of ISIS fighters, including many of its leaders; this president is a pussy? What Peters, and every right-winger, are too ignorant to acknowledge is that Obama has been executing a plan that has had much success. Yet his critics keep blathering about irrelevancies. Is it because he refuses to send more Americans onto a battlefield where they would become sitting ducks for a guerrilla insurgency? Or because he expects the people of the region to take responsibility for the ground war against an enemy that is murdering them?

Peters goes on to lambaste Obama in the fashion that birthers have long used to “otherize” him as an alien creature saying that “The American people, whom he does not know in any sort of intimate manner,” want action. He then rattles off s a series of assertions that the President cares more about our enemies than ourselves. Eventually, Varney steps in to daintily scold Peters for his potty mouth.

Varney: I can tell you are super-angry, and I asked you what your reaction was, but I gotta call you, you can’t use language like that on the program. OK. I’m Sorry.

He’s sorry? What for? Peters comes completely unglued with an offensive rant and Varney apologizes for chastising him, while excusing the outburst due to Peters’ anger. What makes this even more ridiculous is that Varney allows Peters to continue for a bit and then…

Varney: Ralph, I’m sorry. I’ve got to interrupt again. You used some very strong language there about the President of the United States, and I’m the anchor of Varney & Co. and I have to ask you, either you should apologize for that or take it back.

Peters chose only to apologize. But you have to wonder what happened in between Varney’s first redress of the foul language and his subsequent request for an apology. It seems likely that someone in the control room pulling Varney’s strings gave him a directive to force a more formal atonement. While Fox’s audience likely shares Peters’ crude disgust for all things Obama, the network may have to tread lightly so as not to offend their glassy-eyed, Christianist viewers.

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

For the record, Peters has proven to be one of the most repugnant individuals to ever appear on Fox News (and that’s saying something). The Ralph Peters Story is one of truly nauseating notions that include: advocating military strikes on the American media; that there aren’t enough civilian casualties in war; that the U.S. should be more like ISIS; that the Taliban should have been allowed to execute an American soldier; and many more horrendous pronouncements. Consequently, this frothing tirade is not particularly surprising. And it is typical of the irrational loathing that is broadcast on Fox News every day.

[Update:] Fox News has issued a press release stating that Ralph Peters has been suspended for two weeks due to his “inappropriate and unacceptable” comments. Fox also suspended contributor and fill-in cohost on Outnumbered, Stacey Dash, for saying that the President “doesn’t give a shit” about terrorism. It should be noted that these two contributors are often not on the air for two weeks or more, so this “punishment” is purely symbolic.

Also notable is that Fox has not reported the news of these suspensions and they have not posted video of Peters’ appearance on Varney & Co. It’s too bad that Fox will punish people for bad language, but not for bad information. Let’s see if they suspend Donald Trump who has been saying “bullshit” and “chickenshit” in his stump speeches lately.


Pathological Liar Donald Trump Is Calling Other People Liars Which, Of Course, Is A Lie

The volume of excrement spewing from the mouth of Donald Trump continues to increase by the day. The latest eruption comes from a speech he gave in Davenport, Iowa, where he made baseless accusations against Saira Khan, the sister of terrorist gunman Syed Farook.

Donald Trump

In an interview (video below) with NBC’s Chris Jansing, Khan revealed that she, and other members of her family, were shocked by her brother’s involvement in the attack. She was clearly distraught and described it as a nightmare. But when Trump watched the interview he saw more than the average mortal would be able to see.

Trump: I watched the sister of the guy last night on television, right, and I’m pretty good at this stuff, and I watched her, she had the veil, the whole thing, she’s talking about the brother. […] I thought she was lying so much. I’m good at this. I thought she was a total liar. I watched her being interviewed last night, right? She lied about him. She didn’t know he felt this way? She knew. And a lot of other people knew, too.

So The Donald is “good at this stuff?” What is he talking about? Reading people’s minds? What he’s good at is libeling people without a speck of evidence. For him to say flatly that “she knew” is a malicious assertion that could result in serious harm physically, emotionally, and to her reputation. Trump is effectively saying that she is an accomplice to terrorism. And for a pathological liar like Trump to impugn the honesty of anyone else is just ludicrous.

A couple of years ago Glenn Beck similarly implied that an innocent person was involved in the Boston marathon bombing. Beck is now being sued for his reckless and bigoted comments. And the same thing should happen to Trump. However, this defamation fits nicely with Trump’s prior remarks last week wherein he said that family members should be targeted in military strikes, which would constitute war crimes.

Trump: When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don’t kid yourself when they say they don’t care about their lives. You have to take out their families.

This focus on the family is a rapidly developing pattern for Trump. With today’s libel against Ms Khan, and last week’s advocacy of war crimes, Trump is showing that he has no regard for innocent human life. It’s a position he comes to through his innate racism and a desire exploit the fear of his paranoid followers. Even worse, it is steeped in the sort of unmitigated ignorance and delusion that produced his fantastical claim that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey were celebrating the fall of the World Trade Center buildings.

Trump’s disturbing assault on family members, whose beliefs he can’t possibly know, took another turn toward the nauseating hate-mongering that has become the trademark of his campaign. On CBS’ Face the Nation this morning he whipped up another slap at families and simultaneously added another bald-faced lie to the Trump Bullshitopedia:

Trump: [The 9/11 hijackers] put their families on airplanes, couple of days before, sent them back to Saudi Arabia for the most part. Those wives knew exactly what was going to happen.

There’s just one small problem with that wild assertion. Only one of the nineteen hijackers was married. No doubt Trump saw “thousands and thousands” of terrorist housewives boarding planes on September 9th, taking with them their knowledge of Bin Laden’s plans. And if anyone disputes his claims he will back them up with hundreds of his twitter followers who also saw the phantom planes. Mass dementia is working well for Trump. It’s probably something he learned from Fox News.

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