Fox and Friends Makes a Damn Good Argument to Vote for Democrats – No, Really!

Posted by on November 6, 2019 at 11:35 am. 5 Comments :

The pressure is on at the White House as evidence incriminating Donald Trump continues to pile up. The impeachment inquiry is entering a new, more public phase that is exposing facts that are unarguably tying Trump and his cohorts to unlawful activities. And it’s causing him to lash out in ever more incoherent ways. Even his support among Republicans has begun a disastrous freefall.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Strange

Of course, whatever affects Trump also has a symbiotic reaction at the Fox News Channel, the network whose mission is to protect and defend Trump and the conservative wackosphere from all enemies, foreign and domesticated. But the weight of the pressure currently being applied by Congress and the Constitution may be overwhelming Fox’s capacity to respond as programmed. This is creating some bizarre departures from their expected behaviors.

On Wednesday morning, the day after Trump’s Republican Nationalist Party suffered severe electoral defeats in Kentucky and Virginia, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends engaged in an exchange that began uneventfully with a typically pro-GOP tirade by Ainsley Earhardt. However, it quickly veered off into something that was uncharacteristically (gasp) liberal! It went something like this (video below):

Earhardt: I don’t understand how that message … how she [Elizabeth Warren] is doing so well with that message. That message is saying “You have more than I do. I’m jealous of yours. I wanna take some of what you have.”
Steve Doocy: But if you don’t have anything, that’s a very potent message, believe me.
Earhardt: But that’s not the American way. The American way is to work your tail off. Keep working. Say yes, say yes. Work weekends, work nights, work your way to the top.
Doocy: I get that. But if you have worked really hard and you still don’t have anything … I mean, I’ve been to the Bernie Sanders rallies where there are a lot of people who need help. You know, they didn’t have health care. They have problems with college tuition. And things like that. So for the Democratic message … “Look, you don’t have anything. The government is going to make sure that the most successful people pay extra so you can get a hand up.” That is very powerful. That’s why you look at the number of people with that point of view, you add up all the people that support that, it’s a big number.

WOW! Doocy gave a pretty good summation of Democratic principles that favor providing for the basic needs of all Americans. He seemed to recognized the appeal of programs that insure that no American goes hungry, or is unable to get medical care, or is burdened by undue debts for education, in the richest nation in the world. He even acknowledged that those benefiting from such programs do work hard and are not shiftless layabouts seeking to take advantage of the system.

The people Doocy is talking about are indeed a large group. And their numbers grow exponentially by adding their families, friends, and other compassionate citizens, who care about the less fortunate among us. They are also many of the same people that Trump tries to attract. He calls them the “forgotten Americans,” and they populate his cult rallies. However, the difference between the Democratic solutions and Trump’s is that Democrats think the wealthy should pay more to fill the gap, as Doocy noted, Meanwhile, Trump and the GOP think the wealthy should pay less (in taxes), and the poor should pay more, by giving up benefits like food stamps, housing assistance, college loan aid, and access to health care.

To be sure, whatever caused that glitch in the Fox News system that resulted in them going haywire with concern for others, it will be temporary. Rest assured that there are already people huddling in the executive suites plotting how to correct the malfunction. But in the meantime it was interesting to hear a perspective on the network that wasn’t dripping with rancor, racism, and animosity toward Americans who need a little bit of help from time to time. So enjoy it while it lasts, but don’t get used to it.

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

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HOLY CREEP! Trump Admits to Using the U.S. Military Budget to Bribe Voters

Posted by on November 5, 2019 at 11:55 am. 5 Comments :

The degree to which Donald Trump lacks any hint of self-awareness is mind boggling. He shamelessly boasts about having record-breaking support among Republicans when that support is actually in decline. He demands that the whistleblower testify while, in the same breath, insists that nobody should testify. He pretends that he’s not worried about being impeached, but can’t stop talking – or tweeting – about it.

Donald Trump, Prison

Now, as Trump is being shredded by an avalanche of evidence that he extorted Ukrainian President Zelensky in order to get dirt on Joe Biden, Trump is simultaneously engaging in a another flagrant case of bribery. This one centers around the off-year elections that are now being held in several states. Trump has been consumed with campaigning in the past few weeks, focusing on those states. Both his tweets and his cult rallies have been centered around the election calendar. But in a disturbing Tuesday tweet Trump literally confessed to a bribery scheme to get votes:

This is one of the most brazen admissions of criminal electioneering ever. It begins with Trump reminding the people of Virgina of his “genorosity” with federal dollars. That, of course, isn’t true. Trump has even diverted military funds to building his vanity border wall, which won’t help Virginia in the slightest. And then Trump holds the promise of future spending in the state over their heads. He is plainly trying to frighten Virginia voters with threats that federal allocations will dry up if they don’t vote for him. And we know that Trump is not shy about abusing his power to punish those he doesn’t deem sufficietly worshipful.

This tweet cannot be interpreted as anything other than a bribe. He is trying to appeal to Virginians who are reliant on federal funds for jobs and the economic boost that military facilities bring to localities. That is illegal on its face. It is also a breach of national security as it directs the allocations of military funding based on Trump’s political whims, rather than the needs of the nation’s armed forces. In that respect, Trump is violating his oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

For Trump to openly admit to this criminal activity is both shocking and predictable. His capacity for breaking the law and bragging about it is unheard of in American politics. And the saddest part of it all is that he so often gets away with it. As the current impeachment inquiry progresses, hopefully Trump will finally be held accountable for at least a few of his crimes. Were there any realistic administration of justice, Trump would never get out of prison.

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


Trump’s Dementia Kicks In, Whining that the Whistleblower Must and Must Not Testify

Posted by on November 4, 2019 at 11:28 am. 4 Comments :

This is the latest chapter of the Trump Impeachment Saga: The Walls are Closing In. And as they do Trump becomes ever more deranged and incoherent. He knows that his support, even among Republicans, is rapidly deteriorating. He knows that he has no comprehensible response to the charges against him. He’s scared witless of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff. And he’s reduced to behaving like a cowardly victim of the gathering hordes of enemies his paranoia imagines are surrounding him.

Trump Fear

It’s a pathetic spectacle that is plain to see by most Americans (who favor his impeachment and removal from office), as well as our allies and foes around the world. And he’s getting noticeably worse as more evidence and witnesses become available to the public. Trump is on a downward spiral that is manifesting in everything he does and says.

On Monday morning Trump provided a profoundly disturbing example of his mental decline. Within his regularly scheduled tweetstorm, he ranted about what he’s now calling a “Witch Hunt Hoax.” That used to be the investigation into his unsavory connections to Russia, but has now been rebranded for the Ukraine affair. Among the tweets he posted were these bizarre comments:

“…all you have to do is read the transcript of the call, you do not need Never Trumpers or other witnesses to say what it means or says. It is plainly and very well stated for all to see.

“There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning.”

“The Whistleblower gave false information & dealt with corrupt politician Schiff. He must be brought forward to testify.”

So Trump is adamant that there need not be any testimony by anyone regarding his extortion of Ukrainian President Zelensky while seeking dirt on Joe Biden. But he’s just as adamant that the testimony take place. How his diseased brain synchronizes those contradictions is a mystery. He has been repeatedly insisting that people “read the transcript.” Of course, many people have already done this and were thus persuaded that Trump is obviously guilty of pressuring Zelensky and demanding a quid pro quo. The “transcript” (which was really just a memo summarizing the phone call) explicitly referenced Trump’s request for “a favor” that he directly associated with an improper probe of the Biden’s.

Furthermore, Trump doesn’t feel that it’s necessary for others to analyze his words. Well, except for his GOP defenders and Fox News. He posts endless videos from those “analysts” on Twitter. And he maligns anyone who dares to find any critical messaging as “Never-Trumpers,” despite having no evidence whatsoever that they were political opponents. What’s more, Trump declared that the whistleblower should not be permitted to provide written answers to the investigators. Although that was perfectly permissible for himself when he answered questions for Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Trump’s tweetery about the “transcripts” has also recently swerved into lunatic territory with allegations that Rep. Schiff (to whom Trump has applied the anti-Semitic nickname, “Shifty”) would “change the words that were said to suit the Dems purposes.” Nevermind that they were all prepared by committee staff that included Republican members, and their accuracy would be easy to confirm. Trump also tweeted a confession that his actions constituted a quid pro quo, but which he falsely claimed wasn’t impeachable.

Don’t hurt yourself trying to figure out how any of Trump’s tirades make sense. They don’t. They are blatant machinations designed to confuse and frustrate those delving into his criminal activities. And they have been constructed by a mind that has lost all connections to reality. His comments on Twitter and his “Chopper Talk” press avails are increasingly incomprehensible. We are watching a developing paranoid psychosis in real time and on public platforms. And it isn’t pretty.

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


Fox News Poll Proves that Trump Voters are Willing Captives of a Cult

Posted by on November 3, 2019 at 11:23 am. 14 Comments :

In the past couple of weeks, Donald Trump has been crowing about what he says is unprecedented unity within the Republican Party. He couldn’t be more wrong. Trump repeatedly cites a 95% approval rating for him by GOP voters. That’s a false stat for which he never bothers to provide a source. Most other polls put it in the low 80s at best, and it’s heading down. Even Trump’s favorite, ultra-biased pollster, Rasmussen, is showing him near his lows for the year.

Donald Trump, MAGA

However, there is an argument that Trump can make regarding the devotion of his dwindling cadre of supporters. They are enraptured by their Dear Leader to a degree unseen since the Manson Family. And a new poll by Fox News confirms that the worshipful adoration of Trump’s glassy-eyed followers is a powerful force, albeit only effective on a small minority of the electorate. The Fox News poll reveals that a majority 53% of voters want Trump to be impeached. And 49% want him impeached and removed from office. But the most notable figures in this poll address the subset of Trump supporters:

“Among those opposing impeachment, 57 percent say nothing could change their mind, while 34 percent say new evidence could make them support impeachment. […and…] over half of Republicans (53 percent) say it is generally okay for the president to ask foreign leaders for help in going after his rivals.”

So a majority of those who are currently against impeaching the President won’t change their minds regardless of the evidence. That means even if a “smocking“ gun is found that incriminates him for treason, they will still back Trump. These are the people that Trump was talking about when he said that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any support.

This is not the sort of movement that is generally associated with a political campaign. It is the defining characteristics of a cult. Trump’s followers don’t care whether he broke the law, or breached his oath of office, or violated the Constitution. They don’t even care about his policies that are demonstrably worse for them than for the public at large. They only care about genuflecting before “The Chosen One” (as he calls himself).

The poll has other bad news for Trump that is also ignored by his faithful Deplorables. It found that he is underwater on immigration (40% approve, 57% disapprove), foreign policy (37-56), and health care (35-53). He has a slim 3-point margin (49-46) on the economy. What’s more, Trump is shown to be losing to the top four Democrats included in the survey: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Hillary Clinton. Although why Fox polled Clinton is a mystery, or perhaps wishful thinking.

Trump spent much of Sunday morning tweeting about his pathetic victimhood. Which is a peculiar position for someone who occupies what is often called the most powerful office on Earth. Much of his whining featured praise for the One America News Network (OANN), a channel so tiny that Nielsen doesn’t track their ratings. This must be part of his campaign to drive his followers away from Fox News, which he said “doesn’t deliver for US anymore,” and declared that “We have to start looking for a new News Outlet.”

So the cult is shopping around for a network that will be more complimentary and obedient. It’s hard to imagine that Fox News wasn’t sufficiently fulfilling that objective. But then, Fox is having problems of its own as their ratings have sharply declined lately. That’s more likely due to viewers tiring of the bias and lies, than to Trump’s temper tantrums. But he certainly isn’t doing Fox any good. Which just happens to be quite good for the rest of us.

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


The Trump Sycophant ‘Softball Question of the Year’ Award Goes to Fox News – Again

Posted by on November 2, 2019 at 12:26 pm. 1 Comments :

Donald Trump is turkey-neck deep in an impeachment inquiry that is accumulating evidence faster than it can be processed. At any other time in history, this much proof of criminal behavior and obstruction of justice would have been more than sufficient to shame the president from ever showing his face in public. He would have been humiliated as well prosecuted, and would have jumped ship long ago.

Donald Trump Fox News

However, in these peculiar times we have a president who is buttressed by a propaganda network that lavishes him with undying praise, defends him from any and all criticism, and maligns his political foes as schemers, liars, and even traitors. The worshipful devotion of Fox News to Trump and his regime is unprecedented. Many of their former employees are now on the White House payroll. Likewise, many former White House staff are now working for Fox.

Making matters worse, Trump’s current Press Secretary, Stephanie Grisham (who is a certified “Deep State” conspiracy kook), has never held a single press conference. She has literally moved the media functions of the White House into the Fox News studio, which is the only place she ever appears before the public. This, of course, is fine with Fox because it gives them exclusive coverage of the Trump administration’s official disinformation. They are also the only network that still airs Trump’s lie and hate filled cult rallies in full and uninterrupted as they happen.

In an especially slobbering segment on Friday (video below), Grisham was “interviewed” by Fox’s Bill Hemmer. Naturally, the subject of impeachment came up and Hemmer forged valiantly into the fray with what is undoubtedly the softest ball thrown at a presidential spokesperson this year – maybe ever. It is truly impressive how Grisham managed to muddle through this wet kiss interrogation that began with Hemmer asking…

It seems as if you have concluded [impeachment] is a foregone conclusion. And if the president believes that as well, how has he described his feelings to you about that potential reality?

Feelings? Seriously? Hemmer is hammering Grisham by demanding that she dig deep and reveal Li’l Donnie’s unspoken feelings about becoming just the third president ever to be impeached. As if Trump has any “unspoken” feelings. And if he does, the last person to disclose them honestly is his designated disseminator of deception. Grisham responded with a flurry of robo-talking points:

He has described his feelings to the American people. You just have to look at his Twitter feed to show. This is a sham and a kangaroo court. This has been unjust and unfair. The president did absolutely nothing wrong. We released the transcript weeks ago for everybody to see. There was no quid pro quo. The Ukrainian government themselves has said they felt absolutely no pressure. Aid was eventually released to the Ukraine.

Someone needs to reprogram Grisham. She is stuck on auto-spew, and even so, is digging Trump into a deeper abyss of political and legal jeopardy. Her reference to the “transcript” (which was really just a summary memo of Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky) works against Trump’s interests. Although Trump has also been obsessed with what he is lately saying is an exact, verbatim transcription of the phone call. It isn’t, and it says so on the first page. Nevertheless, Trump has repeatedly tweeted exhortations to “READ THE TRANSCRIPT!” One has to wonder if he has read it, because it indisputably incriminates him. For instance, after Zelensky raises the issue of U.S. military aid, Trump replies…

“I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”

That’s a textbook quid pro quo. Trump talks about getting some information related to a debunked conspiracy theory about a computer server that belonged to the Democratic National Committee. But he quickly segues from that to explicit requests for dirt on Joe Biden:

“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with [Rudy Giuliani and] the Attorney General [William barr] would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it … It sounds horrible to me.”

That sounds horrible to a lot of people, but not for the reasons Trump is thinking. Trump recently suggested that he would like to have a nationally televised “fireside chat” wherein he would read the “transcript” to the American people. That’s a great idea, because we would then have him saying in his own voice the words that warrant his impeachment. Then Grisham could return to Fox News where they could ask her how he feels about making an ass of himself and being booted from 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.


Pyro Maniac: Trump’s Impeachment is Burning Down His Republican Support Firewall

Posted by on November 1, 2019 at 1:19 pm. 2 Comments :

On Thursday Democrats in the House of Representatives, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, voted to formalize Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry with rules providing for open hearings and bipartisan participation. It was everything that Trump and his Republican Nationalist Party were asking for, but still they complained and voted against it en masse. The official White House response was a pitiful heap of petulance and trash-talking points.

Flaming Trump

Nevertheless, the process has been advanced to a new phase where evidence and witness testimony that is certain to further incriminate the President will be made public. That will have a profound effect on Trump’s deteriorating mental state, which is already descending into the Mariana Trench of desperation. His attacks on any and all perceived foes will escalate in both volume and absurdity.

Likewise, voters will continue to be appalled by the abject criminality of their so-called president. There is already a majority of Americans who favor impeaching Trump and removing him from office. Even Trump’s favorite, ultra-biased pollster, Rasmussen, is showing him near his lows for the year. But what must be especially worrisome for Trump and his minions is the crumbling support from within his own camp. According to a new poll:

“Trump’s job approval rating is stable and low, at 38% in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, with one notable result: a career low in approval among Republicans, 74%, down steeply from a career-high 87% in July.”

That’s right. Trump’s approval among Republicans is raging inferno of failure as the walls of impeachment fall in all around him. Which might be why he hasn’t mentioned once the disastrous wildfires in California. He doesn’t want to be reminded of things burning down.

The general public’s negative view in this poll is consistent with other surveys showing majorities favoring impeachment. But this poll also notes that 18% of the pro-impeachment vote is coming from the GOP. That’s a devastating blow to Trump’s frantic reliance on the home teamers to prop him up during troubled times. One of Trump’s most frequent displays of neediness manifests on Twitter as boasting about the GOP’s glassy-eyed adoration of Dear Leader. For instance, he’s tweeted some variation of the following seventeen times this year:

It’s difficult to verify whether or not that’s actually a record because Trump didn’t once include a link or reference to wherever he got that figure in any of his tweets. Also, it seems to waver between 93% and 95% apparently depending on how much he wants to lie on that particular day. But now we have a documented source that puts Trump’s approval among Republicans at a much lower 74%, and it was never higher than 87%. Therefore, we can probably expect Trump to post a new tweet congratulating himself on reaching a phenomenally high (and laughably fake) 98% of GOP support.

Because Trump’s defenders are always asking what he could possibly be impeached for, here are just a few of the likely charges: extortion, campaign finance violations, witness intimidation, obstruction of justice, evidence tampering, breaching the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, and conspiracy against the United States. Of course, many StormTrumpers will never hear these charges because they rely entirely on Fox News for disinformation. But then Fox is having problems of their own sustaining support.

The House is almost certainly going to pass Articles of Impeachment against Trump before the end of the year. One of the key factors in how GOP senators will rule on those indictments is the how their voters are lining up. Currently the Republican members are only privately concerned about the guilt of their president. But that concern will become more actionable as Republican voters drift farther from Trump.

When GOP senators are sufficiently afraid that Trump is hurting their reelection prospects, expect them to flip on the Offender-in-Chief and vote to boot him from the White House, or pressure him to resign, as they did with Richard Nixon. Either way, the next couple of months are definitely gonna be popcorn worthy.

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

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Trump’s Impotent Response to Impeachment Vote is Flagrantly Delusional and Dishonest

Posted by on October 31, 2019 at 11:47 am. 3 Comments :

On Thursday morning the House of Representatives did what Donald Trump and his Republican Nationalist Party has been asking for. They voted to proceed with the impeachment inquiry in an open, accessible manner that permits the GOP to review all documents and transcripts, issue subpoenas, and cross-examine witnesses. So naturally Trump and Republicans are still whining.

Donald Trump, Impeach

The spectacle of a president whining like a petulant child seems unthinkable, but for Trump it is business as usual. During his campaign he actually bragged that he is “the most fabulous whiner.” And he has spent his presidency proving it. Now, with the walls closing in around him, Trump is lashing out incoherently in a panicked effort to escape accountability for his treasonous misconduct. In an official statement from the White House, Trump laid out an impotent case for his acquittal. Let’s take a closer look at the full statement with some explanatory annotations:

“The President has done nothing wrong, and the Democrats know it.”

The President has done a great many things wrong and, unfortunately for him, the Democrats and a majority of Americans know it. Among his criminal and impeachable offenses are extortion, campaign finance violations, witness intimidation, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy against the United States.

“Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ unhinged obsession with this illegitimate impeachment proceeding does not hurt President Trump; it hurts the American people.”

The right calls everything Democrats do unhinged and partisan, so those labels have lost any meaning or relevance. As for the impeachment hurting the American people, that’s impossible considering that fact that a majority of them are in favor of it.

“Instead of focusing on pressing issues that impact real families, like reducing gun violence, passing the USMCA, improving healthcare, lowering prescription drug costs, securing our southern border, and modernizing our aging infrastructure, the Democrats are choosing every day to waste time on a sham impeachment—a blatantly partisan attempt to destroy the President.”

Democrats in the House of Representatives have passed bills addressing nearly all of those issues, plus more than 300 others. It’s the GOP Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, who is refusing to let them come to a vote in the Senate.

“With today’s vote, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats have done nothing more than enshrine unacceptable violations of due process into House rules. Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Schiff, and the Democrats conducted secret, behind-closed-door meetings, blocked the Administration from participating, and have now voted to authorize a second round of hearings that still fails to provide any due process whatsoever to the Administration.”

Actually, the rules being followed by the Democrats were written and codified in 2015 by a Republican House majority led by Speaker John Boehner. This was notably pointed out by Judge Andrew Napolitano, the Senior Legal Analyst at Fox News. What’s more, Republicans were participants in every hearing and witness interview that the White House is now falsely portraying as “secret.”

“The Democrats want to render a verdict without giving the Administration a chance to mount a defense. That is unfair, unconstitutional, and fundamentally un-American.”

First of all, there is nothing unconstitutional about a process that is actually in the Constitution. But more to the point, Democrats are conducting an inquiry. In no legal proceeding is the “defendant” permitted to participate in that investigation. When it is concluded it will either be dropped for lack of evidence, or an indictment and trial will take place. And that’s when Trump’s side will have ample opportunity to present their defense. The White House is deliberately trying to deceive the public as to how these matters are conducted.

Of course, the Deceiver-in-Chief is Donald Trump himself. He is mounting a disinformation campaign to attack the process, and by extension, the Constitution. And he’s getting plenty of help from State TV (aka Fox News), which is having problems of its own.

Trump posted a four-tweet quote by Fox’s Laura Ingraham that is nothing more than a GOP pep talk to pressure the right to obediently follow Dear Leader and abandon integrity, honesty, and morality, and to place Trump’s interests above those of the country. And most of the Fox roster is doing the same thing. So once again, it needs to be pointed out that this network is an arm of the Trump regime and should be designated as such for campaign finance purposes.

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


Thanks Trump! The Pumpkinhead President Scares Fox News Ratings Into an Abyss

Posted by on October 30, 2019 at 1:59 pm. 4 Comments :

The month of October has been a frightening experience for Donald Trump. His Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, admitted on national TV that there was a quid pro quo with Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. His personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, had a nervous breakdown on Fox News. He was forced to reverse an idiotic plan to host the 2020 G7 summit at his Doral golf resort in Miami. And his one bit of good news – the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – produced a paltry two point bounce in a poll by his favorite, ultra-biased pollster, Rasmussen. Scary, huh?

Donald Trump, Fox News, Halloween

Trump was so terrified throughout the month that he fear-posted 104 panic-tweets attacking the fearsome chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff. And as if the Offender-in-Chief doesn’t already have enough reasons to soil his trousers, the Trump-fluffing “news” network that he relies on to prop him up with worshipful propaganda, Fox News, fell on some hard times as well. The ratings for October reveal that impeachment has been good news for both America and Fox’s chief competitor, MSNBC.

The total day ratings for Fox News declined by a whopping 27 percent in the all-important 25-54 demographic, compared to October of 2018. In the same period MSNBC rose 12 percent. MSNBC also increased total prime time viewers 25 percent, and prime time demo viewers 16 percent.

This growth was driven by impressive gains by The Rachel Maddow Show, which was the #1 cable news program for the month among adults 25-54. Her show was up 13 percent, while Fox News’ Hannity declined 21 percent in that time slot. In total viewers Maddow was up 22 percent, compared to Fox’s 2 percent drop. She beat her direct competition, Sean Hannity, as well as Fox’s other prime time stars, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham.

These gains were also present in other MSNBC programs. The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell was up 20 percent (Fox News dropped 22 percent). The 11th Hour with Brian Williams finished #1 in the 11 p.m. hour, up 25 percent (Fox News declined 31 percent). The Beat with Ari Melber delivered the network’s most-watched month ever in the 6 p.m. time period, up 34 percent (Fox News down 12 percent). Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace was #1 in total viewers, up 13 percent (Fox News dropped 27 percent). All In with Chris Hayes was up 24 percent (Fox News was down 19 percent). Even the weekend had great news with total day gains of 10 percent (Fox News dips of 32 percent).

There could be several explanations for this powerful performance by MSNBC and the simultaneous collapse of Fox News. Trump’s impeachment might have stirred more interest by progressive news consumers to tune in more. At the same time, it might have discouraged conservatives from watching the news at all. But there’s another possible factor that drove Fox’s viewers away: Donald Trump. He spent a fair amount of time bashing his own own best media outlet and even telling his followers to turn off Fox.

For instance, after a Fox poll showed him losing to Biden, Trump tweeted that “I have NEVER had a good @FoxNews Poll. Whoever their Pollster is, they suck.” And then there was the time he tweeted that “@FoxNews doesn’t deliver for US anymore. It is so different than it used to be.” And not mincing words, Trump told his Deplorables that “We have to start looking for a new News Outlet. Fox isn’t working for us anymore!”

It’s hard to determine whether Trump’s Fox bashing had any real impact on their ratings. But it isn’t hard to see that he is a fickle and vengeful narcissist who demands 100 percent adoration at all times, lest you be cast into the corn fields, aka TrumpScorn. However, it is more likely that television audiences were simply more interested in getting honest presentations of the news by real journalists instead of slobbering, glassy-eyed sycophants. And since a majority of Americans favor Trump being impeached and removed from office (even in that Fox News poll), even the opinion side of MSNBC would figure to be more popular.

If Trump has anything going for him at this time, it’s the “bloody highway crash” appeal that might cause viewers to tune to Fox in order to see exactly how his mental breakdown will unfold in real time. Sure, it’s morbid and gruesome, but hell, it’s Halloween. Everybody may just be in a weird mood.

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


Terrified of Impeachment, Trump Fired Off 104 Tweets About Adam Schiff in October

Posted by on October 29, 2019 at 11:46 am. 5 Comments :

On Tuesday morning the congressional inquiry into Donald Trump’s impeachment continued with an official from his National Security team providing new and damning testimony. The fear this and other late breaking news triggered in Trump resulted in an avalanche of fevered tweets that exposed both his desperation and the pitiful impotence of his response to this crisis.

Donald Trump, Adam Schiff

Trump is apparently unaware that his Twitter tantrums only serve to make him look more guilty. They reflect the terror of a quivering rabbit as it faces certain doom in the jaws of hungry wolf. And the narrow focus of his gushing panic reveals how distressed he is about the inquiry being conducted by House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff.

In a tsunami of hysterical tweets, Trump has singled out Schiff for his harshest criticism. Trump has repeatedly asserted, without evidence, that Schiff is corrupt. He’s said that Schiff is a liar, a lowlife, a disgrace, and a fraud. Trump has called Schiff a traitor who should resign or be impeached. And he has tagged the congressman with another of his infantile nicknames – Shifty Schiff – that drips with anti-Semitic undertones. This is not the behavior of a calm or confidently innocent man.

In the month of October Trump has tweeted about Schiff 104 times. That’s an average of about 3 1/2 times per day. Those Schiff-focused tweets included references to many of Trump’s other familiar obsessions such as the whistleblower (22 times), Nancy Pelosi (18), the Ukraine phone call transcript (14), and impeachment in general (24). On Tuesday the 29th alone Trump posted 44 unhinged tweets, of which 10 (23%) were about Schiff. For contrast, Trump posted only a single tweet about the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and that was only to complain that Democrats were trying to make people forget about it. But considering the volume and content of Trump’s tweets, you have to ask who is really trying to make people forget.

A few common themes keep popping up in Trump’s Schiff tweets. One is that Trump is deeply concerned about the whereabouts of the Intelligence Community whistleblower. Who cares? The whistleblower’s complaint was fully corroborated by Trump himself on national TV. This is Trump’ss way of trying to belittle the complaint and to intimidate others from coming forward with the truth. But the parade of witnesses coming to Congress prove that this tactic isn’t working.

Another theme concerns Trump’s insistence that people read the transcript of his phone call with Ukraine President Zelensky. Of course, people have already read it and concluded that it validates the whistleblower’s account and incriminates Trump.

And then there’s Trump’s frequent whining about a brief segment of Schiff’s opening remarks in a hearing where Schiff paraphrased part of Trump’s phone call with Zelensky. Trump keeps lying that Schiff presented that as Trump’s own words. However, Schiff prefaced those remarks by saying explicitly that it was just “the essence” of what Trump said to Zelensky.

None of Trump’s demented tirades contain any substance that is based in reality. It’s all the ravings of a madman consumed by fear who will do anything to avoid accountability for his crimes. And the tighter the walls close in around him, the more bizarre and numerous his outbursts become. It’s a pathetic display of victimhood that is especially absurd coming from someone whose office has been called the most powerful on Earth. But that’s just another symbol of American pride that Trump has unraveled as he stumbles toward prosecution, humiliation and irrelevance.

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


Uh-Oh: Trump’s Favorite Pollster Shows a Baghdadi Bounce of 2 Measly Points

Posted by on October 28, 2019 at 1:43 pm. 2 Comments :

On Sunday Donald Trump made what he surely thought was the most consequential public address of his ignoble presidency. He announced the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at the conclusion of a raid by U.S. forces. Despite some flagrant lies and admissions of improper conduct, Trump must have imagined that this news would provide some relief from the avalanche of evidence and testimony against him at the congressional impeachment hearings. Instead, he was greeted by boos when he attended the fifth game of the World Series later the same day.

Donald Trump

Trump, as usual, has been paying tribute to himself. In the past twenty-hours hours he has posted seven videos of his Sunday address. He has also lauded reporting by correspondents who praised the military mission and his decision to greenlight it. Nevermind that inside experts have revealed that Trump was actually an impediment to the mission’s success.

Perhaps the best indication of how little Trump will benefit from the Baghdadi episode is his approval rating as reported by his favorite pollster, the ultra-rightist Rasmussen Reports. In recent days Rasmussen has had Trump’s approval at a low (43%) that matches his worst polling in nearly two years. And now, after the death of Baghdadi, Trump’s approval creeped up a mere two points to 45 percent. That’s still uncharacteristically low for Trump on a Rasmussen survey. But it also reflects the tiniest of bounces from what should have been highly positive news.

Trump is fond of bragging about his approval rating from Rasmussen. He has tweeted fourteen times this year when the number exceeded 50 percent. The most recent was just two weeks ago, after which it quickly declined to 43. What he apparently has failed to learn is that after he posts a relatively good approval rating, it routinely drops back down in a matter of days. Then when it goes back up to 50, he pounds out another repetitive robo-tweet. And the wheel spins round and round.

If Trump has been hoping to ride a rocket to popularity in the post-Baghdadi world, he is going to be bitterly disappointed, a state of being that he is probably familiar with. If his approval rating rises only two points on Rasmussen after an event like this, it is unlikely to shoot up to a majority any other poll. Trump has actually never had a 50 percent approval rating from a credible pollster during his entire presidency. And as the afterglow of the Baghdadi news fades, the red-hot radiance of impeachment will reignite. And, once again, Trump will wallow in an abyss of victimhood, disapproval and desperation.

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