Wishing Donald Trump a Blue Christmas and Many More Blue Waves for the New Year

Posted by on December 25, 2018 at 9:42 am. 1 Comments :

The current President of the United States has made this holiday season more difficult than it ever needed to be. Donald Trump has shutdown the government over an idiotic and ineffective vanity border wall that most Americans don’t want. He has tried feverishly to sabotage the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) that so many citizens depend upon. He has locked up babies in cages and blocked frightened refugees from seeking asylum in the land of the free. His ignorant policies on taxes and tariffs has resulted in the worst December stock market decline since the Great Depression. And his attacks on the media have endangered the lives of journalists in the U.S. and around the world.

Donald Trump, Christmas, Wonderful Life

So Happy Holidays everyone. And stay strong. This is the season of giving and sharing and peace on Earth (for as long it’s still inhabitable). And there is great hope for the coming new year. The Blue Wave in November that swept Democrats into power in the House of Representatives, and many state houses as well, is continuing to build momentum. The truth is coming out about Trump’s cornucopia of crime, conspiracy, and collusion. The special counsel, Robert Mueller, will release his report, and perhaps throw in some new indictments. So while the dark cloud that Trump has cast over the world has not dissipated, it is beginning to break apart as many of Trump’s former supporters, and even Fox News, are showing cracks in their devotion to Dear Leader.

This Christmas may not be the brightest for the children of the nation. An unlucky few were even subjected to the horror of having to talk to Trump as part of the annual NORAD Santa Tracking project. As might be expected, Trump was wholly inappropriate during the calls to kids when he asked the very first caller this dream-crushing question:

Can we get a restraining order to prohibit Trump from having contact with all children? He’s a menace who seems utterly incapable of interacting in a manner consistent with human decency. A few weeks ago Fox News reported that a teacher who told kids that Santa isn’t real was fired. Can that punishment be imposed on Trump? If it was bad enough to warrant the termination of a local teacher, how much worse is it when it’s done before the entire country by it’s alleged leader?

Behavior like this makes one wonder whether Trump’s dimwitted cult followers are watching the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” and thinking that the evil Mr. Potter is the hero. But despite these examples of presidential cretinism, most American families are enjoying the company of loved ones today. They are opening presents and dining on beautifully prepared feasts. And our best wishes are extended to them all. But let’s not forget the less fortunate, who are still part of our national family.

So in the spirit of the season, News Corpse would like to continue its holiday tradition by presenting a musical gift for the forsaken and forlorn. This is for all of those who are not huddled around a dead tree today, buried in colorfully wrapped packages. It’s for the cynics who won’t accept the notion that the birth of an alleged savior is an excuse to exchange material goods or fruitcakes that nobody likes. It is for outcasts and rebels and non-believers who are puzzled by the greed and commercialism that permeates the season. And yes, it’s for those who still believe that peace and goodwill are morally superior to profit and oppression. Here is Miles Davis and Bob Dorough performing the heartwarming traditional Christmas ballad Blue Xmas:

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 Ludicrous Demand to ‘Feel’ the Stock Market Proves He’s an Economic Imbecile

Posted by on December 24, 2018 at 11:33 am. 2 Comments :

One of Donald Trump’s favorite subjects to brag about is the performance of the stock market since he became president. He has proclaimed himself to be a brilliant economist who knows more than anyone else, despite his six (at least) bankruptcies. And he promised that he would achieve historic gains through the sheer strength of his will. But given the recent turn of events in the markets, Trump is resorting to his customary back-up raving: Blaming anyone and everyone other than himself for the bad news.

Donald Trump, Stock Market

What’s happening in the markets was perfectly predictable. In fact, it was predicted here on News Corpse at the beginning of this year in a warning to Trump not to rest his laurels on the market’s performance:

“It’s always dangerous to rely on stock market performance to validate the economy. There are too many factors that can shift investor sentiment. It is a fluid indicator that could reverse course tomorrow. Indeed, many stock analysts regard the market’s current position as overvalued. These analysts are predicting a “correction” that could send the markets down significantly. Furthermore, the market does not reflect the economic realities of most Americans. Other economic indicators (i.e. wages) are showing only small advances. The beneficiaries of stock gains are predominantly the usual suspects of the GOP (Greedy One Percent).”

Trump chose to ignore these warnings. Instead he ventured off on a campaign of idiotic initiatives intended to make cosmetic improvements in the state of the economy. That failed bigly. Trump’s agenda was centered on three actions that informed economists knew wouldn’t work.

First there was his Tax Scam, a reform bill that provided most of its benefits to corporations and the wealthy.But it was also an unnecessary stimulus to an economy that was already overheated and it produced new debt in excess of $1.5 trillion, which makes investors nervous about rising inflation and interest rates.

When an economic stimulus is used at a time when it isn’t needed, that means that it won’t be available in the future when it might actually be useful. That led to investors looking forward to a future market correction, or even a bear market, and the government would have no tools to respond or mitigate the damage.

Second, Trump declared a trade war on pretty much the rest of the civilized world. His attacks extended to old foes/competitors like China, but also to friends and trading partners like Mexico and Canada. The result was a weakening of economic alliances and cooperative trade relations. Trump’s revamped NAFTA is a perfect example of a trade agreement that did nothing but alienate our allies. It also harmed the economies of those nations, which made them less able to consume American goods and services.

Finally, Trump’s tariffs accomplished only the price inflation of imported products into the U.S. It means that Americans would have to pay more for the same goods because the tariff penalties would be added to the cost for consumers. That is not the way to boost economic activity domestically, or exports to foreign markets who are responding with retaliatory tariffs of their own.

All of this has resulted in a stock market that is suffering its worst December since the Great Depression. It’s down 2,000 points this week, and 5,000 this quarter. As noted above, this was predictable. But Trump chose to lie to the American people about his divine ability to push the market ever upward. That is already causing some serious harm to the people who were foolish enough to believe him.

In the meantime, Trump is tweeting incoherently about “feeling” the market. In one tweet he literally said to “Feel the market, don’t just go by meaningless numbers,” and in another he said “The only problem our economy has is the Fed. They don’t have a feel for the Market.” Really? The market is one of the most data-driven institutions in the public sphere. And while it can sometimes react emotionally, it always settles into what the numbers tell us.

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

Trump’s childishly simplistic understanding of the market (and everything else) is reminiscent of Stephen Colbert’s admonition to “go by the gut” rather than the brain. Which Trump agreed with saying that “My gut tells me more than anybody’s brain.” No, really, that’s exactly what he said:


Donald Trump’s Reality TV Presidency: Defense Secretary is the Latest ‘Acting’ Cabinet Official

Posted by on December 23, 2018 at 11:29 am. 1 Comments :

With all of the controversy and melodrama that emanates daily from the historically chaotic White House of Donald Trump, it’s easy to forget his humble beginnings as the host of a reality TV game show. That was not a recreational pastime for a bored billionaire. It was his job for fourteen years. A real billionaire wouldn’t have had the time for that.


As president Trump has transferred his experience in television playacting to his new job in Washington. And it’s painfully obvious that his skills are utterly inappropriate for his new duties. He spends most of his time watching TV (Fox News) and conducting made-for-the-camera photo-ops with bill signings and human props. His press conferences are a circus wherein he replaces substantive dialogue with insults and rambling incoherence.

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump runs the White House like he would a fictional sitcom about a bumbling chief executive. Many of his senior staffers were actually recruited from television (again, Fox News), and most have little experience for the assignments they’re given. His Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications is the disgraced former president of Fox News, Bill Shine.

On Sunday morning Trump Announced the latest recipient of his “rose” for a critical post in his cabinet. He is making Patrick Shanahan the “Acting” Secretary of Defense. This follows the resignation of Gen. James Mattis, whose departure was motivated by Trump’s recklessness and ignorance. Mattis advised the President that his resignation would be effective February 28, 2019. But now, in a fit of pettiness and ego-pacification, Trump is moving that up to December 31.

What’s more troubling is Trump’s newfound compulsion to replace permanent, senate-confirmed cabinet officials with unqualified “Acting” stand-ins for the real thing. Currently serving in Trump’s pretend regime are an “Acting” Chief of Staff (Mick Mulvaney), Attorney General (Matthew Whitaker), EPA Director (Andrew Wheeler), Interior Secretary (David Bernhardt), and now Shanahan as Acting Secretary of Defense. All to serve our Reality TV Acting “President.”

This means that nearly twenty percent of the President’s cabinet is serving in an “acting” capacity. They have not been vetted or confirmed by the Senate as required by law. The reasons for this include Trump’s lack of knowledge of the sort of qualified people to fill these positions. Also problematic for Trump is the fact that qualified nominees don’t want to get anywhere near this president or his defective, criminally-tainted White House.

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

So now America is stuck with third rate understudies for governing officials who are likely to be merely surrogates for Trump’s dementia. Mulvaney as chief of staff is the perfect example of that. He’s a rabidly partisan Republican Nationalist who slobbers over Trump now even though he called him “a terrible human being“ just two days before the election. We have to wonder when the country will have competent leadership again that is serving in accordance with the law. But that will probably have to wait until the law catches up with Trump and ousts him from the office he stole with the help of his Russian comrades.


Senile or Surrender? Trump’s Rambling Tweets Don’t Mention Border Wall Funds to End Shutdown

Posted by on December 22, 2018 at 10:22 am. 2 Comments :

There has been considerable speculation for the past couple of years about whether Donald Trump is mentally stable or capable of performing his duties as president. His psychological condition has been questioned by mental health professionals and politicians from across the ideological spectrum. And now as the U.S. government is being shutdown over funding for Trump’s vanity border wall, those questions are getting harder to ignore.

Donald Trump

In a series of tweets on Saturday morning, the President predictably ranted about the shutdown that he previously took pride in creating. Even after saying on national television that he would take full responsibility for it, Trump tried to blame the Democrats who had already agreed to a Continuing Resolution with senate Republicans. It was only after wingnut rightist media cranks like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends complained that Trump reversed course and reneged on his word to sign the CR. But his morning’s tweetfest might be revealing some weakness in his resolve:

Setting aside the obvious lie that Trump is “working hard,” it’s notable how he is now tying the debate to only “Border Security.” Didn’t he leave something out there? Trump didn’t mention his wall in that tweet or the others that followed. And border security (minus the wall) has always been a part of the Democratic platform. Of course his omission may just be due to his inability to concentrate on anything for more than half a minute, unless it’s a mirror. But it might also be an indication that he recognizes that Democrats are not going to pacify his ego and allocate funds for a useless wall.

Trump later tweeted that he would having a big lunch with a bunch of people to discuss the matter. It’s comforting to know that he will be well fed while tens of thousands of Americans will not be getting paid this holiday season.

In addition to the border wall issue, Trump also tweeted about his intention to retreat from Syria. His remarks were especially reckless and dangerous:

First of all, ISIS is far from defeated. Estimates by his own administration say there are 30,000 ISIS fighters in Syria. On Friday his press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said that Trump had destroyed 99.9 percent of ISIS in Syria. If you do the math, that would mean that they started out with thirty million – which is patently absurd because that’s almost twice the total population of Syria.

However, Trump’s remarks that Turkey “should be able to easily take care of whatever remains,” are even more troubling. He’s right if what he means is that Turkey will take care of (i.e. slaughter) our allies, the Kurds, as soon as we leave. And he doesn’t bother to mention the fact that our retreat will leave the country to Russia and Iran for the foreseeable future. Vladimir Putin even praised Trump’s decision to run away. And it’s among the reasons that Defense Secretary Mattis resigned in protest, along with the U.S. special envoy to the coalition to defeat ISIS.

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

So as usual, Donald Trump is doing everything he can to please our enemies (especially Russia), while working overtime to harm our allies. And his efforts on the domestic front are even worse as he shuts down the government for Christmas and shows no sensitivity for the plight of fellow citizens. With every day Trump demonstrates that he is working against the American people (who don’t want the wall), and solely on his own behalf. Including even more instances of obstruction of justice to escape accountability for his many criminal activities. It’s long past time for him to go.


Fox & Friends Co-Host Brian Kilmeade Leaps Off the Trump Train, Says He ‘Refounded ISIS’

Posted by on December 21, 2018 at 9:55 am. 1 Comments :

Things are getting really bad for Donald Trump. His secretary of Defense quit with a stinging rebuke of his policies and leadership. He’s heading for a prolonged shutdown that he took credit for in advance, even claiming to be proud of it. And all for a border wall that no one but his Deplorable cult followers want. The economy is in a tailspin with the markets negative for the whole year. And even his pals at Fox News are getting antsy about supporting his inane, reckless, and impulsive outbursts.

Sarah Huckabee-Sanders

Nothing is more representative of the trouble that Trump is in than when his favorite Fox News program, Fox and Friends, gets weak-kneed about backing up his latest idiocy. They have a record of supporting nearly anything he’s done, no matter how ludicrous or destructive or even illegal. But these remarks by co-host Brian Kilmeade during an interview with Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, really hits a low note for Trump at Fox (video below):

Kilmeade: He’s giving Russia a big win. Vladimir Putin praised him. He also is doing exactly what he criticized President Obama for doing. He said President Obama is the founder of ISIS. He just refounded ISIS. They’ve got 30,000 men there, and they’re already striking back.

That gets pretty much everything in there but an apology to Hillary Clinton for all the Benghazi and email bashing. Kilmeade noted that Putin is on Trump’s side regarding the Syria withdrawal. He compared Trump to his nemsis, Barack Obama. And he hung the founding of ISIS around Trump’s turkey neck.

For her part, Sanders acted like a deer already run down by the bus with the headlights in her face. She “respectfully, but vehemently” disagreed with Kilmeade’s analysis. But her defense of Trump was pitifully weak and devoid of any factual basis. She tried to turn the whole ISIS fight into a personal one between them and Trump saying that “If ISIS wants to pick a fight with somebody, they sure as hell don’t want to pick one with Donald Trump.” Something tells me that they really do. He’s a coward who can’t concentrate on anything for more than half a minute, unless it’s a mirror.

Then Sanders emulated her boss by making up numbers to glorify him. “We’ve wiped out 99.9% of ISIS in Syria,” she blurted out nonsensically. Where she got that figure from is – well it’s dark and ugly. Since there are estimated to be 30,000 ISIS fighters in Syria today, that means that before having allegedly wiped out 99.9% of them there were 30,000,000. That’s nearly twice the population of Syria.

Sanders also parroted Trump’s own assertions that he has done more damage to ISIS than anyone. She insisted that he surely never did anything to help them. To which Kilmeade replied “Leaving is helping.” And he actually called her out for lying saying that “The word on the ground is different from what you just said.” That may be the first time that Sanders has been called a liar by a Fox News host on the air. And if it’s any indicator of what’s to come, Trump might as well start packing his bags for Mar-A-Lago – or prison.

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


How Stupid Are Trump’s Border Wall Supporters? Their GoFundMe Page Reveals a Mountain of Derp

Posted by on December 20, 2018 at 1:34 pm. 4 Comments :

The United States Congress is currently embroiled in one of the most ridiculous debates in its history. The government is about to be shut down for lack of a routine spending bill because Donald Trump is afraid of his critics on Fox News. Seriously. He was fully prepared to sign the Continuing Resolution until Foxies like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Steve Doocy told him to keep his promise to shut the government down if he doesn’t get funds to build his idiotic vanity border wall.

Donald Trump

Setting aside the circus in Washington, Trump’s dimwitted Deplorables are mounting their own independent effort to pay for the useless, ineffective wall. And unless they are all from south of the border, Trump is still reneging on his most prominent campaign promise to make Mexico pay for the concrete joke. The Trump cultists have embraced an effort to raise money themselves to finance the wall’s construction. Their GoFundMe page for that purpose has already hit $6.2 million in just three days.

On the surface, that sounds pretty impressive. However, the numbers simply don’t work. First of all, the wall is estimated to cost about $25 billion. The page has a goal of $1 billion. So they have raised only 0.6 percent of their goal, which is less than 0.002 percent of the actual cost. If they continue to take in donations at the current rate (which is highly unlikely), it will take them five hundred days to hit a billion. They would have to have 16.4 million people donating an average of $61.00. They can never reach the total cost of the wall which would be twenty-five times more.

For 2018, the top ten GoFundMe pages raised a total of $58 million for all ten pages. The top fundraiser was for Times Up, a legal defense fund for survivors of sexual assault and harassment. They raised $22 million from 21,000 donors. That’s a far cry from a billion dollars or sixteen million donors. So the goal appears to be utterly unrealistic. And the page says they will refund all donations if they don’t reach their goal. Which makes the whole project appear to be nothing more than a PR gimmick.

What’s more, in the nearly unimaginable event that they reach their goal, what exactly do they intend to do with the money? They could donate it to the U.S. Treasury. However, they cannot earmark it for border wall building purposes. There is no government facility for citizens to offer to pay for specific federal infrastructure of any kind. If they simply turn it over to the Treasury, the government must spend it according to the legislation passed by Congress. The House of Representatives initiates all spending bills. That would be the House that Nancy Pelosi will be the Speaker of, and that is run by a Democratic majority. It’s doubtful that they would allocate those funds for the Deplorables’ wall.

Other than that, there is no plausible avenue for allocating those funds toward a border wall. They cannot build the wall with private resources and commercial builders. They couldn’t secure the land to build on or the rights to construct international barriers. And yet, Trump’s glassy-eyed followers continue to donate to this scam.

Somebody is probably making some money on the float (interest earned on the funds while being held for distribution). But none of this will result in a wall or a fence or even artistically designed steel slats (as Trump recently described his vision of the wall). And after wasting their time and money on this boondoggle, will they be willing to donate to Republican campaigns for 2020? We’ll see.

In the meantime, a counter offer is being pursued in the form of a GoFundMe page to raise money for Ladders to Get Over Trump’s Wall. They already have 25 percent of their more realistic $100,000 goal.

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

UPDATE: Media Matters is now reporting this about the border wall GoFundMe page: The guy behind the GoFundMe account for Trump’s border wall used a Facebook page network connected to fake news sites to boost his campaign. Brian Kolfage’s previous Facebook page network was banned for spammy behavior in October.

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A Tale of Two Foundations: Trump’s Sham is Shutdown, George Soros is FT’s ‘Person of the Year’

Posted by on December 19, 2018 at 11:10 am. 1 Comments :

The real picture of Donald Trump’s relentless pursuit of self-serving corruption got another section colored in on Tuesday. The New York Attorney General found that his Trump Foundation was a criminal enterprise devoted to enriching himself with other people’s donations (Here’s a quick primer on Trump’s scam foundation). Trump was forced to agree to shut it down under the supervision of the court.

George Soros, Donald Trump

Despite Trump’s concession to the indisputable facts, Trump lashed out in fit of conspiracy mongering, blame-shifting, and paranoia on Twitter. However, he never rationally refuted what the NY Attorney General, Barbara Underwood, called “a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation.” The ruling went on to declare that Trump’s sham included…

“…unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more. This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.”

What’s more, the lawsuit Trump faces continues to seek millions in restitution and prohibits Trump and his evil spawn from serving on the boards of other New York charities. Imagine that: Trump is barred from running a charitable foundation, but not from serving as president. There’s something horribly wrong with that picture.

And naturally, while making lame excuses for himself, Trump had to interject his obsessive animus toward his long-standing foes by taking a swing (and a miss) at the Clinton Foundation. There is really no comparison since the Clinton Foundation is a model for philanthropic enterprise and has received the top ratings from charity watchdog groups.

Meanwhile, another Trump nemesis, George Soros, was named “Person of the Year“ by the Financial Times. Soros is a true self-made billionaire (as opposed to Trump’s accident of birth and incompetent business skills), who is also renowned worldwide for his philanthropy. The Financial Times opened their tribute to Soros saying:

“The Financial Times’s choice of Person of the Year is usually a reflection of their achievements. In the case of Mr Soros this year, his selection is also about the values he represents. He is the standard bearer of liberal democracy and open society. These are the ideas which triumphed in the cold war. Today, they are under siege from all sides, from Vladimir Putin’s Russia to Donald Trump’s America.”

Indeed, Trump’s America is a regression toward the authoritarian regimes of the past that he openly admires. Trump abhors open societies wherein wannabe dictators like himself are denied the power they crave. And while Trump strives to use his position for personal gain, Soros has suffered as a result of what FT says is his “long commitment to openness, media freedom and human rights.” That suffering recently hit an extreme when he received a mail bomb from a right-wing domestic terrorist. But if that weren’t enough, he has also been falsely accused of collaborating with Nazis, although he was just fourteen years old when they occupied his native Hungary.

Fox News has been a major contributor to the coordinated hate campaigns against Soros. Their top hosts frequently portray him as something akin to the Antichrist, and as someone who is responsible for everything they regard as evil. Trump himself has exacerbated the hate-mongering aimed at Soros. Just a couple of months ago he tweeted a blatant lie that Soros was funding “very rude elevator screamers” who were protesting the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. He has also been accused of funding the Central American refugees seeking asylum in the U.S. That charge was cited as a possible motive in the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in October. Even Facebook’s CEO went after Soros in a despicable, anti-Semitic disinformation campaign.

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

However, through it all Soros has remained a steadfast champion of freedom and charity. His Open Society Foundation is the beneficiary of $32 billion of his own money. Those funds are being put to work in more than 100 countries to support democracy, transparency and freedom of expression. Thats a striking contrast to the corruption and greed of Trump’s phony charitable efforts. And it’s fitting that the recognition of Soros by the Financial Times comes the day after Trump is fingered as a crook by the NY Attorney General.

Bonus Tweet from Clinton Foundation executive:


Shepard Smith Slaps the ‘Defenders’ of Flynn on Fox News, While Trump is Witness Tampering

Posted by on December 18, 2018 at 2:43 pm. 2 Comments :

Tuesday morning saw a particularly voluminous tweetstorm from Donald Trump for a weekday. And naturally, it was mainly lying about about how innocent he is. But it was also a morning for finding out what penalty former Trump advisor, and confessed felon, Michael Flynn, would pay for his crimes. For some time now the Trump-fluffers on Fox News were belittling the charges and maligning law enforcement for what they alleged was persecution and entrapment. But on Tuesday Flynn’s sentencing was postponed after the judge told him that he might face prison time for “selling out his country.”

Fox News, Shepard Smith, Donald Trump

The amen chorus on Fox News has been relentlessly attacking special counsel Robert Mueller and the prosecutors in New York as corrupt, conflicted, and biased against the President. They had nothing to prove any of these claims, but when has that ever mattered to Fox News? Everyone from Sean Hannity to Laura Ingraham to the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends have belted out in unison that Flynn was a victim of overzealous prosecution and was entrapped by unscrupulous defilers of the law. Flynn hinted at the same complaints briefly, which may be what angered the judge, who regarded that as a potential withdrawal of his guilty plea.

However, in court on Tuesday Flynn backtracked and fully accepted responsibility for his criminal activities. That unambiguous affirmation of his guilt contradicts everything that Fox News has been saying for weeks. And at least one person at Fox noticed:

Shepard Smith: “You heard the theory floated by the White House and its defenders here and elsewhere. That all blew up today.

“Michael Flynn himself said that he is not challenging the circumstances of the interview. That he knew lying to the feds was a crime when he lied to the feds. That he was not entrapped. That he was guilty.”

That’s a pretty sharp criticism of the Trump shills on Fox News. Smith explicitly calls out the “White House and its defenders here (i.e. on Fox) and elsewhere.” You have to wonder how Hannity is gonna take that. Never mind the rest of the story that proves Hannity’s sycophancy has been for naught. Flynn himself effectively threw Hannity et al under the Trump Train. Can they continue to advance the “Deep State” conspiracy theory that Flynn was “ambushed” (as Sarah Huckabee Sanders said today) if even Flynn doesn’t believe it?

Meanwhile, Trump took another stab at witness tampering. He tweeted his best wishes to Flynn, a confessed felon, because what president doesn’t have friends who are admonished in court as being disloyal to their country? But Trump’s tweet had another purpose as well:

Trump saying that it “Will be interesting to see what he has to say,” is his way of sending a message to Flynn. Just clam up and shield Trump from any possible legal accountability and there might be something in it for you. Like maybe a pardon? This message could hardly be more clear without attaching a “Get Out of Prison Free” coupon to it. The President is dangling favors in front of Flynn that Michael Cohen (the RAT, according to Trump) isn’t getting. It’s just another example of his self-incriminating behavior. Trump knows that Mueller can see these tweets, doesn’t he?

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

The combination of Trump throwing out a life preserver to Flynn, while Flynn is admitting all of the dastardly charges against him is cringeworthy. But it provides a small measure of comfort to see Shep lay some truth on these cretins. Not that it will do any lasting good. Hannity and his ilk blithely ignore any facts that get in the way of their propaganda.


Trump Blatantly Lies About Russian ‘Witch Hunt’ According to the Journalist He Misquoted

Posted by on December 18, 2018 at 12:18 pm. NO Comments :

With each new day Donald Trump demonstrates evermore fear and desperation due to the mounting evidence of his collusion and conspiracy with Russia to undermine an American election. He behaves precisely the way one would expect a guilty man to behave, by distorting facts, distracting from the issues, and maligning his critics. It would be pathetic if it weren’t so troubling and dangerous.

Donald Trump

On Tuesday morning Trump went to new extremes to absolve himself of any liability for his felonious actions. In a series of frantic tweets, Trump presented what he said was a case for his innocence made by journalist Michael Isikoff, co-author with David Corn of Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump. Isikoff was interviewed by John Ziegler, however, Trump got his analysis of Isikoff’s remarks from Fox News, as usual. But what Trump tweeted (here, here, and here) was far removed from reality:

“Russia Dossier reporter now doubts dopey Christopher Steele’s claims! “When you get into the details of the Steele Dossier, the specific allegations, we have not seen the evidence to support them. There’s good grounds to think that some of the more sensational allegations…..”

“….WILL NEVER BE PROVEN AND ARE LIKELY FALSE.” Thank you to Michael Isikoff, Yahoo, for honesty. What this means is that the FISA WARRANTS and the whole Russian Witch Hunt is a Fraud and a Hoax which should be ended immediately. Also, it was paid for by Crooked Hillary & DNC!”

“Michael Isikoff was the first to report Dossier allegations and now seriously doubts the Dossier claims. The whole Russian Collusion thing was a HOAX, but who is going to restore the good name of so many people whose reputations have been destroyed?”

There is a whole lot of wrongness in there to unwrap, starting with Trump’s typically childish insult of Steele as “dopey.” More to the point. Trump falsely asserts that the FISA warrants are a fraud even though none of this addresses them. What’s more, the Steele dossier was not a primary source of evidence for granting the warrants. Also, Hillary Clinton didn’t pay for the dossier. Her campaign paid Fusion GPS to do research and they hired Steele.

So Trump is attempting to use Isikoff’s comments as absolution for his crimes. But Trump left out the most critical parts of the interview. Those omissions were pointed out by the interviewer, the interviewee, and his co-author. Isikoff had plenty to say about Trump’s adventures with Russia that the President failed to mention. For instance:

“In broad strokes, Christopher Steele was clearly onto something. That there was a major Kremlin effort to interfere with our elections. That they were trying to help Trump’s campaign. And that there were multiple contacts between various Russian figures close to the government and various people in the Trump campaign. That much, I think, has been established by the public records.”

And also that:

“The Trump campaign and its campaign operatives, Donald Trump Jr, Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, were active in ways that was clearly inappropriate and that they shouldn’t have done. And that they concealed this from the voters.

“And the Moscow Tower project going on in June of 2016, with direct conversations between Michael Cohen and an assistant to Dmitri Peskov, a press secretary to Vladimir Putin, was incredibly significant, concealed from the voters, and gives the lie to Donald Trump’s repeated statements during the campaign that he had nothing to do with Russia. That nobody connected to his campaign had any contacts with anybody in Russia.

“I mean, the President during the campaign, as a candidate, seriously mislead the American public about what was a very important issue. And that was the questions about what the Russians were up to and his own dealing with the Russians. So all of that is true.”

What more needs to be said? Isikoff clearly stated that Trump was deeply involved with Russian figures and that he lied about it repeatedly. But Trump ignored all of that and distorted Isikoff’s words to say the opposite, and ironically, thanked him for his honesty. That tells you all you need to know about Trump’s aversion to honesty and his determined intent to mislead and spread falsehoods at every opportunity. It’s in his nature, and we can expect it to continue until he is removed from office. Hopefully in handcuffs.

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


Trump Wants to ‘Work with Democrats’ on Healthcare After Calling Them ‘Crazy’ and ‘Treasonous’

Posted by on December 17, 2018 at 12:37 pm. 2 Comments :

Donald Trump and his Republican Nationalist Party got exactly what they wanted for Christmas: A federal court ruling that the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) is unconstitutional. Trump’s PR division at State TV (aka Fox News) literally celebrated the decision as a Christmas “gift.” And although many legal experts predict that the ruling will be overturned, The Trump administration is giddily slopping it up and basking in the afterglow of millions of Americans losing their healthcare coverage.

Medicare For All

In the meantime, Trump is gloating at what he mistakenly believes is a final victory in his war against all things Obama. His immediate responses to the ruling were to brag about having predicted it, followed by totally disingenuous calls for the two parties in Congress to work together to craft a brand new healthcare bill from scratch:

Never mind that Republicans had eight years to offer a replacement healthcare bill but could never do so. Now, to these insensitive remarks that ignore the suffering that millions of Americans would be forced to endure if ObamaCare were to actually be revoked, Trump added another on Monday morning:

The notion that Trump really wants to work with Democrats is laughable on its face. He has been the most hostile president to the opposing party in modern times. He has not simply disagreed with Democrats on policy or advocated for the positions of Republicans. Trump has lashed out with malicious and personal insults aimed at the party and individual members. More than two years after the election he is still shrieking at Hillary Clinton over matters that have long been resolved. And his seething hatred for Democrats still dominates most of his thoughts. For instance:

  • Trump declared that Democrats “…want Open Borders and Unlimited Crime.”
  • Trump said that “Anybody that votes for a Democrat now is crazy.”
  • Trump inexplicably claimed that “The Democrat plan would obliterate Obamacare – It will destroy Medicare.”
  • Trump even accused Democrats of being traitors for not applauding him at the State of the Union address: “Can we call that treason? Why not? I mean, they certainly didn’t seem to love our country very much.”

So now that Democrats have won majority control of the House of Representatives, Trump is feeling harmonious. Now that whatever leverage Trump had has been eroded due to the multiple criminal investigations encircling him and his crime family, he is pretending that he wants to work with Democrats to restore healthcare benefits that he and his GOP accomplices have deliberately sabotaged. Yeah, right. And this is all going down simultaneously with his threats to shut down the government over his idiotic and useless border wall.

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

There is one thing in Trump’s latest tweet that has a ring of truth to it, although not in any way that he intended. When he says that “A confirming Supreme Court Decision will lead to GREAT HealthCare results for Americans,” he may be right. Because it could lead to the implementation of Medicare-for-All. It’s already a program whose popularity is growing by the day. And with the GOP putting ObamaCare in jeopardy, more Americans, and their representatives, are going to insist on the protection of their rights and the pursuit of what’s best for their families. So we may owe Trump and his comrades some thanks for advancing universal healthcare and pushing the United States into the ranks of the rest of the civilized world.