Shepard Smith of Fox News On Trump’s North Korea Lies: ‘Who Do They Think They’re Kidding’?

Posted by on July 3, 2018 at 3:39 pm. NO Comments :

In yet another display of desperation, Donald Trump sought to misdirect people’s attention from the voluminous flow of bad news that is threatening to overwhelm him. So he took to Twitter on Tuesday to blast out a parade of blatantly false rants in the hopes of taking the spotlight off his crumbling presidency. They included a slap at Harley Davidson, a crackpot conspiracy about Obama and Iran, some nonsense about the economy, and an insult to Maxine Waters.

Fox News, Donald Trump

However, the most unhinged blathering of the day was in a tweet that took credit for progress with North Korea that was totally imaginary. Trump’s self-exaltation ignored the fact that his own intelligence agencies have learned that Kim Jong Un has actually been advancing his nuclear facilities, not dismantling them. But the facts notwithstanding, Trump tweets that “If not for me, we would now be at War with North Korea!”

Of course it was only Trump’s infantile tantrums that led to the threat of war in the first place. He can hardly take credit now for reducing the tensions by giving Kim everything he wanted without preconditions, certification, or verification. And while most of the Fox News roster of Trump-fluffers has leaped aboard his runaway train, there is one who has his feet planted firmly on the ground.

Shepard Smith addressed the issue of Trump’s negotiations with Kim in a segment on Tuesday’s program. He was interviewing former CIA analyst Tara Maller, who noted that “We’re not any closer to getting towards denuclearization,” and that “All we’ve seen up until now are a lot of words.” Smith agreed saying that “Goals are great. [But the] Reality is awful,” and that North Korea was making “the exact same promise that North Korea has made and broken for decades.” But then he added this:

“I don’t understand who they think they’re kidding here. First, we had maximum sanctions and the world together said ‘no north Korea, no north Korea, no north Korea. Then we got together, took some pictures, said some words, and now the expansion continues. Things seem to be worse. And yet the threats of sanctions and all the rest went away.”

Let me clear up the matter of who Trump thinks he’s kidding. It’s all the the brain-dead Trump cultists who believe everything he says, no matter how delusional. And most of the Fox News audience who have lost all ability to discern fact from obvious bullshit. Smith deserves some credit for recognizing that Trump’s deliberately false tirades have no basis in reality and shouldn’t fool anyone. But he needs to accept that it’s his colleagues at Fox News who are propagating Trump’s lies with the intention of deceiving viewers. That’s who Trump thinks he’s kidding, and he’s right.

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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Yes, Jim Jordan is a Loathsome Creep, But Let’s Not Forget About Trump’s Sexual Deviancy

Posted by on July 3, 2018 at 11:46 am. 1 Comments :

Another day, another Republican sleazeball is revealed. This time it’s the grating and obnoxious Donald Trump cultist, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan has repeatedly been shamed for his ignorance and bombast as he pursues a zealot’s path toward fame and possible leadership in the GOP-controlled (for now) House of Representatives. But now he is the subject of a scandal that is far worse than the imaginary conspiracy theories he promotes.

Jim Jordan

Jordan is being accused of “turning a blind eye” to years of sexual abuse by a team doctor when Jordan was the wrestling coach at Ohio State. He denies having any knowledge of the abuse, but members of the wrestling team say that they personally reported it to him and sought his help, which he never provided.

Jordan is going to have to come up with a better story than ignorance. And this affair will surely hamper his obsessive efforts to slander Trump’s critics, particularly those involving Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigations into Trump’s collusion with Russia. obstruction of justice, and various financial improprieties. It will be hard for Jordan to address his “witch hunt” crusade without having to answer questions about his dubious past. In fact, you might not see Jordan on TV for a while.

While all of that is important and deserves the attention of the press and the public, it is also a reminder that the President of the United States is still the nation’s most prominent sexual predator. We, as a nation, cannot let let his abhorrent behavior go unpunished. Trump’s abusive acts have been well known for some time. He even admitted to criminal sexual assault in the “grab ’em by the pussy” video from Access Hollywood. But he was elected president anyway by so-called “family values” voters who dismissed his contemptible conduct in favor of rank party politics. And he has the full support of Fox News, a network whose corporate culture virtually encourages sexual harassment.

This would be a good time to watch the video produced by Brave New Films, if you haven’t already done so. It’s a compilation of sixteen of Trump’s accusers describing the acts committed against them. It’s a moving presentation that needs to be seen by as many people as possible. In a just world it would be ample evidence to remove the Predator-in-Chief from office. And here is where you can contribute to Jordan’s congressional opponent, Janet Garrett.

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


Fox News Buries Bombshell on Trump’s Fixer Michael Cohen – Posts Fake Obama/Iran Story Instead

Posted by on July 2, 2018 at 1:13 pm. 3 Comments :

On Monday morning there was one big story that was dominating the news. Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s attorney – and self-described fixer – was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos for ABC News. In the interview Cohen pretty clearly indicated that he was no longer willing to “take a bullet” for Trump. He told Stephanopoulos that “My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will.”

Fox News, Michael Cohen, Obama

This development is properly being handled like the bombshell that it is by most of the media. Cohen’s additional announcement that he will no longer participate in a joint defense agreement with Trump is generally regarded as a prelude to flipping on the President and cooperating with prosecutors. Even Judge Andrew Napolitano of Fox News said Trump should have some “sleepless nights” over this.

However, if you were to visit the Fox News website Monday morning you would have had a hard time finding anything related to this blockbuster story. A long scroll down the front page would have eventually brought you to a single line on the subject that linked to a two minute video clip. Later in the day that was replaced by the Napolitano quote. And on the air, Fox News covered the story on Outnumbered in a segment that cast Cohen as “not credible” because he was “going against” the President. Apparently on Fox News that’s all you need to know to be considered not credible.

Meanwhile, the Fox News website chose to put a story at the top of their page that was somewhat less timely. The headline: “Path to Citizenship? Powerful cleric claims Obama naturalized thousands of Iranian VIPs during nuke talks.” Fox had to reach back three years to pull this story out of the woodwork. And it was still just a jumble of fiercely spinning jabs at President Obama. None of them hit their mark because they were so far fetched and thinly argued. The article said that:

“The Obama administration granted citizenship to 2,500 Iranians, including family members of government officials, while negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, a senior cleric and member of parliament has claimed.

“Hojjat al-Islam Mojtaba Zolnour, who is chairman of Iran’s parliamentary nuclear committee and a member of its national security and foreign affairs committee, made the allegations during an interview with the country’s Etemad newspaper, cited by the country’s Fars News agency.

“He claimed it was done as a favor to senior Iranian officials linked to President Hassan Rouhani, and he alleged the move sparked a competition among Iranian officials over whose children would benefit from the scheme.”

First of all, everything being reported here is coming from Iran’s state news operation and a hardliner within the Iranian government. For some reason Fox News is granting them the journalistic legitimacy that they would never give to the New York Times, or CNN. But more to the point, the article actually outlines a story wherein Obama allowed Iranian dissidents to emigrate to the United States where they are reportedly working against the national interests of the theocratic, totalitarians in Iran. But that isn’t revealed until much further down in the article:

“[Zolnour] estimated that between 30 and 60 were studying in the U.S. while the rest of them were working in the country ‘against our national interests.'”

So Fox News is deliberately trying to cast Obama in a negative light as having done favors for the offspring of Iranian dictators. But the truth is that he was securing the freedom of Iranian dissidents who oppose the current regime. And this fake news story was elevated to the top of the page, even while the much more consequential (and truthful) story about Michael Cohen was virtually eliminated. It’s kind of ironic that Fox is offering this lesson in how State TV works in an article about Iran’s state TV. Fox News can teach Iran so much about propaganda.

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

UPDATE: By Monday afternoon Fox News had replaced their Obama/Iran feature story with one about California splitting into three states. That may be even less newsworthy (and extremely unlikely to happen) than the Iran story. And still just one small link to Cohen, this one linking to a video clip with Shepard Smith.


Trump Threatens Americans Who Disagree with Him in Slobbering Fox News Interview

Posted by on July 1, 2018 at 10:54 am. 3 Comments :

On Sunday morning Fox News aired another in its long-running series, “Everybody Loves Donald,” wherein the the lead character, Donald Trump, is slathered in a tsunami of wet kisses by a hopelessly infatuated State TV hostess. It was as embarrassing an episode of propaganda as has ever been broadcast on American television. And it can hardly be called an interview since there wasn’t a single question that didn’t lavish praise on the President or lambaste his critics.

Fox News, Donald Trump, Maria Bartiromo

The love interest in this story is Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, who used to be a financial reporter, but has fully transformed into a Class A Trump-fluffer. Her dialog with Trump could not have been more obsequious (look it up Donnie), as she endeavored to canonize the President and adoringly agree with every lie told. See if you can figure out why Trump loves Bartiromo so much.

During this tongue bath Trump said that “The European Union is possibly as bad as China.” And that “Everybody who bought a Harley-Davidson voted for Trump.” Really? Even the Hell’s Angels and the Mongols? He said that he believes Kim Jong Un’s promise to denuclearize North Korea, even though evidence shows he’s ramping up. When Trump says “There’s no Russia with me,” Bartiromo subserviently replies “I know.” When Trump, lying about the Democratic National Committee, says they “threw them [the FBI] out of the office,” Bartiromo dociley agrees. And she affirms Trump’s oft-repeated lie that Hillary Clinton disposed of subpoenaed emails.

But that was nothing. At one point during the love-fest, Trump and Bartiromo engaged in a conversation wherein Trump made an overt threat to any American citizen who dares to disagree with him (video below):

Bartiromo: Here we see your lovely press secretary getting asked to leave a restaurant. We see Peter Fonda, Robert De Niro having ‘Trump Syndrome.’ They’re going crazy. All of this vitriol in this country. As the commander-in-chief, as the President of this great country, what can you do to bring us together?

Oh, the poor beleaguered (and lovely) Sarah Sanders, an unabashed lie dispenser, has been the victim of naughty Hollywood actors going crazy. Bartiromo completely ignores the fact that Trump himself is the source of more vitriol than anyone currently in public life. The chat continues, but note that Trump never answers the question about how he would bring the country together. In fact, he goes the other way entirely with a not-so-subtle threat:

Trump: Well some of them do it for publicity, I hate to say it. Some of them do it for publicity. Now the Hen [It’s the Red Hen] restaurant I thought was terrible with Sarah, I thought it was terrible.
Bartiromo: It was awful.
Trump: I think some of the things that are said are terrible. And our people are so incredible. You know, there’s probably never been a base, in the history of politics in this country, a base like my base. I hope the other side realizes that they better just take it easy. They better just take it easy because some of the language used, some of the words used, even some of the radical ideas, I really think they are very bad for the country. I think they’re actually very dangerous for the country.
Bartiromo: And all the while you’re creating economic growth and you’re creating job opportunity.

Thanks, Maria, for inserting that non sequitur lie about the economy in response to Trump’s political intimidation. For Trump to imply that “the other side…better take it easy” blatantly suggests that there will be consequences if they don’t. And those consequences will be mete out by his historically unprecedented base. In fact, there are historical parallels to Trump’s base. They are often referred to as Brown Shirts, Storm Troopers, and now Republicans.

And thanks also to Donald Trump who, in response to a question about bringing people together, managed to send an undisguised message of hostility and potential violence. His battle warning to anyone who opposes him should make decent Americans cringe. But it should also make them mobilize for the upcoming election in November in order to insure a massive renunciation of Trump’s anti-American regime and his transparent aspirations for a brutal, totalitarian tyranny.

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


Fox News Fail: Host Flagrantly Lies that the Media Blamed Trump for Maryland Shooting

Posted by on June 30, 2018 at 10:44 am. 2 Comments :

The propaganda machine that America knows as Fox News has been working overtime to slander the media on behalf of their Dear Leader, Donald Trump. Of course Trump himself has been the leading voice in the nation castigating the press as “the enemy of the American people,” and feverishly striving to discredit any news enterprise that dares to criticize him. Furthering that goal on Friday evening was Fox’s Laura Ingraham.

Fox News, Laura Ingraham

Ingraham opened her segment on the media (video below) with a montage of clips from CNN and MSNBC that she said demonstrated their attempts to blame Donald Trump for the murders in Annapolis, Maryland. In fact, it only showed these commentators making the obvious connection between the shooter’s hostility for the journalists at the Capital Gazette and Trump’s rabid animosity toward the media in general. It did not suggest, by any stretch of the imagination, that they were blaming Trump for the deaths of the journalists.

However, it cannot be denied that Trump has fostered an anti-press tone that is unjustified, un-American, and unsafe for journalists. In one of the clips reporter Brian Karem noted the fact that there has been a spike in threats against the media since Trump’s election. That doesn’t mean that Trump was responsible for the shootings in Maryland. But it does expose the potential dangers of his hateful rhetoric.

From there Ingraham sought to elaborate on her theme that there was a “rush to judgement blaming Trump.” Never mind that she utterly failed to prove that in her opening. She then turned to Mollie Hemingway of the ultra-rightist Federalist website who said that:

“it was bad enough to see many people in the media trying to blame Donald Trump before anybody knew what was happening. What was really alarming was that they kept with it even after the facts came out showing that there was no correlation between Donald Trump’s very strong criticism of the media and the shooting at the newspaper in Annapolis.”

Again, no evidence of the media blaming Trump was provided before or after the facts of came light. This is just Fox News relentlessly pounding on a false narrative until it sinks in to their willfully ignorant viewers. The same nonsense was pushed by Fox’s chief media correspondent, Howard Kurtz who said:

“This is reprehensible. It’s guilt by association and it’s being spread by journalists who want to blame Donald Trump for everything, including rainstorms and rush hour traffic.”

What’s reprehensible? Critics noting that Trump’s assault on the free press creates a toxic environment? That’s simply the truth. And Kurtz’s snide remarks about weather and traffic don’t bring any light to the discussion. He’s just exacerbating the problem he’s pretending to be so upset over. What’s reprehensible is for a media analyst to further the lie that journalists are spreading Trump’s “guilt” even though he can’t show any evidence of it. And if that weren’t enough, he then engaged in this brief and ludicrous exchange with Ingraham:

Kurtz: Too many organizations are playing to an anti-Trump audience.
Ingraham: A shrinking audience.
Kurtz: Yes, that is true.

WTF? On what basis do these two shills for State TV get the idea that the anti-Trump audience is shrinking? Trump’s approval ratings have skirted the all-time lows for the whole of his presidency. The American people are more disgusted by his ignorance, crudeness, corruption, and criminality than ever. These Fox News hacks are delusional and devoutly committed to spreading blatant lies and propaganda. And lucky for them, there is a faction of the television audience that is just vulnerable enough to their cult tactics for them to get some traction.

Topping it off was a comment by Kurtz that wrapped up the whole segment with a lovely bow of fake concern. He lamented the fact that five journalists were dead, but that that has been “overshadowed by all of this overheated political rhetoric.” Which is funny because that’s what this entire segment was doing. It was ten minutes of overheated political blather that ignored the real world tragedy.

And it was all the more absurd considering that they completely ignored the fact that their own Sean Hannity was the first to “rush to judgment” when he blamed Rep. Maxine Waters and President Obama for the shooting within minutes of the news breaking. Such world-class hypocrisy is emblematic of Fox News who have made it their mission to Make America Gullible and Asinine.

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


SRSLY? Now Trump Says ‘The Enemy of the American People’ Should Be Free from Fear of Attacks

Posted by on June 29, 2018 at 4:35 pm. 2 Comments :

Never let it be said that Donald Trump can’t pretend to be concerned when there is a political advantage to doing so. After all, this is the greedy (alleged) billionaire who convinced millions of working people that he sympathizes with their struggle. This is the guy who has fooled the nation’s evangelicals that he is a devout Christian despite never having practiced the religion or understanding its beliefs. He actually said that he doesn’t have to ask for forgiveness because he’s never done anything wrong.

Donald Trump

And so now that there has been yet another tragic mass shooting, Trump has come forward with his customary and useless “thoughts and prayers” charade. But in this case his disingenuous blather is deeper than usual. That’s because the victims were journalists, a category of citizen who Trump routinely describes as “the most dishonest,” “evil,” “sleazy,” “horrible.” people. He has repeatedly called them “the enemy of the American people,” which he did again just a few days ago.

No one should dismiss that assertion as harmless political rhetoric. It is the same language that Stalin used to suppress the media under his totalitarian rule. And the seriousness of that charge is one that could reasonably incite someone to take what they perversely consider to be patriotic measures to rid the country of an enemy. So it is outright immoral for Trump to offer fake condolences for the victims at the Capital Gazette by saying that “Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job.”

If Trump actually believed that he would apologize for his complicity in whipping up hatred for the press. He would renounce his attacks and attempt to heal the rift he deliberately created to inoculate himself from criticism. He would recognize the vital contribution that the press makes to democracy. And he would answer this question from CNN’s Jim Acosta:

Of course, Trump ignored the question. And he won’t stop denigrating the media anyway. It’s in his blood. He regards any press that isn’t unadulterated adoration to be fake, and even treasonous. He literally said just that last Monday regarding coverage of his photo-op vacation in Singapore with his bestie, Kim Jong Un. And now he expects people to believe that he cares about the lives of journalists? Yeah, right. Only the most demented, willfully ignorant, cult followers would buy that now. And sadly, that’s the majority of today’s Republican Party.

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

UPDATE: Trump was asked on Air Force One if he would stop calling the press “the enemy of the people.” He said that “I have a lot of respect for the press. Some of the greatest people I know are reporters.” Notice that he didn’t actually answer the question. So we can expect him to continue calling the the media the country’s enemy. Also, the great people/reporters he’s talking about are Sean Hannity and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends.

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Hannity Has Already Blamed Maxine Waters – and Obama – for the Capital Gazette Shooting

Posted by on June 28, 2018 at 2:39 pm. 3 Comments :

Thursday morning there has been yet another mass shooting in America. This one occurred in Annapolis, Maryland at the building housing the Capital Gazette newspaper. At his time there are five confirmed fatalities, and the suspect is in custody.

Sean Hannity Fox News

The local police are still interrogating the suspect and they are not reporting any motive yet. This could be the work of a disgruntled employee or domestic violence. But the lack of factual data hasn’t stopped rampant speculation on the part of conservative media and right-wing zealots who are quick to accuse liberals. Never mind that it is the right whose hostility toward the media is more likely to trigger violence. Wingnut troll Milo Yianopoulos said just a couple of days ago that he “can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight.” And Trace Gallagher of Fox News has already checked into the Capital Gazette’s ideological bent, presumably hoping to find it conservative so that liberals could be blamed. And, of course, Donald Trump telling his unstable disciples that “the media is the enemy of the American people.”

But leave it to Sean Hannity to come roaring out of the gate with the first flagrantly accusatory allegations. In a radio rant, Hannity leveled his charges at both Rep. Maxine Waters and President Obama saying that (video below):

“I’ve been saying now for days that something horrible was going to happen because of the rhetoric. Really Maxine? You want people to create – Call your friends. Get in their faces – and Obama said that too. Get in their faces. Call ’em out. Call your friends. Get protesters. Follow them into restaurants and shopping malls, and wherever else she said.”

First of all, Obama never said any such thing, And what Waters said was strictly limited to legal protesting and constitutionally protected dissent. But Hannity is blatantly associating these comments with the motive of the shooter, despite not knowing anything about it.

That’s how these people work. It used to be the domain of fringe figures like Glenn Beck and Alex Jones who would dash immediately into irresponsible charges and conspiracy theories. But in today’s rancid right-wing media environment, it is now the top rated host on Fox News who is doing it. And let’s be clear, reckless rhetoric like this is likely to create exactly the sort of violence that it pretends to criticize. It’s an invitation to other maniacs who seek the notoriety that comes with being hailed by crackpots like Hannity. He should learn to keep his mouth shut when he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. But then that would be pretty all the time.

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


Fox News is So Littered with Repugnant Rage-aholics they Need Nannies to Avoid Being Offensive

Posted by on June 28, 2018 at 1:12 pm. NO Comments :

There is an unmistakable relationship between the tenor of Fox News reporting and the unhinged ravings of Donald Trump. Both engage in unrestrained hyperbole and lies floating in a pungent broth of foul rhetoric. What were once called “dog whistles” intended to subtly appeal to loathsome confederates, are now better described as bull horns bleating to faithful disciples.

Tucker Carlson Fox News

Recently Fox News has been taken to task for offensive remarks by their hosts and guests. The only thing about this that’s new is the criticism. Fox News has long been a source of racist commentaries and abhorrent outbursts on the air. Some examples that occurred in just the past couple of weeks include host Laura Ingraham comparing the immigrant child cages to “summer camps.” Or the former Trump deputy campaign chief, David Bossie, saying that the African-American he was debating was “out of your cotton-picking mind.” For these and many other instances, there has been a backlash against Fox News by advertisers.

Consequently, the new Fox News president, Suzanne Scott, called a meeting of the network’s producers to law down the law: “You are responsible as the producers. You have to protect the talent and the brand.” Notice that the admonition by Scott was not that they needed to refrain from making racist or derogatory statements, or from being insensitive to the suffering of children or other victims of injustice. It was purely a fiscal matter to prevent tarnishing the company or the reputation of its personnel. In other words, they were welcome to express the very same heinous opinions so long as they hid them within more “acceptable” language.

It should be noted that Scott could not have been surprised by the discourse on her network. She was the executive responsible for giving both Ingraham and Tucker Carlson prime time programs. Ironically, before Carlson supplicated himself to Fox he referred to them as “a mean, sick group of people.” So Scott knew exactly what she was getting into. But what’s unprecedented about this new corporate mandate is simply the fact that producers need to be told to clean up the patter of their hosts and guests. That’s actually a recognition on Fox’s part that there is a big problem with them going out of the bounds of decency and that they need to be carefully monitored – and even punished – to insure that they are constrained from acting on their natural, ugly impulses.

What that tells us is that Fox News is now aware of something most news consumers already knew: That Fox is a bastion of crudeness and invective and that their “talent” can’t be trusted to be civil. But to be fair, the same thing is true of Donald Trump. So if the President is doing it, and Fox News is really just a State TV asset, then maybe they need not bother with the nannies at all. Let it all out and let the viewers and advertisers decide.

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


Fox News Enabler of Sexual Predators to Become Trump’s New Communications Director

Posted by on June 27, 2018 at 12:13 pm. NO Comments :

The administration of Donald Trump is currently teeming with Fox News alumni serving in official roles and as outside advisors. They include National Security Advisor John Bolton, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, HHS Secretary Ben Carson, and Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell. Plus Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs, and Pete Hegseth are just a few of the Foxies that Trump relies upon regularly for counsel. And let’s not forget that Trump himself is a former Fox News shill. That’s right. He had a recurring role on Fox & Friends for years with his “Mondays With Trump” segment.

Fox News, Sean Hannity, White House

Now it is being reported that Trump is close to hiring former Fox News president Bill Shine to be his communications director, a post that has been vacant since Hope Hicks left almost four months ago. Shine took over as president of Fox News after CEO and founder Roger Ailes was fired for multiple allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. But shortly thereafter, Shine was also jettisoned for coddling and protecting Ailes and other Fox deviants.

UPDATE: It’s official. Former Fox News Executive Bill Shine Accepts White House Communications Role.

Shine may be the perfect communications director for Trump. They share much in common. In addition to their shared histories with Fox News, they both have long records of disrespecting women. Trump presently is facing allegations by at least sixteen women who say he harassed and/or assaulted them. Shine has not been accused of mistreatment himself, but he is widely viewed as having knowingly covered up sexual misbehavior and crimes. He’s been named in several lawsuits filed against Ailes and Bill O’Reilly. For instance, former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros charged that Shine used private information to “to intimidate, terrorize and crush her career.”

Shine is also a close associate of Trump’s favorite Fox News defender and fluffer, Sean Hannity. And Hannity is reported to have actively pushed Trump to hire Shine. Prior to joining the executive ranks at Fox, Shine was Hannity’s producer. When Shine was first rumored to be on the chopping block Hannity freaked out. In response to the news he tweeted this:

https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/857693772884430849

Well, it was true, but FNC persists with an even more extremist agenda of facilitating Trump’s tyrannical aspirations and status as a racist cult leader. It is recognized by most observers that Fox News has transformed itself into a State TV enterprise serving only to advance White House propaganda. The bonds that link Fox to Trump just keep getting tied tighter with every day. Even Don Jr. has left his wife and five kids to date Fox’s Kimberly Guilfoyle.

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

In reality there is no practical difference between Fox News and Trump’s presidency. And with the possible addition of the Fox ex-president as the chief White House communications official, it is impossible to deny this unprecedented and unethical relationship between a president and the media. It is a parasitic perversion wherein Fox News slobbers over Trump with adoring tongue baths and targeted attacks on his critics. Meanwhile, Trump frequently tweets almost daily about what he’s watching on Fox News and even promotes their programming. At the same time he lashes out at all other media as “fake” news. One really has to wonder how Fox News can legitimately cover Trump considering their close personal and professional ties. But then “legitimate” would be the operative word, and one that is rarely associated with Fox News.


Sick and Dangerous Lies: What Trump is Saying About Democrats Defiles Democracy

Posted by on June 26, 2018 at 1:44 pm. 5 Comments :

No one with any credibility or knowledge of democracy would describe Donald Trump as a champion of freedom or self-government. His entire presidency has been a quickly metastasizing tumor of fascism. He exudes the totalitarian tendencies of the dictators he most admires: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping, etc. And he boasts about advancing initiatives that are overtly discriminatory and suppressive.

Donald Trump Zombie

Yet somehow he continues to be treated as if he were a legitimate leader of a democratic nation. Never mind his repeated assaults on the free press, which he has tagged in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the American People.” This is the ideology of tyrants, which it is clear that Trump aspires to become.

One of the more obvious signs of Trump’s despotic desires is his personal and slanderous attacks on political opponents. It’s been a year and a half since his inauguration and he is still clamoring to “lock up” Hillary Clinton, despite no evidence of any wrongdoing on her part other than challenging Trump. But he is going even further than that by making absurd characterizations of the agenda of Democrats. One example that perfectly illustrates this came in a tweet Tuesday morning:

Trump is ranting about recent comments by Rep. Maxine Waters that called for people to make their feelings known to Trump’s surrogates when encountered in public. That’s nothing more than good old fashioned dissent as guaranteed by the Constitution. Of course Trump falsely accused Waters of advocating violence, which she didn’t do. But then he made his own unambigous threat of violence in response. That’s nothing new for a man who told his supporters assault protesters at his rallies, and then promised to pay their legal bills if they did.

But the claim by Trump that Democrats “want Open Borders and Unlimited Crime” is an unprecedented misrepresentation by an American president. It goes without saying that no Democrat has ever advocated for open borders. Not one, ever. And certainly no Democrat has ever done or said anything in support of crime, unlimited or otherwise. This rhetoric is just plain stupid and would be rejected by all reasonable people.

The problem with this particular moment in history is that Trump has succeeded in aggregating a following of brain-dead cultists who believe everything he says literally. He affirmed that during the campaign when told a rally that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose support. And just yesterday he bragged about a supporter who was asked if there was anything Trump could do to lose her support and she answered “absolutely nothing.”

Perhaps it’s time to fight fire with fire. If Trump thinks it’s acceptable to make hideous assertions about Democrats that have zero basis in fact – or reality – then maybe he should get a taste of his own medicine. Maybe Democrats should start accusing Trump of heinous activities and ideas. For instance:

Oh, wait. All of those are true. If we want to emulate Trump’s contemptible and dishonest rhetoric, this wouldn’t be the same thing at all. We would have to be even more extreme than his reality by saying things like “Trump drinks the blood of immigrant babies.” Or “Trump demands prison for any American who doesn’t drop to both knees and chant his name whenever they see him, or even hear his name.” Or “Investigators have incontrovertible evidence that Trump is the Zodiac killer.” Or “Russian doctor planted a microchip in Trump’s brain that gives Putin control over his thoughts and actions.”

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
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That ought to do it. And it would be just accurate as any of the things that Trump says about Democrats. Unfortunately, American liberals aren’t brainwashed the way that Trump’s glassy-eyed disciples are. So no one would believe any of it. But it might still be a useful exercise to demonstrate what a pile of walking bullshit this president is. He needs to be held accountable for his words. And if the media won’t do it, the people need to step up.