‘Far More Fiction than Fact’: Trump Tweets the Perfect Description of His Own Twitter Feed

Posted by on April 8, 2018 at 10:52 am. 2 Comments :

Heaven forbid that a single Sunday would go by without Donald Trump assuming his position on his throne and proclaiming the way the world is – or should be – on Twitter. His pronouncements have become a regular feature of the daily life of the White House. And this Sunday was no different as Trump took on everything from Hillary Clinton to Syria’s “Animal Assad” to President Obama.

Donald Trump Toilet

Of particular note was Trump’s latest broadside at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his Washington Post. The tweet was a familiar attack on the newspaper that he hates so viscerally. And it all stemmed from an article that revealed the diminished status of his Chief of Staff, John Kelly.

Notice that Trump’s criticism is as substantively vacant as usual. He doesn’t cite one story that is “made up garbage.” He doesn’t give one example of anything being “poorly written.” And he can’t backup his delusional assertion that “many of [the sources] don’t exist.” He is just ranting uncontrollably in a fit of sweaty rage, unable to contain his anxiety or support the wild notions he is spewing. It’s another symptom of the fear that is eating him up. Although it is an excellent description of the blather he posts on Twitter.

The article in the Washington Post that got him all riled up was titled “‘When you lose that power’: How John Kelly faded as White House disciplinarian.” The Post did extensive research and was “based on interviews with 16 administration officials, outside advisers and presidential confidants, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to assess the chief of staff.”” The use of undisclosed sources is a critical part of journalism. It protects people in positions to know detailed and intimate facts from the retribution of powerful bosses. Every legitimate news enterprises uses them. Trump even uses them and cites articles where they’ve been used, so long as the article advances his interests.

For some idea of what made Trump go berserk this Sunday morning, here are a few choice excerpts from the Post that paint an accurate picture of the chaos in Trump’s White House:

“The recurring and escalating clashes between the president and his chief of staff trace the downward arc of Kelly’s eight months in the White House. Both his credibility and his influence have been severely diminished, administration officials said, a clear decline for the retired four-star Marine Corps general who arrived with a reputation for integrity and a mandate to bring order to a chaotic West Wing.”

“After White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly pressured President Trump last fall to install his top deputy, Kirstjen Nielsen, atop the Department of Homeland Security, the president lost his temper when conservative allies argued that she wasn’t sufficiently hard line on immigration. ‘You didn’t tell me she was a [expletive] George W. Bush person.'”

“Kelly neither lurks around the Oval Office nor listens in on as many of the president’s calls, even with foreign leaders. He has not been fully consulted on several recent key personnel decisions. And he has lost the trust and support of some of the staff, as well as angered first lady Melania Trump, who officials said was upset over his sudden dismissal of Johnny McEntee, the president’s 27-year-old personal aide.”

“White House chief of staff John Kelly grew so frustrated on the day Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin was fired that both Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Defense Secretary James Mattis attempted to calm him down.”

Candid observers have noticed that Trump is increasingly perturbed with Kelly’s attempts to shackle him and rein in his worst impulses. According to one source, Trump said that he was “tired of being told no” by Kelly. Consequently, Trump has been leaving Kelly out of the loop on important matters. For instance, Kelly was not around when the President called Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on winning a sham election. Nor was Kelly consulted about the hiring of John Bolton to be his next national security adviser.

The article quotes Bill Clinton’s Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta saying that “There are few things worse than being an impotent chief of staff. When you lose that power you become a virtual White House intern, being told where to go and what to do.” However, in Trump’s mind there are things much worse than that. Like losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, or allowing DREAMers to remain in the only country they know as home, or being exposed as a collaborator with Russian enemies to win an election and then obstructing justice to hide the truth.

But the most heinous atrocity that Trump can experience is the fact, and public awareness, that he is a loser at the things he thinks he excels at (which, of course, is everything). And that may be why he is so maddened by Jeff Bezos. It’s an embarrassment that was perfectly stated by this Washington Post editor to CNN’s Brian Stelter. And it is very likely the root cause of Trump’s derangement:

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

Find us on Google+
Advertisement:

Hannity vs Kimmel: Fox News Host’s Obsession with Other People’s Sexual Lives is Creepy

Posted by on April 7, 2018 at 2:26 pm. 4 Comments :

For the past couple of days Twitter has been the stage of an epic battle between the top dog at Fox News, Sean Hannity, and a formidable political intellectual and social scientist – oops – I mean comedian Jimmy Kimmel. And even a late night jokester has proven to be too much of challenge for Hannity’s severely limited cognitive abilities. Kimmel took the whole thing as good, not-so-clean fun. But Hannity had a cerebral spasm that threatened to burst a blood vessel in his ample forehead.

Fox News, Sean Hannity, Jimmy Kimmel

The feud began when Kimmel made a lighthearted joke about First Lady Melania Trump’s accent when reading to kids at a White House Easter event. Kimmel merely repeated her pronunciation of “dis and dat.” Dat’s it. It was hardly a sharp elbowed political jab. But it drove Hannity to distraction wherein he literally couldn’t think of anything else. Much of his day on Friday was consumed with manic tweets attacking Kimmel as a “despicable,” “perverted,” “racist asshole.” He took to calling Kimmel “Harvey Weinstein, Jr.” in a callous trivialization of a real perpetrator of sexual assault. Most of the Twitter battle can be seen here.

Later that evening, Hannity spent most of his Friday program ranting about Kimmel and vowing to destroy him. Hannity criticizes Kimmel for “losing his mind for five minutes on his show,” just before devoting almost the whole hour of his own show to Kimmel bashing. And after getting so freaked out over Kimmel’s joke directed at a First Lady, Hannity attacks Michelle Obama. His tantrum also included baseless accusations that Kimmel relentlessly bashed all Republicans 24/7 and “kissed Obama’s ass.” Actually, Kimmel has been fairly apolitical until the recent difficulties he had with his sick newborn. It was after his advocacy of healthcare reforms that the right started attacking him. And Hannity promises to escalate this one-sided war. On his program he said that…

“I am going after Jimmy Kimmel tonight. We’re gonna pound him with his own words. […] I’m throwing down the gauntlet. I’m not gonna stop. They are gonna stop by the time it’s done. […] For me this is it. I’ll just stay on this, and I’ll roll tape of Jimmy Kimmel every night for the rest of my career.”

Well, that at least would be more entertaining than having to watch Hannity. But his sanctimonious sermonizing about some Kimmel bits that Hannity dug up from the two decade old Comedy Central program “The Man Show” don’t really help him much. Mainly because it casts Hannity as the sexually obsessed pervert who finds salaciousness in what everyone else sees as just raunchy comedy. And Hannity shouldn’t be throwing stones. He’s the guy who sees secretly placed images of sperm in President Obama’s portrait. He charged CNN president Jeff Zucker with being the “scandal-plagued” “king of porn.” He’s had his own run-in with allegations of sexual harassment. And then there was the time he propositioned a “really hot looking chick in the third row” of his audience and asked if she would “Wanna meet me later?”

Remember, Kimmel’s joke had nothing to do with sex. It was about Melania’s accent. But Hannity turned the whole affair into a sleaze-fest. Because that’s what’s on his diseased mind. Every year he does a week of programs about Spring Break where he castigates America’s youth while running endless footage of bikini-clad girls.

And let’s not forget that he’s on a network that has a distinct problem with misogyny. The network’s CEO, Roger Ailes, was fired for multiple incidents of sexual harassment. Then their biggest star, Bill O’Reilly, was tossed out after the discovery of tens millions of dollars paid to secure the silence of his victims. Fox also jettisoned its president, Bill Shine; host Eric Bolling; Fox Sports President, Jamie Horowitz; and VP of Fox News Latino, Francisco Cortes, all for similarly abhorrent misconduct. Most recently the wives of Fox hosts Jesse Watters and Pete Hegseth filed for divorce due to their public infidelities.

One thing is clear: Sean Hannity is working at just the right network for his brand of perversion. It’s a network that has canonized serial predator Donald Trump and supported the senate candidacy of pedophile Roy Moore. Fox News is a breeding ground for perverts. They hire and promote men who blatantly demean and abuse women. The environment was described accurately by former Fox News host and victim Andrea Tantaros in her lawsuit as “a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny.” Hannity must be loving it. But he probably isn’t too happy about being beaten regularly by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. And that may be the real reason he is jumping on Kimmel. It’s a desperate and lame attempt to goose his ratings. And it isn’t going to work any better than his Pizza-Gate episodes.

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


Tough Guy Trump is a Trembling Coward – Too Scared to Face the Media He Says is Fake

Posted by on April 6, 2018 at 3:35 pm. 4 Comments :

It has been 441 days since Donald Trump was inaugurated. Less than one month later he held his first news conference. And despite innumerable scandals, outrages, embarrassments, and crimes, he hasn’t held another one since. That’s right, the President of the United States has only had one solo news conference during his entire term in office to date. What’s more, he hasn’t sat for an interview with a major news network other than Fox News for more than a year.

Donald Trump

For most that time, Trump has been a vocal opponent of the free press and the First Amendment. He has called the media “the enemy of the American people.” He banned certain news organizations from his rallies. He proposed licensing of journalists and/or revoking licenses of broadcasters he regarded as too critical. The Committee to Protect Journalists declared that Trump is “undermining global press freedom.” And his relentless (and tedious) repetition of “fake news” whenever someone in the press tells the truth about him has become the hallmark of his presidency.

For all his tough talk it is apparent that Donald Trump is a coward. He is a whining baby whose impotent rants only illustrate how scared he is of the media he tries to bully. And now he has informed the White House Correspondents Association that he will not be attending their annual dinner for the second year in a row. And why should he? He has called the other attendees sleazy, dishonest, corrupt, and horrible people. So he’s sending his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to fill in for him as the designated liar for the administration. She should be a suitable substitute for the Liar-in-Chief. It’s just like her day job.

Trump’s failure to hold a news conference breaks decades old practices of presidents answering to the American people through their media surrogates. His single appearance contrasts with the far more accessible policies of his predecessors. Barack Obama, in his first year in office, held seven news conferences. George W. Bush did four. Bill Clinton did eleven. George H. W. Bush did twenty-seven. Ronald Reagan did six. Jimmy Carter did twenty-two. Gerald Ford did four. And Richard Nixon did six.

And it’s not as if Trump doesn’t recognize the importance of news conferences. During the campaign he criticized Hillary Clinton for what he regarded as a wholly improper avoidance of the media:

If Clinton’s alleged media shyness for seven months was an indication that she had a terrible record that could not be defended, then what does that say about Trump’s fourteen months of cowering in the safety of the White House and his private resorts? It is unmistakable that his outbursts are the result of an inner terror of being held accountable. In the past year there have been dozens of incidents that the American people want and deserve to hear the President explain. From Russia to porn stars to racism to economic crises, this president refuses to answer questions in a setting where reporters can challenge his authoritarian tactics.

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

At some point the media needs to make this an issue. If Trump will not hold a news conference, or venture out of his Fox News cocoon, they should stop covering his rallies and propaganda photo ops. He can communicate via Twitter and call-ins to Fox and Friends. But the press has stop tolerating his delegitimization of the media. There are plenty of other ways to inform the public about his activities. Including gavel-to-gavel coverage of his impeachment.


Was EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt Ambushed on Fox News Under Orders From Donald Trump?

Posted by on April 5, 2018 at 12:03 pm. 2 Comments :

Every now and then somebody on Fox News strays from the herd and does or says something critical of Donald Trump. It’s a rare event that is mostly confined to outliers like Shepard Smith or a courageous guest. In most cases it is treated as the aberration that it is and quickly buried under the rush of Fox’s typical pro-Trump propaganda.

Fox News, Scott Pruitt, EPA

On Wednesday, however, the criticism came from an unlikely source. Ed Henry, the chief national correspondent for Fox News, interviewed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, Scott Pruitt (video below). In what Pruitt must have assumed would be a friendly media encounter, he was surprised by the aggressive tone of Henry’s inquiries. The questions addressed some of the most controversial scandals that have erupted during his tenure at the EPA.

Henry asked Pruitt why he went around Trump to give two top aides raises after the President refused the request. When Pruitt said that it was staffers who did that and that he didn’t know anything about it, Henry pushed back asking Pruitt to confirm that he didn’t know what was going on in the department he was supposedly running.

Henry also asked how renting a Washington, D.C. apartment at sweetheart rates from the wife of a lobbyist with business before the EPA was “draining the swamp.” Pruitt replied that there was nothing untoward about the arrangement. So Henry offered examples demonstrating that his $50.00 a night rental was way out of line with Washington rates for residences or hotels.

This appearance of actual journalism at Fox News is peculiar in general, but downright bizarre for Ed Henry.. He is one of the most squishy Trump-fluffers on Fox News. He is a frequent co-host of Trump’s favorite Fox show, Fox and Friends. There was a time in the past when Henry passed himself off as a straight-up reporter. But then he was suspended by Fox for having had an extramarital affair. When he returned to the air it was like he had been given a new mission to serve as a Trump sycophant. Perhaps it was the price of his reinstatement.

So why would Henry suddenly show some gumption and take on Trump’s EPA boss? The most plausible theory is that he was ordered to do so. And those orders could only have come from one place: Donald Trump. Fox wouldn’t independently direct Henry to go on the attack. They would have to have had instructions. And Trump has reasons to want Pruitt to look bad in public. With the scandals he has brought to the White House, including ludicrous spending for things like first-class air travel and a $40,000.00 secure phone booth in his office, Trump might be looking for excuses to fire him.

The signs are cropping up throughout the White House. When asked about Pruitt’s status Wednesday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it was “under review.” Deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley was similarly non-committal saying that he “can’t speak to the future of Scott Pruitt.” It sounds very much like Trump’s people are bailing on Pruitt. They would not do that without permission. Nor would Fox News. So it would be interesting to find out if there were any communications between Trump and his State-run TV network that directed Henry to filet Pruitt. He has been meeting with Fox Newsers much more in recent weeks, which suggests that their already close relationship is getting even closer.

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


Court: Bill O’Reilly Can’t Suppress Past Sexual Harassment Settlements – Trump Should Be Worried

Posted by on April 4, 2018 at 1:40 pm. NO Comments :

Disgraced former Fox News shill, Bill O’Reilly, has been reduced to running a little-visited video blog. His ranting is identical to the fact-averse garbage he spewed on Fox, but is only seen by a few hundred of Billo’s deadenders. For the most part he is too insignificant to bother reporting about. However, a recent court ruling could have ramifications that far exceed his puny reach.

Bill O'Reilly, Donald Trump

A federal court just ruled on a motion by O’Reilly to suppress his past sexual harassment settlements. The court ruled against O’Reilly’s motion to seal the settlement agreements he had previously imposed on multiple women who accused him of harassment. As CNN reported:

“Deborah Batts, the judge presiding over the defamation suit, ruled Tuesday that O’Reilly ‘has failed to present compelling countervailing factors that could overcome the presumption of public access’ to the agreements. Batts also said O’Reilly ‘has not even come close to rebutting this First Amendment presumption’ that favors public access to documents.”

It is likely that as a result of this, details of O’Reilly’s abusive behavior that were not known before will become public as this defamation suit proceeds. Not that that will have much impact on his perception by most Americans who already know that he’s a sleazeball. But the decision foreshadows circumstances that are certainly going to arise for Donald Trump.

Trump is also being sued for defamation by women who allege sexual harassment and/or abuse. Adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who has been litigating to rescind a Trump non-disclosure agreement, recently amended her suit to include allegations of defamation by Trump and his attorney, Michael Cohen. In addition, former Apprentice contestant, Summer Zervos, filed a lawsuit charging that Trump defamed her in the course of denying her allegation of sexual assault. Two weeks ago a judge denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the case.

In both the Daniels and Zervos suits, the defamation consisted of Trump’s public remarks disparaging his accusers as liars. So whether or not these women prevail in court rests on their ability to provide evidence that their assertions are true. Both have already demonstrated that that won’t be a problem. What’s more, there are at least a dozen other women who could file similar complaints.

Trump has adamantly denied that he engaged in any sexually inappropriate behavior. But he went further than that to declare himself the victim and his accusers of perpetrating “one of the great political smear campaigns in the history of our country.” Those comments, which were aimed at all of his accusers, are unambiguously defamatory. And he even threatened to file lawsuits himself:

“Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign. Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”

The ruling in the O’Reilly case portends the legal peril that Trump faces for his own abusive conduct. And his public, self-incriminating statements only make matters worse. It could mean that many of the allegations against him will be aired more fully as these lawsuits proceed. And finally the women he victimized will get the justice due them, and our Sexual-Predator-in-Chief will face the consequences of being a reprehensible jackass. For some idea of just how disgusting Trump is, watch the video below of the women he assaulted describing their ordeals.

Allowing Trump to remain in the White House sends a terrible message to all Americans, particularly women and girls. If Trump isn’t impeached for obstruction of justice, collusion with Russia, financial corruption, undermining the free press, or being a pathological liar and malignant narcissist, then his sexual depravity and criminality should be more than reason enough.

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


Sucks To Be Trump: More Americans Trust the ‘Fake’ News than the President

Posted by on April 3, 2018 at 12:01 pm. 7 Comments :

It’s always easy to tell when Donald Trump is frightened by the political and legal perils he encounters. His first reaction is predictably to grab his phone and tweet out incoherent rants. They might be about issues he incompetently tries to advance, or about people he perceives as enemies. But often it’s about the media that he despises for doing their job.

Donald Trump

Most of the time Trump disparages the free press in a transparent attempt to inoculate himself from criticism. It’s a pathetic spectacle that everyone can see through, but worse, it’s anti-democratic. Sometimes he goes on the attack just to convince himself that he is loved by the American people, despite reality. On Tuesday morning Trump did the latter with a tweet lauding his alleged popularity:

Let’s just set aside the baseless and deranged “Cheatin’ Obama” crap (who cheats more than Trump? Ask any of his three wives) and focus on the substance. Rasmussen is one of the most egregiously biased pollsters, well known for skewing their results to favor Republicans and conservatives. So Trump’s numbers in this poll are unreliable and far outside the range of every other pollster. The RealClear Politics average for Trump currently shows an approval of 41.8 percent, disapproval 53.2 percent. That negative 11.4 percent gap averages the latest twelve surveys. Rasmussen is the only pollster who gives Trump a positive (+1) rating. The next closest is Fox News, whose number (-7) is not exactly something to brag about. No poll (except for Rasmussen) gives Trump a rating higher than 45 percent. Gallup has his approval at only 39 percent.

It’s also notable that since Trump posted his tweet, even the Rasmussen numbers have become negative, flipping to 50 disapprove. That’s one of the risks of depending on polls for your self-esteem. They change. Nevertheless, Trump is likely still wallowing in his delusional state of magnificence. However, by tweeting “Thank you to Rasmussen,” he is demonstrating that he doesn’t know what polls are. They are not favors to the subjects of the surveys and it’s peculiar to thank them for their results. Well, maybe Rasmussen is an exception to that as well.

UPDATE: Two days later, Trump dips again in Rasmussen poll. He’s now at 47% approve, 51% disapprove, with 41% strongly disapprove.

Another survey that was released Monday was from Monmouth University and covered the public view of Trump and the media. Like other polls before it, Monmouth found that Americans trust the media more than they do Donald Trump. That’s gotta sting the President who has been striving furiously to turn the nation against the press. The detail shows that 48 percent of Americans trust CNN more than Trump (35% trust Trump more). Forty-five percent trust MSNBC more than Trump (32% for Trump). Even 30 percent trust Fox News more than Trump (20% for Trump). Although the Fox numbers also show that a plurality of 37 percent trust both equally. This affirms that Trump’s base is still immovably stuck in the low thirties.

There are some other interesting results in this survey. Notably the fact that most Americans believe that the media, at least occasionally, reports “fake” news. And many them believe that it is done deliberately “in order to push an agenda.” That’s indicative of the harm done by a leader who has no respect for the free press and seeks to delegitimize journalism generally in order to escape accountability. But it also makes Trump’s trust levels even worse in context. The American people still trust the media more than Trump even though they think that what the media reports is occasionally fake. Which means that they think Trump is even more fake. Let’s see if he tweets anything about that.

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

Find us on Google+
Advertisement:

Donald Trump, Who Has No Time for TV, Thinks It’s ‘So Funny to Watch Fake News Networks’

Posted by on April 2, 2018 at 3:57 pm. 4 Comments :

The most anti-media president in the history of the country is once again attacking the free press. Donald Trump spent Monday morning posting racist tweets filled with lies about immigration and DACA, but that’s another story. In the midst of his tantrum he couldn’t help inserting a tweet reaffirming his aversion to the press and propping up a media enterprise that rivals Fox News for its sycophantic propagandizing.

Donald Trump

The tweet in question was utterly devoid of any factual information. It was wholly an effort to defend Sinclair Broadcasting, a right-wing tool of the administration and the GOP. Sinclair recently distributed a script to its nearly 200 stations nationwide that they forced their anchors to recite. And the folks at Deadspin put together a video collage of the groupthink editorial that went ultra-viral (video below). So of course Trump had to drop whatever he was doing (golfing? tweeting? Watching Fox News? Certainly not working) and come to Sinclair’s defense. He tweeted:

Yeah, it was hysterical. It’s always a laugh riot to see what happens when fascist media outlets order their employees to read Goebbels-inspired, Trump-approved doctrine against their will. Many of the Sinclair anchors were repulsed by the mandatory script, but fearing retribution, could only say so anonymously. One troubled reporter did however make his displeasure known in a tweet:

In case you didn’t notice, that’s a reporter from a local station in Los Angeles that’s owned by Fox News. Let that sink in. A Fox News reporter is disgusted by Sinclair for pushing biased garbage. That’s how low Sinclair has sunk with their latest homage to Dear Leader Trump. It isn’t exactly a tribute to the First Amendment. Or as comedian John Oliver says:

“Nothing says we value independent media like dozens of reporters forced to repeat the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult.”

The President’s tweet may aim to support Sinclair’s journalistic integrity, but it’s actually additional proof that Sinclair is a mouthpiece for the administration. Any reputable news enterprise would find it distinctly uncomfortable to be hailed for their supplication to a political leader. That’s not their job. Real journalists are dedicated to covering government aggressively to root out corruption and self-dealing. Fox News has made a name for itself as the nation’s top Trump-fluffer and, consquently, isn’t taken seriously by their journalistic peers. Sinclair is now attempting to challenge Fox to see who adores the President more.

What’s peculiar about Trump’s tweet (besides everything about it) is that it indicates that he watches a significant amount of what he calls “fake” news. He explicitly says that watching CNN and NBC News is “funny” to him. But he still has time available to watch Sinclair broadcasts which he praises as “superior.” Which raises questions about his remarks earlier this year wherein he insisted that:

“Believe it or not, even when I’m in Washington or New York, I do not watch much television. People that don’t know me, they like to say I watch television — people with fake sources. You know, fake reporters, fake sources. But I don’t get to watch much television. Primarily because of documents. I’m reading documents. A lot.”

That contradicts what White House insiders told The New York Times. They say that Trump spends at least four hours a day watching TV, and sometimes as much as eight hours. The evidence of that is often demonstrated by Trump’s Twitter feed. It is full of instances where he’s tweeting about something that he just watched on Fox and Friends. Plus, he is in frequent communication with Fox News shills like Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro. And that’s not even counting the Fox yakkers who Trump has appointed to White House jobs.

UPDATE: Trump continued his tantrum on Tuesday with another unhinged tweet:

Says the Liar-In-Chief. Honest observers of the media know that the only fake news networks that “knowingly have a sick and biased AGENDA” are Fox News, Sinclair, and their ilk. But it’s typical of Trump to accuse others of what he and his pals are guilty.

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

For your viewing pleasure via Deadspin: How America’s largest local TV owner turned its news anchors into soldiers in Trump’s war on the media.


Hellbound? Donald Trump Blatantly Lies Before Entering His Easter Sunday Church Service

Posted by on April 1, 2018 at 2:20 pm. 3 Comments :

The support that Donald Trump gets from the allegedly Christian faithful has always been peculiar and illustrative of a unique brand of hypocrisy. Trump may be the most flagrantly irreligious person to ever occupy the White House. He insists that he doesn’t have to ask God’s forgiveness because he doesn’t do anything wrong. He can’t cite a single bible verse when asked, and can’t explain the ones that are inserted into his prepared speeches. And his entire agenda goes against everything that the historical Jesus stands for.

Donald Trump Messiah

On this Easter Sunday, Trump, wife Melania, and nearly forgotten daughter Tiffany, attended church near his Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. On the way into this holiest of holidays service, Trump stopped to answer a few question from reporters. Everyone knows by now that the truth is a foreign concept to this president. But outside of church, prior to a celebration of one’s savior rising from the dead, ought to cause one to think twice before lying to the entire nation – again. But not Trump. Replying to a question about DACA (video below) he said that…

“A lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA. And we’re gonna have to see. They had a great chance. The Democrats blew it. They had a great, great chance. But we’ll have to take a look.”

Either Trump still has no idea what DACA is or he simply doesn’t care about spewing obvious falsehoods. It’s a given that his supporters won’t catch the lies in that comment, but God probably will. First of all, DACA recipients must have been living in the U.S. continuously since 2007, and had to be sixteen or younger when they entered. No new arrivals would be covered by DACA or any of the immigration bills Republicans in Congress have already rejected.

As for those bills, after originally saying he would sign whatever bipartisan legislation Congress sent him, he reversed himself and refused to back any of the congressional bills. So it wasn’t Democrats who “blew” their chance. They cooperated with their colleagues, but Trump reneged on his promise. And it should not go unnoticed that it was Trump who killed DACA in the first place and he could reinstate it at any time if he wanted to. Earlier in the day Trump tweeted some of the same lies about DACA that he told the reporters at church:

In addition to his misrepresentation of Democrats and DACA, the President referred to a “Catch and Release” law that doesn’t actually exist. If the border patrol isn’t allowed to do its job, it’s because of Trump, to whom they report. And Trump’s choice of Easter as the day to proclaim that the DACA deal is dead confirms his callous insensitivity. Then there’s his curious talk about “caravans” of immigrants pouring into the country, which was totally unsubstantiated. Plus, it was taken verbatim from Fox and Friends forty minutes earlier. And the good Lord knows that Fox News can’t be trusted to tell the truth either. Case in point, they posted this tweet Easter morning:

Let’s set aside that this is hardly a newsworthy scoop that Fox had to rush out to their dimwitted audience. Or that they didn’t post any tweets of Nancy Pelosi or other Democrats wishing everyone a Happy Easter. What’s interesting about this is that the photo is of the Trump Klan on Easter of 2017. Apparently Fox News couldn’t find a picture of the Trumps celebrating the holiday this year (because there isn’t one), so they dredged up an old one to make it look like Trump was joining America in this year’s celebration.

Most of the country is already aware of – and fed up with – the lying from both Trump and Fox News. But if you thought that they might refrain from being so shamelessly dishonest on this of all days, you would be wrong. They have no shame, and they obviously don’t care who knows it.

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


Donald Trump Fires His Daughter Ivanka In An Easter Sunday Staffing Rebirth

Posted by on April 1, 2018 at 10:19 am. 2 Comments :

Virtually every alleged achievement that Donald Trump talks about is portrayed as the greatest accomplishment of its kind in the history of the world. Needless to say, that is never actually true. However, there is something that Trump could claim as record-setting if he were of a mind to. That’s the pace at which he has lost members of his administration, from cabinet secretaries to personal assistants. The people he touted as “the best” have scattered like leaves in a hurricane.

Ivanka Trump

Now the President has made what may be the most surprising personnel decision since his inauguration. His daughter Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner, have been exiled from their White House posts, according to sources familiar with the situation. Insiders say that Trump was generally satisfied with the progress (or deliberate lack thereof) on the projects that were assigned to them. But he was infuriated by comments that Ivanka has made to the press in recent weeks. For instance:

  • During the Alabama Senate special election, Ivanka appeared to criticize Republican Roy Moore saying that “There is a special place in hell for people who prey on children.”
  • In remarks that could easily be attributed to her father’s record of serial sexual harassment and assault she said “I have no reason to doubt the victims’ accounts.”
  • Speaking about the GOP tax bill, Ivanka said “I’m really looking forward to doing a lot of traveling in April when people realize the effect that this has.” That was interrupted by Trump as meaning that she wanted to get out of town so she wouldn’t have to answer difficult questions about why it failed to help anyone.
  • For some inexplicable reason Trump saw this comment as whining: “There is a level of viciousness [in the media] I was not expecting.”
  • And this sentiment may have been the most maddening of all: “I really try to avoid getting drawn into politics. […] I care more about the country than politics.” Trump is adamant that all of his team put his political interests above everything else. Ivanka crossed a line here.

In addition to those blunders, Ivanka also made an unforgivable error on Twitter last Christmas by aiding and abetting the enemies in the War on Christmas:

There were hints of these terminations recently in the news. Reports from inside the White House indicated that Trump was secretly steering Chief of Staff John Kelly to help him push Javanka out. Kelly was said to be amenable to this because he never thought she should have had an official role in the administration in the first place.

Also, recent disclosures by porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal may explain Trump’s willingness to cut Ivanka loose. They both independently revealed that Trump told them that they remind him of Ivanka. Therefore, he has an inexhaustible pool of potential replacements for the position of First Daughter. So why not take advantage of this holiday weekend to start the process of upgrading? What better day than April First/Fools? 🙂

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

UPDATE April 2, 2018: In case you haven’t already figured it out – – – April Fools! Sorry to disappoint y’all. I wish it were true too. Maybe soon all the Trumps will be gone.


March Maddow-ness: MSNBC Dominates Fox News in the March Ratings Championship Game

Posted by on March 31, 2018 at 3:14 pm. 4 Comments :

Two years ago, Fox News was the unchallenged king of the cable news networks with ratings that sometimes exceeded the combined total of CNN and MSNBC. Last year, Rachel Maddow showed surprising strength against her competition, Sean Hannity. But now it is becoming a regular occurrence that MSNBC beats Fox News over significant parts of the daily schedule.

Rachel Maddow

MSNBC’s ratings success is driven by Maddow’s continued surge. She is no longer a quirky thorn in Fox’s side. She regularly wins her time period in the coveted advertising demographic of 18-34 year olds. In March she beat Hannity every single day of the month except for one. Her average audience for the month was 651,000. That compares to Hannity’s average of 568,000. But even more impressive is that Maddow also bested Hannity in total viewers fourteen out of the twenty-one weekdays in the month. Her average for total viewers was 2.99 million vs. Hannity’s 2.87 million.

MSNBC should also be proud of having better audience numbers in the demo than Fox News for most of the evening hours including primetime. Their average from 4:00pm to midnight was 458,400 vs. Fox’s 455,800. The Last Word with Lawerence O’Donnell won its time period thirteen of the twenty-one weekdays in March. And The 11th Hour with Brian Williams came out on top on nineteen days. Both of those programs scored higher than their competition (Laura Ingraham and Shannon Bream respectively) for the full month. And although Fox News generally did better during most of the daytime time periods, Deadline with Nicolle Wallace managed to beat Fox’s Neil Cavuto on eight days.

A weak point in MSNBC’s schedule is All In with Chris Hayes. Which is too bad because it’s an excellent show that has been recognized with multiple Emmys. However, it needs some juice if it’s going to be a decent leadin for Maddow and the rest of their primetime. They should think about pairing Hayes with Joy Reid as a co-host. Reid’s weekend program has been showing strength and is popular among MSNBC’s core audience. And it wouldn’t hurt to consider swapping Nicolle Wallace into Chris Matthew’s Hardball slot. Wallace has demonstrated her ability to pull in viewers, and Matthews may play better in the earlier, newsier part of the day.

The bottom line is that Fox News can no longer consider itself the number one network for cable news. It has been declining with each new reporting period. In January Fox News dropped fourteen percent in primetime. And February topped that with an additional fifteen percent decline. Meanwhile, MSNBC gained significantly in both of those months. February’s percentage gains were over twenty percent. Even worse for Fox News was their actual earnings performance. Their revenue rose less than either of their competitors – a measly seventeen percent. CNN’s rise doubled that to thirty-two percent. And MSNBC rocketed up sixty-two percent.

We can expect Fox’s earnings to fall even more in April with the advertiser exodus they are experiencing due to Laura Ingraham’s reprehensible attack on David Hogg, one of the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. So far there are at least eighteen major advertisers who have pulled their business from her show. And in the midst of that she just announced that she will be on “vacation” all of next week. For the record, that’s the same thing Bill O’Reilly did after his advertisers bailed en masse and just before he was canned by Fox.

UPDATE: Forbes affirms the above ratings analysis.

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