WHUT? Trump Lies That He Wants the People He Told Not to Testify to Tell the Truth

Posted by Mark NC on December 23, 2021 at 12:43 pm. 8 Comments :

There may never have a person in American political life that has been such a sizzling mess of raw contradictions and dishonesty as Donald Trump. As president he managed to accumulate a record of more than 30,000 lies that will likely never be challenged. And losing the election last year to Joe Biden hasn’t slowed him down. In fact, his “Big Lie” that the election was “rigged” and “stolen” has risen to the top of his (bulls)hit parade.

However, Trump is feeling the pressure from the newly impaneled House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection. The Committee has already taken testimony from more than 300 people. Some of Trump’s closest confederates (i.e. Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, John Eastman, Mark Meadows) have been subpoenaed. And should they refuse to comply, they will likely be referred to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress charges. Additionally, Trump’s most zealous backers in Congress (i.e. Jim Jordan, Scott Perry) have been asked to come before the Committee to disclose what they know about Trump’s criminal activities before, during, and after the Capitol riots.

In the meantime, Trump is venting his anxieties via his Twitter ban defying spokes-shill. In a bizarre tweet he said that…

“The people being persecuted by the January 6th Unselect Committee should simply tell the truth, that they are angry about the RIGGED Presidential Election of 2020. People are entitled to Freedom of Speech, and perhaps there has been no time in our Country’s history where Freedom of Speech has been so totally violated. They don’t want to talk about election results because they know they can’t win.”

One has to wonder how Trump expects his “persecuted” pals to tell the truth to the Committee when he has directed them not to show up at all. He is asserting executive privilege, to which he doesn’t have any legal claim. Trump is simultaneously insisting that he has nothing to hide while he’s suing to hide everything.

Trump is right that people are entitled to freedom of speech, So why isn’t he permitting his flunkies to exercise it? He is the only one prohibiting anyone from speaking freely. The Committee would welcome his accomplices to appear and say what they will. The Committee would likewise welcome Trump himself to testify. And if he weren’t such a coward, that’s what he would do voluntarily.

Instead, Trump unleashes this psychotic rant supposedly advocating that his people “simply tell the truth.” Now that he has publicly ordered them to come clean, will they agree to testify and reveal what they know? Don’t count on it. Because they also know that Trump is an unstable heap of hysterics and fear. Even his most loyal sycophants know better than to trust anything that he says.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

Trump Embraces Tucker Carlson’s Crackpot Theory that the FBI Staged the January 6th Insurrection

Posted by Mark NC on December 22, 2021 at 1:36 pm. 8 Comments :

The deeper Donald Trump sinks into the legal morass of his own making, the more frantically he pushes preposterous conspiracy theories rooted in lies and intended to deceive and deflect. And more evidence of his criminal escapades comes out every day that is triggering his trepidations and tirades. He knows that the smoke that is swirling around him is an indicator of the fire that is soon to engulf him.

No wonder Trump is scared witless. Pending civil and criminal investigations are likely to result in Trump’s indictment and prosecution. His flunkies on Fox News were just exposed texting him during the January 6th insurrection that he incited. He just lost another court ruling forcing him to turn over his White House records to congressional investigating committees. And while he insists on Fox News that he doesn’t have anything to hide, he is suing to hide everything.

In light of all of that, Trump is spinning furiously to extinguish the blazing wreckage of his amoral existence. To that end he visited with an old and reliable Trump-fluffing ally, Candace Owens (video below). During their conversation they both endorsed one of the most ludicrous conspiracy theories currently floating around Trump World: The January 6th insurrection was a “false flag” operation orchestrated by the FBI.

This is an asinine and dangerous contrivance that has been peddled by Senior Fox News White Nationalist, Tucker Carlson for months. Carlson produced a crocumentary on the subject that was filled with flagrant falsehoods and slander. Nevertheless, Trump is now openly advancing this blatant bullpucky:

Owens: Everybody talks about January 6th. I actually want to talk about January 5th. […] We’re seeing the Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan start to show that the FBI had some involvement in January 6. Were urging supporters to go toward the Capitol building. What is your assessment as you’re watching more and more of this information come out?
Trump: Well, I have been watching, and I’ve been watching it very closely. And a lot of people are being treated very unfairly. This should never happen in our country or any country, what happened to them. Especially when you look at the way the so-called other side is treated. But this pipe bomber or bombers – who knows if it was a pipe? Who knows what it was? They never found him? I’ve seen pictures of him and very clear pictures.

For the record, neither Carlson nor Rogan “showed” any evidence of FBI involvement in the Capitol riots. And Trump’s sympathy for those arrested for assaulting police officers, breaking through doors and windows, vandalizing the Capitol, and obstructing the lawful business of Congress, is nothing short of treasonous.

What’s more, Trump is demonstrating once again his unabashed dishonesty by lying about the Capitol pipe bomber (and, yes, they were pipe bombs). Trump says that he saw “very clear pictures” of the suspect. Which is peculiar because no such pictures exist. The FBI circulated photos of a blurry masked man:

ADDITIONAL REWARD: @ATFWashington & #FBIWFO are now offering a reward of up to $75K for info about the person(s) responsible for the placement of suspected pipe bombs in DC on January 6th. Call 1800CALLFBI with info or submit to https://t.co/NNj84wkNJP. pic.twitter.com/f77EHkVNND

— FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) January 21, 2021

Trump has totally bought into Carlson’s baseless contention that because there are still people who have not been apprehended, those people must be FBI agents. It’s just as accurate to surmise that they must be Martians. “Why aren’t they finding this pipe bomber?” Trump asked. “And how come other people haven’t been revealed?” And is JFK really dead? And who framed Roger Rabbit? Trump often tries to invent mysteries when he has nothing coherent to say. He’s still looking for Hillary Clinton’s emails, the DNC’s server, and Hunter Biden’s laptop.

During this “interview” Trump also repeated his claim that the real insurrection was on November 3rd, Election Day. That’s because he has a visceral hatred for democracy and sees fair elections as antithetical to his authoritarian aspirations. And he reprised his delusional belief that Black Lives Matter and Antifa were in the crowd antagonizing and agitating his otherwise peaceful cult disciples. Nearly a year has transpired and not a shred of evidence of that has been produced.

With all of these lies to spread, Trump has decided to hold a press conference on the anniversary of the January 6th insurrection. In reality, he’s just trying to steal attention for himself and away from the solemn observances that were previously scheduled by Congress and the White House.

Of course this gives Trump another opportunity to disseminate his sham version of the domestic terrorism that occurred on that awful day. If he actually does show up, look for him to unleash even more bizarre theories. Creating fictionalized renderings of reality is really all that he has left.

https://twitter.com/RealJonCover/status/1473694266962628630

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

Trump is Planning a January 6th Press Conference to Show His Disrespect for the Victims and Democracy

Posted by Mark NC on December 21, 2021 at 1:25 pm. 6 Comments :

The malignant narcissist of Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump, has announced that he will be holding a “news” conference on January 6th, the anniversary of his insurrection against Congress. It is more than a little nauseating that the instigator of that deadly assault on Congress feels compelled to defile the memory and victims by staging what will surely be a pro-riot propaganda affair.

In his announcement, posted in a tweet (by his Twitter ban defying spokes-shill), Trump asked “Why isn’t the Unselect Committee of highly partisan political hacks investigating the CAUSE of the January 6th protest?” Setting aside his grade-school nickname for the House Select Committee, the answer to Trump’s question is simple. The committee is indeed investigating the cause of the riots. What bothers Trump is that the cause just happens to be him. Everybody knows it, including some of his closest associates who begged him to call it off while it was in progress.

But that hasn’t stopped him from spreading preposterous lies about the insurrection. In a new tweet he advances the crackpot conspiracy theory that the FBI secretly orchestrated the insurrection. That’s his affirmation of Tucker Carlson’s crocumentary “Patriot Purge,” that alleges that the whole thing was a “false flag” operation by the “Deep State.”

Trump’s tweet reprised his now tedious assertion that the “real” insurrection was November 3rd, Election Day. That’s because he has a visceral hatred for democracy and sees fair elections as antithetical to his authoritarian aspirations. His notice also repeated baseless claims that the election was “rigged,” without offering any proof whatsoever. After a year, and more than sixty court cases, Trump still can’t provide a shred of evidence.

Let’s be clear. There are only two reasons that Trump is scheduling his “Lie” conference on that day. First, to distract from the solemn observances that were previously announced by Congress and the White House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that there would be “an opportunity for members to share their experiences and reflections from that day, and a prayerful vigil in the evening.” White House press Secretary Jen Psaki said that “January 6th was one of the darkest days in our democracy. It was a day when our nation’s capital was under attack and I think there’s no question you’ll see us commemorate that day.” So naturally Trump wants to suppress those sympathetic expressions of compassion and condolences for those who were harmed.

The second reason that Trump has chosen that day is because he simply can’t stand not being the center of attention for even a few minutes. He feels compelled to counterprogram the news cycle so that it focuses on him and the flagrant falsehoods that he continues to disgorge. And if that means disrespecting the members of Congress who lives were threatened, and the more than 140 police officers who were assaulted, so be it. Trump couldn’t care less. He’s too preoccupied with himself and his own self-serving interests.

Hopefully the media will ignore Trump’s press conference. By all rights he should be left to grumble at an empty room, or one sparsely populated with disreputable shills from OAN, Newsmax, and Breitbart. He has nothing newsworthy to dispense, so why should any actual reporters show up? If he’s lucky a correspondent from The Daily Show will attend and ask him questions about QAnon’s vigil in Dallas for the return of JFK’s ghost.

UPDATE: Trump has chickened out of holding his “news” conference. Presumably because he is too scared that he might be asked questions. So he’s going to unload the same bullpucky at his next cult rally where no one can challenge him:

“In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on January 15th, in Arizona.”

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

PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year: The January 6th Insurrection Disinformation By Trump and Fox News

Posted by Mark NC on December 16, 2021 at 12:58 pm. 2 Comments :

Eleven months ago a mob of anti-American, democracy hating subversives stormed the United States Congress with the intention of overturning the will of the people who voted in the 2020 presidential election. They were fueled by the flagrant falsehoods and inflammatory rhetoric of Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and their Ministry of Propaganda, Fox News.

What occurred on January 6th, 2021, was a violent insurrection against America and its Constitution. The participants were the forward flank of an attempted coup by authoritarian forces led by Trump and his treasonous confederates. Now, nearly a year later, the lies and treachery have been documented by communications between Republican conspirators, boastful confessions by right-wing defectors, and hundreds of hours of contemporaneous video.

Fittingly, PolitiFact has announced that they have chosen “Lies About the Capitol insurrection“ as their annual “Lie of the Year.” The justifications supporting their decision were detailed in a lengthy article that included numerous references to those most responsible for the torrent of blatant and dangerous dishonesty. Not surprisingly, that turned out to be Donald Trump and Fox News hosts such as Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Tucker Carlson. In fact, Trump is a multi-year recipient of the dishonor. PolitiFact’s assessment noted that “In the days that followed” the insurrection, Trump, the GOP, and Fox News, among others, “offered a deluge of justifications, excuses and conspiracy theories,” such as…

They said Jan. 6 was instigated by undercover left-wing activists who were part of antifa. That was proved false.
They said the rioters hadn’t used force and one Republican congressman likened the events to “a normal tourist visit.” Video proved that wrong.
They claimed the attack on the Capitol had nothing to do with race, even though white supremacists and far-right militia groups were among the most active participants, and many rioters wore racist t-shirts.
They suggested the whole affair was staged by the government, a false flag operation. Others suggested it was entirely a peaceful protest. All of that was wrong.
They said that the rioters were political prisoners and shouldn’t face serious charges. A host of federal judges and courts have held otherwise.

Among the most heinous misrepresentations of reality were Trump’s ludicrous claim that “Right from the start it was zero threat.” And then there was Tucker Carlson’s lie-riddled crocumentary “Patriot Purge,” that preposterously asserted that the insurrection was a “false flag” operation orchestrated by the FBI and other agents of the “Deep State.”

In addition to the tribute conferred on the insurrection liars by PolitiFact, they also had a “Lie of the Year” readers poll wherein a huge majority (75%) voted for Trump’s claim that he won the 2020 presidential election. Which is, of course, related to the lies about the insurrection because it was Trump’s “Big Lie” that the election was “rigged” and “stolen” from him that triggered the assault on Congress.

PolitiFact could just have easily chosen the lies that Trump won the election, or the lies about the COVID vaccine either not working or causing harm, for their “Lie of the Year.” Both of which are also attributable to deliberate dishonesty by Trump and Fox News. But PolitiFact chose the insurrection lies because “the attack was historically important,” and because “the events of Jan. 6 were widely broadcast…So efforts to downplay and deny what happened are an attempt to brazenly recast reality itself.”

In other words, Trump, Fox News, and the other liars were so despicable that they tried to pretend that the worst attack on the U.S. Capitol since the War of 1812 didn’t happen. And they were so shameless that they tried to convince people not to believe their own eyes. Of course, that has been the modus operandi of Trump and Fox News all along. But what is truly disheartening is that, despite the abundant evidence, there is still a small but worrisome contingent of willfully ignorant believers.

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

Trump’s Republican Coup Supporters are Attacking Adam Schiff for Accurately Quoting Jim Jordan

Posted by Mark NC on December 15, 2021 at 4:15 pm. NO Comments :

Things have really sunken to unbelievable depths when right-wing dimwits have to blatantly fabricate pseudo-scandals in order to diminish political foes that they don’t have the intellect to engage honestly. It’s bad enough that Donald Trump and his Republican confederates are relentlessly peddling lies about the January 6th insurrection, but now they are also pulling utter garbage allegations from their asinine imaginations.

The ultra-rightist Federalist website published a ludicrous alleged “exposé” of what they considered a shocking misrepresentation of a text sent to Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows. They introduced this abomination saying that…

“During a hearing Monday night on the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Adam Schiff claimed to have proof that a member of Congress texted former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to instruct former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

“Not only did Schiff misrepresent the substance of the text message and its source, he even doctored original text messages, which were obtained and reviewed by The Federalist in their entirety.”

The charge of “doctoring” is laughably over the top. What the Federalist is so outraged by is that the quote Adam Schiff read was slightly condensed for relevance and clarity. Here is both the quote as Schiff presented it, followed by the unedited text:

Schiff’s quote: “On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all.”

The unedited text: “On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all the electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all — in accordance with guidance from founding father Alexander Hamilton and judicial precedence”

Note that the only difference is that Schiff’s version didn’t include the part about Alexander Hamilton, and it placed a period at the end. None of that changed the context or meaning of the quote. Nevertheless, the Federalist went berserk with charges that Schiff “doctored” the quote with some nefarious intent. Quotes are often edited to be concise and to focus on the subject at hand. For instance, no one expects a quote from the Declaration of Independence to repeat the entire document when the discussion only concerns the part that says “all men are created equal.”

The original intent of the text was to pass along a legal opinion that would justify throwing out electoral votes for Joe Biden simply because Republicans didn’t want Biden to win. That message was conveyed in both versions of the quoted text. In Schiff’s remarks he affirmed that saying that…

“You can see why this is so critical to ask Mr. Meadows about. About a lawmaker suggesting that the former vice president simply throw out votes that he unilaterally deems unconstitutional in order to overturn a presidential election and subvert the will of the American people.”

Indeed, the purpose of the text was to advocate for overturning a valid election and installing Trump as an unelected, authoritarian dictator. While Schiff identified the author of the text as simply a “lawmaker,” the Federalist outed the author, revealing that it was Rep. Jim Jordan.

This triggered further outrage by the Federalist. They complained that Schiff attributed the text to a member of Congress, but that Jordan actually forwarded a text he received from the lawyer who wrote the anti-democratic legal opinion. In the view of the Federalist it was improper to attribute the text to the congressman. To the contrary, it was, in fact, an entirely proper attribution because Jordan was the person who sent it Meadows.

What’s important about this is that Jordan, a member of Congress, was advancing a dangerous and undemocratic legal theory, and passing it on to the president’s chief of staff. They were a part of the coup attempt that was being plotted by Trump and his traitorous accomplices.

However, since they couldn’t find anything wrong with the presentation of the evidence by Schiff, they built up a bizarre fantasy of some imaginary breach of ethics – and misplaced periods – and offered that as a distraction from the actual crimes committed by Trump and others in his cabal. Clearly they have given up trying to be rational, or even coherent.

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

GASLIGHTING: Marjorie Taylor Greene and Fox News Shamelessly Lie About Trump Insurrection Texts

Posted by Mark NC on December 15, 2021 at 1:25 pm. NO Comments :

The disclosure of text messages from Fox News hosts begging Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to get Trump to renounce the January 6th insurrection is continuing to swirl around the news cycle. That’s partly because it is such a disturbing example of media sycophants intertwined with political operatives. And partly because it took Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham more than 24 hours to craft their wholly dishonest replies.

Now Republican QAnon representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is adding her hideous blather to the mix. She visited with Tucker Carlson Tuesday night to deliver a thoroughly predictable whitewashing of the Trump insurrection text scandal:

“You were talking about these tweets, or these text messages that Liz Cheney just loves reading out loud about Fox News employees and about members of Congress texting Mark Meadows and saying that we want the riot to stop. President Trump should ask these people to stop. That’s a good thing. Typically you want a president of the United States to tell rioters to stop, which he did. But this is what’s happening throughout this whole process.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene says it’s a good thing that Fox hosts(who downplayed the insurrection and suggested that Antifa was involved) had to text Meadows urging the former president to act because he was sitting around and doing nothing while it was happening pic.twitter.com/HEpyr8H54R

— Acyn (@Acyn) December 15, 2021

It’s unclear how Greene ascertained Liz Cheney’s pleasure in reading the repellent text messages that revealed the hypocrisy and dishonesty of the Fox News propaganda purveyors. Cheney certainly wasn’t smiling or showing any other outward emotion other than, perhaps, disgust. But Greene was virtually tingling with ecstasy as she exclaimed that it was “a good thing” that Trump had to be pleaded with to call off his violent supporters who were storming Congress.

Greene was correct in saying that “you want a president of the United States to tell rioters to stop.” But you most assuredly do not want a president who has to be begged – by media hacks, political confederates, and even family members – to order his shock troops to stand down. Particularly when he fails to do so even after frantic and frightened allies implore him. And with respect to that, Greene was lying about Trump quelling his cult disciples. The insurrection went on for three terrifying hours before Trump issued a statement wherein he told the rioters that he loved them.

In the same program, Carlson had his own take on his Fox News colleagues:

“These are principled people. What they say in public is not that far from what they say over text message. If you get a text from Brian Kilmeade it sounds pretty much identical to Brian Kilmeade on Fox and Friends. These are not phonies. We can personally confirm that. Whether you like them or not, they’re real.”

This is laughable pic.twitter.com/axow5cHd0Z

— Acyn (@Acyn) December 15, 2021

Well then, if Carlson can “personally confirm” that his fellow Foxies aren’t phonies, that’s good enough for – practically nobody. After all, Fox News successfully defended Carlson against a defamation lawsuit arguing that no reasonable person would believe anything he says. And no one has lied more about insurrection that Carlson, who produced a crocumentary wherein he charged that the whole sordid affair was a “false flag” operation orchestrated by the “Deep State.”

More to the point, Carlson is generously spreading the manure around. The reason the Trump/Meadows texts are such big news is that they expose the Fox News hosts for contradicting themselves. They acknowledged that there was a violent assault on Congress on January 6th, but later claimed the rioters were all patriots, but if they weren’t, there was no violence, but if there was it was all Antifa’s fault.

The central feature of their gaslighting is that they are trying to claim that their critics have a problem with texts seeking to get Trump to take action. That’s not true. Those texts were the one thing that the GOP and Fox Newsers got right. The problem is that they ended up dismissing their own concerns about the violence and flagrantly lied about it ever since. Which is exactly what they are doing now as well.

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

Jen Psaki and Mark Meadows React to Trump Texts, While Fox News Stays Conspicuously Mum

Posted by Mark NC on December 14, 2021 at 2:22 pm. 5 Comments :

It’s been twenty four hours since the disclosure of the chilling texts by Fox News hosts Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Brian Kilmeade, to Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows. The texts were begging Trump to call off his shock troops who were storming Congress, threatening its members, and assaulting police officers.

In the interim Fox News has not said a single word about the wholly unethical communications between an alleged “news” network and the top advisor to the former reality TV game show host. Nor have they acknowledged the brazen hypocrisy of the Fox talkers whose texts confirm that they knew exactly what was happening at the Capitol, but who have been lying about it relentlessly for months.

There has, however, been a response by Meadows, who scampered off to Newsmax for a softball interview. Meadows was never asked to address the substance of the texts that he himself provided to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection (before he ceased cooperating and triggered a contempt of Congress charge). Instead, he baselessly attacked the Committee saying that it…

“…tried to weaponize text messages, selectively leaked them, to put out a narrative, quite frankly, that the president didn’t act.”

Of course, the text messages show conclusively that Trump did, indeed, fail to act for three long, terrifying hours. Meadows didn’t even bother to suggest any other narrative, because there isn’t one that would make any sense. Especially not now, after everyone knows the content of the messages. As a reminder…

Hannity wrote: Can he make a statement, ask people to leave the Capitol?
Kilmeade wrote: Please, get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished.
Ingraham wrote: Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.
Even Donald Trump Jr wrote: He’s got to condemn this shit ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.

Trump ignored these warnings and allowed violence and chaos to ensue. He has since insisted that he has nothing to hide, while he’s suing to hide everything. In the meantime, the Fox News hosts and GOP members of Congress who pleaded for the StormTrumpers to stand down, spent the next several months dismissing the deadly riots as nothing more than peaceful protests, and/or blaming them on Antifa, which doesn’t actually exist. Trump himself denied that there was any violence and instead incredulously said that November 3rd, Election Day, was the “real” insurrection.

On Tuesday morning, Press Secretary Jen Psaki commented on the Meadows/Trump texts in response to a question during the daily White House press briefing (video below):

Reporter: Any response to the revelations that GOP lawmakers were texting Chief of Staff Meadows, along with prominent Fox News hosts how to be…what led to the January 6th riots?
Psaki: Well, it’s disappointing, and unfortunately not surprising, that some of the very same individuals who were willing to warn, condemn, and express horror over what happened on January 6 in private, were totally silent in public or, even worse, were spreading lies and conspiracy theories, and continue to since that time. Unfortunately we’ve seen a trend from some of the same individuals.”

Psaki’s assessment was concise and appropriately critical. Although the question might have been better directed at Fox’s White House correspondent, Peter Doocy, who was sitting a few feet away from the reporter who asked it. And a good follow up would have been to inquire as to whether any of the people involved had incriminated themselves or Trump. There’s still time.

UPDATE: On their Tuesday night programs Hannity and Ingraham finally responded to the disclosure of their frantic January 6th texts. Predictably, they attacked Liz Cheney and the media for reporting things that actually happened. And they were just as predictably defensive about their own hypocrisy and dishonesty. They never bothered to explain why they were so afraid of the rioting and its consequences while it was in progress, but spent the rest of the year pretending it didn’t happen, or it wasn’t violent, or it was the fault of either Antifa, or the “Deep State,” or even Nancy Pelosi. And it took them more than 24 hours to contrive that pathetic response.

WH Press Sec. Jen Psaki responds to GOP lawmakers and Fox News hosts frantically texting Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during 1/6 but spreading conspiracy theories after:

"Disappointing, not surprising. Unfortunately we've seen a trend." pic.twitter.com/k3MP9QigCh

— The Recount (@therecount) December 14, 2021

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

Fox News Hosts Begged Mark Meadows to Get Trump to Stop the Insurrection on January 6th

Posted by Mark NC on December 13, 2021 at 6:34 pm. 7 Comments :

Every day there is more evidence of the complicity of Donald Trump and his Confederacy of Traitors who tried to undermine democracy and overturn an election with violence. The latest discoveries are in documents that Trump’s Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, turned over to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.

Yes, that’s the same Mark Meadows who is now refusing to comply with a subpoena and will shortly be referred to the Justice Department on charges of contempt of Congress.

The documents that have just come to light are texts messages that were sent to Meadows while the StormTrumpers were assaulting the Capitol. Rep. Liz Cheney read some of those messages into the record during a hearing on the contempt charges against Meadows. And some of what was revealed is going to be awfully difficult for some Fox News hosts to explain away:

“According to the record multiple Fox News hosts knew the president needed to act immediately. They texted Mr. Meadows and he has turned over those texts. Quote, ‘Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy,’ Laura Ingraham wrote. “Please, get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished,’ Brian Kilmeade texted. Quote, ‘Can he make a statement, ask people to leave the Capitol?’ Sean Hannity urged.

“As the violence continued, one of the president’s sons texted Mr. Meadows, quote, ‘He’s got to condemn this shit ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.’ Donald Trump Jr texted. Meadows responded quote, ‘I’m pushing it hard. I agree.’

“Still, president Trump did not immediately act. Donald Trump Jr texted again, again, and again. urging action by the president. Quote, ‘We need an Oval Office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand,’ end quote.

“But hours passed without necessary action by the president. These non-privileged texts are further proof of president Trump’s supreme dereliction of duty during those 187 minutes.”

Liz Cheney reads texts from Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade, and Donald Trump Jr. urging former President Trump to act while he sat around and did nothing for hours during the insurrection pic.twitter.com/jkk7KhxF0s

— Acyn (@Acyn) December 14, 2021

Indeed, these texts unambiguously incriminate Trump for deliberately allowing the deadly insurrection to proceed, and for violating his oath of office to defend the Constitution. But they also incriminate Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, and Brian Kilmeade. While they were obviously aware of what was happening at the Capitol, and the threat that it represented, their actions since then have been to dismiss and downplay what they knew were violent acts of sedition.

In the months that have followed, they have all used their television platforms to lie that the insurrection was nothing more than a protest by peaceful patriots. But it is now abundantly clear that they knew what they were saying were flagrant falsehoods. And they purposefully deceived their viewers in order to advance the coup attempt by Trump. It is no longer possible for them to pretend, as Hannity did last month during an interview with Trump, that the insurrectionists were all members of Antifa. They knew that the rioters were Trump supporters. Obviously Antifa (if it actually existed, which it doesn’t) wouldn’t obey any entreaties from Trump to withdraw. Which is why they were pleading with Trump to call them off.

What’s more, the Foxies exposed their utterly inappropriate relationship with Trump. What business do they have sending messages to the Trump White House with advice on how to respond to an unfolding crisis. And notice that their advice was focused solely on the harm that Trump’s inaction was doing – not to members of Congress and other innocent people – but to their political interests. They were not acting as journalists (which of course, they are not), but as Trump team members and accomplices.

It will be interesting see what sort of lies they tell to try to wash off the stain of their treasonous acts. Because they surely will attempt to dig themselves into even deeper holes. They simply don’t have the integrity or honor to tell the truth. But these text messages tell the truth for them. And it’s a pretty good bet that this is just the beginning.

UPDATE: Silence from Fox News, and Meadows Responds: On Monday evening none of the Fox News hosts above whose texts were revealed mentioned them on their programs. Hannity even interviewed Meadows and completely ignored this news. So, as usual, they are keeping their audience ignorant.

Also, Meadows told Newsmax that the Committee “tried to weaponize text messages, selectively leaked them, to put out a narrative, quite frankly, that the president didn’t act.” In other words, he just attacked the Committee. He had no response to the incriminating substance of the text messages that show conclusively that Trump did not act. What other narrative could there be? Meadows didn’t offer one.

The panicked texts of Fox News hosts on 1/6 vs. the same Fox News hosts downplaying 1/6 on air since then pic.twitter.com/FRCK9vg46F

— The Recount (@therecount) December 14, 2021

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

Trump Whines To Fox News that ‘I Have Nothing to Hide’ While He’s Suing to Hide Everything

Posted by Mark NC on December 11, 2021 at 10:13 am. 7 Comments :

Poor Donald Trump is scared silly that he might pay a price for his treasonous, failed coup attempt. He’s lashing out incoherently at his political foes. His former Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, who already turned over damning records to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection, is now retreating to the shelter of the 5th Amendment to avoid incriminating himself – and Trump.

It may be too little to late for Meadows whose defiance of a congressional subpoena will likely result in a charge of criminal contempt. What’s more, among the records he provided is a PowerPoint presentation detailing Trump’s plans to undermine democracy and install himself as dictator. All of this malarkey is rooted in his “Big Lie” about the 2020 Presidential election that he is afraid to debate.

Adding to Trump’s woes is the D.C. Court of Appeals ruling rejecting his bid to suppress the release of his communications with the insurrection plotters. In a desperate play to spin this bad news in his favor, Trump fled to his personal media panic room, Fox News, to pump out some positive propaganda. He called into Laura Ingraham’s program where he knew he would be greeted with slobbering sympathy and unfettered freedom to lie.

Trump wasn’t disappointed. Ingraham allowed him to reframe the deadly riots in the Capitol on January 6th by violent StormTrumpers as merely a protest. Instead, Trump maligned the millions of Americans who honored democratic ideals by voting on Election Day as the “real” insurrection. Then Trump unleashed this morsel of mendacity (video below):

Ingraham: Do you think your nominees to the Court are going to uphold your claims of executive privilege in this case?
Trump: Well, I hope they do. I’ll tell you, the biggest loser would be Biden because if it ever changes, and I think it will, then he won’t be able to use it with respect to Hunter and all of the things that are going on that are so terrible. So I would think he’d want to see this upheld, frankly. I think it’s very important for him. Honestly, I have nothing to hide. I wasn’t involved in that. And if you look at my words and what I said in the speech, they were extremely calming, actually. But I would think that the Democrats would like to see it, and I think secretly they would like to see it upheld.

Of course Trump hopes that the Justices he placed on the Court obey his divine will. That’s why he put them there. But legal experts are predicting that they might show some measure of independence and allow the D.C. Appeals Court ruling to stand.

More to the point, Trump inexplicably declares that “I have nothing to hide.” Which is a peculiar stance for someone who is suing Congress to keep his White House records hidden. An innocent person would be anxious to release documents that he thought would exonerate him. But Trump wants people to believe that he is appealing the Court decision to the Supreme Court because he has nothing to hide.

And if that weren’t preposterous enough, Trump is claiming that the sermon he delivered to his cult disciples prior to the Capitol riots was “extremely calming.” Which part of that speech do you suppose he was referring to? Here are some excerpts that he might regard as calmative:

“All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats, which is what they’re doing. And stolen by the fake news media.”
“We will never give up, we will never concede.”
“Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore.”
“We will not let them silence your voices.”
“We’re going to have to fight much harder.”
“You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength.”
“We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

Indeed, those words could be seen as – let’s say tranquilizing. They would have the effect of putting his devotees into a stupor sufficient to persuade them to attack Congress, threaten its members and staff, break through windows and doors, vandalize historic property, and assault police officers.

Finally, Trump bizarrely pretends that he’s actually pursuing his legal path to help President Biden. But instead, he’s He making the oddly argued case that Biden doesn’t face any legal jeopardy. He suggests that Biden should favor a ruling that suppressed such disclosures because he would benefit from it. Therefore, since Biden is supportive of the Appeals Court ruling, he clearly isn’t afraid of some future records being released that might incriminate him. Unlike Trump, who is shaking in his elevator boots. Because he has nothing to hide. Right?

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

Fox News Ignores Appeals Court Ruling Against Trump’s Bid to Stiff the January 6th Committee

Posted by Mark NC on December 9, 2021 at 5:24 pm. 3 Comments :

In the latest attempt by Donald Trump to keep his treasonous conduct secret and evade accountability for his crimes (something he is still very sensitive about), the former reality TV game show lost yet another court battle. The D.C. Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled against Trump’s specious claim of executive privilege, setting the stage for a Supreme Court decision that legal experts predict they won’t even bother hear.

Trump’s litigation was aimed at denying the House Select Committee investing the January 6th insurrection access to documents held by the National Archives. According to ABC News…

“In a 68-page ruling, the three-judge panel tossed aside Trump’s various arguments for blocking through executive privilege records that the committee regards as vital to its investigation into the run-up to the deadly riot aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.”

There was no ambiguity whatsoever in the Court’s decision. Trump’s arguments were dismissed in total. The ruling by the Court said in part that…

“On the record before us, former President Trump has provided no basis for this court to override President Biden’s judgment and the agreement and accommodations worked out between the Political Branches over these documents.” […]

“Both Branches agree that there is a unique legislative need for these documents and that they are directly relevant to the Committee’s inquiry into an attack on the Legislative Branch and its constitutional role in the peaceful transfer of power.” […]

“The privilege being asserted is not a personal privilege belonging to former President Trump; he stewards it for the benefit of the Republic. The interests the privilege protects are those of the Presidency itself, not former President Trump individually. And the President has determined that immediate disclosure will promote, not injure, the national interest, and that delay here is itself injurious.”

Trump’s response to this ruling was a terse statement released by his Twitter ban defying spokes-shill, Liz Harrington. She tweeted that…

“Regardless of today’s decision by the the appeals court, this case was always destined for the Supreme Court. President Trump’s duty to defend the Constitution and the Office of the Presidency continues, and he will keep fighting for every American and every future Administration.”

As noted above, the Supreme Court is likely to allow the Appeals Court decision to stand. That’s the view of Harvard constitutional law professor emeritus, Laurence Tribe, among others. And the notion that Trump is defending the Constitution that his actions on January 6th endeavored to subvert is beyond absurd. He is fighting for the only cause that has ever meant anything to him: Himself!

In the hours that have passed since the Appeals Court ruling was announced, Fox News has failed to report it on their website. Although they have managed to find room for eleven stories about Jussie Smollett’s conviction, and five stories about their burnt Christmas tree. That should tell you something about the editorial priorities of Fox News. Clearly they aren’t interest in informing their audience that Trump is, once again, The Biggest Loser.

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

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: