Nancy Pelosi

Trump’s Brain Shutdown: He Fails Pitifully to Grasp Pelosi’s Reply to Wilbur Ross on Food Banks

Posted by on January 24, 2019 at 1:41 pm. 2 Comments :

For much of the past two years there has been abundant talk about Donald Trump’s unfitness to serve as president. Professionals in the field of mental health have made shocking observations that suggest that he is suffering from a variety of psychological problems with varying degrees of severity. They include everything from Malignant Narcissism to Senile Dementia.

Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi

However, it doesn’t take a professional to notice some the mental infirmities that virtually scream out whenever Trump makes a public appearance or posts a comment on Twitter. His vocabulary is badly limited to a few “tremendous” words and phrases that he repeats frequently. “That I can tell you.” And his tendency to resort to childish insults and nicknames is evidence of a stunted emotional maturity. On Thursday morning Trump displayed another example of his failing cognitive skills in a furious tweet:

Judging by the context in Trump’s tweet, it would appear that he’s criticizing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her inability to understand why he’s fighting so hard for a wall on the southern border. The only problem with that is that the remarks he is referring to had nothing whatsoever to do with that.

What Pelosi was responding to were comments by Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross. During an interview on CNBC, Ross was asked about the sad occurrence of federal workers, furloughed by Trump’s government shutdown, having to visit food banks in order to provide for their families. He replied saying that “I don’t really quite understand why,” and suggested that they should just go out and get loans to tide them over. That strikingly insensitive response is what Pelosi was referencing when she said

“What do [Republicans] have? They have Wilbur Ross saying he doesn’t understand why when he was asked about people going to food lines and pantries and the rest. He says that he doesn’t understand why they have to do that. Is this the ‘let them eat cake’ kind of attitude, or ‘call your father for money?'”

So Pelosi was not saying that she didn’t understand the need for the wall. She wasn’t even saying that she didn’t understand anything. She was recounting Ross’ comments that it was he who didn’t understand. How could Trump have gotten that so terribly wrong? It wasn’t the least bit confusing.

The answer may have something to do with the obvious mental defects he is suffering from. Or it might be that he’s just dishonestly twisting Pelosi’s words to fit them into his own narrative. Then again, it could have something to do with Trump’s inability to deal with strong women that just threw him into a psychotic haze. After all, he has already had to bow down in submission to Pelosi with regard to the State of the Union address that she isn’t permitting him to give until the government is reopened. And it’s cute how his tweet says that he “will not Cave,” after just having done so a few hours earlier.

Trump is having a difficult time dealing with Pelosi. He couldn’t even make up a nasty nickname for her, so he settled for calling her “Nancy.” That’s pretty lame. What’s more, while he has no problem insulting the men in Congress that he doesn’t like, his “insults” directed at Pelosi are often more like compliments. Trump calls Democratic representatives her “puppets.” He even said that Pelosi “dominates” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. Those comments suggest strength on Pelosi’s part.

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

What’s more, when he was unhappy with the former GOP Speaker, Paul Ryan, Trump wasn’t shy about saying that he is a “very weak and ineffective leader.” But he never disparages Pelosi that way. There is clearly something constraining him. And from all of the available evidence, it looks very much like fear. And if so, it’s exactly the right way he should feel.

Bunker Mentality: A Fearful Trump Orders Press Secretary ‘Not to Bother’ with Press Briefings

Posted by on January 22, 2019 at 12:07 pm. 1 Comments :

When third world dictators find themselves getting squeezed by opposition from enemies, foreign or domestic, they have a common response. It generally involves narrowing their exposure to any criticism or events that might produce negative results. They begin to purge those they fear could be disloyal, they tighten their grip on the media, and they hide behind a wall of propaganda and sycophantic shills.

Donald Trump

Sound familiar? That’s precisely what Donald Trump has been doing for several months. Top administration officials like Jeff Sessions, Jim Mattis, and John Kelly have been humiliated by public terminations. Meanwhile, Trump has surrounded himself with former Fox News figures like Bill Shine, John Bolton, and Heather Nauert. And now the President has publicly declared that he ordered his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to stop giving press briefings because he doesn’t like the questions:

What Trump considers rudeness is actually just any inquiry that seeks the truth about his actions and statements. Never mind that it is the responsibility of journalists to ask probing questions of any president. This one believes that the media’s job is to flatter him and applaud everything he does. That’s why the vast majority of his interviews are given to Fox News, where he can rely on velvet glove treatment.

Trump doesn’t bother to identify any of the reporting that he’s asserting is inaccurate. He just swings wildly and hopes that his accusations take hold. As far his stable of Deplorable cult followers is concerned, he need not worry. They will believe whatever he tells them to believe. But according to every poll on the subject, most Americans trust the media far more than they do Trump.

Trump justifies cutting off access to the press because he believes that his message will get out anyway. He has great confidence that his Twitter feed will serve as a substitute to the free press that America’s democracy was built upon. And he’s certain that by shunning the media there won’t be any negative stories about him. The only problem with his logic is that it is completely illogical and utterly insane. The press will still conduct investigations and publish stories based on the facts they uncover. And Trump’s evasion just makes him look more frightened and guilty.

In addition to his directive to quit White House press briefings, Trump is now considering a peculiar alternative to the traditional State of the Union address. He’s been forced into this position because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told him that having the address in the Capitol during the Trump Shutdown would be problematic due to security concerns. So Trump is now preparing two different speeches. One traditional version in the event that government is reopened and the Capitol is available. And one to be delivered outside of Washington, perhaps at a rally.

However, this presents a whole new set of problems. If Trump gives the State of the Union speech at one of his cult rallies, it should not be covered by the press because it would be a political event, not official government business. His rallies are only open to his devoted disciples, and not to the general public. The access by the press is tightly controlled by Trump’s campaign committee. Such an event must not be considered a real State of the Union, but instead, a partisan affair for his reelection. That’s how the media should treat it. They should cover only those portions that are actually newsworthy. And judging by the more than forty rallies Trump staged last year, that would mean not covering it at all.

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

The press recently got played by the Trump regime when it asked for primetime TV access to deliver an address to the nation. But it was just a rehash of his past lies and self-serving talking points to persuade people that his idiotic vanity wall should be funded and built. It didn’t fool the American people. And the press should not allow itself to be fooled again.

Trump Rants About Media Having ‘Lost its Credibility,’ But Americans Trust the Media More than Trump

Posted by on January 19, 2019 at 11:52 am. 3 Comments :

There has not been a White House press briefing in over a month. But what is becoming the new normal for Donald Trump is holding impromptu avails on the lawn when he’s leaving town. And on Saturday morning he did just that to deliver another mostly incoherent tirade on whatever atrocity against him that he just watched on Fox News.

Donald Trump

The brief interaction with what Trump routinely calls “the enemy of the people” covered a variety of subjects (video below). He spoke about the imaginary “caravans” that are coming up from Mexico, saying that have been stopped by the walls we have at the border. If that’s true, then why is he holding the country hostage and shutting down the government for another $5.6 billion? He cited San Antonio as an example of where the border walls are working. But San Antonio is not on the border and it doesn’t have a wall.

Trump’s tantrum also included some swipes at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He said “I hope that Speaker Pelosi can come along and realize what everybody knows – no matter who it is – they know that walls work and we need walls. […] She’s being controlled by the radical left.” Of course, when Trump says that everybody knows something, he’s referring only to himself and his Deplorable Cult followers. In reality, most experts say that walls are ineffective because they can be defeated in so many ways. Plus, they don’t address the actual problem which is mainly at legal points of entry. But he’ll take any opportunity to smear Pelosi with wild claims of radical lefties controlling her.

Trump concluded his bitch session with some comments about the Buzzfeed story that alleged that he ordered his lawyer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress. A vague statement from the special counsel’s office has created some controversy over the article, although it doesn’t refute the main points. But that didn’t stop Trump from tarring all of the media for what he said is a phony story and a disgrace to journalism. Never mind that his own press shill couldn’t deny the story when he appeared on Fox News. Nevertheless, Trump appreciates the statement by Robert Mueller’s office, which he has previously said is a corrupt and totally untrustworthy band of angry Democrats conducting a “Witch Hunt.”

Before Trump wound up the gaggle, he made sure to bash the press some more. But this harangue was especially notable for its epic derangement:

“I think that the Buzzfeed piece was a disgrace to our country. A disgrace to journalism. And I think also that the coverage by the mainstream media was disgraceful. And I think it’s gonna take a long time for the mainstream media to recover its credibility. It’s lost tremendous credibility. And believe me, that hurts me when I see that. I’m the president of this country. Media can pull this country together. It hurts me to say it, but mainstream media has truly lost its credibility.”

There’s a lot to unpack there. Let’s start with Trump pretending that he cares about the state of the media. He has spent at least the last three years maligning them in the most destructive and dishonest manner. It’s downright hysterical to hear him say that it hurts him to say nasty things about the press. He lives for that. What’s more, his remarks about the media pulling the country together just drip with hypocrisy. He’s the most divisive national leader this country has ever seen.

Finally, to hear Trump disingenuously whine about the media losing credibility is another demonstration of his separation from reality. Every poll on the subject shows that the American people trust the media far more than they do him. A recent poll by Quinnipiac asked “Who do you trust more to tell you the truth about important issues: President Trump or the news media?” A majority of fifty-four percent chose the media. Only thirty percent chose Trump. That’s a twenty-four point margin of difference. And that’s representative of a slew of other polls that reveal the nation’s same preference for the press over the lyingest President in history.

Trump can and does try to gaslight the country as to his delusional popularity. He tweeted Saturday morning that he is “your favorite President.” He’s not. He’s not even in the top forty. His favorite pollster, the exceedingly biased Rasmussen, currently has him at his lowest rating for nearly a year (55% disapproval). So he’s not only less popular than the media, he’s generally despised by most Americans. Which is a good call on their part.

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

Big Baby Trump’s Infantile ‘Payback’ Accidentally Affirms that Pelosi Was Right To Delay the SOTU

Posted by on January 17, 2019 at 1:10 pm. 2 Comments :

One of the enduring personality traits of Donald Trump is his knee-jerk compulsion to retaliate against his perceived foes in a manner that best suits a cholicky infant. Trump’s massive and fragile ego demands that he slap back at anyone who he thinks has wronged him. And he doesn’t seem to care if his vengeance winds up boomeranging on him and hurts him more than his intended victim.

Donald Trump

On Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi informed Trump that the State of the Union address should be rescheduled due to the Trump Shutdown which has resulted in the furlough of hundreds of thousands of federal workers, including Secret Service and other security personnel. The situation would place an unusually difficult burden on those responsible for maintaining the safety of the annual speech before Congress. Pelosi wrote that:

“Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government re-opens this week, I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has re-opened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to the Congress on January 29th.”

The initial response from the White House and other Republican politicians was to castigate Pelosi for making what they asserted was a purely political move in order to embarrass the President. Setting aside the fact that Trump doesn’t need any help embarrassing himself, Pelosi’s action was entirely reasonable and responsible. No one from the White House could offer a direct criticism for Pelosi’s justification for her action. And contrary to the claims of her critics, she was not preventing Trump from delivering the address, either in an alternative venue, or at a later date.

Now Trump has made his first official response to Pelosi. But consistent with his childish temperament, he didn’t address the matter directly. Rather he retaliated by postponing a diplomatic trip that Pelosi had planned with other members of Congress. The purpose of the trip was to meet with allies in Brussels and Egypt, as well as to visit troops in Afghanistan. Trump wrote in his letter to Pelosi that:

“Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed. We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the Shutdown is over. In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I’m sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate.”

BOOM! Trump sure showed her. If Pelosi wasn’t going to let Trump disgorge predictable cliches, platitudes, and self-serving lies a room full of politicians, then he wasn’t going to let her engage in diplomacy with our foreign counterparts. And he obviously didn’t mind publicly disclosing a foreign trip by U.S. officials that was supposed to be secret for security purposes.

The problem with Trump’s choice of vengeful payback is that he has inadvertently affirmed Pelosi’s reasons for delaying the State of the Union address. In fact, his reference to the 800,000 unpaid workers was the very same language that Pelosi used when explaining to the press why she had sought the delay. So now Trump can no longer complain that Pelosi’s rescheduling of the State of the Union was inappropriate, since he adopted the same reasoning to delay the congressional mission.

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

Even though Trump’s speech is a pro-forma ritual that serves no productive purpose, while a congressional fact-finding and diplomatic trip is essential to foreign relations, the argument Trump is making completely shields Pelosi from any further criticism regarding the State of the Union. But don’t expect that logic to register with Trump. He will likely continue to harague Pelosi even though it undercuts his own actions. After all, this is the same guy who promised to take full responsibility for the shutdown and swore that he wouldn’t blame Democrats. That lasted about two days.

And Pelosi’s office responds:

Trump and Fox News Vainly Pretend that Polls Support The Border Wall and the Trump Shutdown

Posted by on January 15, 2019 at 3:39 pm. 1 Comments :

Desperation drives people to extreme and untenable measures. And that must be where Donald Trump and Fox News find themselves today as they try in vain to spin reality into something that resembles support for their positions on the Trump Shutdown and his idiotic vanity wall. With public opinion veering off into a bruising opposition to the Trump agenda, they are purposefully lying about recent poll results.

Donald Trump

On Tuesday’s episode of Fox and Friends, co-host Steve Doocy introduced a segment about the border/shutdown with a reference to a new poll by Quinnipiac University. He was almost giddy about reporting the good news that this poll allegedly propped up the President and his standing in the eyes of the American people:

“There’s a Quinnipiac poll that essentially supports what the President has been saying all along for about the last month. And that’s fifty-four percent of you, according to Quinnipiac, say ‘yes,’ there is a crisis at our southern border.”

So there you have it. The debate can now be put to rest and the Democrats in Congress should immediately surrender and give Trump everything he wants. Right?

Well, no. Because the poll had some additional insights that make this tidbit fairly irrelevant. For instance:

“American voters support 63 – 30 percent a Democratic proposal to reopen parts of the government that do not involve border security while negotiating funding for the Wall, according to a Quinnipiac University National Poll released today. Every party, gender, education, age and racial group supports this idea except Republicans, who are opposed 52 – 39 percent.

“Voters oppose 63 – 32 percent shutting down the government to force funding for the Wall, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University National Poll finds. Again, Republicans are the only listed group supporting the shutdown, 67 – 24 percent.

“The GOP is losing the battle as 56 percent of American voters say President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are responsible for the shutdown, while 36 percent say Democrats are responsible.

“Voters remain solidly opposed to a wall on the Mexican border, 55 – 43 percent, and reject every argument for the Wall.”

The poll also revealed that fifty-nine percent say that the wall “is not a good use of taxpayer dollars.” Fifty-five percent say that it “would not make the U.S. safer.” Fifty-nine percent say that “it is not necessary to protect the border.” And fifty-two percent say that it “is against American values.” What’s more, the fifty-four percent who agree that there is a crisis at the border may not be in agreement with Trump’s definition of “crisis.” They may be concerned about the welfare of the refugees who are seeking asylum, and the children who were separated from their parents by the Trump administration.

Additionally, by a wide margin of 46-32 percent, voters said that Trump’s Oval Office address was “mostly misleading.” And they believed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer more than Trump by 46-36 percent. Only 2 percent say Trump’s address changed their mind. Sixty-five percent of respondents disapprove of Trump’s threat to declare a national emergency to fund the wall. And yet Trump is just as deceitful about these survey results as Fox News is. He tweeted that:

As usual, Trump doesn’t provide any source for those fictional numbers. But if he bothered to do any research he would discover that every poll is pretty much in sync with this one from Quinnipiac. Even an op-ed on the Fox website noted Trump’s precarious standings and warned that he “needs to end the shutdown now” if he “wants to have even a chance of winning in 2020.”. And, of course, Trump is lying about Democrats not wanting border security. They just don’t want his stupid wall and, like most Americans, they know it won’t enhance security. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Russian asset in the White House would tell his followers the truth for a change?

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

Crybaby Trump’s Fear and Whining Loses to Pelosi and Schumer in Nielsen Ratings

Posted by on January 9, 2019 at 6:04 pm. NO Comments :

The most prominent character flaw of Donald Trump (among so many) is his dangerously malignant narcissism. He has an ego so large and fragile that its collapse could produce a tsunami big enough to wipeout much of the civilized world. The evidence of this is often revealed in his frequent bragging about things he undeservedly takes credit for, and his whining about failures for which he refuses to take any responsibility.

Donald Trump, Loser

Naturally, any poll that he can strain something positive out of, he will feature prominently on his Twitter feed. And among the surveys that he most likes to promote are those taken by Nielsen Media Research. Trump just gets giddy with excitement when he excels in the ratings. So the results of his Oval Office speech on Tuesday night are likely to bring a storm of rage due to his defeat at the hands of his Democratic foes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

When Trump finds out that more people watched The Pelosi/Schumer Show than his pathetic babbling about steel barriers and beheadings, he may have a stroke. Sure, some Fox News viewers tuned out after he signed off. But the audience increased for the other cable networks enough to exceed the total for his audience. And the combined post-Trump total for MSNBC and CNN surpassed the number of viewers on Fox.

NETWORK TRUMP SCHUMER/PELOSI
FOX NEWS 8,221,000 7,864,000
MSNBC 4,025,000 4,461,000
CNN 3,390,000 3,742,000
TOTALS 15,636,000 16,067,000

If Trump was hoping to command a large audience of dimwits he could persuade with his oozing charm, he failed bigly. Not only did he give a presentation that induced narcolepsy, it lead to a Wednesday afternoon meeting with Democrats where Trump stormed out in a huff upon hearing that he still wasn’t gonna get the wall he wanted from Santa. Then he tweeted an insolent and incoherent message:

Trump seems to think that by agreeing to reopen the government, he’s entitled to total subservience from Democrats who still oppose the wall for a host of legitimate reasons. Those reasons don’t disappear because Trump finally behaves responsibly and Congress does the job they’re paid to do. And the wall isn’t his reward for releasing a hostage nation from his aspiring authoritarian grip.

There’s no way that Trump can win this argument because he’s relying only on an infantile insistence that everyone bow down to his demands. But Republicans in the Senate are already starting to fall away as they realize that deliberately hurting their constituents is bad politics. So it’s only a matter of time before Trump caves in with some face saving resolution that still denies him his precious wall.

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

The GOP Outrage Over Rashida Tlaib is Overflowing with Hypocrisy – Trump has Said Much Worse

Posted by on January 4, 2019 at 11:22 am. 3 Comments :

The new Congress has been gaveled into session by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and it is already making progress on the issues that the American people have wanted addressed, but were suppressed by the Republican Nationalist supplicants to Donald Trump. First up is ending the Trump Shutdown. But also on the list of priorities is election reform, restoring fairness to taxes, infrastructure funding, and the long overdue oversight of Trump’s criminal campaign and administration.

Donald Trump

So what is the biggest issue for the GOP? A new congresswoman said a naughty word. Rep. Rashida Tlaib was speaking to group of supporters Thursday evening and dropped an F-bomb when referencing her intention to seek the impeachment of Trump for his many crimes. Her language was raw and, by conventional standards, inappropriate for a public servant. And that sentiment was expressed by nearly every leader on the Democratic side of the aisle. But that didn’t stop Republicans from gasping in horror and fainting from the sheer shock of such insolence.

However, one of the big differences between Democrats and Republicans is that Democrats will criticize themselves when they deserve it. Republicans will defend the most disgusting behavior rather than condemn a fellow Republican, especially Donald Trump. After all, Trump is the guy who bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy” but still got the GOP nomination for president. And that’s not all. Trump currently has fifteen instances of F-bombs on his Twitter feed, Including this one:

And Trump has not been shy about uttering profanities of all varieties in public. Here is a speech Trump gave that had multiple profanities. Pay particular attention to how he referred to his intention to levy tariffs on China:

In addition, Trump has recently tweeted some raw insults aimed at Democrats he is clearly afraid of. He referred to the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, as “Adam Schitt.” And that was followed a few weeks later by a tweet where he called Sen. Richard Blumenthal “the dick.”

Of course, there has been almost no criticism of Trump by his GOP colleagues for bellowing out the very same words that Republicans are now in such a tizzy about because a freshly minted Democrat said them in a private gathering. The GOP is less a political party than it is a cult where there leader is incapable of any wrongdoing. But the same behavior by their foes is a capital offense. This is how the GOP wants to start the new year with new leaders in Congress. And it’s an obvious attempt to distract the public from the government shutdown, and other failures, that they are wholly responsible for.

As for the underlying issue of impeachment that inspired Rep. Tlaib’s comments, that is something that is going to unfold in due time no matter what Trump has to say about it. Special counsel Robert Mueller is getting closer to releasing a report with his findings. And prosecutors in New York, Maryland, Washington, D.C., California, and other states are also investigating Trump for potentially impeachable crimes. Which has lead to Trump posting another of his plaintive whines that he’s innocent of everything:

There is so much wrong with that it’s hard to know where to begin. First of all, Trump was elected with only 46.1% of the vote, and with three million fewer votes than his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Secondly, there is abundant evidence of collusion and/or conspiracy with Russia by Trump and his closest associates and family (and no collusion by Democrats).

What’s more, the first two years of Trump’s presidency has been rife with failure. He’s driven up the national debt by more than two trillion dollars. The stock market suffered it’s first negative year in a decade. There has been little or no progress on any foreign policy objective. The Climate crisis is getting perilously close to the point of no return. America’s roads and bridges are crumbling. The nation is more divided than ever. And of course, his idiotic vanity wall is still a figment of his diseased imagination.

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

But by all means, let’s forget about all of that pull out our hair over some cursing by an excited new congressperson. And in the meantime, continue to keep the government shut down, forcing hundreds of thousands of Americans to go without pay for untold weeks or months. All because Trump’s ego is too fragile to cope with the reality that no one wants his stupid, racist wall. Yeah, that’s the ticket. And that’s exactly how the GOP is proceeding. There is no better proof that they couldn’t care less about this nation or its citizens.

Fox News Badgers Trump’s Chief of Staff Mulvaney to Take Even More Extreme Positions on the Wall

Posted by on December 28, 2018 at 11:21 am. 4 Comments :

It’s day seven of the Trump Shutdown, and Fox News is determined to hold Trump’s feet to the fire. Not for his responsibility for creating this havoc and hurting hundreds of thousands of Americans. But to insure that he doesn’t bend on the radical principles that Fox News holds dear.

Fox News, Donald Trump Baby

On Friday morning Fox and Friends interviewed Trump’s Acting (one of many) Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney (video below). For the most part it was a friendly get together among like-minded Trump shills. However, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes were fired up over the possibility that the President might commit the unforgivable crime of compromising with Democrats in Congress.

Mulvaney tried repeatedly to characterize the Democrats as having “left Washington” to avoid the debate on Trump’s idiotic and useless vanity wall. But this Congress is still run by Republicans. They control whether the Congress stays in session or not. And it is Republicans who made the decision to stop working until next year. Democrats had no say in the matter.

Yet Mulvaney still accused Nancy Pelosi of orchestrating the shutdown and leaving town because she doesn’t want to appear weak. That’s a classic case of projection when it’s Trump who is transparently afraid of looking weak in the eyes of Fox News. Both houses of Congress had previously agreed on funding bills to keep the government of open. But then Trump was triggered by Fox News reports that he was breaking his promise to build a wall. And even though he also promised that Mexico would pay for it, he still felt it necessary to punish American taxpayers by shutting down the government.

What stood out in the interview was the ferocity of the Foxies in pushing Mulvaney to take ever more extreme positions on the wall and the shutdown created to force it down the nation’s throat. Here are the questions that Mulvaney was hectored with by the Fox crew::

Pete Hegseth: He says he’ll close it all down because of these ridiculous immigration laws. Is he willing to go that far?

Mulvaney replied that Trump is willing to go all the way. We’ll see. But it was predictable that the first question was so full of anti-immigrant bias.

Hegseth: It was $25 billion dollars was possibly on the table. Now it’s five […] Mr. Mulvaney, a lot of Trump supporters feel like five is already a compromise, $5 billion. So to now float out there $2.5, $2.7, wouldn’t that look like a cave on this key issue.

Mulvaney surprisingly admitted that the $25 billion figure was “smoke and mirrors.” And the only real “cave” here is Trump to Fox News.

Griff Jenkins: Hold on. The American people wanted a wall. What deal then now is President Trump willing to accept that is anything short of that wall?

According to Mulvaney, nothing. “That’s why the government is closed.” As for what the American people want, a new poll by Reuters/Ipsos shows that only thirty-five percent said they backed including money for the wall in a congressional spending bill. And only twenty-five percent said they supported Trump shutting down the government for it.

Rachel Campos-Duffy: But let me ask this. We’re talking about money – $5 billion, $1.5 billion, $2.7 billion. Why isn’t there other things on the table? DACA for example. Is that being negotiated?

Mulvaney said that it is, but there’s no evidence of that from the White House. Plus it would be atrocious for Trump to exploit DACA applicants as bargaining chips for a wall nobody wants (even though he’s done that before).

Hegseth: Mr. Director, Nancy Pelosi calls the wall immoral ineffective, and expensive. We know it’s effective. We know $5 billion is not expensive in Washington dollars. In taxpayer real dollars we know it is. But the morality of it. Tell that to the family of Corporal Singh. Tell that to the family of Kate Steinle. The moral thing to do is to keep it shut down until you get a wall. Trump supporters are going to expect that. How attuned are you to the reality that a compromise that makes it look like Republicans are cavin’ again – Here we go. Democrats always … No. That is a real thing that has to be factored in.

Mulvaney insists that “We’re not compromising.” But this question was loaded with bigotry and lies. There are no credible experts that believe the wall would be effective. Most undocumented immigrants came legally through border checkpoints. And by raising the Singh and Steinle issues, Hegseth is once again implying that all immigrants are potentially murderers. The facts show that immigrants commit crimes a lower rates than American-born citizens. So Hegseth shouldn’t be talking about “the moral thing to do,” especially since he opposes all reasonable gun reforms to prevent the massacres of American citizens by American citizens.

Hegseth: The President’s floated the nuclear option. Is that a possibility in the Senate?

“I wish all options were open,” said Mulvaney. But even Mitch McConnell has ruled this out.

Campos-Duffy: If he’s there, why doesn’t he do an Oval Office address? […] Why isn’t he using all the tools at his disposal?

On this Mulvaney fired back saying that Trump knows what he’s doing, and how to do it, better than they do. Because Dear Leader is infallible and only wants to protect his weak and frightened children.

And that’s what passes for a fair and balanced interview on Fox News. The program’s hosts badger their guest with opinionated viewpoints aimed at pushing him toward their radical perspectives. And the guest complies with answers that feed right into the craziness of their right-wing agenda. But in the end none of this matters because Trump will only tweet something that contradicts them and himself and makes no sense. And his glassy-eyed cult followers will lap it up like gruel and be grateful for whatever morsels he tosses to them.

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

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.”

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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.

Fox News Wastes No Time Lying About Pelosi’s Comments On The Benghazi Kangaroo Committee

Posted by on May 21, 2014 at 4:07 pm. 12 Comments :

Two weeks ago Republican House Speaker John Boehner announced the formation of the House Select Committee On Politicizing Benghazi. Since that time, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has been weighing whether to participate in the obvious charade being performed by House Republicans. Today she decided that Democrats needed to be represented on the panel and named the five members who would fill that role (Pelosi video).

Fox News Pelosi

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Fox News carried the announcement (although they cut short their coverage when the new ranking member, Elijah Cummings began his remarks), but they wasted no time following the event to utterly distort what Pelosi had just said. She began by lamenting that it was unfortunate that “…the Republican obsession with Benghazi has not been about the victims, their families, or our country.” And she could not have been more clear about her condemnation of the blatant partisanship and politicization of the process by Republicans. [Emphasis added]

Pelosi: Over the past two weeks we have engaged in good faith discussions with Speaker Boehner over the shape and standards of the Select Committee. We had hoped for a level of fairness, transparency, and balance. Especially considering the subject matter. We were not able to reach any agreement. Regretably, the Republican approach does not prevent the unacceptable and repeated abuses by committee Chairman Issa in any meaningful way.

Consequently, Pelosi concluded that the history of Republican corruption in previous hearings made it “all the more reason for Democrats to participate.” That’s not a particularly compelling argument. The risk that participation would confer a measure of credibility to the committee was more than enough reason to abstain. Nevertheless, Pelosi had made her decision despite some lingering doubts.

Pelosi: I could have argued this either way. Why give any validity to this effort? But I do feel it’s important to the American people to have a pursuit of these questions in as fair and open and balanced way as possible. That simply would not be possible leaving it to the Republicans.

Immediately following Pelosi’s remarks, Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson broke in with a loaded question for correspondent Catherine Herridge. But it was Herridge’s response that twisted Pelosi’s words into an unrecognizable pile of Fox-excreted cow droppings (Fox video).

Carlson: I don’t know how you feel about this, but I’m stunned that Nancy Pelosi has made this decision because we just heard from Jay Carney a few moments ago, still calling it a Republican conspiracy theory.

Herridge: Well, Gretchen, the thing that jumped out at me in this news conference is that there seems to be a subtle shift in tone. What we have heard consistently from the Democratic leadership is that this is going to be a kangaroo court. We did not hear that at the news conference. I think what we heard was a recognition by the Democrats that they must now engage in a very serious way with the Republican-led Select Committee. And this is a reflection of the fact the members of this Republican Select Committee are very serious in nature.

Where on earth did Herridge get the impression that Democrats were recognizing any speck of seriousness on the part of the Republican pretenders orchestrating this phony committee? Pelosi had just slammed them as repeatedly abusive and untrustworthy when left alone. It almost seems as if Herridge is attempting to portray Pelosi as expressing respect for the committee she just finished denouncing as unfair and unnecessary. Herridge continued, and added a new element of political intrigue to the discussion.

Herridge: So this is a recognition by the Democrats that they must seriously engage, and that it would be a political mistake not to be engaged and to leave some of these issues unanswered. Especially leading up to the midterm elections.

Note that this is the first reference to politics. Pelosi said nothing about it in her remarks, but Herridge has now accused Pelosi of making a politically driven decision aimed at the upcoming midterm elections in November. Herridge’s introduction of politics is as baseless and offensive as the the Republicans efforts to fundraise off of the Benghazi tragedy. And then she follows up with a decidedly biased and negative characterization of the Democrats just assigned to the committee.

Herridge: What’s also striking to me, I think you could make the argument that several of the committee members are true partisans and have been on the attack on Benghazi from the get-go. So they seem to have been picked by the Speaker (sic) as way to answer these Republican allegations the administration, in effect, dropped the ball on Benghazi, they mislead the American people, and even more specifically that there was real negligence at the State Department that was led by Mrs. Clinton.

Really? After praising the Republicans on the committee as “serious,” Herridge is calling the Democrats “true partisans” who have been on the attack? Wouldn’t that description better fit the Republicans (and, of course, Fox News) who have been attacking on this issue for nearly two years? Herridge even mistakenly referred to Pelosi as the Speaker as she launched into a diatribe against Democrats, the administration, and Hillary Clinton, whom she baselessly called “negligent.” At this point Carlson chirped back in to dishonestly put words into Pelosi’s mouth.

Carlson: So Catherine, you’ve been covering this from the beginning. What happened in these meeting with John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi to go from just last week Pelosi saying Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi, and not wanting to talk about it, to now saying “Well, we need to give validity to this effort?”

Of course, Pelosi never said that she needs to give validity to the committee. Quite the opposite. She clearly communicated that the only reason she was participating in the GOP farce was because it is so utterly lacking in validity. However, Herridge is demonstrating why the Democrats should have refrained from participation. Because even when they explicitly declare that the committee has no validity, Fox News and the GOP will twist their words to imply a validity that doesn’t exist. And if that isn’t enough, Herridge then went on to heap more praise on the Republican members of the committee.

Herridge: There is a real recognition that this is going to be a serious-minded investigation. The Republicans have chosen people with the requisite oversight background, also a legal background, two former U.S. attorneys, and they will, in effect, be able to move through this in a very methodical way. And they will be able to fill in these gaps. And it’s these gaps that represent, I believe, based on my reporting, real jeopardy for the Democrats, for the White House, and even more specifically, for former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and what this may mean for her possible presidential ambitions.

Once again, Herridge has injected politics into the debate, along with her perspective/hope that the committee’s work will be harmful to Democrats, particularly President Obama and Secretary Clinton. And if she hasn’t yet made herself clear, this is how she framed her bottom line.

Herridge: But the bottom line, for the folks at home, is the Democrats recognize it’s going to be a serious effort, and would be a political mistake not to engage in the fullest possible way.

In all, Herridge said four times that Democrats recognize that the committee will conduct a serious investigation, despite having no confirmation of that view from any Democrat. Herridge simply made it up, (much like the way Fox News produces most of their stories). And she repeatedly thrust politics into the discussion. In that regard she may be revealing the true motives of Fox News and the Republican Party. Neither are the least bit interested in a search for answers or solutions. From the start, the Benghazi fever that has infected Fox and the GOP was always about politics. It was, and is, an attempt to tarnish the President and to conduct a preemptive strike against Hillary Clinton’s possible campaign for president in 2016. They couldn’t care less about the American lives that were lost or about ways to prevent such loss in the future.

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The reporting by Fox News recounted above came just seconds after Pelosi’s televised announcement about the Democratic members she assigned to the committee. So Fox had to have been prepared in advance with the harshly partisan and political response that ensued. This was an orchestrated hit job on Pelosi that was likely devised by Fox’s CEO, and former Republican media strategist, Roger Ailes. And it illustrates, once again, that Fox is not even pretending to be a news enterprise. It is a brazenly partisan division of the Republican Party and a mouthpiece for raging conservatism.