What could possibly be funnier than Washington’s most hated senator posting punch lines on Twitter that only he could actually think are funny? That’s the sad state where we now find “Cancun” Ted Cruz of Texas (as long as the weather is nice).
Back in February Cruz tried to skip out on his home state while it was in the midst of a historic and deadly winter freeze that left millions of his constituents suffering without power, heat, food, or water. He jetted off to the sunnier climes of Cancun, Mexico, to frolic at the beach of a seaside resort. The wingnut apologists at Newsmax thought Cruz would be more effective governing from there. But having been exposed for his callous selfishness, he rushed back to Texas to pretend to care, but then immediately left again for the CPAC convention in balmy Orlando, Florida.
Pretty funny, huh? But nearly as funny as Cruz’s latest attempt at humor. Especially for a guy who has brought laughs to tens of people with his “War on Christmas” book series, or his dramatic reading of Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham” on the Senate floor during a filibuster. That’s particularly relevant now that Republicans are so obsessed with the imaginary “canceling” of Dr. Seuss.
What has tickled Cruz’s funny bone now is the “news” that Raul Castro is stepping aside as the leader of Cuba. Never mind that that actually happened three years ago and today’s news is only that he’s relinquishing a largely ceremonial post. You just can’t stop a comic mind like Cruz who tweeted a reply to CNN’s Jim Acosta:
Have you stopped laughing yet? That’s okay, I’ll wait. The humor in this might be a little too subtle for many. What makes this truly hysterical is that the only transitions from politico to journo have been former members of Donald Trump’s reality TV administration to Fox News shills. So far we have…
Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former secretary of state, and current guest on Hannity and Fox & Friends.
Larry Kudlow, the former economic advisor who has replaced Fox’s Lou Dobbs, who was fired in connection with the billion dollar lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems.
Lara Trump, who, for the moment, is the wife of Eric Trump – her only qualification for the job.
Hysterical, isn’t it? Perhaps Cruz is getting ready to take his stand-up routine to Havana. It should go over well there as his parents are Cuban, although he was born in Canada. He could hook up with his pal Trump and try to rebuild the gambling mecca that thrived there before Fidel. He could have his own Cruz Comedy Showcase at the Trump Caribbean Towers. And with any luck it won’t go bankrupt like Trump’s four other casinos. In the meantime it would get him out of the Senate – and the country – and we’d all be better off.
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The record of James O’Keefe’s deceptively named Project Veritas is one of pathetically contrived disinformation and deliberate lies. And the reputation of O’Keefe himself is as a recidivist liar whose dishonesty cost him $100,000 in a defamation lawsuit; who was convicted for trespassing in the federal office of a Louisiana senator; and a pervert who tried to lure a reporter onto his “love boat” in a botched sting.
Now O’Keefe is back with a new video that purports to be a bombshell exposé of CNN’s hidden agenda of anti-Trump propaganda. As usual, it’s a complete dud that only exposes O’Keefe’s incompetence and commitment to flagrant falsehoods aimed at maligning any media enterprise that isn’t avowedly right-wing.
In this latest video O’Keefe serves up someone named Charlie Chester, who O’Keefe says is a technical director at CNN. There is no verification of his identity or his employment by CNN, but O’Keefe continually refers to him simply as a “director,” which is deliberately misleading. For the sake of argument, let’s say that Chester is who O’Keefe says he is. Chester’s remarks are a long ways from anything resembling a “bombshell.” Among other things he says that…
“We [@CNN] got Trump out. I am 100% going to say it, and I 100% believe that if it wasn’t for CNN, I don’t know that Trump would have got voted out.”
“Our focus was to get Trump out of office, right? Without saying it, that’s what it was, right?”
“So our next thing is going to be climate awareness. […] Climate change is gonna be the next COVID thing for CNN.”
“That’s propaganda. […] Fear sells.”
Watch O’Keefe’s teaser reel if here you have the stomach for it:
CNN Technical Director Charlie Chester: “Look what we did, we [@CNN] got Trump out. I am 100% going to say it, and I 100% believe that if it wasn't for CNN, I don't know that Trump would have got voted out…I came to CNN because I wanted to be a part of that.” #ExposeCNNpic.twitter.com/QKQdZpOaWc
Oh my. What an explosive set of revelations. Some dude says that CNN was singlehandedly responsible for Donald Trump losing the 2020 presidential election. So it wasn’t because the election was rigged, or because of voter fraud, or the “deep State.” Or the fact that Trump was despised by millions of decent Americans. It was a plot by CNN all along. And this cable news network that the right repeatedly disparages as “failing” was so influential with a majority of the American people that they pulled off an electoral victory with 81 million votes.
It’s notable that all of the allegations directed at CNN in O’Keefe’s video fit the behavior of Fox News much more closely. Their focus has always been to defeat Democrats with propaganda, and to sell fear of the imminent destruction of America by radical socialists, uppity Blacks, and caravans of immigrants.
For the record, this Chester character has no way of knowing what he claims to know. A technical director is not in the editorial loop at a news network. He doesn’t make decisions or attend meetings that are related to the content of any news story. Nor is he likely to have inside information as to the thinking of the editors and journalists at the network. He is a behind-the-scenes technician who keeps the TV machines humming. And the fact that he’d talk to such an obvious shill only affirms that he’s too naïve or foolish or self-serving to be listened to.
{UPDATE: O’Keefe posted a second video of this Chester guy, and it’s even stupider than the first (if you can believe it). He fails to coherently define “propaganda” and demonstrates his ignorance of political strategies while discussing Matt Gaetz, the GOP representative currently being investigated for sex trafficking and drugs].
This is the source that O’Keefe is relying on for his bombshell? This is the source that excited O’Keefe so much that the day before this video was released he tweeted that “Tomorrow you guys at @CNN are going to have a loooooong day.@oliverdarcy @brianstelter @jaketapper This is the most devastating thing you’ve ever seen inside your network. Sleep tight.” Those guys at CNN must be shaking in their boots.
O’Keefe’s pitiful video had a predictable effect on Trump World. Donnie Trump Jr tweeted that “A @CNN director is caught on video admitting that the focus of CNN’s news coverage in 2020 was “to get Trump out of office” & that they engaged in “propaganda” to make it happen. CNN isn’t a news organization, they’re a Democrat Super PAC!!!” Sean Hannity tweeted that “Care to comment Humpty? Have a great day!! @brianstelter.” No one will be shocked that these dumbos would buy O’Keefe’s scam. However, the video was ignored by every reputable news organization.
Speaking of Hannity, he interviewed O’Keefe on Tuesday night. It was a predictably tedious, self-exalting segment that included O’Keefe’s announcement that he will be suing CNN for defamation. Which led to this exchange:
O’Keefe: I think a lot of people should start suing the media for disinformation. It’s disgraceful what they’re doing. Hannity: I might be filing so myself.
That’s especially rich considering that Fox News is currently being sued for defamation by both Smartmatic and Dominion voting services companies for billions of dollars. And the Project Veritas video is full of potentially defamatory content that could justify suits against O’Keefe. Also in the segment, O’Keefe claims to have won a great legal victory over the New York Times, but in fact the Times merely failed to get a favorable ruling on a motion to dismiss, which is pretty routine in these proceedings.
And if you any Maalox left, here is the segment from Hannity:
This isn’t the first time that O’Keefe sicced his Project Veritas on CNN. In October of 2019, O’Keefe released a similarly weak and unsubstantiated video that made essentially the same criticisms. And despite the fact that there was nothing remotely credible about the project, it triggered a lawsuit by Trump for – get this – false advertising. The suit charged that CNN’s claim to practice “excellence in journalism” was false because they said things about Trump that he didn’t like, but were nevertheless true. The threatened lawsuit, not surprisingly, never came to pass.
You have to wonder how this charlatan can continue to post these feeble stabs at journalism after so many humiliating crash landings. It’s truly an obsession that is driving him to embarrass himself over and over again. You would think that knowing how hard the adults at CNN are laughing at him would cause him to step back. But that would be the mature and intelligent thing to do. So don’t hold your breath waiting for O’Keefe to do it.
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The presidential election last November heralded real change for America. And it wasn’t just by evicting Donald Trump from the White House. Almost immediately the Fox News audience cratered due to the network having bent to reality by recognizing that Joe Biden had decisively beaten Trump.
In addition to Fox’s viewers being disappointed that their formerly favorite dispenser of ultra-conservative propaganda had betrayed them by not embracing Trump’s “Big Lie” that the election was “stolen,” Fox also had to deal with some competition from a couple of upstarts to their already extreme right (who are also having ratings troubles). Consequently, for the first time in twenty years, Fox News fell to third place behind MSNBC and CNN. And you know that’s gotta hurt. According to Forbes…
“Fox News Channel, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp, has dominated the rating books since the start of the 21st-century, but over the first two weeks of 2021, it has averaged fewer viewers throughout the day than both CNN and MSNBC.”
The pain from having been crippled in the ratings clearly got to Sean Hannity. On Wednesday he posted an item on his website that celebrated that CNN was in a “Free Fall” having “Los[t] 47 PERCENT of Primetime Audience in Key Demographic Since Trump Left Office.” The article excitedly declared that…
“Without wall-to-wall coverage of all-things Donald Trump, CNN’s primetime line-up has lost nearly half of its entire audience in the 25-54 age demographic since the former President left the White House on January 20th.”
There are a couple of notable slants in Hannity’s twisted take. First of all, notice that he is only measuring the ratings decline from Biden’s inauguration day on January 20, rather than from election day on November 3rd. That’s because by January there had already been a massive spike for both CNN and MSNBC, so the subsequent drop looks considerably steeper.
Even more bizarre is Hannity’s description of CNN as having “wall-to-wall coverage of all-things Donald Trump,” when it is Fox News that wears that description so much better. Fox continued to cover every utterance of Trump during that period, which was not the case with CNN and MSNBC. They were, however, covering Biden’s public events that Fox virtually ignored. Hannity even commented on his program that he couldn’t find Biden. Obviously, he must have been looking on Fox News.
Fox News has regained some of its losses in the past couple of weeks, but it is still struggling to stay ahead of the competition. What’s more, while all three of the cable news networks saw rollercoaster ups and downs since election day, both MSNBC and CNN are averaging more viewers than they were a year ago. Rachel Maddow even rose to become the number one program in all of cable, not just cable news. Only Fox News is lower year over year. And Fox’s competitors succeeded by covering the real president and his administration. Bloomberg reports that…
“All three of the big cable news networks have seen a decline in viewers since their highs around Election Day. MSNBC, which has been broadcasting news conferences daily by Biden Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki, led in total viewers throughout the day last month. It and CNN were up year-over-year in February, while Fox saw a decline.”
However, Hannity’s article provided a hysterical analysis of the ratings landscape with a three year old quote from Ted Koppel:
“Longtime broadcaster Ted Koppel famously mocked CNN’s Brian Stelter to his face back in 2018, telling the network’s media pundit that ‘CNN’s ratings would be in the toilet without Donald Trump.'”
Let’s set aside that the fact that what Koppel said was hardly mockery. It was just an opinion that Brian Stelter likely agreed was plausible. What makes this so laughable is that Hannity must have forgotten this exchange he had with Koppel that literally mocked him to his face on his own show in March of 2017:
Hannity: Do you think I’m bad for America? Koppel: Yes. … You have attracted people who are determined that ideology is more important than facts.
So Koppel not only told Hannity to his face that he was bad for America, but he insulted Hannity’s viewers as being ignorant cult followers who don’t care about facts. And all of this inspired Hannity to post a celebratory article full of wholly unwarranted pride. It’s hard to think of something more pathetic.
NOTE: Twitter recently 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.
Ever since the election last November, Fox News has suffered a crushing decline. For the first time in twenty years they fell to third place behind MSNBC and CNN As a result of that collapse, the GOP’s propaganda network has embarked on a mission to win back the Donald Trump devotee demographic that was previously their exclusive property.
Some of the ratings shrinkage was due to newer and more radical right-wing outlets seducing disaffected StormTrumpers after the decisive victory by Joe Biden. Although Newsmax and One America News Network are also hurting ratings-wise now. The strategy adopted by Fox News has been to shift even farther to the right. They fired some of their more “moderate” presenters and canceled programs that weren’t stridently conservative hype factories.
What’s more, Fox News shifted the content of their existing programs to even more fanatical extremism. The CEO admitted publicly that the network’s mission is to oppose Biden. And no one on Fox News has answered that call more fervently than Tucker Carlson. Some of his recent unhinged diatribes include…
On Sunday morning, CNN’s Brian Stelter opened his program, Reliable Sources, with a monologue about Carlson that hit all the right notes (video below). The theme was that “Tucker Carlson is the New Donald Trump.” It’s hard to know who should be more offended by this comparison. They are both so reprehensible that it’s too close a contest to predict. But Stelter had the goods to back it up:
“Tucker Carlson is the new Donald Trump. Tucker has taken Trump’s place as a right-wing leader, as an outrage generator, as a fire-starter. And it’s all happening on Fox just like Trump’s campaign did. Which means Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch are ultimately responsible.
“Think about all the ways these two men are similar. Everyday Carlson is throwing bombs, making online memes, offending millions of people. Also delighting millions of others. Tapping into white male rage and resentment. Stoking distrust of Big Tech and the media. Generally coarsening the discourse. Never apologizing for anything. And setting the GOP’s agenda. Sounds like a recently retired president, right?”
Right! And it’s no accident. Carlson has always been a brazen self-promoter whose primary motivations were to advance his own welfare. Now he sees an opening to raise his profile among a group of people who are like cult followers left adrift when their leader has been deposed. And he’s milking it for all it’s worth. For example, these are few of Carlson’s recent tele-tantrums:
Carlson doesn’t care if he’s leading his flock off of sanity’s cliffs edge. He doesn’t care if he’s harming the country or the desperate people who are sucked into his web of lies. And Fox News doesn’t care either. Stelter closed his monologue with this cogent observation:
“It’s ultimately all about the Murdoch’s and what they want. How they’re gonna keep the profits flowing. By giving the viewers more and more radicalized content. Led by Tucker Carlson.”
The fact that a cable network can operate with such reckless abandonment of principles and callous disregard for people’s welfare is frightening. And while the responsibility rests with shameless liars like Carlson, the management cannot pretend to be blameless. The fault lies with everyone contributing to the madness and the inflammatory rhetoric that is poisoning the weak minds their audience. But sadly, their audience aren’t the only victims. Carlson and Fox are more broadly dangerous because their purposeful lies and disinformation are driving the nation apart. And that’s makes victims of us all.
“Tucker Carlson is the new Donald Trump.” CNN's @brianstelter compares Fox News host Tucker Carlson to the former president. “Tucker has taken Trump’s place as a right-wing leader. As an outrage generator. As a fire starter.” pic.twitter.com/MWUkCqOci3
It has been less than two months since Donald Trump’s Insurrectionist Brigades attacked Congress and the very heart of American democracy. Five people died, and many dozens more were injured. Trump’s incendiary rhetoric in the months and hours prior to the attack clearly show that his role was instrumental in inciting the violent mob.
Now there is another threat that looms over Washington, D.C. The same criminals who conducted the traitorous riots on January 6th are threatening more violence for March 4th. CNN reports that…
“US officials on Wednesday alerted lawmakers to a potential threat against the US Capitol on March 4, for which security has been enhanced as a precaution, less than two months after the Capitol complex was stormed and lawmakers’ lives were threatened by rioters.
“Information provided by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned of increased chatter among extremists, including members of the Three Percenters extremist group, discussing possible plots against the Capitol on March 4, a date that conspiracy theorists have focused on, according to sources familiar with the matter.”
This news raises more questions about where Trump stands in this war against America. We know that he did nothing to stop his seditious supporters on January 6th. And he’s being equally negligent now. Jake Tapper of CNN raised this question, asking Republican congressman Michael McCaul whether Trump has a responsibility to intervene:
Tapper: It seems to me that, whether we’re talking about the attack on January 6th or this possible attack tomorrow, President Trump – these people, these attackers worship him. They love him. They think that they’re doing this in his name. Do you think Donald Trump should be saying more forcefully, clearly. ‘I’m not gonna be inaugurated tomorrow. Joe Biden was elected fair and square.’ That could potentially quell a lot of these violent threats. McCaul: President Trump has the responsibility to tell them to stand down. This threat is credible. It’s real. It’s a right-wing militia group that believes that because the original inauguration date was March 4th until the 20th Amendment passed, they think that this is the true inauguration day and that President Trump should be inaugurated tomorrow. And that is the threat we face right now.
Exactly! And yet, Trump is nowhere to be found. He could have a significant influence on the glassy-eyed disciples of his perverse cult. They are awaiting his orders. He could prevent more violence and harm. But he’s holed up in his Mar-a-Lago bunker and, not unlike his gross and deliberate inaction on January 6th, he’s probably enjoying the prospect of a horde of StormTrumpers breaking down doors, smashing windows, and shedding blood.
All Trump needs to do is stand before a camera and insist that his goons stay home and refrain from any violent activity. But Trump isn’t making that simple gesture. Why do you suppose that is?
NOTE: Twitter recently 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.
The sagging fortunes of America’s Biggest Loser, and former reality TV game show host, Donald Trump, continue to swirl down the drain. Not only did voters decisively reject him last November, but his approval ratings have fallen precipitously ever since. He never hit 50% in four years. While President Joe Biden in his first month has been enjoying a post-election honeymoon with a soaring 62% approval.
For his Part, Sean Hannity is taking up the call to float some more preposterous notions of how the nation still madly adores their deposed Dear Leader Trump. Hannity led off a segment on his Monday night program by attacking Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for his lambasting of Trump as “disgraceful” and “responsible” for inciting the January 6th assault on Congress (video below). He put McConnell on notice, slamming him as “sanctimonious” and “way out of touch” with the GOP base. Elaborating, Hannity said…
“Let’s make one thing clear. The seven Republican senators that voted to convict Donald Trump, and other Republicans who have turned their backs on the former president are way out of touch with the base of their own party. A record 75 million Americans turned out for Donald Trump in November and they support him to this very day. […] A few hours ago, spontaneously, thousands of people in Palm Beach lined up in support of the former president as his motorcade traveled through Florida.
Let’s break down this heap of nonsense. First of all, While the seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump might have been out of touch with the radical GOP base, they were steadily aligned with the majority of the American people. What’s more, if the other Republican senators weren’t such cowardly hypocrites, they would have voted to convict Trump as well.
Secondly, Hannity is parroting Trump’s brag about having gotten 75 million votes (it was 74 million). But they are both conveniently forgetting that Biden got 81 million votes. So whatever point he is trying to make about Trump’s alleged popularity, it is still significantly below that of Biden.
However, lying to his viewers is standard operating procedure for Sean Hannity. So it will come as no surprise that he highlighted a video that was posted on Twitter by a former Trump staffer. It showed crowds of Trump cultists lining the streets of Palm Beach as Trump drove by on his way home after golfing. Hannity described this show of support as “spontaneous.”
Later in the same program Hannity interviewed Don Trump Jr. and made the same claim. “Did you see?” Hannity asked. “Thousands of people out of nowhere. Nobody organized it that I could see. Certainly nobody associated with your father that I know of. Do you?” To which Donnie replied “No. This is totally organic. This shows that the American people are with Donald Trump.”
However, it was not the least bit organic. In fact, it had been planned for over a week. The evidence of that was deliciously revealed by CNN’s Brianna Keilar:
Fox News called a planned and promoted Trump rally “spontaneous.” @brikeilarCNN: “These lies are not harmless. They're part of the bigger lie about what is true and what isn’t.” #RollTheTapepic.twitter.com/3ErLZER0Ge
This is just another example of how disreputable Hannity and all of his Fox News confederates are. They can’t be relied upon to tell the truth, even on the small things. So naturally the big things are just going to be smothered in even bigger lies. Such as the the one about the election being stolen, which led to five people being killed, and many more injured, by Trump’s Seditionist Brigades.
Hannity polished off his segment with some equally absurd outrages concerning Mitch McConnell, demanding that he “give a speech on the Senate floor and hold [Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Maxine Waters] accountable for their incitement of insurrection.” Huh?
Hannity also claimed that he has “a long and growing list of Democrats who should now qualify for impeachment and impeachment trial. You can start with Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden, and work your way through the list.” Really?
He closed with an unusually honest commentary, so long as he was directing it at himself and Fox News: “Journalism in this country is dead and buried. We are in the middle of an information crisis in this country. And media is not coming back to life anytime soon.” Actually, with Fox News now floundering in third place behind CNN and MSNBC, I may be a little more optimistic than Hannity.
NOTE: Twitter recently 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. Thanks for your support.
America’s first (and hopefully only) reality TV game show host to have accidentally become president of the United States has provided the finishing touch to his career as a failed entertainer. And true to form, Donald Trump has made the whole affair about himself and his morbidly bloated ego. Now he has been wounded in way that is especially painful for someone so obsessed with himself.
Prior to launching his brand marketing scheme disguised as a presidential campaign, Trump was the villainous figure who arrived at the end of The Apprentice to fire some poor schnook like Gary Busey or Meatloaf because they couldn’t manage to set up a lemonade stand. Trump’s presence on the program required him to join the Screen Actos Guild (SAG-AFTRA). However, after his disastrous presidency – and particularly his responsibility for the deadly Capitol insurrection – the Guild took steps to expel Trump. Guild leaders issued these statements:
SAG President Gabrielle Carteris: “Donald Trump attacked the values that this union holds most sacred – democracy, truth, respect for our fellow Americans of all races and faiths, and the sanctity of the free press. There’s a straight line from his wanton disregard for the truth to the attacks on journalists perpetrated by his followers.”
SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director David White: “Our most important role as a union is the protection of our members. The unfortunate truth is, this individual’s words and actions over the past four years have presented actual harm to our broadcast journalist members. The board’s resolution addresses this effort to undermine freedom of the press and reaffirms the principles on which our democratic society rests, and which we must all work to protect and preserve.”
Naturally, Trump couldn’t keep his malignantly narcissistic yap shut. He hasn’t made a single public comment since being banished to Mar-a-Lago by the American people. He’s said nothing about his Seditionist Brigades in Washington or the the murder of a Capitol Hill Police officer. But he nevertheless felt compelled to announce to the world that “I no longer wish to be associated with your union,” which he baselessly accused of “promoting dangerous un-American policies and ideas.”
So after the Guild had already made clear its intention to kick Trump out, he penned a poison letter that is pure Trumpian egomania…
The letter is rife with the conceit that is the hallmark of Trump’s character, or lack thereof. He could not stop talking about himself and what he regards as his invaluable contributions to human existence. For instance…
“I write to you today regarding the so-called Disciplinary Committee hearing aimed at revoking my union membership. Who cares!”
” While I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work.”
“I’ve also also greatly helped the cable news television business (said to be a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics), and created thousands of jobs at networks such as MSDNC and Fake News CNN, among many others.”
For the record, cable news was a growing media phenomenon prior to and during the Trump presidency. What’s more, the ratings for both MSNBC and CNN have skyrocketed since Trump lost decisively to Joe Biden, who has has already articulated his aversion to Fox’s propaganda and lies. And Fox News has dropped to third place for the first time in twenty years.
If Trump wants to take credit for something, that would be it. He has managed to succeed at something progressive media activists have struggled with for years. He made Fox News as toxic as he is. The result is that Fox is turning even harder toward the loony right. Which will likely ensure and accelerate their descent into the ratings abyss. Thanks Donnie!
NOTE: Twitter recently 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. And you can follow this surrogate Twitter account here. Thanks for your support.
The differences between the negligent, incompetent, and wantonly corrupt administration of Donald Trump, and that of the incoming Joe Biden administration have been evident in just the few hours that Biden has been President. The stench of ego-driven criminality has been replaced by the refreshing fragrance of experience and compassion. And America has heaved a massive, collective sigh of relief.
Among those relieved by the passing of the Trump era is Dr. Anthony Fauci, the widely respected expert on infectious diseases. His presence on Trump’s phony Coronavirus Task Force – that was nothing more than a thinly veiled reelection campaign operation – was awkward, to say the least. He frequently had to cover his face in shame as Trump dispensed pure idiocy and flagrant falsehoods. Often he was ignored or even uninvited to the press briefings altogether.
Those times are over. Dr. Fauci was interviewed Friday for the first time on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show. It was the sort of enlightening hour of useful information that the public sorely needs during these troubling times. And Dr. Fauci was clearly pleased to have the opportunity to communicate with Maddow and her audience. In fact, he addressed his prior absence from the show during this exchange:
Maddow: Dr. Fauci…The country really trusts you in particular, but we’ve seen this sort of disappearance of, and sort of muzzling of, these other senior folks within the government. Do you think that we’ll have more access to you, both the press and the public?
Fauci: I’m positive of it. I’ve been wanting to come on your show for months and months. You’ve been asking me to come on your show for months and months, and it’s just gotten blocked. Let’s call it what it is: It just got blocked because they didn’t like the way you handle things, and they didn’t want me on. I mean it was just so clear when we sent it down. “Why would you want to go on Rachel Maddow’s show?” “Well, because I like her and she’s really good.” “It doesn’t make any difference. Don’t do it.”
I don’t think you’re going to see that now. I think you’re going to see a lot of transparency. You might not see everybody as often as you want, but you’re not gonna see deliberate holding back of good people when the press asks for them. We were assured that that’s the case. And that goes along with what you were mentioning before about different types of pressures that were put on. It was a tough situation. It really was.
Fauci to @Maddow: "I've been wanting to come on your show for months and months. You've been asking me to come on your show for months and months… It just got blocked, because they didn't like the way you handled things." He says things are better now. pic.twitter.com/ZHEYBzlBjk
Those gracious and honest remarks also reveal the dangerous censorship by Trump of critical information necessary for the preservation of life during a deadly pandemic. Trump never cared about the welfare of the American people, particularly if it contrasted with his own narcissistic self-interest. Dr. Fauci said as much in another interview on CNN (where he had also been barred by Trump from appearing) when asked…
John Berman: Did the lack of candor over the last year and lack of facts, in some cases, cost lives? Fauci: You know, it very likely did… When you start talking about the things that make no sense medically and no sense scientifically, that clearly is not helpful.
The lack of candor and facts “likely did” cost lives last year, Dr. Fauci says.
“There’s no secret. We’ve had a lot of divisiveness, we’ve had facts that were very, very clear, that were questioned. People were not trusting what health officials were saying.” pic.twitter.com/NDOP0Nhy3W
In the weeks, months, and years to come, we are going to learn more and more about how unconscionably destructive Trump was for the nation and the world. And the damage he’s done will not be repaired overnight. But at least we won’t be seeing the sort of suppression and deliberate disinformation going forward that was so painfully prevalent while Trump was occupying the White House.
NOTE: Twitter recently 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. And you can follow this surrogate Twitter account here. Thanks for your support.
The Trump Insurrection of 2021 has resulted in the deaths of five Americans – so far. And the violent invasion of Congress as it attempted to perform its constitutional duties left many more injured. But equally disturbing is the stain it left on the fragile fabric of democracy. And yet, Donald Trump – who professed his love for the terrorists – continues to ignore the consequences and evade accountability.
One of the reasons that Trump gets away with his atrocities is that he has the unflinching support of right-wing media, especially Fox News. The network acts as Trump’s de facto Ministry of Propaganda, and it’s top hosts have shamelessly glorified him (and still do), no matter how appalling his actions or grotesque his behavior.
Chief among the contingent of Fox News Trump-fluffers is Tucker Carlson. And he is anxious to cement his kneeling position in the wake of the Trump Insurrection. On Friday night’s episode of his White Nationalist Hour (video below), Carlson launched a pity party by whining that it is Fox News that is under attack by media foes that he simultaneously says are weak and irrelevant. “This morning,” Carlson whined, “CNN announced that it is working to force the Fox News Channel off the air and run this company out of business.” Poor baby. He is plainly distraught and perhaps suffering from PTSD (Post-Trump Sedition Disorder). His hysterical tirade continued…
“CNN staffers have already contacted the six major cable carriers in this country – those are the companies that carry our signal into your home – and pressured them to drop Fox News. Why? On the pretext that this show and others is directly responsible for the violence at the U.S. capitol this week. ‘It is time,’ CNN announced, quote ‘that TV carriers face questions for lending their platforms to dishonest companies that profit off of disinformation and conspiracy theories. So here you have a news company calling for censorship. You have a TV network demanding that media conglomerates ban its competitor.”
That grumbling of grievances was, of course, just another litany of lies. CNN never pressured cable companies to drop Fox News. They never called for censorship. They never demanded that Fox News, or any other media outlet be banned. That was all invented in Carlson’s biased, paranoid, and wildly overactive imagination. And from that warped perspective he launched a bizarre and infantile fantasy that featured CNN’s CEO Jeff Zucker, whom he called “CNN’s blustery little dwarf king” and described as “sitting on the tiny throne in his apartment, feet dangling just above the floor, watching Fox News and getting angrier and angrier.”[NOTE: That last part sounded more like a description of Trump]. You really have to wonder how Carlson, whose emotional maturity is pre-toddler, got a primetime show on television. Although his landing on Fox News followed being fired by PBS, CNN, and MSNBC.
Carlson went on to chastise CNN’s Brianna Keilar’s reporting on the Trump Terrorists in Washington. He literally laughs at the description of them as “insurrectionists,” and mocks their vandalism and assault on police officers as they sought to disrupt the congressional certification of the election. He took particular offense at her reference to his show and his personal culpability for the environment that produced the seditious rioters.
Naturally Carlson, a flaming white supremacist, was most offended by any suggestion that “white privilege” played any role in how the riot unfolded and the police response to it. That obvious observation by Keilar elicited more sanctimonious laughter from Carlson. For context, here is what Keilar actually said on her CNN program:
“We regularly discuss what the Big Tech companies have done to poison the public conversation by providing large platforms to bad-faith actors who lie, mislead, and promote conspiracy theories. But what about TV companies that provide platforms to networks such as Newsmax, One America News — and, yes, Fox News?
“Somehow, these companies have escaped scrutiny and entirely dodged this conversation. That should not be the case anymore. After Wednesday’s incident of domestic terrorism on Capitol Hill, it is time TV carriers face questions for lending their platforms to dishonest companies that profit off of disinformation and conspiracy theories. After all, it was the very lies that Fox, Newsmax, and OAN spread that helped prime President Trump’s supporters into not believing the truth: that he lost an honest and fair election.
“Yes, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson and Mark Levin and others are responsible for the lies they peddle to their audiences. But the TV companies that beam them into millions of homes around the country also bear some responsibility. And yet we rarely, if ever, talk about them.”
So Keilar was addressing real problems with the partisan falsehoods that contributed to the violence at the Capitol. And she expressed the rational opinion that questions need to be asked in order to fully understand what happened, what caused it, and how to prevent it in the future. But those questions, in Carlson’s diseased brain, were out of bounds and deserving of his wrath and mockery.
The truth is that any criticism of Trump would antagonize Carlson and his Fox News confederates. They have subjugated their free will and reason in favor of worshipping the master of the Cult of Trump, to which they are devoted disciples. It’s emblematic of the descent into madness by both Fox News and the Republican Party. They have come utterly undone. And in their hypnotic state of idolatry they see no evil and speak only in glowing expressions of adoration and amazement at the perfection of Dear Leader.
NOTE: Twitter recently 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. And you can follow my alternate Twitter account here. Thanks for your support.
Next week the Electoral College will certify that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. But even as this date approaches, and the outcome is unquestionably certain, Donald Trump continues to babble incoherently that he was the winner “by a landslide.” It’s position that just gets more pathetic every day as Trump affirms his departure from reality and psychotic deterioration. Unfortunately, he’s also veering closing to open advocacy of violence.
However, it isn’t just Trump who is suffering from this deeply delusional defect. It has spread like an epidemic throughout Trump World. His dimwitted cult disciples are fully indoctrinated into believing that a cabal of thousands of coup conspirators have “stolen” the election without leaving behind a single shred of evidence. And Trump’s remaining dead-ender confederates in the White House persist in propagating a victory that exists only in his diseased mind.
Chief among those stubborn Trumpians is his combination press secretary and campaign mouthpiece, Kayleigh McEnany. She spent some quality time Monday night with Senior Fox News Trump-fluffer Sean Hannity where she tried to pass off a provable lie about alleged voting irregularities:
“This happened in the places where it needed to happen. Which is why the four metros, the only four where Joe Biden outperformed Hillary Clinton, were Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Atlanta, and Detroit. The four he needed in the four key states.”
If you google this claim you’ll find a number of results saying that it’s debunked pic.twitter.com/P0II9KJ5fY
McEnany’s disinformation appears to have been cribbed from a tweet by the ultra right-wing pollster, Rasmussen. Their tweet linked to an article by the notorious Internet conspiracy crackpot, Gateway Pundit, who sourced his info to the website Townhall. Of course, the article was utterly fictional. Even Townhall later disclaimed their own post. But the presence of blatant falsehoods have never stopped McEnany, or Hannity, before. CNN’s Jake Tapper put it succinctly this weekend when he described his standards for booking Trump administration guests:
“There are some people that are just so mendacious I just wouldn’t put them on air. Kayleigh McEnany, I’ve never booked her. Jason Miller from the Trump campaign, I would never book him. These are just people, they just tell lies the way that most people breathe. There was no value in that. […] This is what she does. She tells lies all the time. She can’t acknowledge reality.”
CNN Jake Tapper explains why he never booked Kayleigh McEnany for his show: “She lies the way that most people breathe.” https://t.co/1FwDEthZef
For the record, USA Today conducted a study of “the country’s 10 largest cities — or the counties in which they’re located, if data by city was not available — plus Detroit, Milwaukee and Fulton County, where Atlanta is located.” It found that Biden actually did outperform Clinton in 10 of those 13 locations:
Chicago by 19,613 votes
Philadelphia by 20,150 votes
Milwaukee by 6,004 votes
Houston by 210,279 votes
San Antonio by 128,902 votes
San Diego by 226,849 votes
Dallas by 137,496 votes
San Jose by 103,574 votes
Phoenix by 337,867 votes
Atlanta by 84,093 votes
As further evidence of how far off McEnany et al are, Biden actually appears to have underperformed Clinton in Detroit. Another study conducted by the conservative National Review confirmed USA Today’s study. They found that “Biden improved his margin of victory compared to Clinton in 31 of 36 urban counties.” They also found that “There’s no evidence that swing states had more than 100% voter turnout.”
McEnany’s penchant for poisoning her diatribes with untruths is well known. She began doing it on day one of her employment as Trump’s press secretary, ably filling the deceitful shoes of Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Following Tapper’s public rebuke, McEnany spitefully turned to Twitter to hysterically claim that she doesn’t lie. Which is just another lie in her ample supply of prevarication.
But if McEnany is really so offended by people accurately pointing out her aversion to truth telling, she just might want to take this advice…
If Kayleigh McEnany doesn’t want to be called a liar maybe she should stop lying pic.twitter.com/sMSyOJePAr
NOTE: Twitter recently 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. Thanks for your support.
