Fox News

Trump is Patient Zero: His National Emergency Ignores His Own Role as a Risk Factor

Posted by on March 13, 2020 at 1:02 pm. 3 Comments :

After more than two months of slow-walking and trivialization, Donald Trump is finally taking the perils of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak more seriously. The declaration of a national emergency is not only an acknowledgement of the potential threat posed by the virus, but also an implicit admission that his previous approach was pitifully ineffective and even dangerous.

Donald Trump

While it is long past time to begin treating this as the pandemic that it is, Trump is still missing some critical aspects that can have a profound impact. Notably, Trump is setting a terrible example for personal behavior in the midst of a viral outbreak. Despite having been in close proximity to people known to have tested positive for COVID-19, Trump continues to refuse to self-quarantine, or even be tested. His first exposure occurred at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) a couple of weeks ago. That resulted in several Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz, self-quarantining. More recently Trump met with the Prime Minister of Brazil and his press secretary, Fabio Wajngarten, who has tested positive.

Under any other circumstances, someone with the exposure Trump has had would voluntarily terminate his contacts with others. The possibility that he was infected would make such contacts too dangerous to continue, not just for those persons, but everyone they encounter afterward. That’s precisely how viral pandemics spread. Trump is also putting his senior staff and other government officials at risk. Imagine how that could affect the nation if numerous people responsible for critical government management were simultaneously sidelined.

Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health is a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force. On Friday he told told Willie Geist of MSNBC that anyone who had the interactions Trump has had should isolate themselves for two weeks. Dr. Fauci also told Congress that the Trump administration’s testing protocols are “a failing.”

So why would Trump so brazenly reject the guidance provided by every medical expert? Perhaps because it’s consistent with his prior attempts to diminish the severity of the outbreak. He has stubbornly insisted that there really isn’t much of a problem at all. As the virus was spreading, Trump said that there were few victims and the number was going down. He told the nation that it would simply go away. And he recklessly compared it the common flu. Never mind that the fatality rate is 300 times higher for the COVID-19. His purpose was to shield himself from criticism while blaming Democrats for inciting panic and conspiring to use the crisis to hurt him politically.

Not surprisingly, that is exactly the same purpose that has been driving reporting on Fox News. Everyone from Sean Hannity to Laura Ingraham to Trish Regan to Lou Dobbs to the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends, have been downplaying the risks while hyping the alleged politicization by Democrats. And both Fox and Trump have been frantically shifting blame to others and falsely criticizing the Obama administration for it’s handling of the H1N1 virus in 2009. What that has to do with the current crisis is obviously just a dodge to attack Trump’s perennial nemesis. For the record, Obama declared a health emergency in the first month of the H1N1 outbreak and tested a million Americans. Trump has tested only about 10,000 people in more than two months.

Trump has been actively seeking to keep reports of infections and fatalities low in order to avoid publicity that makes him look bad and adversely affect his reelection prospects. He even said that he opposed allowing Americans from a cruise ship to disembark because it would increase virus stats. What’s more, the Trump administration refused to the use the COVID-19 test developed by the World Health Organization. These actions are reported to have taken to tamp down the numbers. This, of course, delayed testing in the U.S. by crucial weeks. Trump is clearly more worried about his PR than human lives.

There are a lot of things that the administration can do now to address this crisis and protect the American people. Congress is working on bipartisan legislation to help workers, businesses, and healthcare professionals. But Trump’s bragging and paying tribute to himself is not among them. The virus doesn’t care about his narcissistic rambling.

However, a simple thing Trump can do would be to follow the advice of his own experts. He needs to immediately self-quarantine to prevent further viral infections. And he needs to be tested to give confidence to the nation that he hasn’t become infected himself. He needs to do these things for all of the reasons that healthcare experts have enumerated. But he also needs to do them to set an example for the nation and the world. His obstinance is irrational, counterproductive, and childish. In other words, so very Trumpian.

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

After a Plea to ‘Stop the Partisanship’ Trump Unleashes Partisan Attacks

Posted by on March 12, 2020 at 3:33 pm. 5 Comments :

On Wednesday evening, Donald Trump delivered an Oval Office address intended to inform and calm the public on the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. His demeanor was strikingly dour as he clumsily read his remarks from a Teleprompter. It is hardly comforting when a president sounds and looks sick while talking about a spreading sickness. To make matters worse, he repeatedly made comments that were untrue, which had to be corrected afterward.

Donald Trump

If Trump thought this speech would assuage the anxiety of nervous Americans, he was pitifully mistaken. He failed to offer a comprehensive plan to respond to the growing threat of widespread infections. His proposals mainly centered on travel restrictions and financial relief. And in that regard, his approach was not well received. During and after the speech the Dow Jones futures nosedived 800 points. And on Thursday the markets suffered an historic 10% decline, falling more than 2,300 points.

There were efforts in the speech to unite the country and seek common ground to face this challenge together. “We must put politics aside,” Trump said, “stop the partisanship, and unify together as one nation and one family.” That’s straight out of the Politician’s Book of Platitudes. And coming from Trump, who has distinguished himself as the most hostile and politically divisive president in memory, it seemed especially disingenuous. Not surprisingly, it took him less than twelve hours to abandon his calls for inter-party harmony.

In a pair of tweets Trump bitterly attacked Democrats that he regards as his natural enemies. In the first he complained that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wasn’t sufficiently deferential to his crisis strategy:

Note that Trump isn’t expressing his own opinion here, but that of his mouthpieces on Fox News. And in their notorious ignorance and dishonesty, they misrepresented Pelosi’s positions. When Pres. Obama proposed a payroll tax cut to remedy the economic collapse of 2008, it made sense because it would encourage people to go out and spend money. In today’s crisis that would be useless. We don’t have a problem with people not being incentivized to consume. The problem is that they are being advised to avoid markets, restaurants, entertainment, etc., where they would otherwise spend freely. So a few extra bucks in their paycheck would just sit in the bank. In the meantime, the Social Security Trust that payroll taxes fund would go into debt.

The other tweet that Trump posted reached back to his obsession with having been investigated and impeached:

This seems like a inopportune time to reanimate this monstrous conspiracy theory. Of course, Trump was never the victim of a “coup.” He was lawfully impeached according to the rules set forth in the Constitution, a document that Trump is woefully unfamiliar with. However, his anger over having been held accountable for his criminal behavior is still seething. And at a time that he was ostensibly seeking unity to combat the coronavirus, he chose instead to unload on his Democratic foes once again. There are even reports that Trump is still so bitter and hurt that he can’t bring himself to negotiate in good faith with Pelosi:

“Two senior Trump administration officials described a president who, out of an intense bitterness toward the House Speaker, has shuddered at the prospect of being in the same room with her during the ongoing public-health crisis and economic reverberations.”

What’s more, Trump answered a few questions from the press during a White House meeting with the Prime Minister of Ireland. When asked about the failure of his efforts to implement virus testing, he defensively shot back at his old nemesis, Barack Obama (video below):

“If you go back and look at the swine flu and what happened with the swine flu, you will see how many people died and how actually nothing was done for such a long period of time as people were dying all over the place. We’re doing it the opposite. We’re very much ahead of everything.”

Trump has a deep seated and deranged need to make everything a competition with Obama. In this case, as in pretty much all others, he is factually wrong. Obama declared a health emergency in April of 2009, shortly after the H1N1 virus became a known problem. He later declared a national emergency to free up additional federal funding and other resources. Trump’s lies were drawn directly from his pal Sean Hannity of Fox News.

This is how Trump behaves just hours after pleading for national unity and an end to partisanship. It is typical of his belligerent character and his malignant narcissism. Combined with his paranoia and his thirst for vengeance, it poses an imminent threat to the welfare of the nation at a perilous time. America has weathered bigger storms than this, but it has never had such an ignorant, sociopath at the helm. Our strengths are sufficient to overcome the weaknesses of one incompetent leader. But the sooner he is removed from office, the better off all of us will be.

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

Trump’s Paranoia Has Insiders Warning That ‘He’s Definitely Melting Down Over This’

Posted by on March 11, 2020 at 2:40 pm. 2 Comments :

The nation has been mired in uncertainty for several weeks now due to the (now official) COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Americans are worried about their health and the health of their loved ones. And the economy is in a tailspin that was triggered by the pandemic news. But one thing that has been confirmed during this crisis is that Donald Trump is the most ignorant, self-obsessed, ill-prepared, and insensitive leader this country has ever had.

Donald Trump

While most Americans are struggling to cope with the rush of bad news, Trump is struggling to lather himself with praise, diminish the risks, and cast blame on his numerous perceived enemies. His desperation is unmistakable as his outbursts become ever more incoherent.

On Wednesday morning he fired off a flurry of panic-tweets that put these fears on display. In one tweet he bragged that “America is the Greatest Country in the world,” as if that sort of chest-thumping would frighten off the virus. In another he wrote that he’s working to “create a vaccine,” which in reality will take 12-18 months. In yet another, he blamed the Democrats in Congress for politicizing the virus, which is pure projection. But perhaps the most bizarre and revealing of his tweets was this:

Notice that Trump doesn’t bother explain what he’s whining about? He just unleashes his hostility and expects his glassy-eyed disciples to nod their heads in unison and agree. For the record, Trump is referring to this Vanity Fair article by Gabriel Sherman: “He’s Definitely Melting Down Over This”: Trump, Germaphobe in Chief, Struggles to Control the Covid-19 Story.” The article cites several sources within the administration who express concerns about Trump’s faltering mental state. They worry that he is losing faith in his own team. For example, he just fired chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and replaced him with former Rep. Mark Meadows (who is now self-quarantined because he came in contact with someone who tested positive at CPAC).

Trump’s psychosis prevents him from being able to deal with any situation wherein he doesn’t feel he is in control. And, of course, he cannot control a virus. So in public he resorts to frantic boasting and overt lies about how brilliant and effective he is. But in private he is said to be harboring acute paranoid fears. For example, Sherman’s sources tell him that…

“Stories about Trump’s coronavirus fears have spread through the White House. Last week Trump told aides he’s afraid journalists will try to purposefully contract coronavirus to give it to him on Air Force One, a person close to the administration told me. The source also said Trump has asked the Secret Service to set up a screening program and bar anyone who has a cough from the White House grounds. ‘He’s definitely melting down over this,’ the source said.”

So Trump thinks journalists are plotting to assassinate him with a virus. It’s hard to convey just how insane that is. For one thing, couldn’t they have done that two years ago? Trump is coming undone. Even his attack on Vanity Fair is evidence of derangement. However, it’s derangement that he has suffered from for years. This isn’t the first time that Trump has predicted the death of Vanity Fair:

    Oct 3, 2011: Sadly, Vanity Fair is a rapidly dying magazine.
    Apr 9, 2012: Vanity Fair Magazine, which used to be one of my favorites, is failing badly.
    May 24, 2013: Read this & you will understand why Vanity Fair is going down the tubes.
    Dec 8, 2013: Vanity Fair Magazine won’t be around much longer, it’s really in bad shape!
    Dec 28, 2017: Vanity Fair, which looks like it is on its last legs.

And it’s not just Vanity Fair. Trump has predicted the end of the New York Times on 39 separate occasions (Here’s one example). And then there’s this:

    Jun 26, 2019: CNN is dead as a door nail (no credibility), and MSNBC is dying fast.
    Dec 12, 2019: Fake News like CNN & MSNBC are dying.
    Dec 14, 2019: Both Commiecast MSNBC & Fake News CNN are watching their Ratings TANK. …. Don’t know why @FoxNews wants to be more like them? They’ll all die together.
    Jan 28, 2020: So, what the hell has happened to @FoxNews. Only I know! … Watch, this will be the beginning of the end for Fox.
    Feb 25, 2020: CNN & MSDNC are dying in the ratings!

At precisely the moment that America needs a steady hand guiding the course for the nation, we are stuck with a demonstrably demented character whose narcissism and paranoia are likely to result in far more misfortune than would otherwise be the case if a sane person were president. So for the time being the American people are going to have to rely on themselves and each other. Because the maniac occupying the White House is a basket case who can’t discern reality from the nightmares his mania manufactures. Good luck everyone.

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

Callous Fox News Anchor is Cool with Seniors Dying from the Coronavirus

Posted by on March 10, 2020 at 2:59 pm. NO Comments :

Donald Trump’s mishandling the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak continues to reap tragic consequences. While infections and fatalities increase, Trump is still downplaying the risk and trying to blame his failures on Democrats. He even tweeted his thanks to Republicans in the Senate for passing a bill to provide funding for coronavirus related projects. Never mind that it was an $8 billion bill (Trump asked for only $2 billion) that was authored by Democrats, who provided the majority votes to pass it.

Go Fox Yourself

Considering the gravity of the issues at hand, the press is generally taking care to offer useful information and a realistic presentation of the facts, without causing undue alarm. However, on Fox News they have a different philosophy of journalistic responsibility. Predictably, they are serving as Trump’s mouthpiece to trivialize the matter so as not to negatively impact his polling and reelection prospects. and to both Trump and Fox News, those are the most important considerations.

To that end, Fox News anchor Ed Henry interviewed Florida’s Republican Senator Rick Scott. And from the outset it was clear that the segment was intended to prop up Trump’s management of the crisis. Henry prefaced his first question with a brazenly leading slant saying that he was just “adding this important context” (video below) …

“In your state there have been 18 cases of COVID-19, two people, sadly, have died, but both of those residents were elderly and had traveled internationally. So when you hear the context, it’s not quite as scary”

“Not quite as scary” to whom? Certainly seniors who travel would be shaken by these statistics. Henry is saying explicitly that the deaths of a few old folks don’t really matter, and the rest of the American people can comfortably ignore the loss of these doddering old coots. He apparently believes that fewer elders don’t really figure in the big picture. Just put it into context, and who really cares?

Let’s set aside the abhorrent insensitivity of Henry’s comments for a moment look at the sheer ignorance he is displaying. Henry is oblivious to the fact that the coronavirus can attack anyone. And even if the victims are younger and have stronger immune systems, they can pass it on to others with greater vulnerability, including children with respiratory ailments, young adults with diabetes, cancer patients, etc. And all of these potential victims likely have families that would be devastated by losing a loved one. So Henry also belittling the suffering of those indirectly affected.

Twenty-six Americans have already died from this budding pandemic. Over 700 have been diagnosed as infected. And considering that the U.S. is woefully lagging in testing, there could be thousands more. That could translate into hundreds more fatalities. Among those exposed (so far) are six members of congress, five of whom are Republicans. There may actually be a greater risk for the GOP and Trump supporters due to Trump’s purposeful and self-serving deceit. Trump himself interacted with someone infected at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). And let’s not forget that he is one of those disposable elderly folks. As are the majority of Fox News viewers.

Henry’s gross disregard for the lives of seniors is a new low for Fox. There is simply no excuse for this sort of callous thoughtlessness. But for Fox News it is far too common. They have never been especially concerned about humane policies, whether addressing healthcare, taxes, climate change, immigration, or guns. Now they are simply fulfilling their mission to serve up Trump-fluffing propaganda without regard for the truth or the well being of the American people. Because that’s the position of Trump. And Fox is, as always, committed to echoing Dear Leader’s cruel and inhumane approach to governance.

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

Fox News and Trump are Infecting America with Lies About Viruses and Economics

Posted by on March 9, 2020 at 1:51 pm. 8 Comments :

Just at the time the country needs a steady hand to guide it through difficult times, we are unfortunately stuck with Donald Trump, an ignorant, narcissistic, sociopath, who is more concerned with his public image than with the lives of the American people. A budding pandemic is threatening to engulf the nation, and simultaneously collapse an economy that is already on thin ice.

Donald Trump, Fox News

Trump has been mishandling the Covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak from the first days it was identified. He has stubbornly tried to downplay the seriousness of its impact on both people and economics. And he continues to this day trying to dismiss the risks that we are facing. Especially among his own supporters who are the most vulnerable to his alternative facts.

On Monday morning he posted several tweets intended to pacify the public with phony platitudes. In one tweet Trump compared the coronavirus to the flu. “At this moment,” he tweeted, “there are 546 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” Having thought about it, it’s apparent that Trump can’t do math, because that data shows that the coronavirus, which is just beginning to spread, is 200 times more lethal than the flu. That isn’t exactly comforting.

Of course, Fox News has Trump’s back. They are promoting equally as troubling distortions of reality that are intended more to boost Trump’s polling than to protect people’s lives. Devoted Trump-fluffer Jeanine Pirro unleashed an extended rant that also used flu data to diminish the potential harm from the coronavirus (video below):

“Now they say the mortality rate for coronavirus is higher than the flu. But consider, though, that we have a flu vaccine, and yet in 2019, 16,000 Americans died from the flu. Imagine if we did not have the flu vaccine the flu would be a pandemic. So all the talk about coronavirus being so much more deadly doesn’t reflect reality. Without a vaccine, the flu would be far more deadly.”

How does someone this stupid get their own TV show? The mortality rate for the flu would not increase were there no vaccine. Pirro seems think that the mortality rate is based on the percentage of deaths from within the entire national population. Actually, the base is just those infected. So without a vaccine there would surely be more deaths, but they would likely occur at the same percentage rate. Pirro is also assuming that the coronavirus isn’t going to infect more people than the flu. At this time there is no way to predict that. And the fact remains that the mortality rate for the corona virus remains far higher than for the flu.

As for Trump, he is spinning furiously to avoid any negative repercussions from the dramatic drop in the stock market. He is alternately blaming it on coronavirus panic, the media, oil prices, Democrats, and probably Hillary Clinton’s emails. He’s frantic because he knows that a faltering economy will be the death knell for his reelection hopes. But he was never a particularly good market analyst. Just two weeks ago Trump tweeted that…

Everything about the tweet is utterly and painfully wrong. The coronavirus was hardly “very much under control.” on February 24. There were only a handful of confirmed diagnoses – and zero deaths – in the U.S. then. There over 600 known infections now, and 26 deaths.

Trump’s remarks about the stock market were triggered by a 1,000 point drop that day. But if anyone took Trump’s advice and acted on what he thought was a market that looked good, they took a considerable beating. The market has declined another 3,500 points since Trump’s grossly miscast, optimistic tweet. In fact, the market has declined to a level last seen in November of 2017. So anyone who invested in the last two years has lost money. And the more recent their investments, the more they lost.

With the challenges facing the nation today, it would helpful if we didn’t have to rely on a president who has been documented lying more than 16,000 times. It would also be nice if we didn’t have a propaganda outlet like Fox News covering up Trump’s failures, falsehoods, and mental infirmities. Getting through the next few months would be hard enough under normal circumstances. Remember “normal circumstances?” Yeah, those were the days.

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

Trump Visits Fox News to Wax Idiotic About Both Economics and Pandemics

Posted by on March 6, 2020 at 12:32 pm. 2 Comments :

From the first days that the coronavirus was reported to be spreading throughout the world, including in the United States, Donald Trump has sought to minimize the risks and the potential that it could escalate into a full blown pandemic. He has understated the infection rate and the number of fatalities. And he has focused his attention on the economic impact, rather than the cost of human lives.

Donald Trump TV Set

On Thursday evening Trump appeared on Fox News for a town hall meeting. it was his second Fox News interview in as many days (the first being a suck up phone-in with Sean Hannity). The Fox News town hall was rife with the sort of lies and disinformation that is the hallmark of both Trump and Fox. For instance, Trump claimed that he would protect Social Security, even as he explicitly said he would be cutting entitlements. He also promised to provide “great healthcare,” despite never having offered any proposals, and actively fighting in court to kill Obamacare.

With regard to the coronavirus, which is currently the most pressing issue on the table, Trump continued his efforts to trivialize the very real vulnerabilities the nation faces. “I think we’re in great shape,” he lied, and “I think we made a great move. We closed it down. We stopped it.” Of course, he has not come close to stopping the coronavirus. It has actually spread to twenty-one states with over 225 cases in the U.S. And its containment is far from certain because we don’t even have enough test kits to identify those infected.

RELATED: Are Trump’s Cult Rallies Breeding Grounds for the Coronavirus?

However, perhaps the most troubling remarks Trump made were in connection to how the virus might impact the U.S. economy. He presented his deranged viewpoint that there is a fiscal silver lining to the suffering and death that the virus has already caused. Surely the families of the victims will be pleased to hear this (video below):

“A lot of people are staying here. They’re going to be doing their business here. They’re going to be traveling here. They’ll be going to resorts here. And, you know, we have a great place … we’re going to have Americans staying home.”

Virtually everything in that comment is patently false and without even a hint of factual basis. First of all, there is no evidence that Americans are traveling more within the U.S. To the contrary, more people are avoiding all travel, even domestically. Airlines are canceling flights due to the absence of bookings. As for doing more business, that too is unsupported by any data. Many Americans are staying home rather than risk exposure in public places like restaurants and theaters. Businesses themselves are canceling participation in conferences and trade shows, and they are limiting their employees’ travel.

What’s more, even if there were some sliver of truth to Trump’s bizarrely rosy scenario, it wouldn’t provide an economic benefit for the country. That’s because the U.S. makes more money from the spending by tourists coming here than it would lose from Americans going overseas. So there would be a net loss of revenue if Americans spend at home, while foreigners decline to visit.

There is also something notable about the alleged revenue that Trump falsely claimed would be realized by a virus-driven quarantine of travelers. Virtually all of it would come from businesses that Trump himself operates (hotels, resorts, etc.). How convenient! But the fact that the stock market has declined sharply indicates that most investors believe that the broader American business landscape is going to be hurt severely by the repercussions of this budding pandemic.

The impact on the economy by the coronavirus is really the only thing that Trump cares about. And even that isn’t because he’s concerned about people’s financial welfare. He’s only worried about how it will affect his prospects for reelection. Consequently, he needs to lie about both the inherent dangers the virus portends for human life, as well as how it influences the direction of the market. And anyone dumb enough to believe Trump’s self-serving blather is going to end up much sicker and poorer.

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

Donna Brazile Tells Trump-Fluffing GOP Chair to ‘Go to Hell’ Live on Fox News

Posted by on March 3, 2020 at 11:30 am. 1 Comments :

The Republican Party’s penchant for hypocrisy is legendary. They profess to advocate family values while supporting Donald Trump, an adulterous president who is on his third wife, all of whom he has cheated on. They disingenuously embrace patriotism while enabling Trump’s treasonous aiding and abetting hostile foreign governments that attack our democracy. They claim to have faith while idolizing an irreligious narcissist who calls himself “the Chosen One.”

Donald Trump

On Tuesday morning Republicans were apoplectic over a segment on Fox News where Donna Brazile lashed out at the GOP for interfering in Democratic politics. That’s something that Trump himself has been spending a remarkable amount of time on (mostly advancing the mission of Vladimir Putin). Never mind that no one takes his inane analysis of Democrats seriously. And why should they? His rancid animosity toward fellow Americans who don’t happen to worship him is the core of his moronic commentary.

So on Fox’s America’s Newsroom co-host Sandra Smith prefaced her question for Brazile by playing a clip of Republican National Committee Chairwoman, Ronna Romney McDaniel, speculating about how the Democratic primary is progressing. McDaniel said that…

“It’s leading toward a brokered convention which will be rigged against Bernie [Sanders] if those super delegates have their way.”

Following that clip, Smith threw the question to Brazile for her response. And it was a doozy:

“First of all, I want to talk to my Republicans. Stay the hell out of our race. I get sick and tired of listening to Republicans tell me and the Democrats about our process. They don’t even have a process. They are canceling primaries. They have winner take all. They don’t have the kind of democracy that we see on the Democratic side. And for people to use Russian talking points to sow division among Americans, that is stupid.

“So Ronna, go to hell! We are not trying to prevent anyone from becoming the nominee. If you have the delegates to win, you will win. This notion that Democrats are somehow out there trying to put hurdles or road blocks before one candidate, that’s stupid.

“I know what’s going on. They are scared of Democrats coming together to defeat Donald Trump. They need to be focusing on what we’re focusing on in the Democratic Party. And that is preventing foreign interference in our elections. And stop using Russian talking points, Madame Chairwoman.”

OUCH! That is precisely how Democrats should reply to the preposterous analyses that Republicans put out about Democrats. Brazile hit every salient point. The GOP is canceling primaries because they seem to be afraid that some of their cult members will wander off and vote for Bill Weld. Fox News has, to date, refused to even interview Weld. Trump is exposing his weakness. Brazile also noted that McDaniel was parroting Russian talking points. Actually, they are more than talking points. They are part of an orchestrated strategy to create discord and chaos. And Brazile forcefully defended the Democratic Party’s neutrality. The main proponents of the conspiracy theory that the primary is rigged are Trump and Putin.

This attempt by Fox News to ambush Brazile is just another reason why Democrats should never appear on Fox. They have only one objective, and that is to harm Democrats. In this case it backfired on them in a big way. But it is still giving Fox and their Trump-fluffing surrogates the opportunity to condemn Brazile for her alleged incivility. But just to put that hypocrisy in context, see the video below that compiles Trump’s frequent use of profanities that apparently doesn’t bother the pure as virgins GOP or Fox News.

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

It’s Sunday and the Trump Cult Worship Service is in Full Effect on Fox News

Posted by on March 1, 2020 at 2:01 pm. 4 Comments :

Hallelujah, America! Once again it’s time to bask in the glory of Gawd and his messenger, and divine profit, Donald Trump. So tune in to the Holy State Television Network (aka Fox News) and get ready for the light of the Dear Leader to shine down on your sinful, unworthy souls. The hour of redemption is upon us as the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends shower the faithful StormTrumpers with his beneficence.

Donald Trump Hugs Flag

The Trump-fluffers on Fox News are well known for their drooling adulation of their Lardass Savior Donald Trump. They spend every minute of their broadcast day fawning over him. They will unflinchingly defend him no matter how abhorrent his words or deeds. And they will viciously malign his critics regardless of how accurate their criticisms.

However, on this Sunday morning, they went farther than their usual shameless, bootlicking sycophancy. Discussing Trump’s lie and hate filled rant/speech at the Conservative Political Action conference (CPAC), they devolved into a full-scale, evangelical, Christo-Trumpian, revival meeting. This episode featured a guest appearance by Kayleigh McEnany, the national press secretary for Trump’s 2020 reelection Campaign. McEnany was introduced by co-host Jedediah Bila, with an opening question that was dripping with orange-tinted slobber (video below):

“I thought he did an amazing job. I thought Trump did what Trump does best yesterday. Is this gonna be impossible for Democrats to beat? That he’s able to get on stage and just rock a room like that?”

So Bila was mighty impressed with Trump’s speech. Never mind that it was mostly a rehash of every other speech he gives. He lobbed infantile insults at Democrats. He took credit for imaginary accomplishments. He lashed out the media for telling the truth about him. And he lavished praise upon himself. According to Fox News, relentlessly spewing cheesy put downs to a bunch of pre-screened, glassy-eyed disciples is “rocking the room.” And they think that should make Democrats nervous?

Bila was actually right, though, when she said that Trump “did what Trump does best.” Because wallowing in a sty of narcissistic exaltation is indeed Trump’s strong suit. Bila’s “question” produced this pitifully brainwashed response from McEnany:

“No Democrat can compare to what we saw at CPAC and what I routinely see at each and every on of the President’s rallies. I mean, this is a president who is energetic, enthusiastic, quick-witted. He has the ability to just captivate a room. And yesterday hugging the flag, kissing the flag. He’s just distinctly Americana. And it’s something that Bernie Sanders will never have. He wants this to become Venezuela, not love America. No one can compete with what we saw on that stage. He’s just electric.”

Indeed, no Democrat could emulate Trump’s manic, masturbatory bombast. And “electric” is an oddly appropriate description since his ignorant, self-wankery is pretty shocking. And the same goes for his cringe-worthy sexual assault on the American flag that McEnany found so captivating.

The most consistent thing about Trump’s CPAC address was how horribly offensive it was. He resembled an angry, unhinged, “Real White Housewife” character more than a world leader. He told bad jokes, exuded contempt, and whined incessantly at his perceived victimhood. To say that it was not presidential would be an Olympic-grade understatement. And yet, this is the sort of deranged oratory that inspires worshipful devotion from Fox News. Seriously? News? That level of blind adoration can only be described as a cult. See for yourself.

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

Trump is Whining (Again) About Fox News Poll Where He’s Losing to Every Top Democrat

Posted by on February 28, 2020 at 12:35 pm. 2 Comments :

There is one thing that can be reliably assumed about Donald Trump at any given moment in time. He is probably whining. That’s pretty much his resting state of mind. He is without a doubt the most cowardly crybaby ever to occupy the White House. He even admitted it on national TV in 2016, saying that “I am the most fabulous whiner. I do whine, because I want to win. I am a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win.” Duh!

Donald Trump Pacifier Fox

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump is wailing about a new poll by Fox News that shows him losing to every top Democratic in the race. The poll has Biden beating Trump 49% to 41%. Sanders 49-42. Bloomberg 48-40. Warren 46-43. Buttigieg 45-42. And Klobuchar 44-43. Notice that Trump never scores higher than 43% in any of these match-ups. So an obviously rattled Trump pounded out this frantic tweet:

For the record, most of the 2016 polls, even those by Fox News, were pretty accurate. They showed Hillary Clinton beating Trump by about 3%, which is precisely what happened. Remember, these are polls of voters, not the electoral college, and Clinton won the popular vote by 3,000,000 votes. FiveThirtyEight rates Fox News pollsters (Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research) a respectable “A-“.

But none of that matters because Trump’s complaints aren’t rooted in reality to begin with. He has often criticized Fox News polling in the past when they delivered bad news. And he routinely complains that Fox has “always been terrible to me.” But he’s ignoring all the times he praised Fox for surveys that had more positive results.

RELATED: Are Trump’s Cult Rallies Breeding Grounds for the Coronavirus?

Trump’s perspective is always colored by whatever he views is in his best interest at the moment. It’s a bizarre psychosis that springs from his malignant narcissism. If someone compliments him, they are a rock solid ally. If someone criticizes him, they have always been a bitter enemy. He simply has no grasp of the nuances of fluid, human interactions. And he will use whatever data he finds most beneficial, even if he has to make it up. For instance, Trump also tweeted this Friday morning:

The problem with that is that it was a retweet that is several days old and does not reflect a “new” Rasmussen poll. In fact, the most recent Rasmussen poll has Trump at only 47%. What’s more, he has never had 95% GOP approval, no matter how many times he tweets it.

Despite Trump’s disappointment with Fox News, he just scheduled a town hall on the network for next Thursday. It will be one of the rare occasions where Trump will be interviewed on Fox by someone other than Sean Hannity or one of the other devoted Trump-fluffers. Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will host the affair. However, their previous interviews with Trump were dominated by softball questions and no substantive follow ups.

What’s peculiar is why Fox News is having this town hall at all. Trump is running virtually unopposed, so what’s the point in providing a platform when there isn’t a primary contest in progress? The only plausible reason is that Fox wants to make sure that Trump isn’t overshadowed by the Democrats who are engaged in a heated primary. In other words, it’s free advertising for Trump.

What Fox isn’t doing is offering the same thing to Bill Weld, the Republican former governor of Massachusetts who actually is running against Trump in the GOP primary. Both Fox News and Trump are pretending that Weld doesn’t exist. The party has canceled several primaries so that Trump doesn’t have to face an opposing candidate. And Fox has refused to to even book Weld for an interview.

If Trump is as confidant of his 2020 prospects as he keeps insisting, then why is he suppressing this primary opposition? For the same reason he is whining about the Fox News poll. He is scared. He recognizes the political risk that he faces if the economy falters. And his moaning notwithstanding, he does realize that polls reflect the tenor of public opinion, and that opinion now is decidedly – and appropriately – anti-Trump.

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

Sanders Surrogate Tells Fox News that ‘You Guys Have to Stop Lying on the Air’

Posted by on February 26, 2020 at 1:16 pm. 2 Comments :

Democrats should not be wasting their time by appearing on Fox News. There is no upside to subjecting oneself to the abuse and dishonesty that is the core of Fox’s editorial mission. Fox News has demonstrated repeatedly that they have no interest in presenting fair coverage of Democrats or liberal policies. And now more than ever, they exist to promote Donald Trump and to malign his critics.

Bernie Sanders, Fox News

If anyone needs further proof that Fox News is anathema to progressive politics, or any expressions of truth, they only need to look at the interview of Amer Zahr, a Bernie Sanders surrogate, that was conducted on Fox Wednesday morning (video below). Host Ed Henry seemed determined to misrepresent the positions of Sanders in the most deceitful terms imaginable. He framed his questions with overt bias asking Zahr to address “not just the plans that are socialist in nature, but the fact that Bernie Sanders on that stage continues to defend the regime of Fidel Castro.” Which Sanders has not done.

It’s fair to say that Sanders displayed some rather impolitic instincts by allowing that Castro’s Cuba did advance certain social policies that included access to education and healthcare. But that’s a long ways from defending his regime. It’s just bad form to appear to be complimenting a dictator, even if the comment is true. But then, after a long and slanted lead in, Henry enumerated some of Castro’s atrocities (murder, rape, imprisonment) and asked the preposterous question, “How do you defend that?” Well, of course, no one defends that. And the very phrasing of the question to imply that Zahr or Sanders does defend it is just plain repulsive. Zahr offered a more elaborate reply:

“It is almost as if maybe you guys weren’t listening to Bernie Sanders last night and what he said repeatedly which is that — and the same thing President Obama said — which is, there were some good things that came out of what he did but authoritarianism which he practiced and Bernie Sanders was very clear that Fidel Castro was an authoritarian, that that should be denounced at every turn, that dissent should be allowed and shouldn’t be imprisoned. He said that over and over again.”

But Henry wasn’t going to be deterred from his mission of noxious slander. He followed up by outright lying that Sanders said that “he’s OK with socialism and communism.” Which, of course, Sanders never said. So Zahr replied with surprise and disgust that…

“You guys have to stop lying on the air. He didn’t say he’s OK with socialism and communism. That’s just not true. He said he is not OK with authoritarianism wherever it happens. And you guys want to throw around these terms, that’s fine, the truth is our ideas are popular with the American people, these are progressive ideas.”

Stung by reality, Henry tried to dismiss the garbage he had been spewing by pretending that “I’m asking a question.” But as Zahr noted, “It’s a ridiculous question.” Henry was, in fact, building a false narrative to undermine Sanders and the Democrats. He could not have been more obvious and offensive.

This however, is an object lesson on why Democrats need to shun Fox News. They will be subjected to this treatment every time. What possible benefit is there to suffering through such abuse? You are not going to change the minds of any Fox News cult viewers. You are only letting Fox exploit you to affect some measure of credibility. And while some of the responses by Zahr were satisfying and admirable, they do not justify having lowered oneself into the Fox abyss of lies.

The Sanders campaign has an odd relationship with Fox News that is somewhat self-destructive. On the one hand they recognize that Fox is profoundly biased and dishonest. They know that Fox produces stories like the one just two days ago that claimed that Sanders was to blame for the stock market crash. (no, really). On the other hand, Sanders’ campaign manager recently made the bizarre comment that Fox News is more fair to Sanders than MSNBC. But this interview is the best evidence that that is not only untrue, it’s downright delusional.

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