Fox News

Whining on Fox News: Fact-Checking Trump Will ‘Reveal Him to Be Stupid, Uninformed, or a Liar’

Posted by on September 5, 2019 at 11:40 am. 4 Comments :

From the outset of Donald Trump’s presidency he has regarded the media as his most dangerous foe. That’s why he he repeatedly refers to it in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” He even explicitly tweeted on Wednesday that his “real opponent” is not the Democratic Party, but the press. It’s his innate hatred of any institution that is governed by facts and honesty that drives this dangerous and anti-constitutional hostility.

Donald Trump

Trump is right in a perverse way. He really does need to fear the press due to his unabashed and pathological lying. To date he has racked up more than 12,000 lies since his inauguration. Every fact-checker who tracks Trump’s pitiful record of falsehoods has compiled volumes of evidence that he simply doesn’t care about accuracy or truth. And his lies can range from easily verifiable nonsense like who pays for tariffs (which got shot down by Fox News), to his ludicrous battle to defend saying that Alabama was in the path of Hurricane Dorian (it wasn’t). Trump will lie about matters big and small because his internal morality doesn’t recognize the difference between truth and lies. He’s focused solely on whatever benefits him at the moment.

So it was not surprising to see Geraldo Rivera at his regular perch on Fox and Friends running defense for Trump. These relentless presidential bootlickers are as predictable as flies on bullshit, which is a pretty apt simile. During a segment that started out examining Trump’s diverting funds from the military to his vanity border wall, Geraldo took a detour to shield Trump from criticism about his lying ways, but belly-flopped painfully in the process:

“This is all clear to me what is happening is that this president gets the worst press of any president in the history of the republic. Everything he says and does is cross-checked and scrutinized to reveal him to be stupid, uninformed, or a liar, you know, it is very frustrating to see how other news networks obsess about any misstep or misstatement the president makes.”

Geraldo’s assessment of which president got the worst press might be disputed by Presidents Clinton, or Nixon, or even Lincoln. But to the extent that there is negative news about Trump, it’s entirely his own fault. After all, Trump is the worst president of any in the history of the republic. He’s the first to never have positive approval ratings (they never broke above 46 percent). And his inexperience, ignorance, and incompetence is exposed nearly every day in on his Twitter feed and his useless, impromptu “chopper talk” press avails. It would be easy for Trump to avoid bad press. Just stop doing idiotic, racist, and often illegal things.

More to the point, Geraldo is complaining because “Everything [Trump] says and does is cross-checked.” Oh my Gawd! What a horrible thing to do to a public servant who is pretending to lead the free world. What’s worse is that Geraldo actually admits that such scrutiny will result in Trump being revealed to be “stupid, uninformed, or a liar.” And that, as it happens, is the truth. So what Geraldo is upset about is that the true nature of Trump’s inadequacies will become apparent to everyone should he be held to reasonable standards of review. Which is the job of the press. But Geraldo isn’t seeking the truth. He’s seeking the suppression of it. Which is the job of Fox News.

Trump is upset about the very same thing as Geraldo. He doesn’t really care whether the media is honest or not. He’s only interested in making sure that his flagrant fabrications aren’t discovered and reported. And if they are, he will attempt to discredit the press so that no one – or at least his Deplorable cult followers – will believe them. He actually admitted that to Leslie Stahl when she asked why he attacks the press. “You know why I do it?” he replied. “I do it to discredit you all, and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.” So as Stahl suggested, “Put that in your head for a minute.”

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

The President’s ‘Experts’ on Any Subject are Mainly Trump-Fluffing Fox News Hacks

Posted by on September 4, 2019 at 1:50 pm. 2 Comments :

There is no question that Donald Trump has ushered in an era of presidential firsts: The first president to welcome and encourage Russian election help; the first to enrich himself by patronizing his own properties; the first to brag about committing sexual assault; the first to tell more than 12,000 lies; the first to engage in childish name-calling; the first to never have a positive favorable polling; the first to malign the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people;” the first to express more loyalty to foreign dictators than to our allies and even our own intelligence community; the first to rip babies from their parents and lock them in cages; the first to … oh hell, this could go on forever.

Donald Trump Sean Hannity

Another first that Trump has achieved concerns his inner circle of advisors and White House staff. The President of the United States is uniquely positioned to have access to the most experienced and intelligent people in the world. The issues that any president faces require that level of advice and counsel, whether it is about economics, diplomacy, legislation, healthcare, the military, and so much more. But Trump has assembled a confederacy of dunces in his Cabinet who know little about the departments they have been appointed to manage. Rick Perry knows nothing about energy. Ben Carson never spent five minutes studying urban planning. Betsy DeVos has no education background whatsoever. And the rest of the Cabinet is similarly incompetent.

However, none of that really matters because Trump doesn’t turn to them for guidance on any issue anyway. Instead, he consults his “Shadow Cabinet,” the presenters and contributors of Fox News. In many cases Trump has actually tapped Fox hosts for White House jobs. But even when he hasn’t, he still relies on their advice which he gets from his many hours of watching Fox News instead of doing any actual work.

The result of Trump’s addiction to Fox is that he is getting the most shallow, inappropriate, and dangerous advice available from people who have never studied the subjects on which they pontificate on TV. A quick examination of Trump’s Twitter feed revealed that every single person he quoted in the past five days was a TV talker. For instance:

  • Businessman Sam Zell, on CNBC
  • Activist Charlie Kirk on Trish Regan’s Fox News show
  • Lawyer Alan Dershowitz on Lou Dobbs’ Fox Business show
  • Host Lou Dobbs of Fox Business
  • Host Steve Hilton of Fox News
  • Evangelical Robert Jeffress on Lou Dobbs’ Fox Business show
  • Attorney Joe DiGenova on Fox News
  • Former GOP congressman Jason Chaffetz on Fox News
  • Jason Riley, Wall Street Journal on Fox News
  • Legal analyst Gregg Jarrett on Lou Dobbs’ Fox Business show
  • Sen. Lindsey Graham on Fox News
  • James Trusty on Fox News
  • Rep. Pete King on Fox News
  • Bryan Dean Wright on Fox and Friends

That’s just the past five days. He didn’t quote a single expert from any professional or academic source. And these are in addition to dozens of videos posted by Trump of Fox News personalities and contributors like Jeanine Pirro, Sean Hannity, and Tim Fitton of the ultra rightist Judicial Watch. Their political tips contain such useful insights as this one from Lou Dobbs:

Remember, that’s the ranting of a host on an alleged “news” network who is accusing all Democrats of hating America. A more plausible assessment would be that the only way to truly love America is to hate Trump. After all, he’s the one who is constantly tearing down the cherished institutions of the country, from the Constitution, to the the media, to law enforcement, to the military, and more. He’s the one who is trying to destroy America’s natural resources, preserves, air, water, and climate. And he’s the one who is siding with our enemies abroad and the wealthy elites domestically at the expense of the majority of the people.

For the Commander-in-Chief to rely on such a pitifully ignorant cadre of television shills should worry every citizen. But they shouldn’t be surprised. Trump’s prior job was hosting a TV game show, and that’s what he believes reflects a reality that exists only in his diseased brain. He still thinks he’s doing a reality TV show and he doesn’t know that Fox News is an entertainment network. And that delusional departure from sanity is not just a curious quirk.It has the potential to cause great harm if he isn’t stopped – and soon.

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

Trump’s Latest ‘Lamestream Media’ Tweet is a Digest of Deranged Dumbfuckery

Posted by on September 2, 2019 at 11:58 am. 4 Comments :

Happy Labor Day, America. On this day paying homage to the hard working people of the nation, Donald Trump posted fourteen tweets lavishing undeserved praise on himself. As usual, he can’t spend five minutes on any subject other than how awesome and successful he is. Nevermind that he is despised by a majority of voters and his record is overflowing with failure.

Donald Trump, Phone, Pacifier

Most of the tweets make demonstrably false and misleading claims about glorious economic successes that exist only in his diseased brain. Things like unemployment and stock market performance were already greatly improved during the Obama administration, and there were only slight advances since then. In all cases Trump’s record lags the positive direction established by Obama. Surprisingly, he also bragged about his polling which is horrendous by any standard. He trails all of the top Democrats by double digits national and in the battleground states. And many of the tweets were simply cribbed from stuff he was watching on Fox News.

One tweet in particular was worthy of notice due to its impressive amount of unsustainable and idiotic assertions. Trump really managed to cram a tweetstorm’s worth of derp into this one painfully stupid tweet:

Let’s take a few minutes to break that sucker down. First of all, Trump is borrowing a phrase from one of the great dimwits of the 21st century, Sarah Palin, who coined (or took credit for) the “lamestream media” catchphrase. She’s not exactly the sort of intellectual that any credible person would quote. Although she may be a step up for Trump.

Next Trump asserts that the media “has gone totally CRAZY.” But how could it have just gone crazy when he’s accused it having done that dozens of times before. Did he forget, or is he just exhibiting more signs of dementia? Not to mention that Trump calls everybody crazy. Here’s a collection of a dozen times he’s used this as an all-purpose insult.

Then Trump whines that the media gets to “write whatever they want,” because he just hates that First Amendment (and much of the rest of the Constitution) with such ferocity. Then repeats another of his frequent complaints that the media doesn’t have the sources it claims for its stories, or that they make them up. That’s a peculiar criticism that he is never able to prove, and the media’s sources have often been found within his inner circle. What’s more, no one uses anonymous sources more than Trump, who is constantly claiming that “some people say” some ludicrous things that support his lies.

The notion that the media doesn’t do any fact checking is hysterical. While Trump has been president, the fact checking industry has gone through the roof. The Washington Post has compiled a compendium of more than 12,000 lies and misstatements by Trump since his inauguration. Daniel Dale is a dedicated fact checker for CNN. PolitiFact continues to monitor Trump’s comments, 70 percent of which have been deemed “Mostly False,” “False,” or “Pants on Fire.” And those are just a few of the better known fact checkers. Almost every journalistic enterprise does their own fact checking. Trump doesn’t really believe that there isn’t any fact checking, he just doesn’t like the results that reveal the extent of his dishonesty.

As for the media “looking for the ‘kill,'” and making good news look bad, that really isn’t necessary. Trump is entirely capable of making himself look horrible without any help. Take for example his frighteningly comical assertion that he has never heard of a Category 5 Hurricane, even though there have been four just during his presidency.

Finally, Trump lashes out at the press that he routinely attacks in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” He has now determined that they are beyond fake and have advanced to corrupt. Once again, he doesn’t provide any examples of what he insists is the media’s corruption. He just expects his Deplorables to buy whatever he says because he said it. That is the definition of a cult.

Trump’s Twitter feed is always full of crackpot conspiracies, ludicrous lies, and ego-soaked exaltations of himself. That’s true for the fourteen tweets he fired off this Labor Day. But he deserves some special credit for being able to stuff so much grade A stupidity into this composition in only 280 characters.

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

Trump Thinks He’s Still on Reality TV, Doesn’t Know Fox News is an Entertainment Network

Posted by on September 1, 2019 at 11:03 am. 2 Comments :

The fact that Donald Trump is suffering from a crushing array of delusional departures from the real world is unarguable. He regards himself as “The Chosen One.” He believes that only he can solve America’s problems (despite the fact that he’s failed to deliver on his campaign promises), In his warped mind he knows more than anyone on every subject. And these delusions are separate and apart from his ceaseless lies (more than 12,000 so far).

Donald Trump TV Set

However, there is a common thread that weaves through much of the hallucinatory fallacies that clutter his emotionally and intellectually stunted brain. He has an all-consuming fetish with his perceived popularity. Crowd size seems to be a stand-in for his virility. And often his craving for attention is manifested in his obsession with polls. But unfortunately for him, they mostly reflect how bitterly despised he is by most Americans. Even polls from Fox News and his favorite ultra-biased pollster, Rasmussen, show him in dire straits.

But polls are just the political equivalent of a mode of survey that Trump has had much more exposure to: The Nielsen Ratings. His fourteen years as the host of a reality TV game show has permeated his world view. And it is the prism through which he sees everything related to his life and presidency. This contorted mindset produced a Sunday morning tweet attacking sitcom star Debra Messing:

Here Trump is renewing his competition with other celebrities while also wholly inventing their alleged admiration for him. (I’d bet the limit at the Trump Taj Mahal that Messing never called him “sir”). He’s also demonstrating that he gauges his self-worth by his comparison – not to other presidents – but to other Hollywood luminaries. That’s his benchmark of approval. What’s more, he measures the value of news media by the same criteria. It isn’t insight or knowledge or experience that validates the media. It’s ratings. Which is why Trump also tweeted this tribute to his pal Sean Hannity:

First of all, Hannity is not the number one show on cable television. It’s the number one “news” show on cable television, which is a much smaller set of programs. Secondly, Trump isn’t the “favorite president” of anyone but his glassy-eyed cadre of Deplorables. But more importantly, there is no significance to the fact that the Fox News Trump-fluffers in primetime have higher ratings than the rest of the network’s programming. There’s a reason that time is called “prime.”

What Trump is doing here is trying to rescue himself from some painfully idiotic comments made last week admonishing Fox for failing to be 100% adoring. In a fit of hurt feelings he ordered his cult followers to “start looking for a new news network” because Fox “isn’t working for us anymore.” This was his way of reassuring Hannity that he still appreciates his up-sucking.

Trump’s intense focus on ratings is evidence that he has never left the realm of television ranking and marketing. Nothing matters to him except for how he is perceived by the standards of Hollywood. That explains why the only thing that was important to him about his visit to the hospital in El Paso where shooting victims were recovering was making sure that everyone knew how much he was loved. He wasn’t. In fact every patient refused to see him.

Trump’s single-minded concentration on ratings is matched by the market positioning of Fox News. They place a similar weight of stature on numbers, rather than quality or honesty. That’s because they have long considered themselves to be part of the entertainment sector of television, not news. Their late, disgraced CEO, Roger Ailes, even admitted it, dismissing his news competition to tell the Hollywood Reporter that “We’re competing with TNT and USA and ESPN.” And the product they put on the air proves that. Even the Fox News website promotes their programs as entertainment, rather than news. That particular promotion was for Tucker Carlson, who Fox thinks people should watch because he’s such an asshole.

Fox News has redefined television “journalism” by fundamentally transforming it from an information medium to an entertainment medium. They dress up their pseudo-news segments in the same reality TV, soap opera packaging that entertainment outlets use: conflict, scandal, mystery, and hyper-charged emotions including hero worship and fear. Fox employs flashy graphics and attention-grabbing audio whooshes and gongs to decorate their reports that are presented as ‘ALERTS’ regardless of the news value. And always there is sex. Fox’s roster of hosts has more former beauty pageant contestants that journalists.

So Fox News is the perfect chronicler of the bizarre presidency of Donald Trump. They are, in fact, recording the trials and tribulations of a fictional character, that they helped to invent, as he stumbles through his sappily scripted, melodramatic existence. And Trump embraces that rendering of his White House antics. It’s playacting on a world stage. The problem is that for the rest of the world’s inhabitants it’s all too real and frightening and dangerous. This show needs to be canceled ASAP if the we want to survive until next season.

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

One more thing, just for fun: In October of 2009, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart covered this subject in a brilliant and hysterical segment entitled “FOR FOX SAKE! Fox News defends itself against an attack by the Obama administration by explaining that most of their shows aren’t real news.” ENJOY!

The Love Affair Between Trump and Fox News Has Been All Patched Up, Thank Gawd

Posted by on August 30, 2019 at 4:30 pm. 3 Comments :

There was a brief disturbance in the force this week when Donald Trump became disenchanted with his own State TV network, Fox News. Trump’s ire appeared to have been triggered by Fox having the audacity to interview a representative of the Democratic Party. He seems to think that Fox News is forbidden to interview anyone that isn’t a card-carrying StormTrumper.

Donald Trump, Fox News, White House

Trump unleashed a Twitter tantrum that included his declaration that “Fox isn’t working for us anymore,” and an order to his Deplorables that “We have to start looking for a new News Outlet.” These missives might have startled some in the media business, but those who have seen this sort of whining on Trump’s part before weren’t surprised. While he has had several breakups with Fox, they were always short-lived and the two lovers managed to kiss and make up every time.

The evidence that the latest rift in the Trump/Fox Affair has been mended is Trump’s Twitter feed on Friday. It contained five videos from Fox News all on a single subject: The Justice Department’s Inspector General report on James Comey. Trump could have gotten this news from anywhere, but he chose to feature the Fox segments because – well, Fox is still his sweetheart.

For the record, Trump and Fox News were both obsessed with the IG’s report and presented it as proof of Comey’s corruption and bias. Nevermind that the report explicitly stated that Comey broke no laws, which is why Trump’s corrupt Attorney General, William Barr, declined to prosecute. As for bias, Fox and Trump have never explained why Comey sabotaged Hillary Clinton’s campaign if he was supposedly supporting her.

The videos Trump posted included one with a phony “Democrat” who frequently appears on Fox News to bark at Democrats. Then there was one that featured a former prosecutor and current Fox Democrat basher. And there were three videos featuring Republican congressmen whose predictable partisanship was flagrantly on display.

Obviously Trump has gotten over his beef with Fox News. He always knew that Fox was his best friend and that their tiff would subside. Because where else can he go? He isn’t going to soil himself with the networks he calls “the enemy of the people.” And other right-wing media outlets are pitifully small and ineffectual. He knows that only Fox News has the sort of worshipful sycophants who can go on the air and say with conviction that Donald Trump has never told a lie, which is what Stuart Varney just did. It takes a special brand of deranged cult devotion to satisfy Trump’s massive and fragile ego. And only Fox News can offer that.

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

Lying Fox News Host Lies that Trump Has Never Lied to the American People

Posted by on August 30, 2019 at 12:23 pm. 3 Comments :

The mission of Fox News from its inception was to advance the goals of the nationalist right-wing and the Republican Party. But when Donald Trump came along they transformed noticeably into a State TV propaganda outlet devoted single-mindedly to this president and his hostile and demented ravings. Virtually every program lavishes praise on Trump and viciously maligns his critics.

Fox News, Donald Trump

What’s worse, is that there is no lie that is beneath the already sunken principles of Fox News. They are taking their cues from a president who has already told more than 12,000 lies since his inauguration. The legacy of the Trump presidency (contrary to his delusional hopes) will surely include this historically depraved achievement, along with caging babies and being a puppet for Vladimir Putin.

As if to to emphasize the enthusiasm Fox News has for lying about Trump, one of his favorite Fox hosts, Stuart Varney, conducted a dumbfounding interview with conservative Republican Joe Walsh who is challenging Trump for the GOP nomination for president. Walsh is hardly a pristine representative of political ethics, but in this segment (video below) of Varney’s program he shines with uncharacteristic virtue, and makes Varney look like a flaccid Trump sycophant and cult follower.

Walsh began by correctly observing that “We’ve never had a situation like this where we have a president that we fundamentally cannot believe.” A surprisingly skeptical Varney asked Walsh for an example. That was his first mistake. Walsh quickly provided an example from just the day before when Trump’s own staff admitted that Trump lied at the G7 summit when he said that he held high level phone calls with China about tariffs. Walsh’s example led to this bizarre exchange and ludicrous denial:

Varney: That’s not a lie. Let’s not get technical. If the man said – and he did – that high level talks had been held with China, that is not a lie. They were held with China.
Walsh: Stuart, he said there were high level phone calls with Chinese officials. His staff admitted that was not true, that he lied in order to manipulate the market.
Varney: Okay, give me another one.
Walsh: Stuart, you really don’t believe that that’s a lie?
Varney: No I don’t.

It is impossible to have a coherent discussion with someone who hears a flagrant falsehood, but denies what he just heard and tries to move past it in complete blindness. Varney simply accepts whatever Trump says as the truth, even if his own staff says that it isn’t. This isn’t political loyalty. It’s cult worship. And it continued further as the interview progressed:

Walsh: Do you believe this president lies?
Varney: No.
Walsh: You don’t believed he’s ever lied?
Varney: He exaggerates and spins.
Walsh: Okay, do you believe he’s ever told the American people a lie?
Varney: No.

Walsh finally gave up in exasperation as he realized that Varney’s doctrinal programming was impenetrable. He has clearly adopted the first order of a cult: Believe only the Leader. Everyone else is lying. And this isn’t even the first time this week that a Trump shill has claimed that Trump never utters anything less than the God’s honest truth. On CNN Chris Cuomo interviewed Trump’s 2020 campaign Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. She also insisted that Trump has never ever told a lie. Trump’s new press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, said that she doesn’t think his lies are lies. This is all reminiscent of Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts,” And Rudy Giuliani’s “Truth isn’t truth.”

No rational person could ever assert that Trump has never told a lie. Trump has lied about things big and small. He’s lied about tariffs being paid by China; about his polling; about the size of his crowds; about Obama; about the environment; about the border wall; and always about the news being fake. But Trump’s disciples regard him as a messiah who is an infallible manifestation of perfection. Which is precisely how Trump regards himself, having recently declared that he is “The Chosen One.” And sadly, his Deplorables believe that too.

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

Trump vs Fox News: Orders His Cult Followers to ‘Start Looking For a New News Outlet’

Posted by on August 28, 2019 at 11:27 am. 3 Comments :

The hypersensitive state of Donald Trump’s thin skin and fragile ego is being tested as the country gets ever more disgusted by his ignorance and incompetence. Now his State TV network (aka Fox News) is taking heat for not having the purity of devotion that he requires. This is a peculiar development considering how worshipful Fox News is toward Trump and the network’s commitment to its mission of advancing the interests of the Republican Nationalist Party.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Fake

On Wednesday morning Trump unleashed another of his crazed tweetstorms in response to an interview on Fox News with Democratic National Committee spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa. His anger seemed to be focused on just the fact that Fox would consent to book a Democrat.

So an interview, in Trump’s diseased mind, is tantamount to “heavily promoting” the Democratic Party that he has called “the true enemies of America.” That’s in addition, of course, to his raving that the media is “the enemy of the people.” Trump seems to think that Fox News is forbidden to interview anyone that isn’t a card-carrying StormTrumper.

Trump’s complaint was that Hinojosa was “spewing out whatever she wanted,” because he clearly hates the free speech provisions in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Then Trump goes on to whine incoherently about the “socialists” he believes Fox has hired as pundits. He obviously doesn’t know the meaning of that word, or most others for that matter.

But despite his unbridled rage, he wants everyone to know that he’s still confident of his ability to win. Nevermind that recent polls show him losing to all five of the top Democrats, including in the battleground states he won in 2016. Even his favorite pollster, the disreputably biased Rasmussen, recently had Trump near his low point for the year.

However, the most astonishing tweet of the morning showed that Trump was through tolerating the radical left-wingers at Fox News:

So you have your marching orders, Deplorables. It’s time for you to “start looking for a new News Outlet,” because “Fox isn’t working for us anymore!” What’s interesting about this is that it’s another admission that Trump believes that Fox News is supposed to be working for him. That definitively confirms what has been observable for years to anyone with a functioning frontal cortex.

This isn’t the first time that Trump has made this connection to Fox. Just last week he whined that he was “not happy with Fox“ and threatened them saying that “I’m the one who calls the shots.” Last month he attacked Fox saying that they were “worse than watching low ratings Fake News @CNN,” and that “they forgot the people who got them there!” Trump even threatened to conduct an official investigation into why Fox had stopped airing all of his cult rallies live.

You have to wonder what Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs, Jesse Watters, and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends will have to say about Trump ordering his brainwashed minions to find another propaganda network. To be sure, Trump still lauds these sycophantic shills, but when he makes broad-based denouncements like this, no one is safe from the rancid spray of his scattershot wrath. That’s how the mind of a malignant narcissist works. The only thing that registers is unqualified adoration, and any diversion from such constitutes treason.

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

Trump-Fluffing on Fox News: Hosts Promote Bed-Buggy Doral Resort for the 2020 G7

Posted by on August 27, 2019 at 11:57 am. 3 Comments :

In his closing remarks at the G7 summit in France, Donald Trump managed to deliver an infomercial for his Doral Miami Golf Resort to host the next G7 summit in 2020. It was a painfully self-serving spectacle that is also a likely violation of the Constitution. At the very least it’s a predictably Trumpy exhibit of greed and an utter lack of ethics.

Fox News Friends

Not surprisingly, Fox News weighed in on the idea the following morning. On Fox and Friends the “Curvy Couch” potatoes did a segment (video below) agreeing with Trump that Doral would be the perfect place for the summit. Even though there are thousands of hotels and conference centers across America that would be ideal for such an event. It’s just a weird coincidence that the site owned by Trump happens to be the best place of all. Who would have thought?

The segment began with Steve Doocy introducing Trump’s sales pitch from France. And it was all downhill from there. Brian Kilmeade jumped in to insist that there was no favoritism involved because Trump “would want to do it there anyway. It’s just the perfect site … Trump Tower is not available.” Then Doocy acknowledged the potential legal problems, but also provided an excuse:

“Critics say the use of his property for official business violates the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. I’m sure the president has asked the lawyers, ‘Hey, how can I donate this, how can we possibly work around it?”

The Emoluments Clause prohibits the President from accepting money, or anything of value, from foreign governments or persons. So if the representatives of the G7 had to actually pay Trump in order to attend the next summit, that’s a pretty obvious violation. Even if the site was donated, the publicity would have to be considered something of enormous value and, therefore, illegal. What’s more, Doocy is playing clairvoyant by surmising with certainty that Trump would have consulted his lawyers. You know, geniuses like Rudy Giuliani. But based on his past, that actually seems like the last thing Trump would do.

Ainsley Earhardt also contributed to the unpaid advertisement by remarking that “It would be a beautiful place, though, for world leaders to go and see what our country looks like.” Because all of America looks exactly like an elite golf spa in Miami? She then declared that Doral was “representative” of the country, before adding that “I’ve never been to Doral.” So in other words, she’s an expert, by Fox News standards.

None of the Fox friends bothered to mention that Doral had a serious problem with bed bugs a couple of years ago. But Trump couldn’t resist bringing it up:

Trump’s denials are in keeping with his tendency to lie about virtually anything. Even though – as in this case – he settled a lawsuit against the resort for the infestation. Trump and the Foxies also neglected to mention that Doral has been suffering a severe financial drought. It’s net operating income has dropped 69 percent in two years. So that would make Trump’s promotion of it even more suspicious as an attempt rescue another one of his floundering business enterprises.

It’s bad enough that Fox News is a 24/7, State TV, propaganda machine for Trump and his Republican Nationalist Party. But is there nothing too unethical for this so-called “news” network to do on behalf of their Dear Leader? They have already appeared at Trump’s political cult rallies. And they can be relied upon to defend any atrocity that Trump commits, while viciously maligning his critics. Now they are even serving as the sales agents for his failing golf resort. It would be oddly comforting if this were the bottom of the Fox News/Trump abyss. But every time it seems we’re there, they find a way dig even deeper.

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

Fox News Accidentally Says that Donald Trump is An Unelectable Slimeball

Posted by on August 26, 2019 at 3:25 pm. 6 Comments :

Some of the best moments on Fox News occur when they have no idea what they are talking about. This happens with some frequency considering the low bar that Fox sets for hiring pundits and commentators. The prerequisites for a job at Fox News are primarily the willingness to lie effusively on behalf of Donald Trump and his Republican Nationalist Party, and blond hair.

Donald Trump, Fox News

On Monday morning’s episode of Outnumbered there was a perfect example of this tendency that Fox has to stumble onto something truthful without ever knowing they did so. The program had a segment on the just announced candidacy of radio host and, former Tea Party Republican, Joe Walsh, for the GOP nomination for president. He’s a longshot challenger to Trump, but his conservative credentials and passionate denouncements of Trump could take a toll on the embattled and mentally infirm incumbent. While discussing Walsh’s prospects in the race, Fox host Shannon Bream sought to itemize his weaknesses by revisiting some his previous abhorrent statements (video below):

“This is what Joe Walsh said: ‘Obama’s a Muslim. He’s an enemy and a traitor.’ He said this about Kamala Harris: ‘If you’re black and a woman you say dumb things, lowered bar.’ He also got duped by Sacha Baron Cohen about arming toddlers and kindergartners with guns. […] I think critics might say it’s astonishing that he even thinks he can run right now.”

Okay, then. That’s now the Fox News criteria for establishing when someone is unfit to run for president, There were four standards laid out: Calling Obama a Muslim, calling Obama an enemy, saying black women are stupid, and getting punked by a hoaxster. Let’s see how Trump stands up.

In March of 2011, Trump was interviewed on the Laura Ingraham radio show prior to her joining Fox News. Among Trump’s noxious remarks was praise for the racists who insisted that President Obama was not an American. “A lot of the so-called Birthers,” Trump said, “these are great people. These are really great American people.” Much like the “very fine” Nazis Trump gushed over a few years later. He went on to say of Obama that…

“He doesn’t have a birth certificate, or if he does, there’s something on that certificate that is very bad for him […] perhaps it would be that where it says ‘religion,’ it might have ‘Muslim.’ And if you’re a Muslim, you don’t change your religion.”

One down. Moving on, there is always a Trump tweet that manages to demonstrate his utter idiocy and/or hypocrisy. And in this matter there’s one where he literally posted a comment that said: “Obama is our worst enemy.”

Two down. Moving on, Trump is a well-known misogynist who’s past is replete with harassment, assault, and ceaseless bullying and insults. But specific to the standard set above, he has been especially demeaning to women of color in Congress and the media. His remarks about sending several congresswomen “back where they came from” was only the most recent incident. On many occasions he blatantly attacked African-American reporters for doing their job. For instance, he shouted down Abby Phillip of CNN saying “What a stupid question that is. What a stupid question. But I watch you a lot. You ask a lot of stupid questions.”

Three down. Moving on, Trump was also the victim of a prank call. Comedian “Stuttering” John Melendez (of Howard Stern’s radio show) got through to Trump on Air Force One by pretending to be New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. The call was directed to Trump by his son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner.

So that’s all four of the criteria enumerated by Bream that make it “astonishing that he even thinks he can run right now.” Of course there are innumerable other reasons that Trump’s campaign is astonishing. They include his brazen violations of the law by welcoming and encouraging Russia’s attack on our election; his obstruction of justice; his breach of the Constitution’s emoluments clause; his overt racism and support for white nationalists; his coziness with brutal foreign tyrants; and his 12,000+ lies to the American people.

And that’s just for starters. Trump has disparaged American intelligence agencies. He has sided with Vladimir Putin against the U.S. His economic idiocy (tax cuts for the wealthy, benefit cuts for Social Security and Medicare, trade war, bullying the Fed, etc.) will likely lead to a severe recession. So it will be interesting to see if Fox News will hold Trump to the same standards they laid out for Walsh. Or even if they will hold him to the principles that the GOP used to advocate. Don’t hold your breath.

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

Dumb Trump Lies: My Most Asked Question at G7 is ‘Why Does American Media Hate America?’

Posted by on August 25, 2019 at 12:20 pm. 3 Comments :

The leaders of the seven largest national economies in the world (the Group of Seven, or G7) are currently meeting in Biarritz, France. There is surely much to discuss about international trade, currencies, investments, labor, the climate crisis, and more. But Donald Trump, alone among his colleagues, is fixated on an issue that has long been a fetish that he can’t seem to shake off.

Donald Trump

While in France Trump has predictably tweeted up a storm about a variety of matters that have nothing to do with the G7 summit. He wished happy birthdays to Sean Connery and Regis Philbin. He thanked Fox News clowns Diamond & Silk for a flattering tweet that was more than a month old. He defended his blasphemous assertion that he was “the Chosen One” and the “second coming of God.” And he kept his Twitterati apprised of every time he had a meal.

However, by far Trump’s pronouncements revolved around his paranoid obsession with the media. It’s a topic so consuming that he virtually ignores everything else going on at at this annual gathering. At least seven times he whined about one complaint or another with the press that he regards as “the enemy of the people.” And this hyper-concentration on this subject managed to make the full circle back to a bizarre projection of his own neuroses onto others. In the course of this dissembling, Trump manufactures flagrant lies to support his delusions. For instance:

So Trump wants people to believe that the heads of the world’s biggest countries are all concerned, not with critical matters of international economics, but with Trump’s personal battle with the press that he despises. He tries to pretend that the problem is with media hating America, as opposed to the media simply doing its job by reporting on him and his administration’s efforts to ignore looming threats. He is not America. Trump also accuses the press of rooting for the country to fail when, in fact, they are only covering the very real danger signs in the economy. Dangers that he himself is responsible for, and may even have intended for his own benefit.

In addition to this ludicrous assertion that all the other world leaders are hounding him with questions about the press, Trump also tweeted that “The Media is destroying the Free Press!” Which is like saying that the shoes are destroying those things you wear on your feet. He claimed the press is trying to “force a Recession.” Which, if the past is any indicator, would likely hurt the media more than most other businesses. He said that the media’s purpose in destroying itself is to hurt his prospects for reelection. Which is a pretty unselfish thing to do, don’t you think?

Trump also tweet-bragged about disreputable polling in order to stroke his own fragile ego. But he forgot to note that even a couple of his favorite pollsters showed him at low points of the year. And he twice ranted about Fox News hiring former Democratic National Committee official, Donna Brazile, falsely accusing her of giving Hillary Clinton debate questions. He’s still obsessing over the 2016 election.

It would be nice to say that the American people can rest assured that their President is hard at work in France, hammering out global solutions with other leaders. But no one thought that was going to happen anyway. As usual, he is embarrassing himself and the country with his ignorance, incompetence, and narcissism. And he continues to make the case for his impeachment and/or commitment to an institution – penal or mental, take your pick.

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