Russia

HUH? DHS Secretary Says She’s ‘Not Aware’ of Intelligence that Russia Tried to Help Trump

Posted by on May 22, 2018 at 10:57 am. 11 Comments :

The United States was the victim of a concerted cyber attack by Russia throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. That fact is undisputed by every U.S. intelligence agency with jurisdiction over the subject. Even the Republican-run Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Putin preferred Donald Trump and was deliberately aiding his candidacy while working against Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

So it comes as some surprise that Trump’s Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, responded to reporter’s inquiries at a House briefing on election security by saying that she wasn’t aware of any such assessment (video below):

“I don’t believe I have seen that conclusion – that the specific intent was to help President Trump win. I’m not aware of that,” said Nielsen. She said that, in her opinion, Russia was only trying to “disrupt our belief and our own understanding of what’s happening.”

Seriously? This is the top domestic security official in the U.S. government. She is responsible for maintaining the safety and integrity of the nation’s voting systems and the confidence of the American people that their votes count. But she claims not be aware of established facts that expose severe flaws in our electoral processes and pose an existential threat to our democracy.

The conclusion that Russia sought to aid Trump is not in dispute. It was confirmed as far back as January 2017 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a report that unambiguously stated that:

“We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.”

If Nielsen is actually unaware of these undisputed facts regarding Russia’s election interference, then she is either lazy or incompetent. There is no excuse for her not knowing about this fundamental report or the serious threats to Homeland Security that are enumerated in it.

If Nielsen is merely feigning ignorance on behalf of her boss, then she is complicit with his propaganda and criminal negligence. Trump has repeatedly denied the reality that Putin was helping his campaign. He surely doesn’t want members of his cabinet contradicting him. That could lead to further erosion of his denials regarding his collusion with Russia and financial improprieties by himself and his family.

But Nielsen, like all federal officials, took an oath to “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” She works for the American people. She did not swear allegiance to a wannabe dictator who insists that all of his minions kowtow to him and protect him from bad publicity or criminal liability. And if she doesn’t understand that she should resign and stop helping Trump to soft-pedal Russia’s hostilities against the United States.

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

Bigger Than Watergate? Trump Whines Incoherently About Non-Existent Spies in His Campaign

Posted by on May 17, 2018 at 10:06 am. 1 Comments :

The President of the United States continues to exhibit clear signs of consciousness of guilt and a festering fear of exposure. Donald Trump’s Twitter feed would make a fascinating psychiatric study exploring acute paranoia in political leaders. And on Thursday morning he posted some more of the evidence of his growing mental instability.

Donald Trump

Trump’s latest Twitter tantrum was likely inspired by his senior strategic advisor, Sean Hannity. As the top Trump-fluffer on Fox News Hannity has already initiated a campaign to smear special prosecutor Robert Mueller with an new emphasis on this being the one year anniversary of his appointment (as if that had any relevance to anything). Hannity and Trump are so cognitively aligned that they are now – as Stephen Colbert said – finishing each other’s prison sentences. And the familiar rhetoric of “fake news” and “witch hunt” flow from both of them as if in harmony. So early Thursday morning Trump posts this tedious gripe:

So now Trump is blaming America for investigating his unsavory connections to Russia and his unlawful attempts to cover it up. And he continues to bleat out impotent declarations that there has been no collusion despite all of the evidence that is known, and even more that Mueller surely has but is not yet ready to disclose. And if that weren’t enough, Trump has also adopted the wingnut conspiracy theory that Obama planted a spy in his presidential campaign.

The “word” to which Trump is referring is a badly misinterpreted analysis by ultra-rightist Andrew McCarthy of the conservative National Review. McCarthy took a segment of testimony from Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, who said that Christopher Steele (of the Steele Dossier fame) believed the FBI had a source within the Trump campaign. To McCarthy, and much of the Trump mediaverse, that got magnified in their imaginations as a spy scandal.

But there is a big difference between a spy and a source. There is absolutely no hint of evidence that the FBI planted an agent (i.e. spy) in the Trump campaign. But there very well might have been a Trump associate (i.e. source) who was disgusted by his activities and informed law enforcement, as any patriotic American would do.

The fact that Trump keeps posting tweets that only exacerbate the appearance of his guilt is proof that he’s consumed with fear and is frantically trying to convince his deplorable disciples that it’s all a big frame-up. That may work on his cult followers, but the rest of the country – and world – only sees a pathetic wretch who seems to know deep inside that he’s going down hard.

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

Trump has his surrogates fanning out across the airwaves to insist that the investigation be halted. Chief among them is his TV lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who is the best thing that ever happened in this affair – for the Democrats. The relentless demands that Mueller quit ignores the fact that that his investigation has already produced dozens of indictments and five guilty pleas. Trump and Company want it stopped because they know that his time is coming soon. And he’s right.

In Schizoid Speech, Trump Exposed His Son’s and Campaign’s Collusion With Russian Spy

Posted by on April 29, 2018 at 8:26 am. 2 Comments :

On Saturday America was treated to a pair of events that are best described as bizarre and controversial. It began with Donald Trump’s petty revenge for journalists throwing a party in Washington to celebrate the First Amendment. Too afraid to attend, Trump held another of his hate-mongering, ego-stroking, campaign-style rallies. Shortly thereafter, the White House Correspondents Dinner featured a routine by Michelle Wolf, something that frightens Trump and the GOP even more than journalists – comedy! And from a (gasp) woman!!!

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

The right will try to make Sunday all about Wolf’s admittedly raunchy routine. They’ll say it was vulgar and insulting. And they’ll manage to keep a straight face despite supporting a president who has made vulgar and insulting the hallmark of his public persona. It’s a core part of his appeal to his disciples who drooled over him at the Michigan rally.

Trump’s speech mainly covered familiar, and now tedious, territory with jabs at all of usual targets. But he didn’t fail to satisfy those hoping for new derangments of old numbers. On that score he offered up a threat to “close down the country” as if it were one of his bankrupt casinos. He also threatened Montana Senator Jon Tester with some unspoken, heinous secret that would end his political career.

But perhaps the most peculiar revelation in his address was his admission that his campaign – and specifically his son, Don Jr. – actually did collude with the Russians (video below). Although, true to form, he probably had no idea what the heck he was talking about. The confession came in a segment focusing on the collusion issue, when he blurted out:

“Have you heard about the lawyer? For a year a woman lawyer was like, ‘Oh, I know nothing, know nothing.’ Now all of a sudden she is supposedly involved with government. You know why? If she did that – because Putin and the group said, ‘You know, this Trump is killing us. Why don’t you say you’re involved with government so that we can go and make their life in the United States even more chaotic?

“Look at what’s happened. Look at how the politicians have fallen for this stuff. Russian collusion. Give me a break. The only collusion was the Democrats colluded with the Russians. And the Democrats colluded with lots of other people. Take a look at the intelligence agencies.”

Let’s break that down. Trump is saying that the Russian lawyer that we know had a meeting with Don, Jr. and other members of Trump’s campaign staff, was recently told by Vladimir Putin to say that she’s involved with the Russian Government. OK. So she’s taking orders from Putin. Which means that she IS involved with the Russian Government. Therefore, Don, Jr. and company DID collude with Russia by meeting with this admitted spy to discuss obtaining stolen Hillary Clinton emails in order to damage her campaign and boost Trump’s.

That’s Trump’s theory? One that incriminates himself, his campaign, and his family? He is so unfathomably stupid that he doesn’t realize that he just told America that his son conspired to help Russia subvert our democracy. And it doesn’t even matter if he knew at the time. Because if he didn’t, that just means he got played by Putin. And who’s to say he isn’t still getting played?

Are you listening to this, Robert Mueller? It’s really very simple. Trump previously confessed on national TV to obstruction of justice with the firing of James Comey. And now he’s admitting this collusion in a public, televised (by Fox News only, of course) congregation of true believers. What’s more, he follows that up by lashing out wildly at Democrats in a pathetic display of consciousness of guilt. How much more proof do we need than all of these admissions straight from the horse’s ass?

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

SAYS WHO? Michael Cohen, Trump’s Fixer, Reportedly Lied About Being in Prague -Dossier Confirmed?

Posted by on April 14, 2018 at 11:00 am. NO Comments :

Donald Trump’s repetitious and hollow declarations that there was “no collusion with Russia” and “no obstruction of justice” have never had any substance to back them up. They were always the ravings of a frightened man exposing to the world his consciousness of guilt. And along with the spin by his sycophants in politics and punditry who insist that there is “no evidence” of any wrongdoing, he continues to stubbornly deny the reality that most Americans plainly see.

Michael Cohen

One of the most frequent claims from the Trump camp is now crumbling to dust. For months they have been castigating the Christopher Steele dossier, a document provided by a respected former British spy, as “fake” news. They pretend that none of it has been verified, even though much, but not all, of it has been. And they assert that the whole investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller should be terminated and discarded because it sprung from the “phony” dossier. For the record, the dossier was a small part of the justification for FISA court authorization of surveillance of certain Trump associates.

One of the claims in the dossier that had been vehemently denied was that Trump’s personal lawyer, and mob fixer, Michael Cohen, had traveled to Prague to meet with Russian operatives. Cohen was adamant that he was never there and tweeted a picture of the front of his passport to prove it. Although how the cover of a passport proves anything has yet to be revealed.

However, a new report by the McClatchy Washington, D.C. bureau undermines Cohen’s denials and asserts that contrary evidence is already in the hands of Mueller’s team. The article quotes sources who confirm his visit to Prague and his meetings with suspicious foreign characters. They include Konstantin Kosachev, an ally of Vladimir Putin who has since been sanctioned for meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Also present were hackers under the supervision of the Kremlin with access to the stolen emails of Hillary Clinton and John Podesta. If this article is true, Cohen has a lot of explaining to do. And not the least of his problems will be that he also made his denials in testimony to Congress which, if false, is a federal crime. The McClatchy story notes that:

It would also be one of the most significant developments thus far in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of whether the Trump campaign and the Kremlin worked together to help Trump win the White House. Undercutting Trump’s repeated pronouncements that “there is no evidence of collusion,” it also could ratchet up the stakes if the president tries, as he has intimated he might for months, to order Mueller’s firing.

That looks pretty bad bad for Cohen, Trump, et al. And the article goes into significantly more detail about the meeting and the alleged conspirators. Cohen has responded to the story in a tweet that calls it “bad reporting” and claims that it was “proven” that he wasn’t in Prague. Of course, none of that is true and he offers no further proof. But if you were to press him him about the allegations that he actually was in Prague, he might just respond by asking his now famous question: “Says who?”

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

Saturday Tweetstorm: Is Donald Trump TRYING to Get Himself Impeached?

Posted by on March 17, 2018 at 3:19 pm. 1 Comments :

When the President’s schedule was released for this weekend there was nothing on it. He wasn’t going to Mar-A-Lago, or a campaign rally in coal country, or to visit a bunch of wall prototypes in the California desert. He wasn’t occupied with Little Rocket Man or Russia’s assassinations in the U.K. And having just fired his Secretary of State, he is probably gonna avoid further dismantling his cabinet for a few days so he doesn’t appear to be unstable (too late). But this abundance of leisure time for Donald Trump is never a good sign. Idle tiny hands are the Devil’s plaything.

McCabe and Mr. Mueller

As expected, Trump filled the empty morning hours on Saturday with adventures on Twitter. Even after a year it is surprising and disturbing that the leader of the free world can occupy himself so frequently with mini-tantrums on social media. But there he was in the White House residence tweeting away. And the subject that was dominating his infantile thoughts was, as usual, himself.

Trump was clearly obsessed with the reaction to the firing of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Never mind that he likely directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to execute the petty and vindictive termination. The timing was obviously intended to deprive a twenty-year veteran of law enforcement of his rightfully earned pension. But the larger purpose was to discredit McCabe as a witness against Trump in the still unfolding legal melodrama. Unfortunately for Trump, though, his tweets only serve to exacerbate his guilt. For instance:

In this missive Trump is proving that the firing of McCabe was tied directly to the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. A major target of that probe is obstruction of justice partly demonstrated by Trump firing FBI Director James Comey. And if Trump thinks he’s making points by referencing “the hard working men and women of the FBI,” then he’s apparently unaware that those worker greatly admire and support Comey and McCabe, and resent they way they’ve been treated. Which leads us to this:

Once again Trump is connecting recent events to the Mueller inquiry. However, he falsely asserts that the House Intelligence Committee cleared him when it is only the bitterly partisan Republican members who signed onto the committee’s disinformation report. And Trump’s accusations against the FBI don’t do anything to help his legal cause. Nor does the last of his morning tweets:

Trump’s moaning about “fake news” is just becoming tedious and a satire of itself. All he’s doing is reminding everyone that the press is reporting what is actually happening and that Trump hates it when they do that. And in this tweet he unwisely asks the questions “How many lies? How many leaks?” Which most people are already asking, but about Trump. But the best part is where Trump notes that “Comey knew it all, and much more!” Indeed he does. And he’s anxious to share what he knows with the American people.

Trump, on the other hand, is desperate to keep Americans from learning about what he has done, and is doing. That’s why his attorney is calling for an abrupt end to the Mueller investigation. It’s why his other attorney is trying to gag Stormy Daniels. At every turn Trump is focused on keeping his affairs (both sexual and political) secret. That’s what legal professionals call “consciousness of guilt.” And it’s what Trump displays with each new tweet he posts. It’s almost as if he has a legal death wish. He must hate the White House so much that he’s doing everything he can to get out of it. If only he knew how much we would all like to help him do that.

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

LATE BREAKING: Trump posted another guilt-dripping tweet Saturday afternoon:

No matter how many times he says there was no collusion, it doesn’t make it true. There is abundant evidence of collusion and he knows it. That’s why he keeps telling the same already debunked lies. Like that the Steele dossier (of which much was verified) was the basis for the special counsel investigation (it wasn’t). Or that the FISA court was mislead (they weren’t). And if this is a witch hunt, they have already nailed nineteen witches (indictments) with five pleading guilty. And they’ve only just begun.

Fox News Laughably Mangles Report on Mueller’s Subpoena for Russia Docs From Trump Org

Posted by on March 15, 2018 at 2:27 pm. 3 Comments :

There was breaking news on Thursday about the investigation into Donald Trump’s unsavory connections to Russia. Special counsel Robert Mueller issued a new subpoena to the Trump Organization for all documents related to its dealings with Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. It’s a significant development that indicates that the investigation is continuing to expand and has the President squarely in its sights.

Robert Mueller Trump

So it will surprise nobody that Fox News found a way to report this news that is both trivializing and confusing. In fact, they made it sound like good news for Trump. The mission of Fox News, of course, is to act as a shield for Trump and his Republican backers by defending him, and maligning his critics, at all costs. To that end Fox News host Dana Perino broke into her program with a Fox News Alert to rapidly misinform their viewers before any morsels of the truth could get out. She interviewed reporter Catherine Herridge on the Mueller subpoena (video below):

Perino: The New York Times is reporting that special counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents related to Russia. Chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge is on Capitol Hill. Catherine, this news just broke right before the hour started.
Herridge: That’s right Dana. I’ve been making some phone calls and I spoke with one of the President’s personal attorneys who confirmed to me that the Trump Organization has been working closely and cooperatively with the office of the special counsel Robert Mueller. And at this time he was unaware that a subpoena had been issued, but he was going to check further. The key thing he said was the driving force, or the objective of the subpoena, whether it was in fact going down a new line of inquiry, or whether this was what they call a “wrap up subpoena” or a “clean up subpoena,” which is when you request records as you’re getting close to the end the of the investigation and you’re trying to tie up some loose ends.

First of all, it’s notable that Herridge only called Trump’s personal attorney to confirm this report, rather than someone at the Justice Department who would have knowledge of the subpoenas they issue. It’s also notable that Herridge didn’t identify the attorney she spoke with. Were these remarks off the record or anonymous?

More to the point, the introduction of the terms “wrap/clean up subpoena” muddies up the reporting. A quick Google of the terms found few results that weren’t referencing this Fox News segment. In fact, it’s a rather pointless distinction because all subpoenas are intended to secure information that’s relevant to the investigation and could lead to new paths of inquiry. But this spin by Fox News is intended to imply that the investigation is nearing completion and that nothing incriminating has been found. But they weren’t through trying to further deflect from the Trump/Russia connection:

Perino: So it might not signal a new aggressive approach by the special counselor?
Herridge: Well what we know through our own independent reporting is that the special counsel has been looking at the issue of the United Arab Emirates, and whether there was any financial input into the campaign by the United Arab Emirates, or whether there was a promise of better treatment after the election because of their support of then-candidate Trump.

Technically, that’s true. The UAE, along with other areas of financial misdeeds, is under investigation. But that has nothing to do with this new subpoena that specifically seeks documents from Trump related to Russia. This is an obvious dodge to create confusion and pretend that Russia isn’t the focus of this investigation. And the segment ended with a virtual admission that their furious spinning was probably all made up:

Perino: I’ve never heard of clean up subpoenas. I’m glad I had you on.
Herridge: I know. I learned of them recently too. That’s the kind of subpoena you want, apparently.
Perino: I used to work at the Justice Department. Someone was holding out on me.

See? It’s all very innocent. There’s nothing to worry about here. And the fact that these two experienced media professionals never heard of the type of subpoena that they just introduced on the air shouldn’t raise any suspicions. According to Fox News Mueller’s new subpoenas are not only uncontroversial, they are “the kind of subpoena you want.” It’s actually good news for Trump. And Fox News is the only place you’re gonna get that kind of twisted analysis.

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

This Fox News Trump-Fluffer is Right: ‘The American People Are Sick and Tired’ of Russia Probe

Posted by on March 5, 2018 at 1:47 pm. 1 Comments :

Longtime Donald Trump sycophant and Citizens United honcho, David Bossie, visited State-Run TV (aka Fox News) on Monday to further disseminate the absurdity that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation “doesn’t seem like it is going anywhere near the White House.” That’s an obvious falsehood that is easily refuted by widely available facts.

Donald Trump

Everyone knows that there have already been nineteen indictments and five guilty pleas. Among the guilty are Trump’s National Security Advisor, and his assistant campaign manage. It’s hard to get much closer to the White House than that. And yet it does. Breaking news on Monday morning reveals that Mueller’s team has issued subpoenas for numerous documents and communications with Trump insiders including Corey Lewandowski, Hope Hicks, Keith Schiller, and his personal attorney Michael Cohen.

Which may explain why the Trump surrogate army has been deployed to flood the airwaves with deceitful propaganda. Bossie is taking the lead with an interview on the Fox News program Outnumbered OT (video below). and his dishonesty and obfuscation is so apparent it must be humiliating. He said that…

“The American people are sick and tired of this two year investigation. We are getting into this scandal fatigue area where the American people are tired of it. They see the shifting around and they don’t see any evidence whatsoever that this president or the campaign did anything wrong, let alone collude with the Russians.”

First of all, Bossie is brazenly lying about the duration of the investigation. Mueller was appointed to his position in May of 2017, so it hasn’t even been in progress for one year yet. However, Bossie did inadvertently stumble over a truth with regard to the American people’s fatigue. They are surely tired of how long this scandal is being drawn out and would appreciate a swift conclusion. However, it isn’t because they think Trump and Russia are innocent, as Bossie implies. To the contrary, The American people overwhelming believe that that the investigation is warranted and that Trump is likely guilty of something. A new CNN poll found that sixty-one percent of Americans say the Russia investigation is a serious matter. Seventy-two percent are very/somewhat concerned about foreign interference in U.S. elections.

No matter how many times people like Bossie or Sean Hannity or Sarah Huckabee Sanders say there is no evidence of collusion or other wrongdoing, they cannot make it true. The known evidence is piling up, and the evidence that is known only to Mueller and his team is surely far more damning than what has been made public. And the same is true with regard to the false right-wing assertions that the people don’t care about this issue. Trump’s defenders are only exposing their desperation by distorting reality to fit their yearning for all of this to be over. And Trump himself is dong the same thing on Twitter:

Trump’s anxiety could not be more apparent. It shows who is really “sick and tired.” He’s scared and likely knows that he is in deep trouble. This tweet displays a serious cognitive collapse. He is simultaneously saying that there was no Russian election meddling, and also that President Obama did nothing about the Russian election meddling that didn’t happen. Never mind that every U.S. intelligence agency with jurisdiction has stated unequivocally that there was Russian meddling. What’s more, Obama punished Russia with sanctions and ejections of Russian operatives. He also tried to put together a bipartisan response, but Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell refused to cooperate.

The tantrums thrown by Trump and his surrogates like Bossie aren’t helping their cause. They are only making them appear guilty and frantic as they scramble for cover. And the American people see right through this pathetic charade. It’s only a matter of time before Mueller’s investigation is complete and the truth revealed. And that’s when the American people’s fatigue will be relieved. But it will be just the beginning for Trump et al.

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

Putin Unveils ‘Invincible’ New Nuclear Missiles – And Of Course, There’s an Old Trump Tweet for That

Posted by on March 1, 2018 at 2:28 pm. NO Comments :

February was a month that saw more unsettling scandals from Donald Trump’s White House than even his biggest critics could have imagined. They run the gamut from Jared Kushner’s bank loans, to insulting his Attorney General Jeff Sessions as “disgraceful,” to contradictory positions on gun control, to Hope Hicks telling “white lies,” to 13 new indictments by special counsel Robert Mueller. And I could go on.

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

Consequently, March has a lot to live up to. And it’s coming in roaring like a lion. The big news on Thursday, March 1, was Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russia has developed a class of new nuclear weapons that make the West’s defenses “useless.” NBC News reports that…

“To rapturous applause, Putin said the new technology had been developed despite skepticism from other countries about Russia’s capabilities.

“‘I want to tell all those who have fueled the arms race over the last 15 years, sought to win unilateral advantages over Russia, introduced unlawful sanctions aimed to contain our country’s development … you have failed to contain Russia,’ he said.

‘He accused the West of ‘ignoring us. Nobody listened to us. Well listen to us now.’

“He boasted that Russia’s new ICBM is ‘powerful and modern and defense systems will not be able to withstand it,’ he said. ‘Missile defenses will be useless against it.'”

Putin said that he is prepared to retaliate against any aggression directed at Russia or its allies. And he insists that he isn’t bluffing. All of this bluster comes at a time when American’s president has given Russia wider latitude than ever before. Trump viciously attacks Democrats, Republicans, and even his own staff, but has never criticized Putin in any substantive way. And despite the fact that Russia engaged in blatant election tampering against the U.S., Trump refuses to impose sanctions or otherwise punish them. Which make this tweet, posted almost exactly one year ago, especially significant:

That’s right. Trump is complaining that Obama wasn’t tough enough on Putin. Never mind that Obama did impose sanctions on Russia, ejected more than thirty Russian operatives, shut down two Russian facilities, and sought a bipartisan agreement on additional measures that was shot down by GOP senate leader Mitch McConnell. And if Trump was so upset by Obama’s response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, then why hasn’t Trump done anything about it in the past year? And with Putin’s announcement of adding new, more advanced missiles, Trump’s tweet seems to apply more to himself than to Obama. It’s Trump who is even worse than weak, he’s submissive.

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

So once again Trump has proven that he is an empty suit that has no idea what he’s doing or saying. He will lash out at anyone who piques his ire at a given point in time, but forget all about it after the next scandal erupts – or after watching Fox and Friends. His ineptitude and limited attention span make him an imminent danger to the nation. And there always seems to be a tweet wherein he affirms everything that everyone worries about with regard to his flagrant incompetence.

Trump Thanks Fox News for Helping Him Ignore His Duty to Protect and Defend the Constitution

Posted by on February 20, 2018 at 11:52 am. 3 Comments :

Once again, Donald Trump is caught convening with his “outhouse” cabinet (too crappy to be in the kitchen) on Fox News rather than knowledgeable professionals. The “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends delivered another of their “Presidential Daily Briefings” to the only person in their audience that matters to them.

Fox News

The segment (video below) reiterated a White House talking point meant to distract from the reality that Russia invaded the United States with a massive and well-financed attack on our democratic system. They advanced the lie that President Obama didn’t do anything about Russia’s election tampering. In fact, Obama did quite a bit. He expelled thirty-five Russian “diplomats” and imposed new sanctions. These were actions that Trump’s soon-to-be National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, assured Russia would not be carried out if they won the election. Obama also tried to get Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell to sign on to a bipartisan public announcement revealing the Russian operations. McConnell refused, and Obama thought it would appear political if he were to proceed without GOP support. It could be argued that Obama could have done more, but not that he did nothing, as Trump did in this tweet:

Of course, Trump never has an original thought, and he didn’t in this case either. He was reacting to the policy dictates put forth on Fox and Friends. In addition to the tweet above, Trump also tweeted a quote that played on the Fox News program of Obama saying that…

It needs to be noted that Obama was talking about Trump’s campaign hysterics that Obama and Hillary Clinton were conspiring to steal the election. He was not talking about the sort of tampering that we know Russia engaged in. That’s a significant distinction, but one that Fox and Trump are too dimwitted to figure out. Or more accurately, too dishonest to admit. So Trump’s “Friends” merely repeated their well-rehearsed lines:

Brian Kilmeade: If you look at the President’s track record, it’s been anything but strong when it comes to Russia. [Steve Doocy had to interject that Kilmeade meant President Obama]
Steve Doocy: But here’s the thing, ultimately. Barack Obama was the president of the United States when Russia was meddling with our election. Trying to sow discord. So why didn’t he, as the chief executive of the country, stop it? And now, fast forward to now, what’s the narrative become? Forget about the fact that it happened on Obama’s watch, now it is ‘Well you know it looks like the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians.’ Which there is no evidence, absolutely none that that happened. All we found out Friday with the Mueller indictment was there was this place called the troll factory. Spent about a hundred thousand dollars and put out a few Facebook ads. That’s it.”

First of all, there is plenty of evidence of Trump’s collusion, starting with Donnie Jr.’s meetings with Russians (which he initially lied about) in Trump Tower. There are verified connections between Trump, Wikileaks, and Russia, who Trump begged to hack Clinton and release the stolen emails. There are more than a dozen Trump associates who met with Russians and lied about it. And no one knows what further evidence special counsel Robert Mueller has that won’t be disclosed until he concludes the investigation.

What’s more, Doocy’s deliberate disinformation about Mueller’s indictments misstates the facts. It wasn’t a hundred thousands dollars and a few Facebook ads. It was over a million dollars a month and thousands of Facebook and other Internet posts seen by millions of Americans.

More importantly, Trump appears to be conceding now that the election interference did occur. And while he’s obsessing over Obama’s response, he’s ignoring that he has done nothing himself. To the contrary, he is letting his pal Vladimir Putin off the hook. Trump refuses to impose sanctions that were voted on nearly unanimously by Congress. And although he will criticize everyone from Obama to Clinton to Oprah, he has never said a cross word to or about Putin.

No matter what Trump thinks of Obama, he has a responsibility as the current president to protect and defend the country. But he’s never even had a cabinet level meeting on the threat of Russia’s election tampering. Nor has he directed his intelligence and law enforcement agencies to address the matter. If he thinks that Obama was negligent, then what is he saying about himself? It’s almost as if he’s happy with Russia’s political intrusions and wants them to continue. Or maybe that they have something on him that is costly to his financial empire or personally embarrassing. Nah – couldn’t be any of that. Could it?

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

Moscow is Laughing: Trump’s Sunday Morning Tweetstorm is More Unhinged than Usual

Posted by on February 18, 2018 at 1:31 pm. 6 Comments :

It’s panic time at the White House. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictments against Russians for election tampering are bringing the culpability of Donald Trump ever closer to the surface. And the best confirmation of that is the ferocity of Trump’s frantic and implausible denials. He is behaving like a cornered rat that is consumed with fear.

Donald Trump

Consequently, he is resorting to his standard means of projecting his fear outward. Secure in his Twitter safe space, Trump is lashing out at phantom foes and perceived enemies with ludicrous accusations, insults, and shaky justifications. His Sunday morning tweetstorm was bursting with madness and paranoia. It’s astonishing that someone hasn’t told him how guilty this hysteria makes him look. And it’s a symptom of his sickness that he thinks any of this helps. Let’s delve deeper into the diseased mind of Trump:

Trump has accidentally conceded something that is surely true. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. But it isn’t because of committee hearings and investigations. It’s because of how successful they were in putting their puppet at the helm of the American government. And they probably also think it’s pretty funny that he has proven to be so incompetent at governing. And the fact that Trump is advancing the agenda of Vladimir Putin and defending him against fellow Americans who see through these crimes is worth a guffaw or two in the Kremlin.

And then there’s this:

Trump’s desperation is showing in that it’s no longer enough to just attach childish nicknames (“Liddle”) to his opponents. He is now elongating them with ridiculous descriptions (“leakin’ monster of no control”). Sounds a little like Trump is accusing Rep. Adam Schiff of having a gastrointestinal problem. More to the point, Trump is actually admitting now that there was Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Although he is misdirecting the blame to his favorite black nemesis, Barack Obama. However, Trump is lying about what Schiff said. The Democratic congressman was talking about a missed opportunity to deal with hacking after an incident in 2014 with Sony Pictures. It was a call for more transparency that Schiff believed might have been a deterrent to the Russians who came along later.

But Trump wasn’t through yet:

This is just patently false. There is no poll by McLaughlin that puts Republicans ahead of Democrats in a generic congressional ballot. In fact, Democrats lead the GOP in almost every match-up on this. If Trump isn’t consumed with fear, then why is he lying?

Finally:

Trump really thinks the American people are stupid. And with regard to his followers, I can’t argue with that. He has been saying for months that the whole Russia investigation was a hoax, not just the the matter of collusion (which is also not a hoax). He actually told reporters that he had asked Putin about the meddling and that Putin denied it. And Trump insisted that he was satisfied with Putin’s word, saying “Every time he sees me, he says, ‘I didn’t do that,’ and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.” How thoughtful. Trump believes his friend Vladimir, but not the American intelligence professionals who work for him. And if you need more evidence of Trump dismissing Russian election tampering, just listen to Trump himself:

Update: Later on Sunday Trump (who doesn’t have time to watch TV) saw Oprah Winfrey on 60 Minutes interviewing voters in Michigan. And, having no presidential work to do, he posted a new tweet attacking her:

WOW! Trump thinks Oprah is insecure? Mr. Small Hands, Big Buttons? The same Trump who constantly insults enemies with childish nicknames; who needs to brag incessantly about his imaginary awesomeness; who lies with every breath; who is obsessed with former political foes and past failures; who is clearly scared and panicked about his legal future? That Trump thinks Oprah is insecure?

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