CNN

Trump Flings Feces at Fox News for Poll Showing that America Favors Biden

Posted by on May 22, 2020 at 11:57 am. 6 Comments :

As the nation continues to endure a deadly pandemic, Donald Trump continues to be obsessed over his public image. The death toll is approaching a tragic milestone of 100,000 Americans lost to COVID-19 (coronavirus). And recent studies show that tens of thousands of those deaths could have been avoided had Trump not been so negligent, incompetent, and even deliberately dismissive of the threat.

Joe Biden, Donald Trump Baby, Fake News

Trump manages to turn every public appearance into an infomercial for his 2020 reelection campaign. He simply cannot address this crisis without ultimately referring to himself and what he regards as mistreatment by the media. For the alleged “leader of the free world” Trump sure seems to fall back into a state of paranoid victimhood every time he speaks.

For two days running Trump has also been lashing out wildly at his State TV network (aka Fox News). Anyone who is paying attention recognizes that Fox News is the unabashed propaganda organ of Trump’s presidency. But even with the unprecedented loyalty and adulation that Fox pours over Dear Leader, it can never be enough to mollify Trump’s acute narcissism. And when Fox is less than sufficiently adoring, Trump unleashes his wrath. For instance, on Thursday he whined that…

Trump apparently thinks that Fox “News” is obligated to “help Republicans, and me, get re-elected.” That’s how corrupted his concept of journalism is. Not that Fox practices much journalism. But you would have to believe that some of their “reporters” would take offense to being cast as Trump’s political lackeys. However, none of them have said so since this tweet was posted. And in Trump’s diseased brain, the difference between being “great” and “garbage” is the quality of your bootlicking. Any divergence from total obedience is not tolerated. That’s the deranged mindset behind Trump’s Friday morning tweet demanding that…

Naturally, Trump regards any negative polling results as “fake” and an offense that serves as grounds for termination. However, his complaint that he’s “Never had a good Fox Poll” is an easily provable lie. In fact, he’s had many, and he has effusively praised Fox on those occasions. That doesn’t mean he won’t forget that the moment there is a less positive poll. But Trump wasn’t through whining:

If Trump is really interested in examining a variety of polls, he might take a look at the RealClearPolitics poll of polls that averages the most recent published surveys. As of May 22, every single one of them has Joe Biden leading Trump, including CNBC and CNN. However, what’s particularly disturbing about this tweet is Trump’s shout out to the late Roger Ailes, the former Fox News CEO who was fired due to numerous accusations of sexual harassment and assault. Although, you can’t blame Trump for admiring someone so much like himself. And with regard to the findings in the Fox News poll, it is understandable that Trump would be worried. It shows that…

“…voters prefer Biden to Trump 48-40%. Biden wins on on health care by 17 points, coronavirus by 9, and relations with China by 6. Trump is trusted more on the economy by a slim 3-point margin.”

Trump’s outrage notwithstanding, he will surely continue to show favoritism to Fox News. He has done the vast majority of his television interviews on Fox. He regularly promotes Fox News Trump-fluffers like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs, Jesse Watters, Maria Bartiromo, and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends. And while he will occasionally exploit other news sources (such as One America News Network – OANN – which some of his big donors have taken a financial interest in) in order to pressure Fox to be more subservient, he will always return to Fox for the ego stroking he craves. And Trump’s attacks will be passively tolerated because that’s what the Fox News Ministry of Propaganda was created to do.

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

ORANGE CRUSHED: More Americans Trust CNN than Either Trump or Fox News

Posted by on May 12, 2020 at 2:06 pm. 8 Comments :

In recent days Donald Trump has been exhibiting surging symptoms of acute paranoia, anxiety, and desperation. Two days ago he posted a near record 124 tweets in one day. They ran the gamut of his typical fetishes from ego-drenched bragging about imaginary achievements, to vicious insults aimed at his perceived enemies, to delusional assertions of non-existent crimes committed by political adversaries. If Trump were on a street corner reciting the content of his tweets he would be quickly escorted to the nearest asylum for observation.

Donald Trump, Coronavirus

On Tuesday morning the out of control tweetstorming continued with Trump posting another 32 twantrums, all before 10:00am. While this behavior is not unheard of for Trump, there is clearly something that has triggered this escalation of hysterics. And more than likely it has something to with his downward spiraling approval ratings and the polls that show him losing to Joe Biden nationally, as well as in most of the crucial swing states. Trump’s hijacking of the Coronavirus Task Force briefings backfired badly as his lies and belligerence turned off most Americans who were more interested in getting useful information about the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

A new poll is now affirming that what remains of Trump’s already tattered reputation has taken a series of severe blows. His overall approval is still underwater (45%) and has never exceeded 50% at any point during his accidental presidency. What’s more, a paltry 36% of the American people trust the information Trump provides about the coronavirus. That compares to 74% who trust the Centers for Disease Control, 67% who trust Dr. Anthony Fauci, and (and this has gotta sting) a majority of 55% who trust CNN, 19 points higher than those who trust Trump. That’s in line with previous polling that found the same preference for what Trump refers to is Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.”

There is some more worrisome news for Trump in the details of this poll. The support for Trump is tightly bound into his base, which at this point is more of a cult. How else would you explain that Trump’s glassy-eyed disciples trust him more (84%) than they trust Dr. Fauci (61%)? As reported by CNN…

“Republicans are more apt to say that they trust the information they get about coronavirus from Trump (84%) than they are to say they trust the information they get from Dr. Anthony Fauci (61%), the nation’s top infectious disease expert, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (72%). Among Democrats, just 4% say they trust the information they get from the President, well behind the 81% who say they trust Fauci or the 80% who trust the CDC. Overall, CNN (55% trust) inspires far more trust than Fox News (35%), with those figures also divided by party.”

Democrats are plainly more persuaded by science than by partisan hackery and political lie factories. Can’t say the same for Republicans. And the American people have made their choice with regard to news sources. While Fox News is still higher rated, that’s only because their audience is glued to the right-wing propaganda network day and night, while the majority of the country gets their news from a variety of more credible sources, both national and local.

Trump surely has many reasons to be mired in a crushing meltdown. His polling is in the gutter. His reelection prospects are fading. The Supreme Court is hearing cases that could result in his finally having to reveal his tax returns. And he is rightfully being held accountable for the suffering and death caused by his negligent and incompetent mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. Not that he cares about that. What’s boiling his thinning blood is that, in addition to those other triggers, he knows that the American people – and the people of the world – see him as a failure and a clown who was never fit to be a leader. And that is the sort of judgment that weighs most heavily on narcissists with unchecked delusions of grandeur, like Trump.

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

Trump’s Worst Nightmare: More Americans Believe CNN than the Liar-In-Chief

Posted by on May 6, 2020 at 12:28 pm. 9 Comments :

Each day that passes, Donald Trump appears to be sinking ever further into the Mariana Trench of desperation and deceit. His rapidly unraveling mental state becomes more critical and evident to all who are paying attention. It’s an unprecedented public display of an emotional breakdown playing out before millions, not unlike his old reality TV game show performances.

Donald Trump, CNN

Trump is frantically trying to buttress his disintegrating psyche by lashing out incoherently at his many perceived enemies. He is cowering in a bunker constructed by a diseased, fearful, and paranoid mind, and refusing to engage with the “haters” that he is convinced mean him harm. And he consoles himself with increasingly deranged reassurances that he is beloved by everyone.

The truth, however, is surely going to result in even more outlandish outbursts from the fragile ego of our defective “president.” A new poll by Monmouth University asked respondents this provocative question: If Donald Trump and CNN gave conflicting information about the coronavirus outbreak who would you be more likely to believe – Trump or CNN?

Trump has made a point of broadly disparaging the free press for the past three years. He does this, as he openly admitted, in order to discredit them so that they they won’t be believed when they criticize him. And he has frequently singled out CNN as one of the primary targets of his wrath, calling them “fake” news and lying about their ratings.

Consequently, Trump won’t be thrilled about the response to the question above. The poll found that a majority of 51% say they believe CNN more than Trump. A mere 38% said they would believe Trump more. That’s a number that aligns with his dismal approval ratings. And as an indicator of how mired in cultism Trump’s supporters are, 82% of Republicans believe Trump over CNN. They even opt for Trump over Fox News (66% to 20%). These results are in line with previous polls on the same subject. In March respondents said that they trusted CNN more by 48% to 35%. They also said they trust MSNBC more by 45% to 32%. And for good measure, Monmouth’s national survey of the presidential race finds Biden expanding his lead over Trump (50% to 41%).

If anything gets under Trump’s notoriously thin skin it’s the prospect that people might be less than worshipful of him. He demands total loyalty, devotion, and unflinching support for his every word and deed. Should anyone be even modestly critical he will go after them like a starving piranha. He demonstrated this viciousness in a recent rage-tweeting episode directed at the producers of an anti-Trump political ad.

However, CNN is not just a another source of aggravation for Trump. He regards them as a mortal enemy. He harbors a deep hatred for the network and every person associated with it. He lobs infantile insults at their reporters, anchors, and executives. He lies about their ratings and finances (which are both hitting record levels lately). He threatens them in a manner that is censorial and flagrantly anti-constitutional. And he is even suing them.

Trump despises CNN so much that he can’t help but watch it obsessively. He knows all their anchors and is on top of their breaking stories about him. He has tweeted derogatorily about them 17 times in just the past month. So discovering that the American people prefer CNN to Trump is likely to trigger an acute aneurysm that could result in severe brain damage. Not that anyone would be able to tell the difference.

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

Even Trump’s ‘Friends’ Think His Behavior at Coronavirus Briefings is Asinine

Posted by on April 19, 2020 at 12:48 pm. 5 Comments :

For several weeks Donald Trump has been serving as the host of a daily reality TV program known as “The Coronavirus Task Force Briefings.” Trump envisions himself as the COVID-19 pandemic’s Pat Sajak, spinning a Wheel of Falsehoods and propaganda. He has turned what was intended to be a platform for disseminating life and death information into a petty, partisan, political charade.

Donald Trump

No longer able to bask in the glassy-eyed adoration of his cult disciples at mass rallies, Trump is callously exploiting a public health crisis in order to advance his own reelection prospects. He has cast himself as the star of the daily briefings despite the fact that, due to his ignorance and ego, he has nothing of value to contribute. Consequently, he wastes the time of the public and the press by upstaging the experts so that he can disgorge more lies, brag about imaginary accomplishments, and yell at reporters.

Trump’s narcissism always gets the best of him. He can’t hold a thought in his orange-glazed noggin that isn’t laser focused on his own self interest. But his efforts to exalt himself are failing bigly. His approval ratings are sinking during a national disaster, a time when any other leader would be enjoying a “rally round the flag” bounce. And he’s reduced to having to boast about his TV ratings because the American people aren’t buying his lies.

Even worse, many of Trump’s closest allies are straying from the Trump dogma. Rupert Murdoch’s conservative Wall Street Journal published an editorial titled “Trump’s Wasted Briefings“ that said “If Mr. Trump thinks these daily sessions will help him defeat Joe Biden, he’s wrong.” GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia is warning that the president should “let the health professionals guide where we’re going to go,” and that the briefings have gone “off the rails a little bit.” Trump’s chief Senate bootlicker, Lindsey Graham, said that Trump “drowns out his own message,” and suggested that he appear once a week rather than every day. Even a reliable Fox News Trump-fluffer, Brit Hume, responded harshly to a Trump tweet about the briefings, saying that…

To top it off, one of Trump’s closest friends, Piers Morgan, appeared on CNN Sunday morning and delivered an uncompromising smack down (video below). He prefaced it saying that Trump “won’t want me saying this, but I’m gonna say it anyway.” And his elaboration pretty much confirmed that:

“I’ve been watching these daily briefings with mounting horror frankly, because this is not what the president should be doing. […and what…] this requires of any world leader is that they’ve got to be calm. They have to show authority. They have to be honest. They have to be accurate, entirely factual with what they’re telling the people. And they have to have the ability to show empathy. And on almost every level of that Donald Trump, at the moment, is failing the American people.

“He’s turning these briefings into a self-aggrandizing, self-justifying, overly defensive, politically partisan, almost like a rally to him. Almost like what’s more important to him is winning the election in November. No it’s not, Donald Trump. What is more important right now is saving American lives.”

To be sure, Morgan is notorious right-wing jerk with a long history of racism and misogyny. His prior remarks about Trump have been effusively laudatory. Which makes this criticism all the more painful for Trump. We can expect some infantile and insulting tweets aimed at Morgan shortly, because Trump’s most predictable trait is lashing out at those whom he feels have betrayed him. And that’s pretty much everyone, since his paranoia and persecution was affirmed in his own words when he said that “All I see is hatred of me.” Poor baby.

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

Watch as Trump’s Incompetence and Hostility to the Free Press is Exposed

Posted by on April 12, 2020 at 12:58 pm. 5 Comments :

Every day there is new evidence of how Donald Trump neglected to act responsibly to prevent the loss of thousands of American lives. This week we learned that “Top White House advisers as well as experts deep in the Cabinet departments and intelligence agencies all sounded alarms and urged aggressive action to counter the threat from the coronavirus, but President Trump remained slow to respond.”

Trump TV

We also learned, through the release of a series of “Red Dawn“ emails that circulated in the White House, just how determined Trump was to ignore the warning signs of imminent disaster. Even America’s preeminent expert on pandemics, and a member of Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Anthony Fauci, responded with stark honesty on CNN’s State of the Union to the question of whether fewer lives would have been lost had Trump acted sooner:

“You could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives. Obviously no one is going to deny that … But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back [in February].”

In other words, Trump & Co. allowed a pandemic to spread so that they wouldn’t lose money or risk hurting his reelection prospects. In will be interesting to see if Dr. Fauci survives this truth telling when Trump is told about it. (UPDATE: Trump retweeted a post calling for him to fire Fauci).

In another demonstration of the invaluable service that the media is capable of providing, CNN’s Jake Tapper delivered an editorial examining the Trump administration’s plan (or lack thereof) for dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. The segment (video below) included a compilation of Trump’s badgering of reporters and his impotent attempts to intimidate the White House press corps. Tapper led off by noting that “Trump is taking questions from reporters nearly every day, but that does not mean he’s answering them.”

What followed was a stream of examples of Trump lashing out at journalists who were simply doing their jobs. But his childish put downs were pathetic at best, and they only served to reveal his barely veiled fear. He called seasoned reporters “third rate.” “disgraceful,” and “nasty.” He interrupted them before they could complete their questions. And his answers, more often than not, dodged the substance of the questions.

This just adds to the argument that Trump should not even attend these briefings. He has no useful knowledge or experience to offer. To the contrary, he most often unleashes blatantly false “information” that his own advisers have to later refute. He wastes valuable time either attacking legitimate journalists who are asking pertinent question, or embracing propagandists whose questions are nothing more than overt suck ups.

There is only one reason that Trump is showing up at these briefings, and that is to advance his reelection prospects. He has turned what should be a vital information channel into a crass campaign PR affair. Then he tries to make a preposterous argument about the ratings, saying that they are indicative of his alleged popularity.

Tapper summed up his remarks by asking Trump another question that he surely will not answer: “Attacking journalists who ask questions does not make those questions go away. It only reveals that you might not have the answers. Again, sir, respectfully, what is the plan for a way out of this? Do you have one?” If Trump responds to that question at all, it will likely be in the form of tweet that merely says “FAKE NEWS” in all caps without ever referencing the original question about whether or not he has a plan. But that hardly matters. The American people already know the answer to that question.

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

CLAMPDOWN: Trump’s Politburo Bars Dr. Fauci and Others From Appearing on CNN

Posted by on April 9, 2020 at 11:51 am. 4 Comments :

The abhorrent tyrannical tendencies of Donald Trump continue to be revealed with each passing day. His admiration for brutal dictators like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un, has long been established in his own words. They are the models of unchecked power to which he aspires. And they are the political figures he most often refers to as his friends, even while he’s bitterly lambasting fellow Americans like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.

Donald Trump

On Thursday morning it was reported that Trump has taken another step toward the authoritarian government he craves. And, not surprisingly, it comes in the form of an attack on the media that he despises and routinely refers to in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” CNN is reporting that Vice-President Mike Pence, who Trump appointed to lead the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is prohibiting the health experts on the team from appearing on CNN:

“Vice President Mike Pence’s office has declined to allow the nation’s top health officials to appear on CNN in recent days and discuss the coronavirus pandemic killing thousands of Americans, in an attempt to pressure the network into carrying the White House’s lengthy daily briefings in full.”

This could not be a more blatant assault on the free press, as well as a flagrant breach of the free speech rights of the doctors and other task force members who have critical knowledge and advice about the deadly pandemic that is spreading throughout the nation and the world. Trump is deliberately depriving the American people of potentially life-saving information in order to extort CNN into complying with his self-serving demands.

UPDATE: While these health experts are forbidden to appear on CNN, they are all over Fox News.

What’s more, Trump is imposing the very same sort of quid pro quo that he used to attempt to strong-arm Ukraine into digging up dirt on Joe Biden. Trump is floating access to these health experts, but with a caveat: “I’d like you to do us a favor though.”

The “favor” that Trump is seeking this time is for CNN to submit to his demands to air all of his task force briefings live. That is a wholly improper ultimatum for a president to impose on news organization. But it’s even more ludicrous considering that Trump has transformed those briefings into thinly veiled campaign events to advance his 2020 reelection prospects. Since he can no longer hold the cult rallies that feed his voracious ego, he is hijacking these briefings and expecting the media to roll over and give him all the free ad time he wants.

The press has been struggling with the question of whether to carry the briefings live, or to delay them for a few minutes so that Trump’s avalanche of lies can be fact-checked. There is no reason to air Trump’s ego-fest when it is so devoid of newsworthy content. Both CNN and MSNBC have exercised some limited editorial discretion to avoid airing Trump’s dangerous disinformation and allowing him to engage in politics in the guise of virus updates. That’s something Fox News would never imagine doing. But Trump is singling out CNN, which he regards a his media nemesis, for this fascistic censorship. CNN reports that…

“Fauci, Birx, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn and Surgeon General Jerome Adams have all appeared on NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox during the last week, despite the fact that the broadcast networks have generally not covered the briefings that have included the vice president and health officials.”

The media must not give in to this presidential blackmail. They must continue to report honestly about Trump’s tragic failures in addressing this crisis. They must fearlessly expose his negligence, incompetence, and brazen self-interest. They must independently seek the judgment of experts like Dr. Fauci, in defiance of Trump’s orders. They should ask those experts if they agree with Trump’s gag order when they see them at the briefings.

Finally, the media must stick together. If Trump tries to silence any media organization, the others need to show their support by boycotting his briefings and other public events. That’s the only thing that will get through to the Narcissist-in-Chief. Any acquiescence to Trump’s bullying is a severe blow to the principles enshrined in the Constitution. And it’s as deadly to American democracy and freedom as the coronavirus is to it’s citizens.

UPDATE: After significant bad PR, the prohibition on CNN has been lifted.

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

Wannabe Dictator Trump Threatens to Revoke Licenses of Stations that Air Critical Ads

Posted by on March 26, 2020 at 4:15 pm. 5 Comments :

As Americans sees the rising number of their fellow citizens becoming victims of COVID-19 (coronavirus), they are simultaneously losing confidence in the “leadership” of Donald Trump. From the beginning he downplayed the threat that the virus represented, insisting that the number of those affected was small and that it would shortly be zero. He could not have been more wrong. On Thursday the number of cases in the U.S. surpassed China.

Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

And while the virus infections and fatalities go up, Trump’s mental state spirals down. He is sinking into a defensive posture that resembles closely the behavior of paranoid authoritarians who perceive enemies all around them. And one of the most common reactions by such persons is to clamp down on what they believe is a hostile media. Thursday’s Coronavirus Task Force (which he really has no business attending) opened with Trump accusing the press of being “corrupt.” That’s nothing new for someone who has repeatedly referred to the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.”

More troubling is that now Trump is going after a progressive group that produced an ad recounting Trump’s failure to respond to the budding pandemic. Priorities USA compiled some of Trump’s own dismissive statements and juxtaposed them with a chart showing the virus’s rate of growth. This upset Trump and resulted in a “cease and desist” from the Trump campaign organization. Here’s the ad that triggered President Snowflake:

It’s bad enough that Trump would try to intimidate a political group by infringing on their First Amendment rights. But it’s even worse than that. The Trump campaign is actually threatening to revoke the broadcast licenses of any television station that airs the ad. That’s a fascist strongman’s solution to pesky critics who dare to speak out. According to a report in Bloomberg News, Trump’s campaign warned that…

“Failure to remove the ad ‘could put your station’s license in jeopardy’ before the Federal Communications Commission, the campaign said in the letter. ‘Your station has an obligation to cease and desist from airing it immediately to comply with FCC licensing requirements.'”

First of all, let’s establish the fact that the stations do not have any obligation to comply with the Trump campaign’s request that they do not air the ad. That request has no legal standing, and would likely fail to succeed if tried in court. The ad is comprised of Trump’s own words, and they were presented in a manner that reasonably represents their meaning. However, the campaign appears to suggest that the campaign has some ability to influence the FCC, a federal regulatory agency whose members are appointed by the President. That would be a wholly improper arrangement and an unlawful abuse of power on the part of the White House. What’s more…

“The FCC doesn’t appear to have grounds to act against the stations for airing contentious ads, said Jack Goodman, a Washington broadcast attorney, said in an interview. The ad ‘is core political speech’ protected by First Amendment guarantees of free speech, Goodman said.”

The primary complaint by Trump’s campaign concerns an audio clip of him referring to criticism from Democrats, saying that “This is their new hoax.” Trump asserts that he wasn’t referring to COVID-19 itself, but to the Democrats criticism. However, in the full context of his remarks he is itemizing events that he considered to be hoaxes. They included the investigation of Russia’s efforts on behalf of his 2016 presidential campaign, and his impeachment over his attempts to coerce the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. In both of those incidents his allegations of a hoax referred to the charges themselves, not criticism from Democrats. So why would his meaning be any different for the third item in that list?

This isn’t the first time that Trump has tried to use the courts to prohibit free speech. He is currently suing the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN for defamation. Trump is known for filing lawsuits – or threatening to – to harass his foes. But this time he has the power of the presidency to bolster those threats with punishment from agencies that are beholden to him. It’s the sort of authoritarianism that he so admires in his pals Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un. But it is anathema to American democracy and he must not be allowed to get away with it. So feel free to circulate the ad above, far and wide.

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

Lying Has Consequences: Poll Shows Americans Trust the Media More than Trump

Posted by on March 24, 2020 at 2:02 pm. 5 Comments :

From the very first days of Donald Trump’s presidency, his compulsion to lie about all things great and small was a dominating feature of his character, or lack thereof. Trump lied about the crowd size at his inauguration, about millions of fraudulent Democratic voters, about his taxes and alleged wealth, and even about his faith. The odds were (and are) pretty good that if Trump is talking, he is lying.

Donald Trump

Now a new poll provides evidence of the consequences of Trump’s pathological prevaricating. After three years of spewing flagrant falsehoods on every subject (more than 16,000 lies documented), it turns out that that isn’t a very good way to establish trust. Who knew? According to the Monmouth University Poll:

“Trump is trusted less as source of information than three cable news outlets – except if you ask Republicans. Nearly half the American public (48%) trusts CNN more than Trump, compared with one-third (35%) who trust Trump more than CNN and another 13% who trust both equally as a source of information.

“The results are similar when Trump is pitted against the left-leaning MSNBC – 45% trust MSNBC more, 32% trust Trump more, and 16% trust both equally. The right-leaning Fox News also bests the president as a trusted information source – 30% trust Fox more and 20% trust Trump more, although a plurality of 37% trust both equally.”

So Americans trust CNN and MSNBC more than they trust Trump, each by a thirteen point margin. If Trump finds out about this, he could have a stroke. The public at large even trust Fox News more than Trump. Although Republicans are “more likely to trust Trump (35%) over Fox News (21%), with 40% trusting both GOP-aligned sources equally.” Which only proves that the Cult of Trump is strong, especially among Fox viewers.

This preference for the press as a credible source of information has been documented in many other polls over the past few years. And a recent poll by NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist reveals that a majority of Americans don’t trust what Trump has been telling them specifically about COVID-19 (coronavirus). That’s not surprising considering the fact that Trump has been callously exploiting the White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefings as a replacement for the campaign rallies that he can’t hold anymore. He has hijacked those briefings for crass political gain and because he needs them to satisfy his ego. Although, it’s obvious to most viewers that he has nothing of substance to contribute, so he wastes time with falsehoods and lavish tributes to himself. Is it any wonder that he isn’t trusted?

As for Fox News, they posted an article on their website about this poll that completely misrepresented the results. The headline bleated that “Monmouth poll gives media lower job approval than Trump amid coronavirus crisis.” That’s technically correct if you ignore the whole of the results. The poll asked if various entities had “done a good job or bad job dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.” If you look only at those who said Trump did a good job, he prevailed by 50-45 percent. But those who said he did a bad job (45%), were more than those who said the media did a bad job (43%). So that can hardly be called a victory for Trump.

What’s more, the poll showed that 72% of the American people said that state governors have done a good job. And 65% said that federal health agencies have done a good job. So the people do have confidence in specific leaders and agencies, just not Trump. That, along with Trump’s abysmal showing on trust when compared to the media, is an encouraging sign that the American people are paying attention and will hold those who failed them accountable in November. And that really can’t come too soon.

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

The Virus that Infects Donald Trump: ‘All I See is Hatred of Me’

Posted by on March 23, 2020 at 11:21 am. 3 Comments :

One thing that has been clear about Donald Trump from the outset of his administration is that he has never exhibited the qualities demanded of the presidency. He lacks the intelligence, compassion, commitment, morality, and humility, that are the hallmarks of leadership. And he has never demonstrated that he has the ability to learn, take responsibility, or to bring the diverse community of Americans together.

Donald Trump, coronavirus

Trump is always about only Trump. He has brazenly profited from his position by funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to his own properties. And he has focused his political attention exclusively on advancing his own partisan interests. These are traits that psychiatric professionals have diagnosed as malignant narcissism, a combination of ego-centrism and sociopathy.

The risks of having someone with those mental issues in positions of power are readily apparent. They portend a tendency toward authoritarian behaviors that demand unflinching loyalty and reject competent advice. What’s worse is that when someone like Trump is under pressure, he will cease to behave rationally. His fears will incite ever more defensive and destructive responses to events he is unable to cope with or comprehend. Like a wounded animal, he becomes more desperate and vicious.

That appears to be the state of Trump’s mental decline now. And his Twitter feed is the best evidence of his psychic decay. Late Sunday night Trump tweeted this frightening call for help:

Let’s break that down, shall we? First of all, Trump is confessing that he compulsively consumes news on six television networks and two newspapers that he frequently disparages as “enemies of the people.”. How could he possibly have time to do that and his duties as president as well? Especially during a national emergency brought on by a deadly pandemic.

We already know that much of his time is spent tweeting (dozens of times a day), staging photo-ops with corporate CEOs and supporters, and leading daily press briefings. Never mind that he has no business even attending those briefings considering that he has no relevant knowledge or experience to contribute. To the contrary, he generally disgorges lies and misinformation that others on his staff have to clean up later. Even worse, he diverts the discussion into his petty grievances with reporters or devolves into shameless episodes of self-exaltation or making excuses for his failures. That is, when he isn’t blatantly exploiting the crisis to boost his reelection prospects.

However, the most unambiguous sign of a severe mental breakdown is Trump’s assertion that “all I see is hatred of me.” Really? That’s ALL he sees? He doesn’t see any of the presentations of facts about the crisis in the U.S. and internationally? He doesn’t see any of the medical professionals offering their expertise to educate the public on how to stay safe? He doesn’t see any of the human interest stories and testimony from real people going through the hardships of surviving in these trying times? He doesn’t see the crushing anguish of victims or the inspirational acts of heroes or any of the human stories that define us as a people? He sees only what he perceives as hatred directed solely at him.

The fact that Trump is blind to all of these non-political, educational, uplifting, and heart-wrenching stories, says something unmistakable about him. Even worse, the only things he does see are his paranoid perceptions of the universal hostility that consumes his diseased mind. What sort of person unleashes public declarations that everyone hates him? And what does it say that he lashes out with vengeful visions of his perceived enemies “destroying themselves”? Is this the behavior of a psychologically stable leader? Is it even remotely sane? And how long can America endure the madness of a man who also tweeted this all-caps rant:

Trump is now implying that he would terminate the “social distancing” recommendations by health experts after a totally inadequate 15 day period, simply because he regards the economic impact to be worse than the pandemic itself. Unsurprisingly, Trump contracted this preposterous notion from Fox News. Now he’s putting money before the lives of thousands of Americans. And he’s only doing that because the financial downturn will negatively affect his reelection hopes. If it wasn’t clear before, it most certainly is now: Trump is suffering from a sickness that threatens every American. And if we don’t take the opportunity in November to socially distance ourselves from him and the Republicans he’s infected, we can all expect to be victims of the Trump Virus.

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.