Donald Trump Can’t Silence the ‘Rude Elevator Screamers’ By Putting His Hand Over Their Mouths

Here’s another item for the “Just when you thought Donald Trump hit rock Bottom” file. As the battle for the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh stumbles drunkenly to a close, the President assumed his post at the Twitter machine to bellow like the old man shaking his tiny fist at the clouds. His latest display of social mediangst managed to squeeze a surprising quantity of ignorant hostility into a single tweet.

The inspiration for Trump’s twitteruption was, as usual, something he saw on Fox News. Their allegedly business host, Maria Bartiromo, was interviewing Chuck Grassley about the American citizens protesting Kavanaugh’s nomination when she asked him, “Do you believe that George Soros is behind all of this?” He isn’t. But Grassley obediently said that he does. More importantly, Trump posted this tweet a little more than an hour later:

If this appeared under the name of any other public figure you might be tempted to triple check that it wasn’t a satirical fake. But sadly for the nation, it fits Trump’s personality perfectly. He actually is the sort of tone deaf cretin who would call sexual assault survivors “very rude elevator screamers.” He has no perception that his characterization of women screaming might reflect on the real life reactions they have had to their violent experiences in their bedrooms, their offices, on street corners, in cars, and even in elevators. What on Earth was he thinking when he posted that?

And if that weren’t bad enough, Trump also dismissed the horror these victims faced by calling them “paid professionals” without any evidence to support that charge. But he still wasn’t done making a total ass of himself. He then had to assert that the source of the alleged payments was George Soros, a Jewish holocaust survivor who suffered as a child under Nazi occupation. What might really upset Trump is the fact that Soros later went on to become a real billionaire whose assets are more than triple Trump’s. And the fact that he’s a philanthropist who dedicates hundreds of millions of dollars to making the world more free must really gnaw at Trump, who is famoulsy known as the world’s least charitable billionaire.

Finally, Trump’s tweet made a ludicrous point about the signs held by citizens at the Kavanaugh protests. Most of them were of the handmade variety, but there were some that had been provided by non-profit organizations opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation. However, Trump focused on the pre-printed signs as a means of dismissing the genuine expressions of opposition to putting an accused sex offender, liar, and ultra-partisan fruitcake on the Supreme Court. He said that “professionally made identical signs” are somehow less sincere than the “signs made in the basement from love.” By which I assume he means these ones:

Donald Trump, Rally Signs

Don’t fall for it! Trump hasn’t said who pays for the signs at his cult rallies. Nor has he released his tax returns; or disclosed the funds he’s received from foreigners and special interest groups who stay at his hotels; or disputed the New York Times story about his decades of being a tax cheat. He hasn’t even come clean about all the money he’s paid to silence women that he has abused. But now he’s trying to put his hand over the mouths of the women finally speaking out about the epidemic of sexual assault. That’s something he probably learned from Brett Kavanaugh.

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

‘Explosive’ Fox News Story on ‘Abnormalities’ of Russia/Trump Probe is a Fizzling Stink Bomb

The controversy over the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court has pretty much taken over the media for the past week or so. It’s an important story, but not the only one with profound implications for our nation’s future. For instance, remember that story about Donald Trump colluding with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election and then obstructing justice to cover it up?

Fox News, Donald Trump

Apparently Fox News just recalled that story as well. So they had to find something – anything – to write about it to keep their spin on the matter fresh in the public’s mind. Just in case special counsel Robert Mueller happens to release any reports or new indictments. But the story that Fox came up with is a pitiful pile of nothing that only serves to advance the baseless ranting of a couple of ultra-partisan, extremist, Republican wingnuts.

The article’s provocative headline screams out “Top FBI lawyer Baker offers ‘explosive’ testimony on ‘abnormal’ handling of Russia probe into Trump campaign.” The gist of this yellow journalistic mush concerns testimony given to a closed-door congressional committee by former FBI lawyer, James Baker. Fox News asserts that the testimony revealed “explosive” information about how the Bureau acted in an “abnormal fashion” and engaged in “political bias.” But the sources for this scoop were House Crackpot Caucus leaders Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan. These paragons of rightist propaganda had this to say about the testimony:

“Some of the things that were shared were explosive in nature,” Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told Fox News. […] We found the source to be pretty explosive,” said Rep. Jim Jordan.”

Well then, that settles it. You can’t argue with hardline, substantive facts like those. And that was literally all this pair of GOP gossips had to report. Yet somehow Fox News expanded it into a an article that even they couldn’t pretend had any meat to it:

“The lawmakers would not provide many specifics about the private transcribed interview, citing a confidentiality agreement with Baker and his attorneys. […] Meadows and Jordan would not elaborate on the source, or answer questions about whether the source was a reporter.”

So the entire body of evidence for this story was the unsubstantiated ravings of two notorious fake news disseminators who are frequent Fox guests. They offered no information that was either “explosive” or “abnormal,” other than in its utter uselessness as a news source. But it was enough to get Fox News to feature it with a boldface headline that advanced its empty premise. And that is exactly how deceitful State TV operations like Fox conduct business in totalitarian regimes like Russia and North Korea. Clearly Fox News is taking lessons from Trump’s pals. Or is it the other way around?

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

Tucker Carlson of Fox News Confesses that he ‘Can’t Look in the Mirror Without Self Loathing’?

On Tuesday, the morning crew at Fox News invited their primetime colleague, Tucker Carlson, to visit with the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends for a masters class in mind-numbing hypocrisy. Of course, that’s standard fare on Fox News, but this episode stretched the boundaries of the journalistic quackery that Fox is famous for. And it gave Carlson an opportunity to expound on something other than his white nationalist dogma.

Fox News, Tucker Carlson

The segment that featured Carlson was focused on criticizing the New York Times for a recent report about Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. The story concerned an incident in 1985 when Kavanaugh was involved in a bar fight investigation. Co-host Ainsley Earhardt introduced the segment with a graphic showing the Times’ headline: “Kavanaugh was questioned by police after bar fight in 1985.” So it was a pretty straight forward account of something that no one disputes took place.

Nevertheless, Fox and their friends were aghast that anyone would bring up an incident that occurred when Kavanaugh was only twenty years old. As everyone knows, it’s improper to investigate a public figure’s past unless they are Democrats. In which case, you can go all the way back to their birth certificate. Consequently, Carlson reacted with shock and sarcastically proclaimed that “I wish they’d have told me that. I never would’ve supported him.” He dismissed the article as “stupid and irrelevant” and generally mocked the Times for having published it. But the discourse sunk even lower as this exchange with Steve Doocy demonstrates (video below):

Carlson: This is the problem with so much of our coverage, and so much of the way we think about things. No self awareness at all. […] If you’re writing that story does part of you think “Is this why I got into journalism? To carry water for a political party? To be a propagandist? To write something so stupid that I can’t look in the mirror without self loathing?”
Doocy: Don’t you know the answer to that question?
Carlson: Some people never pause to ask “What am I doing with my life?”

Imagine having such a pitiful lack of self awareness that you can ask about the self awareness of others while you’re oblivious to what you’re saying at that exact moment. Tucker Carlson was actually chastising the Times for “carry[ing] water for a political party” and for being “a propagandist.” Those are two things that Fox News in general, and Carlson in particular, are best known for. So if Carlson thinks that someone being that big a suck-up “can’t look in the mirror without self loathing,” then he’ll have to remove every mirror from his home and office in order to get through the day. And knowing his degree of narcissism, that’s a lot of mirrors.

It was also somewhat curious that Doocy asked Carlson if he already knew the answer to his own questions. That sounds like Doocy was accusing Carlson of the political sycophancy he was complaining about. Which would be wildly out of character for Doocy. Regardless, Carlson just laughed it off with his patented smuggery. And in the end, none of them realized that what they were criticizing was what has been the central mission of Fox News for twenty years – if we’re allowed to go back that far.

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

More Proof that Fox News is Not News: Zero Emmys for News and Documentaries

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced this year’s winners of the 39th Annual News and Documentary Emmys on Tuesday morning. The honorees represent a diverse array of journalistic excellence as produced by a variety of news organizations from across the television landscape. However, there is one prominent player that was left out of the party this year, as it has been in previous years.

Fox News Sad

Fox News received a total of zero emmys for their “news” programming. That’s at least partially due to the fact that they received zero nominations. For a national network with the word “news” in their name, and that purports to be “real news,” this is an embarrassing snub. And the announcement by the Academy hinted at what might be part of the problem:

“It is more important than ever that we recognize and defend our peers’ integrity, clarity, and dedication to the First Amendment’s protected mandate,” said Adam Sharp, Interim-President & CEO, NATAS. “This year’s nominees are shining examples of that ethic. Their stories took us to the front lines of war and disaster, cast light into hidden corners of government and the corporate boardroom, and revealed both the outermost reaches of space and the innermost complexities of the human body.”

Indeed. The Academy recognizes its obligation to stand up for the Constitution when the President and his minions denigrate it. And it’s clear that the State TV Network (aka Fox News) that embraces Donald Trump’s aversion to the free press, and repeatedly describes it in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people,” might not be in the best position to produce credible journalism. For the most part Fox News is a mouthpiece for Trump, airing all of his cult rallies uninterrupted, in their entirety, despite having no news value whatsoever. And their regular programming is a swamp of rightist propaganda delivered by hate mongering cretins.

The top three winners of news Emmys were PBS, CBS, and HBO. But every national broadcast and cable organization (except Fox) also walked away with statuettes, including ABC, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC. Even the “failing” New York Times won an Emmy for its coverage of the Las Vegas Massacre.

This is further evidence that Fox News is not producing legitimate journalism, and they are not respected by their peers in the profession. They are a brazenly biased outlet for Republican dogma and they contribute nothing to the American people in terms of reliable information or analysis. On the other hand, if you’re looking for high-pitched ranting, partisan talking points, easily refuted lies, reality TV theatrics, and viscous, although infantile, insults aimed at the majority of the American populace, Fox News may be just the right channel for you.

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

White House Shills Flagrantly Lie About Trump Hobbling the FBI Probe of Kavanaugh

It’s another Pleasant Valley Sunday at the White House as Donald Trump dispatches his surrogates to the Sunday morning news programs to assure America’s Deplorables that everything is fine despite the political fires raging all around them.

Donald Trump

The topic of the day is undoubtedly the pending confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. His recent testimony regarding allegations of sexual assault against Dr. Christine Blasey Ford did nothing to exonerate him. But he did reveal himself to be a hot headed, ultra-partisan who traffics in preposterous conspiracy theories and has no aversion to lying about himself or others.

As a result of that hearing, rogue Republican Sen. Jeff Flake concluded that he could not vote to confirm Kavanaugh unless there was an FBI investigation into the charges. So Trump was reluctantly forced to comply and instructed the FBI to reopen Kavanaugh’s background check. Unfortunately, our relentlessly deceitful president sought to game the system by putting harsh restrictions on what the FBI could look into. After this underhanded tactic was exposed, Trump whined on Twitter that it wasn’t true. He accused NBC News of having “incorrectly reported” the story, even though it was also reported by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

On the Sunday Circus of news shows, Trump’s surrogates are now making the rounds to reinforce his false claims. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News that “The White House is not micromanaging this process,” and that “the Senate is dictating the terms.” And Senior White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway had this exchange with Jake Tapper of CNN:

Conway: The White House is not getting involved in the FBI investigation in that way. The president very much respects the independence of the FBI and feels, as he said last night, that they should be looking at anything they feel is credible within this limited scope.
Tapper: What does that mean, ‘within this limited scope’?
Conway: That’s up to the FBI. In other words, I’m not involved in those specific conversations.

Of course none of those protestations were true. NBC’s follow up reporting on the matter reiterated that:

“The FBI has received no new instructions from the White House about how to proceed with its weeklong investigation of sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a senior U.S. official and another source familiar with the matter tell NBC News.

“According to the sources, the president’s Saturday night tweet saying he wants the FBI to interview whoever agents deem appropriate has not changed the limits imposed by the White House counsel’s office on the FBI investigation — including a specific witness list that does not include Julie Swetnick, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in high school.”

And furthermore…

“A White House official made clear that the White House is the client in this process. This is not an FBI criminal investigation — it is a background investigation in which the FBI is acting on behalf of the White House. Procedurally, the White House does not allow the FBI to investigate as it sees fit, the official acknowledged; the White House sets the parameters.”

The conservative, Rupert Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal affirmed NBC’s reporting that:

“it was unlikely that the shape of the investigation would change without official communication from the White House that it wanted the bureau to interview other people beyond the list already provided.”

So that’s confirmation that the White House is calling the shots and that they did provide a list of approved witnesses. Clearly Trump is determined to insure that whatever investigation is conducted will not be thorough or impartial. He’s deliberately stacking the deck against Dr. Ford to protect his tainted nominee. That raises the question of whether this process will satisfy Sen. Flake who initiated it. If it doesn’t, he may vote against confirming Kavanaugh, which could sink the nomination.

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

There is also the possibility that the FBI will consider itself empowered to explore any matter that is raised during their investigation, which could include the other witnesses as well as Kavanaugh’s truthfulness during his congressional testimony. There’s abundant evidence that Kavanaugh did perjure himself. So there are significant speed bumps on the road to Kavanaugh’s seat on the Supreme Court. And with any luck this nomination will crash and burn.

On Kavanaugh: GOP Senator, And Fox News, Now Support an FBI Probe – of Democrats?

On Friday Sen. Jeff Flake monkey wrenched the Republican’s plan to “plow through” the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation and install an accused rapist on the Supreme Court. Donald Trump tried for weeks to forestall any effort to get at the truth by having the FBI supplement their background check with this new information. But Flake’s refusal to vote for Kavanaugh without such a probe forced Trump and the GOP to back down.

Fox News, Brett Kavanaugh

The FBI is likely to conduct a fair and professional investigation into the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford. But they might also report on other matters that reflect on Kavanaugh’s suitability to get this lifetime appointment. That could include shady financial dealings, unsavory personal associations, or lying to the FBI or to Congress.

Consequently, Fox News has sprung into action to try to prophylactically inoculate Kavanaugh from whatever bad news might emerge. They have been furiously campaigning on Kavanaugh’s behalf and viciously maligning his critics, including Dr. Ford. As part of that effort they invited Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy to visit with the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends to flood the zone with some obvious distractions. It began with co-host Griff Jenkins asking Cassidy to walk him through what’s coming next. Cassidy replied:

“This is part of a broader Democratic strategy to coordinate in that coordination, seek to delay. How many more charges can be brought out to smear this man? To create legitimate doubts in the minds of some, the American public? It’s a tactic of coordination leading to the delay. There’s other things the FBI should to do, but it should investigate whether there is this intent to coordinate the actual coordination.”

Jenkins was impressed with Cassidy’s blubbering nonsense saying “Well, that’s a great point you bring out.” Which point? The one about Democrats seeking to coordinate their coordination, or the coordinating of the coordinates that the Democrats intended to investigate? That’s not important – or intelligible. Jenkins then tried to expand the discussion by inquiring whether the FBI should investigate who leaked Dr. Ford’s letter? And Cassidy responded:

“There’s at least two senators that challenged Judge Kavanaugh’s assertion that this is part of a coordinated effort. Two. Now if they’re trying to cast doubts upon his judgement, I actually think he showed insight. Let’s actually investigate. Ask Dianne Feinstein, under oath, did she leak it, then ask her aides. By the way, we should also seek to get Dr. Ford’s therapist’s records. […] That should also be looked at to see if it does truly corroborate. Because that’s all that’s been offered by her side. And then look at this pattern of delay, coordination and obfuscation.”

Cassidy is parroting the crackpot conspiracy theories that Kavanaugh tried to foist on the nation via his totally baseless and paranoid accusations that Democrats are conducting is “a calculated and orchestrated political hit” as “revenge on behalf of the Clintons.” All of the questions he asked about Sen. Feinstein have already been answered and proven to be above board and uncontroversial.

However, it’s Cassidy’s insistence that the FBI needs to probe political coordination by Democrats that is truly mind-boggling. And not just because he’s laughably incoherent. But because, even if it’s happening, it isn’t illegal, unethical, or unusual. Cassidy is attempting to criminalize ordinary activities by political parties to advance their objectives. But only as it applies to Democrats.

If Cassidy thinks that Democrats should be investigated for this, would he also agree to investigate Trump and the GOP and Fox News for their coordinated efforts to get Kavanaugh confirmed and smear his accusers? Now THAT would be fun, and probably turn up some real crimes. So bring it on.

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

Brett Kavanaugh’s Angry, Partisan, Yelling, and Crying Has Likely Torpedoed His Nomination

The single most damaging witness so far for the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United is without a doubt – Brett Kavanaugh. His opening statement was an extended, foaming at the mouth diatribe filled with invective and grievances against his perceived enemies. Donald Trump made it known that he was unhappy with Kavanaugh’s performance during his pitiful interview on Fox News. But if he thinks this was the way to rehabilitate his tattered reputation, he’s only proving that his faulty judgment makes him unfit to serve on the Supreme Court.

Brett Kavanaugh

The most notable impression left by Kavanaugh will be that he was furious with the women who were making allegations about his behavior, and with the Democrats in Congress who are seeking the truth. But his unhinged harangue will be viewed after the fact as detrimental to his confirmation. The spectacle of a potential justice of the Supreme Court throwing a public tantrum like this only reinforces the opinions of those who believe that he doesn’t have the temperment to do the job.

No one would hold it against him that he cried during his testimony. Well, no one except the President of the United States, Donald Trump. On more than a few occasions Trump has mocked others for showing such emotion. He routinely referred to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer as “Cryin’ Chuck.” Should we expect a similarly disrespectful tweet from the President about “Cryin’ Brett”? And if Trump was disappointed with Kavanaugh’s appearance on the friendly Fox News network, what must he be thinking now after this extended display of shouting and weeping? If anything, it makes the charges that he is a belligerent drunk more believable.

Perhaps the most harmful part of Kavanaugh’s rant was his ferocious condemnation of Democrats. He implied that they had “laid in wait” and plotted to “blow me up and take me down.” His repetitious attacks made it clear that he regards the party as a political foe. He accused Democrats of conducting a campaign against him that was “well financed” by some unnamed and evil benefactor (George Soros?). He described their opposition to him in conspiratorial terms resembling Trump’s references to a “Deep State” cabal. Specifically, Kavanaugh said that his critics were deploying a “political hit” as “revenge on behalf of the Clintons.” Seriously?

With that sort of brazen and vile partisanship, how can Kavanaugh be relied upon to be a neutral arbiter of the law? His extreme prejudice is starkly apparent. And whether or not one believes he has justification to feel this way, it disqualifies him to be a justice whose impartiality is mandatory. No judicial authority can be allowed to harbor such obvious biases. He could certainly withdraw and run for the senate, where his partisanship would be expected. But he has morally resigned as any kind of judge and now needs to recognize that fact and resign in reality.

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

The Grossness of Lindsey Graham’s Defense of Judge Kavanaugh and Attack on His Accusers

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hear from both Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford today in an attempt to resolve the controversy over whether Kavanaugh had engaged in sexual assault. Unfortunately, this Senate process is woefully insufficient to actually resolve such a question, but it’s the only thing the Republicans will allow.

Fox News, Lindsey Graham

Prior to the hearing, Fox News was setting it up in a manner that blatantly advantaged Kavanaugh. In a segment on Fox and Friends with Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Senator is heard laughing during a discussion of parties where women were allegedly drugged and raped. That’s an unambiguously inappropriate response under the circumstances. But he doesn’t behave any better as the interview proceeds, as observed in this exchange about the declaration provided by another accuser, Julie Swetnick (video below):

Anna Kooiman: Here’s the problem Senator. We’re not saying that nothing happened to her. It’s serious allegations. Something might have happened to her. We are all just questioning why she didn’t go to police. She says that she was raped at one of these parties. Not by Kavanaugh. Someone else. So people are wondering why didn’t she go to police when that happened. Or why isn’t she going to police now? [She’s asking for an FBI investigation]
Graham: Well here’s what I would say. Y’all are very nice people. I don’t buy this. I don’t believe that any reasonable person would go to a party where people are being drugged and raped and not tell anybody about it, but keep going for ten times over a two year period. Brett Kavanaugh’s life – there’s no indication that that’s the kind of person he is. This lady, Brett Kavanaugh says ‘I never met her’. Avenatti is her attorney. If you can’t figure this out, then there’s something wrong with you.

Graham went on to repeat his surprise that Ms. Swetnick continued going to parties while in college. And he summed up by stating flatly that “Brett Kavanaugh is not a serial rapist,” revealing that his mind was already made up before anyone has testified.

However, Graham’s characterization of Swetnick’s declaration is patently false and even absurd. He’s implying that she willfully attended regularly scheduled rape parties. But she never said anything of the sort. Her testimony is that she attended ten parties, in two years, where she observed this repulsive behavior. Graham is asserting by assumption that those were the only parties she attended. It’s more likely that she attended many more.

If we estimate that she attended one party a week during these two years of college (a conservative estimate), that’s 104 parties total. She wasn’t deliberating attending parties where such activity was advertised and tolerated. So at ten of these parties – out of more than a hundred – she happened to encounter some disgusting individuals like, allegedly, Kavanaugh.

Graham’s attempt to portray Swetnick as someone who regularly and deliberately attends rape parties is just plain nauseating. And it’s proof of his intent to malign her character. Furthermore, his snide reference to to her attorney, Michael Avenatti, was also meant to disparage her and dismiss her testimony. Never mind that Avenatti has provided remarkably precise and accurate commentaries on everything from Kavanaugh to Michael Cohen, and of course, Stormy Daniels. Graham, on the other hand, has proven to be a sleaze ball who sucks up to Donald Trump and abandons every speck of integrity or dignity he might have ever had. Just sayin’.

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

Trump Flagrantly Lies About the 4 Women (It’s 16) Who Allege Sexual Misconduct By Him

On Wednesday afternoon, Donald Trump gave his first news conference in over a year and a half. It was a predictably hostile affair where Trump rarely allowed a reporter to complete a question before interrupting and talking over them before he even knew what the question was. And invariably his answer had little to do with the actual substance of the inquiry.

Donald Trump

While the event covered subjects as varied as the economy, the fate of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, trade with China and elsewhere, and Judge Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court debacle, there was one subject that stood out. Stemming from questions about the controversy over sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh, Trump was asked about his own problems concerning the mistreatment of women. After having called on several male reporters, Trump, at the urging of CNN’s Jim Acosta, called on Weijia Jiang of CBS News. She jumped right in with what would have been a piercing inquiry had Trump allowed her to finish:

Jiang: Have your personal experiences, being accused by more than a dozen women of sexual misconduct…
Trump: I’ve been accused. (Interrupting) Excuse me. And I was accused by, I believe it was four women. You can check with Sean Hannity. You can check with Fox. Cause they covered it very strongly. Excuse me. I was accused by four or five women who got paid a lot of money to make up stories about me. We caught them and the mainstream media refused to put it on television. They refused to even write about it. There were four women, and maybe even more – I think the number’s four or five.”

First of all, anyone who bothers to check with Sean Hannity to corroborate Trump’s account is seriously in need of professional help. This is reminiscent of the time Trump went into a crazed rant during a debate because “everybody refuses to call Sean Hannity.”

Trump then rattled off some vague, unsubstantiated accounts of women who he said were paid to make false allegations against him. He offered zero evidence that there were any women whose stories were deliberately fabricated for money. However, he did say that one of the women reported her story after refusing to take $750,000. Which actually validates the allegations against him and sanitizes her motives. Is he listening to himself?

Trump went on to complain about some stories he heard about a few women who were included in an article in the New York Times who later disputed the portrayal of them in the article. Trump falsely stated that the Times never reported on those women’s disputes. But the Times did cover that, along with standing by the accounts of many more women in the article. Trump’s conclusion from that was that “a lot of the news is fake. And a lot of the people sitting here are fake.” REally? There are fake people now?

Jiang then tried to ask her question which Trump had repeatedly interrupted. He told Jiang that “you’ve been asking a question for ten minutes.” Then he rudely told her to sit down. Nevertheless, she persisted. And she managed to get out her question which was whether the charges against him has impacted his opinion on charges against Kavanaugh. He said that:

“Well it does impact my opinion. You know why? Because I’ve had a lot of false charges made against me. I’m a very famous person, unfortunately. […] So when I see it I view it differently than someone sitting home watching television where they say ‘Judge Kavanaugh this or that.’ It’s happened to me many times.”

So Trump is admitting that it “absolutely” affects his opinion with regard to Kavanaugh. And he was angry that only Fox News reported any of this in a way that made him look innocent. He also made a point of praising the network saying “Well, Fox. I like Fox. I really do.” Then, of course, he lied about his relationship with Hannity, whom he talks to almost every night, telling reporters that “I don’t talk to him very much.”

In the end, Trump dishonestly portrayed himself as being open minded about the allegations against Kavanaugh. He said that he could be persuaded by his accusers when they testify before Congress on Thursday (note: only one of them is being permitted to do so). But that’s not possible if he’s already convinced that Kavanaugh is telling the truth. Plus, he has repeatedly accused the Democrats pursuing more info of engaging in a “con job.” And his admitted prejudice due to his own experiences makes it even harder to believe that his mind isn’t made up.

Finally, he must not be allowed to get away with lying about the extent of the charges against him. It isn’t four or five women. It’s at least sixteen. And that alone should be sufficient cause to remove him from office. Even if special counsel Robert Mueller doesn’t make the case for collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice, Trump is simply unfit to serve.

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

The Delusional Fox News Love Fest with Trump and the World: ‘They Love to Be with Him’

Any observer who is being objective has to concede that Donald Trump is sinking ever further into an abyss of his own making. He continues to shamelessly exalt himself with obviously false praise for achievements that either don’t exist or that he had nothing to do with. And he is forced to rely on his State TV sycophants at Fox News for positive reinforcement, even if it’s totally made up.

Donald Trump, Pee Wee

On Wednesday morning there was another such episode on Fox and Friends that was laughably absurd. And it was appropriately triggered by the laughter at Trump when he tried to tell the United Nations that he has “accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” The world’s diplomats knew that that was a ludicrous statement and responded by mocking it. Trump later pretended that he intended it as a joke even though he said at the time that he “didn’t expect that reaction.” Or perhaps he was doing his Pee Wee Herman imitation by saying that “I meant to do that.”

Not surprisingly, Trump sent his U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, to visit with his Fox friends the next day. Her purpose was to attempt to fix the correct impression that Trump was disrespected by the world’s diplomats. And she was greeted by the “Curvy Couch” potatoes warmly with co-host Anna Kooiman gushing “Congratulations on your success as the U.N. ambassador. We love you so much.” But that was just the beginning of the unabashed love-in at Fox News, as exemplified in this exchange (video below):

Kooiman: I know you were in the room when the laugh happened. Sometimes the media can portray it as one thing and it’s not that at all. What was it like and why that reaction?
Haley: The media has got this so wrong. I deal with these leaders every single day. I know exactly how they think. Do they love America? No. Do they respect America? Now they do. When he said that, they loved how honest he is and it’s not diplomatic and they find it funny. […] I saw that the media was trying to make it something disrespectful. That’s not what it was. They love to be with him.

See? The room full of guffawing U.N. ambassadors were just unable to restrain their boundless affection for Trump and it came out sounding like impolite chuckles. Never mind that the ambassadors themselves have already affirmed that they were laughing AT Trump. But Haley still asserts that his lies about how productive he’s been were greeted by the U.N. as “honesty” that for some reason Haley thinks is not diplomatic. The truth, according to Haley, is that the ambassadors just love being with Trump. And she even noted that his ad libbing “made them love him even more.” Which leaves just one question to be answered with regard to this assessment of Trump’s performance: Does anyone else feel like throwing up?

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