Fox News

Fox News Thanks God that WH Aides are Preventing Crazytown Trump From Really Screwing Up

Posted by on September 4, 2018 at 5:18 pm. 2 Comments :

If you weren’t afraid before, get ready to be scared out of your wits. Excerpts are being released from Bob Woodward’s new book, Fear: Trump in the White House, by Bob Woodward, that confirm some of the worst horror stories to emerge from the presidency of Donald Trump. The book’s title could not be more appropriate.

Donald Trump Zombie

Among the revelations that Woodward is reporting are some that have been disclosed previously. For instance, Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly, has a less than flattering opinion of Trump’s intellectual capacity. He is reported to have called him an “idiot” who it is pointless to talk to. And he describes the White House as “Crazytown.” That would put Kelly in agreement with Trump’s former secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who called Trump a “moron.” Not surprisingly, Trump is already refuting the credibility of the book’s assertions. But credibility is not the hallmark of Trump’s tenure in the White House. The Washington Post has his documented lies in office up to 4,700+ so far. That’s an average of fifteen per day.

However, Fox News was discussing a part of the book that described the way some of Trump’s aides deal with his “off the rails” outbursts and inclinations that pose imminent danger to the nation. And the comments by Fox’s senior analyst, Brit Hume, tell a terrifying tale of Trump going “right up to edge” of potential oblivion (video below):

“What you see here, in at least the excerpts we’ve seen from the book, is this volcanic president who [inaudible] about himself in the most demeaning ways to the people around him. Walks right up to edge of what would be incredibly disastrous decisions all the time. Prepared to do this, that, and the other thing. Restrained apparently, ultimately, by aides around him much of the time. There’s an account in there of a document he’s about to sign and they came in and took it off his desk.

“So what does that say to the people in the ‘Never Trump’ movement, particularly on the right, who don’t think the people who are serving in the Trump administration should do so because it participates in this fiasco of a presidency? It seems to me the lesson that comes away from this is: Thank God for the people around Trump who are keeping him on the straight and narrow to the extent they can. That’s a service to the country, it seems to me, without question.”

This description of life in Trump’s White House couldn’t be more disturbing. Hume paints him as a “volcanic” figure who is “demeaning” to his staff. He seems perpetually on the verge of making “disastrous decisions” in his “fiasco” of a presidency. Presumably that exempts the decisions that he has actually gotten away with so far. And the only thing that has prevented these calamities is that his staff has literally stolen documents off his desk to keep him from doing more harm.

If that’s not bad enough, Hume seems to think that the presence of unelected aides who are willing to deceive and manipulate the commander-in-chief is a good thing. Oh yeah. It is so comforting to know that our president is a flaming mental case with the capacity to destroy the nation – or the world – but for some hangers-on who throw the wool over his eyes. Isn’t that exactly what all Americans want from their national leadership? Trump, in this scenario, is Fox News’ idea of the realization of the American Dream. Hallelujah!

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

Huh? Fox News Slams Bill Clinton for Being Seated Near Farrakhan at Aretha Franklin’s Funeral

Posted by on September 3, 2018 at 1:25 pm. 5 Comments :

Last week was a difficult one for many Americans, and particularly those close to music legend Aretha Franklin and senate icon John McCain. The media was more consumed with funerals than at any other time in recent memory. And, sadly, the services for these deceased notables were exploited for political gain by media cretins like Fox News who seem to have forgotten how to show respect for the families of the fallen.

Fox News, Bill Clinton, Louis Farrakhan

However, the passage of time over the weekend did nothing to temper the madness at Fox News. They must be getting pretty desperate for disparaging material to throw at their political enemies, because the latest assault really scrapes the bottom of the barrel.

In a segment on Fox and Friends (video below), the “Curvy Couch” potatoes served up a story that criticized President Bill Clinton for his attendance at Aretha Franklin’s funeral. The objection they had was that he was seated near Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan is unarguably a repugnant bigot who has been inciting racial and religious hatred for decades. It was surprising to see him at the service for a woman known for her support of civil rights and her closeness to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

But for Fox News to make an issue of the seating arrangements is ludicrous. The intro to the segment had co-host Ed Henry saying that “The very controversial Nation of Islam leader who has notoriously declared that ‘Jews are my enemy’ and ‘white folks are going down,’ was seated prominently alongside former President Bill Clinton.” In fact, there were several references to Clinton sitting next to Farrakhan. But that’s a lie. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were separating Clinton from Farrakhan.

More to the point, Clinton had nothing to do with the seating arrangements. He likely didn’t know who else was attending or where they would be seated. Does Fox News think that Clinton should have stood up and stomped out of Franklin’s funeral after spotting Farrakhan in the crowd? Apparently so. They even brought in Alan Dershowitz to suggest that option. And co-host Pete Hegseth was aghast at the lack of media whining about this scandalous chair affair, saying “What about the question to the elites of our country? This is not a story? They’re not blinking an eye.”

Of course, the reason the press isn’t blinking is because, in fact, it isn’t a story to anyone but the craven loons at Fox News who are grasping at straws to denigrate Clinton and any other Democrat that they happen to bump into. They previously faulted Clinton for looking in the direction of Ariana Grande when she was singing. Which is something that humans do while entertainers are performing. They also complained bitterly about the eulogies at both funerals when they thought expressions of unity, civility, and respect were attacks on Donald Trump. Now why do you suppose they thought that? Perhaps because he is anathema to those honorable personality traits?

It’s noteworthy that while America was mourning, Trump was golfing and tweeting. Maybe he DM’d his BFF Vladimir Putin. And what’s really worse: Clinton sitting near, but not speaking to, Farrakhan, or Trump lavishing effusive praise on, and doing the bidding of the murderous dictator and enemy of America, Putin?

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

Fox News Attacks Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Encouraging Kids to Be Interested in Politics

Posted by on September 2, 2018 at 1:50 pm. 2 Comments :

The professional Trump-fluffers at State TV (aka Fox News) are very concerned about what is happening to innocent children. No, not the ones that Donald Trump has ripped from the arms of their immigrant parents and put in cages along the border. Fox News is worried about American children who are being indoctrinated into socialism by nefarious congressional candidates.

Fox News, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

On Sunday’s episode of Fox and Friends, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes latched onto a video that was posted by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who is running for the 14th district seat in New York. Ocasio-Cortez is seen talking to a group of kids in a park about what she’s doing. The kids are clearly interested and, when she mentions that she’s going to Congress to fight Trump, they spontaneously erupt in cheers. Several of the kids are heard volunteering that they don’t like Trump.

However, children engaged in civic affairs is viewed as a dangerous trend by the Fox News crew. Co-host Ed Henry refers to Ocasio-Cortez as a “cause celebre” on the left, and then introduces the video where he falsely says that she is “trying to rally kids to go after President Trump.”

In the video, the sin that Fox News is so rattled about is that Ocasio-Cortez asks a group of kids if they will go home and tell their parents to vote. Oh my heavens, no. What has become of the world? A candidate for Congress isn’t ignoring an exuberant group of young folks who clearly have an interest in what she’s saying. She isn’t dismissing them as waifs and then catering to the elders who can vote and donate to her campaign. She’s actually engaging them in a respectful conversation and encouraging their interest in civic affairs (see her video below). So naturally Fox News thinks this is abhorrent and must stop immediately. The Foxies continue their brazenly partisan harangue in this fear mongering exchange:

Rachel Campos-Duffy: I actually love this video because there’s so much about Alexandria that is so revealing. She’s such a novice that she really tells you the truth about socialism. This is what socialists do for kids. They don’t help kids. They organize kids. They indoctrinate kids. That’s what she’s doing. That’s what social justice warriors like her are best at.
Pete Hegseth: That’s a good point, you’re right. She’s naive. She’s talking to these kids. Go tell your parents how much you hate Trump.

So Campos-Duffy is glad that Ocasio-Cortez is a political novice because it results in her telling the truth. Unlike the propagandists on Fox News who are seasoned professionals with the experience to suppress any honest tendencies and stick to lying at all times. And Hegseth agrees that encouraging kids to engage in discourse with their parents is somehow subversive and anti-American. They are both apparently afraid that the adults in these families will be unfairly coerced into voting against Trump by their brainwashed offspring. It makes one wonder how susceptible the Fox News hosts are to what their manipulative kids are telling them to do.

Needless to say, including children in discussions about politics is a positive and educational exercise. It prepares them for when they will be old enough to participate in the civic duty of voting. But on Fox News it’s a frightening notion that evokes scary images of informed young citizens. Never mind that the notorious hypocrites at Fox regularly feature conservative kids, and even bring them on their network for extended interviews. For instance, Jesse Watters interviewed nine year old Trump fan Jacob Silva for nearly seven minutes. But they better be careful. Fox also hyped a thirteen year old conservative, Jonathan Krohn, who had the good sense to grow up and, by the time he was seventeen, was supporting Barack Obama.

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

Unpatriotic? Fox News Knocks Meghan McCain for Saying that ‘America Was Always Great’

Posted by on September 1, 2018 at 2:25 pm. NO Comments :

In Washington, D.C. today, Sen. John McCain is being remembered by his family and his many friends and colleagues. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is at his golf resort (again) tweeting manically about the failures of his own Justice Department. He’s posting ludicrously ill-reasoned quotes by the tiresome swarm of sycophants he’s watching on recorded programs from State TV (aka Fox News). Obviously he can’t watch live television for fear of being subjected to the outpouring of goodwill toward McCain, or anyone other than himself.

Fox News, John McCain Funeral, Donald Trump

Even Fox News is covering McCain’s funeral on the air, which leaves nothing else for Trump to watch but cartoons or those “sons of bitches” playing football. But on Fox’s website it’s a different story. The lead news item on their homepage is one that features the headline “Meghan McCain, Obama knock Trump at funeral as nation says goodbye to senator.” Above that is a photo that is captioned “America Was Always Great,” a line taken from the eulogy by Meghan McCain.

Notice that Fox’s headline frames the story as a “knock” on Trump, rather than a report about the McCain funeral. That tells you what they think was the most important part. The article then characterizes McCain’s comment as a “swipe” at Trump, which may be true. But it’s also an expression of patriotism and an enduring reverence for the country, which makes Fox’s complaint sound trite and disloyal. It’s an awkward position for Fox to take under the circumstances. But they didn’t limit their disapproval to just that remark:

“It was Meghan McCain who had the most searing swipes at the president however. Notably she said that her father’s passing represented the passing of ‘American greatness. The real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who lived lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served.'”

It’s doubtful that Trump’s minders allowed him to hear any of that harsh articulation of the truth. It would have sent him into (even more) hysterics. Nor could his babysitters permit Trump to hear what President Obama said in his eulogy, that Fox also assumed was directed at Trump:

“Obama’s jabs were more subtle but still appeared to be directed at the current occupant of the White House. He derided those in politics who traffic in ‘bombast and insult and phony controversies and manufactured outrage.’ He also attacked ‘a politics that pretends to be brave and tough but in fact is born of fear.'”

These fragments of the addresses by both McCain and Obama were singled out by Fox News to create the impression that the whole affair was a just a political sideshow aimed at denigrating Trump. But in both speeches they were merely brief interludes in much longer heartfelt tributes to someone they loved and admired. The article didn’t bother to quote any other parts of these touching eulogies. Apparently Fox was determined to trivialize the funeral service, belittle the mourners, and not allow the day to pass respectfully.

And that’s why Trump loves Fox News so much. They are just as devoted to exalting him above everything and everyone else as he is. Fox is a cable television appendage to Trump’s massive and unrestrained ego.

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

Fire Sean Hannity: Fox News Host Exposed Campaigning for DeSantis, Violating Journalistic Ethics

Posted by on August 29, 2018 at 2:39 pm. 3 Comments :

On Tuesday’s primary for the Republican candidate for governor of Florida, Trump favorite Ron DeSantis came away with the victory and the opportunity to face progressive Democrat Andrew Gillum in November. So the DeSantis campaign officially launched the next day when he appeared on Fox News and charged that African-American Gillum would “monkey up” the state.

Fox News, Sean Hannity, White House

That’s a pretty horrendous start to what will surely be a campaign marked by the sort of racism and invective that a Trump minion like DeSantis embraces. It will be a campaign that relies on State TV (aka Fox News) for support and free advertising. In fact, DeSantis has already received more than $9,000 000 worth of airtime from Fox.

However, that isn’t the only boost that DeSantis has enjoyed from Fox News. The top rated host on the network, Sean Hannity, has been plugging his candidacy, and maligning his opponent, for weeks. But something that DeSantis said in his victory speech stood out as peculiar and warrants more scrutiny (video below):

“We had some great surrogates. You know (Rep.) Matt Gaetz was out on the road with us raising a little hell now and then. We had people like Sean Hannity come down, and Mark Levin, which was just phenomenal.”

So thanks to this revelation by DeSantis, we now know that Hannity went down to Florida to assist the campaign of a Republican candidate for governor. At any other news network that would be considered a breach of their standards of professional conduct and cause for termination. Surprisingly, that appeared to be just such a breach at Fox News in 2016 when Hannity appeared in a campaign video for then-candidate Donald Trump. Fox noted at the time that this was improper and Hannity was sternly advised not to do it again. Sure, that’s about wrist-slappy a punishment that there could be, but it was a punishment.

There is no excuse for a “news” network host colluding with partisan candidates for public office. And this being a second offense, it ought to draw a more severe penalty. Anyone else at any other network would likely be fired. And if Fox News needs any additional incentive to invoke that sanction, they could just look at Hannity’s recent past. Earlier this year he was revealed to be a client of Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney who just pleaded guilty to eight felonies. But Hannity kept that a secret even when interviewing Cohen on his show.

What’s more, Hannity serves in the odd position of being Trump’s “shadow chief-of-staff” and reports say that he talks to the President on an almost nightly basis. But even when these reports surface, Hannity refuses to disclose the nature and extent of their relationship. That alone should be regarded as a blatant conflict of interest and a fireable offense.

FOR THE RECORD: Hannity has gone back and forth about whether he is a journalist. At times he insists he is. Other times he denies it. Here are examples of both.

But don’t hold your breath waiting for Fox News to behave honorably. After all, they are the network that gave Trump more airtime than any other network. And it was Hannity who gave Trump more airtime than any other program on Fox News. So Hannity is actually carrying out the mission of Fox News by advancing the people and propaganda that he is directed to from the executive suites – and the White House. Note that Bill Shine, former Fox News president and Hannity’s old boss, is now a top Trump White House aide. That’s how State TV works.

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

Rachel Maddow is Leading MSNBC to Record Ratings, the Only Cable News Net to Gain Viewers

Posted by on August 28, 2018 at 10:14 pm. 2 Comments :

While Donald Trump is dragging his presidency down to the depths of the abyss, he might deserve some credit for lifting MSNBC up to the heights of ratings Valhalla. For the month of August MSNBC achieved a significant milestone, becoming the the second-most-watched network across all of basic cable. And the network’s star, Rachel Maddow, had the number one show for total viewers on cable TV for the last week of August.

Rachel Maddow

This ratings bonanza took place as Trump’s world was crumbling. His campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was convicted on eight felonies. His personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to eight felonies of his own. And Trump’s inner circle suffered some serious ruptures. His long-time friend, and publisher of the National Enquirer, David Pecker, was granted immunity by federal prosecutors. The same goes for the CFO of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg. Immunity is not handed out unless the recipients were exposed to serious legal jeopardy and had something useful to trade for their get-out-jail-free card.

These sort of news events may have brought viewers hungry for credible reporting to MSNBC resulting in their ratings wins last week. But the whole month notched gains that were noteworthy. In fact, MSNBC’s primetime rose over their draw in 2017, while both CNN and Fox News declined. Maddow’s contribution to that was scoring the top show rating in all of cable TV for the whole month in the 25-54 demographic. To be clear, she not only beat Sean Hannity head-to-head, but every other show of any type on basic cable.

The remainder of the MSNBC schedule was equally as successful with viewers. Everyone from Chris Hayes to Lawrence O’Donnell to Ari Melber to Brian Williams to Joy Reid, enjoyed record breaking numbers. The daytime crew, including Ali Velshi, Stephanie Ruhle, Hallie Jackson, Nicolle Wallace, and Katy Tur, all notched substantial gains as well.

If this is any indication of how the content of the news can affect ratings, there is sure to be more good news to come. Manafort’s next trial in Washington, D.C. is scheduled to begin in mid September. And almost every day there are new revelations that bring Trump’s dismal fate closer to realization. Much of them unveiled by his own big mouth and fat Twitter fingers. And as events continue to unfold, America’s television viewers will continue to seek out truthful accounts of the breaking news.

That’s good news for MSNBC. And as for Fox News, they can surely rely on their cult followers to keep their numbers pretty high. After all, they will need those extra doses of fake propaganda and blurred reality from State TV to anesthetize them into their cozy states of semi-consciousness.

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

Trump, the Whiner, Parrots His Senior Media Advisors, Dobbs, Diamond & Silk, Via Fox News

Posted by on August 28, 2018 at 12:04 pm. 1 Comments :

Let’s put to rest the notion that Donald Trump regards himself as an icon of strength and triumph. If there is one thing that Trump has excelled in to the exclusion of all others, it’s his relentless whining about how hopelessly impotent and powerless he is. Trump literally bragged about being “the most fabulous whiner.” So despite having majority control of all three branches of government, Trump and company persist in their pathetic whimpering that they are mercilessly oppressed, suppressed and obstructed from achieving any of their repugnant goals.

Fox News, Diamond & Silk

In his latest attempt to create a media distraction from the horrendous drubbing he took for demeaning John McCain, Trump turned to Fox News for anything that he could post to Twitter that might take the heat off for a few moments of relief. He found it in a segment from the Lou Dobbs program on the Fox Business Network. And without bothering to confirm the ludicrous assertions in the clip, Trump tweeted out that:

Needless to say, that is all Grade A bunk that has no basis in fact. The Republican controlled Congress even held hearings to ascertain whether the Internet and social media were employing any tactics to inject political bias into what are supposed to be neutral search results and news feeds. They found nothing. Instead, they reaffirmed that the algorithms used by tech companies are not based on ideology, but that they respond to what people want to see.

However, that didn’t stop Trump from threatening Google Tuesday morning. And it didn’t stop Dobbs from spewing demonstrably false charges against Google and others along with his guest experts on media and technology, Diamond & Silk. This dynamic duo has been squealing about imaginary censorship for months. The exchange they had with Dobbs was an exercise in how to dumb down America on what is supposed to be a financial news channel (video below):

Dobbs: I take it that you’re not surprised that Google is sort of banning conservatives from their search results with President Trump?
Diamond: No, it’s not surprising. And to us it looks like it’s tyranny. You have these media outlets, along with Google, taking and they’re suppressing voices of conservatives. Not only that but they’re thumbing down our pages where we can’t see President Trump’s content or good news about what’s going on in this country when it comes to this president. And I am not for big government, but I really do believe that the government should step in and really check this out. Because this is, again, the sort of [inaudible] of tyranny. We don’t need dictatorship. We don’t need people controlling what we can and cannot see.
Silk: And this also look like a form of political lynching. Insteading of using the news, what they are doing is using algorithms and a form of censorship to Trump people’s platforms out, to keep you from being able to do your search whenever you want to search for our beautiful president.

Notice that Dobbs began with a matter of fact statement that Google is “banning conservatives” even though he has no facts to support that charge. And his Looney Tunes guests join the choir with even more extremist banter about tyranny and dictatorship and lynching and the deflowering of “our beautiful president.”

Dobbs went on to charge that Google’s search technology has become shallow and political. Then he complains about the “deep, profound concentration of wealth” and the “deep, profound concentration of political power.” Which is a position that would delight America’s socialists and critics of income inequality. Except that Dobbs is only applying this rhetoric to those who he perceives as foes of the President and the ultra-rightist agenda he represents.

What’s more, these stalwart defenders of conservative values are pushing for the government to stomp its boot down on the Internet’s defilers of Trumpian goodness. Never mind that the First Amendment prohibits the regulation of speech by private companies. The Constitution is an impediment to the propagandist objectives of Trump and Fox News. They can’t merely dismiss their hypocrisy by claiming to be against big government while advocating for such regulations. Even Trump’s chief economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, warned that “We’re taking a look at it,” And the one policy measure they could pursue that would prevent bias by anyone, would be the one they are affirmatively trying to kill: Network Nuetrality.

But while pounding on the political oppression by the enemies of Trumpism, at least Dobbs is comforted by the presence of Trump saying that “If we didn’t have a president like this one I don’t know where we’d be.” Then Dobbs contradicts the whole premise of the segment by noting that Trump “has his own access to the American people” via social media. So he’s now arguing that Trump and his confederates are enjoying unprecedented success getting their message out. So where the hell is the alleged censorship?

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

Trump Tweets ‘Big Story’ About the FBI that Turns Out to Be a Big Lie By Wingnut Website

Posted by on August 25, 2018 at 3:59 pm. 5 Comments :

The tribulations of Donald Trump continue to mount as news of his crumbling network of accomplices gets more dire with each passing day. Just this week his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was convicted of eight felonies and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to felonies of his own. Then two close associates – David Pecker of the National Enquirer, and Allen Weisselberg, CFO of the Trump Organization – were granted immunity by federal prosecutors in exchange for their cooperation.

Donald Trump

As usual, when ever Trump sees dark clouds gathering he attempts to blow them away by creating a windstorm of his own. It’s an obvious tactic that just makes him look desperate and even more guilty. On Saturday morning he deployed this scheme with a series of tweets intended to distract from the Mueller probe and the slow-motion apocalypse that is his presidency:

The “Big story” that Trump refers to is one that has been in circulation for nearly two years now. It revolves around allegations that Hillary Clinton engaged in some vaguely defined wrongdoing connected to her handling of classified documents. This matter has been investigated by everyone from the FBI to various Republican-controlled committees in the House and Senate. And even when starkly partisan players in Congress were pushing hard to find misdeeds, they never did.

If getting “to the bottom of all of this corruption” was actually on Trump’s agenda, he would not be relying on Fox News as his source for information. After all, he has the world’s most sophisticated intelligence operations at his fingertips, but he still prefers the imbecilic sycophants on Fox and Friends to experienced law enforcement professionals.

The big story that has Trump triggered now is one that alleges that the FBI failed to review thousands of Clinton’s emails during their investigation in 2016. Trump attributes the story to Fox News, but it originated with a website, The Federalist, that is a virulent right-wing fount of extremist propaganda. The article authored by Paul Sperry is an interminably long screed that offers nothing but conjecture, when it isn’t rehashing ancient history about alleged Clinton misdeeds.

The key point that Trump’s tantrum focuses on is the charge that the FBI deliberately ignored thousands of Clinton’s email that were discovered on the laptop of Anthony Weiner, who was married to Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Sperry asserts that some 675,000 emails were found, but that the FBI only reviewed 3,077 of them. That’s because the FBI conducted an automated review that identified the vast majority of these emails as duplicates that they had received and reviewed from other sources. Sperry casts doubts on the FBI’s ability to have effectively screened out the duplicates, but he offers no proof for that contention, and he completely ignores the fact that computers are quite capable of comparing text.

Somehow, Trump concludes from this dubious article that the emails that were supposedly unreviewed were “REALLY BAD” and “disasters.” Where he got that from is anyone’s guess because even Sperry never made that claim. Nevertheless, on the weakness of this report, Trump is threatening, again, that he “may have to get involved” in the work of what should be the independent Justice Department. He has long claimed that he has that right and that he could even run the investigation himself if he wanted to. Imagine that: a president who personally takes control of the persecution of his political enemies. That says pretty much everything you need to know about the wannabe dictator in the White House.

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

Trump Tells Fox News that He Has ‘Many Friends Involved’ in Criminal Activity Who Lie to the Feds

Posted by on August 24, 2018 at 9:34 am. 1 Comments :

In what passes for an “interview” on Fox News, the co-host of Fox and Friends, Ainsley Earhardt presided over Donald Trump doing his best impression of a Mafia boss to date (video below). His language resembled the lingo of classic movie gangsters as he delivered veiled threats, like the one where he warned that the stock market would crash if he were impeached (nice economy you have there. It sure would be a shame if something happened to it).

Donald Trump, Godfather

Earhardt never bothered to challenge Trump on any of his ludicrous assertions and lies. Fox gets away with this because they are the President’s shadow cabinet and the source for virtually all information he receives. Eventually the discussion turned to the question of whether his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, would cooperate with law enforcement officials. Trump might just as well have adopted a James Cagney accent and started snarling “You dirty rat.”

When Earhardt wasn’t staring adoringly at Trump, and tossing him the softest of balls, she sat quietly as he lectured her, and the Fox News audience of cultists, on the culture of crime family etiquette. He lauded his campaign chairman Paul Manafort for not caving in to the coppers by squealing on Trump. And he denigrated Cohen for ratting out his ex-boss and coming clean to the G-Men investigating Trump’s criminal conduct.

Trump also waxed philosophical about the art of “flipping.” He characterized it as crooks making up stories to escape severe sentences for crimes they’ve committed. In reality, it’s an agreement between suspects and law enforcement to secure cooperation in order to catch bigger crooks. Lying under these circumstance is rare because it would result in the deal being voided and the suspect receiving an even harsher sentence than was originally anticipated. Trump said that this common and useful practice “ought to be illegal.” But he also said that he’s very familiar with it:

“I know all about flipping. For 30-40 years I’ve been watching flippers. […] I’ve seen it many times. I’ve got many friends involved in this stuff. It’s called ‘flipping’ and it almost ought to be illegal.”

That’s an extraordinary comment. In essence Trump is bragging that many of his friends are criminals who have been entangled in police investigations. He doesn’t say whether they were the flippers or the targets of the flipping. But either way they were involved in illegal activities as kingpins or cohorts with information to trade. And isn’t difficult to believe that Trump had these kinds of disreputable friends considering the bad character of Trump’s associates in his campaign and his presidency. In fact, anything other than a confederacy of crooks would seem totally out of character for this president.

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

Dotard Report: Trump Confides to Fox News that He Gets His Legal Advice ‘By Watching Shows’ on TV

Posted by on August 23, 2018 at 1:21 pm. 5 Comments :

The presidency of Donald Trump has been a slow motion disaster for the past twenty months. But the velocity of his crumbling regime has been ramping up in recent days. His campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was convicted on eight felonies. His personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to eight felonies as well. Plus, Cohen testified that Trump was in on the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

Donald Trump

On Thursday morning the temperature continued to rise. Daveid Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer, and a close Trump pal, was granted immunity in order to provide information about Trump’s illegal campaign finance affairs. So fearing the worst, Trump took refuge in his “safe space” that he knows will always offer comfort, consolation, and a shield from any and all criticism – Fox News.

Ainsley Earhardt of Fox and Friends was dispatched to rub salve on the President’s wounds (video below). And she really came through. Asking a series of softball questions that Trump could swat away with ease, Earhardt sat through the entire twelve minutes nodding like a bobble-head doll. She didn’t challenge Trump on a single subject, despite his flagrant and easily provable lies. For instance, Trump rattled off false statistics about employment; he said that James Comey is Robert Mueller’s best friend; he alluded to imaginary crimes that Hillary Clinton committed; and he claimed that the FBI raided Manafort’s home at 5:00 in the morning with guns. None of that, and most everything else he said, is true.

One particular exchange in this televised tongue bathing stood out as a revealing confession by Trump. Earhardt asked him about Cohen’s testimony at his pleading that Trump directed him to make the hush money payouts. And Trump’s answer was, to say the least, peculiar:

Earhardt: He [Michael Cohen] said in one story that you didn’t know anything about the payments. And now he’s saying that you directed him to make these payments. Did you direct him to make the payments?
Trump: He made the deals. He made the deals. And by the way, he pled to two counts that aren’t a crime. Which nobody understands. I watched a number of shows. Sometimes you get some pretty good information by watching shows. Those two counts aren’t even a crime. They weren’t campaign finance. […] A lot of lawyers – on television – and also lawyers that I have say that they are not even crimes.

Notice that Trump’s response did not address whether he directed Cohen to make the payments. He said twice that Cohen “made the deals,” but never denied that he directed Cohen to do so. Then Trump quickly pivots to an absurd statement that Cohen pleaded to two counts of something that isn’t a crime. Of course, anyone who isn’t brain-dead knows that you can’t plead guilty to a crime that doesn’t exist. It’s like saying “I plead guilty to eating brussel sprouts. And I’ll do it again, dammit” As it turns out, there is no law against eating brussel sprouts and, thus, nothing to plead to. He’s absolutely correct when he says that “nobody understands” this. Somebody needs to explain it to Trump. I’d suggest a kindergarten teacher, because they have experience with stubbornly immature students.

However, what was truly disturbing is when Trump disclosed where he gets his legal advice. He’s the President of the United States and has whole departments of lawyers working for him in the White House and the Justice Department, as well as his personal legal team. And yet, he tells Earhardt that his legal expertise comes from “watch[ing] a number of shows.” “Sometimes,” he says, “you get some pretty good information by watching shows.”

Trump doesn’t say which shows, but it’s a pretty safe bet it’s Fox and Friends or Sean Hannity. That would explain why he believes that someone can plead guilty to crimes that don’t exist. But if this is the source of his consultations on matters of law, he is in bigger trouble than he can possibly imagine.

For the record, this is the second time Trump has identified TV as his source for critical data on presidenting. In August of 2015, Trump responded to a question from Chuck Todd about who his advisors are for military issues. Trump said that “I watch the shows.” But then, what more would you expect from the Reality TV president?

It’s interesting that Trump credits television with providing so much good information. Because he still thinks that the press is, in the whole, corrupt and dishonest. He reiterated that when Earhardt asked him if the press is “the enemy of the people.” “Absolutely not,” he said. But went on to contradict himself saying that only “Eighty percent of the media is the enemy of the people.” So he gets his legal advice from the other twenty percent? With consultants like that, and TV lawyers like Rudy Giuliani implicating Trump in criminal acts every time he’s on the tube, Trump is headed for an extended stay in Leavenworth – or maybe Gitmo.

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