Campaign 2016

PolitiFact 2015 Lie Of The Year: The Campaign Misstatements Of Donald Trump

Posted by on December 21, 2015 at 2:43 pm. 3 Comments :

The annual “Lie of the Year” award by PolitiFact for “the most significant falsehood” of 2015 has been given to Donald Trump for his collective “misstatements” throughout his six month campaign for the Republican nomination for president.

Donald Trump Liar

This may be the easiest decision that PolitiFact ever had for their annual fib-fest. In the short time that Trump has been a candidate he has racked up an unprecedented record of flagrant fabrications. Three out of four of Trump’s statements reviewed by Politifact this year were rated “Mostly False” or worse. Indeed, 21% were “Pants on Fire” lies. Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact’s executive editor, announced the decision in an online video saying…

“PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year goes to the most significant falsehood that we can find. But in 2015 we couldn’t settle on just one. That’s because of Donald Trump. Trump, the billionaire businessman who entered the race for persident in June, has many big and bold statements. Unfortunately, most of them are inaccurate.”

PolitiFact focused on three prominent falsehoods that Trump made, and subsequently refused to acknowledge as false despite the overwhelming evidence. They were: his delusional assertion that he saw “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey cheering the fall of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11; his claim that the Mexican government was deliberately sending criminals to the U.S.; and his tweet that insanely stated that 81% of whites murdered in America were killed by African-Americans. The correct number is 16%. 82% of whites were killed by whites.

However, Trump’s pathological lying goes far beyond those examples. News Corpse has been compiling his unabashed dishonesty in the Trump Bullshitopedia. So far there are more than three dozen documented lies. Here are just a few samples:

  1. Trump asserts that “[The 9/11 hijackers] put their families on airplanes, couple of days before, sent them back to Saudi Arabia for the most part. Those wives knew exactly what was going to happen.” Except only one of the nineteen hijackers was married.
  2. Trump said that 100 black pastors would endorse him. Pastors say not so.
  3. Trump said he didn’t mock, or even know, the reporter whose disabilities he mocked and knew for a decade.
  4. The Obama administration wants to admit 250,000 Syrian refugees. He’s off by 240,000.
  5. He was on 60 Minutes with Vladimir Putin and “got to know him very well.” Except that they were interviewed separately thousands of miles apart.
  6. Climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese.

Ironically, the news of Trump being designated the year’s biggest liar comes on the same day that he is laughably demanding an apology from Hillary Clinton for saying that “He is becoming ISIS’s best recruiter.” (Clinton responded “Hell no!”) It is unarguably true that the rhetoric being espoused by Trump is a recruiting aid for terrorist organizations trying to paint the U.S. as the enemy of Islam. And it isn’t just Clinton saying so. It’s also the consensus of most terrorism experts. Even Trump’s GOP colleagues agree. Sen. Lindsey Graham (the only GOP candidate with military experience) recently said that Trump’s plan for the Middle East “would the biggest recruiting opportunity in the history of ISIL.”

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

So congratulations, Mr. Trump, on being recognized for the bullshit artist you are and always have been. The fact that your lies are so numerous that PolitiFact couldn’t even narrow down their assessment to a single one really tells the story of your acute pathology. What’s more, anyone who continues to support you after this humiliation is essentially admitting that they don’t give a damn about the truth. But since they have already conceded that they are racists who are comfortable supporting a neo-fascist, wanna-be dictator, that should not come as a surprise.

[Update:] Trump has responded to PolitiFact’s “Lie of the Year” exactly as you might expect he would – with more lies:

Trump told ABC’s Jonathan Karl that PolitiFact is “a very dishonest group in my opinion.” And he told Fox & Friends that he’s “been proven right,” despite not being able to cite any of the alleged “proof.”

WTF? Donald Trump Doesn’t Deny That He’s “A Racist And A Neo-Fascist” On Fox News

Posted by on December 20, 2015 at 3:03 pm. 1 Comments :

One of Donald Trump’s core personality traits is his resistance to acknowledging when he’s wrong. He will make brazenly false statements that are easily proven to be lies, but when challenged he will stand firmly by them no matter how ridiculous he looks.

Donald Trump

For example, despite that fact that there is no evidence that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey were cheering the fall of the World Trade Center on 9/11, Trump continues to insist that he saw it on a TV news broadcast. Also, he feverishly denied that he had mocked a disabled journalist, even though there is video of him doing so. [There are dozens more examples of Trump’s affinity for lying in the Donald Trump Bullshitopedia] It is due to his affinity for fabrication, even when facts are readily available to expose his deceit, that Bernie Sanders said this about Trump Sunday morning:

“I think you have a pathological liar there. Pathological, I really do. I mean, I think much of what he says are lies or gross distortion of reality.”

Trump’s aggressive defensiveness extends beyond the substance of his lies to the accusations that he is a liar. On Fox News’ MediaBuzz, host Howard Kurtz asked him if it’s his strategy to deliberately make “controversial” statements in order to get more media attention, Trump responded saying that “I have no strategy. You know what my strategy is? Honesty.” Of course, the record shows that that statement is just another helping of hogwash.

However, there was a more important revelation in the MediaBuzz interview. Kurtz questioned Trump about his adversarial relationship with media. He gave several examples of editorial opinions that hammered Trump for his frequently outrageous remarks, including Campbell Brown who referred to his “hateful and harmful demagoguery,” or Ben Smith (Buzzfeed) who called him a “mendacious racist,” or this exchange:

Kurtz: The Daily Beast executive editor Noah Schactman says people should boycott your businesses because he thinks you’re a racist and a neo-fascist. What do you make of this combined artillery?
Trump: I’m the only one that speaks my mind and tells the truth. And everybody knows I’m right.

Really? The man who is best known for his pugnacious self-defense; who viciously attacks anyone who is remotely critical of him; who has banned reporters from his public events because they held him to account for his crackpot rhetoric; that man failed to deny the charge that he is a racist and a neo-fascist? He simply explained that he’s speaking his mind – his a racist, neo-fascist mind.

Anyone else accused of such awful things would very likely lash out at the accuser, deny the scurrilous charges, and demand an apology. Trump, however, appears to take it as a compliment that acknowledges his open and candid expressions of hate. There was nothing in his reaction that indicated that he considered being regarded as a racist, neo-fascist an insult. Which is consistent with his campaign rhetoric that is veritably dripping with fascistic fervor.

Trump has already called for making Muslims wear ID badges, and for loading boxcars with Mexicans to ship them out of the country. He has essentially the same view of gays as his new BFF, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

This isn’t even the first time that Trump has virtually adopted Nazi ideology. Two weeks ago George Stephanopoulos asked him whether it bothered him to be compared to Hitler. Once again the notoriously bellicose candidate was given an opportunity to stand up against a harsh invective, but rather than pushing back he merely said “No, what I’m doing is no different from FDR.” And with that he was not only embracing the Hitler comparison, but he was aligning himself with one of the most shameful episodes of American history, the Japanese internment camps, which Trump refused to say he would have opposed.

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

When someone with the personality of Donald Trump declines to fight back, it can only be because he doesn’t regard the attack as offensive. Being compared to Hitler, or accused of being a racist, neo-fascist, just doesn’t bother him because it’s true and, in his view, flattering. What’s more, he doesn’t want to alienate his supporters, many of whom are affiliated with America’s white supremacists. And by standing with Trump, the Republican Party is latching on to the same affiliation.

Ted Cruz Launches A New (Allegedly Humorous) Front In The War On Christmas

Posted by on December 19, 2015 at 9:45 pm. 1 Comments :

The annoyingly sanctimonious evangelicals that dominate the Republican Party are constantly reminding everyone else how serious they are about celebrating Christmas as the remembrance of the birth of their savior. If anyone should divert from the path of reverence even slightly, they lash out with accusations of blasphemy and sacrilege. It’s gotten so bad that Walmart greeters are forbidden to wish patrons a “happy holiday,” and Starbucks is required to print reindeer and wreaths on the coffee cups. So you have to wonder how these martinets of virtue will respond to the new Ted Cruz ad (video below).

Ted Cruz

In the ad, scheduled to run during Saturday Night Live, Cruz makes an attempt at humor with a Christmas theme, but this insult to the solemnity of the season ought to make real Christians wince. At least that is what they would do if President Obama or Hillary Clinton ever tried to pull off something like this. Just the thought of Obama exploiting his children for a political ad that mocks the sacred holiday would send right-wingers into fits of holy rage. But that’s precisely what Cruz did.

The ad turns beloved traditional tales into parodies of political controversies. It is based on the sort of infomercials that peddle top 40 hits from the big band era. Some of the targets of Cruz’s comedy are “How ObamaCare Stole Christmas,” “Rudolph the Underemployed Reindeer,” and “The Grinch Who Lost Her Email.” It’s a veritable laugh riot. But by far the funniest part was that Cruz chose to remind people of his ridiculous reading of a Dr. Seuss classic during a senate filibuster. The ad opens with an announcer saying “Imagine the greatest Christmas stories told by the senator who once read ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ from the Senate floor.” Yeah, just imagine that.

There is an unsettling sense of absurdity seeing Cruz in what he obviously believes is a hilarious ad. After all, this is the candidate that just called for carpet bombing of cities in Syria where ISIS members might reside. Never mind that such a tactic would slaughter thousands of innocent civilians, including women, children, and even Christians. Cruz brags about his leadership in blocking any legislative reform to address gun safety after twenty kids were murdered at Sandy Hook. He later exploited the gun issue in another failed attempt at comedy by using an AR-15 to make what he called “Machine Gun Bacon.” And now he wants people to see his humorous side?

The ad closes with a line that he certainly regards as having a serious message. The announcer says “If you are not completely satisfied with this collection of Cruz Christmas classics, you probably hate Christmas – and America.” Anyone who has observed Cruz for any length of time knows that this is exactly what he really thinks about those who disagree with him. However, his fans will likely eat this up and consider it a heartwarming look at the jovial family man who boasts about his endorsements from preachers who advocate killing homosexuals. You know, peace on Earth and goodwill toward men. Just like Jesus said.

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

SNL’s Michael Che On Donald Trump’s “Phone Sex” Appeal To Racist Republicans

Posted by on December 13, 2015 at 3:36 pm. NO Comments :

Just as some portion of the mainstream media is beginning to report accurately on the overt racism of Donald Trump, Michael Che of Saturday Night Live comes up with an alternate theory that makes sense:

“At this point Trump is the political equivalent of a phone sex operator. He’s just whispering whatever dirty little racist fantasies Republicans want to hear.”

trump-phone-sex

The segment on last night’s SNL Weekend Update is one of the funniest bits of the whole campaign season. Che’s premise is that Trump is not actually racist at all, despite all the evidence pouring out of his own mouth. Che notes Trump’s prior associations with people like Don King and Apprentice contestant Omarosa. He says that…

“I don’t believe that Donald Trump is a racist. He’s just pandering to the most prejudiced segment of the country. He’s hustling them. […] None of what he’s saying is true. You don’t just develop racism overnight on the campaign trail. Racism is embedded deep down in a person’s soul. I’ve looked into that man’s eyes. Donald Trump doesn’t have a soul.”

Indeed, Trump appears to have no moral center. His positions on issues have spun wildly from being pro-choice to total opposition to any abortion; from advocating tax increases for the wealthy to proposing across-the-board tax cuts; from favoring universal health care to dismissing ObamaCare as a disaster; from floating an isolationist foreign policy just a few weeks ago that would have Russia fighting with Syria against ISIS to his new promise to “bomb the shit out of ISIS?” He even praised Hillary Clinton effusively calling her a “terrific woman,” but he now says that she was “the worst Secretary of State in the history of the United States.”

Either Trump is nursing multiple personalities or he is just adopting positions that he thinks he can exploit to advance his craving for power and adulation. He does have an eager audience among ill-informed Tea Party discontents who don’t mind being lied to (see the Trump Bullsitopedia for a growing catalog of his lies). In fact, like the phone sex patron, it seems to turn them on. They have an uncanny ability to let their imaginations subsume reality so long as it satisfies their political lusts.

However, it doesn’t seem possible that someone could so fiercely promulgate such ugly rhetoric without that sort of bigotry being ingrained in them. A decent, tolerant person with respect for others would choke and stammer trying to say the hateful things that comprise Trump’s platform. Trump says them with such confidence and certainty that he could not possibly be putting it on. Perhaps Che’s contention that Trump lacks a soul could account for his being able to pitch this hate speech. But either way it means that he is fully capable of harboring the most vile forms of bigotry. And Che is addressing it in what may be the most effective way – with ridicule.

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

WTF? Donald Trump Backed By KKK, Thinks He’ll Win 100% Of Black Vote

Posted by on December 11, 2015 at 3:11 pm. 9 Comments :

There is a point at which Donald Trump’s repugnant reality TV persona crosses over the line from merely hateful, nativist demagoguery to psychopathic delusion. Some will argue that the line was crossed long ago, but whatever doubt remains has just been obliterated.

Donald Trump

Yesterday Politico published an in-depth article detailing the broad-based admiration for Trump among America’s white supremacists. That ought not to come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to Trump’s campaign. On the day he announced that he was running he slandered Latinos by characterizing Mexican immigrants as rapists and murderers. He went on to insult pretty much every minority constituency in the nation, culminating with his most recent racist and unconstitutional proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the country. These views have resulted in a surge of support from the KKK crowd. From Politico:

“The Ku Klux Klan is using Donald Trump as a talking point in its outreach efforts. Stormfront, the most prominent American white supremacist website, is upgrading its servers in part to cope with a Trump traffic spike. And former Louisiana Rep. David Duke reports that the businessman has given more Americans cover to speak out loud about white nationalism than at any time since his own political campaigns in the 1990s.”

Indeed, Trump has made it easier for bigots to come out of the closet and proudly exalt their white heritage over the minorities they fear and regard as inferior. Given his overtly racist rhetoric, that is not surprising. What is surprising is that Trump’s campaign not only doesn’t think he will be hurt by his hate speech, but what they actually believe they can achieve is mind-boggling. Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney and executive vice president at the Trump Organization, told Yahoo News…

When asked how much of the African-American vote the campaign wants to win, Cohen had a perfectly Trumpian answer: All of it. “Our goal is 100 percent.”

That’s right. 100%! If that isn’t a symptom of megalomaniacal psychosis than Napoleon was a misunderstood wallflower. Trump would be exceedingly fortunate with a showing in the teens. He has done nothing but alienate black voters. A recent meeting he held with black pastors turned into an embarrassing affair after he told the press that they were endorsing him. Many of them had to correct the record and very few ended up making an endorsement. But Cohen went on to make an observation that touched on the truth at the beginning, but then fell completely apart.

According to Cohen, Trump needs to win black voters because other minority groups won’t support him: “The truth, yeah, I’m trying to coordinate it because I am mindful of the fact that, you know, there are coalitions and I’m talking about now like Hispanic coalitions that … will not support Trump,” Cohen explained. “And that’s OK because the ones that don’t like Trump aren’t even here legally and they can’t vote, so it doesn’t really matter, right?”

This doesn’t even make sense. Cohen is saying that Trump needs to pack in black voters to replace Latinos who will not vote for him. To the extent that he needs to find constituencies to replace those he’s insulted, that’s true. But then he asserts that those Latinos he’s lost can’t vote anyway. So according to his own warped logic, there aren’t really any lost votes that need to be replaced by African-Americans. And setting aside the incoherence of that logic, he is further demeaning Latino-Americans by accusing them all of being here illegally. But not only are they a significant percentage of the citizen population, they are the fastest growing voter demographic in the nation.

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

This would be a good time to remember that Trump had previously asserted that, despite his hostile rhetoric, he intended to win the Latino vote as well. Back in July he said that…

“I have a great relationship with the Mexican people. I have many people working for me […] They love me, I love them. And I’ll tell you something, if I get the nomination, I’ll win the Latino vote.”

See? He loves them. And they love him because they work for him. And everybody loves their boss, don’t they? Especially bosses who insult you and treat you like crap (A few days ago employees of Trump’s International Hotel in Las Vegas voted to unionize in order to attain fair wages, respect, and dignity). Apparently, now that great relationship with Mexicans has soured. Although he still has his great relationship with “the blacks,” as he calls them. At least until he decides to throw them overboard too. But none of this better get back to the Klan, the only group in this story that is actually supporting Trump’s candidacy.

Donald Trump Says He Is Not Bothered By Comparisons To Hitler. Is The GOP?

Posted by on December 8, 2015 at 8:08 pm. 11 Comments :

It had to come to this. Donald Trump’s affinity for Nazis was always just beneath the diseased skin of his repulsive rhetoric. Now, after months of promulgating brazenly racist views, advocating policies that are indistinguishable from those of history’s fascists, and promising to commit war crimes if elected, will anybody be surprised by it bubbling to the surface? Trump’s true face was exposed today when he was asked a simple question on Good Morning America:

George Stephanopoulos: You’re increasingly compared to Hitler. Does that bother you?
Donald Trump: No, what I’m doing is no different from FDR.

Donald Trump

So there you have it. Donald Trump is not bothered by comparisons to Adolf Hitler. And why should he be? He has been running on the platform of the Nazi Party since he announced his candidacy. What’s more, he justifies his comfort with the association by positively referencing the Japanese internment camps built during the FDR administration, which are universally condemned as one of America’s most shameful actions.

When asked about those concentration camps by Michael Scherer of Time, Trump refused to say he would have opposed them. Instead, he said that he “would have had to be there at the time to tell you, to give you a proper answer.” The rest of the civilized world doesn’t need to be there to know that it was a horrific violation of human rights. Would Trump have had to be there during slavery to give a proper answer?

Trump’s fascist tendencies are apparent in his signature issue, a border wall to keep out those inferior foreigners. And he goes even further by suggesting that foreigners already in the country be rounded up, herded into boxcars, and deported using the deadly model from the 1950’s charmingly called “Operation Wetback.” He wants to create a database of American citizens based on their religion and require Muslims to wear identifying badges. He uses the media (mostly, but not exclusively, Fox News) to stir up irrational fears based on an ever-expanding catalog of lies (See the Trump Bullshitopedia). And, sadly, the media sheepishly complies with his campaign of propaganda.

The question now is: Where does the Republican Party go from here? With an avowed fascist currently leading their primary for president, the GOP has to decide which side they’re on. They simply cannot abide a candidate espousing Third Reich doctrine and expect to be taken seriously. Some of the other GOP contenders have distanced themselves from Trump’s most recent comments, and RNC chairman Reince Priebus even made a public statement of disapproval, an almost unheard of move for a party boss.

But that’s hardly enough. Earlier this year the Republican Party made all their candidates sign loyalty oaths promising to support the Party’s nominee regardless of who it is. But given the grotesque course of Trump’s campaign, that would mean pledging to support America’s foremost fascist. Anyone who honors a pledge to support Herr Trump for president is unfit for public service in a free nation. This sentiment was boldly expressed today by President Obama’s press Secretary, Josh Earnest (video below) who said that Trump’s proposal to ban all Muslims…

“…disqualifies him from being president. And for Republican candidates to stand by their pledge to support Mr. Trump, that in and of itself is disqualifying.”

So far, none of the other GOP candidates has had the integrity (guts?) to publicly declare that they would not support Trump if he is the nominee. That is partly due to their innate cowardice, as they do not want to alienate Trump’s current constituency of fascist-friendly voters. Why they want those voters in their corner is a sick mystery. But a part of it is also due to their fear that Trump might ditch the GOP and run as a Third (Reich) Party candidate. A recent poll shows that 68% of his glassy-eyed disciples would vote for him were he to run as an independent. And Trump is reminding his Republican pals of this in his twitter feed.

So Trump is wrapping his GOP peers around his middle finger. But how much sway does he really have? He can’t possibly win as an independent. While more than two-thirds is a significant chunk of his base, it is a tiny slice of the electorate. Do the math: About 30% of the American people identify as Republican. Trump has about 30% support within the Republican Party. So that’s about 9% of the population at large. Those who would follow him to a third party reduces that by 30%. So Trump would get a measly 6% of the national vote from Republicans, plus whatever independents and Democrats would crossover. In short, he would lose in a landslide.

The problem for the GOP is that, in a close race, that 6% could swing the election to the Democrat. And that’s why Republicans are running scared and failing to show the character to renounce Trump. However, if they don’t renounce Trump they are doing serious damage to their reputation which could cost them more than 6% come November. So the only course of action for them is to have some intestinal fortitude and do the right thing. They need to modify their loyalty oath to exclude Trump from among those whom they would support as the GOP nominee. This shouldn’t be that hard for them because Trump has already hinted that he is ready to violate the pledge.

If Trump acts first and bolts the Party they can’t ever regain the dignity that would come by having kicked him out. But if they move first they can at least brag that they held to their principles and turned their backs on fascism (at least Trump’s brand of it). But they better move fast. Trump is just unpredictable (and egotistical) enough to make a surprise announcement before anyone expects it. And since the GOP has little to lose, they would be smart to cast him out now. Unfortunately for them, they may not be that smart. Of course, that would be quite fortunate for the Democrats.

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

[Update:] Donald Trump continues his Anti-American Crusade: “These are people that are outside the country, so we’re really not talking about the Constitution. And it’s not about religion. This is about safety.” In other words, in pursuit of his warped idea of safety he would scrap the Constitution.

Pathological Liar Donald Trump Is Calling Other People Liars Which, Of Course, Is A Lie

Posted by on December 6, 2015 at 3:46 pm. 4 Comments :

The volume of excrement spewing from the mouth of Donald Trump continues to increase by the day. The latest eruption comes from a speech he gave in Davenport, Iowa, where he made baseless accusations against Saira Khan, the sister of terrorist gunman Syed Farook.

Donald Trump

In an interview (video below) with NBC’s Chris Jansing, Khan revealed that she, and other members of her family, were shocked by her brother’s involvement in the attack. She was clearly distraught and described it as a nightmare. But when Trump watched the interview he saw more than the average mortal would be able to see.

Trump: I watched the sister of the guy last night on television, right, and I’m pretty good at this stuff, and I watched her, she had the veil, the whole thing, she’s talking about the brother. […] I thought she was lying so much. I’m good at this. I thought she was a total liar. I watched her being interviewed last night, right? She lied about him. She didn’t know he felt this way? She knew. And a lot of other people knew, too.

So The Donald is “good at this stuff?” What is he talking about? Reading people’s minds? What he’s good at is libeling people without a speck of evidence. For him to say flatly that “she knew” is a malicious assertion that could result in serious harm physically, emotionally, and to her reputation. Trump is effectively saying that she is an accomplice to terrorism. And for a pathological liar like Trump to impugn the honesty of anyone else is just ludicrous.

A couple of years ago Glenn Beck similarly implied that an innocent person was involved in the Boston marathon bombing. Beck is now being sued for his reckless and bigoted comments. And the same thing should happen to Trump. However, this defamation fits nicely with Trump’s prior remarks last week wherein he said that family members should be targeted in military strikes, which would constitute war crimes.

Trump: When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don’t kid yourself when they say they don’t care about their lives. You have to take out their families.

This focus on the family is a rapidly developing pattern for Trump. With today’s libel against Ms Khan, and last week’s advocacy of war crimes, Trump is showing that he has no regard for innocent human life. It’s a position he comes to through his innate racism and a desire exploit the fear of his paranoid followers. Even worse, it is steeped in the sort of unmitigated ignorance and delusion that produced his fantastical claim that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey were celebrating the fall of the World Trade Center buildings.

Trump’s disturbing assault on family members, whose beliefs he can’t possibly know, took another turn toward the nauseating hate-mongering that has become the trademark of his campaign. On CBS’ Face the Nation this morning he whipped up another slap at families and simultaneously added another bald-faced lie to the Trump Bullshitopedia:

Trump: [The 9/11 hijackers] put their families on airplanes, couple of days before, sent them back to Saudi Arabia for the most part. Those wives knew exactly what was going to happen.

There’s just one small problem with that wild assertion. Only one of the nineteen hijackers was married. No doubt Trump saw “thousands and thousands” of terrorist housewives boarding planes on September 9th, taking with them their knowledge of Bin Laden’s plans. And if anyone disputes his claims he will back them up with hundreds of his twitter followers who also saw the phantom planes. Mass dementia is working well for Trump. It’s probably something he learned from Fox News.

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

If You Think Donald Trump’s Supporters Are Ignorant Asses, Guess What? Trump Agrees!

Posted by on December 5, 2015 at 3:12 pm. 7 Comments :

Let’s face it, there cannot be an any more willfully ignorant constituency in America than the pinheads who have pledged their allegiance to Donald Trump. They continue to support him despite his failure to offer any specifics on how he would govern. Even worse, they continue to support him even when he is caught brazenly lying.

Donald Trump

For instance, he grossly mimicked a disabled reporter, then claimed that he didn’t despite the video evidence. He said that he personally saw “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11, despite the absence of any corroborating video which would have been everywhere if it existed. He claimed to have met Vladimir Putin during a 60 Minutes interview and “got to know him very well,” even though they were interviewed on separate occasions, thousands of miles apart. [See the Trump Bullshitopedia for many more documented lies]

Generally when a candidate is proven to be a pathological liar, rational voters will slink away repulsed and a bit ashamed for having been fooled. But for some reason Trump, an elitist, narcissistic billionaire, born into wealth and privilege, inspires a demented loyalty on the part of his glassy-eyed disciples. In fact, the more blatant and bizarre his lies, the louder they cheer.

As an illustration of just how eagerly Trump-pods lap up his empty rhetoric, observe this exchange with a supporter at a rally yesterday in Raleigh, North Carolina:

Question: I want to know what you would say to President Obama.
Trump (interrupting): You’re fired.
[Isn’t that cute? He used the lame catchphrase from his old TV show to make an impotent threat that he has no power to carry out]

Question: I was wondering what you would say to President Obama now that we’ve had a terrorist attack right here in our country, in California. that I’m sure they did everything they could to try to cover that up. But it has been stated today that it is and it was a terrorist attack. How would you handle that?
Trump: I would handle it so tough, you have no idea.
[That’s right. Because you never say what you would do about anything]

Trump (cont’d): You don’t want to hear, you don’t even want to hear. You don’t want to hear how I’d handle it.
[Of course they don’t. It might hurt their feeble brains. This is where Trump acknowledges that his supporters are mindless devotees who aren’t interested in his plans, only his cult of personality]

Trump (cont’d): I would get myself in so much trouble with them (pointing to the media). We are going to handle it so tough. And you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to get it stopped.
[Oh! That’s how you’re going to stop terrorism – by stopping it. Why hasn’t anyone else thought of that?]

Throughout this surreal dialog the audience was clapping like trained seals. They actually think this was a substantive discourse on national security. They also think that Trump will save the economy by saving it, fix healthcare by fixing it, and that Climate Change is a hoax because it’s cold where they are right now. [Also great news: World hunger is over because I just ate. h/t Stephen Colbert]

Donald Trump is the perfect manifestation of the idiocy of his audience. His inability to articulate a coherent policy matches their inability (and disinterest) to grasp one. The frightening thing is that the rest of the Republican field is jockeying to attract these same dimwits. So even when the Trump bubble deflates, the eventual GOP nominee will have adopted his crackpot platform. Trump is the lowest common denominator of the Republican base (with an emphasis on base). He is an egomaniacal wannabe despot who thinks he’s a savior. He has such delusions of grandeur that he thinks (via tweet) that the parody video below was “Done by a real fan!” Yeah, sure it was.

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

Criminal Crony Ted Cruz Says Most Violent Criminals Are Democrats

Posted by on December 1, 2015 at 3:15 pm. 8 Comments :

In what can only be described as an episode of acute dementia, Sen. Ted Cruz made an allegation so bizarre that Donald Trump may sue him for infringing on his trademarked persona. Speaking to right-wing radio hack, Hugh Hewitt, Cruz embarked on a rant wherein he claimed that most violent criminals identify as Democrats.

Cruz: Here is the simple and undeniable fact – the overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats. […] The Democrats know that convicted felons tend to vote Democrat. The media never reports on any of that.

Ted Cruz

Cruz never explains how he ascertained the voting habits of America’s violent criminals. As “facts” go, his are neither simple nor undeniable. Rather, it is downright loony. Particularly the part where he asserts that by an “overwhelming majority” “convicted felons tend to vote Democrat.” How Cruz determined that is a mystery since most states have some sort of restriction on voting at all for persons convicted of a felony. What’s more, there are no studies that breakout the voting preferences of felons who are violent.

It is possible that more total felons lean Democratic simply because of the demographics of the prison population. More people who are poor or minorities are sent to prison after arrests and convictions. Often it is for non-violent crimes like marijuana possession or shoplifting. In those cases it is backwards to say that upon release these felons vote as Democrats. It is more correct to say that these Democratic leaning offenders are more often subject to prosecution and incarceration by a prejudiced justice system. If bankers, lawyers, stockbrokers, corporate executives, and offenders from wealthy families were arrested, convicted, and incarcerated at rates relative to their criminal activity, the situation would be very different.

What Cruz was attempting to do with these remarks was to exonerate violent conservative criminals like Robert Dear, the anti-abortion, Obama-hating wingnut who just murdered three people, and wounded nine others, at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood facility. Dear is another in a long line of right-wing Christianists who have engaged in violence to advance their radical agenda. And rather than address this weekend’s tragic events, Cruz sought to deflect with a ludicrous accusation against his political foes.

If Ted Cruz is really concerned about violent felons, he might want to stop associating with them. Shortly before the Planned Parenthood attack, Cruz was bragging about having received an endorsement from an activist who has called for the “execution” of abortion providers. Troy Newman, president of the far-right anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, has not only called for such executions, but has come to the defense of several radical Christianists who were convicted of bombings, shootings, and other violence against doctors and clinics. Operation Rescue was founded by Randall Terry, himself a convicted felon.

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

As it turns out, Donald Trump isn’t the only Republican candidate that is saying ridiculous and unsupportable things without consequence. The so-called “liberal” media is utterly useless when it comes to holding people accountable for spewing blatant lies. Ted Cruz should not be able to get away with his hostile rhetoric and his evasion from firmly condemning the domestic terrorism against women’s rights and the senseless violence that took the lives of a police officer, a veteran, and a young mother.

His Majesty Donald Trump Uses Threats To Gain Superiority Over Politics And The Press

Posted by on November 24, 2015 at 3:29 pm. 6 Comments :

The media is pouncing on Donald Trump today for his blatantly false claims to have seen “thousands and thousands” of Muslims celebrating the fall of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. What he says he personally witnessed never actually happened and PolitiFact, among other fact checkers, rated it a “Pants on Fire“ lie. He is also taking heat for re-tweeting a racist graphic of homicide statistics that were completely made up (probably by a neo-Nazi). And then there’s the episode at his rally where he encouraged his supporters to beat up a protester, later saying that he deserved it.

Donald Trump

However, there was another newsmaking event that took place that isn’t getting much play from the media. Trump’s bullying of the press has devolved into severely oppressive tactics that reflect his tyrannical tendencies. He and his campaign aides have taken steps to punish, muzzle, and otherwise suppress the First Amendment rights of the reporters covering his campaign. It has gotten so bad that media organizations that normally compete with one another are meeting to discuss the matter and to formulate a response. The Washington Post reports that…

“According to people at multiple networks, senior managers from the five leading TV news networks — ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox and NBC News — will discuss their response in an effort to push back against what they deem harsh and restrictive behavior by Trump’s managers, including his top aide, campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.”

The abuses being suffered by the press include the Trump campaign threatening to pull the press credentials of reporters who dare to leave the “pen” provided for them by Trump’s handlers. His people even explicitly threaten to “blacklist” disobedient reporters. By disobedient they mean those who seek to interview people attending Trump’s events or to cover protests. In other words, those who are doing their jobs as reporters. In one case Lewandowski told another campaign staffer “Hey: Tell Noah [Gray of CNN], get back in the pen or he’s f—ing blacklisted.” WaPo further reported that…

“The campaign has also declined to give credentials to reporters from news organizations it has deemed unfriendly. The list includes BuzzFeed, the Huffington Post, Fusion, Univision and the Des Moines Register.”

This is unprecedented in a democracy that reveres freedom of the press. But worse, it is a preview of the sort of ham-handed censorship that a wannabe dictator like Trump would employ were he to hold any position of power. It has to have gotten pretty bad for competing media enterprises to come together in search of a solution. But don’t hold your breath waiting for the press to challenge Trump. They are more interested in the potential ratings they think he will draw than in their journalistic integrity.

It’s fascinating that his supporters, ostensibly conservatives who claim to favor small government and personal freedom, are still drawn to this budding despot who seeks absolute power and is proposing growing government in the most intrusive way: more federal agents to monitor churches, more security forces on the border, more surveillance of citizens and registries to track them. And his supporters are the same people who were so rapt with an irrational fear of President Obama’s imaginary “czars.”

In a separate example of the intransigent totalitarianism of Donald Trump, he is holding the Republican Party hostage with threats to bolt and run as an independent if they don’t squelch a growing contingent of critics who are uniting to produce and distribute anti-Trump ads. [This isn’t the first time he has threatened to break his pledge of party loyalty]. It’s called politics and every politician is aware of how it works. But for Trump, the notion that His Majesty would be the target of an attack is unthinkable. Reuters reports that…

“Donald Trump’s presidential campaign warned the Republican Party on Tuesday about donors pooling funds for attack ads, saying Republicans must treat him fairly if they want to keep him from launching an independent bid.

“Trump lawyer Michael Cohen told CNN that if Republican donors backing different presidential candidates come together for an anti-Trump advertising campaign, it would be a ‘bad, bad decision.’ […] ‘If they treat him fairly, he will honor the pledge because he’s an honorable guy. If they break that agreement with him, as they say ‘woe be on them,’ Cohen told CNN.”

“Woe be on them?” Trump is literally going Medieval on the RNC. Of course, the Republican Party has no control over Super PACs that are independent and free to pursue their own political missions. In Trump’s mind there is an overarching authority on whom he can force his will under threat of annihilation to any peasant who dares to defy his omnipotence.

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

The question is, will the RNC capitulate to Trump and forever be his bitch? Will the media surrender and allow Trump to dictate the terms of their coverage? Trump is an aspiring tyrant and the time to squash his power-mad dreams is now. Unfortunately, his party and the press may be too impotent to stand up for their own interests, and for those of democracy and America. If they had any integrity or guts the RNC would tell him to stop whining, honor his pledge, or take a flying leap, and the press would tell him go to hell and then cover him the way they would any other candidate. As it looks now, they are just preparing to embarrass themselves and let an ignorant, loudmouth, with delusions of grandeur run all over them.