Trump Declares Himself King of the White House Press Corps, Will Now Decide Who Can Question Him

Posted by Mark NC on February 26, 2025 at 12:49 pm. NO Comments :

For over a century, the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) has been responsible for setting the standards for reporters who cover the president. Their commitment to independence and professional journalism has ensured that the coverage of the White House and its occupants would be both tough and fair.

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From its inception, the mission of the WHCA has been to “share the belief, held by our country’s Founders and enshrined in the First Amendment, that an independent news media is vital to the health of the republic.” It is, in fact, the only way to ensure that the interests of the people are being served. Unfortunately, Donald Trump doesn’t agree. And he has dispatched his Propaganda Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to see to the dismantling of the White House press corps.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Press Secretary Pledges to Plant Pro-Trump Crackpots in the White House Press Room

As evidence of this betrayal of American principles and the Constitution, Leavitt, made an announcement on Wednesday that further erodes any pretense by the Trump administration to value the free press. She said that…

“As you all know, a group of D.C.-based journalists, the White House Correspondents Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the President of the United States in these intimate spaces, Not anymore. I am proud to announce that we are giving the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows, and who listen to your radio stations. Moving forward, the White House press pool, will be determined by the White House Press Team.”

Trump isn't satisfied with merely lying to the press. Now he's actually assuming control over who is even allowed to ask him questions.

It's a straight-up dictator move that must make his Kremlin handlers so proud. https://t.co/yrhyLImk9p

— News Corpse (@NewsCorpse) February 26, 2025

First of all, Leavitt is engaging in the sort of disinformation that is the hallmark of the Trump regime. The WHCA does not “dictate which journalists get to ask questions of the President.” They evaluate the credentials of White House correspondents, and approve those who meet the high standards that warrant access to the halls of power. It is a merit based system that the White House is permitted to participate in.

More to the point, Leavitt’s decree that the WHCA will no longer perform the function that they have been fulfilling admirably for decades is a spine-chilling imitation of how the media is oppressed under the thumb of Vladimir Putin’s Politburo. She isn’t “giving the power back to the people.” She’s giving it to the wannabe dictator who regularly maligns the press as “the enemy of the people.”

This change means that Trump and his flunkies will decide who gets to ask him questions. And their recent decrees in that regard have been guided by their flagrant biases and vengefulness. It could not be more obvious that they intend to censor all those who are not adoringly worshipful of Trump. They have already replaced longstanding media outlets like NBC News, the New York Times, and NPR, with One America News Network, the New York Post, and Breitbart News. These are not exactly icons of journalistic integrity.

The WHCA responded to this authoritarian decree in a statement saying that…

“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.” – Eugene Daniels, White House Correspondents’ Association president.

Trump himself weighed in on the issue saying that…

“We’re gonna be now calling those shots. As you know, we won that lawsuit right there, see the Gulf of America, which is a beautiful name. Most people agree.

“AP has been terrible. I think they’re radical left. I think they’re third rate reporters. I know the specific young lady that works on the account is terrible. she’s a radical left lunatic, as far as I’m concerned.”

Trump on the new policy of the White House picking the journalists who cover the White House: "Well, we're gonna be now calling those shots."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-02-25T22:10:56.551Z

So Herr Trump is bragging that he will be “calling the shots” from now on. And to reinforce his tyrannical tendencies, he insults the White House correspondent for the Associated Press in his familiar infantile fashion.

Elaborating on his malicious attack, Trump referred to his banning of the AP because they refused to bow down to his order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico in their international editions, where he has no authority to change geographical names. He did not win any lawsuit on the matter. It is scheduled to be heard next month by a judge who appears to be leaning toward the view that Trump is in violation of the Constitution.

While Trump may be able to forbid honest journalists from asking him question in his Washington and Palm Beach bunkers, he cannot stop them from asking questions in their own reporting. However, he may find that the conspicuous absence of his lie-riddled answers will only make his autocracy-driven cowardice more obvious, and eventually, more injurious to his already rotten reputation.

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Trump’s Press Secretary Pledges to Plant Pro-Trump Crackpots in the White House Press Room

Posted by Mark NC on January 29, 2025 at 1:19 pm. 3 Comments :

As Donald Trump continues his mission to guide America down the path toward his anti-democratic brand of authoritarianism, his administration underlings are faithfully carrying out his directives in a manner that is familiar to students of tyrannical regimes throughout history.

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Prominent among Trump’s team of neo-fascistas is his Politburo Chief, Karoline Leavitt, whose commitment disseminating propaganda would make Goebbels proud. She has been a devoted advocate of transforming the role of press secretary into a clearing house for Trump’s official falsehoods and MAGA evangelism.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Press Secretary Plans to Turn the WH Briefing Room Into a Pro-Trump Propaganda Mill

On Tuesday Leavitt told reporters about her intention to allow members of “new media” to apply for White House press credentials. by that she means the sort of MAGA friendly Internet influencers that Trump relied on to spread his dishonest campaign messages last year. She said that…

“I take great pride in opening up this room to new media voices to share the president’s message with as many Americans as possible. In doing so, number one, we will ensure that outlets like yours, Axios and Breitbart, which are widely respected and viewed outlets, have an actual seat in this room every day. We also, again, encourage anybody in this country, whether you are a TikTok content creator, a blogger, a podcaster, if you are producing legitimate news content, no matter the medium you will be allowed to apply for press credentials to this White House.”

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announces that members of "new media" can apply for White House press credentials:

"Whether you are a TikTok content creator, a blogger, a podcaster, if you are producing legitimate news content … you will be allowed to apply." pic.twitter.com/eEuBIJTGwh

— The Recount (@therecount) January 28, 2025

This would be a good time to remind everyone that in Trump World Joe Rogan and Alex Jones produce “legitimate news content.” So Leavitt would permit crackpots like that to take the seats of credible journalist that Trump doesn’t like, such as Jim Acosta who was just elbowed out of CNN by executives who are partial to, or afraid of, Trump.

Leavitt, however, neglected to note that it is not within her duties as press secretary to decide who gets to attend the White House press briefings. While the White House Press Office does authorize access to the White House itself, reporters need to be accredited by the independent White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) and pass a background check by the Secret Service. Something tells me that Alex Jones, and others of his ilk, would have difficulty meeting either of those criteria.

So it took eight days into Trump 2.0 before Leavitt finally held her first press briefing from the White House. And it surely didn’t disappoint those who were expecting a free-flowing festival of partisan flackery. Despite her stated commitment to “telling the truth from this podium every single day,” she lied repeatedly, including in her promise to tell the truth “every single day,” since she’s only been at that podium one day so far.

Among Leavitt’s lies were those that addressed Trump’s halting of federal assistance and grant programs, his inhumane mass deportation plans, his non-existent initiatives to lower consumer prices, his vengeful revocation of security for former government officials, his illegal firing of inspectors general and Justice Department officials, his inflationary tariffs, and his absurd claim that he sent the military to California to turn a magic faucet that would get the water flowing.

Michael Kosta of “The Daily Show” was among those watching Leavitt’s debut performance. And he couldn’t help but notice her attitudinal shift from campaign flack to White House hack. He presented a video clip demonstrating how she has moved forward from her prior role as a Biden basher…

Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt kicked off her tenure by hosting The Roast of Joe Biden pic.twitter.com/x6tmjOzgQ6

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 29, 2025

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YIKES! Trump’s Press Briefing Room Could Be Populated By Fawning Sycophants and MAGA Trolls

Posted by Mark NC on November 30, 2024 at 2:03 pm. NO Comments :

As the administration of Donald Trump continues to take shape, the vile nature of the beast is becoming unmistakable. Although he campaigned on “draining the swamp,” it is clear that his true intention is to fill it to the brim with toxic sludge. That would explain his proposed department heads whose total lack experience compliments their preposterous policies.

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Among Trump’s ill-considered staffers are the likes of Robert F. Kennedy Jr at Health and Human Services, Matt Gaetz at the Justice Department (now succeeded by Pam Bondi because Gaetz was TOO sleazy), and Pete Hegseth (whose own mother castigated him as an “abuser” of women) at the Defense Department. The “qualities” Trump’s nominees share are primarily unwavering fealty to Trump, and having served previously on Fox News.

SEE THIS: Trump is Stacking His Cabinet with Fox News Trump-Fluffers

The nightmare roster of Trump’s Cabinet should not deflect our attention from other critical White House offices that Trump is determined to debase. For instance, Trump is reported to be planning an overhaul of the White House Press Briefing Room. His animosity toward to the media is well known, repeatedly referring to it in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” His hatred of the free press is further evident in his serial lawsuits and threats against news enterprises that have committed the offense of telling the truth about him.

The latest wrinkle in Trump’s anti-media campaign is his focus on restricting who will be admitted into the Briefing Room. Politico is reporting that…

“‘Both the strategy and the press briefing room will likely look a whole lot more like the media consumption habits of the American voters of today versus the 1980s,’ said a Trump official granted anonymity to discuss plans still in the works. ‘I could very well see a press briefing room where Maggie Haberman sits next to Joe Rogan.'”

Oh Great! Trump wants to replace reputable journalists with fawning sycophants and MAGA trolls. To be sure, there are some serious problems with the way that mainstream media has covered Trump over the past few years. They have been far too felicitous, too timid with regard to calling out Trump’s pathological lying, and too quick to normalize or “sane-wash” his incomprehensible babbling.

However, that’s not a reason to ditch the media. It’s a reason to fight to reform it. Even in its current state the media has provided significant information about Trump’s criminal activities and his associations with nefarious players, including agents of hostile foreign adversaries.

We can wave goodbye to any of that sort of reporting if Trump has his way and the national newspapers and television networks are replaced or overshadowed by people like Rogan, Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Nick Fuentes, Laura Loomer, Alex Jones, etc.

Just imagine the sort of questions that the aforementioned Trump-fluffers would ask of his doting press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. Following his imposition of inflationary tariffs, they would ask how quickly his policy will make all Americans wealthy? After Ukraine falls due to Trump withholding aid, they would inquire as to how much better life will be under Russian rule. As more women and others suffer and die as a result of his weakening or repealing Obamacare, they will seek to learn more about his proposed raw milk cure for the new pandemic.

The purpose of hosting journalists in the White House Press Briefing room is to hold the administration accountable and gather information to keep the nation’s citizens informed. But under the reign of Trump it would shift to disseminating pure propaganda intended to disinform, and exalt Dear Leader.

This will make the job of real journalists that much harder. Not just because gathering relevant news will be more difficult, but because breaking through the wall of official propaganda will be a challenge. We will need to come up with new ways to to communicate and to validate the news. And the White House will become an obstacle to those goals. Is the media in its present form capable of operating in this new environment? They – and we – better be.

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White House Seeks Retraction from Fox News of Biden Smears By GOP and Russian Indicted for Lying

Posted by Mark NC on March 1, 2024 at 2:32 pm. 2 Comments :

For nearly a year now, the Republican Party has been desperately struggling to invent pseudo-scandals and contrived crimes that they could pin on President Biden and use to justify their preposterous and ponderously partisan impeachment plot. Those efforts have produced nothing that is even remotely incriminating against Biden. But they have produced plenty of humiliation for the GOP.

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A major component of the GOP’s smear campaign was delivered by a shady character, Alexander Smirnov, who is now in jail after having been indicted for fabricating his whole story and lying to authorities about it. Smirnov has also been found to have unsavory links to the Russian intelligence operations that have conducted election interference campaigns in the U.S. And the questions about his lack of credibility are nothing new. Fox News even noted it way back in July of 2023.

SEE THIS: UH-OH: Even Fox News Rejects the GOP’s ‘Evidence’ to Impeach Biden as ‘Completely Unverified’

Despite the obvious faults and falsehoods in the fables being told by Republicans like Jim Jordan and James Comer, and their Ministry of Propaganda agents on Fox News, such as Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, and Laura Ingraham, these deliberate defamers have stuck to their stories and are still refusing to tell the truth. Consequently, the White House is taking steps to get some corrections on the record…

“The White House is demanding that Fox News retract or revise its coverage of claims that Joe Biden was involved in a multi-million dollar bribery scheme after the key witness in the allegation was indicted for making it all up.

In a letter to top executives, Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, cited Fox News Digital stories on the bribery claims, including ones headlined ‘The Explosive New Evidence of Biden Family’s Breathtaking Corruption,’ labeled an opinion piece from Gregg Jarrett, and ‘Joe Biden Allegedly Paid $5M By Burisma Executive As Part of Bribery Scheme, According to FBI Document,’ a story from Brooke Singman. Other stories reported that the allegations came from a ‘highly credible” source.'”

Sams further noted that…

“Despite this, Fox has taken no steps to retract, correct or update its reporting on this false allegation from 2023.” [And that the White House feels strongly that Fox’s stories] “at a minimum be updated with editor’s notes informing readers that the source of this allegation has been federally indicted for making it up.” [And that Fox News] “inform their viewers on air that they have been sharing a discredited allegation.”

The White House shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for Fox News to comply with this request. They knew that what they had reported was unverified and likely untrue at the time. They didn’t care. Their purpose is not to report the news. It is to disseminate propaganda that maligns Biden and other Democrats, and to advance the prospects of Trump and his MAGA GOP.

That’s why Fox News reported what were known lies in the first place. And it’s why they won’t consider making any retractions, corrections, or apologies now that their lies, and the lying liar they relied on, have been exposed to the world. Undeterred by journalistic integrity, or even morality, Fox News will remain steadfastly true to their mission of deceit and right-wing propaganda. It’s what they’ve done from their inception, and they aren’t about to stop now.

Nevertheless, it is appropriate that the White House make a good faith attempt to set the record straight, no matter how unlikely that it is that Fox will decide to be honest – for a change.

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White House Memo to Media Calls for Scrutiny of the GOP’s Baseless, Bogus Push to Impeach Biden

Posted by Mark NC on September 13, 2023 at 2:14 pm. 5 Comments :

The Republican Party, under the “leadership” of House Squeaker Kevin McCarthy, seems hell-bent on proving that they have no interest whatsoever in governing on behalf of the American people that they purport to represent. They are establishing themselves as the modern day Inquisition on a mission to smear their political foes.

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The revenge agenda of the GOP is noticeably driven by the tedious tantrums of their Dear Leader, Donald Trump. Since even before the 2020 election, he has been obsessively focused on fabricating wholly dishonest attacks on Democrats and President Biden. As a indication of just how fixated Trump is on bashing Biden, he has retracted his longtime, infantile nickname of “Crooked Hillary” and replaced it with “Crooked Joe.” And he has been instrumental in pushing McCarthy to empanel an impeachment inquiry that is purely partisan and politically motivated.

In response to McCarthy’s impeachment inquiry announcement, the White House sent a memo to the media with the apt subject line asserting that “It’s Time For The Media To Do More To Scrutinize House Republicans’ Demonstrably False Claims That They’re Basing Impeachment Stunt On.” (See also the memo’s appendix debunking several blatant GOP lies) The memo’s author, Ian Sams, Special Assistant to the President and Spokesman for White House Counsel’s Office, opened the communication saying that…

“After nearly 9 months of investigating, House Republicans haven’t been able to turn up any evidence of the President doing anything wrong. But House Republicans led by Marjorie Taylor Greene are nonetheless opening a baseless impeachment inquiry of President Biden – despite many House Republicans openly admitting there is no evidence on which to support it.”

The memo notes that as many as 30 Republicans have expressed their reluctance to initiate an impeachment inquiry due to the total absence of any credible grounds for doing so. There are also quotes from seven Republicans who concede that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing by Biden and thus, no justification for McCarthy’s partisan political stunt. Among them are such conservative stalwarts as Ken Buck of Colorado, Dave Joyce of Ohio, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, and Don Bacon of Nebraska.

The memo condemns House Republicans for “lurching toward impeachment over allegations that are not only unfounded but, in virtually all cases, have been actively disproven – including by witnesses and documents in their own investigations.” The memo goes on to note that “reporting that solely focuses on process rather than substance is woefully inadequate when it comes to something as historically grave as impeachment.” Elaborating, the memo suggests that…

“It’s time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies. When even House Republican members are admitting that there is simply no evidence that Joe Biden did anything wrong, much less impeachable, that should set off alarm bells for news organizations.” […]

“And in the modern media environment, where every day liars and hucksters peddle disinformation and lies everywhere from Facebook to Fox, process stories that fail to unpack the illegitimacy of the claims on which House Republicans are basing all their actions only serve to generate confusion, put false premises in people’s feeds, and obscure the truth.”

It’s appropriate that the memo calls out Fox News. On Tuesday’s episode of their top-rated “The Five,” co-host and self-anointed comic genius, Greg Gutfeld, embraced the lack of any factual basis saying that “Zero evidence doesn’t matter because the first Trump impeachment there was more evidence for Bigfoot.” Of course, there were mountains of evidence in both of Trump’s impeachments, mostly provided by Republicans.

What’s more, Fox News host, and former Trump press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, complained that the White House memo was a propaganda effort and was “telling the media organizations what to do.” In reality, it was the sort of routine request that she made hundreds of times when she worked at the White House. At least she squeezed into her segment the part of the memo that referred to House Republicans “opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies.”

Finally, the lone, embattled liberal on “The Five,” Jessica Tarlov, managed to address this memo for a couple of rare, uninterrupted minutes (video below). She did a great job, quoting some of the Republicans noted above who are resisting their leader’s impeachment obsession. She also pointed out some of McCarthy’s flaming hypocrisies and contradictions. Which, when looking at his time in office, is pretty much all he has.

SEE THIS: Squeaker McCarthy Breaks His Promise to Vote on the Sham Impeachment Inquiry of President Biden

Jessica Tarlov, one of Fox News' token liberals, just decimated her co-host's arguments for a Biden impeachment for two minutes straight: pic.twitter.com/a4nLv4KQJK

— Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) September 12, 2023

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Trump is Running for President So He Can Appoint More People He Will Eventually Call Losers

Posted by Mark NC on April 18, 2023 at 2:21 pm. 3 Comments :

Among the first notable lies that Donald Trump told was that he would always make appointments in his administration from among “all the best people” that he pretended to have personal relationships with. As it turned out, his appointments were notoriously incompetent, unqualified, and utterly unfit for the jobs to which Trump appointed them.

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That assessment of Trump’s appointees is not just criticism from his political foes. Those are Trump’s own opinions of them. The long list of former Trump administration staffers that he has later trashed in the most brutal terms is a stark condemnation of his management skills, or lack thereof. Often he couldn’t recall even knowing the people at the highest levels of his team.

On Tuesday Trump lashed out again at a former aide. This time it was his former Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney. Trump must have seen Mulvaney on television saying something less than total adulation, so he posted the following comment on his floundering Twitter ripoff, Truth Social…

“Since leaving Washington, I haven’t heard much about Liddle’ Mick Mulvaney, perhaps the dumbest person, along with John Bolton, working at the White House. He was ‘Acting’ Chief of Staff because I never would have named him to the permanent position. Merely a ‘backbencher,’ who once gave a news conference that was legendarily bad, he is now with CBS Fake News, and should be grateful to the man who made him ‘famous.’ This guy was uncharismatic, a born loser. No wonder they have No Ratings!”

You have to wonder why Trump repeatedly hired “the dumbest” people to serve in his White House. Perhaps he just wanted to make sure that he was the smartest person in the room, and that’s an exceptionally low bar. Not that he was wrong about Mulvaney being dumb and a loser. After all, he worked for the dumbest loser who ever occupied the White House. And Trump wasn’t the only one who criticized CBS for hiring Mulvaney after his government job ended.

SEE THIS: Stephen Colbert Hysterically Rips His CBS Bosses for Hiring Lying Trump Flunky Mick Mulvaney

Trump’s assertion that he only made Mulvaney an “Acting” Chief of Staff because he “never would have named him to the permanent position,” is a flat out lie. The reason Mulvaney was never officially named Chief of Staff is because Trump was afraid to seek his confirmation by the Senate.

Nevertheless, despite Trump’s be-liddling, Mulvaney was still Trump’s second longest serving Chief of Staff (one year, three months). His longest was Gen. John Kelly (one year, five months). His first chief, (Reince Priebus) and last (Mark Meadows), both served less than one year.

However, all of Trump’s chiefs have been dragged through the mud by Trump after they were summarily dumped. For instance, Trump said Gen. Kelly “was way over his head.” He called Meadows book “fake news.” And these are typical of the sort of the insults that Trump hurls at his former associates. He is a stridently vengeful person who is quick to hate anyone he deems insufficiently adoring. Some of his vile has been aimed at these former appointees…

John Bolton: “a disgruntled boring fool.”
James Mattis: “the world’s most overrated general.”
Jeff Sessions: “He’s not mentally qualified to be attorney general.”
Rex Tillerson: “was dumb as a rock.”
Bill Barr: “was a weak and pathetic RINO.”

To be sure, many of Trump’s former staffers also came to hold harshly negative opinions of him. And now Trump is asking voters to send him back to Washington where he can hire some more losers who think he’s an idiot. Of course, he is also running in order to avoid the legal consequences of his criminal activities. As for Mulvaney, he has previously characterized Trump in unflattering terms, even when he was trying to flatter him…

SEE THIS: Trump’s Chief of Staff Describes Him as Having a Severe, Debilitating Illness

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Does the White House Consider Fox News a News Organization? Let’s Ask the WH Press Secretary

Posted by Mark NC on March 11, 2023 at 12:42 pm. 3 Comments :

The question as to the legitimacy of Fox News is not one that has been difficult to answer. It was designed from the start to be a right-wing propaganda dispenser by its founders, Rupert Murdoch (an ultra-conservative newspaper baron), and Roger Ailes (a Republican media consultant). That’s not exactly a roster of reputable journalists.

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Twenty-seven years later, Fox News has exceeded the aspirations of its politically prejudiced founders. In recent weeks the network has been exposed as being brazenly dishonest. Internal communications made public by Dominion Voting Systems in their defamation lawsuit against Fox reveal that its executives and hosts were telling their viewers one thing, while saying the opposite to one another in private.

Those depositions affirm that Fox News knew very well that there was no truth to their “reporting” of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. While they were lying to their viewers on the air, they were discussing privately among themselves about the “crazy” and “idiotic” assertions that Donald Trump had actually won. They even openly disparaged Trump as dangerous confessed their personal hatred for him.

The subject of the Dominion vs Fox News lawsuit came up Friday on MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight.” Wagner prefaced a question addressing the matter during an interview with White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, by noting that “The White House has been fairly outspoken about what’s happening in certain Republican circles – specifically, what’s going on over at Fox News.” Which led to the following exchange…

Wagner: Does the White House consider Fox News a news organization?

Jean-Pierre: I’ll say this. When you look at the depositions that have been out there recently, it even states from FOX leadership that they do not see Tucker Carlson’s show as news or even truthful. That is coming from the FOX News leadership. That is not coming from me. That is coming from them.

I also would quote – I’ll paraphrase here – what the Chief of Capitol Police said. He said essentially when you watch Tucker Carlson as it relates to January 6th, it is misleading, and it is misinformation as with the conclusion of what happened on January 6th, the attacks that happened. As you saw from the President’s statement, nearly 140 officers were injured on that day. It was an attack on our democracy. It was an attack on our constitution. And you cannot whitewash that. Tucker Carlson cannot whitewash that.

Wagner: So, I’m gonna say that sort of sounds like the White House doesn’t think Fox is a news organization, but we gotta leave it there.

Q: Does the White House consider Fox News a news organization?
A: pic.twitter.com/nxwcvxt6Vu

— Alex Wagner Tonight (@WagnerTonight) March 10, 2023

Jean-Pierre correctly noted that Fox News itself has defended its hosts (successfully) in defamation lawsuits by arguing that “no reasonable person” would take what they say seriously. Fox News lawyers singled out Tucker Carlson saying that…

“[Carlson] cannot be understood to have been stating facts, but instead that he was delivering an opinion using hyperbole for effect. [and that] given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer ‘arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism’ about the statements he makes.”

In other words, Carlson is a known liar whose commentaries can be dismissed out of hand as the ravings of a dishonest blowhard. And the evidence from the Dominion case drives that point home. The problem with this legal argument, however, is that Fox’s viewers are not remotely reasonable. Consequently, there is real and measurable harm done to millions of feeble-minded cultists.

While Jean-Pierre didn’t give a definitive yes or no answer, the gist of her response was plainly evident. Wagner got the message and rephrased it as an affirmative. Jean-Pierre smiled knowingly, and didn’t challenge Wagner’s interpretation. What’s more, the fact that Fox News is not a news organization was an opinion that the Biden administration held from the first days of its term. And they said so explicitly…

“Biden’s aides also promised not to allow outlets to use the briefings to spread baseless conspiracies. ‘We expect reporters covering the White House to operate in good faith and tell their audience the truth, and this White House will do the same. We are moving forward with that mutual understanding,’ […] ‘Organizations or individuals who traffic in conspiracy theories, propaganda and lies to spread disinformation will not be tolerated.”

If the Biden press team, as well as the White House Correspondent’s Association, were to adhere to those principles, they would be required to ban Fox News from all White House media events, including the daily briefings. And the revelations from the Dominion case provide the strongest argument yet to impose that ban.

A pseudo-news operation like Fox should not be credentialed so that it can masquerade as legitimate journalism. At the very least, they should be required to acknowledge their lies, apologize to their audience, their peers, and the nation, and take reparative action (i.e. fire Fox CEO Suzanne Scott, as well as hosts Carlson, Sean Hannity, and other offenders) before their credentials are restored. Short of that they should be shunned and banished to the pod swamps with the likes of Alex Jones and Steve Bannon.

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WTFox? Fox News Hack Asks Press Secretary if the White House is Going to Shut Down Twitter

Posted by Mark NC on December 1, 2022 at 11:27 am. 2 Comments :

The melodrama engulfing Twitter since it was devoured by the American oligarch, Elon Musk, is spinning ever more ludicrous plots. And in keeping with the themes dictated by Donald Trump, they generally involve some wealthy wingnut’s paranoid delusions of persecution and victimhood. Poor little billionaires.

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Whenever there is some feigned offense as perceived by the uber-elites, the Fox News propaganda machine can be relied upon to pursue its mission of spreading disinformation on behalf of Trump’s Republican Cult Party. Central to that undertaking is the Fox News White House correspondent, Peter Doocy, whose role has always been to manufacture preposterous narratives for his network’s news mangling.

On Wednesday Doocy assumed his position in the White House press room to fulfill his assignment for the day. He quickly excreted another contrived and bizarre scenario that wasted everyone’s time and forced the Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, to school him on some basic principles of communication and free speech.

Doocy: When are you guys gonna delete the White House Twitter account?
Jean-Pierre: Why would we do that?
Doocy: Well, you say that you’re keeping an eye on Twitter because it might not be a suitable platform. So why use it?

It’s difficult to comprehend just how inept and unqualified Doocy is for the job he’s allegedly doing. Unless, that is, you accept that his job is to babble incoherently in pursuit of what he thinks is a “gotcha” question. Obviously the White House can post comments on Twitter that convey their positions without embracing everything about the site that is troublesome. But Doocy needed the remedial explanation…

Jean-Pierre: I want to be very clear here. The President has always said, and he has been very clear in his belief that it is important for social media platforms to continue to take steps to reduce hate speech and misinformation. And he will continue to say that. But media platforms make independent choices about the information that they present. So I don’t have anything to share on any policy or any changes that we will be making. We have multiple platforms, as you know, that we utilize to communicate with the American people.
Doocy: You say that you’re gonna be monitoring the speech on there. If you see something that you don’t like, would you try to shut Twitter down?
Jean-Pierre: When you talk about monitoring, I hate to break it to you Peter, just like everybody else, we very much monitor the news. We pay close attention to everything that you all are reporting. And Twitter is in the news a lot. And that’s what we’re paying attention to. We’re paying attention to what is in the news and what is being reported on the misinformation that’s out there.

Fox News’ Peter Doocy: “When are you guys gonna delete the White House Twitter account?"

White House Press Sec. Karine Jean-Pierre: “Why would we do that?" pic.twitter.com/6mWbw8FkDH

— The Recount (@therecount) November 30, 2022

Doocy’s laughably illogical leap to the conclusion that the White House would consider “shutting Twitter down” is representative of the mindset of Fox News and the radical right. It’s what they would do. All Jean-Pierre was saying is that misinformation and hate speech are tangible threats to the welfare of the public, and that Twitter and other social media outlets have an obligation to conduct reasonable moderation. But Doocy failed to grasp Jean-Pierre’s clearly articulated point that it is the company’s obligation, not the government.

For the record, the only presidential administration that ever actually threatened to shut down Twitter was that of the former reality TV game show host, Donald Trump.

It is also notable that Trump filed a truly idiotic First Amendment lawsuit against Twitter (which was quickly dismissed), and beseeched his glassy-eyed cult followers to quit Twitter, which he asserted should be outlawed. For more on those execrable exploits, see the following…

Funny, neither Doocy nor Fox News ever had any problem with any of that. They are obviously pro-totalitarian dictatorship when the dictator is Trump of any other Republican.

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SEMI-FASCIST? Trump Wants the FBI to ‘Raid’ the House of Joe Biden – AKA the White House

Posted by Mark NC on September 5, 2022 at 12:34 pm. 7 Comments :

Last week President Biden delivered a historic speech alerting the American people to the threat posed to democracy by Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans. It was a long overdue wake up call to take seriously the ultra-rightists who have already committed gross acts of violence in pursuit of a totalitarian, Trump-led dystopia.

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Biden’s speech was predictably criticized by conservative politicians and pundits. Some (i.e. Tucker Carlson) excreted their knee-jerk disapproval without even watching the speech. They used what they assumed would be in it to further whine about Biden’s accurate assessment of MAGA’s anti-democratic thuggery. That included griping about Biden’s prior characterization of the MAGA crowd as “semi-fascist.”

Thankfully, Trump can always be relied upon to validate the critiques of his noxious behavior. Whenever he he is accused of some malfeasance, he will inevitably do or say something that proves it. Such was the case Monday morning when Trump took to his floundering Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, to fume the following…

“So they riffled through the living quarters of my 16 year old son, Barron, and the loved and respected former First Lady of the United States, Melania, but, despite proven high crimes and treason, and just plain common theft, all pointed out in the Laptop from Hell (and elsewhere), they never Raided or Broke Into the house of Hunter Biden or, perhaps even more importantly, the house of Joe Biden – A treasure trove! This is a Country that’s unfair and broken. We are truly a Nation in Decline!!!”

First of all, it is almost certainly a lie that the FBI “riffled” through Barron’s room. This is the first time in nearly a month since the search warrant was executed that Trump ever mentioned it. He now appears to be using his own minor son as a shield for his legal tribulations.

Furthermore, Trump is overtly lying about “proven high crimes and treason” by Hunter Biden, for which there is no actual proof. Trump is merely regurgitating tiresome and baseless accusations that he has been yammering about for years. And it takes an extreme measure of gall to complain about “common theft” when he’s referring to the laptop of Hunter Biden, which was literally stolen.

Finally, Trump concludes from this deranged sequence of non-events that Joe Biden’s house should be raided by the FBI. Biden’s house is, of course, the White House. So Trump wants the FBI to conduct some sort of search of the White House, looking for an unspecified “treasure trove” of evidence of some imaginary crime. And he doesn’t think there’s anything semi-fascist about that?

Evidence of Trump’s authoritarian aspirations are revealed more clearly with every passing day. He couldn’t care less about the laws that he is brazenly violating, whether having to do with his election interference, his finances and taxes, or his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago bunker. He regards himself as above the law. And by that he means the law of man and God.

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Tucker Carlson Uses Mockery of BTS as a Lead-In to Racist Lies About Black White House Staffers

Posted by Mark NC on June 1, 2022 at 10:50 am. 2 Comments :

There is nothing that Fox News’ Senior White Nationalist, Tucker Carlson, enjoys more than disgorging hateful diatribes against people of color, who he believes are being recruited to replace European bred citizens in a massive and diabolical scheme by Democrats to hand control of the United States over to non-white foreigners. And yes, he’s nuts.

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Carlson launched into another of his noxious rants Tuesday night, this time complaining that President Biden invited K-Pop superstars BTS to the White House to raise awareness of anti-Asian-American discrimination and violence. According to Carlson it was just a plot to divert attention from issues important to Black Americans. Who wants to tell Carlson that May was Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month?

The notion that Carlson, Fox’s chief proponent of the racist “white replacement” theory, actually cares about Black issues is impossible to take seriously. All he’s interested in is pitting Blacks against Asians, and everyone against the Euro-elites who he fronts for. And he affirms whatever doubts you might have when he continues his harangue (video below) saying that…

“The headline here is that the white supremacy in the Biden White House is so intense that twenty-one Black staffers – can there be more than twenty-one total? Not a huge staff at the White House – twenty-one Black staffers have fled. Speaking of the new Jim Crow.”

“White supremacy at the White House?” Carlson has a vivid and virulent imagination. He follows that up by introducing notorious right-wing race-baiter, Candace Owens, asking her if she’s surprised that “the racism and white supremacy at the White House is so intense that Black staffers are fleeing for their lives?” Owens responded by insulting Black White House staffers with the standard racist expression of contempt for minorities, saying that they were “just given these positions” because of their skin color, and that “they probably were underqualified” for them. To which Carlson added “Is there anything more destructive than white liberal guilt? It feels like it’s hurt more people than nuclear weapons.” “It really has,” agreed Owens obediently.

For the record, Carlson’s yammering about “fleeing” White House staffers is typically full of horse manure. He was referencing reports that Black staffers were leaving their jobs, but leaving out the facts related to their departures. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied to these reports saying that…

“‘The president is incredibly proud to have built what continues to be the most diverse White House staff in history, and he is committed to continuing historic representation for Black staff and all communities,’ said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. ‘This is a normal time for turnover across the board in any administration and Black staff have been promoted at a higher rate than staff who are not diverse.'”

“A number of staffers who left, moreover, said it was on good terms. Some departures were for graduate school opportunities. Others went to different cabinet departments. Several said they were leaving because of family matters.”

What’s more, Carlson’s ignorance of the White House was evident in his assertion that it has a small staff that couldn’t possibly support the departure of a couple of dozen people. In fact, the Executive Office of the President has a total staff of 1,800 people. And even if you only count those who are directly engaged in the more narrowly defined White House Office, that’s still 377 people.

So true to form, Carlson has demonstrated both his flaming racism and his world-class stupidity. These are regular features of his program. And it’s why he is currently the top rated host on Fox News, where such repugnant character flaws are regarded as assets.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly.

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Fox Nation vs. Reality:
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