Ainsley Earhardt

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.

Fox News Helps GOP Congresswoman Spread Debunked Lies that Obama Paid Iran $1.5 Billion

Posted by on July 26, 2018 at 5:51 pm. NO Comments :

Just in case you were looking for another example of Fox News casting off all pretense of being an honest news enterprise, they provided an excellent one Thursday morning. Donald Trump’s favorite TV show, Fox and Friends, invited Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney to discuss matters related to the Trump administration’s diplomatic agenda for Iran since Trump broke the agreement the United States made previously. And yes, that’s Dick Cheney’s daughter.

Fox News Friends

The segment began with Ainsley Earhardt reminding viewers that Donald Trump recently posted a deranged, all caps tweet that warned Iran to “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.” It cannot be overstated that this was the President threatening the nuclear annihilation of men, women, and children, of a foreign adversary over mere words.

Much of the conversation centered on Cheney’s impressions of Trump’s National Security Advisor, John Bolton, and his efforts to prevent Iran from advancing their nuclear ambitions. Of course, President Obama had already put an end to that prior to Trump blowing it up in his obsessive fetish to undo all things Obama. But Cheney was then asked specifically how the current administration’s approach to Iran differed from their predecessor. Which seems like a planted question that really had no purpose other than to bash Obama’s achievements. Cheney took full advantage of that saying:

“Oh it’s hugely different. If you look at the fact that Barack Obama paid $1.5 billion – U.S. taxpayer money – paid the Iranians to get them to enter into the nuclear agreement.”

The only problem with that response is that is utterly and provably false. PolitiFact, and every other fact-checker, has documented that the monies disbursed to Iran when the deal with the Obama administration (and by the way, six other nations) was executed, was Iran’s money to begin with. The U.S. was merely releasing funds that it had sequestered as part of the sanctions that were imposed on Iran in order to bring them to the negotiating table.

After Cheney made her wholly dishonest claim about these funds, Earhardt failed to challenge her or to let Fox’s viewers know that she was lying. So that false information was disseminated once again to Fox’s already ignorant and ill-informed viewers. And as if that weren’t enough, Fox News later posted a video clip of the segment on Twitter that featured Cheney’s remarks, but still didn’t point out that they were false. This is typical of Fox’s practice of mangling the news so that it misrepresents reality and feeds disinformation to an audience that can’t distinguish truth from fiction anyway.

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

On Fox News Trump Shill Kellyanne Conway Affirms Demand to Censor CNN Reporter

Posted by on June 13, 2018 at 12:07 pm. 3 Comments :

Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency he has made a point expressing his hostility to the Constitution’s protection of the free press and to anyone who would challenge his supremacy as King of America. Trump has slandered the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the American people.” And he frequently calls out reporters by name to accuse them of being “fake news.” Of course, by his definition any news that is less than glassy-eyed adoration he regards as fake.

Kellyanne Conway

As the Trump-Kim Circus drew to a close this week, Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, parroted Trump’s loathing for the press in a Tweet that appears to imitate Trump’s own rancor. He said that:

That anti-American outburst drew an appropriate reply from CNN’s Acosta, who told Parscale that “Dictatorships take away press credentials. Not democracies.” Not that that will have any impact on the censorious attitudes of Trump and his minions. Earlier Parscale posted a similarly totalitarian notion in a tweet that said that “The media should be cheering @realDonaldTrump’s progress with North Korea.” As if it’s the job of the media to “cheer” for any politician.

Naturally, Fox News rushed to Parscale’s defense by delivering their own attack on Acosta. On Fox and Friends, co-host Ainsley Earhardt introduced a segment with Trump’s Senior Counselor, Kellyanne Conway, by quoting the headline of an article from the ultra-rightist website, The Daily Wire: “Watch: CNN’s Jim Acosta interrupts historic signing ceremony, shouts at Trump.” Surprisingly, she then played the video showing Acosta to be rather demure and respectful, which contradicts the whole narrative of her reporting. That was followed by this exchange (video below):

Earhardt: So there are some critics, Kellyanne, saying that he was choosing the wrong moment, a historic moment, to throw out questions to the President. And then the 2020 campaign manager for President Trump, Brad Parscale, who’s been on our show before, he’s now calling for Acosta to lose his press credentials. He thought it was inappropriate. What are your thoughts, and what are the President’s thoughts?
Conway: Well, some people in the White House press corps do that routinely. I’m not naming any names cause why give it oxygen? They certainly want to make it about me, myself, and I. On Twitter they’re all a hot mess with all this snark and bark toward this president and those who work for him, including those at the White House, in the Cabinet and elsewhere. Things that would not pass editorial muster in the newspaper. I call it social media muscle, cable news cajones. Many of them demonstrate that but don’t have the courage.

Conway, of course, is an expert on hot messes and can snark and bark with the best of them. but if you’re paying attention you will have noticed that Conway failed to take issue with Parscale’s desire to see reporters get punished for being independent and aggressive seekers of truth. Rather, she affirmed the criticism that anyone who disagrees with the President is an annoyance and a coward who ought to be silenced. That’s the sort of philosophy practiced by tyrants like Trump’s new BFF, Kim Jong Un. And Conway elaborated on by adding that:

“People really need to figure out how to cover this president in a respectful manner. They can be skeptical. They can be probing. But there’s a time and a place. Be a polite house guest.”

Exactly. Treat Trump with the same measure of refined courtesy that Fox News and Conway treated President Obama for eight years. You remember. The constant allegations that he was a Muslim born in Kenya who associated with terrorists and hated America. That kind of “respectful manners.” Right?

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

Fox News Host Whines That ‘It’s Just So Anti-American’ to Criticize Trump

Posted by on January 29, 2018 at 6:44 pm. 1 Comments :

Last week the news broke that Donald Trump had ordered his White House counsel, Don McGahn, to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. That attempted obstruction of justice was foiled when McGahn threatened Trump that he would quit if required to carry out the order. The incident occurred in June of 2017. Since then Trump and all of his surrogates have denied that he ever entertained the notion of firing Mueller. That, apparently, was a lie.

Fox News Friends

Also last June, Sean Hannity was ranting on his program that Mueller was corrupt and should be terminated. He had only been appointed a month prior, so Hannity’s obsession was difficult to understand until we learned what we know now about Trump’s demand to McGahn. Hannity appears to have been doing Trump’s dirty work. And now Fox News thinks the reporting of this affair is part of a clandestine conspiracy.

In a segment of Trump’s favorite show, Fox and Friends, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes ventured down a delusional trail of speculation that the story was deliberately held for seven months so it could be dropped strategically following Trump’s allegedly triumphant visit to Davos, Switzerland. What a devious cabal of “deep state” villains. During an interview with former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer, the hosts engaged in this paranoid exchange:

Kilmeade: Isn’t it amazing, the timing, something comes up about the Russia investigation, like for example, a story that could have broken in June comes out in January after the president goes to Davos and is treated like a rock star.
Spicer: Somebody will dig something up from when he was, like, 8 years old about how he didn’t clean his tray and try to take away the momentum from another great speech.
Doocy: Well, that’s what they’ve done in the past. It’s a formula that worked.
Earhardt: It’s just so anti-American. Where is the unity?

Anti-American? Suddenly it’s no longer sufficient to merely attribute the diabolical left’s motives to partisan politics or libtardiness. Now it’s anti-American to offer any criticism of the President. There’s a reason Fox and Friends is Trump’s favorite show. The one that he watches religiously and tweets live almost every morning. They are the most driven, sycophantic Trump-fluffers on television. Where else could he be defended by flunkies who will describe factual news stories as anti-American? And you’ll notice that at no time during this segment did any of the Fox crew dispute the substance of the report.

The plaintive cry for “unity” is also somewhat mind-boggling considering that it was these same Fox News cretins who sought to portray President Obama as a threat to America. When they weren’t questioning his birthright to even serve in the presidency, they were manufacturing “scandals” to get him thrown out of the White House and into prison. Which makes one want to ask “Where was the unity?”

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

Fox News Whines That Paltry Anti-Abortion Rally Got Less TV Time Than Historic Women’s March

Posted by on January 22, 2018 at 2:44 pm. NO Comments :

This weekend saw a lot of citizens stepping out to redress their grievances with the government. Rallies and protest marches took place around the country. On Friday it was the anti-abortion faction that showed up in Washington, D.C. to force their religious doctrine down the throats of all Americans. On Saturday the nation’s women marched in support of equal rights and in opposition to Donald Trump’s trampling of them.

Fox News

The media has a dismal record of covering public protests unless the protesters wore silly Revolutionary War costumes and pretended to drink tea. For some reason the press doesn’t regard people exercising their constitutional rights in large numbers to be newsworthy. And that’s especially true with regard to Fox News. Despite the massive turnout for the Women’s March, Fox News gave it only cursory coverage with snide and belittling commentary.

That makes it all the more disturbing that Fox and Friends devoted more time to complaining about coverage than providing any. On Monday morning they hosted Molly Hemingway of the ultra-rightist Federalist to whine that the Women’s March got a little bit more attention on network news than the forced birthers did. In the introduction to the segment, co-hosts Steve Doocy and Ainsley Earhardt engaged in this exchange:

Earhardt: Thousands of people took to the streets for both Friday’s March for Life and Saturday’s Women’s March.
Doocy: And yet Saturday’s Women’s March received three times more network coverage than the March for Life on the evening newscasts.
Earhardt: So why is the mainstream media ignoring those who are pro-life?

For the record, the difference in allotted time as reported by Fox News was two minutes, six seconds for the March for Life vs. six minutes, forty seconds for the Women’s March. Because the numbers were so low, the differences are not really significant. But Fox’s grumbling about “three times” the coverage is comical. If there were actually any correlation between the size of the events and the coverage, the Women’s March would have received substantially more than ten times as much.

According to a report by Fox News itself, the attendance of the March for Life in D.C. was only about 100,000. That’s down about eighty-five percent from a similar rally in 2013 that drew 650,000. And this year the march featured a special appearance by Trump making a live video address. On Saturday, the attendance for the Women’s March in D.C. was estimated to be about 600,000 in Los Angeles, 300,000 in Chicago, at least 200,000 in New York, and many tens of thousands more in hundreds of cities across the country.

So the March for Life was lucky to get as much as a third of the coverage that the Women’s March got. Their measly hundred thousand supporters didn’t deserve even that when compared to the millions that showed up for the Women’s March. Considering the historic crowds on Saturday, the media utterly failed to represent the support from citizens peacefully taking to the streets to express themselves. But Fox News is only compounding the problem when they bitch about not fair getting coverage. It’s plain to see that they aren’t interest in fair coverage at all. They are only interested in plastering the airwaves with their own biased propaganda.

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

Fox News Whines Pitifully: Isn’t Country Music Supposed To Be Conservative?

Posted by on November 9, 2017 at 12:39 pm. 2 Comments :

Wednesday night saw the return of The annual Country Music Awards. It was a star-studded affair that featured the best and brightest of the genre. The program was a huge success in the ratings, topping the primetime lineup for the evening and hitting a three year high.

Fox News CMA

One of the highlights of the program was a duet between Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. Their rendition of “Before He Tweets” was a lighthearted mockery of Donald Trump and his fetish with Twitter (video below).

So guess what? The “Curvy Couch” potatoes at Fox and Friends were bitterly distraught at the prospect of having lost country music to the evil liberals and anti-Trump media. They lamented over the unspeakable act of disrespectfully taunting their Dear Leader with a comical farce. The whine-fest began with a plaintive moan from co-host Steve Doocy:

“Remember the olden days when football wasn’t political, and so many things weren’t political? Well now, as it turns out, the CMAs have gotten very political.”

Brian Kilmeade made the painful observation that maybe “new country is a lot less conservative than old country.” And Ainsley Earhardt wondered “Where’s Dolly? Where’s Garth Brooks? They don’t get political.” Then she added wistfully “Really? It’s hitting country music now? Isn’t country music supposed to be conservative?”

These pop culture authorities apparently think that musical genres have a God-given political affiliation. Any divergence from that is sacrilege. And just the thought of it sends them into nostalgic yearnings for a bygone era that only existed in their imaginations. Don’t these new country heathens know that right-wingers own their musical biases? Hell, if they’re gonna act like liberals they should just go to MTV and play the Devil’s rock music.

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

How Far Has Fox News Crawled Up Trump’s A$$? They’re Praising Trump’s Deal With Democrats

Posted by on September 7, 2017 at 2:10 pm. 6 Comments :

For anyone who’s still wondering whether or not Fox News is a brazen propaganda outfit devoted to propping up Donald Trump, you can put your doubts to rest. On Thursday morning they demonstrated that they will go to any lengths to praise Dear Leader. Even when he’s violated their most precious principles.

Fox News Trump

The subject of Trump’s agreement on legislation to raise the debt limit and fund relief for Hurricane Harvey came up on Fox and Friends. Republicans were anticipating a bill that would put off further debt limit matters until after next year’s congressional election. Democrats sought a much shorter, three month period. Surprisingly, Trump sided with the Democrats. Some pundits surmised that this was evidence of Trump embracing bipartisanship. But it’s more likely that he was just punishing Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan for their recent failures to advance his agenda.

However, it’s the reaction by the hosts of his favorite TV show that is truly a revelation. There was a time when Fox News could be depended on to push whatever Republican scheme was being peddled. The network’s loyalty was to party over personality. That appears to be a thing of the past. With the election of Donald Trump the Fox News mission seems to have shifted somewhat. They are now committed to the cult of the alleged personality of Trump. The blathering of the Fox and Friends crew made that abundantly clear (video below):

Steve Doocy: The president, not wanting a fight, apparently said, “That’s the deal I’m going to take right now because we’ve got tax reform and other stuff we have got to do right now.”

Ainsley Earhardt: Good for him. He’s doing this for the folks that are affected by [Hurricane] Harvey.

Two things to note here. First, they suddenly think it’s laudatory that Trump is backing down from a fight. Prior to this cave in, they specifically admired his pugilistic tendencies and called everyone else snowflakes. Secondly, the Hurricane Harvey relief efforts were going to be getting these funds regardless. That was not in contention. And then they continued:

Pete Hegseth: Well some conservatives are upset … Big time. But you know what? This is a clear shot at Mitch McConnell and [Paul Ryan: “Hey guys, if you can’t get things done, then, listen, I’ll go work with the Democrats” […]

Hegseth: I think it’s very strategic from this president. Clear out the underbrush of the stuff that could be contentious, that Washington likes to fight about, so you can clear the deck to fight for the stuff that really matters. […]

Earhardt: Isn’t it refreshing to see them work together though? … isn’t that the art of the deal? Isn’t that what they do?

Doocy: It’s the art of the Dems.

“The stuff that really matters?” Apparently they don’t think that hurricane victims, or the full faith and credit of the United States, really matter. Because they just want to get that out of the way. But they are conceding that working with Democrats is the right thing to do. Previously they would have gone into hysterics at the thought of it. They would have branded anyone Republican who did so a RINO (“Republican in Name Only”), and called for his defeat. And don’t even ask what they mean by “art of the Dems.” They probably just thought it sounded cute.

So is this a pivot toward bipartisan cooperation in Congress? Or is it unvarnished idolatry of their presidential messiah? Considering that they still oppose everything that Democrats stand for, it’s hard to see peace breaking out on Capital Hill. Trump, Republicans, and Fox News, still want to kill ObamaCare. They still want to cut taxes for the wealthy. Their commitment to building a border wall is still rock solid (even if the wall/fence isn’t). They remain convinced that climate change is a hoax. They’re almost giddy about deporting DREAMers.

Consequently, the only conclusion is that Fox News is taking this position because it’s the one that Trump has taken. And they don’t want to to seen as disagreeing with Hair Drumpf. Which means that Fox News is determined to be steadfastly faithful to their Chief Oval Officer. And regardless of what diversions he takes from doctrinaire conservatism, they will blindly follow. That’s a recipe for totalitarian disaster.

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

FACT CHECK: Trump Tells Fox News that Mueller’s Staffers are ‘All Clinton Supporters’

Posted by on June 26, 2017 at 4:14 pm. 4 Comments :

The constant stream of falsehoods that emanate from Donald Trump has made no sign of slowing down. This weekend Trump, who has not had a TV interview in over a month, gave two to Fox News. And not surprisingly, he provided some new nuggets of dishonesty to the pile he has amassed since becoming president.

Donald Trump

In an interview with Ainsley Earhardt of Fox and Friends, the Fox News host unleashed a barrage of brutal softballs at the President. She prefaced her inquiries with flattering language about how smart he was for pretending to have tapes of himself and James Comey (which is potentially unlawful witness tampering). And she comforted him with partisan assertions that “Democrats are in denial.” But Earhardt laid it on extra thick when the issue of Trump’s collusion with Russia came up:

“Robert Mueller, do you think he should recuse himself? He is good friends with James Comey. He’s hired some attorneys that were part of Hillary Clinton’s foundation and have given money to President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s campaigns. Should he recuse himself?”

Could Earhardt have composed a more fawning, servile, obsequious question? She must be so doubtful that he could come up with a coherent response, she provided one for him. Trump eagerly embraced the leading question and blindly agreed that Mueller is “very, very good friends with Comey.” Then he whined that “there has been no collusion, no obstruction, and virtually everybody agrees to that.” Everybody? Well, that’s if you don’t count dozens of legal experts, intelligence professionals, and investigators currently researching the matter. But then he went even further over the edge:

“I can say that the people that have been hired are all Hillary Clinton supporters, some of them worked for Hillary Clinton. I mean the whole thing is ridiculous, if you wanna know the truth.”

Indeed, it is ridiculous. But not in the way Trump thinks. PolitiFact reviewed his remarks and found them top be “Mostly False.” As it turns out, only three of the eight attorneys hired by Mueller were Clinton supporters. And any associations that any of them had were incidental and fully permissible under the “Rules of Professional Responsibility.” That assessment, by the way, came from Peter Carr, a spokesperson for Jeff Seesion’s Justice Department. And it was consistent with the summary ruling by PolitiFact:

“Three of the eight available Mueller hires made campaign contributions to Clinton, which undermines Trump’s statement that all are Clinton supporters. Furthermore, none of them have worked for Clinton directly. Two represented either the Clinton Foundation or an aide, never her, and working for WilmerHale, which has also represented key members of Trump’s White House.”

So Trump’s allegations (and that of many of his media surrogates) that the investigation is biased politically and motivated against him, is a bald-faced lie. If only that were an isolated incident in this presidency. Unfortunately it is the rule, rather than the exception. And anyone who takes Trump at his word is shamelessly begging to be made a fool of and deliberately deceived.

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

They’re BAAAACK: Fox News Phony ‘Security Moms’ Suck Up to Trump While Denying Reality

Posted by on June 1, 2017 at 11:27 am. 8 Comments :

Fox News (aka Donald Trump’s State-Run Propaganda Network) is at it again. The Trump-fluffing cable “news” distortion outfit is running interference on behalf of the treasonous White House mole they planted in the Oval Office. As the evidence of Trump’s collusion with Russian operatives mounts, Fox News ramps up their pitifully sycophantic defense squads.

Fox News

The falsehood factory at Fox has reassembled what they call their panel of “Security Moms.” In reality they are four pre-selected pro-Trump mouthpieces who shamelessly defend the President’s most heinous behavior. Last March they were brought in to try to hold back the flood of bad news regarding Trump and Russia. They failed so spectacularly that Fox brought them back Tuesday for an encore (video below).

In the latest episode of Security Moms, host Ainsley Earhardt dived straight into the controversy with a pointedly leading question:

“Well, the Democrats can’t stop talking about Russia, but is this really the issue that American families care most about? […] Do you care about Russia, and if not — I know you’re gonna say no.”

So Earhardt interrupted her own question to admit that she already knew the answers her mom panel would give. And the question itself was dripping with bias. Democrats aren’t the only ones talking about Russia. And polls show that significant majorities of voters care very much about the issue. Even the most recent Fox News poll. But that didn’t stop the moms from spinning furiously, just as they were recruited to do. For example:

Security Mom 1: All Americans care about foreign bodies hacking into our systems or tampering with our elections, but none of us think that that’s happened in this case.
Security Mom 2: And after seven months we still have no credible evidence, so I think it’s time to move on. What we’re experiencing is that it’s too much and unbalanced. […] Instead of Democrats, and most in the mainstream media, acting like adults and coming to the table with real solutions, they’re behaving like crazed animals.
Security Mom 3: This narrative the mainstream media is talking about – mentioning our President of the United States – it just needs to stop.
Security Mom 4: A lot of it, I really think, has to do with with left over election bad feelings. And this is kind of the catalyst going forward.

So these ladies are entirely oblivious to the mountains of evidence connecting Trump and his associates to Russian operatives. They believe that all of it should be ignored and the country should move on blissfully unaware of potential traitors in the White House. After all, they’re convinced that it’s just the ravings of crazed Democrats as they plead “it just needs to stop.”

Security Mom 3 also made an astonishingly incoherent and unrelated claim. She asserted that Fox News was the only station that had continuing coverage of the Manchester terrorist attack. To which Earhardt mustered her most sincere Stepford attitude to reply “We were. You’re right about that.” This is a demonstration of something far worse than bias. It’s delusional. But it’s totally aligned to the themes that Fox News dispenses every day. Their perverse world view was summed up nicely in this comment that combines diversion with Fox’s taste for victimization:

Security Mom 1: Most Americans believe that this is the typical left reaction. They lost the election. They’re a bunch of big babies. They’re crying about it. And now this is a big distraction. “We lost the election, but now we’re gonna distract you with this Russian collusion nonsense. And on top of that we’re gonna try to take Trump down by all means necessary, somewhat, probably, illegal.

Oh the horror. Our President is being attacked by factual evidence of his own criminality. And the most powerful man on Earth is defenseless against the “big babies” of the left. The enraged mom never bothered to say what illegal means were being employed to take Trump down. But then, why would she? If Fox’s viewers were interested in facts they would be clamoring for impeachment hearings like the rest of the country.

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

Fox News Pushes for Inhumane Treatment of Immigrants in Detention Facilities

Posted by on April 14, 2017 at 3:50 pm. 1 Comments :

Fox News has broadcast another of their signature demonstrations of callous disregard for human life. On a segment of Friday’s episode of Fox and Friends, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes addressed the subject of detention facilities for undocumented immigrants. The gist of the story was that the detainees had it way too easy and deserved much harsher treatment.

Fox News

The Fox News segment was in response to Donald Trump’s plans for tougher immigration rules. As reported in the New York Times:

“For more than 15 years, jails that hold immigrants facing deportation have had to follow a growing list of requirements: Notify immigration officials if a detainee spends two weeks or longer in solitary confinement. Check on suicidal inmates every 15 minutes and evaluate their mental health every day. Inform detainees, in languages they can understand, how to obtain medical care. In disciplinary hearings, provide a staff member who can advocate in English on the detainee’s behalf.

“But as the Trump administration seeks to quickly find jail space for its crackdown on illegal immigration, it is moving to curtail these rules as a way to entice more sheriffs and local officials to make their correctional facilities available.”

The Fox and Friends co-hosts couldn’t have been more thrilled by the prospect of making immigrants suffer more. Brian Kilmeade took the lead in advocating for more cruel conditions:

“The party is over for illegal criminals in jail. Get this: They’re enjoying seven hours of outdoor activity. Who gets that anymore? Fresh sheets, and absolutely — I don’t get that. No need to learn English. I was born with that. But the Trump administration vowing a new plan to cut back on perks in their immigration crackdown, saying, expect a far less detailed set of regulations — maybe even dirty sheets — including no translation services, so learn English.”

Let’s break down what is so upsetting to the Fox News crew. First of all, they think it’s outrageous that detainees are allowed to go outdoors. Still in prison, just not confined to a cell. Who ever heard of such luxury for prisoners? They also think that clean sheets are too extravagant for these “criminals.”

Perhaps the most disturbing of Trump’s reforms is the elimination of translators. Kilmeade says that he was born with English. That, of course, isn’t true. He was born without any language whatsoever. The fact that his birth took place in the United States to English speakers was an accident of fate. And in his arrogance he can’t comprehend the plight of people in legal detention. Not being able to defend themselves or consult with counsel is against every moral principle of justice.

In a later segment, Kilmeade’s co-host, Ainsley Earhardt, concurred with Kilmeade on every point:

“Seven hours of outdoor activity, freshly washed sheets, and absolutely no need to learn English. That’s the easy life of an illegal immigrant inside American jails. But now, the Trump administration says the party is over.”

Only an elitist who has lived a life of privilege could suggest that life in detention is “easy.” And the notion that it’s a party is both delusional and heartless. This is especially true when considering that these detainees are not the criminals that Fox News keeps describing. Most of them are parents and children fleeing poverty and violence. They are doing what any frightened and responsible family would do under those circumstances.

The truth is that many of the immigrant detention facilities are poorly maintained and managed. Detainees are routinely subject to illness and abuse. ThinkProgress has documented some of the despicable conditions that have led to prolonged hunger strikes. This is the reality that Fox News is trying to subvert in an effort to demonize vulnerable immigrants. And don’t forget that it is Trump’s policies that are the root cause of the suffering.

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