Adam Schiff

Republicans See Trump as a King (or God) While He Behaves Like a Sniveling Coward

Posted by on October 9, 2019 at 1:05 pm. 8 Comments :

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to understand why those who support Donald Trump continue to do so, despite the mountains of evidence against him. The Mueller report documented that Trump had welcomed and encouraged assistance from Russia, and then sought to obstruct justice by covering it up. And the Ukraine affair, wherein he tried to extort a foreign government for his political benefit, is proof that he has no qualms about doing it again.

Donald Trump Messiah

More facts are being revealed every day, and the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry is proceeding surprisingly rapidly. This has resulted in Trump secluding himself in his bunker and refusing to cooperate in any way with the inquiry. For someone who fiercely insists that he has done nothing wrong, Trump is trying awfully hard to prevent the evidence he asserts would exonerate him from ever coming out.

In the meantime, the StormTrumpers in Congress and the press are digging in deeper than ever. They are no longer simply offering words of support, they are canonizing Trump as some sort of superhuman sent from above to save mankind. It’s a bizarre twist in what would ordinarily be a political debate, but is turning into a test of devotion to the Almighty.

On Tuesday a Fox News legal analyst, Gregg Jarrett. argued that Trump was innocent of any wrongdoing because “abuse of power” wasn’t prohibited by the Constitution. Not only is that false, it’s a remarkably stupid argument in favor of tyranny. On Wednesday a couple of Trump’s evangelical leaders weighed in with equally grotesque positions on Trump’s behalf. The Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed said that American evangelicals “have a moral obligation to enthusiastically back” the president. Really? A moral obligation to back a thrice-married, profane, lying, adulterer, who conspires with America’s enemies? Then Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White said that “To say no to President Trump would be saying no to God.” So Trump, in her eyes, is on a par with the King of Kings?

And speaking of Kings, Joseph DiGenova, a lawyer and supporter of Trump, told Laura Ingraham of Fox News that the efforts to impeach Trump were “regicide” (killing a king). So now they are admitting that they regard Trump as a king rather than a president who is subject to the tenets of democracy and to the law.

These aberrant views are disturbing, to say the very least. And it isn’t coincidental that they are becoming more extreme as Trump’s situation becomes more dire. He is sinking like a stone into into an abyss of legal trauma that is likely to portend the end of his presidency and perhaps his freedom. And what is becoming abundantly clear is that – he knows it.

On Wednesday morning Trump unloaded a tweetstorm of thirty-three (so far) tweets or retweets. And nearly half of them were were about his precarious position with regard to impeachment. He went after his favorite new nemesis, Rep. Adam Schiff. He repeatedly blasted the whistleblower for having alleged ties to Democrats. Although why that is relevant is puzzling since the “transcript” of Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky – and Trump himself – corroborated the assertions in the whistleblower’s complaint.

Trump also ranted about impeaching Schiff (which can’t be done), having a rematch with Hillary Clinton (which won’t be done), and making excuses for having betrayed our Kurdish allies in Syria (which is being done). But his most ridiculous tweet was one that made this flagrantly untrue claim:

There isn’t a single poll that shows Trump with only 25 percent favoring impeachment. In fact, every recent poll has that number between 49 and 58 percent, with support for impeachment having huge gains in the past couple of weeks. The only possible explanation for Trump’s wildly unreal number is that a Washington Post poll had 25 percent of just Republicans favoring impeachment, and Trump is trying to spin that as the entire electorate. It’s not. But it’s a damn high number for just Trump’s own party. By the way, this would not be the first time that Trump tried to pass off a GOP-only number as more broadly representing all voters. But is he lying or is he just incapable of comprehending simple data?

The frantic pace of Trump’s tweeting tells the story of his declining mental state. He is plainly freaking out over what he must know is his doomed fate. And it is this cowardly, terror-stricken, impotent, weakling that Republicans and evangelicals are bowing down to as their savior. So Trump has managed to not only ruin the Republican Party, he is even turning the religious right into a pathetic, idol worshiping, cadre of glassy-eyed disciples who can’t even pretend to adhere to the principles of their alleged faith.

The problem with this is that Trump likely believes his own hype. and there is a risk that he will seek to lead a perverse revolt with his deranged followers of 2nd Amendment wackos, conservative conspiracy theorists, and holy warriors. Of course, they won’t get far, but the damage they are capable of would still be unfortunate, even though minor. Let’s hope they’re not stupid enough to try it.

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

And You Thought Trump Was Nuts? Wait Til You See Giuliani on Fox News!

Posted by on October 6, 2019 at 2:23 pm. 1 Comments :

Watching Donald Trump descend into a steaming abyss of madness is horrifying for Americans who love their country. Although most can’t deny feeling at least a smidgen of satisfaction and relief that a dangerous sociopath is suffering the well deserved consequences of his betrayal. Trump is lost in a toxic fog of rancid anger and fear that threatens to turn every artery in his jellified skull into tiny anueristic IED’s

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump

Lately Trump’s desperation and paranoia has driven him to furious and false attacks on his perceived enemies including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Intelligence Committee chairman, Adam Schiff. He has made incoherent defenses of his obviously illegal entreaties to Ukraine and China. And his own behavior and words are turning out to be the best justifications for his impeachment.

However, as stunningly bizarre as all of his antics have been for the past few weeks, he has some stiff competition in the race for Psycho of the Year. His own personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is challenging the Lunatic-in-Chief with some memorable routines in the Fox News Cirque du So Lame. On Friday Giuliani told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum that his mission is “to disrupt the world.” And on Sunday Giuliani was interviewed by Fox’s MediaBuzz host, Howard Kurtz. To say it was a hot mess would be far too mild. Giuliani was a virtual advertisement for cocaine-infused Red Bull. See for yourself:

WTF is he talking about? After telling Kurtz, a Trump-friendly Foxie, that he should be ashamed of himself, Giuliani took out what he said was “thirty years of articles,” which far pre-date Joe Biden’s term as Vice-President. What this has to do with the four year old Ukraine affair is anyone’s guess. But Giuliani was so hyped up that Kurtz couldn’t stop him to go to commercial.

A second clip in that thread shows Giuliani shushing Kurtz and calling him “pathetic” as the host tries to ask him about the “transcript” of Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky and Trump’s own confession to extortion on national TV. Naturally, those questions weren’t answered. And while Giuliani was whining about being interrupted (which he wasn’t), the chyron below him read “Ukrainian says no evidence of Biden Wrongdoing.” That’s a Fox chyron!

A third video clip shows Giuliani responding to Biden’s suggestion that news programs stop booking him due to his constant and flagrant lying. So in the midst of his continued whining about imaginary interruptions, Giuliani raises a brand new issue saying that “We haven’t moved to Romania yet. Wait til we get to Romania.” We’re waiting, Rudy. Then he asserts that “they” are laughing at us. If by “us” he means himself, I’ll have to agree. And once again, Kurtz can’t get him to shut up long enough to end the segment.

With impeachment becoming an inevitability, Trump couldn’t be in more trouble. Well, unless he were saddled with a nutcase like Giuliani as his attorney. Giuliani has been reduced to spewing third-rate conspiracy theories and wailing like a insolent child who was denied a fourth cupcake. He makes no sense whatsoever as he connects dots that only he can see. And this is the legal counsel that Trump is relying on to get him through this debacle. No wonder he’s flipping out.

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

Trump’s Desperation Shows as He Tries to Shank Schiff But Shafts Himself Instead

Posted by on October 5, 2019 at 1:34 pm. 5 Comments :

Calling out Donald Trump for hypocrisy may seem like a needlessly redundant exercise, but occasionally there are episodes of sanctimony that are so pernicious they simply can’t be ignored. And one of those episodes is playing out now on Trump’s Twitter feed as he feebly lashes out at one of his congressional critics that he fears most.

Donald Trump

Several days ago the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, was awarded four “Pinocchios” by the Washington Post fact checker, Glenn Kessler. It was a controversial call that may be holding Schiff to an overly strict standard.

The issue concerned Schiff’s answer to a question from MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on whether he or his staff had “contact” with the Trump whistleblower prior to the filing of a complaint. Schiff said that there was no contact but, in fact, the whistleblower did speak with a Committee staffer, who merely advised him to file his complaint with the Intelligence community Inspector General. No details of the complaint were disclosed, and there was no other coordination of any kind. So is it really considered “contact” if all they did was to tell someone the proper channels to go through?

Despite these facts, Trump and his surrogates in right-wing media immediately seized on this issue to falsely accuse Schiff of some sort of deviancy. Trump even accused Schiff of treason and impotently demanded that he resign. Of course all that shows is that Trump is an ignoramus who is completely clueless about both treason and the limits of presidential authority. However, in his excitement to express his hostility in that infantile manner he is known for, Trump posted a tweet with a doctored version of the song “I Got No Strings” from Walt Disney’s animated classic “Pinocchio.”

The substance of this video is typically littered with lies and dishonest White House talking points. The truth, as noted above, illustrates that, while Schiff may not have been sufficiently clear, he did not lie or intend to mislead. Trump, on the other hand, is a notorious liar. In fact, the Washington Post has documented more than 12,000 lies by Trump since his inauguration. Converted to “Pinocchios” that’s about 48,000, compared to only four for Schiff.

Making matters worse, Trump’s tweet is a blatant violation of intellectual property laws. The video and the music it contains is owned by Disney and is being used without permission. The theft of intellectual property is an issue that Trump has spoken about on numerous occasions, primarily to criticize China. This occurred most recently just six weeks ago:

There’s a lot of idiocy in that tweet, but for the time being let’s focus on the copyright theft. Because that’s something Trump does with frequency. Other recent examples include:

So while Trump is adamant that China not be permitted to engage in the theft of intellectual property, he thinks it’s entirely fine for him to do so – repeatedly. He’s a recidivist thief. And it’s wholly in character for him to believe that he can do whatever he wants, even if he’s chastised others for doing the same thing. That’s a textbook trait of malignant narcissists.

In addition to those incidents itemized above, Stephen Colbert actually made two demands that Trump stop stealing his work. One was about a year ago when he put Trump on notice for cribbing his famous monologue about trusting one’s gut more than one’s brain. What’s sad is that Colbert’s original piece was a joke, but Trump was serious. The other one was just this week when Colbert castigated Trump for stealing his idea to dig a moat at the border and stock it with alligators (video below). Once again, Colbert was kidding, Trump, incredibly, was not. Which means that Trump is not just a thief, he’s a raving lunatic. And in his pathetic and dishonest attempt to flame Rep. Schiff, he winds up burning himself.

UPDATE: Trump has upped the ante is now accusing both Schiff, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and others of treason. More proof that his dementia is accelerating rapidly.

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

The Madness: ‘I’m Donald Trump and I Approve this Message’ that Impeachment is a Coup

Posted by on October 2, 2019 at 1:35 pm. 8 Comments :

For those of you who have been waiting for Donald Trump to finally crack wide open and devolve into madness, that time has come. Sure, there are those who will that say it happened long ago, but now the cracks are rupturing into massive fissures that threaten to swallow the entirety of Trump’s frazzled psyche and, if we’re not careful, the whole nation..

Donald Trump, Constitution

Trump is sweating out the prospect of his impending impeachment with the worst imaginable reactions. If he were smart he’d just resign now. His tweets and public comments reveal someone who has given up on reality in favor of throwing bizarre tantrums and lashing out at his perceived enemies. He has actually warned that criticism of him could lead to civil war. But on Wednesday morning he whined that “the press has gone crazy” because they reported on his unspeakably cruel proposal to shoot migrants and to build a border moat stocked with snakes and alligators. By the way, Fox News confirmed those reports, so they must be crazy too.

Trump also ranted about what he called the “Do Nothing Democrats.” Nevermind that the House has passed more than 200 bills that are being blocked by GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell. Trump complained that Democrats were “wasting everyone’s time and energy on BULLSHIT.” And isn’t that a lovely presidential expression of bipartisanship.

Trump’s derangement continued during a press avail wherein he attacked the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, impotently calling for him to resign and recklessly accusing him of treason. This obsession with Schiff stemmed from a brief passage in Schiff’s opening statement at a committee hearing. Trump has been incessantly whimpering that Schiff fraudulently put words in his mouth. But the truth is that Schiff merely paraphrased Trump and said he was doing so in advance. But Trump leaves that part out.

However, the most disturbing recent remarks from Trump concern his allegation that the efforts to impeach him are a coup. That’s a charge that Trump picked up from the wingnut media that has been bellowing this absurdity for several days. But it’s one thing for right-wing propagandists to spew these ludicrous conspiracy theories, and another when it comes straight from the President as it did when he tweeted that “what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP.” And now Trump has included this preposterous nonsense in an official campaign ad:

This video is abhorrent for many reasons. It is filled with lies about Democrats “trying to undo an election.” The video includes a clip of Fox News host Mark Levin making a declarative, and ignorant, statement that Trump broke no laws. Levin asks his Fox colleagues if they can name one. They can’t, but I can: The laws that Trump can be charged with violating right now include extortion, campaign finance, witness intimidation, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy against the United States.

The video also falsely alleges that Democrats are “fabricating evidence.” It includes images of mostly women in Congress including Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib. And it closes with the abhorrent charge that the Ukraine affair and the whistleblower complaint are “nothing short of a coup.” And remember, this is an official campaign ad that Trump was required to approve.

Apparently Trump has no idea what a coup is. For the record, it’s an illegal, and often violent, overthrow of a government by force. Impeachment, on the other hand, is the constitutional provision for removing a corrupt leader through a defined legal process that requires the bipartisan affirmation of Congress.

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

So you have to wonder what Trump is so afraid of. There is a Republican majority in the Senate. It would take twenty of them to join with every Democrat to convict Trump and remove him from office. If Trump is scared – and he obviously is – it suggests that he knows something about what he did that could result in enough Republicans voting against him. And that fear would explain the extreme hysteria he’s displaying by his lies, insults, and paranoid references to coups. Because he knows that soon we will all know the gravity of his crimes. It’s just a matter of time, which he is rapidly running out of.

Trump Must Resign: His Own Reprehensible Words Require Immediate Removal From Office

Posted by on September 30, 2019 at 1:14 pm. 12 Comments :

With each new day Donald Trump makes the case stronger for his impeachment. This isn’t a close call. He is acting out in a way that can only be explained by a fearful and guilty conscience. Trump’s Twitter tantrums are getting more hostile and disconnected from reality. And his ravings serve as incitements to his glassy-eyed disciples to resort to violence.

Donald Trump Walking the Plank

For these reasons Trump cannot be tolerated in the White House for any longer than it takes to invoke and complete the legal and constitutional process of impeachment. He represents an imminent danger to the nation that worsens by the hour. And this threat rests on top of the blatant assault on the rule of law by a reckless and self-obsessed aspiring tyrant. Trump’s defenders keep asking what laws he has broken. So for those wingnuts in denial about Trump’s legal jeopardy, the laws he can be charged with violating right now include extortion, campaign finance, witness intimidation, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy against the United States.

As the sinkhole widens around our panicky president, he appears to be determined to use his own shovel dig ever deeper. His Twitter feed is infested with conspiracy theories, personal insults, unbridled hatred, and outright lies. But worst of all are his flagrant attempts to sow national discord and even civil war. His tweets have taken on the persona of a paranoid schizophrenic who shouts gibberish at passing cars. For instance:

  • Trump tweeted that “I want [House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam] Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason.”
  • Trump asked “Was this person [the whistleblower or his source] SPYING on the U.S. President?”
  • Trump alleged that Democrats “are lying & cheating like never before in our Country’s history in order to destabilize the United States of America.”
  • Trump asserted that “the Democrats don’t care if they burn down and destroy this nation.”
  • Trump quoted a “pastor” who predicted that impeachment will “cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.”
  • Trump charged that he’s “looking for Corruption and … By the way, the Bidens were corrupt!”
  • Trump repeated the absurdity that “Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine … Arrest for Treason?”

These utterly unhinged outbursts reveal Trump’s severe mental infirmity and unfitness for office. There is simply no rational justification for charging a Democratic congressman with treason, a crime punishable by death. Nor is it rational to claim that Democrats want to “destabilize” and “destroy” the nation. And aligning himself with the opinion that the lawful process of investigating the President is a valid basis for civil war is just plain insane.

However, Trump’s confession that he did indeed illegally solicit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for dirt on Joe Biden was a bit of a surprise. The surprise isn’t that Trump did it, just that he admitted it. And notice that Trump, who often whines about due process for himself, isn’t giving it to Biden who he flatly says – with zero evidence – is corrupt.

Trump’s manic hysteria is producing some of his most dishonest statements to date. And for someone who has been documented as telling over 12,000 lies, that’s saying something. Among his recent falsehoods are that Rep. Schiff purposefully misquoted Trump. In fact, Schiff prefaced a brief portion of his opening statement at a congressional hearing by stating explicitly that he was creatively paraphrasing Trump. There was no effort to mislead anyone.

Trump has also been tweeting that the whistleblower is fake. But he’s ignoring the fact that the whistleblower’s complaint matches perfectly Trump’s own memo summarizing his phone call with Zelensky. And Trump keeps citing Zelensky as saying that there wasn’t any pressure put on him to dig up dirt on Biden. But you don’t ask the hostage if his captor is putting pressure on him. What was Zelensky supposed to say? He obviously feared losing the foreign aid that Trump was withholding from him.

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

This combination of brazen illegality and psychotic breakdown is far more than enough reason to oust Trump from office. And the urgency increases as his mental meltdown accelerates into orbit. Trump can still do an enormous amount of damage to this country and its international reputation. Yes, even more than he’s already done. And we as a nation must not allow that.

Desperation Time: Trump Aims Tweet Tsunami At One of His Biggest Fox News Fluffers

Posted by on September 29, 2019 at 10:59 am. 3 Comments :

The walls are closing in around Donald Trump and he knows it. With the House of Representatives conducting an official impeachment inquiry, the President is exhibiting clear signs of a psychotic meltdown, the likes of which have never been seen in the Oval Office. He’s suffering from a severe case of Hysterical Impeachment Syndrome and taking on the tactics of the Nazis he admires.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Fake

On Sunday morning this display of desperation reached a boiling point as Trump unleashed a massive tweetstorm against one of his most reliable defenders. Ed Henry of Fox News has become a bona fide Trump-fluffer in his role as a Fox & Friends co-host. But that is apparently not enough to inoculate him from the gnawing animus of a cornered presidential rat. Following a segment of the Trump & Friends program, Henry was mobbed by angry StormTrumpers who were orgasming over what they thought was a takedown by Fox’s Trump attack dog, Mark Levin (video below).

In fact, Levin just spent a couple of minutes screaming at viewers about nonsense that never addressed the substance of Trump’s tribulations. He began by badgering Henry about why he hasn’t asked for the identity of the whistleblower. Of course the answer to that is obvious to those who aren’t infected by Levin’s cult worship of Trump. The whistleblower statute was designed to protect people from retribution and, in this case, violence and potential charges that Trump himself implied could lead to execution.

Levin bellowed that he wants to “know all about the whistleblower … What kind of dogs they’ve had, how many marriages they’ve had, if they had a DUI” Notice that he doesn’t want to know if the whistleblower is telling the truth or has corroborating evidence. He is only interested in irrelevant personal issues that are only useful for smear campaigns. Levin continued by mocking the need for the whistleblower’s anonymity merely because “his life might be in danger.”

Levin also ranted about why the whistleblower wasn’t being questioned by congress. For the record, the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff (who’s resignation Trump has impotently demanded), has already announced that the whistleblower will be interviewed by the Committee. But Levin plowed forward making the absurd assertion that nobody has identified any laws that were broken by Trump’s extortion of the President of Ukraine. For starters, there’s extortion. And there’s campaign finance violations, witness intimidation, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy.

Trump was so aroused by the reactions to Levin’s high-volume tirade that he retweeted twenty (20!) comments by random Twitteristas praising him. They included such brilliant and dignified retorts as “Ed Henry just got his ASS handed to him by Mark Levin,” and “Levin just tore Ed Henry to shreds,” and “Levin sure put that lying shit head Ed Henry in his place,” and “Levin ripped Ed Henry a new one.” Who can argue with logic like that?

So now Ed Henry is among the Fox News untouchables who Trump’s cult followers are ordered to despise. He joins Shepard Smith and Chris Wallace. But what’s peculiar about this is that Henry is a devoted Trump-fluffer himself. Among his glassy-eyed defenses of Dear Leader, Henry has lied about seeing Trump’s non-existent border wall. He falsely claimed that “Hollywood has been threatening to blacklist” Trump supporters.
He celebrated a court ruling against Obamacare that could cause millions to suffer saying that it was “a little gift ahead of Christmas.”

When Trump has reached the point that he is attacking even his most faithful media shills on his favorite Fox News program, you know that he’s gone over the edge. It’s a state of fearful derangement that is only going to get worse as time goes by. And Trump isn’t doing himself any favors by maligning the Fox News protectorate that he needs to continue gaslighting his base. So buckle up, America. Trump is determined to make this a bumpy ride to impeachment.

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

Hysterical Impeachment Syndrome: Trump Issues Impotent Demands that Adam Schiff Resign

Posted by on September 27, 2019 at 1:11 pm. 5 Comments :

Donald Trump is previewing his regularly scheduled Weekend Tweetstorm with a special Friday edition. And the lengths he goes to to exalt himself and malign his critics is reaching new levels of hysteria and panic. If Trump thinks this sort of behavior is consistent with that of an innocent man, he is suffering from a deeper case of dementia than anyone previously imagined.

Donald Trump

Trump’s morning rant follows Thursday’s late night flurry of Fox News videos, many of which proposed a bizarre theory that impeaching Trump would hurt Democrats more. It’s clear from their nasty reactions, however, that they don’t really believe that. And Trump’s own response is escalating in animosity – and incoherence – by the minute. For example:

So much derp in one “liddle” tweet. First of all, Trump is outraged that CNN omitted an apostrophe from his infantile prefix to Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s name. So outraged that he forgot the difference between an apostrophe and a hyphen. He also forgot how to spell the word “describing.” And he thinks that this punctuation atrocity somehow changes his meaning in a “dishonest” way.

Trump then moves on to bash the New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker (and for some reason his wife) for writing a story about Trump’s phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that clearly included an extortion threat. Trump has been denying the reality of that even after the incriminating memo summarizing the call was released. But the worst part of this tweet was Trump’s assertion that Baker “should not even be allowed to write about me.”

Trump continues to have the delusional impression that he’s a tyrannical monarch who gets to decide who and what is permitted in the free press that he repeatedly calls, in Stalin’s words, “the enemy of the people.” That burning hatred for the Constitution was further reflected in Trump’s next tweets that continued his attack on Schiff:

Apparently Trump doesn’t grasp the concept of paraphrasing with emphasis to make a point. That’s what Schiff was doing. He even prefaced his remarks (video below) by saying that Trump’s phone call “reads like a classic organized crime shakedown. Shorn of its rambling character, and in not so many words, this is the essence of what the President communicates.” So contrary to Trump’s brazen lie, Schiff was not “supposedly reading the exact transcribed version of the call,”

What’s more, nobody has to make Trump sound horrible or look guilty. Trump does an excellent job of that without assistance. Which makes his demand that Schiff resign all the more pathetic and shimmering with the impotence of a wannabe dictator who doesn’t know that he lacks the authority he imagines he has. But Trump wasn’t through with Schiff.

It’s ironic that Trump would call Schiff “sick” in a tweet where he once again makes an absurd demand that Schiff “must resign and be investigated.” Notice the backwards order that Trump puts those in: resign, then be investigated. Trump followed that up with an all-caps tweet that his conversation with Zelensky was “perfect.” If that was perfect, what kind of horror would mediocre be? (Note: Why does he keep saying “perfect,” a word that is generally reserved for things like hanging pictures or seasoning chicken dinner?) Trump also claimed that Democrats are “now to be known as the DO NOTHING PARTY!” Nevermind that they have passed more than 200 bills that Mitch McConnell is blocking in the Senate.

Finally (well, for now), Trump took a wild swing at the whistleblower, who he said without explanation “isn’t a Whistleblower at all.” That contradicts his own Acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, who told Congress under oath that the whistleblower and his account of the events, was credible and made in good faith. Trump, nevertheless, whined that the complaint was inaccurate and speculated baselessly that it was the work of either a leaker, a spy, or a partisan operative.

At this point Trump is just sending conspiratorial trial balloons into the polluted air that he’s making worse with the incessant and toxic exhaust from his own mouth. And the frequency and fury of his Twitter tirades is only exacerbating the public perception of his guilt. A poll on Thursday showed a thirteen point increase in Americans who think Trump should be impeached. And that’s even before many of these latest revelations had time to percolate through the mediasphere.

Long story short: Trump is revealing a measure of fear that is weighing heavily on him. But that may be the most sane response he’s had to any of this controversy to date. Fear would be precisely the right emotion under these circumstances. So if he’s scared it’s because he has good reason to be.

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

Trump Thinks the Mueller Report is a Woman, That’s Why He’s ‘Moving On It Like a B*tch’

Posted by on April 20, 2019 at 11:32 am. 2 Comments :

It’s only been three days since Donald Trump’s obedient lackey in the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barr, released his redacted version of the report by special counsel Robert Mueller. Barr’s alleged “press conference” thoroughly distorted the content of the report and cemented his reputation as a dishonorable shill.

Donald Trump drinking

However, it’s Trump himself who has gone completely overboard with wild-eyed ranting about the report. He is at once lambasting it as a hoax that should never have happened, as well as a conclusive vindication of his glaringly obvious crimes. So naturally he spent his regularly scheduled Saturday Morning Tweetstorm demonstrating the severe mental infirmities that have become the hallmark of his presidency. You might say that he “moved on it like a bitch.” He began with this:

Mueller is a life-long Republican who was appointed by a Republican acting Attorney General who was appointed by Trump. But in Trump’s “very large a-brain” (his own words) it’s still some sort of deep state conspiracy against him. And now he can’t even keep track of the number of “Angry Democrats” amongst the “Trump Haters” (Fact Check: It’s about 63,000,000). And then there was this:

First of all, No one is doing more to “stir up and anger the pols and as many people as possible” as Trump. In fact, it’s practically all he does with his incessant rage-tweeting and lie-riddled comments at his staged photo-ops. And if he really thinks that the “principle conclusion” of the Mueller report was that there was “no collusion,” he’s more deranged than anyone imagined. Even Fox News’ senior legal analyst agrees with the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, that there is evidence of collusion and obstruction of justice. And for an alleged hoax that is allegedly dead, Trump can’t stop whining about it. And then there was this:

True to form, Trump praises the “Witch Hunt” against him as “the greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. political history.” Of course it is. I know it. You know it. Everybody knows it. No one does better witch hunt than Trump. Believe me. And, according to Trump, the “end result” of the Mueller report manages to be “no collusion” despite the voluminous references to meetings with Russians, pathological lying, and flagrant obstruction of justice. That really is “Pretty Amazing!” And then there was this:

Why is our supposedly tea-totalling president toasting (himself probably) with a cocktail? But more to the point, what’s with that cheesy propaganda video? The lies that Trump stuffed into it shouldn’t surprise anyone. It’s just a tedious rehashing of what he tweets ad nauseum.

What should bother the American people is that he spends our tax dollars on bullshit like this. This is the true “Presidential Harassment,” but not the sexual kind that he’s so well known for. And not the kind that he panic-tweets about so much (here and here and here). Sadly, he has an army of Deplorables who actually suck up these perverse ravings without swallowing. Pretty Amazing!

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

The Collusionists: Fox News Wants To Know ‘Why Are They Even Allowed On Television Anymore’?

Posted by on April 9, 2019 at 1:14 pm. 3 Comments :

There’s one thing that Donald Trump can look forward to every day. That’s the morning broadcast of his favorite Fox News program Fox and Friends. The easily predictable three hours of Trump-fluffing and Democrat bashing makes it possible for him to face the day despite his multiplying political and legal woes.

Fox News, Dan Bongino

On Tuesday morning’s episode, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes were joined by a frequent guest, Dan Bongino. He is the male version of Fox’s senior harpie, Jeanine Pirro. And in this segment he surely didn’t disappoint the President with his bombastic brown nosing and rabid conspiratorial crackpottery. In a discussion about Trump’s nefarious associations with Russia and the pending release of the report by special counsel Robert Mueller, Bongino unleashed a rancid rant (video below) that was impressive in how he kept the drool from smearing his notes:

“This is what I cannot believe about these two discredited conspiracy theorist hacks. Number one, why are they even allowed on television anymore – Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler, and Eric Swalwell for that matter? And I’m being serious. They have lied to people over and over about collusion in plain sight and evidence they have never, ever produced. There is no evidence of collusion.

“There is evidence of collusion – this is the gall of these three – the evidence of collusion between the Clinton campaign and Russian sources is right in front of everybody’s face.”

Well, that was jam packed with delusion and dishonesty. First of all, representatives Schiff, Nadler, and Swalwell have presented piles of evidence that Trump conspired with Russia and then obstructed the investigation into his activities. In fact, all of America saw him meeting with Russians in the Oval Office, and his son and campaign chairman met with other Russians in Trump Tower. Trump also admitted on television that he fired FBI Director James Comey because of “the Russia thing.”

Bongino’s deflection to accuse Hillary Clinton of collusion is a familiar Republican trope. But it is wholly fabricated from bits of data that contain zero evidence of wrongdoing. They assert that because her campaign partly paid for the infamous Steele dossier, that she was connected to Russian operatives. She wasn’t. Even Christopher Steele’s sources were Russian dissidents who were not connected to the Kremlin.

Most disturbing is Bongino’s loony claim that members of Congress should be prohibited from appearing on TV. His justification for that is his assertion that they lied about Trump’s adventures with Russians. But Bongino can’t cite a single thing they said that wasn’t true.

What makes this fairly hysterical is that Bongino is setting a standard for television appearances that would prevent Trump from ever being on. After all, he has been documented to have lied more than 9,000 times since his inauguration. And that prohibition would also have to extend to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kellyanne Conway, and most of the rest of the Trump Nationalist Party. And let’s not leave out serial liar, Dan Bongino.

So, all things considered, Bongino may have a good point. Let’s add up all times that people have deliberately lied on TV and make that the basis for whether they can continue to be booked on news programs. The only problem with that is that it would let Fox “News” off the hook since they have nothing to do with news.

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

Trump is Trippin’ on ‘God-Like’ Mueller and ‘Shifty’ Democrats and his ‘No Collusion’ Delusion

Posted by on April 2, 2019 at 1:27 pm. 1 Comments :

It’s only Tuesday, but Donald Trump is getting ahead of his regularly scheduled weekend tweetstorming with a series of utterly deranged posts expressing his fevered fetish with the investigations into the criminal connections to Russia by his campaign, his administration, his family, and of course, himself. The evidence of both conspiracy and obstruction of justice is so apparent that even the top legal expert on Fox News noticed.

Donald Trump, Twitter

Nevertheless, Trump continues to sing “la la las” with his tiny fingers in his ears rather than acknowledge the fact that special counsel Robert Mueller has likely produced a report that is filled with incriminating data. To date, no one but Trump’s plant in the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barr, has seen the report. But Democrats are more insistent with each passing day that it be released. And the more Democrats advocate for its release, the more Trump shudders and stomps in an effort to suppress it. Which only raises the question: What’s he so scared of?

In his Tuesday rage-tweeting, Trump first struck out against Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Committee:

This is a flagrant misrepresentation of reality. The only opposition Nadler had to releasing any portion of the Starr report was after it had already been given to Congress. And even then he only sought to keep confidential sources, methods, and grand jury testimony secret. That is pretty much the same position Nadler holds today with regard to the Mueller report. He wants it released to Congress first, and then any sensitive material can be evaluated and redacted, if necessary, before making it public. But like most things more complex than checkers, Trump doesn’t understand. So he then tweeted this:

Trump approaches a measure of truth – albeit exaggerated – in his assessment of the admiration that Democrats (and all patriotic Americans) have for Mueller, a true American hero and life-long public servant. But that’s where Trump’s ability to remain inside the bounds of sanity end. While there are some critics who think Mueller should have taken a more affirmative stance with regard to Trump’s potential illegality, no Democrats have become hostile or disrespectful toward Mueller since the completion of his probe. And none are hesitant to say his name in generally flattering terms.

What’s more, Trump’s assertion that Mueller “ruled No Collusion” can only be based on panicky voices in his head. Trump, like everyone else, has not seen the report unless the AG is more corrupt than we thought. Also, the cost of the Mueller probe was more than paid for by the asset forfeitures from the conviction of Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, alone. So failing to make any coherent points in his previous tweets, Trump added this:

We ought to be grateful that Trump softened his name-calling for Rep. Adam Schiff to merely “shifty.” He previously maligned him as “Adam Schitt.” However, Trump seems to be tuckered out and unable to even come up with an insulting nickname for Nadler. It shouldn’t have been that hard considering some obvious options for the sort of childish digs Trump prefers. For instance: Bad Nadler, Mad Nadler, or maybe a gender-based burn like Gonad-ler.

Trump’s current resistance to letting the American people see what’s in Mueller’s report is a 180 degree flip-flop from recent statements he’s made suggesting that he would support a full release of Mueller’s findings. Apparently, as that prospect becomes more likely, Trump is getting cold feet and swinging back against the transparency he previously pretended to support.

In other words, his fear is rising to the surface and guiding him back to the bunker mentality that he believes best serves his legal interests. Expect him to become even more frantic as Nadler, Schiff, et al, issue their subpoenas and compel Trump’s insiders to testify under oath. Trump may want all of this to end yesterday, but his eventual and inevitable reckoning and accountability has only just begun.

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