Republicans

In His Own Words: Donald Trump Is Selling Himself Like A Bag Of Cheetos

Posted by on March 25, 2016 at 1:45 pm. 4 Comments :

The Republican Party has saddled itself with one of history’s most repulsive characters in this, or any, election season. Donald Trump is the manifestation of the racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and general anti-intellectualism that has long festered behind a thin veil of the GOP’s pseudo-respectability. As much as many of the party’s relative moderates are embarrassed by Trump, they cannot absolve themselves of responsibility for him.

Donald Trump Cheetos

Trump’s campaign strategy has resembled nothing more than the sort of reality TV battles that made him a household name. He trades in hyperbole and personal attacks and dumbed-down misrepresentations of issues. More often than not he lies without shame to advance his self-serving interests (see the Trump Bullshitopedia) And always, he casts himself as a sort of Messianic savior who is the only hope for rescuing America from the hordes of enemies, within and without, who yearn to destroy us in unspeakably horrific ways.

However, if you pay attention to Trump’s own descriptions of his operational tactics you will find that he is selling himself more like a consumer product than a candidate. Trump is essentially marketing himself like the corny, air-puffed, cheese snack, Cheetos, which has little substance but lots of toxic chemicals and seasoning. And while the comparison has been made before, Trump is surpassing all previous efforts by confessing to his marketing schemes. He is slapping a label on his snake oil that actually says “Snake Oil.”

What follows are some of the comments that expose Trump as a smarmy salesman. And the fact that he is unashamed to admit that his entire candidacy is akin to a pitch for fast food makes it all the more distasteful.

The best place to start is where Trump helpfully defines the marketing premise of his campaign by telling Politico that “I’ve done my job. I’m the product, the product is me.” That was his attempt to explain why he relied on massive rallies to promote himself, rather than the face-to-face town hall gatherings that are the standard in early state primaries. It’s the marketing equivalent of putting up a Superbowl ad instead of having a taste test at a local grocery store. Trump doesn’t really want anyone to get that close for fear of being exposed as a phony.

Way back in 2006 Trump was on the O’Reilly Factor where he laid out for Bill O’Reilly the reason he fights dirty saying that “If I attack on a purely intellectual basis nobody would listen and the response would not be nearly as effective.” So he is admitting that his rancor and bombast is an act designed to bring him more attention. It doesn’t matter if it’s truthful or tactful so long as it has shock value and the media laps it up.

Then there was the time that Trump openly admitted that his antics were crafted to generate drama and controversy: “If I weren’t in the race you’d have the same as you did four years ago, just the same boring things that would be just boring, that’s the way it is. Maybe That’s why The Apprentice was so successful.” In this comment Trump actually openly associates his success as a candidate with success as a contestant on a TV game show.

That shouldn’t surprise anyone after they learn that his measure of power in politics is the same as his measure of power in television: “It’s ratings. I go on one of these shows and the ratings double. They triple. And that gives you power. It’s not the polls. It’s the ratings.” And furthermore, he believes that that capacity for drawing an audience (which rests primarily on appealing to their bloodlust for seeing a horrible train wreck live on the air) puts the TV networks in his debt: “The networks are making a fortune off of me!” Sadly, the networks are buying into that as recently revealed by Les Moonves, the CEO of CBS who said “Who would have thought that this circus would come to town. It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS. […] Go Donald, go.”

Which brings us to how Trump extends his marketing philosophy to his opponents. He has coined little slogans to disparage other candidates, or anyone whom he regards as an enemy. For instance, “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz and “Little Marco” Rubio. He has also tried to stick labels on Ben Carson as a “psychopath,” Jeb Bush as “low energy,” and Hillary Clinton as “lacking stamina.” What all of these have in common is their resemblance to marketing catch phrases that he repeats every time he mentions their names.

Donald Trump is bound and determined to create a public perception of his rivals as evildoers who strive intentionally to cause harm to America and its good citizens. At the same time he offers himself up as the solution to every problem anyone could ever have. His self-branding positions him as the best at whatever he is currently talking about: building a wall, killing terrorists, creating jobs, curing disease, etc. He is likewise the bestest of friends to the poor, women, veterans, evangelicals, and “the blacks.” In short, he’s an all-purpose elixir to cure whatever ails ya.

This characterization of himself serves the purpose of certifying his role as savior to the ignoramuses who worship him no matter what disgusting thing he says or does. It’s a phenomenon that even the obsequious media has recognized. Trump’s support seems to congeal following some grotesquery like a blatant lie (thousands of Muslims celebrating 9/11), or brazen misogyny (blood coming out of Megyn Kelly’s, whatever), or embrace of hatred (declining to rebuke KKK support), or advocacy of violence (promising to pay the legal fees of supporters who assault protesters).

These are not coincidental factors in his campaign. Trump is deliberately setting up his followers to behave like the zombie fanatics for which he desperately yearns. They are expected to follow him into literal battles as exemplified by his threat of riots at the GOP convention if he is not crowned as the Party’s nominee. His egomaniacal compulsions are typical of a cult leader who requires total devotion from an unquestioning flock. And he is as open about that aspiration as he is about his crass commercialization of politics. He regards his supporters as disciples who will follow him anywhere, as he revealed in this tweet:

“Because of me, the Republican Party has taken in millions of new voters, a record. If they are not careful, they will all leave. Sad!”

And just to reiterate the point, he told Joe Scarborough on MSNBC that “If I go, I will tell you, these millions of people that joined, they’re all coming with me.”

And so the Tribe of Trump is born. And in order to belong you must literally pledge your allegiance. This is a bit more demanding than becoming a part of the Pepsi Generation, but is sold in much the same way – through sloganeering, repetition, and the packaging of a social sect that promises acceptance and the welcoming embrace of a de facto family. Even if it is more like the Manson Family, it still offers a measure of warmth and communion. It is a shield from the tribulations of a world they perceive as hostile with enemies everywhere, including where they used to find friends.

In that regard they have even joined Trump’s war against the most reliably biased right-wing media empire in history, Fox News. Trump’s war on Fox has been joined by his minions who are all too happy to boycott the network to which they once clung obsessively. And Trump eggs them on tweeting “Wow, you are all correct about @FoxNews – totally biased and disgusting reporting.” So what we have here is the Trump Cult competing directly with the Fox News Cult. This should be fun.

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

Trump has adopted a mix of missionary work and marketing that exploits the tried and true methods of televangelists and telemarketers (but I repeat myself). He employs the persuasion technology of modern media to appeal to people’s fear and dependency on a sense of belonging (i.e. white supremacy). And his methods include the emotional power of proselytizing patriotism, faith, and rampant scapegoating of vulnerable minorities. It’s a potent cocktail that approaches a form of mass hypnosis, and it has been used before on frightened and disaffected populations. Which makes it all the more understandable that, by his own admission, Trump is not bothered by comparisons to Hitler. In fact, Trump probably views him as an inspiration and role model.

NYT/CBS Poll: Most Republicans Are Embarrassed By Donald Trump, But Will Vote For Him Anyway

Posted by on March 22, 2016 at 9:08 pm. 2 Comments :

How screwed up are Republican voters? That question may seem unnecessary to anyone who has been watching the GOP primary campaign this election season. It began with seventeen candidates, most of whom never had any hope of success, and some of whom were just plain delusional. And as the field narrowed, the remaining candidates represented the worst of the party’s fringe element. And that’s not even counting Donald Trump.

Donald Trump Voter

What really makes the Republican Party a fall-down laughing stock is something that was revealed in a new poll from the New York Times and CBS News:

“Alarmed by the harsh attacks and negative tone of their presidential contest, broad majorities of Republican primary voters view their party as divided and a source of embarrassment and think that the campaign is more negative than in the past.”

That’s right. Sixty percent of Republican primary voters said the campaign had made them feel mostly embarrassed about their party. The reasons they cite are exclusively associated with the grotesqueness of the Trump campaign: his boorish, unpresidential demeanor, lack of substance, and advocacy of violence. And yet, 46% say that they favor him to be the party’s nominee, twenty points higher than their next choice, Ted Cruz. In fact, half of all voters said they would be “scared” if Trump were elected president, and another 19% said they would be “concerned.” And their concern would be justified, not just because of his unfitness to be president, but because both Clinton and Sanders hold double-digit leads over him in head-to-head match-ups.

So Republican voters are saying that they want Trump to be president despite the fact that they are embarrassed by him as a candidate and afraid of the prospect of his presidency. What sort of sickness would cause people to make such contorted decisions about something so important? Whatever it is, it is the reason that I said way back in September of last year that Donald Trump is just a symptom, Republicans are the disease:

“The fact that his hateful idiocy has caught on with a significant faction of the Republican electorate isn’t his fault. Trump’s support isn’t coming from the back seat of his limo. There are actual voters lining up to align themselves with his noxious brand and without them he would be an asterisk in the polls.”

What’s truly frightening is that so many Republicans are willing to support someone that they affirmatively find embarrassing. The results of this poll should be a source of ongoing concern for the health of our democracy. We probably won’t know until July if Trump actually becomes the GOP nominee, and he may be dumped by party insiders at the convention. But it will be hard to wipe off the stink he has attached to the party and, even after he inevitably flames out, the ignorance and bigotry that are the hallmarks of his campaign will remain. The cult of Trump isn’t new. It’s just the latest incarnation of the Tea Party and the Fox News Church of Right-Wing Crackpottery.

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

One last note, if it makes Republicans feel any better, most Democrats are also embarrassed by Donald Trump. But they’re also embarrassed by Republicans who would still vote for him despite their embarrassment.

Fox News Shamelessly Whitewashes Donald Trump’s Threat Of RNC Riots

Posted by on March 21, 2016 at 8:50 am. NO Comments :

It is difficult to recall any leading candidate for president who has so frequently and blatantly insinuated the threat of violence into a political campaign as Donald Trump. And his threats have not been merely hypothetical rhetoric, they have produced actual assaults at his rallies on peaceful protesters and even members of the press.

Donald Trump Fox News

When Trump made recent comments that he expects that there will be riots at the Republican National Convention if he is not given the GOP nomination for president that he believes is his entitlement, he said it in the context of his prior statements that literally encouraged violence from his followers. However, Fox News is trying desperately to absolve him of any responsibility for the potential harm that he is forecasting and inciting. This morning on MediaBuzz with Howard Kurtz, the host went to great extremes to let Trump off the hook:

“I was surprised that the media went to DEFCON 1 over Trump’s riots comment. I mean, I’ve used that phrase, ‘oh, there will be riots if this happens,’ and I thought it was hyperbole.”

That is typical of what is coming from the Trump apologists at Fox News. They are lock-step in agreement that Trump’s dangerous language is merely a figure of speech or, at worst, a careless exaggeration. What they seem to be purposefully sweep under the rug is the full story that Trump is telling his glassy-eyed disciples. That story includes advocating openly hostile behavior such as his desire to “punch [protesters] in the face,” and his praising of an assault about which he said the protester “deserved to be roughed up.” He lamented the old days when protesters would be “carried out on a stretcher,” and even offered to pay the legal fees of his goons if they “knocked the crap out of” some protesters (see the video below). In light of all of that, his talk of riots can no longer be dismissed as hyperbole. What Trump actually said was…

“I don’t think you can say that we don’t get [the nomination] automatically. I think you’d have riots. I think you’d have riots. I’m representing a tremendous — many, many millions of people. […] I think bad things would happen. I really do, I believe that. I wouldn’t lead it, but I think bad things would happen.”

In other words, if his tyrannical orders are not obeyed, his followers have his permission to fulfill his prophecy. He knows exactly what his storm-Trumpers are capable of. This was an unambiguous threat intended by Trump to convey that he is determined to be the GOP nominee, or else. And if he is not exalted, riots will ensue. Of course he says that he “wouldn’t lead it,” but conspicuously never says that it shouldn’t happen. That wasn’t an accident. It was a message.

For Howard Kurtz to pretend that Trump was entertaining a flight of fancy and meant no harm requires a massive dose of self-delusion. And on that measure, Kurtz is full of it. He has performed the duties of Trump’s fluffer before, as he tried to exempt Trump from criticism for his repugnant remarks, while simultaneously trying to keep Trump’s verbal fecal splatter from soiling the Republican Party.

Kurtz had help from his Fox News comrades who similarly stepped up to scour the scum off of Trump. Fox regulars Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt, Greta Van Susteren, Andrea Tantaros, and Chris Wallace all sought to attach the “figure of speech” fallacy to Trump’s hate-speech.

In addition to whitewashing Trump’s endorsement of riots, Fox made sure that the protesters were disparaged as the real problem simply for exercising their rights to express themselves. In the view of Fox News the First Amendment is only available to conservatives, and dissenters are infringing on them when they seek to speak out. Had Fox been around when Martin Luther King was protesting racist segregation in Alabama, they would have vilified him for interrupting George Wallace’s freedom to oppress black schoolchildren.

Fox News

In pursuit of the sort slander that turned bigots like Wallace into heroes, Fox trotted some of their old fear mongering to rile up their dimwitted audience. Trump is standing in today for Wallace, but his bigotry is no different. So Fox is going after Trump’s protesters so as to turn them into villains. And of course Fox’s coverage of protesters is always slanted to portray progressives as evil, but a couple of years ago, when the protesters were the Tea Party, Fox heralded them as patriots. Now the foul remnants of the Tea Party are lining up behind Donald Trump. And Fox News is running the media interference for them.

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

Donald Trump's History of Inciting Violence

Terrifying. #DumpTrump

Posted by MoveOn.org on Sunday, March 13, 2016

White Riot: Donald Trump Threatens Riots If He Doesn’t Get The GOP Nomination

Posted by on March 16, 2016 at 1:41 pm. 4 Comments :

On CNN this morning, Donald Trump took the next step on his path in pursuit of leading the nation into a new era of American Fascism. This election season has already seen his campaign devolve into a pit of violent skirmishes as his supporters assault peaceful protesters with the explicit encouragement of Trump himself. But his remarks today go even further down a very dark and dangerous road.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump regards himself as the anointed King of America whose coronation cannot be opposed. He pontificates ceaselessly about his unparalleled magnificence on any undertaking from wall building to military missions, to healthcare to economics to race relations to religion. In his mind he is beloved by all and favored as the ultimate benevolent dictator that America has longed for. And as such, he cannot be denied his rightful place in the Palace on Pennsylvania Avenue. That’s why he said this to CNN’s Chris Cuomo (video below):

“I think we’ll win before getting to the convention, but I can tell you, if we didn’t, and if we’re 20 votes short or if we’re 100 short, and we’re at 1100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400 — because we’re way ahead of everybody — I don’t think you can say that we don’t get it automatically. I think you’d have riots. I think you’d have riots. I’m representing a tremendous — many, many millions of people. […] I think bad things would happen. I really do, I believe that. I wouldn’t lead it, but I think bad things would happen.”

So after declaring that he should receive an “automatic” ascension to the Republican Party’s nomination, even if he does not satisfy the rules that govern the nominating process, Trump inhales deeply to puff up his chest and let loose one of the most piercing dog whistles of the campaign yet.

By offering his opinion that “you’d have riots” if his tyrannical orders are not obeyed, he is giving his followers permission to fulfill his prophecy. He knows exactly what his storm-Trumpers are capable of, and the mere suggestion of violent opposition to another candidate is sufficient to send them into a frenzy of his own design. This is the same man who told his glassy-eyed disciples that he would pay their legal fees if they “knocked the crap out of” his protesters. How is that any different than offering a bounty to commit a criminal assault?

Make no mistake, this was a threat intended by Trump to convey that he is determined to be the GOP nominee, or else. Passing him over will be done at great risk. He wants riots to ensue should the party shun him. That’s why his threat consists only of the damage that would be done if he doesn’t get his way. He says that he “wouldn’t lead it,” but never says that it shouldn’t happen. If he were opposed to such riots, all he would have to do is add one line to his tirade telling his followers that under no circumstances should they engage in violence if the nomination goes to someone else. He conspicuously neglected to say that. That wasn’t an accident. It was a message. And it is just short of terrorism.

Donald Trump does not have a majority of delegates now, and may not have them when the convention commences. He has never had majority support from Republican voters. In fact, he has the highest percentage of Republicans who say that they would never voter for him if were the nominee. So the non-Trump Republicans had better be prepared for the calamity that Trump is plotting to unleash at the convention. They had better be prepared to respond to the storm-Trumpers and to keep the peace.

Consider this bizarre irony: If a majority of delegates do not vote for Trump, his faithful may seek to disrupt the convention with protests. And if the majority then decided to behave the way Trump supporters treat protesters at his rallies, Trump’s convention thugs could be met with the same sort of violent assaults. After all, Trump has maligned the very act of protesting, complaining that “there are no consequences anymore,” and lamenting that in the old days they would be “carried out on stretchers.” Now his words could come back to haunt him as the jackboot is on the other foot.

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

Addendum: As evidence that right-wingers have an affinity for violent conventions, recall the time that Rush Limbaugh called for riots at a Democratic convention in a rant he titled “Screw the World! Riot in Denver!“

The Trump Effect: Bad For America, But ‘Damn Good’ For The Media

Posted by on March 1, 2016 at 9:15 pm. 7 Comments :

Les Moonves, the chief executive of CBS, was speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, when he decided to reveal one of the sad truths of modern media that is well known to insiders. It’s something that is representative of the core principles (or lack thereof) of a once noble profession that has been co-opted by greed and the corporate craving for power. With reference to the campaign of Donald Trump, Moonves was caught bragging about the cash cash cow he was unashamedly milking.

Moonves: Who would have thought that this circus would come to town. It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS. That’s all I got to say. So what can I say? The money’s rolling in, this is fun.

Donald Trump

Make no mistake, this is an admission by Moonves that his lust for profit is a higher priority than his love of country. Worse still, this pursuit of wealth, in Moonves’ view, is actually fun, even as it’s harmful to the rest of the nation and his fellow citizens. That is a form treason. Yet Moonves admits that despite Trump’s campaign being divisive, hostile, racist, ignorant, and detrimental to the well being of the United States, he gladly welcomes the damage it will do so long as CBS rakes in more cash.

And CBS isn’t alone in harboring these traitorous ambitions. The whole of the corporate media industry is guilty of the same self-interest. It’s why even MSNBC airs Trump’s stump speeches live in their entirety when they don’t do it for any other candidate. And it’s the result of the consolidation within the business that has thrust the profit motive over patriotism. These new multinational conglomerates have no incentive to be loyal to any nation, or to any anything other than their next quarterly earnings report. The one exception to this may be Fox News, whose owners and management are just as committed to pushing right-wing propaganda as they are to enriching their themselves.

The profit incentive for the media has a toxic effect on democracy. It produces reporting that is driven by motives other than honestly informing the public. What Moonves is putting on display for all to see is the damage that can be done when a news enterprise can be justifiably suspected of distorting their stories in order to fatten their wallets. Moonves was literally rooting for Trump specifically because his brand of melodramatic demagoguery draws more eyeballs to the advertising the network is now selling for inflated rates.

Moonves: I’ve never seen anything like this and this is going to be a very good year for us. Sorry, it’s a terrible thing to say, but bring it on, Donald, go ahead, keep going. […] “I’m not taking any sides, I’m just saying for us, economically, Donald Trump’s place in this election is a good thing.

With cheerleading like that, how can anyone watch this campaign coverage and be confidant that they are being told the truth. Clearly, the media has a profit motive to keep Trump in the race, and even boost his chances of securing the Republican nomination in order to keep the register ringing straight through to November and beyond. The other candidates are being deep-sixed because they can’t pull in the big bucks the way The Donald does.

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

This isn’t democracy. There may not be a word for what this is. We could call it a capitalocracy to illustrate the fact that the worst elements of capitalism are what determines who our leaders will be. We may as well stop having elections and just give prospective candidates their own TV shows and the one with the highest Nielsen ratings becomes president. Oh wait a minute. That’s pretty much how Donald Trump got to where he is today.

Hating Fox News: Now Even Republicans Think The GOP PR Network Sucks

Posted by on February 27, 2016 at 1:27 pm. 1 Comments :

Since it’s inception, Fox News has pursued its mission to advance a far-right political agenda and provide a friendly platform for Republican politicians. They openly disparaged Democrats and promoted fake “scandals” that were often invented in their own editorial meetings. Their pretensions to being “fair and balanced” were quickly revealed to be a cheap facade and, to the extent that they continue to push it, they are mercilessly ridiculed.

Fox News

Now, after twenty years of investing in their conservative propaganda machine, it turns out that the core constituency to whom they have been shamelessly pandering has an increasingly negative view of the network. A new YouGov survey of brand buzz shows that Fox News is not at all well thought of by the Teabagger contingent they covet:

“By mid February, FNC’s perception by Republican adults 18 and over had reached its lowest point in more than three years, and has declined by approximately 50% since January of this year.”

The survey places the favorability of Fox News at a mere seventeen (out of 100). And that’s just among Republicans. The ranking for the population at large is actually below zero. YouGov notes that this precipitous decline occurred simultaneously to the emergence of Donald Trump as a leading candidate in the Republican presidential primary.

That should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to the long-festering feud between Trump and Fox. He has blasted Fox as being “totally unfair” to him – a delusional complaint considering that they have given him far more airtime than any other candidate, after having created his candidacy in the first place.

Trump engaged in a painfully public quarrel with Fox’s Megyn Kelly who he called a “lightweight” and a “bimbo.” This led to his pledge not to appear on Fox News (which he has since revoked), and a call to boycott the network. Trump later refused to participate in a GOP debate on Fox because he was frightened off by Kelly’s presence as a moderator. His Twitter disciples fell in line with the boycott rhetoric and flooded his feed with promises to turn off Fox. Which, in the end, will be of benefit to everyone.

There is no question that Trump’s war with Fox has bled the network of its once loyal base. The YouGov survey documents a trend that has been in place for at least a couple of years. In 2013 Fox News had completely dropped out of the YouGov BrandIndex’s top ten GOP brands, when the it had been number one in 2012. News Corpse addressed that sinkhole at the time saying that…

“…a lot has taken place that has deteriorated the bonds that Republican viewers had with their daddy network. They lost an election that Fox had assured them they would win in a landslide. They launched numerous investigations into alleged scandals that, despite Fox’s endless hype, failed to catch on with the public or to prove any malfeasance on the part of the president they despise. They pursued a doomed strategy to shut down the government and threaten to throw the nation into default in an effort to reverse time and make ObamaCare disappear. And they continue to suffer through a relationship with the acutely demented Tea Party whose disintegrating appeal hasn’t stopped them from launching pernicious primary challenges that will inevitably benefit Democrats.”

Not much has changed since then. Fox News continues to belch out fringe fabrications and flagrant falsehoods intended to keep their wingnut viewers misinformed. The only real difference is that now they have in Donald Trump a candidate who is articulating their most abhorrent positions out loud.

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

Where Fox News once tried to disguise their elitist, racist, authoritarian biases and hate-speech with rhetorical dog whistles, Trump uses bullhorns to achieve the same ends. The problem for Fox is that Trump’s diatribes are just as often aimed at them as at the liberals that Fox was created to destroy. And the aftermath may end up being the epitaph of the GOP. So there is some good news after all.

Fact Checkers Scorch Donald Trump’s Lie-Riddled Debate Performance

Posted by on February 26, 2016 at 3:01 pm. 3 Comments :

Last night’s debate on CNN showcased once again that the field of Republicans is jam-packed with whimpering, infantile candidates who are wholly unprepared to lead a bunny hop, much less lead a nation. It’s hard to imagine that, after watching that spectacle, anyone can picture any of these colicky brats with America’s nuclear missile launch codes.

Bawl-Apalooza

As usual, Donald Trump dominated the brawl with his trademark insults and incessantly repetitive branding (“Make America build a wall of guns for Jesus, losers”). At this point it would probably be easier to list examples of Trump saying something truthful than to enumerate the many outright falsehoods he spews. But it wouldn’t be as much fun. Here are some of the blatant lies, as documented by Factcheck.org, that are contributing to the ever-growing Trump Bullshitopedia:

  1. Ted Cruz nailed Trump in an exchange where Trump denied that he had ever said he favored a health care plan that would be paid for by the government. In fact, that’s exactly what he told 60 Minutes just last year when he said that “Everybody’s gonna be taken care” and that “the government’s gonna pay for it.”
  2. Marco Rubio got his shots in by revealing that Trump had lost a million dollar lawsuit over his hiring of foreign workers. Trump whined that Rubio was “totally wrong,” except that he wasn’t.
  3. Trump claimed that he could not release his tax returns because they are being audited. This lie has several layers. First of all, he has been saying for months that he would release his tax returns “soon” without ever mentioning any audits. It seems like a convenient fabrication someone just thought of to try to get people to stop asking the question. Secondly, there is nothing preventing him from releasing his returns even if there is an audit in progress. And finally, he claims that he has been audited continuously for the past twelve years, so this lame excuse could actually mean that he will never release his tax returns because the audits could go on for years to come. – – – As an addendum to the tax return/audit lies, Trump told CNN that he believes the IRS may be auditing him because he is a “strong Christian.” Really? He thinks the IRS has it in for Christians? And how did they know he was one twelve years before he ever said anything about his alleged faith?
  4. Another feather in Cruz’s tri-corner hat was earned when he challenged Trump’s assertion that he had “never discussed” Libya or advocated removing Gadhafi from power. He apparently forgot that time he discussed it on his own website saying that “I can’t believe what our country is doing. Gadhafi, in Libya, is killing thousands of people…We should stop this guy…Immediately go into Libya, knock this guy out.”
  5. Here’s an oldie that has been debunked many times. Trump is fond of lying that Americans and American businesses pay the highest taxes in the world. That just isn’t true. It’s not even close.

As an added bonus, here is an item that isn’t technically a lie, but is frighteningly repugnant. At a post-debate rally Trump reminded his cultish followers about how bitterly he hates the media. And then he disclosed what he would do to his enemies in the press given the opportunity:

“One of the things I’m gonna do if I win… I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money…With me they’re not protected because I’m not like other people…So we’re going to open up those libel laws, folks, and we’re gonna have people sue you like you’ve never been sued before.”

In other words, Trump intends to repeal the First Amendment and, through his power as president, threaten and attack the press. Thin-skinned crybabies like Trump may not like any negative attention they get, but it is a Constitutional right for the media to have the freedom to express themselves. And like most rightist Republicans, they only revere the Constitution (or the bible) when they can interpret it to coincide with their preconceptions. It is the way cultists operate. See Fox News…

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

The Plaintive Wailing Of A Republican Party Crumbling Under The Weight Of Donald Trump

Posted by on February 25, 2016 at 3:19 pm. 7 Comments :

As this wacky election season continues to spiral out of control, the sound of an increasingly impotent Republican Party scratching at the door is becoming ever more noticeable. The so-called establishment candidates are falling to the wayside as a creature manufactured by reality TV lumbers across the GOP landscape, flattening its hopes like cardboard models being trampled by a carrot-topped Godzilla.

Trumpzilla

In the frantic chaos that ensues, the Republican National Committee is exhibiting signs of desperation. Party chair Reince Priebus has mounted a backroom campaign to convince everyone that he has everything firmly under control, a claim that has evoked nothing but laughter. Politico is reporting that Priebus is…

“…stating in private meetings that the party has sway over its at times unwelcome front-runner because it has tools Trump will need to use to win a general election — voter data and field, digital and media operations that a nominee typically inherits from the party infrastructure.”

“Dangling access to these resources, Priebus thinks he can help steer Trump toward partywide policy goals and away from the inflammatory rhetoric that Republican officials see as divisive and dangerous.”

Well, that ought scare the savage Trumpzilla into bowing to the supremacy of the party that he has been running against for eight months. The lunacy that Priebus thinks Trump cares about the RNC’s “resources” is almost as absurd as his belief that Trump would ditch his potty-mouth politics, or that he doesn’t already espouse the wingnut policy goals of the party at large. If Trump cared about partnering with the RNC he would not be repeatedly threatening to abandon the party and run as an independent. He wouldn’t be accusing them of distributing illegal solicitations. He wouldn’t be criticizing their debate audiences as being deliberately stacked against him.

Even setting aside the hostility that exists between the RNC and The Donald, the GOP’s services are not exactly state of the art. Last year it was revealed that the Koch brothers were building their own campaign machine that includes many of the services that are typically performed by a political party. The Koch operation was said to be angling to replace the party’s electoral architects by building and distributing the voter access tools and outreach capability.

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

With the Koch’s running election services and Fox News running PR, you might be wondering what purpose the RNC serves. A lot of political operatives and analysts are wondering the same thing. Under the direction of Priebus the party has become less of a factor than in previous years. It has struggled with Trump’s candidacy from the beginning when his refusal to rule out a third-party run resulted in a loyalty oath that all candidates were required to sign (and which Trump has already hinted he might break). It would be wishful thinking to imagine that Trump would suddenly buckle under to a weakened GOP that’s begging him to play nice.

Donald Trump Moves Closer To A Third (Reich) Party Campaign

Posted by on February 15, 2016 at 7:16 pm. 2 Comments :

The overgrown crybaby Donald Trump has unleashed yet another tirade of the ego-soaked entitlement that defines his personality and presidential campaign. At a press conference scheduled for damage control following his embarrassingly brutish performance at the CBS News GOP debate, Trump revisited his previous threats to violate his loyalty pledge to the Republican Party.

Donald Trump

At issue this time is Trump’s accusation that the Republican National Committee conspired to embarrass him by packing the debate audience with lobbyists and donors to his rivals’ campaigns. He whined that the crowd, which booed him several times, was deliberately chosen to be hostile to him. And he wasn’t sitting still for it. He warned that “The RNC better get its act together,” lest they risk the onslaught of his vengeful wrath. Then he got specific about the consequences of offending him:

“I signed a pledge. But the pledge isn’t being honored by them. I signed a pledge. The pledge isn’t being honored by the RNC. Because those tickets were all special-interest people. […] The RNC does a terrible job — a terrible job. And just remember what I said — remember in this room — I signed a pledge. But it’s a double-edged pledge. And as far as I’m concerned, they’re in default of their pledge when they do that.”

He seems to be saying that he signed a pledge. [Has anyone else noticed how much he repeats himself?] Here’s the thing – despite Trump’s characterization, there were no conditions attached to the pledge. It was simply a promise to “endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee, regardless of who it is” and “not seek to run as an independent.” The pledge was implemented to prevent Trump from taking advantage of the RNC’s auspices, particularly the debate schedule, and then bolting to run against them.

It appears at this point that the RNC was foolish to have trusted him. They refuted his accusations about the audience composition saying that “Each candidate received 100 tickets.” But Trump expanded on his conspiracy theory to baselessly suggest that college students who received tickets sold them to anti-Trump lobbyists. So we can now officially add paranoia to Trump’s diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. And if the charge of packing the audience isn’t enough, Trump is also warning the RNC that they had better support his birther complaints against Ted Cruz:

“One of the ways I can fight back is to bring a lawsuit against him relative to the fact that he was born in Canada and therefore cannot be President. If he doesn’t take down his false ads and retract his lies, I will do so immediately. Additionally, the RNC should intervene and if they don’t they are in default of their pledge to me.”

This isn’t the first time since signing the pledge that Trump has threatened to violate it. He was asked last November by George Stephanopoulos if he still intended to honor the pledge and he answered “I’m going to have to see what happens. I will see what happens. I have to be treated fairly.” It is becoming increasingly clear that Trump’s word is worthless. If the RNC continues to have faith in him they are setting themselves up for betrayal. The only loyalty Trump has is to himself.

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

In addition to Trump’s repeated threats to double-cross his supposed GOP allies, There seems little likelihood that Trump would support them if he is not the nominee. How could he profess to support people that he has castigated so viciously as liars, losers, and weaklings. Via his crushing and childish insults he has dug himself a hole so deep that it would be absurd to later pretend to respect any of the other other candidates. And they would likely spurn his endorsement, were he to offer one. So the pledge that was signed last year by the whole GOP field is a sad joke that has no value. How appropriate for the Republican Party.

The Three Dumbest Moments From The Republican’s Kindergarten Debate

Posted by on February 14, 2016 at 7:12 pm. 2 Comments :

Last night’s debate on CBS showcased a Republican Party that is jam-packed with whimpering, infantile candidates who are wholly unprepared to dress their dollies, much less lead a nation. It’s hard to imagine that, after watching that spectacle, anyone can picture any of these colicky brats with America’s nuclear missile launch codes.

bawlapalooza

If you have a strong stomach you can go watch the whole debate on YouTube, but what will be presented here is a representative sampling of the frightening stupidity that is exhibited by what the GOP believes are its shining lights – the banner carriers of their Party’s mission. These examples are not snippets of the policy or vision that the candidates are pitching. For the most part they simply repeated the same old right-wing claptrap that they have been spewing for years. What you will see here is more of a demonstration of how dysfunctional their underdeveloped brains are, and how useless they would be in a crisis. In reverse order…

#3 – Dr. Ben Carson

Carson was asked this question about the President’s responsibilities in the event of a Supreme Court vacancy: “You’ve written a book on the constitution recently. What does the constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation?” Carson’s response was…

“Well, the current constitution actually doesn’t address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system.”

Actually, the fact of the matter is that the Constitution explicitly addresses this particular situation. It says that the President “shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate,” to nominate Judges of the supreme Court. There is nothing ambiguous about this granting of executive authority. Now, it’s pretty dumb to not understand something as basic as this, but Carson compounded his idiocy by making an unrelated observation:

“And, when our constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges, and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal.”

OK, there are actually some good reasons to revisit the lifetime appointments clause of the Constitution, but Carson’s ramblings don’t mention any of them. A quick glance at the history books informs us that the first Supreme Court justices did not have some sort of neanderthal lifespan that made such an appointment reasonable. The first Court’s members, and their ages on death, were Chief Justice, John Jay (83) and Associate Justices: William Cushing (78), John Blair (69), John Rutledge (60), James Wilson (55), and James Iredell (48). So two of the four passed away fairly young, but the rest were pretty hardy. Judge Jay outlived Antonin Scalia by four years. This lapse of easily obtainable knowledge is not surprising for someone who rejects evolution and thinks that the pyramids in Egypt were built to store grain.

#2 – Marco Rubio

During an argument about the record of former President George W. Bush, Donald Trump laid responsibility for 9/11 at Jeb’s brother’s feet. That’s actually a fair criticism, even though Trump lied about his opposition to the Iraq war that followed. But Rubio defended Bush by shouting defiantly that “The World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn’t kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him.”

Actually, Bill Clinton did take actions against Bin Laden that were unsuccessful. And for his trouble he was bitterly castigated by Republicans in Congress who cooked up a conspiracy theory that Clinton was using the attacks as a distraction. What’s more, Bush was unable to capture or kill Bin Laden after nearly eight years and with the full force of a military wartime engagement, including tens of thousands of soldiers in Afghanistan. In light of that, it seems rather absurd to complain that Clinton didn’t succeed when he did not have Congress’ authorization for war and Bin Laden had not proven to be a significant threat to the U.S. at the time. Rubio’s assertion was merely a lame attempt to lash out a Democrat in order to absolve his hero, Bush, of responsibility.

#1 – Donald Trump

Is anyone shocked that Trump took the gold in this competition of idiocy? He could have done it easily by sticking to his standard toolkit of lies (see the Trump Bullshitopedia), many of which he used in this debate. For instance, he claimed that he didn’t support Planned Parenthood, that he didn’t file for bankruptcy (4 times), that he didn’t use eminent domain to try to evict an elderly woman for his casino parking lot, and that he opposed the Iraq war “loud and strong.” All lies.

But Trump served up this morsel of nitwittedness during an exchange about his use of profanity. In his own defense he sought to attack Jeb Bush saying…

“Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that’s fine. Nobody reports that.”

First of all, Trump is completely misrepresenting what Bush said. Bush was making a rhetorical point about how hard it is for him to get the attention of the press. The “mooning” comment was just a joking example of what he might have to do. And he said it to a reporter. Trump implied that Bush was making a literal threat to expose himself.

Now that was pretty dumb all by itself, and it certainly didn’t excuse Trump’s much more blatant obscenities. But Trump wasn’t through. After Bush denied Trump’s charge, Trump insisted that “You did say it. Been reported in 10 different news…” Well, if it was reported 10 times, then how does Trump explain his initial charge that “Nobody reports that?” In the span of a few seconds, Trump managed to expose himself as a liar.

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

Conclusion

If this is representative of the best that the Republican Party has to offer, it is a party that is in deep trouble. The rest of the field may not have made this list, but they are no less deserving. Ted Cruz is becoming the Nixon of the Tea Party set with his dirty campaign tricks. Jeb Bush doesn’t seem to have any reason for running other than that his father and brother did before him. And John Kasich thinks he can sell his “moderate” appeal to Republicans who have fallen off the deep end of the John Birch Society pier. And all of them acted as if they hadn’t reached puberty yet. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for November.