Republicans

If Donald Trump Is Nominated, Should The Rest Of The GOP Form A Third Party?

Posted by on December 18, 2015 at 8:19 pm. 7 Comments :

Six months ago Donald Trump announced that he was entering the race for the Republican Party’s nomination for President of the United States. And almost from the very start there has been nervous prattling about whether he might ditch the Party and run as an independent if he failed to get the Party’s nod.

Donald Trump GOP

Trump himself has been most responsible for keeping that chatter going. At the first GOP debate on Fox News the candidates were asked whether any of them would refuse to endorse whoever won the nomination. Trump’s was the only hand that went up. Subsequently, the Republican National Committee prepared a loyalty pledge that all candidates had to sign if they wanted to participate in future debates. Trump made a big show of signing on, however, a few weeks later he complained that he might not honor the pledge if he didn’t feel he was treated “fairly.” Most recently, Trump was asked again during CNN’s GOP debate if he was “ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans?” He answered “I really am. I’ll be honest, I really am.”

If anyone believes that, I’ve got a casino in Jersey to sell you. Since Trump has already made a public statement that he could renege on the written pledge that he signed, why would anyone trust that he would keep any promises made on a debate stage? Especially when all he said was that he is “ready” to assure Republicans of his loyalty, not that he was actually doing so. That’s more than a little wiggle room for a weasel like Trump.

So what this boils down to is that those who are asking whether Trump might bolt the GOP are asking the wrong question. What they should be asking is whether the rest of the candidates will bolt if Trump is nominated.

The stain that a Trump nomination would put on the Republican Party is not one that could ever be thoroughly cleansed. It would leave the Party stigmatized by racism, ignorance, fear-mongering, and the stench of an elitist, billionaire narcissist who has contempt for both domestic and international law. There is good reason to wonder whether there would be a viable Republican Party after a Trump campaign. Consequently, it might make more sense for the remaining GOP candidates to join together in a new party and challenge both Trump and the Democratic nominee.

The knee-jerk complaint to that suggestion is always that such a move would guarantee a Democratic victory in November. Indeed, it would. However, it’s fair to say that the nomination of Trump would also guarantee a Democratic victory. Republicans are going to have a hard enough time next year given the Electoral College advantage that Democrats hold. Add to that a candidate who is not likely to attract the votes of African-Americans or Latinos in numbers greater than single digits and it’s a safe bet that Trump would lose in an historic rout.

That scenario would also have a negative effect on down-ballot races. The likelihood of Trump hampering GOP candidates for the Senate and the House is pretty strong. Given that Trump routinely rates highest in polls of Republicans as the candidate that they would definitely not support, many of them could be counted on to stay home. Meanwhile, Trump would motivate more Democrats to the polls than would any of the other GOP candidates. This would almost certainly result in a Democratic majority for the Senate and, at the very least, a significantly bigger caucus of Democrats in the House.

So the choice Republican would have to make if Trump becomes their nominee is: Do we want to lose the presidential election, many congressional races, and our good name? Or do we want to lose the presidential election and salvage our reputation so that we can go on to fight another day?

It would be a stretch for many in the GOP to pretend that they actually support Trump. When Scott Walker, Rick Perry, and Bobby Jindal, bowed out of the race, they all scorched Trump as a disaster for the Party. In the debates we’ve seen Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Chris Christie sharply condemn Trump. They may not be serious contenders for the GOP nomination, but they are all governors of electorally important states. And if they, in solidarity with the majority of Republicans who are not supporting Trump, were to join forces for a third party campaign, they might just be able to save the ideology of a more moderate, viable conservatism.

This new party could nominate their own candidate for 2016. They could lean on the historical icons of Reagan and Goldwater, both of whom would be considered too liberal for the GOP’s current far-right flank. They could claim the mantle of an anti-establishment revolution that is rejecting the fetid corpse of Trump’s Republican Party. They could exploit the trend toward independents who now outnumber Democrats and Republicans. And they could leave the ruins of the GOP to the festering Tea Party.

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

As an illustration of why this sort of split is necessary, consider these results from a recent poll of Republicans: 54% support banning Muslims from entering the U.S. 28% support shutting down mosques. 26% say Islam should be illegal. 28% approve of Japanese internment camps during WWII. And pitifully, 30% support bombing Agrabah, the fictional country from Disney’s Aladdin. In each of these issues the numbers were driven by the Trump/Tea Party faction of the GOP. Serious conservatives would be well rid of them.

The only question that remains is whether the non-Trump faction of the GOP is smart enough to recognize the benefits of what may be a painful, but necessary divorce. If I had to guess, I would say “No friggin’ way.” There is simply too much ideological stagnation in the party, and too strong of a propaganda machine in the wingnut media – dominated by Fox News and talk radio. So look for the GOP to sink into irrelevancy if Trump is their nominee. It’s just a matter of time.

[Follow up:] It appears some prominent Republican pundits (Bill Krystal, George Will) are giving the third party idea some consideration.

BE AFRAID! Republican Candidates Read From The Fox News Fear Script

Posted by on December 17, 2015 at 1:01 pm. 1 Comments :

On Tuesday Republicans held another debate that showcased a field of candidates that is utterly unprepared to lead a great nation. If there was one overarching theme from the affair it was that all Americans should be trembling with fear that ISIS sleeper cells are tucked away in their pantries ready to burst out and spray them with hot lead at any moment.

Fox News Scary Christmas

From the very start, the debate was oozing a scary tone intended to send nervous citizens scurrying to their basements. Even before the actual debating got under way, these excerpts from each of their opening statements show just how obsessed they were with frightening the nation:

  • Rand Paul: The question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism?
  • Chris Christie: America has been betrayed. We’ve been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years.
  • Carly Fiorina: Like all of you I’m angry. I’m angry at what’s happening to our nation.
  • Jeb Bush: Our freedom is under attack.
  • Marco Rubio: America’s influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military.
  • Ted Cruz: America is at war.
  • Ben Carson: Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition.
  • Donald Trump: People like what I say. People respect what I say.

That’s pretty much all you need to know about the debate. The rest was variations on that theme. And with the exception of Donald Trump, who characteristically focused his comments on himself, the other candidates all seem to believe that the United States is at risk of being destroyed by a band of thugs in a desert hideout thousands of miles away (Trump believes that too, he just didn’t mention it until later). They literally think that the U.S could be crushed by this enemy and cease to exist. Marco Rubio is running TV ads that say “either we win or they do.” Lindsey Graham frets that “they are gonna kill all of us.”

To be sure, terrorists are capable of causing serious harm to the innocent victims they target. There is no way to diminish the grief felt by the survivors of the fourteen people murdered in San Bernardino last week. But to extrapolate from that that ISIS has the capacity to kill the rest of the 350 million of us and declare victory over America requires either a debilitating psychotic dysfunction or a deliberate desire to incite irrational fears.

The fear-fest orchestrated by the GOP candidates is itself a type of terrorism. After all, they are seeking to instill terror in the American people in order to influence how they vote. It’s their goal to convince people that President Obama and Hillary Clinton are responsible for weakening the nation to the point that it is at risk of being taken over by an army treading sand in converted Toyota pickup trucks. That’s right. What Germany, Japan, China, and the Soviet Union were unable to accomplish, ISIS is going to do.

But they didn’t come up with that horror story on their own. They are following the script that Fox News has been using for several years. Take for instance the candidates’ positions on targeting civilians with carpet-bombing raids. Ted Cruz used those very words to describe what he would do as Commander-in-Chief. Apparently he and his colleagues are not aware that it would be regarded as an international war crime. Rand Paul, to his credit, was the only one who pointed out that such a plan would require “tearing up the Geneva Conventions.” But Ben Carson and others were not dissuaded from advocating direct attacks on the families, including children, of suspected terrorists. Donald Trump framed his support for the policy by asking “So, they can kill us, but we can’t kill them?” Actually, the answer to that is “Yes.” Because they are terrorists and we, presumably, are not. Earlier this month Trump made his own explicit call to “take out” the families of terrorists.

So where might they have gotten these ideas? Well, one notable source could be Fox News strategic analyst, Lt. Col. Ralph Peters (ret), who has advocated precisely this abhorrent tactic. He appeared on Fox News to complain that the U.S. military needed to buck up and produce more civilian casualties. He has also advocated targeting the media for military attacks, including in the U.S. That sort of barbarity sits well with Fox News and earns one frequent invitations to return. However, Peters was recently suspended for using naughty language on the air (he called Obama a “pussy”). So Fox News will punish you if you cuss, but not if proselytize for murdering women, children, and journalists. Shows you where their priorities lie.

The fear agenda was also pushed just one day before the debate by Fox’s star bloviator, Bill O’Reilly. In his hackneyed “Talking Points” commentary, O’Reilly employed his trademarked bluster to announce that “Anger and fear are presently driving American politics.” Considering his contribution to both, it might seem like he was bragging. No one has done more to frighten and enrage TV viewers than O’Reilly. His red-faced tirades, and brutish treatment of guests who disagree with him, are the model Fox uses for political discourse.

None of this is new for Fox News. This is their standard operating procedure to inject panic into the electorate. It’s a tactic they share with religious cults who seek to dominate weak minds. Just prior to the last election Fox was obsessed with Obama’s intention to deliberately infect every American with Ebola. You couldn’t turn on Fox News without being subjected to some scary music and graphics backing up a frantic dialog of imminent doom. Then, miraculously, the day after the election, Ebola was cured and disappeared from Fox’s broadcasts. And if it isn’t Ebola it’s illegal immigration, ObamaCare, the deficit, or Climate Change. Now Syrian refugees are today’s Ebola, and they are just as deadly as the frightful virus that Fox alleged would destroy America.

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

In Fox’s world there is always something that is threatening to wipe this country off the map. It’s an odd paradigm for a network that also worships America as the bestest, strongest, nation in the history of mankind and, of course, God’s favorite. There is something schizophrenic about believing that we are simultaneously invincible and teetering on the brink of collapse. It’s an irrational mindset that only deeply indoctrinated cultists can hold. So, of course, the GOP has adopted it and made it the signature plank in their 2016 platform. And just in time to insure that everyone will have a Scary Christmas.

IT’S OFFICIAL! Donald Trump Has Lost His Freakin’ Mind – Says Fox News Is Not Fair To Him

Posted by on December 15, 2015 at 1:40 pm. 2 Comments :

This morning there is new evidence that Republican front-runner Donald Trump has lost all connection to reality. Of course, that’s not to say that Trump’s mental state was ever particularly stable. But he is now demonstrating with even more certainty that he’s sinking into an abyss of madness that is as deep as the Mariana Trench

Fox News Donald Trump

First of all, Trump is reigniting his on-again, off-again feud with Fox News. Previously he has complained about the network’s coverage of him, even though Fox has been his biggest booster and a provider of tens of millions of dollars in free advertising and promotion. Media Matters has compiled data that shows that Trump has dominated Fox’s airtime despite the feuding. Nevertheless, he has bitterly maligned many of their top presenters, executives and even owners. At the height of the Trump-Fox wars Trump declared that he would no longer appear on the network and advocated a viewer boycott. Fox News, in a display of wholly unethical journalism, capitulated to Trump (what promises were made?) and they continued their shaky relationship. That is, until today.

Upset that Megyn Kelly’s script miscalculated his lead in a new poll from Monmouth University, Trump went haywire on Twitter saying that she’s “overrated,” “dopey,” and that she “lies.” His rant went on to encompass the whole network which he slammed as “not fair.” Well, they’re not balanced either but, so far as Trump is concerned, that’s been to his advantage. Also, it’s kinda cute that in his attack on Kelly and her colleagues over a typo, Trump’s tweet contained its own typo misaddressing the Twitter handle for “deadpan” George Will. Georgina Williams probably never got so much attention.

What’s more, Trump’s focus on the poll from Monmouth has problems of its own. When the outlier poll came out Monday showing Trump far ahead of his rivals, he wrote a special note of thanks saying…

“I wanted to be the first to share the latest national poll results from the highly respected Monmouth University.”

However, just three days earlier, a different poll from Monmouth showing Trump behind in Iowa produced this response:

“There was one poll — Monmouth? I’ve never heard of Monmouth. What the hell is Monmouth? Explain it. I don’t like Monmouth.”

In three days Trump went from never having heard of Monmouth to hailing it as highly respected. This, from the man with (according to him) “the world’s best memory.” Trump has also described himself as the smartest, handsomest, most militaristic, least racist, and best circus clown (OK, I made up that last one, but it’s the most accurate). Now we can also add to his list of self-said superlatives that he is the healthiest candidate for president EVER! That’s according to his personal physician who, like his patient, has the unique ability to engage in communications through his prodigious ass.

It will interesting to see if Fox News has any response to Trump’s latest broadside. Will they pull back on the non-stop coverage? Will Fox & Friends continue to take his regular phone-in interviews? Will Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch still act as if they are his bitches? If the past is any indication, Fox will continue to bend over and take it in order to keep cashing in on the ratings bonanza – journalism and democracy be damned.

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

Tonight there will be another Republican primary debate, offering America another chance to observe a field of candidates who will compete to see who is the most biased against Muslims, Latinos, and African Americans; the most anxious to wage perpetual war with other people’s children; the most insensitive to the poor; the most oblivious to the dangers of Climate Change; the most averse to the equal rights of women and gays; and the most likely to side with corporations to wreck the economy and corrupt democracy. It should be a barrel of laughs.

And just for fun, here is the most accurate representation of Donald Trump I’ve yet to see:

Sarah Palin Confesses Her Girl-Crush On France’s Le Pen And The Fascist Front National Party

Posted by on December 14, 2015 at 8:55 pm. 4 Comments :

Ever since John McCain and Fox News burdened America with the addle-brained Mistress of the North, Sarah Palin, she has managed to unveil new ways of embarrassing herself and the country. In particular, she ranted about non-existent “death panels,” she accused President Obama of “palling around with terrorists,” and she affiliates with some rather conspicuously deviant characters like Ted Nugent. And now, in an op-ed for the far-right website Brietbart News, Palin has revealed her deep affection for a politician from France’s Front National, a party rooted in antisemitism and neo-fascism.

Sarah Palin

The article is a love letter to the modern Nazis of the French fringe who mirror Palin’s Tea Party politics of nativist, xenophobic, fear mongering and radical Christianist theocracy. She opens saying that…

“I have a political crush, but one I couldn’t vote for today – because she ran for office in France. Marion Maréchal-Le Pen is the new deserved ‘It Girl’ of French politics and a clear voice of courage and common sense in a country and continent in need of both.”

Obviously Palin relates to Maréchal-Le Pen due to her own tenure as an “It-Girl” in the early days of the McCain campaign before people heard her speak. And the love she has for this repugnant pol tells us that she is still as ignorant about the world as ever. Maréchal-Le Pen’s “courage and common sense” was soundly rejected by French voters yesterday as both she and her equally abhorrent aunt, Marine Le Pen, lost their bids for regional elective offices. Even in the wake of the tragic attacks last month in Paris, the French people could not abide the hateful politics of the Le Pen family.

Some additional morsels of idiocy in Palin’s op-ed include her assertion that…

“The Left wraps itself in political correctness and multiculturalism like a suicide vest. They’d rather blow up the whole country than admit the stupidity of thinking a nation can remain the same after inviting in millions of people who despise its values.”

Setting aside the offensive comparison of liberals, who are devoted to the principles of American freedom, to terrorists in suicide vests, Palin’s rhetoric asserts that there are millions of people who hate America that are being invited in. She doesn’t say who these people are, where they’re from or why they hate the country. The only plausible rendering of her word salad is that she is referring to Syrian refugees, of whom there will only be about 10,000, mainly consisting of families desperate to escape the terrorists who have overrun their homes.

Palin goes on to write something that actually has a ring of truth to it when she says that…

“Pundits are already seeing the similarities between Marion and Marine Le Pen, Donald Trump, and Sen. Ted Cruz.”

Indeed, the similarities could not be more obvious. Trump and Cruz represent the fascist wing of America’s Republican Party. They all hold the same views about kicking out all of the foreigners to whom they object. They all support carpet bombing of countries where some of our enemies reside, without regard for the innocent civilians that would be murdered as a result of that tactic, which has been designated a war crime. And they all believe that Christianity should be the basis of Western civilization and its governments.

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

When you take those positions and combine them with the conservative politics that elevate corporations over people, you wind up with the brand of fascism that Mussolini once said would be better called corporatism. And for Palin to point out that the Le Pen family and the GOP are ideological twins is actually a helpful contribution to the political dialog, although not in any way that she would understand.

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

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

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

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

Donald Trump

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Donald Trump

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Criminal Crony Ted Cruz Says Most Violent Criminals Are Democrats

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

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

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

Ted Cruz

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

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

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

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

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

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

ISIS Or GOP? Sarah Palin’s Description Of Terrorists Fits Both

Posted by on November 28, 2015 at 2:58 pm. 6 Comments :

The rapidly wilting tundra weed we know as Sarah Palin came out of her ice cave today to remind us all of why we have forgotten her. But she wasn’t stepping forward to condemn the horrific murders by a Christian terrorist at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood facility. Like many of her political persuasion, she is ignoring that it even happened. Instead, she took to Facebook to attack President Obama’s execution of the war against ISIS. She begins her tirade saying that…

“We desperately need a Commander-in-Chief for such a time as this, not a divisive ‘Community Organizer’ with a blowhorn, stirring domestic aggravation. Americans should be able to live with no fear of any outmanned, outsmarted, outgunned punkass-evil, misogynist, homophobic, intolerant death cult trying to infiltrate innocent populations.”

Forgive us if we’re not quite certain to whom she is referring. The first group that comes to mind when described as an “outgunned punkass-evil, misogynist, homophobic, intolerant death cult,” is the Republican Party. Chances are that is not what Palin had in mind. But the GOP is a party that worships the NRA, is fiercely opposed to women’s issues, regards gay rights as blasphemy, and relentlessly lobbies for unending war. So Palin should have been more specific if she wanted people to reach a different conclusion. And speaking of “a blowhorn, stirring domestic aggravation,” has she looked in a mirror lately?

Sarah Palin

In her Facebook rant, Palin asserts that the only thing necessary to defeat ISIS is the “the political will from on high with the command to ‘fire!'” She is apparently ignorant of the fact that under Obama’s direction the command to “fire” has been issued over 8,000 times. That’s how many U.S. bombing missions have been conducted against ISIS in the past couple of years. As a result, many of their leaders have been killed and their hold on territory has receded. In addition, other nations such as England, Germany, France, Jordan, Saudia Arabia, even Iran, have been battling ISIS. So Palin’s attempt to minimize the difficulty of the task is plainly ill-informed. Furthermore, the successes achieved thus far are not diminshed by the fact that small cells of ISIS sympathizers have carried out random acts of terrorism. That’s one of the harsh realities of modern warfare.

Palin went on to say that “Muslim extremists crave an oncoming clash of civilizations.” That’s true. And it’s one of the arguments for refusing to surrender the high ground to them on that matter by referring to them as “Islamic” terrorists. ISIS is desperate to be viewed as the legitimate voice of Islam. However, most Muslims reject that claim and oppose the designation. In fact, the only parties insisting that ISIS be called “Islamic” terrorists are ISIS, Republicans, and Fox News.

Finally, Palin takes a dig at Seth Meyers, who interviewed her last week (video below). During the segment he effectively shamed her for being so insensitive to the plight of the Syrian refugees who are seeking asylum in the U.S. and elsewhere. She charged that he needs to “recover” from his “gullibility.” But it was Palin who demonstrated that she is incapable of coherent analysis and didn’t even know the process in place for vetting refugees before admitting them. Now she is demeaning Meyers and anyone else for “believing the Feds have an 18-24 month bureaucratic vetting process that successfully filters out the bad guys.” Of course, there have been nearly 785,000 refugees admitted into the U.S. since 2001 and not a single American has been harmed because of it.

Since Palin was so inept at responding to Meyers’ questions on the show, she is now resorting to a second try via an editorial on the widely disrespected, wingnut and birther website, Breitbart News. But she still fails to make any sense and her reputation as a blithering idiot is only enhanced. She should have quit while she was a[air]head.

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

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

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

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

Donald Trump

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Donald Trump: The Republican Party Is My Bitch – Threatens Independent Run

Posted by on November 22, 2015 at 10:03 pm. 6 Comments :

Observers of Donald Trump’s bizarre campaign for the Republican nomination for president have seen in just a few months the ugliness that he can present as he seeks to attract voters by appealing to their fear, hatred, and ignorance. And now they can also see how worthless his word is as he throws a temper tantrum over being attacked by his political rivals.

Donald Trump GOP

When Trump announced his candidacy in June, there was speculation that he would not remain a Republican candidate if he faltered in the campaign or failed to get the nomination. That controversy caused the GOP to insist that all candidates sign a “loyalty pledge” if they wanted to participate in party sanctioned debates or even get on the primary ballot in some states. The pledge required the candidate’s to…

“…affirm that if I do not win the 2016 Republican nomination for President of the United States I will endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee, regardless of who it is. I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination of any other party.”

It’s difficult understand how Trump could endorse other Republicans that he has already disparaged as weak, incompetent, corrupt, ugly losers, but under pressure from the party, Trump signed the pledge and tweeted how proud he was of the commitment. He further stated that “I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party and the conservative principles for which it stands,” and that “I see no circumstances under which I would tear up that pledge.”

That was on September 3, just two and a half months ago. Today, however, Trump was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on This Week and was asked whether a new ad by his opponents, characterizing him as dangerously inexperienced, might cause him to change his mind. Stephanopoulos also quoted from a Wall Street Journal article that described the Republican establishment as “increasingly alarmed by the enduring strength of Donald Trump’s presidential bid,” and said that they were “ratcheting up efforts to knock him out of the race.” So when Stephanopoulos asked Trump if he still intended to honor his pledge, he responded:

“I’m going to have to see what happens. I will see what happens. I have to be treated fairly. When I did this, I said I have to be treated fairly. If I’m treated fairly, I’m fine. All I want to do is a level playing field.”

Trump’s idea of fair treatment is when everybody stoops to kiss his wrinkled butt. Consequently, any pledges he makes are subject to cancellation at will. His stance now is to wait and see. That flip-flop demonstrates that he is someone who is not to be trusted, even after he has signed a written commitment. He played Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, for access to the debates that have raised his profile, and now he is threatening to ditch the party to boost his own super-sized ego.

The prospect of Trump mounting a third-party run would be great news for Democrats. But the really interesting part of this is how the GOP will react to Trump’s deceit. Will they bend over with lips puckered and beg him not to torpedo their 2016 presidential hopes? If so, that would make them look pretty impotent going into the general election. But do they have the guts to stand up to him and refuse to be bullied by a painfully stupid trust fund baby whose sense of entitlement could blot out the sun?

Trump has already cowed two titans of the media. He made bitches of both Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes of Fox News, who scampered away in fear of offending The Donald. They let him make asses of them in order to preserve what they believed to be a ratings bonanza, but will prove to be a short-term blip. Will the Republican Party now follow in their baby steps and allow Trump to stomp all over them?

If the GOP/RNC has any guts they will demand that Trump reiterate his promise to endorse the Republican nominee and forswear a third-party run. They should force him to make a public proclamation of loyalty or face being booted from any future debates or, where allowed, access to state ballots as a Republican candidate.

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

The likelihood of that, however, is low. Republicans have not been known for their commitment to principle. And they have already demonstrated that they fear Trump more than they love their party or their country. Why else would they stand with him when he has insulted millions of minority voters, women, and seniors? And his recent fear mongering over refugees literally devolved into fascistic ranting that has no place in a free America. So It’s your move Republicans. What will you do with your treacherous Trump now that he is wiping your face in it?