Fox News Senior Legal Analyst: Adam Schiff is Correct on Evidence of Trump Conspiracy and Obstruction

The Republicans in Congress have been going absolutely batty over what they regard is the total exoneration of Donald Trump by the Mueller Report – which none of them have seen a single page of. They are even escalating their attacks on Trump’s Democratic critics to include absurd demands for apologies and the resignation of House Intelligence Committee Chair, Adam Schiff. Trump even weighed in on that matter in a typically reckless, dishonest, and hostile tweet.

Donald Trump, Robert Mueller

So you have to wonder how Trump and his MAGA Martinets will respond when they hear that the senior legal analyst at fox News agrees with Rep. Schiff. In a conversation with host Neil Cavuto (video below), Andrew Napolitano presented the bare legal facts that demonstrate Trump’s complicity in conspiratorial endeavors with Russia and efforts to cover them up. Napolitano noted that special counsel Robert Mueller “must have found some evidence of a conspiracy,” and that “there obviously is evidence of obstruction of justice.” He elaborated on those points during the interview:

“I think that Congressman Schiff is correct. In that report will be evidence of the existence of a conspiracy. Not enough evidence to prove the existence beyond a reasonable doubt. In that report will be evidence of obstruction of justice, interfering with an FBI investigation for a personal gain. But not enough evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.”

That just happens to be precisely the case that Schiff has been making for months. He told CNN that:

“There was a big difference between whether there was evidence of collusion – and I think that evidence is in plain sight – and whether you can establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a criminal conspiracy.”

So all the hoopla by the right and the devoted cult followers of Trump is, as usual, just the yammering of ignorant partisans who are more interested in feeding their fantasies than in accepting reality. And the reality is that there is abundant evidence of criminality by Trump and his associates. Whether a prosecutor could obtain a conviction by the standards that apply in a courtroom is irrelevant to the discussion of whether the President’s activities were immoral, unethical, or proof of his unfitness for office.

The key point here is whether there is sufficient cause to proceed with efforts to release the Mueller Report in full and complete the investigation into Trump and Russia’s documented interference with the 2016 presidential election. Some of Schiff’s colleagues in Congress expressed their rage that anyone would continue to doubt that the President was vindicated. But Schiff masterfully put them in their place with an emotional and fact-filled response to their personal disparagement of him. “You may think it’s OK,” Schiff said, “how Trump and his associates interacted with Russians during the campaign. I don’t.”

And the America people don’t think it’s OK either. Which is why Schiff and the Democrats in Congress need to continue their efforts to bring light to the nefarious affairs of Trump et al, by demanding the release of the full Mueller Report and issuing subpoenas, if necessary, for Mueller and Attorney General Barr. The nation deserves to know, as another unscrupulous president once said, whether or not their president is a crook. Because if we don’t stop him now, he’ll just do it again (which he probably already is).

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

HAH! Trump Campaign Memo Makes Strong Case for Banning Lying Trump Surrogates from TV

It’s was just two days ago that special counsel Robert Mueller completed his investigation of Donald Trump and the nefarious connections to Russia by the President and his close associates. And it’s been less than twenty-four hours since Attorney General William Barr released his deliberately distorted letter that misrepresented even the few sentence fragments from Mueller’s report that Barr bothered to cite.

Donald Trump

However, that was plenty of time for the Republican Political Machine to contrive their propaganda offensive and to craft a brazenly false narrative that Trump has been exonerated and that his critics are witch hunting liars. The project they rushed to implement included a bizarre memo from Tim Murtaugh, the Director of Communications for Trump’s 2020 campaign. Murtaugh’s memo echoed what most of the GOP Surrogate Squad has been saying: Barr’s letter is “a total and complete vindication of President Donald Trump.” Of course, Mueller’s actually words dispute that. He literally wrote that his report “does not exonerate” Trump, at least with regard to obstruction of justice.

The rest of the memo consisted primarily of a list of Democrats who made truthful statements about Trump and Russia. They included Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Rep. Eric Swalwell, DNC Chair Tom Perez, and former CIA Director John Brennan. Each of them correctly noted that there is abundant evidence that Trump did in fact conspire with Russians to advance his election prospects. Murtaugh sent the memo to TV producers in an effort to poison the media trough by baselessly accusing the Democrats of lying.

Notice that the only argument that Murtaugh makes to support his allegations is what Barr wrote in his highly partisan interpretation of the Mueller report, which he has so far refused to make public. And on the basis of that he asks TV bookers to reconsider inviting Democratic guests for interviews. It’s a familiar dictators’ ploy to silence their opponents by starving them of media exposure. But perhaps the most ludicrous paragraph in the Murtaugh memo was the question that he proposed for TV bookers to ask themselves:

“Does this guest warrant further appearances in our programming, given the outrageous and unsupported claims made in the past.”

That’s a darn good question. The only problem for Trump’s whiny comms director is that if the media takes his advice, and uses that criteria for future bookings, it would be the end of all television appearances for Trump’s senior counsel Kellyanne Conway, his press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, his campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany, his son Don Jr., and pretty much anyone else who works for Trump. They are a team of recidivist liars who, when they aren’t mangling the truth, are feverishly trying to deflect and divert from the topic at hand. And of course, Trump’s record breaking 9,000+ lies would make him off limits for TV bookings.

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

So, come to think of it, this is a pretty good idea. Television news would be far better off without these tale-spinners butchering what should be an informative public discourse. Most of the time their interviews devolve into shouting fits wherein they cravenly try to filibuster the limited time available for their segment and avoid giving any substantive answers. So while Murtaugh meant to impose a thinly disguised demand for censorship, he ended up offering a solution to the pollution on the airwaves by dishonest Trump-fluffers and sycophants. We owe him our thanks.

Trump Babbles From His Bunker as FOX News Poll Blisters Him on Mueller, the Border, and More

The report by special counsel Robert Mueller has been delivered to Attorney General William Barr. None of it has been released to the White House, the Congress, or the people. But that hasn’t stopped feverish exclamations by devoted Trump-fluffers who insist that Trump has been exonerated despite the fact that they know no more today than they did yesterday.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Fake

The Trump cult is already making ludicrous demands for apologies to the President who is still facing criminal investigations from at least seventeen separate agencies. Never mind that it is Mueller who deserves the apology from Trump, who has been viciously maligning him for the past two years. Mueller, however, has not been intimidated. He has secured dozens of indictments, and seven guilty verdicts from among Trump’s closest associates.

In the meantime, Trump has burrowed himself into his Mar-a-Lago bunker with wealthy comrades and bootlicking politicians (Lindsey Graham) and celebrities (Kid Rock?). He didn’t even tweet for forty hours (a new record?) following the completion of the Mueller probe. And then he just seemed to have a fit of MAGA Tourette’s Syndrome with a cognitively detached, all-caps shout of his branded slogan, “make America great again.”

Trump’s Twitter silence signifies that something extraordinary is afoot. Either he knows that the Mueller report contains more incriminating revelations, or he dropped his phone in the toilet while attempting to rage-tweet about “fake news.” Or maybe he got an early warning about the new poll by his favorite cable news network, Fox News. Because the results from that survey are devastating.

The least surprising data from the poll is that Trump continues to languish as the most unpopular president in modern times. His approval rating is a dismal forty-six percent, with a majority fifty-one percent who disapprove. But when we dig deeper into other opinions and policies, things get even darker for Trump.

Fifty-one percent of Americans are against Trump’s idiotic vanity wall on the southern border. And his declaration of a phony national emergency to fund it has a disapproval of fifty-nine percent, with only thirty-six percent in favor That’s a twenty-three percent deficit.

With regard to the Mueller investigation, a majority of fifty-two percent approve of it, and a whopping eighty percent want it to be released publicly. The American people have far greater trust for Mueller (45%) than for Trump (29%), even after his prolonged campaign of character assassination. And a plurality of forty-four percent believe that Trump conspired with Russia, while an outright majority of fifty-two percent say that he has obstructed the investigation.

Once again, this is the latest poll from Fox News! Trump has also been faring poorly with his approval rating at the ultra-biased, right-wing pollster, Rasmussen Reports where he now sits at a pitiful forty-five percent. A month ago he was bragging about Rasmussen’s approval rating, but it’s unlikely he’ll be doing that now.

With the Mueller report still under wraps, the undisguised glee among the StormTrumpers is both puzzling yet typical of a community of cult followers who only see the good in their Dear Leader and dismiss reality when it doesn’t conform with their delusional world view. The actual report may indeed provide some relief to the President. However, no one but Mueller and AG Barr know that at the moment. And a better analysis of the situation was offered by Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who said that:

“There’s a difference between compelling evidence of collusion and whether the special counsel concludes that he can prove beyond a reasonable doubt the criminal charge of conspiracy.”

So even if Mueller’s conclusions fail to suggest that an indictment would be warranted, there is still plenty of cause to continue investigating and even to consider impeachment, which relies on a completely different set of standards. And the woefully premature celebrations by Trump’s wingnutty disciples just seem to be more worthy of ridicule with each passing hour. Ironically, it’s Trump who is demonstrating the appropriate measure of discretion by keeping his mouth shut – for a change. But don’t expect that to last.

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

Trump’s Lies are Crushed By Senate Intel Vice-Chair: ‘There’s Plenty of Evidence’ of Collusion

Donald Trump has been stuck in a frantic and tedious loop of whiny denials for the past couple years. It consists primarily of him impotently proclaiming his innocence with regard to his nefarious associations with Russian operatives in an effort to steal the 2016 presidential election. For the most part his factless proclamations have only served to make him look more guilty.

Mark Warner, CNN

Among his most persistent citations of innocence has been a repeated reference to remarks by the Republican chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr. Last September Burr told reporters that he had not seen any direct evidence of collusion or conspiracy with Russia on the part of the President. Note that he did not say it didn’t happen, only that his committee had “no hard evidence” of it. But that was enough to trigger Trump into making multiple identical tweets on the subject. It began on Sep 12, 2018, and continued on Feb 7, 2019, and Feb 8, 2019 and Feb 9, 2019 and Feb 10, 2019 and Feb 22, 2019 and Feb 25, 2019.

Some of these tweets were Trump unleashing his standard “Witch Hunt” rants, and others were retweets from the likes of Sean Hannity. But they all said exactly the same thing incorrectly quoting Sen. Burr: “No Collusion!”

Well, on Sunday morning Trump’s favorite proof that he was a squeaky clean paragon of virtue fell apart. Sen. Mark Warner, the Vice-Chair of the Intelligence Committee appeared on CNN’s State of the Union and explicitly contradicted Trump’s distorted version of events. His remarks could not have been more clear:

“Anyone who says there’s no evidence of collaboration – there’s plenty of evidence. […] The notion that there’s no evidence is just factually wrong. Just in the public domain there are literally reams and reams of evidence of Russian outreach to Trump officials and clear interest from Trump officials, including the President’s own son, welcoming the opportunity to get dirt on Hillary Clinton.”

Warner outlined a small portion of the evidence that was just revealed during the recent House Oversight Committee’s hearing with Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen. He cited three pieces of evidence from Cohen’s testimony:

“One, the fact that Donald Trump and Michael Cohen mislead the American public for months about the whole notion of trying to continue to get a Trump Tower project going in Moscow. […]

“The second is the evidence that Mr. Cohen put out that he was in the presence of Donald Trump when Roger Stone called indicating that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange from Wikileaks, indicating that Wikileaks was about to drop a bunch of very damaging information about Hillary Clinton. […]

“And finally we have this whole question wherein Mr. Trump knew about the meeting in Trump Tower that included Don Jr, Jared Kushner, the campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Clearly a meeting that was not about Russian adoption, but was about the idea of turning over dirt on Hillary Clinton.”

For good measure, Warner’s counterpart in the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, spoke on the same issues on CBS’s Face the Nation, saying that “there is both ‘direct evidence’ and ‘abundant circumstantial evidence’ of collusion with Russia.” He elaborated:

“They offer that dirt. There is an acceptance of that offer in writing from the president’s son, Don Jr., and there is overt acts in furtherance of that. That is the meeting at Trump Tower and all the lies to cover up that meeting at the Trump Tower, and apparently lies that the president participated in.”

So this should put an end to the fallacy that there is no evidence against Trump for conspiracy with Russia. Quite the opposite is true. There are mountains of evidence. And that’s even the position of the Vice-Chair of the Senate committee that Trump is so fond of citing on his own behalf. But don’t expect this to end Trump’s plaintive wailing that he’s innocent. When has reality ever interfered with his determination to disgorge obvious lies to shield himself from the consequences of his criminal behavior?

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

https://youtu.be/x4qhUWYnMNo?t=195

Trump Wallows in Wacky Conspiracy Theories About Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff

In another Twitter outburst that has become commonplace with our Tweeter-in-Chief, Donald Trump has taken off on a wildly deranged line of attack aimed at Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He’s doing everything he can to disparage and discredit him, because those are the only tools he has left. It isn’t surprising that Trump would seek to smear Schiff considering that he has the authority to uncover a broad array of the crimes that Trump would prefer remain hidden.

Donald Trump

Ever since the November election when Democrats became the majority party in the House of Representatives, Trump has exhibited an increasingly fearful demeanor. During the previous Congress, Trump had the luxury of having a Republican chairing this committee, Devin Nunes, who was a reliable accomplice in his obstruction of justice. Now, for the first time, Trump is facing an honest investigatory environment and real accountability. As a result, he has resorted to infantile name calling (i.e. Adam Schitt) and the dissemination of lies and ludicrous conspiracy theories.

In the Friday morning tweetstorm, Trump went after Schiff over a silly article written by John Solomon for TheHill. Solomon is a notoriously right-wing partisan who frequently disgorges his nonsense on Fox News. What he stumbled on as the basis for this article was the fact that Schiff attended a security conference in Aspen and happened to bump into Glenn Simpson, the founder of Fusion GPS, the firm that hired Christopher Steele of the “Steele Dossier” fame. So Trump tweeted this:

The first thing that Trump got wrong here is that Schiff and Simpson did not “spend time together.” Even Solomon’s article notes that the encounter was “brief and social in nature.” In other words, they ran into each other briefly at an event with several hundred other attendees, and had no substantive discussion. Of course, that didn’t stop Solomon, and subsequently Trump, from implying that something more nefarious had occurred. But there was no evidence to support that other than conjecture and insinuation.

The second problem with Trump’s tweet is his assertion that the dossier had been discredited. To the contrary, nothing in the dossier has ever been proved to be false. However, much of it has been verified as true. So Trump’s blathering is just more of the sort of sketchy behavior engaged in by people who know they are guilty. And if he thinks that such assaults are going to dissuade Schiff or his congressional colleagues from pursuing the truth, then Trump is even dumber than we previously thought.

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

Fresh Off His ‘Unity’ Themed State of the Union, Trump Smears Democratic Leaders in Congress

On Tuesday night Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. It was delayed for a week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi due to the Trump Shutdown of the government. After capitulating to Pelosi, Trump took to the podium to present what the White House characterized as a message of unity. Which is a pretty audacious stance coming from the most divisive figure on political landscape bar none.

Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi

Trump’s allegedly unifying message contained perhaps the most brazen threat ever to be uttered in the House chambers. He warned Democrats that any efforts to investigate his criminal activities could result in an economic decline or maybe even war. He said that “the only thing that can stop” what he baselessly called an “economic miracle” are “foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations.” That was not received well by House Democrats, and especially Speaker Pelosi who responded by admonishing Trump that “The president should not bring threats to the floor of the House.” They all insisted that they would carry out their constitutional duties as a separate, co-equal branch of government.

Undeterred by reason, diplomacy, or maturity, Trump followed up his threat with a more elaborate assault on those he regards as his persecutors. Chief among them is the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff (who Trump once called “Adam Schitt” in a display of petulance that would embarrass a seven year old).

Rep. Schiff is keeping his promise to hold the President – and any other public official – accountable for any breaches of the law. One of his first acts was to have the Committee vote to provide transcripts of hearings that were held under the previous chairman (Republican Devin Nunes) forwarded to special counsel Robert Mueller. That’s the sort of accountability that frightens Trump and triggers angry outbursts like the one he unleashed Wednesday morning. He began by falsely stating that Schiff had “no basis” to investigate him. And he continued in a more flagrantly personal vein (video below):

“He’s just a political hack who’s trying to build a name for himself. And I think that’s fine because that’s what they do. But there would be no reason to do that. No other politician has to go through that. It’s called presidential harassment. And it’s unfortunate, and it really does hurt our country.”

So Trump thinks that he’s the only politician who has even been investigated by a congressional committee? Was he in a coma for the dozens of hearings held about Hillary Clinton’s emails, Benghazi, Uranium One, James Comey, the Steele dossier, etc.? The difference between those hearings and the ones that will probe Trump is that the GOP hacks (including former representatives Jason Chaffetz and Trey Gowdy, both of whom now work for Fox News) persecuting Clinton never found a shred of evidence of unlawful activity, but Mueller and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York have both obtained dozens of indictments and guilty pleas.

That should satisfy Trump’s concern about having a basis. What’s more, Trump’s complaint that these investigations would “hurt our country” are bass ackwards. This is precisely what the nation needs to heal and to progress beyond the illegality committed by Trump and Company. Foiling criminal villains helps the country, it doesn’t hurt it.

Trump’s attacks are a pathetic attempt to intimidate Congress from doing its job. They are also intended to continue the process of brainwashing his Deplorables and keeping their fear and anger at a boiling point. But such attacks won’t having any impact on those who are legitimately acting in concert with law enforcement to insure that our government is being run by honest and patriotic individuals, and not weak or compromised puppets of foreign regimes like Russia, or self-interested corporations and billionaires. Which is why Schiff and his House colleagues (Elijah Cummings, Jerrold Nadler, Maxine Waters, etc.) Are doing the right thing and should be commended for their determination and service to the law.

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

Trump: ‘Presidential harassment’ hurts our country from CNBC.

The GOP Outrage Over Rashida Tlaib is Overflowing with Hypocrisy – Trump has Said Much Worse

The new Congress has been gaveled into session by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and it is already making progress on the issues that the American people have wanted addressed, but were suppressed by the Republican Nationalist supplicants to Donald Trump. First up is ending the Trump Shutdown. But also on the list of priorities is election reform, restoring fairness to taxes, infrastructure funding, and the long overdue oversight of Trump’s criminal campaign and administration.

Donald Trump

So what is the biggest issue for the GOP? A new congresswoman said a naughty word. Rep. Rashida Tlaib was speaking to group of supporters Thursday evening and dropped an F-bomb when referencing her intention to seek the impeachment of Trump for his many crimes. Her language was raw and, by conventional standards, inappropriate for a public servant. And that sentiment was expressed by nearly every leader on the Democratic side of the aisle. But that didn’t stop Republicans from gasping in horror and fainting from the sheer shock of such insolence.

However, one of the big differences between Democrats and Republicans is that Democrats will criticize themselves when they deserve it. Republicans will defend the most disgusting behavior rather than condemn a fellow Republican, especially Donald Trump. After all, Trump is the guy who bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy” but still got the GOP nomination for president. And that’s not all. Trump currently has fifteen instances of F-bombs on his Twitter feed, Including this one:

And Trump has not been shy about uttering profanities of all varieties in public. Here is a speech Trump gave that had multiple profanities. Pay particular attention to how he referred to his intention to levy tariffs on China:

In addition, Trump has recently tweeted some raw insults aimed at Democrats he is clearly afraid of. He referred to the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, as “Adam Schitt.” And that was followed a few weeks later by a tweet where he called Sen. Richard Blumenthal “the dick.”

Of course, there has been almost no criticism of Trump by his GOP colleagues for bellowing out the very same words that Republicans are now in such a tizzy about because a freshly minted Democrat said them in a private gathering. The GOP is less a political party than it is a cult where there leader is incapable of any wrongdoing. But the same behavior by their foes is a capital offense. This is how the GOP wants to start the new year with new leaders in Congress. And it’s an obvious attempt to distract the public from the government shutdown, and other failures, that they are wholly responsible for.

As for the underlying issue of impeachment that inspired Rep. Tlaib’s comments, that is something that is going to unfold in due time no matter what Trump has to say about it. Special counsel Robert Mueller is getting closer to releasing a report with his findings. And prosecutors in New York, Maryland, Washington, D.C., California, and other states are also investigating Trump for potentially impeachable crimes. Which has lead to Trump posting another of his plaintive whines that he’s innocent of everything:

There is so much wrong with that it’s hard to know where to begin. First of all, Trump was elected with only 46.1% of the vote, and with three million fewer votes than his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Secondly, there is abundant evidence of collusion and/or conspiracy with Russia by Trump and his closest associates and family (and no collusion by Democrats).

What’s more, the first two years of Trump’s presidency has been rife with failure. He’s driven up the national debt by more than two trillion dollars. The stock market suffered it’s first negative year in a decade. There has been little or no progress on any foreign policy objective. The Climate crisis is getting perilously close to the point of no return. America’s roads and bridges are crumbling. The nation is more divided than ever. And of course, his idiotic vanity wall is still a figment of his diseased imagination.

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

But by all means, let’s forget about all of that pull out our hair over some cursing by an excited new congressperson. And in the meantime, continue to keep the government shut down, forcing hundreds of thousands of Americans to go without pay for untold weeks or months. All because Trump’s ego is too fragile to cope with the reality that no one wants his stupid, racist wall. Yeah, that’s the ticket. And that’s exactly how the GOP is proceeding. There is no better proof that they couldn’t care less about this nation or its citizens.

Be Best? Infantile Trump Follows Up His Crass ‘Adam Schitt’ Vulgarity with ‘The Dick’ Blumenthal

A few weeks ago, Donald Trump got a court order that prohibited him from banning CNN’s Jim Acosta from the White House. Trump’s response to that was to issue a bizarre and unconstitutional decree governing the rules of behavior for journalists in the press corps. He claimed it was an effort to restore “decorum” in the White House.

Donald Trump

On its face that is an absurd proclamation from a president who has made boorishness and bullying a hallmark of his public life since even before he entered politics. Trump engages in relentless insults of the most infantile variety and hangs nicknames on his critics that a seven year old would be embarrassed to use. For example, in an attack on Rep. Adam Schiff, who will become chairman of the House Intelligence Committee next month, Trump tweeted this:

There were some who speculated whether “Adam Schitt” was intentional or a typo. But it’s entirely consistent with Trump’s perverse personality, and it’s still there. So there is no question that he meant it. And if you need further evidence, On Saturday Trump tweeted a similarly vulgar message to Sen. Richard Blumenthal:

First of all, Trump just making up the scenario in those tweets. Blumenthal never made any reference to his bravery or to “bullets whizzing by.” He did misrepresent his service once by implying that he served in Vietnam, when he was an enlisted Marine who spent his time in the States. He apologized for that. and in any case, his Marine duty was far more patriotic than Trump’s five phony deferments for alleged “bone spurs.” But for Trump to descend into the crassness of calling a Senator “the Dick” is just nauseating. Or it would be for anyone else. For Trump it’s typical. Plus, the spectacle of a pathological liar like Trump criticizing anyone else for their veracity is hysterical.

For the record, Trump was triggered by comments made by Blumenthal on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews (video below). So apparently Trump was watching MSNBC. Unless a Fox News program played a clip from Hardball to bash the network and the Senator. Which seems more likely than the notion that Trump would change the channel from Fox.

Blumenthal was giving his analysis of the latest news from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Trump was surely not pleased by Blumenthal’s view that Trump can be indicted. He also said that “the walls are closing in on Donald Trump and his inner circle, including his family” and that Mueller’s report “will be extraordinarily damning.” That’s the report that Trump is delusionally saying now that he is “very happy” about. Yeah, right.

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

Semper WTFi? Trump Tells Fox News that He Only Supports the Military if They Bow Down to Him

This has been a busy Sunday for Donald Trump. When he wasn’t posting flagrant propaganda videos of himself disrespecting California fire victims, he was excitedly planted in front of his television so that he could fire off rapid responses to the insolence directed at him by those pesky Democrats and wayward Republicans. So naturally he lashed out the imaginary “caravan” of criminal invaders marching toward the U.S. border. He posted an infantile tweet that referred to Rep. Adam Schiff and Adam “Schitt.” And he promoted his latest appearance on State TV (aka Fox News) with Chris Wallace.

Bill McRaven, Donald Trump

There was a lot of blathering idiocy throughout the interview, and it can be viewed in conveniently sectioned off pieces here. But one area of particular interest was when Wallace sought Trump’s reaction to remarks made by retired Admiral William McRaven. Trump twice interrupted Wallace as he tried to ask the question regarding McRaven saying that Trump’s attacks on the press are “the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime.” Eventually Wallace got the question out and it resulted in this disturbing exchange (video below):

Wallace: Bill McRaven. Retired admiral. Thirty-seven years. Former head of Special Operations…
Trump: Hillary Clinton fan.
Wallace: Special operations…
Trump: Excuse me. Hillary Clinton fan.
Wallace: …who led the operations, commanded the operations that took down Saddam Hussein and that killed Osama bin Laden, says that your sentiment is the greatest threat to democracy in his lifetime.
Trump: Okay. He’s a Hillary Clinton backer and an Obama backer. And frankly, wouldn’t it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that?

Holy Shiitake Mushrooms. Trump actually has the gall to disparage a Navy Seal with more than three decades of service to his country, and whose leadership helped bring down two of America’s most virulent foes. And Trump’s reason for slamming McRaven was that he allegedly supported a couple of Democrats (aka Americans). What’s more, Trump’s insult went off the deep end by belittling McRaven’s accomplishments because they hadn’t happened sooner. For the record, George W. Bush had eight years to deal with bin Laden. Under Obama, bin Laden was dead in two years. And that was while Obama was also dealing with Bush’s Great Recession. Trump, on the other hand, evaded military service entirely via five questionable deferments. He has no moral standing to criticize McRaven, Obama, Clinton, or anyone else.

It’s also worth noting that Trump is lying again. McRaven was not a supporter of Clinton or Obama. He never endorsed either and he served presidents of both parties. However, he was on the Trump transition team’s short list for a top national security post. Which makes his slander all the more repulsive.

This ought to be a wake up call for every member of the military, every veteran, and every American who supports them, that Trump has zero respect for their service or commitment to duty. Unless, that is, they are also slavishly adoring of him personally. Anyone who demonstrates independent thought or otherwise veers from total devotion to Trump is discarded and treated like traitors no matter how impressive or patriotic their past. Trump will turn on you if you fail to worship him sufficiently. And that’s not patriotism, it’s malignant narcissism with tyrannical tendencies.

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

CNN Files Lawsuit Against Trump & Co. for Violation of the First Amendment

Last week Donald Trump’s administration was especially hostile to the press that they despise so fiercely. Trump addressed a post-election press conference and proceeded to insult several (mostly African-American women) journalists. As News Corpse noted at the time: “It was a disgraceful display of infantile tantrum throwing by our crybaby president who is too weak to face a group of reporters without breaking down into insults and bullying.”

Donald Trump, CNN

Shortly after that press conference, the White House announced that they were suspending the credentials of CNN’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta. They fabricated a story alleging that he “placed his hands” on an intern as she tried to grab the microphone away from him. However, the video of the event proved unambiguously that the White House was lying, as usual. But that didn’t stop them from distributing a “doctored” version of the video that they got from the disreputable conspiracy crackpots at Infowars.

On Tuesday morning CNN announced that they are suing Trump and his band of totalitarian oppressors of free speech. The suit explicitly cites the constitutional breach of the First Amendment’s rights to freedom of the press and Fifth Amendment rights to due process. CNN’s statement reads:

“CNN filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration this morning in DC District Court. It demands the return of the White House credentials of CNN’s Chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acosta’s First Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their Fifth Amendment rights to due process. We have asked this court for an immediate restraining order requiring the pass be returned to Jim, and will seek permanent relief as part of this process. While the suit is specific to CNN and Acosta, this could have happened to anyone. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials.”

The lawsuit names several members of the administration who are complicit in the violation. They include Trump, his chief of staff John Kelly, his deputy chief of staff for communications (and former Fox News president) Bill Shine, and his press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. It’s a confederacy of Republican Nationalists bent on subverting democracy and squelching free speech.

It would be surprising if this suit made it to court. Crybaby Trump will likely chicken out and restore Acosta’s credentials before that happens. But the damage is already done as this unlawful White House demonstrates that they couldn’t care less about America’s constitutional principles.

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

Fortunately, the next Congress plans to do something about that. Rep. Adam Schiff, the incoming chair of the House Intelligence Committee, has told reporters that he intends to hold hearings on Trump’s reckless assaults on the press which go way beyond mere name calling as “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.” It includes his use of the Justice Department to punish media organizations he doesn’t like. And because elections have consequences, he isn’t going to get away with it for much longer.