Impeach

STFU: Why Did the Media Cover Every Word of Trump’s Post-Impeachment Gloating?

Posted by on February 6, 2020 at 12:35 pm. 20 Comments :

Here we go again. In 2016 the press disgraced itself by falling victim to the reality TV campaign of Donald Trump. They broadcast every rally and public address live and uninterrupted as if it had some news value. It didn’t. They were just providing Trump with millions of dollars of free air time.

Donald Trump Not Exonerated

The press utterly failed in its journalistic obligations during the 2016 campaign with their fixation on a candidate that stuffed his speeches full of lies, insults, and self-exaltation. Their preference for featuring Trump’s cult rallies was blatantly unfair. They were not giving the same amount of time or exposure to any of his opponents during the Republican primary or the general election. Some of the media recognized their profoundly biased and unprofessional conduct after the election and even apologized to the nation for letting them down.

Well, they seem not to learned a damn thing. On Thursday morning Trump gave an address from the White House that he previously tweeted would be “to discuss our Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax!” That preview was bad enough, serving as a warning that the speech would be a feast of falsehoods and a celebration of having escaped accountability for his obvious crimes.

Why would the press rush to cover something that Trump himself falsely described as the “country’s victory” and a “hoax”? He telegraphed his intention to exploit the event for his own selfish purposes. And that’s exactly what he did.

The hour plus speech was a rambling disgorgement of a bloated ego combined with back-slapping of the sycophantic, Republican bootlickers in the audience. Trump rattled off the names of every Trump-fluffing apologist who ran his defense in Congress. and he told brief stories about how brilliant they were for adoring him.

Of course, Trump also used this time to lash out at his perceived enemies. He repeated his tiresome charge that he was the victim of a “witch hunt.” He revived his obsession with President Obama, baselessly alleging that “a lot of people would have been in jail” if he had his way. He rehashed the Mueller probe, calling it “bullshit” despite the fact that it affirmed numerous breaches of the law and blatant obstruction of justice. He went off, again, on America’s intelligence community, complaining about “dirty cops” and other evil people. He singled out former FBI Director James Comey for special condemnation, calling him a “sleazebag.” This is the behavior of a “president” whose cult followers are currently denouncing the “decorum” of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for tearing up a copy of his Dystopian State of the Union speech.

But he wasn’t nearly through. He slandered House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff as “corrupt” and a “vicious, horrible person.” Trump unwound his frequent lie that Schiff had misrepresented his remarks in the phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. He continues to insist that people read the memo that he calls a “transcript” of the call, even though it clearly indicates that he extorted Zelensky to get dirt on Joe Biden.

Naturally, Trump didn’t forget to attack Pelosi. He called her a horrible person also. But he went on to make reprehensible remarks about her faith, asserting that he “I doubts she prays at all.” Earlier in morning he made similar remarks the National Prayer Breakfast, where he attacked Mitt Romney’s faith as well, saying that he “used religion as a crutch.” and that “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.” This, coming from someone who pretends to be a devout Christian but can’t cite a single passage from the bible and brags that he has never asked god for forgiveness because he’s never done anything wrong.

The entire address was nothing but a propaganda filled campaign rally with an audience of StormTrumpers engaged in idol worship. It allowed Trump to lie about being exonerated (he wasn’t) and to malign his critics for a solid hour without any pushback, fact-checking, or concessions to reality. And the media chose to air the whole thing live and without interruption.

For what purpose? There was nothing remotely newsworthy about it. They could have have easily recorded it and aired it later if they found anything that served the public interest. And then they would also have been able to provide context and corrections of his numerous untruths. If this is any indication of how they are going to cover the election between now and November, America is big trouble.

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

Trump’s Reality TV SOTU: From ‘American Carnage’ to ‘The Mentality of American Decline’

Posted by on February 5, 2020 at 11:20 am. 7 Comments :

Donald Trump has outdone himself again. His 2020 State of the Union address was a steaming heap of negativity, institutionalized hate, and flagrant lies. He has followed up his infamous “American Carnage” inaugural address with a speech that was rife with disrespect for the nation and its diverse people. By disparaging our recent history as “the mentality of American decline,” he is proving again that he despises what actually makes America great.

Donald Trump TV Set

Trump’s SOTU most closely resembled another episode of his reality TV game show past. He was handing out medals, staging family reunions, and most of all, bragging about himself and insulting his predecessors. He set the tone at the beginning by refusing to shake Pelosi’s hand. and the Republicans tainted the affair politically with chants of “four more years.” The awarding of the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh, a notorious racist, misogynist, and knee-jerk partisan wingnut, is a massive depreciation of the honor that award used to represent.

Trump went on a morning-after tweet rampage aimed at his hurt feelings because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up a copy of his speech. Of the 28 tweets he posted early Wednesday morning, 23 were about Pelosi’s fully justifiable act of conscience. Let that sink in. He was far more upset with Pelosi than he was satisfied with his own oratory. And it takes a lot to get Trump to divert from glorifying himself. But what will surely be most personally unbearable to the Narcissist-in-Chief is that the ratings for the SOTU declined 21% from last year. Although that won’t stop him from lying about it, like he did so brazenly in 2018.

Throughout the speech Trump validated what is the most recognizable element of his presidency: full-throated, shameless, deliberate lies. He covered so many subjects with his falsehoods and fabrications that it was hard to keep count. Here are just a few of the smugly delivered dishonesties:

“…our values are renewed, our pride is restored.”
Trump is widely regarded at home and abroad as an embarrassment. And his “values” of racism, misogyny, greed, and reverence for foreign tyrants, are not generally considered a source of pride.

“I moved rapidly to revive the U.S. economy, slashing a number of job killing-regulations, enacting historic and record-setting tax cuts, and fighting for fair and reciprocal trade agreements.”
The U.S. economy was growing faster under Obama than it has under Trump. And what he calls “job killing-regulations” were actually protections for workers, healthcare, and the environment.

“Our agenda is relentlessly pro-worker.”
The Trump administration has presided over the most anti-worker policies in decades, including altering overtime rules, obstructing collective bargaining, and placing a higher percentage of tax burdens on working Americans, while cutting them for corporations and the wealthy.

“…lifting our citizens of every race, color, religion and creed very high.”
It was Trump who defended neo-Nazis and white nationalists as “very good people.”

“Seven million Americans have come off food stamps.”
What Trump means is not “come off” food stamps, but being thrown off.

“After decades of flat and falling incomes, wages are rising fast.”
The only rise in wages is due to the increase in the minimum wage enacted by Democrats in the states and localities. Trump and the GOP have been ardent opponents of that.

“The United States has become the No. 1 producer of oil and natural gas”
Actually, the U.S. achieved that milestone in 2012, under Obama.

“We are restoring our nation’s manufacturing might.”
Not exactly. The truth is that manufacturing in the U.S. is currently in recession.

“…replace the disastrous NAFTA trade deal.”
What Trump continues to conceal is that the USMCA is just NAFTA with a few minor changes.

“Our new [healthcare] plans are up to 60% less expensive, and better.”
The plans to which Trump is referring are covering very few people. And they are less expensive because they hardly cover anything at all.

“We will always protect patients with preexisting conditions.”
This is just a blatant lie. Trump ran on repealing the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), and the protections for people with preexisting conditions therein. He has joined a lawsuit that is aimed at declaring Obamacare unconstitutional. And neither he, nor the Republican Party, have an alternative, even after ten years of opposition.

“We have now completed over 100 miles.”
Not a single mile of new border wall has been built. And Mexico still isn’t paying for it.

“The cost of prescription drugs actually went down.”
This is another blatant falsehood. The cost of prescription drugs actually went up.

“…radical politicians have chosen to provide sanctuary for these criminal illegal aliens.”
Wrong. Not a single politician is advocating sanctuary for criminals. Local authorities have jurisdiction over these matters, and they are protecting the rights of law abiding undocumented immigrants.

“My administration is also defending religious liberty…America has always been a Christian nation.”
Trump is not defending religious liberty unless you are Christian. In fact, he’s imposing religious barriers for non-Christians in schools and those who wish to emigrate. And the Founders explicitly declared that America is not a Christian nation, but one that “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

“I announced a groundbreaking plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”
Trump’s “groundbreaking plan” was contrived without even talking to Palestinians. Consequently, they have rejected it along with the Arab League. It is going nowhere.

“My administration is restoring the rule of law.”
This may be the most ludicrous and flaming dishonesty of the whole speech. Donald Trump has been impeached for breaching the Constitution. He committed extortion against a foreign ally in order to coerce him to help Trump steal an election. He engaged in witness tampering by threatening and firing career public servants and even military officers. He violates campaign finance and self-dealing laws on a daily basis. And he has obstructed justice by withholding subpoenaed documents and prohibiting the testimony of administration staff. This is not the conduct of someone who claims to be “restoring the rule of law.”

Nancy Pelosi did the right thing by ripping up Trump’s speech. It is a document that extols the division of the American people, while disseminating pure propaganda. It seeks to glorify Trump in the most trivial terms, emulating his fictional reality TV character. And the behavior of the Republicans in the chamber, who rose to applaud after every piffling lie, only cements their reputation for being fully indoctrinated members of the Cult of Trump.

Meanwhile, this is how all of Trump’s speeches should be done.

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

Adam Schiff’s Closing Arguments on Trump’s Impeachment Dare the Senate to Be Decent

Posted by on February 3, 2020 at 3:12 pm. 6 Comments :

As the impeachment trial of Donald Trump enters into its final phase, the litigants on both sides are presenting their best arguments to persuade senators to vote for or against conviction. The President’s counsel are sticking to their complaints about the process and the partisanship of the Democrats. The Democrats, on the other hand, are pleading with members to act on the facts that many of them have publicly conceded have been proved.

Donald Trump, Adam Schiff

Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee Chairman and lead manager for the Democrats, delivered a powerful closing argument that is certain to have a place in history. He distills much of what has been revealed in testimony and documentation into a concise indictment of Trump and the justification for removing him from office. In short, Schiff warns that Trump “has betrayed our national security and he will do so again. He has compromised our elections and he will do so again. You will not change him. You cannot constrain him. He is who he is. Truth matters to you. Right matters to you. You are decent. He is not who you are.”

Well, that last bit may be debatable as Republican senators fall in line behind Trump despite conceding that what he did was wrong. Some – for example Joni Ernst and Lamar Alexander – even said they believe that Trump won’t repeat his crimes now that he’s been impeached. However, there is no evidence that Trump has ever been chastened by attempts to hold him accountable.

The six minute oratory (video below) is profoundly moving and worth listening to in its entirety. The passages quoted below are from the very beginning and the very end of Schiff’s remarks. They serve as elegant bookends to the information contained in between.

“History will not be kind to Donald Trump. I think we all know that. Not because it will be written by never-Trumpers, but because whenever we have separated from the values of our nation we have come to regret it. And that regret is written all over the pages of our history. If you find that the House has proved its case and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history. But if you find the courage to stand up to him, to speak the awful truth to his rank falsehood, your place will be among the Davids who took on Goliath. If only you will say ‘enough.'”

“I put my faith in the optimism of the founders. You should too. They gave us the tools to do the job. A remedy as powerful as the evil it was meant to constrain. They meant for it to be used rarely, but they put it in the Constitution for a reason. For a man who would sell out his country for a political favor. For a man who would threaten the integrity of our elections. For a man who would invite foreign interference in our affairs. For a man who would undermine our national security and that of our allies. For a man like Donald J. Trump. They gave you a remedy and they meant for you to use it. They gave you an oath and they meant for you to observe it. We have proved Donald Trump guilty. Now do impartial justice and convict him.”

Unfortunately, Republicans in the Senate are going to vote against the Articles of Impeachment regardless of the facts. They are only interested in preserving their power and demonstrating loyalty to the Cult of Trump. But thanks to Schiff and others on the House Managers team, the historical record will outlast their cowardice, complicity, and deceit. And the consequences for their weakness may be dealt out as soon as this November.

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

Trump’s Dementia Shifts to High Gear as Impeachment Trial Winds Down

Posted by on February 1, 2020 at 2:18 pm. 6 Comments :

On Friday afternoon the cowardly and compromised Republicans in the Senate voted to allow Donald Trump to become America’s first de facto emperor. They endowed him with blatantly unconstitutional powers that would permit him to openly violate laws, suppress dissent, and engage in overt acts of tyranny so long as he deems it in the public interest. That is not what the Founders and Framers intended.

Donald Trump

This congressional betrayal was justified by the flimsiest of arguments. The Senate GOP has taken the position that Trump’s crimes were merely “inappropriate,” as opposed to criminal, and therefore not subject to reprimand. Emboldened by these events, Trump has withdrawn into his Mar-A-Lago bunker to wallow in this ascension to monarchism and virtually unchallangeable reign. In the morning hours of Saturday he celebrated with tweets that exalted himself as “America’s Greatest President” who is putting on “The Greatest Show On Earth.”

Setting aside Trump’s slobbering, narcissistic adoration of himself, everything else in those tweets was either grossly misrepresented or utterly false. Lou Dobbs of the Fox News business channel is one of the Fox family’s most ardent Trump-fluffers. But his show is hardly a national success. It has no business programming competition because CNBC is airing reruns of shows like Shark Tank at the same time. And Dobbs’ audience is about a quarter of the size of his time period competition on MSNBC. As for Dobbs covering Trump “fairly & objectively,” that’s so hysterically ludicrous it hardly warrants a response.

Trump’s claim that his “poll numbers are the highest since election,” is a pitiful statistic to brag about. His approval rating is sitting on an abysmal 44 percent, and has never hit 50 at any time during his presidency. That’s an achievement no other president can claim. Even the Fox News poll shows Trump is broadly unpopular. His disapproval, however, remains well above a majority of the American people, as it has for the last three years. There is even a majority favoring his impeachment and removal from office.

Trump’s ego is now reliant on being fed by his evermore frequent cult rallies. He believes that the glassy-eyed disciples who show up for the free, Trump-vangelical, revival meetings represent the mainstream of America. But what’s even more indicative of his mental infirmity is that he thinks he puts on a “great” show. That’s only true if you really like the tedious repetition of moldy lies and fetid talking points.

Trump also posted a picture of himself “exercising” on the golf course. That’s his way of pretending that he isn’t bothered by having been impeached, which regardless of how the Senate votes next week, will permanently stain his legacy that is already bursting with failures and embarrassments. For instance, he is conspicuously ignoring the news that 2019 was a dismal year for the U.S. economy. It achieved a paltry 2.3% growth rate. 2018 and 2017 weren’t any better (2.9% and 2.4% respectively). And that’s after Trump had promised that his tax scam and other economic policies would produce growth of up to six percent:

TRUMP (Dec 16, 2017): The economy now is at 3%. Nobody thought it would be anywhere close. I think it could go to 4, 5, and maybe even 6%, ultimately.

Trump also ignored the 600+ point drop on the Dow Jones on Friday. That brings the decline of the last two weeks to 1,100 points. Trump is always quick to tweet about stock market gains, but then clams up when it goes the other way. That’s how his psychotic obsession with exalting himself as all-knowing and infallible drives his obsessive behavior. But as time wears on him, his mental state is showing signs of deterioration. And that is evident in his public appearances more than anywhere else. As seen here:

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

HUH? GOP Concedes ‘Overwhelming’ Proof Trump is Guilty – of Being ‘Inappropriate’

Posted by on January 31, 2020 at 12:06 pm. 16 Comments :

The writing is on the proverbial wall. It appears that Republicans in the Senate are poised to conclude their cover up of Donald Trump’s criminal behavior. The vote on whether to allow the testimony of additional witnesses (such as Trump favorite, John Bolton) will likely fail. That would make this first impeachment in history not to include witness testimony. This travesty of justice was set in place with the announcement by retiring Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander that he would vote against further witnesses and documents.

Donald Trump, Presidenty

Alexander’s principle argument is that the decision to remove Trump from office should be made by the American people at the ballot box, not by the Senate. If so, he needs to explain why the Framers included impeachment in the Constitution. And his argument doesn’t even address the prospect of an election being subverted by a president who intends to cheat, making it impossible for the people’s choice to prevail.

However, Alexander isn’t even being asked to remove Trump from office yet. The question at present is only whether to permit the introduction of new witnesses and documents. Alexander could still decide later not to remove Trump. In the meantime, he’s preventing the American people, who he thinks should make the decision, from hearing all of the evidence. So he’s advocating that the people make an uninformed decision. That’s something that Trump will surely appreciate, because it’s what he does all the time.

Alexander’s full statement on his decision is a bundle of hypocrisies and contradictions. he actually concedes that “the House managers have proved” their case with “a mountain of overwhelming evidence.” So Alexander has seen sufficient evidence to declare Trump guilty. “There is no need for more evidence,” says Alexander, “to prove that the president asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter,” and that “There is no need for more evidence to conclude that the president withheld United States aid.”

In other words, there is no need for further evidence to establish the quid pro quo that Trump used to coerce Ukraine, but has denied repeatedly, despite having actually admitted it on national TV. Alexander was not alone in his assessment of Trump’s guilt. Senators Toomey, Collins, Romney, Murkowski, and Portman are among those who have considered approving more testimony (but will likely vote no anyway). However, Alexander’s vote appears to be based on something entirely different than the facts that he himself has presented:

“It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate.”

Really? Does Alexander know what the word “inappropriate” means? For the record, it means “not suitable or proper in the circumstances.” For example, cussing in front of children. Or wearing sweats to funeral. Or bragging that you can grab women by their genitals because you’re a celebrity.

It is a shameless depreciation of Trump’s flagrant criminal activities to dismiss them so cavalierly. The effort to impeach Trump and remove him from office is not because he committed “actions that are inappropriate.” It’s because he violated the law, the Constitution, and the moral duty to serve the public interest. And any Senator that votes to deny witness testimony – and to acquit Trump – is complicit in his crimes and the cover up. Which is, to say the very least, inappropriate.

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

SURPRISE! Trump’s Impeachment Defense Begins with 6 ‘Facts’ that Are All Lies

Posted by on January 25, 2020 at 10:53 am. 9 Comments :

The day that Donald Trump has been waiting for (and whining about) has finally come. It’s the day that marks the commencement of his Fox News Legal Team’s presentation of his case against removing him from office now that he has been irrevocably impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Donald Trump, Impeach

Of course, everyone has already heard the case that Trump’s lawyers will be making. They have been making that case relentlessly on Fox News for weeks. The case that Fox viewers haven’t heard is the one by Democrats. That’s because Fox News chose to shield their snowflake viewers from any exposure to reality. Instead, they aired their own regularly scheduled, Trump-fluffing programs during prime time rather than the Senate hearings. They even admonished their viewers not to watch the hearings at all because Fox’s shills would watch for them.

To no one’s surprise, Trump’s defense was littered with familiar lies. His White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, led off by falsely characterizing the House impeachment hearings, saying that Democrats “lock[ed] everybody out of it from the President’s side.” In fact, Democrats invited the White House to participate, but the invitation was rejected in a letter from Cipollone himself. And all Republican members of the three committees holding hearings — Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight — participated and were given equal time.

Following Cipollone’s flagrant fictionalization of events, his deputy, Mike Purpura took center stage with what he said were the “six key facts that have not, and will not, change.” (video below) Let’s take a look, shall we?

FIRST: “The transcript shows that the President did not condition either security assistance or a meeting on anything.”
Actually, there has been no transcript released, only a memo purporting to summarize the phone call between Trump and Zelensky. And in that memo Trump is plainly seen to condition aid with a demand that Zelensky “do us a favor, though.” Trump then stated his interest in a conspiracy theory about a a Democratic computer server, and the Biden family. There was no discussion of corruption whatsoever.

SECOND: “President Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have repeatedly said that there was no quid pro quo and no pressure on them to review anything.”
In fact, Zelensky had to be careful not to upset Trump at the risk of losing the aid. You can’t ask a hostage if he’s under pressure and expect a candid answer. Zelensky told an interviewer that he didn’t “want us to look like beggars.” Then went on to say that “If you’re our strategic partner, then you can’t go blocking anything for us. I think that’s just about fairness. It’s not about a quid pro quo. It just goes without saying.” What’s more, Trump himself confessed on national television that he did condition aid on a demand that Zelensky help him smear Joe Biden. When asked directly what he hoped to get from Zelensky, Trump said “I would think that if they’re honest about it they’d start a major investigation into the Bidens. It’s a very simple answer. They should investigate the Bidens.”

Third: “President Zelensky and other high ranking Ukrainian officials did not even know the security assistance was paused until the end of August, over a month after the July 25 call.”
Not according to the Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister who said that Ukraine was aware of a U.S. freeze in military aid as early as July.

Fourth: “Not a single witness testified that the President himself said that there was any connection between any investigation and security assistance, a presidential meeting, or anything else.”
Not true. Several witnesses (i.e. Gordon Sondland, Alexander Vindman) said that Trump had made a such a connection. But if Trump’s attorneys are concerned that there wasn’t sufficient testimony from first-hand witnesses, then why is Trump prohibiting staffers like Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, etc., from testifying? Why would he block testimony from those he says would exonerate him?

Fifth: “The security assistance flowed on September 11, and a presidential meeting took place on September 25, without the Ukrainian government announcing any investigations.”
What Trump’s team isn’t saying is that those things occurred only after he got caught. They were an attempt to paper over his criminal behavior after the fact.

Finally: “The Democrats blind drive to impeach the President does not, and cannot, change the fact, as attested to by the Democrats’ own witnesses, that President Trump has been a better friend and stronger support of Ukraine than his predecessor [President Obama].”
You can hardly call threatening a country with the loss of critical military aid during a war as “friendly.” And even if there were cursory signs of friendship, that doesn’t excuse Trump’s unlawful behavior. Furthermore, Trump has been a far better friend to Vladimir Putin and Russia, the country that is invading and annexing parts of Ukraine.

If this is any indication of how the Trump defense is going to go as it proceeds through next week, we are in for some hefty heapings of falsehoods and misdirection. They haven’t even even gotten to the Bidens yet, as Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow promised to do. But rest assured, that will come. And the whole of the Trump defense will be built on distortion and deception. But that’s only because they can’t defend Trump on the facts.

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

Trump Admits that He’s Only Interested in a Lie-Filled Reality TV Impeachment Show

Posted by on January 24, 2020 at 3:25 pm. 2 Comments :

Trump has been tweeting up a storm on this fourth day of his Senate impeachment trial. Most of it has been retweets of the sycophantic Trump-fluffers who vainly try to defend the indefensible criminality of Trump. But some are more puzzling than others, such as the one where he agreed with Joe Biden that he should be impeached and removed from office.

Donald Trump TV Set

However, in addition to his tweet agreeing with Biden, Trump also tweeted what amounts to an admission that he isn’t really concerned about the outcome of the Senate trial at all. That’s because the GOP leader, Mitch McConnell, has already assured him that he won’t permit a fair hearing to take place and that the outcome will be manipulated in Trump’s favor. So Trump tweeted this:

First of all, Trump had an invitation to have his representatives and witnesses appear during the House hearings, but he refused. So he can’t complain about not being represented when that was his own decision. Secondly, The prospect of the Trump defense in the Senate being pushed to Saturday was entirely the work of Mitch McConnell. The Democrats had no power to alter the schedule dictated by the GOP leader. And it appears likely that McConnell will alter it himself and shift the commencement of the Trump defense to Monday.

That said, it’s notable that what Trump is whining about isn’t how his case will be made to the senators who will be voting on his fate as president. Nope. What Trump is upset about is that his defenders might not have as big a television audience as he would like. In other words, he’s only interested in the reality TV elements of his impeachment hearings. That’s a so typically Trumpian.

Trump already has the benefit of Fox News, which has not been airing the Senate hearings during prime time. Fox has also benched their Senior Judicial Analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano, in order to keep his contrary views away from the snowflakes who watch Fox (Napolitano called the evidence for Trump’s impeachment and removal “ample and uncontradicted”). Fox did, however, interrupt coverage of the hearings on Friday to show Trump giving a speech at the anti-abortion March for Life. They were in alone in that editorially biased decision.

In the end everything about Trump’s behavior and commentaries is focused on one thing only: What is in his own best interest, never mind the American people or the fate of the nation. It’s his malignantly narcissistic, massive ego that must be satisfied first. And ironically, that’s what got him into all this trouble to begin with.

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

HUH? Trump Agrees with Biden that He Must Be Impeached and Removed From Office

Posted by on January 24, 2020 at 2:49 pm. 3 Comments :

The longer the impeachment hearings for Donald Trump go on, the more deranged he becomes. He is clearly frightened and fixated on the proceedings despite his frequent and unconvincing dismissals. On Friday morning he once again posted a frantic flurry of more than fifty tweets assailing the Democrats in congress as they press their case against him.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden

Embedded in this Twitter tantrum, Trump included his familiar whining about how he is such a helpless victim of the meanies in the Democratic Party who refuse to adore him. He repeated for the umpteenth time his demand that everyone “Read the Transcripts” of his clearly incriminating phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. And he retweeted a phalanx of StormTrumpers in Congress and the media who are valiantly defending the indefensible. But perhaps the most bizarre tweet of the bunch was this beaut:

Trump is quoting Joe Biden’s assessment that Trump could gain some advantage after emerging “victorious” from the Senate’s impeachment trial. That’s debatable, but Biden’s view is not unreasonable. What’s peculiar is that Trump is latching onto – and agreeing with – Biden’s comments that “Congress has no choice, it has a Constitutional responsibility.” Biden is referring to to the responsibility to impeach Trump and remove him from office. And Trump, as expressed in this tweet, apparently agrees with that. Good to know.

The view that Trump will be “harder to beat” following these hearings is not cast in stone. On one hand, Trump has already been impeached, and that’s forever. The Senate hearings are driving home the facts surrounding Trump’s criminal coercion of Zelensky and his efforts to cover it up. They are also revealing the Republicans’ unprincipled obsession with suppressing new evidence and witness testimony. Consequently, any “acquittal” by a partisan vote of the GOP majority would immediately and totally lack credibility. And Trump’s guilt would still be presumed by most Americans, as it is now.

The argument that Trump would be stronger rests only on the notion that his cult followers might be more motivated to turn out in November. But that’s speculative at best. His most fervent supporters are already as buzzy as they can possibly be. And he isn’t likely to attract new supporters simply because the GOP-run Senate let him off the hook.

Nevertheless, Trump is continuing to pretend that all this impeachment stuff is helping him and hurting Democrats. That view might make him feel better and provide some encouragement to his despondent Deplorables, but it isn’t founded on any factual basis. And it won’t alter the public perception that he is a liar who has betrayed his country to further his own personal and political ambitions.

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

MISSING: Fox News Legal Expert Who Said Evidence Against Trump is ‘Ample and Uncontradicted’

Posted by on January 23, 2020 at 1:59 pm. 5 Comments :

The Fox News coverage of the Senate impeachment hearing has been just as bad as might have been expected. Even worse, actually. To be sure, their prime time Trump-fluffers have been predictably adoring and servile as they heap praise on Donald Trump and his defenders, while shoveling bile on his critics. Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends, have spared no shame in slobbering over Dear Leader while slandering the Democrats prosecuting him.

Donald Trump, Andrew Napolitano

The reason it’s been even worse than expected is that Fox News has ignored large swaths of the hearings. They chose to air their regularly scheduled programming rather than the live proceedings from the Senate. That way they can prevent their already ill-informed audience from accidentally being exposed to the truth about Trump.

Fox even advised their dimwitted viewers to avoid watching the hearings with admonitions like “We’re showing you the good stuff – it was unbelievably boring,” and “I don’t know how people can follow it,” and “We watched so that you don’t have to,” and “It is a little bit like watching paint dry,” and “If I were a terrible host I would force you to endure watching.” Fox News is behaving like parents shielding their children from naughty words. Which may explain why Fox viewers behave so much like children.

So while CNN and MSNBC were airing the hearings in prime time, Fox News was airing their squawking heads attacking responsible journalism, disparaging the Democratic managers, and insisting that Trump was as pure and virginal as Mother Mary. It’s a bizarre spectacle to see people in the media advocating against being fully informed and proactively disinforming them. But then, that’s what Fox News does every day.

Consequently, Fox’s viewers got their customary mush of one-sided blather. And their number one viewer, Donald Trump, will be spared the agonizing torture of encountering anything remotely negative – or truthful – about him.

Contributing to this extreme bias is the mystery disappearance of Fox’s Senior Judicial Analyst, Andrew Napolitano. He has not made a single appearance on the network during the most prominent judicial story of the decade. Instead, Fox has exclusively featured such pro-Trump commentators as Trey Gowdy and Andrew McCarthy. Napolitano has previously provided a far more cogent analysis with clear-eyed recognition of Trump’s guilt (for instance, here and here and here).

Had Napolitano been booked to give his impression of the impeachment hearings, he might have sparked some severe cognitive injuries. Particularly for Trump. Napolitano was permitted to publish an op-ed on the Fox News website that presented a starkly different viewpoint than anyone that Fox allowed on the air. He wrote that the impeachment trial…

“…is not a charade or a joke or a hoax. It is deadly serious business based on well-established constitutional norms. The House of Representatives — in proceedings in which the president chose not to participate — impeached Trump for abuse of power and contempt of Congress. The abuse consists of his efforts to extract a personal political ‘favor’ from the president of Ukraine as a precondition to the delivery of $391 million in military aid.”

Napolitano also addressed the question of Congress charging Trump with impeachable offenses saying that…

“…there is enough evidence here to do so. Federal election laws proscribe as criminal the mere solicitation of help for a political campaign from a foreign national or government. There is no dispute that Trump did this. In fact, the case for this is stronger now than it was when the House impeached him last year. Since then, more evidence, which Trump tried to suppress, has come to light.

On whether Trump committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” Napolitano concluded that “the evidence is ample and uncontradicted.” Naturally, these sort of rational, independent opinions are verboten on Fox News. That’s why Napolitano had to be muzzled and stuffed in a basement somewhere in the bowels of Fox News headquarters.

After going to the trouble of censoring the Senate hearings and replacing them with drooling Trump propagandists, Fox could hardly allow these ideas to leak into the general population of vulnerable Trump cult followers. Their lack of critical thinking skills would subject them to the unbearable discomfort of reality. And that would violate everything Fox News stands for.

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

Does Trump Have Impeachment Dementia Or Are His Lies Just Getting More Bizarre?

Posted by on January 20, 2020 at 2:43 pm. 3 Comments :

There is something grossly disturbing about how extreme Donald Trump has become in his frantic outbursts decrying the fact that he has been impeached. It’s like watching a paranoid schizophrenic sinking deeper into the delusional hallucinations that drive his deviant behavior. Except this one has access to nuclear weapons.

Donald Trump Red Face

On Monday morning, Trump was suffering from an especially severe case of the whines. This was manifested on his Twitter feed where he posted a string of typically narcissistic messages exalting himself, interspersed with vitriolic attacks on his foes. The trigger for this episode may have been the release of his impeachment trial briefing by his Fox News legal team. The document is 110 pages of expanded Twitter rants that fail to even address the substance of the charges against him. Trump’s lawyers are focused solely on their ludicrous theory that whatever Trump did was okay and that he should not be convicted and removed from office even if every allegation is proved true.

Meanwhile, Trump himself is focused on an imaginary universe wherein everything morphs into whatever he wishes it would be at whatever moment he wishes it. That’s the only explanation for a couple of his morning tweets that bear no resemblance to reality. For instance…

Anyone who has paid even peripheral attention to the impeachment proceedings knows that the House wanted John Bolton’s testimony very much. The problem was that Trump invoked the fake privilege of “absolute immunity” in order to prohibit Bolton, and many other White House staffers, from testifying. There is no way that Trump could not know this. So he is either deliberately lying or mentally unhinged. Which would also explain this other tweet…

The House proceedings were always conducted fairly. Every Republican member of the relevant committees was give equal time to question witnesses and provide defensive arguments. Both Democrats and Republicans had counsel who were also afforded equal time to press their case in the hearings. The only diversion from equality was the absence of testimony from Trump’s White House. But again, they were only absent due to Trump’s refusal to allow them to participate. This is another situation that Trump has to be fully aware of, unless he is certifiably insane or flagrantly dishonest.

So it was Trump who was responsible for the absence of witnesses he is complaining about. And it was Trump whose refusal to cooperate produced the unfairness he is whining about. And it was actually people like Rep. Adam Schiff, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, who were advocating for fairness all along. Trump was, and still is, the obstacle. That was articulated concisely in the Democratic response to Trump’s brief:

“Only if the Senate sees and hears all relevant evidence — only if it insists upon the whole truth — can it render impartial justice. That means the Senate should require the President to turn over the documents he is hiding. It should hear from witnesses, as it has done in every impeachment trial in American history; it especially should hear from witnesses the President blocked from testifying in the House. President Trump cannot have it both ways. His Answer directly disputes key facts. He must either surrender all evidence relevant to the facts he has disputed or concede the facts as charged. Otherwise, this impeachment trial will fall far short of the American system of justice.”

The tweets above show that Trump is either suffering from a massively psychotic departure from reality, or that he is shamelessly distorting the truth that everyone else can see as plain as day. That in itself would suggest that Trump is a few fries short of a Happy Meal. But then, what else is one to conclude about someone who has been documented to have told more than 16,000 lies in three years; or who cozies up to murderous dictators; or who compliments himself as “A Very Stable Genius.” It is simply no longer possible to ignore that America’s “president” is out of his friggin’ mind! Which means the same must be true for the cult followers who continue to support him in Congress, the press, and the wingnutty contingent of the public.

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