Did Trump Commit Illegal Stock Manipulation and Insider Trading Prior to His Tariff Cave-In?

On April 2, 2025, Donald Trump declared that it is “Liberation Day,” in America due to his imposition of punitive tariffs on most of the world that were widely predicted to result in inflation, recession, and unprecedented deliberate harm to the American people and American businesses.

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Donald Trump, Prison

Immediately after Trump’s announcement, the stock market went into free fall, wiping out about $6 trillion in assets and depleting the savings of millions of investors and private citizens, especially seniors who would need those funds as they prepare for retirement. But not to worry, as Fox News warned their glassy-eyed viewers to clam up, because any criticism of Dear Leader and his disastrous economic policies were unpatriotic.

SEE THIS: Fox News to Retirees: STFU About the Huge Losses Due to Tariffs, Because It’s Just Like Wartime

On Wednesday morning Trump did what he swore he would never do: Reverse course and rescind his tariffs. Despite the fact that he adamantly objected to any reports that he was considering to pause his plans, he has now paused his plans for 90 days. And he got absolutely nothing in return for doing so. He posted a rambling comment on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social that said “I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period.”

However, there is another decidedly troubling component to this situation. At 6:37am ET, Trump posted a comment saying that “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” Then a few hours later he caved on his tariffs that he previously insisted were here to stay.” So by announcing that it was a great time to buy, when he knew that he would shortly be pausing the tariffs, was he in violation of stock manipulation and/or insider trading laws?

CRIMINAL STOCK MANIPULATION AND INSIDER TRADING?Trump posted a message saying that "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!" Then a few hours later caved on his tariffs that he previously insisted were "here to stay."Why isn't he in prison? #TrumpRecession

News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-04-09T18:18:57.742Z

Trump cannot pretend that his buying advice was unrelated to to his tariff pause, or that he didn’t know about it at the time. His Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, had already tweeted that he and Trump discussed it on the previous Sunday. Bessent wrote that…

“Trump and I had a long talk on Sunday and this was his strategy all along. You might even say that he goaded China into a bad position.”

Clearly Trump knew that he intended to pause his tariffs days before he did so. And he knew how that would affect the market, because on Tuesday a rumor to that effect caused the market to take a sharp upward spike briefly, until the White House shot it down. Also, note that Bessent’s comment included his opinion that Trump never intended to resolve the trade issue with China. Instead, he was hoping to inflame it by “goad[ing] China into a bad position.” How is that in the best interests of the U.S. or the American people?

Furthermore, since Trump’s pause did not include America’s biggest trading partner, China, on whom he actually increased tariffs to 125%, the detrimental impact of the tariffs would remain in tact. What’s more, there are no details of how other countries would be impacted by the pause, or which ones were included. Since Europe, Canada, Mexico, and other countries with significant trading volume did not capitulate to Trump, it would be fair to assume that they were not included in the pause.

Consequently, this pause would have little effect. Pausing the tariffs on tiny nation-states like Lesotho, and an island inhabited only by penguins, isn’t likely to increase America’s trade prospects. However, the advance notice that Trump gave to his MAGA minions could reap them substantial profits. And perhaps for himself as well, since Trump has his own investment portfolio that will likely rise due to his potentially unlawful machinations. Imagine if President Biden had done this. Republicans would be reassembling the guillotine they built on January 6, 2021.

UPDATE: Democratic senators call for probe into possible insider trading over Trump tariff reversal

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REALLY? Trump Proposes Allowing the US Government (and China?) to ‘Police’ Americans on TikTok

On Monday, January 20, 2025, Donald Trump was sworn into office as the 47th president of the United States of America. It was a day that will live in infamy because he’s also the first convicted felon and adjudicated rapist to occupy the White House.

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Fox News, Maria Bartiromo, Donald Trump

Trump lived up to his criminal inclinations by issuing a tsunami of execrable executive orders, including one that granted pardons to the more than 1,500 January 6th insurrections who stormed the Capitol, assaulted police officers, and threatened members of Congress, in order to help Trump undermine democracy. His inauguration address, and subsequent speech to his cult followers, were testimony to his tyrannical aspirations, and were riddled with lies.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Inauguration Day Rants Affirm that He is a Wannabe Dictator and a Pathological Liar

Further evidence of Trump’s anti-American leanings were revealed during his executive disorder signing ceremony in the Oval Office. There were innumerable comments that exposed his malice and ignorance. But when he was presented with the order to delay the banning of TikTok – as required by law – he volunteered a statement that confirms his aversion to the Constitution…

Passed in Congress, it gives the president the right to make a deal or to close it. And we have 90 days to make that decision. But I could see making a deal where the U.S. gets 50% of TikTok. Polices it a little bit, or a lot. Depends on them.

There’s a lot of derp to unravel in that drivel. Let’s start with the fact that the law does not “give the president the right to make a deal or to close it.” The law requires that TikTok be sold or blocked from U.S. users. There is a 90 period within which a challenge may be filed, but that’s a legal challenge, not the prerogative of the president.

Furthermore, there is nothing in the law that allows the U.S. government to own 50% of the social media app. That would be blatantly improper and illegal. This was previously spelled out when Trump first floated his proposal for “saving” TikTok from the evil American “communists” who seek to prohibit the app run by “friendly” Chinese communists….

Trump seems to think that the U.S. government can be a business partner with a Chinese social media company that is suspected of improperly utilizing data collected from American users. That is wrong on many levels. First of all, it puts the U.S. in the position of collaborating with China to “spy” on American citizens. Secondly, it makes the U.S. government a profit partner in an otherwise private business. And thirdly, it violates the First Amendment by putting the U.S. government in a position to moderate (i.e. approve and/or censor) the speech of U.S. citizens.

The last item in that analysis has now been affirmed by Trump who says that it would be okay if his unlawful joint venture with China “Polices it a little bit, or a lot.” That could not be a more flagrant breach of the First Amendment. It puts the U.S. government in the position of censoring free speech. Even worse, it could also give China the same power over the speech of Americans. But Trump wasn’t through parading his recklessness and ignorance. He also said that…

“I may not do the deal or I may do the deal. TikTok is worthless. Worthless, if I don’t approve it. […] If I do the deal it’s worth maybe a trillion dollars. […] If I do the deal for the United States, then I think we should get half.”

True to form, Trump is making up preposterous numbers to validate his delusional thinking. For one thing, TikTok has value that transcends its U.S. user base. In fact, TikTok has about a billion users worldwide. About 170 million of them (17%) are in the U.S. So while the loss of that audience would be significant, TikTok would still have 83% of its current users.

Also, what the heck does Trump mean by “we should get half.” Who is “we”? What part of the U.S. government would the ownership of TikTok fall into? Would it be run by the White House? The Treasury Department? The Agency for Global Media that oversees the Voice of America? Who knows? And Trump doesn’t say. Also, where does the money go?

These are just some of the questions raised by Trump’s nonsensical meanderings. And finally, it’s notable that Trump’s current support for TikTok is a flagrant flip-flop from his prior position…

As Trump tries to take credit for "saving" TikTok, remember he was the instigator of the ban & bragged about it 2 years ago. The bill he advocated was introduced by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX). Democrats opposed it."Right about everything"? More like right-wing about everything.

News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-01-19T21:06:04.990Z

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Trump’s Plan to ‘Save’ TikTok is an Illegal, Unconstitutional, Anti-American Grifting Scheme

Any objective observer of Donald Trump has noticed that there are a few predictable constants that are evident in his demeanor and his governing style. They include his capacity for lying without shame, his egotistical exaltations of himself, and his compulsion to malign his critics with unwarranted and infantile insults.

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Donald Trump, Toilet, Bathrobe

Another one of Trump’s true constants is his extraordinary ability to manufacture chaos over any subject and on a moment’s notice. It’s a skill that is useful for someone who is perpetually in need of phony controversies to deflect from his frequent inadequacies and grossly abhorrent and unpopular policy proposals. Or sometimes just to draw attention away from some offense to his tender sensitivities.

FOR INSTANCE: Snowflake Trump Blasts Seth Meyers and Threatens Comcast Because Jokes Hurt His Tender Fee Fees

The controversy surrounding the fate of TikTok has recently taken the center point on the media stage. While there is wide latitude for diverse opinions about whether it should be permitted to operate in the United States while owned by a company that is tightly tied to China, there are positions that can exceed the boundaries of propriety and even threaten national security.

Leave it to Trump to take a position that totally ignores those rational concerns and, instead, manages to wrap itself in the best interests of only Trump himself. On his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, Trump posted his views that include his desire for Americans “to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday.” As if there were no other media platforms that will be presenting it. He was also worried about the financial prospects for the social media app, which he exaggerated is “worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.”

More to the point, Trump offered his proposal for “saving” TikTok from the evil American “communists” who seek to prohibit the app run by friendly Chinese communists. He posted that

“I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”

To be clear, the only reason that Trump is now concerned about TikTok staying dark is that he recently discovered that he’s getting millions of views of his TikTok videos. However, Trump’s claim that he will issue an executive order delaying the law’s prohibitions is a blatant violation of the law. An executive order cannot override a statute passed by Congress without some urgent national security justification. Watching his inauguration simply doesn’t measure up to that standard. But he was just getting started. Trump continued…

“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. […] Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose.”

Trump seems to think that the U.S. government can be a business partner with a Chinese social media company that is suspected of improperly utilizing data collected from American users. That is wrong on many levels. First of all, it puts the U.S. in the position of collaborating with China to “spy” on American citizens. Secondly, it makes the U.S. government a profit partner in an otherwise private business. And thirdly, it violates the First Amendment by putting the U.S. government in a position to moderate (i.e. approve and/or censor) the speech of U.S. citizens.

The U.S. government has no place in such a “partnership” with a Chinese business. Or any other business for that matter. If Trump goes through with this proposal, it must be challenged and rejected by the courts. He doesn’t have the right to structure illegal and unconstitutional business ventures just because they suit him personally. And it’s notable that even that determination on his part was a flagrant flip-flop from his prior position on TikTok…

As Trump tries to take credit for "saving" TikTok, remember he was the instigator of the ban & bragged about it 2 years ago. The bill he advocated was introduced by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX). Democrats opposed it."Right about everything"? More like right-wing about everything.

News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-01-19T21:06:04.990Z

Whatever happens to TikTok, it should be based on the law. And if the law isn’t clear enough to protect the interests of the American people, it should be amended. The rights of the 170 million Americans who use TikTok also need to be considered. But sanctioning a single company for abusing that data is not a rational solution. All the companies that do so should be barred from that practice, including Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, etc.

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MAGA Republicans Killed the Intel Agency that Monitors Disinformation From Russia, China, Etc.

The week before Christmas, the razor-thin Republican majority in Congress tried three times to pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government from shutting down. They finally succeeded on the third try after purging the bill of funding for a variety of programs that are critical to the welfare of the American people and to national security.

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Trump Lies

While passing the stripped-down version of the legislation was necessary to avoid falling off a fiscal cliff, the deliberate malfeasance of the GOP leaders in the House of Representatives must not be overlooked or dismissed as standard operating procedure. Even though it was standard for the incompetents who comprise the MAGA caucus in Congress.

SEE THIS: DO-NOTHING CONGRESS? The Republican House of Representatives is the Least Productive Ever

One of the programs that was excised from the CR that is not getting much attention was the funding for a State Department Agency responsible for monitoring foreign disinformation. Al Jazeera reports that…

“A leading United States government agency that tracks foreign disinformation has terminated its operations, the State Department has said, after Congress failed to extend its funding following years of Republican criticism.

“The Global Engagement Center (GEC), a State Department unit established in 2016, shuttered on Monday at a time when officials and experts tracking propaganda have been warning of the risk of disinformation campaigns from US adversaries such as Russia and China.”

If anyone is wondering why Republicans would oppose an agency that is intended to keep track of nefarious foreign operatives spreading lies about matters of national security, just ask the old question that is posed whenever something untoward occurs in government: “Who benefits.”

In this case it is fairly clear that Donald Trump is among the prime beneficiaries of the shuttering of the GEC. He has received an incalculable amount of help from Russian disinformation and propaganda in all three of his campaigns for president. That includes promotion of his “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen” from him, as well as their pushing disparaging lies about President Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris in order to sabotage their electoral prospects.

What’s more, Trump has long been a staunch advocate of Russia and his hero, Vladimir Putin. While he frequently insults American leaders in the most vile terms, he has never said anything derogatory about Putin. He doesn’t want to cut off the flow of support he gets from Vlad. Which is why he wouldn’t want a government agency pointing out all of the dishonest propaganda that emanates from Russian sources. And his MAGA minions in Congress cooperated by defunding the agency.

It’s notable that Fox News covered this story with their typical heaping of right-wing bias. Their headline declared that the “State Department’s ‘Global Engagement Center’ accused of censoring Americans shuts its doors.” However, the “accusations” referenced in Fox’s headline all happen to be from extremist MAGA Republicans, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump’s pick for deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and Elon Musk, who was quoted in the article saying that the GEC is the “worst offender in U.S. government censorship & media manipulation.”

These are the cheerleaders of “America First.” Well, make that “Blame America First.” Like Trump, they routinely shoot down the United States, particularly when it is in conflict with Russia or China. And they have both ideological and financial reasons for doing so. Trump and Musk are heavily invested in China’s economy. The last thing they want is an agency exposing the malevolence of their political and business partners.

When the Trump administration is officially sworn in, it will have people in place to further their fealty to their foreign propaganda outlets. Most notably, Trump’s nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who has zero experience in intelligence, but is notoriously close to Russian operatives. And there is also Trump’s choice to run the CIA, John Ratcliffe, who worked with Trump and Russian intel to smear Hillary Clinton. And then there’s Kari Lake, Trump’s nominee to run Voice of America, promising to turn it into America’s propaganda network.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump’s allies in Congress would seek to obstruct American efforts to expose Russian and Chinese disinformation. It shouldn’t surprise anyone, but it should worry everyone. Trump’s affinity for foreign dictators is well known. And now Congress is helping him to cover up how his foreign pals are continuing to help him by giving them a free hand to spread propaganda. Hopefully independent media watchdogs will be up to countering their efforts, because in Trump world they will be rooting for them.

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Traitor Trump Says that Americans Who Oppose Him are ‘a Bigger Enemy than China and Russia’

If it hasn’t been abundantly obvious where Donald Trump’s loyalties lie, he was thoughtful enough to provide a timely reminder at his recent cult rally in Colorado. It was just the latest example of Trump saying out loud the repugnant opinions percolating in his broken brain bucket.

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Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

The Colorado clan conference consisted mainly of Trump whining about his crumbling campaign, lying about President Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, insulting everyone who he deems insufficiently worshipful, maligning immigrants as monstrous and violent subhumans, and rambling incoherently about indecipherable nonsense. In other words, same old, same old Trump.

SEE THIS: OUCH! Trump’s Flagrant Lies About 14,000 ‘Criminal’ Migrants Gets a Devastating Fact-Check

However, the tediously repetitive playlist that Trump unloads at every one of his rallies does seem to be losing steam with many of the attendees who can be seen leaving while he is still in full rage on the stage. So he will occasionally try to interject something new for his audience that is anxiously awaiting more of his hallmark hate speech.

In the Colorado address, Trump offered up a wide ranging assault on the American people. He made it perfectly plain that he regards his fellow citizens as enemies and America’s enemies as friends. He said that…

“You know, I always say we have the outside enemy. So you can say China. You can say Russia. You can say Kim Jong Un. But that’s not [indecipherable gibberish]. If you have a smart president, no problem. It’s the enemy from within. All the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country. That’s a bigger enemy than China and Russia.”

To be clear, those who Trump describes as “scum” are anyone who disagrees with him or dares to criticize him. This isn’t a new line of attack for Trump. He has always had a vicious animosity toward people who wouldn’t kiss his – let’s say ring. But in these remarks he is explicitly castigating the Americans who he would supposedly be pledging to serve if elected.

At the same time, Trump is minimizing the threat of actual enemies such as China and Russia. Which isn’t surprising considering Trump’s long admiration for their tyrannical leaders that he hopes to emulate. Trump has been a fervent supporter of Vladimir Putin and his invasion of our ally, Ukraine. And Trump is still doing business with China. Even his phony “God Bless America” bibles were produced there for about three bucks each, and resold to his cult for $60.00.

So with Trump declaring that Americans are a bigger threat than China and Russia, he proposes draconian measures to oppress the citizens that he despises. His plans include the construction of concentration camps and mass deportations, even of legal residents. And he continues to disparage democracy with his obsession with the 2020 election that he still says was “rigged and stolen” from him. Consequently, he refuses to say that he will honor the results of the 2024 election.

Sound familiar? It reeks of the fascism of the 1930s that Trump has a great affinity for. And if you need further confirmation of Trump’s leanings, just listen to what Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Trump administration, said about Trump in the new book “War” by Bob Woodward

“He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is now the most dangerous person to this country. A fascist to the core.”

It’s hard to add anything to that. So I won’t.

UPDATE: Trump told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News that “the enemy from within [are] sick people, radical left lunatics [that] should be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.” So Trump is now promising to use the U.S. military against American citizens who don’t support him.

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Fox News is Officially an Arm of Chinese State Media, Regurgitating its Attacks on Kamala Harris

In only three days, the entire landscape of the 2024 presidential election has been transformed. The anxieties felt by many Democrats over the candidacy of President Biden have been replaced by a frothy enthusiasm for the Party’s likely new standard bearer, Vice-President Kamala Harris.

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Fox News, Maria Bartiromo, Donald Trump

Now it’s the Republican Party that is awash with anxiety over their pitiful and unpopular candidate, the convicted felon and adjudicated rapist, Donald Trump. And now he is the only candidate that bears the stigma of advanced age and conspicuous cognitive corrosion. As a result, the GOP is scrambling frantically to reconstruct their defunct campaign strategy that was carefully designed to defame Biden.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Frantic Fear of Kamala Harris Overflows in a Manic Meltdown on Truth(less) (anti)Social

Fortunately for the failing Trump team (or unfortunately as it’s likely to turn out), their Ministry of Propaganda (aka Fox News) is stepping up to fill in the vacuum left by the GOP’s loss of Biden as a target for their smears. The Fox crew has spent the past 72 hours brainstorming approaches to shatter the excitement that Harris’ promotion has generated. And the best that they have come up with so far is that she laughs.

LOLOL: Crybaby Trump: I Hate it When People Laugh at Me, and When Kamala Harris Laughs at All

On Wednesday morning, Fox’s Senior Trump-Fluffer, Maria Bartiromo, took a stab at fortifying Trump’s defense. And you have to hand it to her for taking such a bold stance on behalf of her Dear Leader. Bartiromo’s plan was to align herself and Trump with the China state media operation that has long favored Trump over Democrats and democracy. She said that…

Chinese state media is reportedly slamming Vice-President Kamala Harris’ performance in the White House as mediocre, saying she lacks the experience and achievements to serve as president.

So there you have it. Fox News is acting as China’s affiliate in America to dispense their anti-American screed. If the Chinese press considers Harris “mediocre,” then that’s good enough for Bartiromo and Fox News. Never mind that Harris’ experience and achievements are well documented and impressive. The state-run press of China thinks that they are lacking, so Fox needs to apprise Trump’s cult followers of this breaking “news.”

And that’s not all. Bartiromo’s guest for this segment was GOP Rep. Mark Green, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. He joined in proudly saying that “I’m agreeing with China on this” Which is typical of today’s Republican Party that can’t resist aligning itself with America’s autocratic enemies. Trump himself regularly brags about his friendship with, and admiration for, China’s Xi Jinping, North Korea’s Kin Jong Un, and of course, Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

It isn’t surprising that Fox News would unleash vicious attacks on Harris or any other Democratic politician. In fact, it’s expected of them. That has been their mission from the beginning. But it is a bit more unnerving to see them recite and embrace propaganda directly disseminated by China’s state media. How far do they have to go before they are required to register as foreign agents? Trump crossed that line long ago. And he is dragging Fox News and the Republican Party over that line more with each passing day.

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Fox News Aims at Biden with Crackpot COVID Conspiracy, but Hits Trump as a Puppet of China

The propagandists at Fox News must be getting pretty desperate for potential pseudo-scandals to gin up against President Biden and the Democrats. Every attempt they have made to malign the President has resulted in an embarrassing blowback that drenched themselves in their own slime.

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Donald Trump, Coronavirus

Ever since Republicans assumed their razor thin majority in the House of Representatives, they have tried to defame Biden as a mastermind of corruption and/or a flailing incompetent. But for some reason their preposterous characterizations of him as a flailing mastermind of corrupt incompetence don’t seem to be sticking. Perhaps that’s because they have zero evidence of any wrongdoing and are utterly incapable of advancing their ludicrous allegations.

FOR INSTANCE: GOP Oversight Chair Spins Litany of Lies Alleging Biden Financial ‘Scandal’ that Doesn’t Exist

Consequently, Fox News is scraping the bottom of the barrel for new bullpucky to throw at Biden. They are now seeking to reprise long ago debunked conspiracy theories that failed to do any damage to Biden when they were originally offered up as outrage fodder for the feeble-minded MAGA cult. On Fox News’ “Mornings with Maria Bartiromo,” the Trump-fluffing host asked her guest, Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup, a question that reeks of the bile that Bartiromo is so well known for…

Bartiromo: Is there a chance that China released this virus on America intentionally? Disrupt the country. Get Donald Trump out. Get your man in there, Joe Biden. And they cover it up.
Wenstrup: Well they certainly didn’t try to protect America, did they? So whether it was intentional or accidental, they seemed to be aware of it. And as I recall – and I could be wrong on this – President Xi was telling Donald Trump everything’s okay. And Donald Trump was repeating everything that President Xi said. Now Democrats call president Trump a liar, but it seems that he was just repeating what President Xi said and, obviously, it was more dangerous.

There’s a lot of asininity to unpack in there. Let’s begin with the fact that is beyond absurd to suggest that China created a virus that would kill more than a million of their own citizens, and tens of millions of others around the world, just so they could upset a single election in the United States. What’s more, why would they want to get rid of Trump, who had done a lot of business in China, and has been an ardent admirer of its president, Xi Jinping?

As for Wenstrup’s reply, he seems to think that it was China’s obligation to protect America from COVID, rather than the duty of Trump, the alleged American president. And Wenstrup went on to assert that Trump’s role in protecting Americans consisted solely of “repeating what President Xi said.” Which is a pretty harsh criticism of Trump that Wenstrup doesn’t seem to notice. But actually, it was worse than that. Trump effusively – and repeatedly – praised Xi for his efforts to safeguard the world from the deadly pandemic. He said that…

China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!

…and that…

[President Xi] will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!”

As late as February 29, 2020, Trump was still impressed that “China seems to be making tremendous progress. Their numbers are way down.” And in his own remarks, Trump relentlessly downplayed the known dangers of the virus:

  • “We have it very much under control in this country.”
  • “It’s going to be just fine.”
  • “It’s one person coming in from China.”
  • “We’re doing a great job with it.”
  • “It’s going to have a very good ending for us.”
  • “We’re in great shape.”
  • “We have 12 cases – 11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now.”
  • “Just stay calm. It will go away.”
  • “You have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
  • “It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.”

Most of those remarks were made when Trump already knew they were lies. He revealed in tape recorded comments to Bob Woodward – for his book RAGE! – that he knew just how dangerous the virus was, saying that…

“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus. This is deadly stuff. […] I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down.”

So even if it was a Chinese plot – especially if it was a Chinese plot – it would have been the duty of American leadership to foil it. Instead, it was Trump’s negligence, incompetence, and deliberate malfeasance, that was most responsible for the spread of the pandemic in the U.S. And Trump was aided by a cowed Republican Party that obediently devoured everything their Dear Leader excreted.

Back then, as now, Fox News played its role as Trump’s Ministry of Disinformation. And then, as now, they couldn’t care less who gets hurt.

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Trump is APPALLED that These ‘Fascist Monsters’ Convicted Another One of His Criminal Cohorts

The rap sheet for the Donald Trump Crime Syndicate just seems to get longer with each passing day. So far there have been eight Trump associates convicted. They include such intimate confederates as Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, and Steve Bannon.

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Donald Trump

That’s not even counting his business, The Trump Organization, or those indicted with trials pending that number many times more. It also doesn’t count the hundreds of January 6th insurrectionists who stormed the Capital on his behalf in an attempted violent coup that sought to undermine democracy. The deep bench of Trump’s roster of mobsters is a testament to his lawlessness and authoritarian aspirations. Yet somehow he’s still trying to peddle a preposterous narrative wherein everyone else is guilty of persecuting him.

RELATED: Trump Threatens ‘Weak’ Republicans in Congress: ‘We Will Put Them All In Jail Where They Belong’

On Friday morning Trump posted another his hate-filled harangues on his failing social media scam, Truth Social. On this occasion Trump felt an obsessive compulsion to vent about the latest conviction of one of his former White House cronies, Peter Navarro, who was found guilty of Contempt of Congress. Trump raged that…

“I can’t believe that these Fascist Monsters have so viciously gone after the great Peter Navarro for defying the totally partisan January 6th Unselect Committee of political Hacks and Thugs, who refused to go after Crazy Nancy Pelosi, and the reasons she and the Mayor of D.C. REJECTED 10,000 soldiers, which would have easily stopped any future security problem.”

First of all, you have to wonder why Trump has so much trouble believing that Navarro was convicted, considering all of the criminal company he has in Trump World. Furthermore, it was an open and shut case. After being subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection that Trump incited, Navarro failed to show up or produce the requested documents.

Trump went on to complain that Navarro’s testimony “wouldn’t have mattered, anyway, because the ‘Committee’ QUICKLY and ILLEGALLY DELETED & DESTROYED ALL EVIDENCE & FINDINGS!” Which is a flagrant lie. All of the evidence and testimony compiled by the Committee was preserved and is still available online.

SEE THIS: Trump Demands Indictments Be Withdrawn After Fox News Falsely Reports on January 6th Committee

In a subsequent post, Trump praised Navarro as the “single greatest trade negotiator against China, who paid the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars during the Trump Administration.” Of course, Trump’s trade policy with China was a massive failure that raised prices for the America people.

While Trump frequently claims that he was responsible for making China pay billions of dollars to the U.S. in tariffs, he is purposefully lying. Tariffs are not paid by the country they are imposed on. They are paid by American importers, distributors, and wholesalers, who then pass on those costs to consumers. China didn’t pay one red cent to the U.S., and Trump knows it.

Another notable feature in Trump’s post is that it is an example of his signature run-on sentences and rhetorical rambling. He drags his twisted commentary out to cover everything from Navarro, to the January 6th Committee, to Nancy Pelosi, to the insurrection, and to the 10,000 soldiers that he never actually proposed. All in a single sentence.

That sort of cramming of numerous, tedious, unrelated thoughts into a single expression is a common feature of Trump’s tantrums. It is also a psychological condition known as logorrhea,” which is defined as a communication disorder that causes excessive wordiness and repetitiveness, which can cause incoherency. It’s just another diagnosis that fits Trump’s psychoses, which includes Narcissistic Personality Disorder. And it’s another reason (as if more were needed) that he is utterly unfit to hold office.

SEE THIS: UPDATE on Donald Trump’s Deteriorating Mental State

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Fox News Says Biden is ‘Compromised’ Because He Revoked Trump’s Non-Existent Ban on TikTok

In a time of political turmoil, there is one thing that everyone can rely on with the utmost certainty. Fox News is going to spend the next couple of years feverishly fabricating defamatory fiction about President Biden. Whether or not he runs for reelection in 2024, the Fox News Bullshit Factory will be running on full steam to malign Biden and undermine democracy.

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On Monday morning, Fox News contributor and former GOP congressman, Sean Duffy (whose wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, is a Fox News host), was the token male on Fox’s “Outnumbered.” The subject for one segment was what to do about the nefarious Chinese social media app, TikTok.

Duffy began his fairy tale spinning with a wholly unsupported assertion that it wasn’t TikTok, but members of Congress with access to classified information who are a “security risk.” His reasoning was that they are using two phones, one of which is personal and is disseminating info to China. Duffy doesn’t provide any evidence of this, but as a former congressman, he might just be talking about his own behavior when he served. And Fox and the GOP are mighty perturbed about China these days.

RELATED: Pathological Liar Trump Denies Pentagon Reports of Chinese Balloons Over U.S. During His Term

Following that, Duffy segues to an accusation that President Biden must be “compromised” because he “got rid of the Trump ban on TikTok.” “I’m a Joe Biden is compromised guy,” Duffy bragged, “otherwise he wouldn’t have done it.”

There is, however, a small problem with Duffy’s accusation. While Donald Trump did issue an executive order calling for TikTok to be banned if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, didn’t sell it, the order was never implemented, and was struck down by a federal court. What Biden did was to revoke Trump’s invalid and illegal executive order, and issue another in its place that complied with the law. Biden’s order specified that a security risk would be considered when apps were owned or controlled by foreign adversaries, or if the apps collected sensitive personal data.

Duffy went on to contradict himself and his criticism of Biden by noting the risks of banning TikTok from the Apple and Google app stores. He correctly noted that if Apple ceased to offer TikTok, China might retaliate by shutting down Apple’s computer and iPhone factories in China. “If they take TikTok off their app store,” Duffy said, “China will retaliate and, all of a sudden, you may not be able to buy an iPhone or a computer.”

It’s difficult to figure out just what Duffy is complaining about. First he’s appalled that Biden might allow TikTok to continue operating in the U.S. Then he’s fearful of losing his iPhone if measures were taken to ban TikTok. So which is it? Is Biden compromised by China, or should Biden be compromising with China?

Don’t look for Duffy or Fox News to answer that question. They have never been particularly concerned about national security. Especially as it regards Trump, who was known to have used private, unsecured phones while he was president. Nor would they be covering for Trump who stole hundreds of classified documents and stored them at his hotel/home, Mar-a-Lago.

RELATED: Trump v Biden: Their Reactions to Special Counsels Reveals Who’s Innocent and Who’s Scared

Yet somehow, to Fox News, Biden replacing Trump’s unlawful TikTok ban with a legally valid review process means he’s compromised by China – where Trump had a secret bank account while in the White House. And despite these facts, we can expect many more attacks on Biden between now and the 2024 election. It’s what they do.

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Pathological Liar Trump Denies Pentagon Reports of Chinese Balloons Over U.S. During His Term

In the wake of the 21st century’s most dreadful and diabolical act of international espionage – the Chinese Spy Balloon Affair – Donald Trump is displaying his famously fatuous and defiant demeanor. Always the measured stateman, Trump’s response to China’s brief and inconsequential incursion into American air space is typically distant from any rational version of reality.

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Trump’s first public comment on this pressing matter was a posting on his pitifully failing social media site, Truth Social, that said nothing but “SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON!” Which was particularly asinine advice considering that he and his mouthpieces on Fox News believed that it might contain bioweapons that would spread for miles were the balloon to be shot down over the U.S.

RELATED: UH-OH: GOP Oversight Committee Chair on Fox News Fears a Weather Balloon is a Chinese Bioweapon

On Sunday Trump elaborated on his thoughts regarding the giant Chinese party favor. He posted a comment that refuted the documented reports by the Pentagon about the state of the military Spy Balloon gap. Trump babbled that…

“The Chinese Balloon situation is a disgrace, just like the Afghanistan horror show, and everything else surrounding the grossly incompetent Biden Administration. They are only good at cheating in elections, and disinformation — and now they are putting out that a Balloon was put up by China during the Trump Administration, in order to take the ‘heat’ off the slow moving Biden fools. China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!”

First of all, wouldn’t “FAKE DISINFORMATION” be real information? Setting that aside, Trump’s tedious tantrums about President Biden and the Democrats are always describing one “disgrace” or another. In this case, Trump is adamant that nothing like this ever occurred during his tumultuous term in the White House. Unfortunately for Trump, the Pentagon disagrees. They issued a statement on Thursday that revealed that…

“It is not the first time that you had a balloon of this nature cross over the continental United States. It has happened a handful of other times over the past few years, to include before this administration.”

Not only that, Fox News reported the same thing with additional details, saying that…

“U.S. officials tell Fox it’s not the first time Chinese spy balloons have flown over the United States. About four months ago a Chinese spy balloon crashed in the Pacific near Hawaii. Others were spotted over Texas and Florida, dating back to the Trump administration, but never previously acknowledged publicly.”

Sane observers know that Biden did the right thing by taking the advice of the military professionals and waiting to shoot down the balloon until it was over the Atlantic. They had already disabled the balloon’s surveillance capabilities. And having seen the seven mile long debris field validates the decision not to shoot it down over land, where the two-bus sized payload might have caused harm to people or property.

Trump is clearly unconcerned about these facts. And he isn’t bothered that the Pentagon refuted his factless and simple-minded denial. Neither is Fox News. Despite their own reporting, they have disseminated flagrantly false propaganda about the popping of the balloon. Fox host Maria Bartiromo asked an array of questions intended to invoke irrational fears…

“Did it drop and disburse surveillance products powered by solar energy to allow unlimited surveillance? And why did it take U.S. officials so long to shoot it down? Was it a test for the CCP to see if can send something into America’s airspace undetected? And how much surveillance is China performing on America right now?”

Note that Bartiromo was worried about the downing of the balloon because of the potential that it would “drop and disburse surveillance products,” but that she thought it should have been shot down sooner. She’s saying, in effect, that she wants China to have been able to collect more information.

Fox News also hosted Trump’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who claimed to have been totally unaware of any of the Chinese spy balloon incidents during the Trump years. That’s comforting, isn’t it?

Additionally, Fox interviewed GOP senator Marco Rubio, who made a bizarrely contorted argument that China benefited by Biden not shooting down the balloon, and that China benefited by Biden shooting down the balloon. So according to Rubio, China wins either way.

How would this have been different during Trump’s term? He had the same options to either shoot down the balloon or not. And presumably the same win-win benefits for China. Of course, Trump took a third path wherein he did nothing at all and concealed the whole matter from the public. That was surely a win for Trump’s pals in China.

This is the sort of nonsense that passes for expert analysis on Fox News. And then they expect their audience to accept their dishonesty and foolishness. Lucky for them, their viewers have been primed to buy bullshit like this for many years. And that same cultist indoctrination paved the road for Trump to be able to lie so brazenly and profusely and still appeal to his glassy-eyed devotees.

It’s just a matter of time before the Kool-Aid is distributed. Or worse, he gives his StormTrumpers the orders to attack the rest of us. Which, actually, he has already done.

RELATED: Trump Post Urges His Cult Followers to Take Up Arms and ‘Physically Fight’ for the Presidency

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. And you can follow me on Mastodon here.

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