Fox News Blames Jewish Philanthropists for Gun Violence in 2nd Amendment Sanctuary Cities

Last week anti-Semitism rose to the top of the news cycle after Donald Trump dined with Ye (aka Kanye West) and the infamous Holocaust denying, white nationalist, Nick Fuentes, at Mar-a-Lago. Trump claims that he doesn’t know who Fuentes is, but several days later he still hasn’t renounced the repulsive bigotry of Fuentes and Ye.

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Fox News, Guns Logo

Trump is almost certainly lying when he says that he doesn’t know who Fuentes is. But if true it would be even worse. It would mean that the leading figure in the Republican Party is pitifully ignorant about the most prominent hate monger in America. Well, the most prominent other than Fox News hosts…

RELATED: Tucker Carlson’s Race War Dreams are Evident in His Hateful Rant Against a Black MSNBC Host

It didn’t take long for the seething prejudices of Trump and his dinner guests to surface again on Fox News. Monday morning’s episode of “Outnumbered” twisted a segment on crime into an attack on Jewish billionaires who donate money to politicians and initiatives that seek to reduce gun violence in America, a goal that is popular among the majority of Americans.

The discussion was triggered by comments that Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy made on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. He noted that states with stronger gun laws have much less gun crime than the so-called “2nd Amendment sanctuary cities” that take pride in letting gun violence proliferate. Then he elaborated asking…

“Do we want to continue to supply funding to law enforcement in counties that refuse to implement state and federal gun laws? Red flag laws are wildly popular.”

Good question. Why should the federal government subsidize cities that refuse to enforce laws that are already on the books? Particularly when there is so much evidence that such laws are effective and that, when they are ignored, gun violence increases. However, that rational observation was lost on the hosts of Fox’s Outnumbered. They used the subject to launch into the following foul exchange…

Harris Faulkner: “I think about that George Soros cash that has poured in and how many people have been damaged and hurt in those neighborhoods where they need the most protection. Of course the soft-on-crime is not going to go away, those liberal DAs. He poured a ton of cash through his entities in there.”
Mercedes Schlapp: Soros, Bloomberg, I mean there’s such a large number of these leftist groups that focused on gun control.”

Once again, these hacks are impervious to the facts about gun violence and crime. But what’s worse is that they went out of their way to put all of the blame for the imaginary crime waves on Jewish philanthropists. That isn’t accidental.

Fox News is carrying out its mission to advance the putrid rhetoric of hate that is integral to the Republican agenda. They are brazenly insulting the good intentions and generosity of Jewish Americans who care about their country and its citizens. So it’s no wonder that they don’t bother to call out the anti-Semitism of Trump and his malicious Mar-a-Lago goon squad. They are too busy reinforcing it. And when they aren’t embracing the vile biases of the GOP, they are promoting their spokespersons. For instance…

SEE THIS: Rachel Maddow Unmasks the Virulent Racism of Marjorie Taylor Green and Christian Nationalism

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Trump’s Psychotic Sunday Tweetstorm Defies All Reason, Decency, and Honesty

As the coronavirus pandemic surges throughout the country, Donald Trump is hard at work at what he considers his job: posting lies and incoherent babbling on Twitter. After which he promptly assumed his post on the golf course for the remainder of the day. Priorities.

Donald Trump

Trump began his rage-tweeting with a demonstration of his cowardice and utter desperation. “I will be strongly demanding a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after, the Debate on Tuesday night,” he twitted. Never mind that he is in no position to make such a demand. It’s a hollow appeal for something he knows won’t happen and that he would never submit to himself. Trump is simply trying to malign Biden’s mental fitness for office, even though polls show that a majority of voters say that Trump is the one who doesn’t have the mental soundness to serve.

Following that, Trump took a swipe at Sen. Richard Blumenthal for embellishing his military service ten years ago. Trump said that because Blumenthal was untruthful he should be impeached and “should not be entitled to a vote on anything of importance!” But if that’s Trump’s standard, then Trump’s punishment for telling more than 20,000 lies should be 20,000 times worse. At least Blumenthal had the dignity to serve his country in uniform, as opposed to Cadet Bone Spurs who dodged the draft five times and insults America’s fallen as “losers” and “suckers.”

Next up was a frantic twantrum over Mike Bloomberg’s donation to a Florida group that is paying the outstanding fees of former prisoners so that they can vote. Trump is terrified of losing the state and determined to suppress the vote any way he can. And in this case he also recklessly charges that Bloomberg “committed a serious crime” without bothering to mention what law was broken.

Then there is Trump’s three word, all caps command to “WATCH THE BALLOTS!!!” It’s difficult to tell if Trump is advocating election integrity (yeah, right), or promoting a new show on Fox about the Ballot family. That would make a good vehicle for Scott Baio as the patriarch of a Klan clan that is afraid of the Black Lives Matter movement and a society that has turned against his repulsive brand of bigotry.

Finally, Trump re-twitterated his obsessive commitment to terminate Obamacare, even while the nation is suffering through a deadly pandemic. He grotesquely characterizes it as “a big WIN for the USA!” And as he frequently does, he lied about it being “replaced with a MUCH better, and FAR cheaper, alternative.” However, Trump has never had a healthcare plan, despite announcing that one would be unveiled in two weeks numerous times for the past three years. And the GOP has similarly spent ten years promising a replacement, but has never even drafted a proposal.

It’s notable that in this Twitter tirade Trump has focused exclusively on his political pet peeves that he littered with lies and infantile nicknames. He didn’t once mention the pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 200,000 Americans and is, by all the accounts of every expert, going to get worse this winter.

More than anything, Trump wants to shift the public discourse away from COVID-19 and his wretched mishandling of it. He wants people to forget the loss of their loved ones and the illnesses that have resulted in permanent disabilities for many of those who survived. Unfortunately for Trump, the issues he’s using to deflect also have the effect of reminding people of his ignorance, incompetence, and his aspirations to authoritarianism and dictatorship. It’s a lose-lose proposition for America’s Biggest Loser.

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

PRIORITIES: Trump’s Rage-Tweets Focus on Bashing Democrats, Ignore Coronavirus

The importance of the Super Tuesday primaries cannot be overstated. It’s results have reshaped the Democratic race to be the party’s nominee for president. But that is surely not the only story with national significance. The nation – and the world – continues to be threatened by an emerging health crisis that has the potential to be become a pandemic.

Donald Trump, Toilet, Bathrobe

These situations require the thoughtful and forthright attention of our leaders, from local medical facilities right up to the White House. So this would be a good time to see how Donald Trump is spending his precious time at this hour of need.

While news reports confirm that both infections and fatalities in the U.S. are increasing, Trump seems unperturbed by these developments. His Twitter feed on Wednesday morning consists of fourteen tweets, and not a single one addresses the coronavirus. Instead, Trump appears to be fully consumed by the drama in the Democratic presidential primary. Fully half of his tweets were attacks of one sort or another on the Democrats vying to oust him in November. And the majority of those were missives aimed Mike Bloomberg, who Trump derisively refers to as “Mini.” For instance…

It’s pretty hysterical that a pretend billionaire like Trump, whose bankruptcies and other business failures are legendary, attacks Bloomberg for not “having what it takes.” Bloomberg is worth over $58 billion. Also, Trump is lying about what Bloomberg spent on his campaign. But even if it were true, it would be less than 2% of of his wealth. And Bloomberg has promised to spend “whatever it takes” to defeat Trump.

That’s why Trump is so scared. He knows that Bloomberg has the resources to bury him politically. And whether Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders is the beneficiary of those funds, and Bloomberg’s digital operations, they will create the sort of “wall” that Trump can only dream about.

Trump fired off three other tweets about Bloomberg that were equally as insulting and devoid of substance. But he also went after Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. He continues to spin a deranged conspiracy theory that everyone in the Democratic Party is plotting to “crush Bernie Sanders.” And Trump is positioning himself as an advocate for Sanders, who he claims is the victim of a rigged system. Obviously Trump loathes everything about Sanders. So this dishonest expression of concern is rooted in something more sinister. As Trump tells it…

So what’s Trump’s game? He wants us to believe that he considers Sanders an easier opponent to beat. However, he didn’t come to that conclusion on his own. It also happens to be the view of his pal, Vladimir Putin. The Russian campaign to sow discord and chaos within the Democratic Party has been in operation for months. Sanders was notified of it earlier this year. And virtually everything Trump is doing and saying is aligned with the Russian agenda. It is no coincidence that Putin’s perspective and Trump’s are so tightly bound.

In addition to those anti-Democratic tweets, Trump also posted what amounts to a confession that he intended to obstruct justice when he appointed Jeff Sessions to be his Attorney General:

It’s hard to be any clearer that Trump expected Sessions to terminate the Mueller investigation. And when that didn’t happen, he fired Sessions and installed a more obedient lackey, Bill Barr. Now Trump is celebrating Sessions’ difficulties in winning back his old senate seat. And the reason that Trump believes Sessions is getting what he deserves is that Sessions wasn’t sufficiently loyal. Of course, that isn’t in the job description of the Attorney General. What Trump is looking for is a bootlicking sycophant, which is also not in the job description of the Attorney General, or any other cabinet position.

The larger problem that all of this represents is that, while America is worried about the emergence of a potential pandemic, Trump is obsessed only with his prospects for retaining power. That may not be news to anyone who has been paying attention to our Narcissist-in-Chief, but it is nevertheless troubling. The United States is presently burdened with a self-absorbed, wannabe dictator who is content to allow millions of Americans to suffer rather than fulfill the obligations of his job. And therein lies the most urgent reason to make sure that Trump’s presidency ends as soon as possible.

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

Trump is Whining (Again) About Fox News Poll Where He’s Losing to Every Top Democrat

There is one thing that can be reliably assumed about Donald Trump at any given moment in time. He is probably whining. That’s pretty much his resting state of mind. He is without a doubt the most cowardly crybaby ever to occupy the White House. He even admitted it on national TV in 2016, saying that “I am the most fabulous whiner. I do whine, because I want to win. I am a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win.” Duh!

Donald Trump Pacifier Fox

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump is wailing about a new poll by Fox News that shows him losing to every top Democratic in the race. The poll has Biden beating Trump 49% to 41%. Sanders 49-42. Bloomberg 48-40. Warren 46-43. Buttigieg 45-42. And Klobuchar 44-43. Notice that Trump never scores higher than 43% in any of these match-ups. So an obviously rattled Trump pounded out this frantic tweet:

For the record, most of the 2016 polls, even those by Fox News, were pretty accurate. They showed Hillary Clinton beating Trump by about 3%, which is precisely what happened. Remember, these are polls of voters, not the electoral college, and Clinton won the popular vote by 3,000,000 votes. FiveThirtyEight rates Fox News pollsters (Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research) a respectable “A-“.

But none of that matters because Trump’s complaints aren’t rooted in reality to begin with. He has often criticized Fox News polling in the past when they delivered bad news. And he routinely complains that Fox has “always been terrible to me.” But he’s ignoring all the times he praised Fox for surveys that had more positive results.

RELATED: Are Trump’s Cult Rallies Breeding Grounds for the Coronavirus?

Trump’s perspective is always colored by whatever he views is in his best interest at the moment. It’s a bizarre psychosis that springs from his malignant narcissism. If someone compliments him, they are a rock solid ally. If someone criticizes him, they have always been a bitter enemy. He simply has no grasp of the nuances of fluid, human interactions. And he will use whatever data he finds most beneficial, even if he has to make it up. For instance, Trump also tweeted this Friday morning:

The problem with that is that it was a retweet that is several days old and does not reflect a “new” Rasmussen poll. In fact, the most recent Rasmussen poll has Trump at only 47%. What’s more, he has never had 95% GOP approval, no matter how many times he tweets it.

Despite Trump’s disappointment with Fox News, he just scheduled a town hall on the network for next Thursday. It will be one of the rare occasions where Trump will be interviewed on Fox by someone other than Sean Hannity or one of the other devoted Trump-fluffers. Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will host the affair. However, their previous interviews with Trump were dominated by softball questions and no substantive follow ups.

What’s peculiar is why Fox News is having this town hall at all. Trump is running virtually unopposed, so what’s the point in providing a platform when there isn’t a primary contest in progress? The only plausible reason is that Fox wants to make sure that Trump isn’t overshadowed by the Democrats who are engaged in a heated primary. In other words, it’s free advertising for Trump.

What Fox isn’t doing is offering the same thing to Bill Weld, the Republican former governor of Massachusetts who actually is running against Trump in the GOP primary. Both Fox News and Trump are pretending that Weld doesn’t exist. The party has canceled several primaries so that Trump doesn’t have to face an opposing candidate. And Fox has refused to to even book Weld for an interview.

If Trump is as confidant of his 2020 prospects as he keeps insisting, then why is he suppressing this primary opposition? For the same reason he is whining about the Fox News poll. He is scared. He recognizes the political risk that he faces if the economy falters. And his moaning notwithstanding, he does realize that polls reflect the tenor of public opinion, and that opinion now is decidedly – and appropriately – anti-Trump.

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

Aspiring Dictator Trump is Still Tweeting Orders to AG Barr to Prosecute Political Rivals

In the weeks since Donald Trump was let off the impeachment hook by the bootlicking Senate Republicans, Trump has demonstrated that he has learned an important lesson: He can commit any crime he likes and get away with it. He has tested this lesson by implementing an authoritarian style purge of perceived enemies in his administration and handing out pardons and other executive favors to elite criminals and corrupt colleagues.

Donald Trump, Toilet, Bathrobe

In addition to granting clemency to well-connected crooks, Trump has also put pressure on his Attorney Genuflect, Bill Barr, on matters involving his political associates. Most notably, Trump made it clear that he believes his longtime political guru, Roger Stone, was treated too harshly after having been convicted of multiple felonies. Shortly thereafter, Barr announced that he was contradicting the sentencing recommendations by the frontline prosecutors and seeking leniency for Stone.

The subsequent controversy resulted in Barr pretending to be troubled by Trump’s interference. He even opined that Trump should refrain from tweeting about legal matters before the Department of Justice. And there was talk that Barr could resign if further interference by Trump occurred. Of course, he didn’t mean it. That was an obviously staged performance to mitigate the criticism that was Barr was getting from within and without the DOJ.

The proof that Barr’s concerns were phony came on Wednesday morning when he failed to resign after Trump threw some more blatant interferences in his face. Trump posted a couple of tweets asserting wholly unsubstantiated criminal behavior by Democratic opponents. While Trump is fond of whining about his misunderstanding of “due process,” he has no problem charging others with crimes, despite a total absence of evidence. On this occasion he led off with wild accusations against former Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. Chris Murphy that he saw in a segment on Fox News:

Notice that Trump didn’t suggest that a violation might have occurred and should be investigated. He stated as fact that there was a breach of the law and that the perpetrators “Must be dealt with strongly!” He’s apparently designated himself the judge and jury. That’s a reckless state of affairs coming from a reckless president who has also “convicted” Hillary Clinton for some unspecified crimes and led his cult followers in chants to “Lock her up.”

If Trump had any idea what the Logan Act was, he wouldn’t make a fool of himself by raising it in this context. And if Trump thinks that Murphy’s meeting is why Iran isn’t negotiating with him, he is more mentally disturbed than previously thought. Trump is simply trying to blame his own bungling of affairs with Iran on this otherwise routine encounter. After all, it was Trump who unilaterally, and without reason, withdrew from a nuclear agreement that was made between Iran, the U.S., and six other nations. Following that, Trump imposed new sanctions on Iran, who by all accounts were abiding by the agreement. Maybe that had something to do with Iran’s unwillingness to negotiate with him.

Trump’s other tweet went after Mike Bloomberg, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, and someone who Trump despises and fears:

Once again, Trump is asserting a criminal act as fact without evidence or even a specific charge of what Bloomberg did that was allegedly illegal. The “sinister” payoffs that Trump is babbling about have not been shown to have occurred or, if they did, were in any way improper. They surely were nothing like paying $130,000 to a porn star, lying to cover it up, and seeing your personal attorney go to prison for acting on your behalf. And they were nothing like asking Russia to hack your opponent’s emails or extorting Ukraine’s president to get dirt on a political rival.

The fact is that Trump is continuing to tweet orders to his puppet Attorney General. Trump still wants to see his political foes persecuted by a corrupt Justice Department. And Barr has shown that is all too willing to obey whatever commands he is given by Dear Leader. Barr believes in a monarchical theory of government that gives the president nearly unlimited powers. And Trump’s narcissistic delusions of grandeur make him fully capable of assuming the role of a tyrant. So unless the American people rise up to preserve the republic that the Founders provided, it will surely be lost. Don’t let this moment pass you by, America.

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

Trump’s Phony Fits of Sympathy for Bernie Sanders Are Just What Putin Ordered

The Democratic Party primary is beginning to roll out in earnest as the first states have completed their voting. And no one is more captivated by the process than the reality TV game show host currently occupying the White House. Donald Trump apparently fancies himself a political pundit now, and he has much to say about the electoral prospects of the party that he has literally and grossly disparaged the true enemies of America.”

Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin

Since early January Trump has been spreading a baseless conspiracy theory that the Democratic Party is rigging the primaries against Bernie Sanders. If that were true it would be one of the least effective attempts at rigging an election considering the remarkable success that Sanders has enjoyed. That success was even acknowledged by Trump just a few days before he launched his conspiracy ranting.

For those who bothered to stayed tuned, Trump served up a barrage of tweets that flagrantly contradicted his original premise. For instance, Trump rage-tweeted that…

  • They are rigging the election again against Bernie Sanders, just like last time, only even more obviously.
  • They are taking the Democrat Nomination away from Crazy Bernie.
  • They are taking the nomination away from Bernie for a second time. Rigged!
  • Crazy Bernie takes the lead in the Democrat Primaries, but it is looking more and more like the Dems will never allow him to win! Will Sleepy Joe be able to stumble across the finish line?
  • Many of the ads you are watching were paid for by Mini Mike Bloomberg. He is going nowhere, just wasting his money, but he is getting the DNC to rig the election against Crazy Bernie, something they wouldn’t do for @CoryBooker and others. They are doing it to Bernie again, 2016.
  • The DNC on Bernie Sanders, “Looks like they’re going to do it to him again, doesn’t it?” @SteveDoocy @foxandfriends
  • It is happening again to Crazy Bernie, just like last time, only far more obvious. They are taking the Democrat Nomination away from him, and there’s very little he can do. A Rigged System!

There’s a lot of absurdity clogging up Trump’s Twitter feed there. First he asserts that the Democratic Party was deliberately disadvantaging Sanders by forcing him to attend the impeachment hearings so that he would not be able to campaign. But that was also true for Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, and Kirsten Gillibrand. So by Trump’s ignorant and perverse logic the Party was rigging the election against every Democratic senator in the race.

Following that, Trump first attributes the Party’s alleged bias to be for the benefit of Joe Biden. But that didn’t last long. He later claims that Mike Bloomberg was the intended beneficiary. As usual, Trump’s inane allegations are flailing out in every direction with his familiar brand of incoherence. Make no mistake. Trump doesn’t give a damn about any of the Democrats or the conduct of their primary. And if he was actually concerned about Sanders he wouldn’t be using the insulting and infantile nickname, “Crazy Bernie.”

None of this, of course, is Sanders’ fault. There are reasons for Trump’s asinine histrionics that go beyond his everyday indecency and immaturity. What is actually behind Trump’s Bernie fetish can be distilled into two rather obvious explanations: Fear and chaos!

EXPLANATION #1: FEAR: Trump sees that Sanders is leading a movement much like the one that Trump regards himself to be leading. Sanders has amassed the largest base of small donors in history. And his supporters have a profound loyalty to his candidacy that his based on common American principles and values. Unlike Trump’s cult following that is wholly comprised of glassy-eyed MAGA disciples who can’t articulate a policy that exceeds the four words of his slogan and who continue their support despite his lies, crimes, and hate mongering.

What’s more, there is a peculiar appeal that crosses over from Trump to Sanders that is linked to the theme of shaking up the establishment. But here there is also a profound difference. Sanders has been doing it with sincerity for decades, while Trump is a dishonest, exploitative newcomer whose credibility is worthless.

EXPLANATION #2: CHAOS: The other explanation for Trump’s obsession with Sanders is that it fulfills the agenda of Trump’s benefactor, Vladimir Putin. The primary Russian objective in interfering with U.S. elections has been to sow division and distrust. By stirring up animosity between the various Democratic candidates, Putin hopes to diminish them all and form opposing camps who work against their common goals and their eventual nominee, whoever it is. Additionally, he hopes to create chaos and an impression that the election is rampant with fraud and the results unreliable.

Trump is purposefully advancing these anti-democratic and anti-American objectives. And he doesn’t need to discuss it with Putin to know what they are or what’s expected of him. Just like he didn’t need to have explicit conversations with Putin to benefit from Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. As was affirmed by special counsel Robert Mueller, “Trump and his campaign welcomed and encouraged Russian interference,” in 2016 and “lied about it to cover it up.” All without (so far as we currently know) any explicit conversations between Trump and Putin.

Anyone who doesn’t think the same thing is happening now is either complicit or terminally naive. It is imperative that the American people be aware of these Russian-initiated tactics that Trump is obediently undertaking like the lapdog he is. We must not allow Putin and Trump to sow the discord they hope will return Trump to the White House. So feel free to vote your hearts in the primaries. But in November we must come together to support the Democratic candidate, whoever he or she is. Failing to do that is failing America.

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 Drives His Need to Curse John Kelly, Hug Hope Hicks, and More

It seems like this needs to be said nearly every day, but…Donald Trump is getting worse! The obvious mental decline that he is suffering continues to manifest itself in his daily duties. And that doesn’t mean tweeting, golfing, and watching Fox News. Trump is descending into a state of severe confusion and manic desperation.

Hope Hicks

On the heels of the Republican Senate’s reckless and partisan “absolution” of Trump’s many impeachable crimes, he has, as expected, become emboldened to breach every standard of law and ethics that a president ought to be bound by. In particular, he has embarked on a campaign of retribution and vengeance aimed at those he perceives to be enemies. And, as he recently said himself, I View Everybody as a Threat.” That distinct symptom of paranoia is clearly what has triggered his latest tweetstorm.

Thursday morning saw Trump lashing out in many directions at once. He tweeted a complaint about the conviction of his longtime accomplice in crime, Roger Stone, as “not looking good for the “Justice” Department.” To be clear, that’s the Justice Department that has been under his control for three years now. He also insulted Mike Bloomberg again for being short, like millions of other Americans who vote. He went after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo with an apparently illegal demand that the state drop lawsuits against him in order to prevent retaliatory actions by the federal government. And in addition to those psychotic outbursts, Trump went after his former Chief of Staff, Gen. John Kelly:

Trump’s anger at Kelly was stirred by remarks the General made during a speech at Drew University in New Jersey. Kelly candidly revealed that he disagreed with Trump on several significant issues including Trump’s vilification of key impeachment witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. Kelly stated that Vindman had done precisely the right thing when heard about Trump’s attempted extortion of Ukrainian President Zelensky.

In addition, Kelly expressed his differences with Trump on immigration, specifically renouncing Trump’s comments that immigrants were murderers and rapists. Kelly also distanced himself from Trump’s dalliances with his BFF Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Kelly tried to convince Trump, to no avail, that Kim was playing him and would never give up his nuclear weapons. Kelly was no angel and was complicit in many of Trump’s most heinous policies. But he was right to criticize Trump on these matters.

Trump’s attack on Kelly is another example of how he flips 180 degrees on people he once praised effusively. But whenever someone falls out of favor with Trump, he becomes a pariah who was never worth a damn in the first place. You have to wonder why Trump – who knows all the best people – hired so many future worthless pariahs.

Throughout Kelly’s tenure in the Trump administration, Trump held him in high regard. He promoted the Marine general from Homeland Security Secretary to Chief of Staff. And a year into that job job Trump thanked him for “doing a fantastic job.” When he left the White House Trump gushed that Kelly “has served our Country with distinction.” But now Trump is maligning him and breaching a private conversation he allegedly (but unlikely) had with Kelly’s wife.

As further evidence of Trump’s advancing mental infirmities, he just announced that his nurse/security blanket, Hope Hicks, is returning to the White House as counselor to the president and senior adviser reporting to Jared Kushner. She left two years ago to become a communications executive at the parent corporation of Fox News. Now that revolving door is spinning furiously again. Hicks has been part of Trump’s inner circle longer than any non-family member. And Trump has been said to lean on her for emotional support. In addition to that hand-holding and covering up his brain glitches, Hicks admitted that she would tell “white lies” in the performance of her official duties.

The fact that Hicks was suddenly called back to duty is a significant signal that Trump’s mental condition is deteriorating and he needs her to maintain some semblance of balance. And the tweets he’s been pounding out are further proof that he’s on a downward spiral. However, it’s unlikely that any of this is going to be effective in stabilizing Trump. He is already too far gone and his Republican enablers seem to have no interest in righting this sinking ship of state. Let’s just hope we can tread water until November.

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

Trump Calls Bloomberg Racist for Policy He Recanted but that Trump Still Supports

The evidence of Donald Trump’s blatant and long-held racism is well documented. He openly disparaged people of color as criminals and rapists on the day he announced his candidacy for president. He demeans African-American members of Congress as “low IQ” and tells them to Go back you came from (by which he means the “shithole countries”) He attacked minorities in the media with flagrantly bigoted insults. And he even praised neo-Nazis as “very fine people” as they marched through the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Donald Trump, MAGA

Under the circumstances, it would be astonishingly stupid for Trump to accuse anyone else of being a racist. And yet, that’s exactly what he did on Tuesday morning. Trump posted a tweet that bellowed in all caps “WOW, BLOOMBERG IS A TOTAL RACIST!” He later deleted the tweet, but nothing is ever gone for good on the Internet.

Trump was referencing a video that was recently discovered of then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg making unambiguously prejudiced remarks. Bloomberg was defending his “stop and frisk” policy in New York City as means of reducing crime and getting guns off the streets. The video shows him saying that…

“95% of your murders and murderers and murder victims fit one M.O. You can just take the description and Xerox it and pass it out to all the cops. They are male minorities 15 to 25.”

There’s no way to sugarcoat those remarks. Bloomberg was wrong to say that and wrong to implement the policy. However, last year he acknowledged that he was wrong and retracted both his statement and his support for the policy saying that…

“Over time I’ve come to understand something that I’ve long struggled to admit to myself. I got something important wrong. I got something important really wrong. I can’t change history, but today, I want you to know that I realize that back then I was wrong, And I’m sorry.”

What’s more, in response to the current controversy over the video, Bloomberg said

“I regret that and I have apologized – and I have taken responsibility for taking too long to understand the impact it had on Black and Latino communities. But this issue and my comments about it do not reflect my commitment to criminal justice reform and racial equity. I believe we need to end mass incarceration and during my tenure we reduced incarceration by 40% and juvenile confinement by more than 60%.”

Voters can decide for themselves if Bloomberg’s apology was sufficient. But at least he has made an attempt to undo the damage that he recognizes was done by his prior insensitivity. He has expressed his remorse and, more importantly, has incorporated his words into actions that are now integral to his presidential campaign.

However, the same cannot be said of Trump. He has never offered any apologies for his scores of hateful comments. To the contrary, he doubles down each time he is held to account. He has literally claimed that he is “the least racist person anywhere in the world.” And specifically with regard to his accusations against Bloomberg, Trump actually still supports “stop and frisk” and isn’t bothered that it has been adjudicated as racial profiling:

The gall that it requires for a confirmed bigot like Trump to call Bloomberg – or anyone – racist is off the charts hypocrisy and downright deranged. It’s another symptom of his malignant narcissism and evidence of a sociopathic mindset. As president, Trump has emboldened white nationalists and given them a place in the mainstream of American society. He even has at least one (Stephen Miller) still working in the White House and shaping his agenda. And, hopefully, the American people will not allow him to continue his assault on the principles that really make this country great.

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

Trump’s Jealousy of Bloomberg Kicks Off Hannity’s Super Bowl Suck-Up on Fox News

It’s Super Bowl Sunday and Fox News has decided to turn the traditional presidential interview into a Trump-fluffing pageant of propaganda. While Fox likes to pretend that it’s a credible news organization, they can’t help taking every opportunity to prove that that’s a lie. So rather than assign the interview of Donald Trump to one of their alleged “journalists” (Chris Wallace, Bret Baier), they hand it to the Pope of the Cult of Trump, Sean Hannity.

Donald Trump Sean Hannity

Hannity long ago abandoned any pretense of impartiality. He has appeared on stage with Trump at his rallies. He has turned his program into the media campaign headquarters for Trump’s reelection. And he has launched untold smear campaigns against anyone who dared to criticize Trump or tell the truth about him. Hannity’s show is a fountainhead of conspiracy theories and lies in the service of Dear Leader.

So as a teaser to the Super Bowl Sunday Trump interview on Fox News, Hannity released a brief clip to entice potential viewers. Generally the goal of these promos is to offer up something compelling that would make people anxious to tune in. And here is what Fox News and Hannity decided was just the sort of soundbite that would drag in a big audience. Hannity asked Trump what he thought of Mike Bloomberg. And Trump replied…

“I just think of ‘little.’ Now he wants a box for the debates to stand on. Okay, it’s okay, there’s nothing wrong. You could be short. Why should he get a box to stand on, OK? He wants a box for the debates. Why should he be entitled to that? Really? Does that mean everyone else gets a box?”

WOW! Now that’s powerful television. The president of the United States of America blasts one of his potential electoral rivals as being “short.” And that’s the only thing that Trump thinks of when asked about Bloomberg. Naturally, Trump doesn’t think about the fact that Bloomberg, unlike Trump, is an actual billionaire with an estimated net worth of $54 billion. And Trump isn’t thinking about Bloomberg’s promise to spend a billion of that to defeat Trump – even if he isn’t the Democratic nominee. The only thought that flitters around in his empty skull is how he can attach infantile nicknames to a man he is painfully jealous of. As for Bloomberg, he responded with a stinging tweet that refuted Trump’s box blather, for which there is no evidence whatsoever:

So if you’re keeping score:

Trump: Mini Mike is short.
Bloomberg: Trump is a pathological liar who lies about everything: his fake hair, his obesity, and his spray-on tan.

Trump spent the night before this interview road-testing his childishness. He posted a tweet that whined “Mini Mike is part of the Fake News. They are all working together.” This reflects Trump’s crippling paranoia of an all-encompassing cabal that is determined to destroy him. Another tweet asserted that Bloomberg “is getting the DNC to rig the election against Crazy Bernie.” Here Trump manages to fire preadolescent taunts at two rivals at once. All the while pretending to care about the fairness of the Democratic primaries. And Trump’s final midnight tweet raged about the fake box controversy and the imaginary battle “to have the right to stand on boxes.”

If the clip above is what Fox News considers to be the most riveting segment from the Trump/Hannity drool-fest, it’s safe to say that there won’t be anything remotely newsworthy coming out of it. Well, other than further evidence that Hannity is a devoted StormTrumper and Fox News doesn’t give a damn about having any journalistic integrity. But we already knew that. So there really isn’t any reason at all to watch this puerile charade. And low ratings for his Super Bowl butt-kissing with his harlot Hannity would be like needles stabbed into his eyes. So feel free to change the channel, America. Or you could spend that eight minutes whipping another bowl of guacamole.

UPDATE: The interview was even worse than expected. Hannity was a flaming suck-up. And Trump led off with whining about impeachment. Then he just rattled off his petty hatred for Democrats:

  • Biden: He’s Sleepy Joe
  • Sanders: I think he’s a communist.
  • Warren: I call her Fairy Tale.
  • Clinton: I think of emails.
  • Pelosi: I think she’s a very confused, very nervous woman.

This is just further proof that Trump is a low functioning dotard who can’t form a coherent thought or substantive opinion on anything. He just blurts out lame slogans and talking points that might have been written by a temperamental child. And Hannity succeeded in producing a total waste of time, fumbling whatever opportunity he had to be relevant.

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

Trump Trash-Talking Bernie, Biden, etc, Proves He’s a Frightened Man-Baby.

It’s always easy to tell what Donald Trump is most afraid of at any given time. He reveals his deepest fears in his never-ending stream of Twitter rants. A few weeks ago it was Adam Schiff and the House impeachment hearings when he posted a record 108 tweets in a single day. More recently it was Speaker Nancy Pelosi who he stalked online with attacks on her personally and her San Francisco district. He even retweeted a series of memes implying that she and Sen. Chuck Schumer were terrorist sympathizers.

Donald Trump

This week Trump engaged in his regularly scheduled tweetstorms with the same tired and repetitious whining and pathetic victimhood that is the hallmark of his third grade composition skills. Although, while posting seven tweets congratulating the LSU football team, he never tweeted once about the threats and surveillance of U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovich, the Russia hacking of a Ukrainian company (Burisma) connected to his impeachment, the earthquake in Puerto Rico, comments by Lev Parnas confirming that Trump extorted Ukrainian President Zelensky, or the previously suppressed news that eleven American troops were injured by Iranian missiles fired in retaliation to Trump’s assassination of Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

As the week wound to a close, Trump threw in a couple of tweets that clearly addressed an issue close to his shriveled heart. They were thinly veiled, passive-aggressive attacks on his opponents vying for the Democratic nomination for president. He began with a swipe at Mike Bloomberg:

True to form, Trump was flagrantly lying about why Bloomberg wasn’t on the debate stage. The truth is that Bloomberg doesn’t accept any donations, so he can’t meet the DNC’s debate eligibility requirement based on that. Trump once said that he would self-fund his campaign too, but like everything else he says, it was a lie. Trump’s campaign relies entirely on donations from his cult followers, which he spends on personal legal expenses.

Trump went on to pretend that he’s worried about the fairness of the Democratic primary process. That’s coming from someone who has already been caught soliciting campaign help from two different foreign governments (Russia and Ukraine). Trump openly used stolen emails to advance his 2016 campaign, and new reports show that he’s preparing to do the same with data stolen, once again, by Russian hackers. But here he is making up fairness issues involving Democrats:

This is one of the most idiotic conspiracy theories that Trump has embraced to date. He couldn’t care less about the competition between Sanders and Biden (other than that he’s afraid of both). He’s just taking advantage of the opportunity to whine some more about having been impeached. And any convenient diversion is something he will cling to. He’s previously made asinine comments about Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Eric Swalwell.

However, this is all a charade to mask Trump’s insecurity. If he had any confidence in his reelection he wouldn’t spend so much energy griping about primary candidates. What’s more, he wouldn’t direct his Republican Party to cancel their own primaries. So far there are eight states (Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Minnesota, Nevada, South Carolina, and Virginia) that have either canceled primaries or declared that only Trump’s name will appear on their ballot. Maybe that’s his idea of fairness. And if he were confidant of his prospects he wouldn’t have held twenty-six of his cult rallies since last January. That’s about two per month for a candidate that has no opposition.

The Republican Party has totally bought in to the Cult of Trump. And that may come back to bite them in the arse. As more incriminating information is uncovered, Trump might actually face a real possibility of being removed from office. If that happens, the GOP won’t have a candidate at all for 2020. Or at least not one that presented themselves to the public and garnered votes. But that might not be such a bad thing. Running an unknown, unvetted nobody might still be a better option than running a boorish, racist, criminal, traitorous Trump.

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