Nancy Pelosi

PATHETIC: Attack Dog Trump Snarls at Dr. Birx for Daring to Tell the Truth

Posted by on August 3, 2020 at 2:50 pm. 4 Comments :

You have to wonder how anyone can lower themselves to working for Donald Trump. The rancid patterns of his perverse and egomaniacal behavior are so reliably steeped in punishing vengeance that it’s impossible to ignore the certainty that eventually you will become his victim. What measure of denial prevents people from seeing that?

Donald Trump Angry

On Monday morning Trump provided yet another example of his steaming wrath, this time directed at an otherwise loyal member of his sycophantic Coronavirus Task Force. In a tweet that began by insult House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Trump stumbled into a bitterly insulting stab at Dr. Deborah Birx:

First of all, Trump’s sniveling whinery about Pelosi is ramped up to at least eleven. What he describes as “horrible” was actually pretty tame. Pelosi was asked if she had confidence in Dr.Birx. To which she calmly replied “I don’t have confidence in anyone who stands there while the President says ‘swallow Lysol and it’s going to cure your virus.'” No rational person could argue with that.

Secondly, Trump indicates that his anger is rooted in criticism of Dr. Birx being “too positive on the very good job we are doing” on combating the TrumpVirus. But that’s precisely why she has lost the confidence of Pelosi and every other knowledgeable person. Only the most heartless and uncaring cretins could celebrate 157,000 dead Americans and nearly five million sickened as a “positive” outcome.

Finally, Trump got to the point by making the accusation that Birx “took the bait & hit us.” He then called her “pathetic.” And what was so pathetic about Birx’s remarks? She simply said that “What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread. It’s into the rural as equal urban areas.”

Birx was absolutely correct. Despite her generally embarrassing performances as Trump’s dancing puppet, Birx had a rare moment of honesty that corresponded to the facts. And Trump wasn’t having it. So while Pelosi gently conveyed that she lacked confidence in Birx, Trump viciously disparaged her as pathetic. And then he accused Pelosi of saying “horrible things.”

What’s more, Trump’s White House Director of Strategic Communications, Alyssa Farah, went even further saying that “It is deeply irresponsible of Speaker Pelosi to repeatedly try to undermine & create public distrust in Dr Birx.” What does Farah think that Trump is doing when he castigates Birx, Dr. Fauci, and other members of his task force whenever they have the audacity to place their expertise above his flabby gut feelings?

No one has done more to undermine his own team than Trump. He doesn’t even allow them to attend the briefings anymore. Which may be for the best since they are usually just photo-ops for his reelection campaign.

In addition to his tweet attack on Birx, Trump also praised himself for his tragic mishandling of the Coronavirus pandemic, lied again about cases being created by testing, ranted about the “fake” news, indulged in his obsession with TV ratings, and bragged about the puny crowds who attended his event in “Frorida.” In other words, business as usual in the Dark Circus of Trump’s Dystopian World.

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

GOP Fascists Float Resolution to Ban the Democratic Party

Posted by on July 24, 2020 at 1:18 pm. 6 Comments :

The devolution of the Republican Party continues to accelerate headlong toward the rocky cliffs of ultimate oblivion. Its leader, the aspiring tyrant and sociopath Donald Trump, is the key propellant of this political disintegration. The Party’s worshipful devotion to Trump makes every member complicit in his heinous crimes against America and humanity.

Donald Trump

The latest testament to the downward spiral of the GOP (Greedy One Percent) is a resolution introduced by Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert. Gohmert’s resolution instructs the Speaker of the House to “remove any item that names, symbolizes or mentions any political organization or party that has ever held a public position that supported slavery or the Confederacy.” It further directs that any such party “be barred from participation in the House of Representatives.”

This is what Gohmert likely believes is a crafty way of disparaging the Democratic Party which, as the party of the South during the Civil War era, advocated for slavery and secession. He is proposing this resolution in response to Nancy Pelosi’s order to remove statues, and other tributes to Confederate traitors, from the Capitol building. The bill approving the order passed the House this week, 301 to 113.

Gohmert and a couple of his GOP colleagues were unable to constrain their dismay over this initiative to finally put an end to the official honorary treatment of treasonous confederate politicians and generals. “The time has come,” Gohmert ranted, “for Democrats to acknowledge their party’s loathsome and bigoted past.”

Of course, the Democratic Party long ago acknowledged – and renounced – the tangential past association with the doctrine of southern racism. Historians agree that it was just southern Democrats, not the Party, that trafficked in such bigotry. What Gohmert isn’t saying (but surely knows) is that there was a realignment in the mid-20th century wherein Democrats embraced civil rights, resulting in the flight of southern bigots to the Republican Party. And that’s where they remain today with the fervent support of white nationalists and neo-Nazis.

So Gohmert’s snarky resolution is just another thinly disguised shout out to the GOP’s racist base. It calls on a party that for decades has demonstrated its support for civil rights to be banned, while ignoring the fact that Republicans continue to work for suppression of civil rights and equal justice. There is a reason that the Democratic Party today has the support of 92% of African-Americans.

If Gohmert were sincere about his proposal it would call, instead, for the banning of Republicans and acknowledge their “loathsome and bigoted” present. His resolution’s call to ban any political party that has ever supported the Confederacy seems tailor-made for the GOP. That is made all the more clear with the vote on the bill to remove Confederate statues. All 113 votes opposing the bill (including Gohmert), and thus supporting the confederacy, were Republicans. And not to be left out, Donald Trump weighed in on the matter in his typically deranged way. Trump tweeted that…

First of all, this isn’t up to Sen. Inhofe. The bill has now passed both the House and the Senate by veto-proof margins and will shortly be on Trump’s desk. Should he live down to his racist standards and veto it, his veto is unlikely to be sustained. What’s more, Trump’s assertion that he’s “not a believer in ‘Cancel Culture'” is contradicted by all of the times he has personally “canceled” people and businesses that he disapproved of.

What Trump is a believer in is the same thing that Gohmert and the rest of the GOP believes: That they should have unchallenged, dictatorial, single-party rule over America. Unfortunately for them, the American people have a different perspective and will fight for the democracy and liberty that the Constitution guarantees. And the next battle in that fight is November 3rd.

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

IT’S CALLED PROJECTION:Trump Obsessively Accuses Others of Treason

Posted by on June 23, 2020 at 2:46 pm. 3 Comments :

It’s always painfully obvious when Donald Trump is fuming over events he can’t control. He lashes out wildly in all directions seeking to land blows on the vast armies of enemies that he imagines, in his paranoid stupor, are conspiring against him. This is especially evident after some humiliating experience such as his Fiasco in Tulsa or his floundering reelection campaign.

Donald Trump, Deep State

On Monday Trump exhibited one of the most profoundly disturbing meltdowns of his presidency. He elaborated on recent comments he made that vaguely insinuated that President Obama was guilty of some unnamed criminal acts. Now Trump revealed to the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) that the crime he believed that Obama had committed was treason.

Trump’s justification for that charge was the already debunked conspiracy theories that his 2016 presidential campaign had been spied on by Obama and others in the mythical “Deep State.” And he went on to muse wistfully about executing his political foes like “they” did 50 or 100 years ago. Apparently Trump still regards Joseph Stalin as a role model.

Trump’s fixation on maligning political opponents as treasonous is neither new nor limited to prominent figures like Obama. In fact, the Washington Post has compiled a list of people or entities for whom Trump is advocating the death penalty (video below). According to the Post…

“Trump suggested five times in the month of May alone that individuals and entities may have committed treason against the United States. It’s a theme he has pushed over four dozen times in his term. […] Trump has accused no fewer than 11 people and entities of treason over the past three years, even though fewer than 30 have been charged with the crime in U.S. history.”

Indeed. Trump has been pursuing this slanderous narrative for most of his term. His first tweet on the matter was the single word, all-caps, quizzical outburst, “TREASON?” in September 2018. More recently, in May he rage-tweeted “The Russia Hoax is the biggest political scandal in American history. Treason!!!” He even said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is “every bit as guilty“ of treason. And that’s just for starters. Here are the myriad berserk accusations of treason that he’s made as documented by the Post:

  • President Barack Obama
  • Congressional Democrats
  • The news media
  • The author of an anonymous op-ed
  • Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page
  • Former FBI director James Comey
  • Former top FBI official Andrew McCabe
  • Rep. Adam Schiff (4 times)
  • The attorney for the Ukraine whistleblower
  • Obama’s Justice Department

Experienced Trump watchers are well aware that nearly every criticism he lobs at others is what psychologists refer to as “projection:” a defense mechanism in which one denies the existence of unpleasant characteristics in themselves, while attributing them to others. Consequently, Trump’s plaintive whines of treason are evidence of his true self-appraisal. Deep down he knows that his words and actions are un-American and anti-democratic. But since his mental state is too fragile to process those feelings, he projects them unto his perceived adversaries.

This mental trickery is totally contrary to the tough guy image that Trump is so desperate to present. In fact, it is the behavior of weaklings and cowards who are unable to face their own shortcomings, or the strengths of those that challenge them. It’s a way of running away from one’s problems and reality. Trump is the textbook example of this psychological defect. And while it’s fascinating to see this unfold in such a public manner, it’s frightening to know that the one stricken with it is ostensibly running the country. But hopefully not for too much longer.

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

CHOPPER TALK: Trump Whines About ‘Haters’ in Congress – Because He Hates Democracy

Posted by on May 5, 2020 at 12:38 pm. 7 Comments :

For the past six weeks Donald Trump has been unable to wallow in the glow of the glassy-eyed disciples who clamor to his cult rallies. Nor has he been able to hold his impromptu “Chopper Talk” sessions prior to jaunting off to some self-serving campaign junket. And he had to quit his Coronavirus Task Force briefings (aka Trump 2020 Reelection Campaign Infomercials) because even his friends recognized that they were deep sixing his approval ratings.

Donald Trump, Chopper Talk

But now, as Trump rushes to “reopen” the nation to ever more misery, exposing people to rapidly rising incidents of coronavirus infection and death, he is happy once again. He’s happy because he couldn’t care less about the suffering of the American people. The only thing Trump cares about is Trump. And the priority of our reality TV game show host president is that he has been sorely missing the feverish adulation from his deplorable fanatics and his rancid, lie-riddled verbal jousts with reporters.

On Tuesday morning, however, Trump got his groove back as he strutted in front of a waiting helicopter to harangue the assembled press. Why they still show up is mystery considering Trump’s open hostility to them. Among the questions he awkwardly avoided by dodging and deceiving was one relating to his recent and strikingly totalitarian command barring members of the Task Force from testifying before Congress.

It’s unclear whether Trump has the legal authority to issue such a prohibition, but it is unarguably an insult to the American people who rely on their representatives in Congress to conduct oversight of the Executive branch. Trump’s explanation for why he dictated this ban was an overt admission of his disrespect for the pursuit of truth and for democracy itself (video below). He ranted that…

“The House is a set up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters. They put every Trump hater on the committee. The same old stuff. They, frankly, want our situation to be unsuccessful, which means death. Which means death. And our situation is gonna be very successful. The House has put on an Oversight Committee of Maxine Waters and Maloney and the same people and it’s just a setup.”

So Trump is confessing that he is withholding the testimony of experts who work for the people because he’s afraid they might tell Congress the truth. The members he calls “haters” were overwhelming elected in 2018, when Democrats took control of the House of Representatives. So that would imply that it’s the people who hate Trump. Which, according to most polls, is correct. He’s also forgetting that there are Republicans on the Oversight Committee in the House, and Democrats on the Senate committee where Trump is allowing the Task Force members to testify.

More troubling is Trump’s aversion to democracy. Congress needs the testimony of experts and government officials in order to carry out their constitutional duties. But Trump seems to think he only needs to answer to the bootlicking sycophants who enable his criminal behavior. His obstructionism is more evidence of his cowardice. And that applies in particular to the women in Congress. We know that Trump is scared to death of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But the only members of the committee whose names he mentioned were Maxine Waters and Carolyn Maloney. The men on the committee are surely feeling left out this morning.

Trump confirmed his misogyny at another morning affair when he complained that two female reporters, Weijia Jiang and Paula Reid, were not behaving like 1950’s TV housewives. “It wasn’t Donna Reed, I can tell you that,” Trump said in a throwback to an archaic era of television. Trump also went on to say that “Democrats should be ashamed,” because “they want us to fail so they can win an election.” That’s another example of how Trump employs pure projection of his own motivations onto others. Trump provided an example of his own interest in “success” when he replied to a question about whether he was concerned about increasing virus infections and death if states relaxed their guidelines too early by saying “No. They have to do it.”

So there you have it. You are commanded to return to work now, despite the risks, because Dear Leader says so. And it must be so comforting that he isn’t concerned about the heightened potential that you and your family might die. That’s not his problem. He needs to get the economy back on track before November or he’ll have no chance of being reelected (not to mention it’s costing him a small fortune). Although causing more Americans to get sick and die might also be drag on his get-out-the-vote effort.

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

Talk About Desperate: Trump Celebrates an OANN Poll that Doesn’t Exist

Posted by on April 16, 2020 at 12:54 pm. 4 Comments :

On Wednesday Donald Trump unleashed one of his most bizarrely unhinged performances at the Coronavirus Task Force briefing (aka Trump Campaign Rally). He produced a fictional list of corporate executives he said were members of a new economic task force. He reiterated his delusional view that he has “total authority” and threatened to shut down Congress. And of course, he bragged about imaginary achievements and yelled petulantly at reporters. Then he stomped out in huff when he didn’t like the questions.

Donald Trump Pacifier Fox

Trump’s presence at these briefings has been a waste of time from the start. He contributes nothing of substance, but distracts from the experts who actually have some relevant knowledge to impart to the public. Trump has proved that the only things he cares about are those things that advance his personal self-interest and assuaging his voracious ego. That was affirmed on Thursday as he took to Twitter with bitterly partisan posts and flagrant lies.

The first of Trump’s tweets was his celebration of a poll by the ultra right-wing Fox News wannabe One America News Network (OANN). This is the network that doesn’t have a big enough audience to be rated by Nielsen. It’s the network whose reporter was recently booted out of the White House briefings for violating social distancing guidelines, but who got a personal reprieve to stand in the back of the room by Trump’s press secretary (since fired), Stephanie Grisham. It’s a network that has even less credibility than viewers. But Trump promotes them because he can always count on them to kiss his – let’s say ring. He also uses them to needle Fox News when he doesn’t think they are being sufficiently flattering. So Trump tweeted this Thursday morning:

The first thing that makes this tweet significant is that no such OANN poll exists. This is another example of Trump mangling the facts to disseminate whatever “news” he believes will put him the best light, even if it’s fictional. It’s similar to his repeated – and false – claims that he has a 95% approval rating among Republicans. Trump often makes things up on the fly.

There does appear to be a poll that has numbers aligned to Trump’s tweet. It was conducted by the Civitas Institute, a conservative think tank in North Carolina. So even if Trump had gotten the reference correct, it is still not a reputable, non-partisan survey. The notoriously biased Rasmussen poll only has Trump with a 46% approval, 53% disapproval. What’s more, the Civitas results are hardly worth bragging about. The alleged seven point lead over Joe Biden still has Trump below 50% (49-42%). Nationally, Trump has taken a nosedive with the most recent Gallup poll showing a six point drop in approval and a nine point leap in disapproval.

To add another level of irrelevance, the poll was conducted from April 5-7, so it’s a week and a half old. A more recent poll of this North Carolina race by Public Policy Polling shows Biden with a small lead in the state (48-47%), and the Democratic candidate for the Senate, Cal Cunningham, well ahead of the GOP incumbent, Thom Tillis (47-40%).

Trump has also been obsessed with maligning his perceived foes, including, and especially, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of whom he has a mortal fear. He posted two tweets piling on as many derogatory adjectives as he could think of. He called her “crazy,” “weak,” “a poor leader,” “incompetent,” “a pathetic puppet,” and “third-rate.” The first tweet quoted the insults of Sean Hannity of Fox News. The second tweet accused Pelosi of being “responsible for many deaths.” It also accused her of deleting a tweet that she never actually posted.

In other words, Trump was suffering a severe bout of psychological projection. Because those are all characteristics that have long defined Trump himself. Particularly the one concerning responsibility for tens of thousands of deaths that are directly attributable to Trump’s criminal negligence, and incompetence. And to make matters worse, Trump is still insisting that he wants to “reopen” the country, despite the fact that every health expert says it would be disastrous and deadly to do so at this time. Not that Trump or his GOP confederates care.

For the perfect example of how callous, insensitive, and greedy they are, take a look at this clip of Dr. Oz on Hannity Wednesday evening saying that schools should be reopened now because the deaths of 2 to 3% of American children from the coronavirus would be an acceptable “tradeoff” to get the economy back on track. No, really. He actually said that while Hannity nodded approvingly. This is the so-called “pro-life” right-wing:

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

GOP and Fox News Oppose Coronavirus Oversight Committee

Posted by on April 2, 2020 at 2:56 pm. 6 Comments :

Last week Congress approved a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill. It’s the largest congressional appropriation of any kind in United States history. You might think that this sort of government expenditure would produce bipartisan agreement on a means to ensure that these funds are spent effectively with an emphasis on providing the greatest benefit for the people and businesses impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Coronavirus

Unfortunately, the political harmony that ought to accompany efforts to allocate these funds never materialized. Almost immediately there was opposition from Republicans in Congress, and their official Ministry of Propaganda, Fox News, to a proposed House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis. This committee would just be responsible for oversight going forward. It is not the sort of investigative committee that would seek to understand how the crisis developed and how to avoid similar tragedies in the future (which Reps. Bennie Thompson and Adam Schiff are exploring).

Nevertheless, the featured story on the Fox News website carried a blatantly biased headline reading “Pelosi Power Play: New House coronavirus oversight committee will have ability to subpoena Trump administration.”

The clear intention of that language was to spin the proposed committee as a Democratic effort to harm Trump. It characterizes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a power monger who intends to hector Trump with subpoenas. In fact, the committee will be a bipartisan panel aimed at protecting taxpayer funds and ensuring that the people’s best interests are served. Pelosi’s announce says in part…

“We have no higher priority than making sure the money gets to those working families – struggling to pay rent and put food on the table – who need it most. The panel will root out waste, fraud, and abuse. It will protect against price gouging and profiteering. It will press to ensure that the federal response is based on the best possible science and guided by the nation’s best health experts.

“The House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis will be bipartisan and have an expert staff. The committee will be empowered to examine all aspects of the federal response to the coronavirus to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being wisely and efficiently spent to save lives, deliver relief and benefit our economy.”

That hardly seems controversial. Both parties should be supporting the objectives of this committee. And yet, Republicans in congress are already complaining on partisan grounds. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wasted no time complaining that he thought the committee would be “really redundant,” and expressed his opposition to the appointment of Rep. Jim Clyburn as chairman. Greg Walden, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called the select committee a “mistake,” and “costly.” Apparently he thinks that the potential for waste, fraud, and abuse, would be less costly.

The need for oversight of federal spending shouldn’t be so contentious. However, there are those who are simply averse to being held accountable. Notable among them is the President, who regards any practical supervision as an intrusion on his perceived authority. When asked about the lack of accountability in an early draft of the relief bill, Trump laughably told reporters that “I’ll be the oversight.” No one in their right mind would be comfortable with that. Trump is forbidden from running a charity after a court found that his family foundation was misusing funds. His “university” was shuttered, and he paid out millions in compensation, after it was ruled to be fraudulent. He’s declared bankruptcy at least six times.

When Trump signed the relief bill, he included a signing statement that disputed some of the oversight provisions, including the authority of a new inspector general to notify Congress if the executive branch was not providing requested information. That’s a move explicitly designed to conceal misconduct.

It’s also further evidence that Trump cannot be trusted to spend the relief funds honestly or fairly. This is, after all, the same guy who said that he would not return the calls of governors who he didn’t think treated him right. If anyone ever needed oversight, it’s Trump. But while his Republican comrades and, of course, Fox News, would let him run wild, the American people must not. And that is sufficient justification for this House Select Committee, despite whining from the right.

UPDATE: And, of course, Trump weighs in by calling the proposed oversight committee a “witch hunt,” because he knows that oversight will reveal his corruption.

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

Messiah Trump Takes Credit For Saving the World: ‘Nobody Thought We Should Do It Except Me’

Posted by on March 30, 2020 at 2:37 pm. 5 Comments :

Donald Trump is fond of portraying himself as a pillar of strength who is unafraid to confront any obstacle or foe. However, his routine behavior exposes that facade as an obvious fraud. His knee-jerk defensiveness when challenged, along with his infantile insults aimed at critics, are ready evidence of his smoldering fear of being revealed as an impotent bully.

Donald Trump Messiah

One of the best indicators of Trump’s withering weakness is how tightly he clings to the bootlicking sycophants at his State TV network, Fox News. On Monday morning he made his 77th appearance on Fox News as president. But he has not permitted a single interview on CNN or MSNBC. What, you might ask, is he afraid of? This latest visit was a phone in to Fox and Friends, a program that he used to have a regular Monday gig on: Mondays with Trump. And, not surprisingly, the discussion was a full-on Trump-fluffing festival of fawning and flattery (Twitter video thread below).

Trump led off by falsely accusing the Obama administration of leaving him with an “empty shelf” of medical supplies. He compared it to the equally false and absurd assertion that the Pentagon had no ammunition when he took office. This is just Trump’s way of vilifying Obama, a president he knows he can never measure up to. He did the same thing this morning to another of his perceived enemies, Nancy Pelosi, about whom he said “She’s a sick puppy in my opinion. She really is. She’s got a lot of problems.” He called her San Francisco district a slum and bizarrely said that she “lost” the impeachment game. Does he not know that he was – and is – impeached?

What’s more, Trump took personal credit for saving the world. In a self-exalting rant based on nothing but his fertile imagination, Trump claimed that he stopped “thousands” of very, very sick people coming in from China, and that…

“…nobody thought we should do it except me. And I stopped everybody. We stopped it cold. It had never been done before. […] and if I hadn’t done that you have seen deaths like you had never seen before.”

So Trump wants people to believe that he defied the foolhardy dopes who consider themselves experts, and who all disagreed with him, and he single-handedly implemented a policy that saved untold souls. This is the sort of deranged thinking that can only come from someone who previously called himself “the Chosen One.”

The truth is that Trump not only failed to save lives, he is unarguably responsible for the loss of thousands of Americans due to his negligence, incompetence, and ego. He was determined to underplay the threat presented by COVID-19 (the coronavirus) because he was afraid it would negatively impact his reelection prospects. He wasted at least a month lying to the public that there were few people infected and that the number would soon be zero.

In the interim Trump, who is no longer able to satisfy his voracious ego at his cult rallies, has hijacked the Coronavirus Task Force briefings and turned them into de facto campaign events. Never mind that his presence there is nothing but a distraction. He has no relevant knowledge or expertise to contribute, so he spends an hour or two lying with abandon and shamelessly boasting about things he hasn’t done.

Trump’s narcissism is evident in everything he does. And that is particularly true with regard to the briefings for which he has cast himself as the star. Which explains why he has been hyping the Nielsen ratings as if they were an indicator of his popularity. They are not. Both Trump supporters and opponents tune in to the briefings to get information. But in Trump’s diseased mind, any attention paid to him is proof of his glorious awesomeness. It’s what feeds his belief that he alone can fix everything. After all, he’s the Chosen One.

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

After a Plea to ‘Stop the Partisanship’ Trump Unleashes Partisan Attacks

Posted by on March 12, 2020 at 3:33 pm. 5 Comments :

On Wednesday evening, Donald Trump delivered an Oval Office address intended to inform and calm the public on the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. His demeanor was strikingly dour as he clumsily read his remarks from a Teleprompter. It is hardly comforting when a president sounds and looks sick while talking about a spreading sickness. To make matters worse, he repeatedly made comments that were untrue, which had to be corrected afterward.

Donald Trump

If Trump thought this speech would assuage the anxiety of nervous Americans, he was pitifully mistaken. He failed to offer a comprehensive plan to respond to the growing threat of widespread infections. His proposals mainly centered on travel restrictions and financial relief. And in that regard, his approach was not well received. During and after the speech the Dow Jones futures nosedived 800 points. And on Thursday the markets suffered an historic 10% decline, falling more than 2,300 points.

There were efforts in the speech to unite the country and seek common ground to face this challenge together. “We must put politics aside,” Trump said, “stop the partisanship, and unify together as one nation and one family.” That’s straight out of the Politician’s Book of Platitudes. And coming from Trump, who has distinguished himself as the most hostile and politically divisive president in memory, it seemed especially disingenuous. Not surprisingly, it took him less than twelve hours to abandon his calls for inter-party harmony.

In a pair of tweets Trump bitterly attacked Democrats that he regards as his natural enemies. In the first he complained that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wasn’t sufficiently deferential to his crisis strategy:

Note that Trump isn’t expressing his own opinion here, but that of his mouthpieces on Fox News. And in their notorious ignorance and dishonesty, they misrepresented Pelosi’s positions. When Pres. Obama proposed a payroll tax cut to remedy the economic collapse of 2008, it made sense because it would encourage people to go out and spend money. In today’s crisis that would be useless. We don’t have a problem with people not being incentivized to consume. The problem is that they are being advised to avoid markets, restaurants, entertainment, etc., where they would otherwise spend freely. So a few extra bucks in their paycheck would just sit in the bank. In the meantime, the Social Security Trust that payroll taxes fund would go into debt.

The other tweet that Trump posted reached back to his obsession with having been investigated and impeached:

This seems like a inopportune time to reanimate this monstrous conspiracy theory. Of course, Trump was never the victim of a “coup.” He was lawfully impeached according to the rules set forth in the Constitution, a document that Trump is woefully unfamiliar with. However, his anger over having been held accountable for his criminal behavior is still seething. And at a time that he was ostensibly seeking unity to combat the coronavirus, he chose instead to unload on his Democratic foes once again. There are even reports that Trump is still so bitter and hurt that he can’t bring himself to negotiate in good faith with Pelosi:

“Two senior Trump administration officials described a president who, out of an intense bitterness toward the House Speaker, has shuddered at the prospect of being in the same room with her during the ongoing public-health crisis and economic reverberations.”

What’s more, Trump answered a few questions from the press during a White House meeting with the Prime Minister of Ireland. When asked about the failure of his efforts to implement virus testing, he defensively shot back at his old nemesis, Barack Obama (video below):

“If you go back and look at the swine flu and what happened with the swine flu, you will see how many people died and how actually nothing was done for such a long period of time as people were dying all over the place. We’re doing it the opposite. We’re very much ahead of everything.”

Trump has a deep seated and deranged need to make everything a competition with Obama. In this case, as in pretty much all others, he is factually wrong. Obama declared a health emergency in April of 2009, shortly after the H1N1 virus became a known problem. He later declared a national emergency to free up additional federal funding and other resources. Trump’s lies were drawn directly from his pal Sean Hannity of Fox News.

This is how Trump behaves just hours after pleading for national unity and an end to partisanship. It is typical of his belligerent character and his malignant narcissism. Combined with his paranoia and his thirst for vengeance, it poses an imminent threat to the welfare of the nation at a perilous time. America has weathered bigger storms than this, but it has never had such an ignorant, sociopath at the helm. Our strengths are sufficient to overcome the weaknesses of one incompetent leader. But the sooner he is removed from office, the better off all of us will be.

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

Trump Orders Justice Dept to Persecute His Critics and Pamper His Accomplices

Posted by on February 12, 2020 at 12:53 pm. 3 Comments :

There really is no bottom. Now Wannabe Dictator Donald Trump is bringing fascism to America. He is directing his corrupt Justice Department to investigate and prosecute (persecute) his critics. Meanwhile, he lobbies for light sentences and dangles pardons for his bootlicking sycophantic criminal accomplices. This is not normal. And it demonstrates that Republicans who thought Trump might learn from his impeachment were frighteningly mistaken and/or deluded.

Donald Trump

Trump’s Attorney Genuflect, Bill Barr, announced that he will be revising the sentencing recommendations for convicted felon Roger Stone. The prosecutors who tried the case recommended seven to nine years based on established legal guidelines. But Barr’s intervention is based on nothing more than Trump’s angry tweets. And if that’s not bad enough, Barr is assuming control of virtually everything that comes into the Justice Department that involves Trump. And Trump is obviously pleased…

The spectacle of seeing a president congratulate his toady AG for letting a convicted criminal off the hook should send shivers up the spines of the American people. Stone was found guilty of five counts of lying to Congress, and one count each of witness intimidation and obstruction. But his friend in the White House is pulling strings so that he doesn’t have to pay the price for his crimes. As a result of Barr’s interference, all four of the federal prosecutors who tried the case have quit.

What’s more, Trump’s tweet also makes a dangerously reckless and baseless accusation that former special counsel Robert Mueller “lied to Congress.” Trump doesn’t bother to cite any alleged falsehood, probably because he just made it up to slander Mueller. In a subsequent tweet Trump asserted, also without any foundation, that the career DOJ lawyers who tried Stone are “Rogue prosecutors.”

Trump has frequently weighed in on the criminal prosecutions of his associates. Just the fact that he has so many associates who have been prosecuted and found guilty is horrifying. But his reaction has been to lobby for lighter sentences or to issue pardons himself. Some of this confederacy of felons include his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, his deputy campaign manager, Rick Gates, his National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, and more.

On the other side of that legal coin, Trump has accused many of his political adversaries of crimes without any evidence whatsoever. In addition to Robert Mueller, Trump charged that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff “is a corrupt politician and a criminal;” that “Nancy [Pelosi] is every bit as guilty;” that “Hillary Clinton lied to the FBI;” and that “The Biden family was PAID OFF.” None of these allegations have an iota of evidence for support. They are purely driven by the animosity and vengeance of a wrathful president.

It has been widely known for years (decades?) that Trump is a vile and vindictive person who relishes punishing his perceived enemies. And he perceives enemies virtually everywhere, as he himself recently confessed. But the fact that he has an administration full of glassy-eyed cult followers who will obediently serve his will makes him all the more dangerous. And the Department of Justice is at the top of that list.

What this means is that there is nothing left to separate America from the totalitarian regimes and their tyrants that Trump so admires. This was articulated well by Sen. Chuck Schumer Wednesday on the floor of the Senate. It cannot be overstated how unusual it is for a speech like this to take place. but his words should be taken seriously if this country is to restore justice and preserve democracy:

“The President is claiming that rigging the rules is perfectly legitimate. He claims an absolute right to order the Justice Department to do anything he wants. And the President has as his Attorney General an enabler. And that’s a kind word. Does anyone think it’s out of the question that Pres. Trump might order the FBI to investigate Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or anybody else without any evidence that supports such an arbitrary violation of individual rights?

“Oh, I know. Some far-right conspiratorial writer, who has no credibility and who just makes things up, writes it, Fox News puts it on, Sean Hannity or someone talks about it, and then the president says ‘Investigate.’ That is third world behavior – not American behavior.”

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

GOOD CALL: Political Pundit Trump Predicts America is Getting More Anti-Trump

Posted by on February 10, 2020 at 1:41 pm. 5 Comments :

The daily schedule of alleged president Donald Trump is typically a short list of non-presidential activities such as as golfing, tweeting, watching Fox News, and headlining cult rallies filled with lies and hatred for his perceived political foes. And as of late Trump has taken a keen new interest in election punditry with his unique analyses littering his Twitter feed.

Donald Trump

In recent weeks Trump has posted repeated commentaries on the progress of the Democratic primary season. He is mostly expressing a bizarre and obviously disingenuous concern that Bernie Sanders is being treated poorly by a party that is rigging the primaries against him. In addition to that Trump frequently opines on how his recent tribulations with impeachment have actually benefited him and his Republican cohorts. But on Monday morning, Trump contributed what may be his most accurate prediction for the Democratic campaign yet:

To be clear, the accuracy of this tweet is not that either Sen. Chuck Schumer or Rep. Jerrold Nadler are at risk for being defeated. They are both expected to have overwhelming victories in both their primaries and in the general election. And every poll indicates that Nancy Pelosi will retain her position as House Speaker, and even pick up additional seats. The smart money is betting on Democrats assuming the majority in the Senate as well. So Schumer is well positioned to topple Mitch McConnell as Majority Leader.

However, what Trump may not have noticed about his prediction is that he is asserting that the nation is becoming even more progressive and, therefore, more anti-Trump. That’s the only plausible conclusion from his assertion that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could take Schumer’s Senate seat and win statewide. Likewise, Trump’s opinion that a candidate to Nadler’s left would enjoy a victory in New York’s 10th district suggests that being farther to the left is an asset. So Trump is essentially saying that the farther a candidate is from Trump, the better their prospects for victory. I can’t say that I disagree with that.

To validate that point, Quinnipiac University released a new poll that has decidedly terrible news for Trump. They report that his “favorability rating is underwater, as 42 percent of registered voters have a favorable opinion of him, while 55 percent have an unfavorable view of him.” This doesn’t exactly affirm his delusional belief that being impeached increased his popularity or his chances of being reelected. On the latter point, Trump is shown in this poll to be trailing every one of his top Democratic opponents. According to Quinnipiac:

  • Bloomberg tops Trump 51 – 42 percent;
  • Sanders defeats Trump 51 – 43 percent;
  • Biden beats Trump 50 – 43 percent;
  • Klobuchar defeats Trump 49 – 43 percent;
  • Warren wins narrowly over Trump 48 – 44 percent;
  • Buttigieg is also slightly ahead of Trump 47 – 43 percent.

In addition to his electoral woes, America is convinced that Trump is a criminal who got away with his crimes with the help of his Republican accomplices in the Senate. The poll shows that “Despite the acquittal, voters say 55 – 40 percent that the Senate voting to acquit President Trump does not clear him of any wrongdoing in the Ukraine matter.” What’s more, “Voters say 59 – 35 percent that the Senate impeachment trial was conducted unfairly.”

If this is what Trump means when he says that “My poll numbers look great,” he is as mentally unstable as ever. Perhaps more so. He recently exhibited a severe case of paranoia by lashing out at enemies that he sees everywhere, saying that “I View Everybody as a Threat.” And he has embarked on a totalitarian style purge of his administration, including his own appointees. So it isn’t just America that is more anti-Trump. In his diseased mind, it’s even his own White House.

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