Ronna McDaniel’s Debut on NBC’s Meet the Press is an Unmitigated Disaster For Both NBC and Her

The recent announcement that deposed Republican National Committee (RNC) chair, Ronna McDaniel, was hired as a political analyst at NBC, created a tsunami of criticism from viewers, journalists, and even NBC News staffers. And it wasn’t just because she was such an abysmal a failure as chair of the RNC, who lost elections and set record lows for fundraising.

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Ronna McDaniel on NBC

The primary complaint over McDaniel’s hiring was that she has been a relentless liar who personally participated in efforts to undermine democracy by suppressing legitimate (mostly minority) votes and backing plots to have fake electors “certify” Donald Trump as the winner of the 2020 election.

MORE HERE: Trump Toady Ronna McDaniel Lands at NBC After Being Ousted From the RNC

It didn’t take long for the scorching backlash to McDaniel’s hiring to have consequences for her on her new job. The Wall Street Journal reported that “MSNBC president Rashida Jones told employees that the liberal-leaning news network has no plans to put new NBC News contributor Ronna McDaniel on the cable outlet.” While that’s good news for MSNBC, it remains troubling that NBC is still planning to put her on the air, and that any news organization would consider such a brazen and potentially criminal liar employable.

On Sunday morning McDaniel made her inaugural appearance on Meet the Press. And it lived down to the expectations that media watchers had for it. Host Kristen Welker did a merely decent job of holding McDaniel’s feet to the fire. She got her to concede that she continues to be an election denier, and has no regrets about her role in trying to steal the 2020 election. She also got her to openly disagree with Trump’s promise to free the convicted, violent insurrectionists of January 6, 2021.

SEE ALSO: Trump’s Promise to Free January 6 Insurrectionists is a Recruiting Plan for the Next Insurrection

However, following the McDaniel interview, Welker led a panel discussion on her hiring (transcript here). And the commentaries from her new colleagues at NBC were brutal. For instance…

Chuck Todd: “Let me deal with the elephant in the room. I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation because I don’t know what to believe. She is now a paid contributor by NBC News. I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract. […] She has credibility issues that she still has to deal with.”

Kimberly Atkins Stohr: “Her credibility is completely shot. So I have to do what Maya Angelou said, I believe what they do and not anything that she said today. And in that I know that she habitually lied, she habitually joined Trump in attacking the press – members of the press, including this network, in a way that put journalists at risk, in danger.”

Stephen Hayes: “She has huge credibility problems, not because she’s been a partisan spinner on behalf of the Republican Party, but because she not only presided but directed, drove, the QAnonization of the Republican Party during her tenure. And it is the case that when you look at what she did with the fake electors specifically. […] She did a tremendous disservice to the country by making the argument that led to the erosion of faith. Half of the Republicans right now believe the election wasn’t fair.”

It’s tempting to muse that “When you’ve lost Chuck Todd…” But the cumulative impact of all of these criticisms is pretty astonishing. And you can’t help but wonder how the network can continue to employ someone who is unanimously seen as having zero credibility. For what purpose would they put any of her analysis on the air? Are they just trying to connect with the most deranged and deluded faction of the GOP, or what Fox News recently called “The Stupid Party”?

SEE THIS: Has Fox News Finally Figured it Out? ‘This is Why Conservatives Call the GOP the Stupid Party’

If NBC isn’t stupid, they will keep McDaniel on the bench and let her fade into obscurity. Unless they can convince her to flip on Trump and his MAGA Party, and spill the beans on what she surely knows of his criminality and the collaboration of the GOP that she led.

UPDATE I: The first reaction from MSNBC hosts came early Monday morning as Joe Scarborough announced that McDaniel will not be a guest on “Morning Joe,” citing her “role in Trump’s fake elector scheme and her pressuring election officials to not certify election results.” He further said that “We believe NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance in their election coverage, but it should be conservative Republicans, not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier.” (Video)

UPDATE II: Throughout the day on Monday, virtually every MSNBC host condemned McDaniel, chastised the network brass responsible for hiring her, and called for her to be dismissed. They included Nicolle Wallace, Joy Reid, Lawrence O’Donnell, and more. Rachel Maddow gave an especially moving monologue that connected the dots from historical fascists and demagogues to McDaniel, and  more broadly, Trump and the GOP. It’s hard to see how McDaniel can survive this repudiation from her new colleagues.

Update III: NBC has made a principled turnaround and decided to dump McDaniel. The network’s boss took responsibility for misguided hiring apologized to it. Naturally, McDaniel is said to be considering a lawsuit that would only further publicize her anti-American atrociousness.

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Trump Toady Ronna McDaniel Lands at NBC After Being Ousted From the RNC

The past couple of years have been filled with extraordinary adversities for the Republican Party. After assuming the majority in the House of Representatives, it took them fifteen votes to elect a Speaker (Kevin McCarthy), who they ousted just nine months later. Then it took them three weeks to elect his replacement (Mike Johnson) after failing with three proposed candidates.

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Ronna McDaniel on Meet the Press, NBC, MSNBC

Despite the epic nature of those disasters, they were overshadowed by the GOP’s obsession with impeaching President Biden and smearing his family and other Democrats. Every hearing held by the House GOP inevitably wound up embarrassing them as both their witnesses and the facts invariably favored Biden, leaving Republicans to wallow in the swamp of lies they tried to peddle. As a result, they have accomplished nothing of significance in the fourteen months they’ve occupied the majority.

SEE THIS: DO-NOTHING CONGRESS? The Republican House of Representatives is the Most Productive Ever (LOL)

Throughout this catastrophic congressional collapse, the Republican National Committee (RNC) was chaired by Ronna McDaniel. Her tenure there saw the party lose multiple seats in Congress, as well as issue oriented elections around the country. Her “leadership” has been so inept that the party has little to show for it’s efforts. They have raised record low amounts in the past year and have far less available cash on hand than their Democratic opponents. And she made sure that the RNC served as a de facto slush fund for Donald Trump and his lawyers. That condition got even worse after McDaniel was forced to resign and was replaced by Trump’s daughter-in-lawlessness, Lara Trump.

SEE ALSO: Grifter Girl Lara Trump Says When She is RNC Chair ‘Every Single Penny Will Go to Donald Trump’

On the basis of that record of incompetence and failure, NBC News has announced that they have hired McDaniel as a political analyst. She is scheduled to appear on NBC News and MSNBC to provide her alleged insight on politics and elections. Which is especially grotesque considering that her “insight” includes embracing Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen,” and her arguably unlawful efforts to undermine democracy by participating in efforts to recruit fake electors to steal the election from Biden.

On the surface this appears to be an atrocious addition to the NBC roster. And Ron Filipkowski of the MeidasTouch Network has compiled some cringe examples of McDaniel’s ignorant and offensive past media outings. They reveal her to be utterly unqualified for the job that she’s just been hired to do.

But on reflection, her new position might not be as horribly ill-suited as it would seem. In fact, it could be a big advantage for the progressives on the network who will likely spar with her on the air. It could follow the Fox News model of hiring weak-kneed Democrats so that they will lose every argument with Fox’s wingnut pundits. McDaniel would be an excellent foil for the much more intelligent panelists already on NBC and MSNBC.

What’s more, MSNBC has a decent track record of hiring Republicans who turn out to be reliable critics of the GOP and especially Trump. For example Nicolle Wallace, Joe Scarborough, Michael Steele, etc. They aren’t always aligned with Democrats, but they offer a conservative’s criticism of the GOP. And since Trump has been so grotesquely insulting toward McDaniel, who knows how she will respond now that she is no longer dependent on their paycheck. And you have to wonder why she didn’t get picked up by Fox News or Newsmax.

In a worst case scenario, McDaniel is still just one person on the network and is woefully ill-equipped to cause any serious damage. Plus, she gives MSNBC some cover when they are accused of being staffed by only left-wingers. So we’ll see how she presents herself in the coming weeks and months during this election year. Either she begins to take some honest and coherent positions, or she gets steamrolled by her new colleagues. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: According to The Wrap, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that after scorching backlash “MSNBC president Rashida Jones told employees that the liberal-leaning news network has no plans to put new NBC News contributor Ronna McDaniel on the cable outlet.” While that’s good news, it remains troubling that NBC is still planning to put her on the air, and that any news organization would consider such a brazen and potentially criminal liar employable.

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‘It May Just Be that Mr. Trump is Incoherent’ – Says NBC Legal Analyst About Trump’s Testimony

The first of what will be many trials for Donald Trump has commenced in New York. And to no one’s surprise, he is behaving like a colicky infant who is inconsolable when he doesn’t get way. From the moment he took the stand, Trump was argumentative, insulting, and unresponsive.

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Donald Trump Angry

This is precisely the sort of childish conduct that legal experts predicted. And they had plenty of examples of his ill-mannered demeanor over the past several years (decades) to arrive at their assessment. If there is one thing that Trump is known for, it’s throwing temper tantrums and lashing out boorishly at his perceived foes. It’s his inbred response to any situation wherein he feels victimized. Which lately is virtually every situation that he finds himself in.

SEE THIS: Select Trump’s Derangement Spirals Ever Downward as He Impotently Promises to Prove His Innocence

Trump spent Monday morning bickering with Judge Arthur Engoron, who was reluctant to allow Trump to ramble on incessantly in response to every question without ever actually answering it. Trump also devoted more time to attacking both the judge and Attorney General Letitia James, than to defending himself. He whined that James is “a political hack,” and that “this is a political witch hunt,” and that she “should be ashamed of herself.” Then he turned his ire toward the judge saying that he “ruled against me before he knew anything about me. He called me a fraud… The fraud is on the court, not on me.”

None of those complaints advance any sort of plausible defense for the financial fraud that he’s on trial for. But they do put on display Trump’s deteriorating mental state. Which is something that was noticed by NBC legal analyst, Chuck Rosenberg, during a segment on Andrea Mitchell’s program…

Mitchell: He’s alternating between being completely unhinged and then restraining himself. How long can the judge let this kind of behavior go on? I guess he can. But if the judge will assess the liability, if he’s already found him guilty of fraud – the corporation, I should say.
Rosenberg; Different judges run their courtrooms in different ways. There are two possibilities here.. Perhaps more, but two that come to mind. One is that Trump is trying to goad the judge into some sort of mistake. To make a comment that would be helpful to the Trump team on appeal. Judge Engoron is an experienced jurist. I don’t think that has happened yet, and I don’t see that happening.

The other… it may just be that Mr. Trump is incoherent. That his answers make quite literally no sense, perhaps to anyone but him. And that he can’t help himself. He can’t conform to court rules and procedures. And so this is what you get.”

That’s about as accurate a prognosis of Trump’s state of mind as you’re likely hear. And Rosenberg is actually right on both counts. Trump is, and has been, noticeably incoherent for quite a long time. And Trump is indeed trying – in vain – to incite the judge into making an angry response. In fact, it is a strategy that his team has planned from the start. According to insiders in Trump’s camp…

“[Trump and his lawyers] are intentionally trying to provoke the judge into a nuclear-level overreaction [that] could even lead to the judge ordering Trump to be remanded to a jail cell.”

Rosenberg also observed that Trump’s strategy was not only futile, but even counterproductive to Trump’s legal goals, saying that…

“Either way, whatever the motive, it is the judge, at the end of the day, that is going to determine the damages, determine the fine, determine the penalty. He’s already assessed liability. So from the theatrical perspective, maybe this plays in some other venue. From a legal perspective, this does not play in court.”

The reason that Trump is attacking the judge and the AG is that he know what he did, he knows that the court knows it, and he knows that he is certain to be found liable. So he has essentially given up trying to defend himself. He may by resting his hopes on an appeal, where he is also likely to fail. Or more likely, he is just playing to his cult followers and hoping to stir further division and civil unrest.

However, Trump did provide a bit of unintentional comic relief when he was asked about his 2021 financial statement, He replied that, “I was so busy in the White House. My threshold was China, Russia, and keeping our country safe.” Trump had to be remined by the prosecutor that he wasn’t the president when those statements were prepared in 2021.

So Trump is just providing even more proof of his psychological separation from reality. We can expect much more of that to come as this and subsequent trials unfold. And while it is humorous on some level, it is more disturbing than funny to consider that he actually has a shot at being reelected, and that his cult continues to worship him.

Which just makes it all the more imperative that Democrats, and other American patriots, commit to voting Blue – up and down the ballot – next year, and to persuade as many of their peers as possible to do so as well. We need to be clear-eyed that the future of democracy in our country is what’s at stake. If we aren’t, we will lose it.

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Wannabe Dictator Trump Promises to Prosecute the ‘Country Threatening Treason’ of the Media

Donald Trump’s campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination for president has focused almost entirely on his personal vendetta against Democrats in general, President Biden in particular, and the media that he repeatedly maligns in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” He has replaced his “MAGA” mantra with “I am your retribution.”

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Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

Ever since he lost the election in 2020, Trump has been obsessed with trying to persuade people that the election was “rigged and stolen.” He has had no success with that “Big Lie” propaganda outside of the tiny confines of his glassy-eyed cult following. But that hasn’t stopped him from dispensing his perverse and paranoid perception of a world in which he is a victim bearing the cross of an imaginary cabal of persecutors.

RELATED: Trump is Flush With Fear Over His Dreadful Future and the Deluge of Justice That’s Coming

On Sunday Trump posted a flurry of bizarre ravings on his failing social media scam, Truth Social, that are striking confirmations of his declining mental state. They all made ample use of the caps lock key that Trump abuses to accentuate his mood disorders. But the most disturbing post was an extended tirade wherein he accused the media of treason and pledged to punish them for daring to commit journalism.

“They are almost all dishonest and corrupt, but Comcast, with its one-side and vicious coverage by NBC NEWS, and in particular MSNBC, often and correctly referred to as MSDNC (Democrat National Committee!), should be investigated for its ‘Country Threatening Treason.’ Their endless coverage of the now fully debunked SCAM known as Russia, Russia, Russia, and much else, is one big Campaign Contribution to the Radical Left Democrat Party. I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events. Why should NBC, or any other of the corrupt & dishonest media companies, be entitled to use the very valuable Airwaves of the USA, FREE? They are a true threat to Democracy and are, in fact, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! The Fake News Media should pay a big price for what they have done to our once great Country!”

In Trump’s demented mind, NBC’s reporting constitutes “treason” and is a “threat to Democracy.” And if he is reelected he will see to it that they, and the rest of the media, “pay a big price.” That sort of talk is not new for Trump. He is a virulent opponent of the press and will shut them all down if given the opportunity. He says so explicitly with his promise to “investigate” his media critics and even remove them from the airwaves should they fail to comply. Except for those who cater to his dreams of tyranny. That’s what aspiring authoritarians do.

The only example of any wrongdoing by the press that Trump mentions is what he calls the “fully debunked SCAM known as Russia, Russia, Russia.” For the record, Trump’s unsavory relationships with Russia have not only never been debunked, they have been verified and documented by the courts, by the Mueller Report, and even by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee Report.

MORE HERE: GEEZ! Trump is STILL Obsessed With the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax’ that is NOT a Hoax

What appears to have triggered this Trump tantrum is the fallout from his recent appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He was interviewed by Kristen Welker who actually let him get away with several glaring whoppers about everything from abortion to the January 6th insurrection that he incited. However, he also managed to sabotage himself with his reckless chatter that conceded his responsibility for illegal efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

SEE ALSO: Trump Bombs on Meet the Press, Behaving Like a Petulant Toddler Who Couldn’t Stop Lying

In addition to undermining the Constitution and the First Amendment, Trump posted a comment that ordered his GOP confederates in Congress to push for a costly and harmful government shutdown, saying “UNLESS YOU GET EVERYTHING, SHUT IT DOWN!” He also demanded that “Senate Democrats should all resign” due to the indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez. If that’s the criteria that he’s resting his case on, then all Republicans should resign nationwide due to Trump’s four criminal indictments on 91 felony charges.

With each new day Trump seems to validate the worst characteristics of his malignant narcissistic psychosis. His totalitarian tendencies become more prominent. And his disregard for the Constitution and the welfare of the nation grows deeper and more darkly ominous. And what’s worse is that there appears to be no bottom to his deplorable and dystopian dreams.

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Trump Bombs on Meet the Press, Behaving Like a Petulant Toddler Who Couldn’t Stop Lying

In what will come as a surprise to virtually nobody with a functioning brain, Donald Trump humiliated himself in another interview wherein he tried desperately to defend his twisted perceptions of a world that only a severely malignant narcissist could manufacture.

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Donald Trump

On Sunday morning Trump’s interview with Kristen Welker of Meet the Press aired. It was an abbreviated version of the full encounter that was rife with lies, paranoia, and wholly undue self-exaltation. Trump behaved throughout like an obstinate child who didn’t get his way. He couldn’t answer a single question without diverting – over and over again – to tangential matters. He incessantly repeated his delusional distortions of reality as if in a broken loop. Welker had to keep dragging him back to the subject of her question as if he were a mental patient who refused to pay attention.

SEE ALSO: Wannabe Messiah Trump Claims to Be Standing Up to the ‘Demonic Forces’ Destroying Our Country

The failure of Trump to coherently express himself was not a result Welker’s masterful interviewing skills, She struggled to keep him track, missed opportunities to correct his blatant dishonesty, and showed him a measure of respect that is entirely inappropriate for a disgraced former leader who is under multiple criminal indictments on dozens of felony charges.

Nevertheless, Welker’s shortcomings didn’t prevent the real deficiencies of Trump from coming through. Anyone who has the time to waste should scan through the transcript to see how pitifully bereft Trump is of intelligence and integrity. He misrepresented the truth on every issue that was discussed. And NBC News only bothered to fact-check him in a separate article that was published only online. A few examples include…

On Immigration:
Trump: I saw some statistics and it said in 2019, there were no terrorists. They caught no terrorists. And now this year, it’s a record number like they’ve never seen before.
Fact: 216 people on the terrorist watchlist were apprehended this year. There were 280 in 2019 during the Trump administration.

On Pardoning January 6th Insurrectionists:
Trump: These people on Jan. 6. Some of them never even went into the building, and they’re being given sentences of many years.
Fact: Those who received the longest sentences were leaders of the insurrection, including Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. And others who didn’t enter the Capitol had committed assaults on police officers outside.

On Election Fraud:
Trump: If this were ever before a court, we would win so easy. There is so much evidence that the election was rigged.
Fact: There were over 60 court cases that Trump and his allies lost for lack of evidence. And he hasn’t bothered to produced any in three years.

On Abortion:
Trump: The radical people on [abortion] are really the Democrat that say after five months, six months, seven months, eight months, nine months, and even after birth, you are allowed to terminate the baby.
Fact: No Democrats have ever advocated for abortion after birth. And late term abortions are extremely rare and only performed under dire circumstances.

On Ukraine:
Trump: They don’t report about the war [in Ukraine] anymore. You don’t find much reporting. That means that Ukraine’s losing. Okay?
Fact: HUH? Trump must only be watching Newsmax and reruns of The Apprentice.

One especially disturbing part of the interview was when Trump went on an extended rant about election fraud, alleging falsely that tens of thousands of ballots were stuffed into ballot boxes. Welker repeatedly told him that that wasn’t true and that those assertions – including the bogus “2,000 Mules” crocumentary – were all thoroughly debunked. But Trump was determined to persist with his lies even after Welker tried to move on to another subject ten times.

SEE THIS: Trump Hypes Convicted Election Fraud Felon’s Crocumentary About Election Fraud

Another feature of the interview was Trump’s uncharacteristic reticence when discussing the January 6th insurrection that he incited. He made a few preposterous assertions such as his attempt to blame it all on former Speaker Pelosi. He told Welker that “They (the January 6th Committee) destroyed all the evidence about Nancy Pelosi.” That, of course, is a provable lie. But on several occasions he simply refused to answer direct questions…

Welker: Tell me how you watched this all unfold. Were you in the dining room watching TV?
Trump: I’m not going to tell you. I’ll tell people later at an appropriate time.

Welker: I want to know who you called on that day.
Trump: I don’t have — why would I tell you that?

Welker: Did you call military or law enforcement at the moment the Capitol was under attack?
Trump: I’m not going to tell you anything.

However, later in the interview, Trump may have said too much. Welker asked him about his personal responsibility and decision making with regard to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. And while he frequently tries to shift any wrongdoing to others, on this occasion he seemed to confess, placing the blame on himself, where it actually belongs. Welker inquired as to who Trump took advice from on the matter. He replied…

Trump: You know who I listen to? Myself. I saw what happened. I watched that election, and I thought the election was over at 10 o’clock in the evening. […] I was listening to different people. And when I added it all up, the election was rigged. [NOTE: at 10:00pm ET polls weren’t even closed in the western U.S. Also, mail-in and military ballots in many states are not counted until after the in-person votes]
Welker: Were you calling the shots, ultimately?
Trump: As to whether or not I believed it was rigged? Oh, sure. It was my decision.

To top things off, Trump made a pitch for his reelection next year saying saying that “In six months to a year, many of the problems, almost all of the problems that you and I have just spoken about, will be solved.” Which makes you wonder, if it’s so easy, why he didn’t solve all of these problems in the four years he already had? And why would any sane person believe that he can solve them now?

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Rittenhouse Judge Schroeder Bans MSNBC from Courtroom in Violation of the First Amendment

The trial of teen vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse has produced some bizarre and legally questionable moments. Many of those moments relate directly to the behavior of Judge Bruce Schroeder whose rulings have overwhelming favored the defense and been openly hostile to the prosecution.

Kyle Rittenhouse, Judge Bruce Schroeder

On Thursday this tendency of Schroeder to put his right-wing prejudices on display crossed another line of propriety for a jurist. Responding to a report that a reporter allegedly working for MSNBC News was following a bus that was transporting the jurors, Schroeder interrupted the proceedings to make this alarming declaration:

“I have instructed that no one from MSNBC news will be permitted in this building for the duration of this trial. This is a very serious matter and I don’t know what the ultimate truth of it is, but absolutely it would go without much thinking that someone who is following a jury bus, that is an extremely serious matter will be referred to the proper authorities for further action.”

This is indeed a “very serious matter,” but not for the reasons that Schroeder suggests. There are several problems with how the Judge reacted to this report. First of all, in his statement he admits that he “I don’t know what the ultimate truth of it is.” But he issues his prohibition against MSNBC News anyway. What if the truth is that the reporter was not from MSNBC? What if there was nothing untoward taking place? Then Schroeder punished the network despite it having done nothing to warrant it. That is the definition of government censorship and violates the First Amendment of the Constitution.

What’s more, Schroeder may have gotten the network wrong. Reports variously describe the reporter as having been associated with MSNBC or NBC, two different networks. So it’s pretty sloppy of the Judge to impose such severe penalties when he doesn’t even know who the suspected offender is affiliated with. In addition to that, it is ridiculous to ban MSNBC from the courtroom when reporters from NBC, who were not covered by the order, are still permitted to cover the trial. They can then appear on MSNBC to give their account of the proceedings.

Finally, Schroeder took the extreme measure of banning the entire MSNBC network, rather than just the alleged offender. At best he could have argued that the reporter who was involved should have his courtroom privileges suspended, not for the duration of the trial, but until the facts were ascertained. But Schroeder didn’t take that rational step. Instead he punished everyone at MSNBC, despite the fact that none of them had done anything wrong. It also needs to be remembered that the reporter in question wasn’t found to have done anything wrong either. NBC News released a statement saying that…

“Last night, a freelancer received a traffic citation. While the traffic violation took place near the jury van, the freelancer never contacted or intended to contact the jurors during deliberations, and never photographed or intended to photograph them”

Rittenhouse’s defense attorney has already filed a motion for a mistrial, which Schroeder has yet to rule on. But if anyone is entitled to a mistrial, it’s the prosecution. And Schroeder should be cited for judicial misconduct. He has shown bias throughout this trial. And his disrespect for the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of the press makes his malfeasance on the bench all the more reprehensible.

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Fox News and the GOP are Obsessively Attacking Kamala Harris for Doing Her Job

You really have to feel sorry for Fox News these days. They are having a terribly difficult time fabricating any phony “scandals” about President Biden. They try pathetically to peddle nonsense like whether or not he wears a face mask, or blaming him for a sauce shortage at Chick-fil-A, or mocking the romance in his marriage. But they just can’t seem to shake his broad-based popularity.

Fox News, Kamala Harris

Consequently, Fox has lashed out at Vice-President Kamala Harris as a surrogate for Biden. But they haven’t had any better luck as their petulant attacks consisted mainly of petty and fake contrivances like the time she allegedly disrespected Memorial Day, or the time she supposedly caused an international incident, or the time she allegedly profited off of selling her books to migrant children. None of those contained a shred of truth (something Fox couldn’t care less about).

On Tuesday Fox News latched unto something they surely thought would bring down the Biden/Harris administration. While in Guatemala, Harris was interviewed by Lester Holt of NBC News. The segment contained the following exchange:

Holt: Do you have any plans to visit the border?
Harris: At some point we are going to the border. We’ve been to the border.
Holt: YOU haven’t been to the border.
Harris: And I haven’t been to Europe. I don’t understand the point that you’re making. I’m not discounting the importance of the border.
Holt: I mention this because I know that Republicans have certainly come at you on this.

OMG! Harris had the audacity to point out that her assignment has nothing to do with the physical border or staging meaningless photo-ops. She is in Central America to have discussions with the leaders there – political and civil – about the root causes of migration from that region to the United States. And by articulating that, Fox News insinuates that she is failing to resolve what they call a border “crisis.” Which, once again, was not her job. And neither is responding to what Republicans are coming at her with.

Tuesday morning Fox News published an article on their website aimed at disparaging Harris. The starkly negative hit piece consisted almost entirely of tweets by Republicans and conservative pundits commenting on the interview. There were twenty-one of them in all (21!), by the likes of Ted Cruz, Katie Pavlich (Fox News), Steve Scalise, Tom Cotton, Kevin McCarthy, Meghan McCain, and Mark Meadows.

There wasn’t a single supportive tweet by a democrat, nor any quotes or comments that Fox could have used to pretend the article was fair and balanced. Although, the second to last paragraph in the article contained a bit commentary:

“Harris visited Guatemala and Mexico Monday to address concerns over illegal immigration, holding her first press conference addressing the border since taking over management of the crisis 75 days prior.”

Fox News has been posting daily the number of days since Harris held a press conference. It’s been a fetish that they’ve been unable to control. So it’s interesting that when Harris did hold a press conference on Monday, Fox News didn’t bother to cover it. The same thing happened on Tuesday when Harris held another press conference and Fox chose not to air that one either.

The tweet-filled article on the Harris interview was reminiscent of another article published a few days earlier when Harris passed out cookies with her likeness on them to the press during the flight to Guatemala. In that piece there were nine tweets castigating Harris for her sugary generosity. They accused her of being a narcissist and wasting taxpayer dollars on an egocentric stunt. Naturally, the truth was far removed from Fox’s whining. The cookies were actually a gift to Harris from a black-owned bakery in Washington. They cost taxpayers nothing. She was thoughtfully sharing them with the reporters on the plane.

These pitiful examples of deceitful and hostile bias are what Fox News considers to be journalism. But all it proves is that Fox is not only incompetent at reporting, they are also embarrassingly bad at malicious fiction. You might think that after all the years of practice they would be better at it.

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

Trump’s Nightmare: Biden Takes the Ratings Crown in Dueling Town Halls

Friday is going to be another Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day for Donald Trump, whose days of late are mostly filled with disappointment, bitterness, anger, jealousy, and fear. With every new poll Trump is falling farther behind Joe Biden, both nationally and in the critical battleground states. Even his favorite pollster, the rabidly biased, right-wing Rasmussen, has Trump facing near certain defeat.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden

After chickening out of the second presidential debate, Trump plotted with NBC to schedule a town hall that would directly compete with the one previously scheduled with Joe Biden on ABC. There was a lot wrong with that decision on NBC’s part, and their poor judgement is not validated by this good news in the aftermath of both town halls (via Variety):

“Biden drew 12.7 million total viewers on the Disney-owned network, while Trump drew 10.4 million in the same 9-10 p.m. time slot on NBC. Across the entire runtime, the Biden town hall averaged 12.3 million viewers. In terms of the fast national 18-49 demographic, Biden is comfortably on top with a 2.6 rating to Trump’s 1.7.” [See updated numbers below]

Biden’s audience exceeded Trump’s by more than two million – 20%. [Note: these are preliminary ratings that will be updated later in the day]. That’s a significant victory that parallels Biden’s lead in both polling and fundraising. Biden pulled in a record $383 million in September, compared to Trump’s haul of only $247.8 million. But best of all, ratings are what Trump cares about more than anything else, and he has utterly failed in that arena. This will surely drive the Narcissist-In-Chief CRAZY(er).

[UPDATE: The total is now in for Trump’s town hall, including MSNBC and CNBC. The three networks combined drew 13.1 million viewers. So Biden’s town hall on ABC, whose final numbers are 14.1 million, still beat Trump by a million viewers]

There were additional differences between the the Trump and Biden town halls that are more substantive than ratings. While Biden made a couple of mistakes, Trump lied frequently in his town hall. He was also challenged – and failed – on issues like…

  • Refusing to renounce the QAnon domestic terrorists
  • Deliberate distortions of data concerning the coronavirus
  • His inability to recall whether he had taken a COVID-19 test prior to the first debate
  • His miniscule tax payments and to whom he owes more than $400 million
  • Disseminating conspiracy theories such as one about Biden killing SEAL Team 6

On that last matter Trump attempted to excuse himself by saying that “it was a retweet,” as if that makes any difference. It’s still Trump passing along a preposterous and dangerous lie. NBC’s moderator, Savannah Guthrie, called him out saying that “You’re not like someone’s crazy uncle that can just retweet whatever.”

All told, the night was a huge defeat for Trump. He embarrassed himself in his own town hall. He likely alienated even more voters. And worst of all, he was beaten up in the ratings by someone he says is a mentally deficient socialist. If Trump can’t even win against that sort of an opponent, what does that make him?

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

NBC Joins Trump PR Team By Staging Town Hall Opposite Biden

Two weeks ago Donald Trump and Joe Biden faced off in their first presidential debate. However, Trump managed to succeed only in thoroughly embarrassing himself by repeatedly interrupting with incoherent and hostile remarks. So it came as no surprise that Trump subsequently chickened out of the second debate when the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced that it would be held remotely in the interest of health and safety.

Donald Trump TV Set

Trump undoubtedly noticed that every post-debate poll showed him falling even farther behind Biden after the first debate, including the one by his favorite pollster, Rasmussen. So Trump jumped at the chance to use the CPD’s remote format as an excuse to bail out.

Shortly after Trump’s cowardice forced the cancelation of the second debate, Biden quickly accepted an offer by ABC News to have a town hall at the time the debate was originally scheduled. That has been promoted extensively and will air Thursday. Unfortunately, Biden is not being given the courtesy of speaking to the American people without Trump once again interrupting, this time with the help of NBC.

NBC has announced that they will be hosting a town hall at the same time and date as ABC’s Biden program. NBC had plenty of time to find another time slot, but appears to have made a deliberate decision to compete directly with Biden’s broadcast. This is a dreadful disservice to viewers and the American people as it forces them to choose between the two programs, rather being able to see both in order to make an informed judgment.

There are only two possible explanations for NBC’s abhorrent programming decision. They are either acting out of pure greed and self interest, or they have joined the Trump campaign’s PR team and are acting on their behalf. Or, of course, a combination of both. Either way, it exposes their utter disregard for the fair conduct of the election, the welfare of the nation, and the best interests of voters.

It’s worse than just the obvious gift that NBC is presenting to Trump as he uses them for his nefarious purposes. They are actually rewarding Trump for being a wimp and fearfully fleeing the Commission’s debate. NBC couldn’t be advancing Trump’s campaign objectives any better if they were on his payroll. And this should make people wonder if they are.

Every television news enterprise that uses public airwaves has a legal obligation to serve the public interest. NBC is affirmatively harming the public interest in order to boost Trump along with their bottom line. The American people should be appalled by this partisan counterprogramming. There are reports that even insiders at the network are angry and ashamed by their employer. As any journalist with an ounce of integrity should be.

The result will likely be that more television viewers will tune in to the Trump Hour of Lies and miss the more substantive discussion with Biden. That’s not because they support Trump, but because it holds the promise of a melodramatic meltdown that is the meat and potatoes of TV entertainment. It’s why people watch police car chases. It’s why more people watch the Kardashians than C-SPAN! And this is happening at a time when even Fox News has shown some restraint in declining to air Trump’s rallies live and uninterrupted as has been their practice in the past. Brian Stelter of CNN reports that

“The president held a campaign rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania Tuesday night, but Fox News only showed small portions of it. Fox took the same approach on Monday. So, for the second night in a row, Trump urged his Twitter followers to watch on OANN, Newsmax or C-SPAN – which indicates that he is aware of Fox’s snub.”

And now Trump can point his glassy-eyed cult disciples to NBC as well. NBC is taking it’s place alongside the ultra-rightist conspiracy crackpots of OANN and Newsmax. Is that really the company they want to keep? It’s despicable, unethical, and contrary to the principles of professional journalism.

The American people should loudly object to this media manipulation. And those of us who are offended by this programming stunt should boycott the Trump show on NBC Thursday and get their friends and families, and even strangers online, to join the boycott of NBC’s cynical, self-serving assault on journalistic integrity. Trump must not be rewarded for his cowardice. And NBC must not be rewarded for their partisanship and greed.

UPDATE: Rachel Maddow brought up this subject during an interview with Kamala Harris and indicated that a lot of people were mad.

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

Trump ‘Loves’ Him Some Whiffleball Questions From Radical Right-Wing ‘Reporter’

Another day, another White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing. These daily events serve no purpose other than to provide Trump with a forum to repeat his lies and disinform the public. And there is no plausible reason for him to be there except to satisfy his craving for ego-strokes now that he can no longer hold his traveling cult rallies.

Donald Trump

Saturday’s briefing was just a rehash of previous episodes where Trump leads a chorus of hallelujahs by sycophants paying tribute to his heroic awesomeness. In the course of his remarks Trump describes every alleged achievement as a never before seen breakthrough in human endeavors. Suffice to say that none of his barely coherent ramblings provide useful, factual information. The entirety of his presentation is an exercise in glassy-eyed happy-talk that painstakingly avoids the unsettling realities that the American people know all too well. After listening to Trump one might think that there was no pandemic crisis going on at all. Everything is fine and getting better.

In order to promulgate that deceit, Trump made a point of calling on Jenn Pellegrino, a “reporter” from the far-right, conspiracy factory, One America News Network (OANN). Her question, and Trump’s response, did nothing to advance the public’s well-being. physically or mentally. But it give Trump another opportunity to attack his perennial foes in the media (video below):

Pellegrino: This morning the Washington Post ran a story suggesting that you delayed taking action on the virus in January and February. Dr. Fauci has indicated that your action in the Chinese travel ban helped America immensely. What do you say to the Washington Post?
Trump: I love whoever you’re with. Cuz I think that’s such a nice question. I think the Washington Post covers us very inaccurately, covers me very inaccurately. I saw the story. I think it’s a disgrace. But it’s the Washington Post and I guess we have to live with it.

The story that they are obliquely referencing is one wherein the Post revealed that U.S. intelligence had warned him as early as January about the coronavirus and it’s potential risks, but that he disregarded the warnings. The Post reported that even though Trump’s advisers told him that “the system was blinking red […] they just couldn’t get him to do anything about it.”

So without putting the question into context, Trump complimented the Trump-fluffing reporter and her flagrantly biased network. Then went on to insult the Post without ever citing anything in their story that was inaccurate. Trump later noted that China had ejected the Post from the country, which he seems to think bolsters his position. Is that because he thinks China is so well regarded as a beacon of press freedom? And let’s not forget that Trump ejected the Post from the White House and other government offices.

Trump’s response to this question is especially notable considering how different it was from his response to a question he received the day before. Peter Alexander of NBC asked Trump “What do you say to Americans who are watching right now who are scared?” Whereupon, Trump jumped on him like a rabid jackal, calling Alexander a “terrible reporter” and the question “nasty.” But Pellegrino’s question asking “What do you say to the Washington Post,” drew Trump’s “love” for “such a nice question.”

The lesson here is that reporters are safer asking Trump what he has to say to news organizations that everyone knows he hates, than they are asking what he has to say to the American people. That’s because he cares more about attacking those who dare to tell the truth about him, than he does about the citizens of this country, a majority of whom voted against him. And it’s his indifference – and even hostility – to the people he is supposed to be serving, that has resulted in the disastrous way he has bungled the nation’s response to the worst pandemic in generations.