Holy Shih Tzu! Trump Attacks NY Corruption Probe with Bizarre Reference to Sexual Abuse

One might think that if there is a single subject that Donald Trump would be smart enough to stay away from, it would be the subject of sexual harassment and abuse. And one would be utterly wrong. As is often the case, it is impossible to underestimate the audacity and cretinism of Trump. That’s particularly true when he is backed into a corner igniting his feral anger and fear.

Donald Trump

Case in point: On Monday morning Trump unleashed another of his rabid tweetstorms. This one appears to have come out of nowhere, but was likely stirred by something he just saw on Fox News, or perhaps he received a legal summons of some sort. The topic of this outburst centered on the ongoing investigation into his criminal activities by the state of New York. And naturally, he led it off with an impotent countercharge aimed at his perceived persecutors:

Contrary to Trump’s paranoid ranting, the New York Attorney General’s office doesn’t “sue on everything.” However, if they are “in search of a crime” it’s only because that’s their job. Trump is whining about this in the same way that a bank robber would whine about those darn cops always sticking their noses into bank robberies.

So Trump tries to exonerate himself from the documented criminal activity that resulted in his phony foundation being shut down. Former New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood (not Eric Schneiderman), found that the Foundation was a criminal enterprise devoted to enriching himself with other people’s donations (Here’s a quick primer on Trump’s scam foundation). Underwood’s report outlined “a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation.” The ruling went on to declare that Trump’s sham included…

“…unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more. This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.”

The current NY AG, Letitia James, tweeted a message to Trump warning that “No one is above the law, not even the President.” What’s more, the lawsuit Trump faces continues to seek millions in restitution and prohibits Trump and his evil spawn from serving on the boards of other New York charities. Imagine that: Trump is barred from running a charitable foundation, but not from serving as president. There’s something horribly wrong with that picture.

As for Trump’s flailing assault on the Bill and Hillary Clinton Foundation, it is wildly off base. There have been investigations into the Clinton Foundation and there was never any hint of wrongdoing. In fact, the major organizations that assess the credibility of charitable groups have given the Clinton Foundation their highest ratings.

What makes this even more dumbfounding is Trump’s vicious sideswipe at the former NY Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman. To be sure, Schneiderman had his problems for which he paid dearly. He voluntarily resigned from office, abandoned an almost guaranteed path to New York’s governorship, and has since receded from public life. And for the record, Schneiderman was never Clinton’s campaign chairman. That was John Podesta, whose emails were hacked by Trump’s Russian pals. Also, it’s ironic that Trump would go after anyone’s campaign chairman while his own, Paul Manafort, is currently sitting in prison for crimes against America.

It’s rather startling that Trump would venture into the area of sex crimes considering his own history of repulsiveness. Trump has been accused of harassing and/or assaulting dozens of women. He even admitted to sexual abuse on the infamous Access Hollywood recording. But he remains in the White House while even more credible accusations are coming out. If Trump wants to make this a contest of who is the most vile abuser of women, he’s a shoo-in for the big trophy. And perhaps it’s that confidence of victory that made him foolishly bring up the subject. After all, we know how much he likes to win.

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

Trump’s Fear of Mueller’s Testimony is Exposed in Frantic, Lie-Riddled Tweets

There is nothing more pitiful than a criminal who is caught red-handed in the commission of his crimes and tries impotently to convince everyone that he’s innocent. That’s the sorry state in which Donald Trump has found himself as he unleashed his regularly scheduled Sunday Morning Tweetstorm.

Donald Trump Robert Mueller

The flurry of panic-stricken whining from Trump included a some embarrassing missives aimed at a variety of trivial targets, mostly intended to act as distractions. They included a swipe at the Kentuky (sic) Derby wherein the President, who famously cheated in order to win, came to the defense of a horse that cheated and was subsequently disqualified. He also announced his nomination of Mark Morgan to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Trump had fired Morgan in the first few days of his administration because he was an Obama appointee. But now he’s been rehired after sucking up to Trump at least forty-nine times on Fox News. And Trump also made the painfully idiotic claim (again) that China was paying the United States for tariffs. Any first-year economics student knows that tariffs are paid by the importer (the U.S. company) and passed on to American consumers.

But without question the dumbest outburst of his morning rant was a pair of tweets attacking special counsel Robert Mueller:

Let’s examine the Olympic-grade derp in these remarks one at a time:

  1. The $35,000,000 spent was less than most other independent counsel investigations. And it was more than paid for by the asset forfeitures of Paul Manafort alone. He is the Trump campaign chairman who was convicted for crimes charged by the Mueller team.
  2. Trump keeps wandering around the allegation that 18, or 17, or 13 “Trump Hating Angry Democrats” were persecuting him. Never mind that Mueller is a life-long Republican who was appointed by Republican Rod Rosenstein, who was appointed by Trump while serving under Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions. And for the record, there are more like 65,000,000 angry Democrats.
  3. The 400 page report by Mueller never said that there was “NO COLLUSION.”
  4. The Democrats want Mueller to testify because Trump’s sycophantic Attorney General, William Barr, has refused to release the full report. and that’s after issuing a deliberately misleading four page summary, and lying to Congress about the contents of the report and his conversations with Mueller.
  5. Democrats are not looking for a redo. They are trying to get the facts about the first “do,” which both Barr and Trump are actively trying to suppress. And so is Fox News.
  6. There is no evidence whatsoever of any crimes by what Trump calls “the other side” (i.e. Hillary Clinton, the FBI) But there is ample evidence of Trump’s crimes. Even Fox News’ senior legal analyst, Andrew Napolitano, has said that evidence exists of collusion.
  7. The Mueller report was clear that there were at least ten instances of Trump obstructing justice. And the Fox News analyst agreed saying that Trump’s conduct was “Unlawful, Defenseless and Condemnable.”

Trump concluded by pleading that Mueller shouldn’t testify before Congress. That, of course, is not Trump’s call. In fact, it’s another instance of attempting to obstruct justice. But it’s also an indication of a severe mental infirmity since Trump keeps insisting that Mueller’s report was a “total exoneration” of him. He even said that Mueller “acted honorably.” If that’s true, shouldn’t Trump want Mueller to testify publicly and clear his name?

There’s a reason that Trump is so frightened by the prospect of Mueller testifying. Trump knows exactly what he did. He knows that he’s guilty. And he knows that the more public disclosure and transparency there is, the worse it is for him and his desperate efforts to avoid accountability.

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

Trump tries to pretend that he’s been cooperative throughout the investigation. But that’s a lie that is easily refuted. After all, Trump refused to be interviewed by Mueller. He’s working hard to keep others from being interviewed, including his former White House counsel, Don McGahn. And now he’s trying to intimidate those interested in finding the truth with these ludicrous demands to prevent Mueller’s testimony. This isn’t the behavior of an innocent man. It’s the desperation of a coward caught in the web of his own crimes and lies.

Signs of Dementia? Trump Bashes the Mueller Report He Hasn’t Read But Says Exonerates Him

One of the things that Donald Trump is most fixated on is his insistence that he is superior in every way to anyone on any matter. (see the video below) He has the best words, knows more about war than his generals, and gets the biggest crowds. That’s a textbook symptom of Malignant Narcissism, which many psychiatric professionals are convinced he suffers from. And those experts are worried that he’s getting worse every day.

Donald Trump

On this particular day Trump is providing ample evidence that his mental condition is seriously deteriorating. But he will be pleased to hear that he’s more nuts than any president in American history. In his regularly scheduled Saturday tweetstorm, the President fired off a flurry of utterly inane and contradictory tweets that should make all Americans concerned. The subject was a familiar one: The Russia Witch Hunt Hoax. He simply can’t control his outbursts about this, and for good reason. The more we learn, the more it’s apparent that Trump is guilty of both conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Even the senior legal analyst at Fox News agrees with House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff, that there is evidence of Trump’s collusion and obstruction.

In his latest rage-tweeting fit, Trump was tightly focused on the credibility of special counsel Robert Mueller and what he might have concluded in his final report. Even though he has a biased Attorney General that he planted in the Justice Department, Trump is obviously still frightened and desperate. But his complaints are a hodge-podge of whining, self-vindication, and insults.

The most striking part of this Twitter rant is that Trump is flailing in all directions at once. He admits that he hasn’t read the report, but also asserts that it exonerated hm. And while he’s basking in what he considers a decree of innocence, he also maligns the Mueller, the author of the alleged decree. What follows are the five tweets (so far) that Trump posted with the intention of clearing himself, but only making things worse:


Really? A hoax that has already produced hundreds of indictments, several guilty verdicts, and the disclosure of dozens of contacts between Trump and his associates that they all lied about prior to eventually admitting it.


Indeed, no one outside the top ranks of William Barr’s office have read the report. So no one can credibly assert that they know the conclusions of a 400 page report based on a biased four page summary.


First of all, the asset forfeitures from just Paul Manafort alone more than pay for the entire investigation. And if Trump is so concerned about what the Democrats think, why doesn’t he just release the full report that he says proves his innocence?


Here Trump is trying again to shift blame to Hillary Clinton, despite the fact that she had no impact on what Mueller concluded. And he takes another swipe at the team of investigators that he says cleared him.


What must never happen again is for America to elect a president who was so obviously tied to Russian agents and oligarchs for his political and financial benefit.

The spectacle of Trump being so fiercely critical of an investigative team that he claims proved his innocence is more than curious. It’s alarming from the perspective of his mental health. He is a man who both viciously condemns Mueller and pays tribute to him as having “acted honorably.” He’s like a Nobel prize winner who insults the Nobel committee as corrupt idiots for awarding him the prize. And having someone with that degree of mental illness running the country is absurd and dangerous.

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

And for your entertainment (?) pleasure, here are “24 Things Nobody Does Better Than Trump (According To Trump).”

What’s the Real Reason Trump Gave that Yawner from the Oval Office? (Hint: Think Russia)

On Tuesday night Donald Trump gave a much anticipated address from the Oval Office, his first as President. There was rampant speculation about what he might say. Some pundits wondered if he might take the opportunity to declare a national emergency in order to reallocate federal funds to his idiotic and useless vanity wall. Others just considered it a ploy to get the public to pressure Congress to pay his ransom for reopening the government.

Donald Trump, Subway

As it turns out the speech was a tiresome affair that featured Trump solemnly reciting from his TelePrompTer and sniffling as he has been known to do after snorting Adderall. There was nothing that could be called newsworthy. Trump offered no solutions to the shutdown impasse. He made no overtures to Democrats on border security legislation. There wasn’t anything different about this speech than what he’s been saying for the past three weeks on this subject. And of course, that means he was repeating the same old lies that he and his surrogates (including Surrogate-in-Chief Mike Pence) have been foisting on the public since the Trump Shutdown began.

So there was no reason for this speech to be carried live by the news networks. No news value would have been lost by delaying it for half an hour so that it could be fact checked – a practice that should be in effect for everything Trump says or does. What the speech did contain was Trump’s now tedious routine of fear mongering and blame shifting to Democrats.

He amped up the emotionally charged fears of violence allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants with examples that included murders, rapes, and even beheadings. Never mind that this immigrant population is far less likely to commit these or any crimes than are native born citizens. The purpose of this overtly racist argument, as employed by Trump and his shills on Fox News, is to demonize people who are largely peaceful and law abiding.

So why did Trump take the extraordinary step of demanding primetime television access to the nation in order to bore them with rote repetitions of his commonplace cult rally ravings? He must have known that there was nothing in his remarks that would change anyone’s mind. Nor would it move the needle on resolving the shutdown problem. The only thing that it would be certain to do is dominate the news cycle for a short period of time. And therein lies a clue to what might have been his true intention.

Absent this speech, the most prominent stories that came out the same day concerned the ongoing investigations into Trump’s collusion and conspiracy with Russia. One of those stories featured the chairman of his presidential campaign, Paul Manafort, who was found to have been sharing proprietary polling data with a suspected Russian intelligence operative. That information corresponds with the sort of data used by Russia to interfere with the election, and links Trump’s campaign to the Russian conspiracy more closely than ever before.

The other story concerned the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who famously met with Manafort, Don Jr, Jared Kushner, and others, in Trump Tower. That was the meeting where they discussed acquiring “dirt” in the form of stolen emails from Hillary Clinton and her associates. Veselnitskaya was indicted yesterday for obstruction of justice in a case that revealed her close ties to the Kremlin.

Given the bombshell quality of these stories, it would have been a fortunate coincidence if something else arose that might distract the media and the public from focusing on them. Could Trump have been tipped off about these impending legal disclosures? Perhaps by Manafort or his lawyers who have already been discovered to have secretly briefed Trump’s legal team And might Trump have had an incentive to schedule a rare Oval Office address that was completely devoid of substance in order to execute that distraction? Can anyone supply another reason why the President would embarrass himself with that empty televised spectacle that was the oratorical equivalence of dropping his pants on the subway to draw attention away from a worse crime?

Who knows with this president? This might be a step too deep into conspiracy theory. But it is well within the bounds of plausibility for a president who is openly considering a declaration of a national emergency – which does not exist – just so he can build a wall that most Americans don’t want. It is not far-fetched for someone who lies with such ease about things as easily verifiable as whether past presidents told him that they should have built a wall; or that 4,000 suspected terrorists were caught crossing the southern border; or that Democrats request that Trump change his wall construction from concrete to steel.

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

None of those things were true. And that tendency for flagrant falsification is what makes anything possible with this president. Including a plot to wave a shiny Oval Office speech in front of the press to get them to ignore the fact that he’s pantless. But fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have worked. The other stories are still being sell covered (less so on Fox News) and are likely to make headlines on Wednesday and beyond. So Trump embarrassed himself, and wasted the nation’s time, in vain. The only problem with that is that it might make him more likely to actually declare a national emergency, out of anger and/or vengeance, in order to distract from the failure of this distraction. Stay tuned.

Donald Trump’s Top 10 ‘Witch Hunt’ Tweets in 2018

The new year is here, and with it the obligatory “Best Of” and “Top 10” lists. And News Corpse isn’t about to be left out of all this fun. So our contribution to this annual tradition consists of some of the most newsworthy revelations that graced the the official communications platform of the President of the United States of America: Donald Trump.

Donald Trump, Witch Hunt

That’s right. Trump’s obsessive tweetstorming was a unique feature of his presidency that brought with it many of the lies and and insults for which he is now notorious. But no messaging by this belligerent blowhard was more profound than those that railed furiously over what he called the Russian, hoax, rigged, phony “Witch Hunt.”

Trump’s endeavor became a full time occupation at the White House that resulted in 131 tweets wherein he referenced a Witch Hunt in some context. That includes seven that were deleted and re-tweeted for misspellings (mostly of the same word: council/counsel). There were numerous outbursts aimed at specific individuals including James Comey, Hillary Clinton, and his own now-former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. And many were contradictory or outright distortions of the truth. Three were just the words “WITCH HUNT” in all caps with no further comment.

But in the spirit of the season’s ritual of limiting recognition to a select few, what follows are what we regard (somewhat randomly) as the Top 10 tweets about Witch Hunts by Trump in 2018:


This one rang in the new year on January 10, 2018, and boldly claimed to know how Democrats and Russians were responding to the affair. He was certainly wrong about the Democrats, but he was probably right about the Russians laughing.


Oh those poor young and beautiful traitors like Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and Michael Cohen. Their reputations ruined mainly because they lied and were dumb enough to associate with Trump.


Here Trump lays the groundwork for granting himself a get-out-of-jail-free card. Why would he even bring this up if he did nothing wrong?


Nothing says “I tried to stay uninvolved” like posting 131 tweets ranting about the injustice of being held to account by your own Department of Justice. As for the expense, Trump tweeted four times his assertions related to the cost of the special counsel investigation. It went went up rapidly from $10 million, then $20 million, then $30 million, and finally $40 million, all within the past year. That’s some pretty high inflation. In any case, the asset forfeitures from the Manafort case alone are worth more than that, so the probe is actually making a profit. And they haven’t even got to Trump’s assets yet.


Trump isn’t going too far by baselessly accusing a United States Senator of drunkenness, is he? And for the record, there are more than thirteen angry Democrats. It’s closer to 65,000,000, plus many more Independents and woke Republicans.


Something tells me it doesn’t help Trump’s argument that he isn’t colluding with Russia, by whining about his declining relationship with Russia.


This tweet is just included because we thought it necessary to have one with “FAKE NEWS” in it.


Trump is a master of projection. He is the one who has been maligning government officials in the FBI, Justice Department, and Congress. But now he’s trying to attach the McCarthy label to special counsel Mueller, who is just dong his job. Trump is also the big crybaby.


The best evidence that Trump’s mind is totally gone is that he really thinks he would have a seventy-five percent approval rating were it not for the so-called Witch Hunt. He’s barely cracking fifty percent with Rasmussen, the most biased right-wing pollster in the business.


This is a lovely example of Trump’s mob mentality. Calling someone a “rat” generally refers to a low-level hood who tells police the truth about his crime boss (i.e. Trump). Also, the FBI didn’t break into Michael Cohen’s office. They had a warrant issued by a judge. Cohen welcomed them in and later complimented them on their courtesy and professionalism.

Rest assured that 2019 will see a whole new collection of Twitter freak outs from Trump. As Mueller closes in on the President he will get ever more frantic and crazed with his reactions. If you thought “covfefe” didn’t make any sense, you aint seen nothin’ yet. Just wait until the special counsel report is released, or Congress begins holding oversight hearings. Trump’s madness has only just begun to manifest itself. And if he isn’t restrained, it could get dangerous.

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

Trump Saying ‘People Would Revolt’ if He is Impeached is Not His Opinion, It’s an Instruction

The walls are continuing to close in around Donald Trump. And they aren’t border walls. With the sentencing of his former associates, Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort, there is more information being released that unambiguously implicates Trump in federal crimes. And, as is his customary practice, the more he feels threatened, the more hysterical he gets. He is transparently consumed by fear and desperation.

Donald Trump Revolt

That response was in effect Tuesday when Trump was interviewed by Reuters. The whole interview was woven with lies and nonsense. But one particular part is worthy of notice. When Trump was questioned about talk that he could be impeached for crimes related to his campaign and and his unsavory connections to Russia, he blew up:

“It’s hard to impeach somebody who hasn’t done anything wrong and who’s created the greatest economy in the history of our country. “I’m not concerned, no. I think that the people would revolt if that happened.”

Let’s set aside – after laughing uncontrollably – the patently untrue assertions that Trump has done nothing wrong, or that he’s responsible for the “greatest economy” in history. What is stunning about his comments is his warning that there would be a revolt if he were held accountable for his criminal activities. In fact, this is less a warning than it is instructions to his cult followers. He expects them to resort to violence on his behalf in the event he is impeached by the representatives of the American people.

There are lots of reasons to consider Trump’s impeachment. He shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to his mistresses in order to keep them quiet before the 2016 election. He failed to disclose those expenditures. He has received millions more from foreign operatives funneling money to him through his hotels and other businesses. He and his closest associates have lied repeatedly about his conspiracy to steal the election with his Russian partners. So impeachment is not much of a stretch for such a flagrant law violator, and a bad one at that.

Even more troubling is the fact that this isn’t the first time Trump has threatened violence directed at his critics. Even during his campaign Trump threatened the outbreak of riots if he was denied the nomination. Almost daily he refers to the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” He has accused the press of “creating violence by your questions […] The fake news is creating violence.” He accused Democrats in Congress of treason for not applauding him at the State of the Union address. “Can we call that treason?” he said. “Why not? I mean, they certainly didn’t seem to love our country very much.” He suggested that the media also committed treason with its coverage of his summit with Kim Jong Un, saying that “It’s a shame the fake news covers it the way they do. It’s really, it’s almost treasonous, you want to know the truth.” Do you detect a pattern?

If you think that this sort of hostile rhetoric is petty trumpery (“worthless nonsense” according to Merriam-Webster), you might want to refer to the polling that shows that one-third of Trump voters say Democrats who didn’t applaud during the State of the Union were “treasonous.”

And you might also note Trump’s obsession with maligning his critics as anti-American. For instance, there was the time he responded to an op-ed in the New York Times by an anonymous White House staffer who called Trump “amoral,” “unstable,” “erratic,” “ill-informed,” and “reckless.” The author further worried that the President has “a preference for autocrats and dictators.” And that other staffers were “working diligently … from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.” In response to that article Trump blasted off four tweets attacking the Times, one of which contained a single word:

And that pretty much sums up the position of this wannabe dictator in the White House. He truly believes that any dissent is tantamount to treason, and the consequences of that is death. That’s the message that Trump is sending out to his glassy-eyed cult disciples. And this latest message raising the prospect of “revolt” is another escalation in his war against America, democracy, and freedom.

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

Trump Dementia? Says He’s ‘Very Happy’ with the Latest Mueller Filings, But Blames Hillary Clinton

This week saw what may the most significant developments to date stemming from the investigation of Donald Trump by special counsel Robert Mueller. In filings related to sentencing for Trump confidants Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, Mueller and the New York Attorney’s office disclosed unambiguous evidence that Trump engaged in criminal activities connected to both his campaign finances and his collusion with Russia.

Donald Trump

Nevertheless, Trump emerged from the White House to greet reporters on Saturday morning with what he presented as good news. Included in this gaggle was his announcement that Chief of Staff John Kelly will be leaving that post by the end of this year. That news comes after reports that the two are not even talking to each other. It also follows Trump’s previous insistence that Kelly would be around until 2020.

However, the real meat of this press avail was Trump’s assertion that he’s “very happy” with Mueller’s filings. That is either another one of his blatant lies designed to gaslight his cult followers, or he is suffering from delusions that are the product of his acute fear and desperation. He told the reporters (video below):

“On the Mueller situation, we’re very happy with what we are reading because there was no collusion whatsoever. There never has been. The last thing I wanted is help from Russia on a campaign.”

Of course the “Mueller situation” doesn’t clear Trump of any crimes or collusion. Quite the opposite. Cohen explicitly testified that Trump was involved in and directed the criminal acts that he pleaded guilty to. And the Russian connection that Trump has been lying about for two years is clearly outlined in the filings. The redacted parts are likely to provide even more detail of Trump’s culpability. So it isn’t surprising that he then shifts to assigning blame to his favorite scapegoat, Hillary Clinton:

“You should ask Hillary Clinton about Russia, because she financed the fake dossier which I understand they tried to get some information and help from Russia. But you ought to ask them about that. A very one-sided situation, but i think it’s all turning around very nicely. But as far as the report that we see – according to everybody I’ve spoken to, I have not read it – there’s absolutely no collusion, which is very important.”

There is so much wrong in that brief comment. Clinton didn’t finance the dossier. And she didn’t try to get help from Russia. The dossier was originally contracted by a conservative website. The Clinton campaign later supported that research, which never sought assistance from Russia. In fact, the author, Christopher Steele, got most of his information from dissident Russians who were working against the Kremlin, not for it.

It should also not be overlooked that Trump began by stating that he was “very happy with what we are reading,” but finished with “I have not read it.” This is, sadly, all too typical of Trump’s failing mental capabilities, and his ever-increasing fear, paranoia, and desperation due to Mueller’s investigation getting closer to him and his crime family every day. It’s the sort of delusional psychosis that results in him tweeting that the Cohen/Manafort filings:

You’re welcome. And if you like these legal proceedings, just wait until Mueller comes out with his final report that ties you directly to treasonous collusion with Russian and brazen financial corruption. Although when you see that you’ll probably tweet “Thanks for the Nobel Prize and for canonizing me as Saint Donald.” It must be really nice in that world of rainbows and unicorns and worshipful cult disciples that you live in.

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

A Fear-Hobbled Trump Viciously Maligns Mueller as his Desperation Spins Totally Out of Control

It’s a terrible thing to see the United States being put to shame by a “leader” who is quite obviously incompetent, self-motivated, and willing to bring untold harm to the nation in order to pacify his own ego and fear. Unfortunately, that’s what America is suffering through as Donald Trump’s psychosis gets ever more severe and destructive.

Donald Trump, Witch Hunt

On Tuesday morning Trump unleashed the sort of tweetstorm that is sadly becoming routine in his demented presidency. In three tweets (here, here, and here, if you really want to see them) Trump has affirmed that he is incapable of performing the duties of his office. And the best way to present this evidence of pure insanity and paranoia is just to put it forward unedited. Hold tight:

The Phony Witch Hunt continues, but Mueller and his gang of Angry Dems are only looking at one side, not the other. Wait until it comes out how horribly & viciously they are treating people, ruining lives for them refusing to lie. Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue….

…The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite. He is doing TREMENDOUS damage to our Criminal Justice System, where he is only looking at one side and not the other. Heroes will come of this, and it won’t be Mueller and his…

….terrible Gang of Angry Democrats. Look at their past, and look where they come from. The now $30,000,000 Witch Hunt continues and they’ve got nothing but ruined lives. Where is the Server? Let these terrible people go back to the Clinton Foundation and “Justice” Department!

Needless to say, there is nothing either true or coherent in that twisted tantrum. There are no “Angry Dems” on the staff of special counsel Robert Mueller. Although there are more than sixty-five million of them throughout the country, and millions more independents and woke Republicans. And the only lives that are being ruined are the ones of those who willfully broke the law and lied about it to investigators.

Naturally, Trump has to blame the free press for the crime of reporting what is actually happening. But for him to effectively call Mueller the devil (if that’s the opposite of a saint) is an extreme line that he has not previously crossed. The accusation that Mueller is damaging the criminal justice system makes no sense whatsoever. Particularly since Mueller is a life-long Republican and his office is overseen by Trump’s own appointees at the Justice Department.

Finally, the now comical cries of “Witch Hunt” ignore the fact that many “witches” have already confessed, and dozens of indictments have been issued to others. But Trump persists in mindless blabber about “servers” and the cost of the probe (which has already been more than paid for by the estimated $46 million in asset forfeiture from Paul Manafort).

This latest tweet-burst only affirms that Trump is frightened and in an acute state of panic. As well he should be. But by being so transparently afraid and desperate he is only making matters worse for himself. It’s a pitiful display of cowardice in the face of his overwhelming anxiety driven by the knowledge that he is trapped by his own criminality and ignorance. And it’s nothing less than he deserves.

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

A New Record? Liar-in-Chief, Donald Trump, Squeezes 10 Lies Into a Single Tweet

For someone who has made lying the hallmark of his public persona, Donald Trump is committed to advancing that character flaw to ever new heights. It’s not enough that he has won at least two Lie of the Year awards from PolitiFact, or that he surpassed 5,000 lies since his inauguration. He continues to climb to new summits in the pursuit of prevarication.

Donald Trump Robert Mueller

On Sunday morning, Trump apparently missed church so that he could repeatedly violate the Ninth Commandment: Thou shalt not lie. And he managed to commit this sin ten times in the space of a single tweet. It’s a feat that could compete with the holy spectacles of parting the Red Sea or getting elected president after bragging about grabbing women by their private parts. Here is the miraculous tweet:

Lie #1: It’s not illegal.
Let’s break this down in order. The first lie arrives quickly in the second word, “illegal.” The Mueller investigation is legal by any measure of consideration. It was authorized by Trump’s own attorney General, Jeff Sessions, and is headed by a special counsel, Robert Mueller, who was appointed by Sessions’ deputy, Rod Rosenstein. The entire probe is subject to the review of the Deputy Attorney General, who has approved everything that Mueller is doing.

Lie #2: It’s not a “Witch Hunt”:
This is one of Trump’s favorite ways to malign the investigation. But the absurdity of his attack is evidenced by the fact that so many “witches” have already been found. Mueller has produced dozens of indictments and secured seven guilty pleas/verdicts. And many of these felons are now cooperating with Mueller on broader matters that might include Trump’s collusion with Russia.

Lie #3: Mueller is not searching for a crime:
The special counsel is limited to only those areas of inquiry that are authorized by his bosses at the Justice Department. Everything he has been investigating has been explicitly approved and he has no authority to go beyond those limits without getting additional approvals. His only mandate is to investigate alleged crimes and document what he finds. If there were no crimes committed, he won’t find any.

Lie #4: There was collusion:
No matter how many times Trump whines that there was no collusion, he cannot erase reality. His son and his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, admit that they met with Russian operatives to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. What’s more, numerous people in Trump’s circle (Mike Flynn, George Papadopoulos, Jeff Sessions, Carter Page, etc.) have met with Russians and lied about about until the evidence made that impossible.

Lie #5: The collusion was not by Hillary Clinton:
There is absolutely zero evidence that Clinton or her campaign had any dealings with Russia. What Trump likes to assert is that the infamous Steele dossier is somehow proof of Clinton’s collusion. But that research was done independently by Christopher Steele, who got information from Russian dissidents, not Kremlin operatives. And Clinton never directed any of that investigation.

Lie #6: There aren’t 17 angry Democrats:
As a technical matter, there are 65 million angry Democrats. But more to the point, Trump is accusing Mueller’s team of being partisan and biased against him. But these are career Justice Department professionals who have shown no bias whatsoever in the conduct of their duties. And the head of the team, Mueller, is a life-long Republican who could overrule any finding that he determined was improperly influenced by personal opinions. Mueller proved his impartiality by removing former FBI official, Peter Strzok, after only two weeks due to the appearance of bias (although none was actually found).

Lie #7: They are not Looking for “anything”:
This is similar to lie #3 where Trump asserts that the investigation is just fishing for anything to hang on him. But once again, Mueller’s authority is strictly overseen by his superiors at the Justice Department. He cannot simply wander off on his own to hook the President.

Lie #8: It’s not unfair:
This is just Trump whining (and he did say that he is the “most fabulous whiner”. This is only unfair to the same degree that any criminal regards his prosecution as unfair. They would obviously prefer not to be under investigation at all. But Mueller’s probe is following all the rules set forth by applicable laws, and if Trump doesn’t like it he’s just behaving the way any other guilty person would. If he were innocent he would expect that the result would exonerate him and welcome the investigation as as an opportunity to clear his name.

Lie #9: It’s not bad for the country:
Let’s face it. This is only bad for Trump. What’s bad for the country is that Trump engaged in such shady and illegal activities that we all have to go through this nightmare. It’s no one’s fault but Trump’s. And he doesn’t get to decide whether his being brought to justice is bad for the country. His conviction will result in his having to pay the price for his crimes. And it will hopefully serve as a deterrent to other aspiring criminals and traitors.

Lie #10: It most definitely is allowed:
Everything that Mueller is doing is strictly according to the law (see Lie #1). Trump didn’t cite any alleged legal violation because there isn’t one. Not that he would be able to understand it if there were. His lawyers haven’t even cited any legal argument for ending the investigation, nor have they filed any motions to do so. The only threat to the investigation is Trump’s frequent warnings that he might interfere with the proceedings because he doesn’t like that they exist. That would just be another incident of obstruction of justice.

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

So Trump’s tweet managed to get everything wrong. It was a panicky outburst that exhibits just how frightened and desperate he is. It’s what lawyers call “consciousness of guilt.” And Trump has demonstrated that so many times it’s impossible to count. One thing for sure is that Mueller is taking all of this into consideration and it will be a part of his final report. Trump is so stupid he has no idea how badly he’s hurting his own case. But that’s typical of malignant narcissists who are always convinced of their own superior intelligence and virtue. And it’s also typical of their eventual downfall.

Protecting Trump? Fox News Buries Paul Manafort’s Cooperation and Plea Deal with Mueller Probe

There is no question that Hurricane Florence is the top story of Friday, September 14. The potential loss of life and billions of dollars in destruction are too serious a matter to under play. However, that doesn’t mean it’s the only story of the day. It most decidedly is not.

Donald Trump Fox News

On Friday morning, Donald Trump’s campaign chairman went into a courtroom in Washington where his lawyer announced that he had accepted a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller in order to avoid further legal jeopardy. This is particularly significant because the deal includes Manafort’s cooperation with prosecutors on other matters. According to ABC News:

“In court Friday morning, prosecutors revealed that Manafort had completed a successful meeting with investigators in which he offered them information they considered valuable. They did not specify what information he agreed to share, but made clear the cooperation would be ‘broad’ and would include participation in ‘interviews, briefings, producing documents, [and] testifying in other matters.'”

This development now gives Mueller a cooperating witness who was in the room at Trump Tower when Don Jr. and others met with Russian operatives seeking dirt on Hillary Clinton. That’s the core of the “witch hunt” charges of collusion that have been driving Trump’s batty for two years. Additionally, Manafort’s high position with the Trump campaign makes it likely that he has other incriminating information about Trump and company related to Russia, Wikileaks, and efforts to obstruct justice. It’s hard to overstate the trouble this news poses for Trump.

However, it is easy to understate it. And that’s exactly what State TV (aka Fox News) has been doing since the news broke. While Fox News did air a twenty-six second “alert” prior to the plea being announced in court, they have taken great pains to ignore it ever since. That alert had no details about the agreement and no notice of Manafort’s cooperation with Mueller. At the noon hour Shepard Smith took over. It took him an hour and twenty minutes to say anything about the Manafort case. And that segment was the last he said about it for at least the next hour and a half.

It’s no wonder that Fox News is determined to suppress this news. It puts Trump in a the awkward position of defending himself against another former associate who is turning state’s evidence. In this case, Trump had previously praised Manafort for his loyalty and bravery under pressure:

Well, so much for not breaking. If history is any indicator, Trump will shortly tweet about what a weasel Manafort is for making up these lies to cut a deal for himself. Then Trump will Insist that he hardly knew Manafort and he had little to do with Trump or his campaign. And that’s when Fox News will resume reporting on this subject. They will virtually ignore the substance of the legal controversy and focus on Trump’s rejection of the weak-kneed former campaign boss. The script just writes itself.

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