Polls

Debased Debate: Trump’s Petulant Interruptions Were Filled with More and Bigger Lies

Posted by on September 30, 2020 at 11:11 am. 3 Comments :

What happened on Tuesday night was not a debate. It was an unprecedented and disgraceful debasement of the proud tradition of American political discourse. Donald Trump managed to embarrass himself (and the nation) to a degree that exceeds every other incidence of his doing so. And that’s really saying something. He’s validating a recent poll wherein a majority of voters said that Trump doesn’t have the mental soundness to serve.

Donald Trump Baby at Podium

Prior to the debate, Trump was laying the groundwork to make excuses for what he apparently believed was his inevitable loss. Those excuses consisted primarily of bizarre conspiracy theories. Trump also made the preposterous accusation that the debate moderator, Chris Wallace, was “controlled by the radical left.” And Trump’s GOP confederates were convinced that Biden would be cheating by being smarter than Trump. How devious.

Among the rhetorical atrocities uttered by Trump was his abject failure to call on his white supremacist supporters to refrain from violence in the event of his electoral loss. Trump was incapable of making a simple statement condemning all violence, as Joe Biden did. Instead, Trump gave a shout out to the racist Proud Boys, telling them to “stand back and stand by.” It was as if he was issuing orders as their commander. And that’s precisely how Trump’s racist militias interpreted it.

However, the most pronounced departure from civility during the debate was Trump’s repeated and incessant interruptions of both Biden and Wallace. And he made these interruptions in order to squeeze in as many flagrant lies as possible in the limited time available. CNN’s fact checker, Daniel Dale, documented the avalanche of untruths throughout the debate. What follows are some of the most blatant and shameless examples of deliberate dishonesty ever recorded in a presidential debate (as enumerated by Dale in his live tweeting). Or as Dale describes it…

“This president is a serial liar who keeps serially lying. This is just so much dishonesty on the biggest stage by the President of the United States. […] This is always what it’s like with Donald Trump. This is what it’s been like for five years. Basically any unscripted event featuring Donald Trump will feature a huge quantity of false claims. […] Trump is an unprecedented liar in the Oval Office. […] You’re be hard pressed to find literally any subject on which the American people can, right now and over the last five years, have been able to take Donald Trump at his word.”

TRUMP’S DEBASED DEBATE LIES:

It’s not true Biden would “extinguish” the private insurance of 180 million people. He opposed the Sanders-style “Medicare for All”

Trump didn’t “ban” travel from China or Europe. He imposed travel restrictions with numerous exemptions — for US citizens, green card holders, many of their family members — and the Europe restrictions exempted entire countries.

There’s no evidence Trump’s executive order will reduce drug prices 80% or 90%.

Trump lies that he was talking “sarcastically” when he mused about injecting disinfectant to fight the virus.

Biden has not proposed a shutdown or put forward a shutdown plan. He said in an August interview that he’d shut things down *if scientists said that was necessary in a virus crisis.*

No basis for Trump to claim that there have been no problems from his big pandemic-era rallies. [Just ask Herman Cain]

Trump claims he paid “millions of dollars” in federal income tax despite the NYT having obtained his tax returns, which show he paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 & 2017

Trump falsely claims he’s brought back 700,000 manufacturing jobs.

There’s no evidence Biden acted corruptly or improperly re the Ukrainian prosecutor.

It’s false that Biden does not have “any” law enforcement support [via Fox News].

Biden has not said that riots are peaceful protest. He’s called peaceful protest peaceful protest.

Our suburbs would not be “gone” if Biden was elected.

Biden is not talking about defunding the police. He just said he opposes defunding the police.

Kellyanne Conway DID say more violence was good for Trump’s prospects; she said on Fox that “the more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better news for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order.”

“Unsolicited” ballots are not fraud prone.

It’s not true that 30% and 40% of ballots are being “lost.”

Trump has gotten insulin prices so low, it’s “like water.” – insulin still retails for roughly $300 a vial.

A post-debate poll of debate watchers by CNN is an early indicator that Trump’s rudely Neanderthal behavior has succeeded only in sabotaging his own already floundering campaign. Biden was judged by a solid majority to have won the debate (60-28%). He was seen as being more truthful (65-29%). A majority of voters said that they trusted Biden more than Trump on critical national issues like racial inequality (66%), health care (66%), the coronavirus outbreak (64%), and Supreme Court nominations (54%). And while most respondents (57%) said they were unlikely to change their vote, those who were moved were three times as likely to have moved into Biden’s camp than Trump’s (33-11%). And overall favorability was strongly on Biden’s side (62-35%).

This is more bad news for Trump who was already lagging in every national poll, as well as most of the crucial battleground state polls. What this says for the future of the debate schedule is hard to predict. Biden would have justification for not participating in any more of these Trump-induced psyche ward rumbles. But the next debate has a town hall format and it would be interesting to see if Trump would insult the voters to their faces. Either way, expect to Trump to become even more despicable and deranged. Because, as Biden said with regard to Trump’s negligent and and incompetent mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, “It is what it is, because you are who you are.”

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

Fox News Poll: Majority Say Trump Doesn’t Have the ‘Mental Soundness’ to Serve

Posted by on September 13, 2020 at 2:14 pm. 8 Comments :

For the past several months Donald Trump has been trying to portray Joe Biden as mentally unfit to perform the duties of the presidency. Trump acts out his inner infant by referring to Biden with childish nicknames like “Slow” and/or “Sleepy” Joe. It’s an embarrassing display of desperation by an emotionally stunted candidate who relies entirely on lies and fear mongering.

Donald Trump

However, Trump’s frantic campaign of lame insults has not taken hold among America’s voters. He is behind in every national poll, as well as in most of the critical battleground states. Think about that. Trump is losing bigly to a candidate that he says is not only mentally deficient, but also a radical socialist bent on destroying America. If you can’t beat someone like that, you might as well give up.

In the latest Fox News poll (which Trump has a love/hate relationship with), Biden is beating Trump with a majority of likely voters (51-46%). Biden’s favorables are positive (54-45%), while Trump’s are underwater (46-53%). Biden is also leading on an array of the issues most important to the electorate. According to Fox News…

“Likely voters trust Trump over Biden on just one issue: the economy, by 5 points. Biden is favored on racial inequality (+12), coronavirus (+8), health care (+8), Supreme Court nominations (+7), and immigration (+7 points). Voters also trust Biden over Trump on ‘policing and criminal justice’ (+7), while the two are rated about evenly on ‘maintaining law and order’ (Biden +2).”

Trump has been especially obsessed of late with what he is characterizing as a nation besieged by violent insurrectionists like Black Lives Matter (a peaceful equal justice advocacy movement) and Antifa (a figment of Trump’s imagination). So it’s particularly notable that Biden is regarded by voters as the better candidate on policing and Trump’s adopted catch phrase, “law and order.” His hysterical rhetoric is having zero effect on voters, or worse (from his perspective), it’s alienating them and driving them in the opposite direction.

Perhaps the most noteworthy finding in this poll is that voters regard Biden as more fit mentally than Trump. The poll shows a majority of 51% attesting to Biden’s mental soundness. Conversely, Trump has a majority of 51% worried about his mental infirmity. This poll replicates the results of similar poll by Fox News two months ago. So once again, Trump’s barrage of malicious slander has failed to turn voters against Biden. Instead, his prepubescent pettiness appears to have splashed back in his face.

Another poll by ABC/Ipsos has more bad news for Trump. In addition to a broad majority (65%) disapproving of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic (which he was caught lying about), the poll found that “Most Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin (61-37%), think Biden has more respect for those who serve in uniform than Trump does.” So Trump has utterly failed to convince anyone of his phony devotion to the military. That isn’t surprising considering he’s a five-time draft dodger who insults POWS, steals from veterans’ charities, and thinks fallen soldiers are “losers” and “suckers.”

Trump’s tantrums are having the opposite effect of what they intended. Everything that he has embraced as the core issues of his propaganda output is turning out to be more advantageous for Biden. This should be a slap upside the head to those who believed that Trump was a marketing genius. The truth is that he’s a bumbling failure who can be expected to ruin any project that he so incompetently mishandles. It should be abundantly clear now that everything he touches turns to …let’s just say… bull manure.

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

Trump’s Fascist ‘Law and Order’ Rhetoric is Making Things Worse: POLL

Posted by on September 6, 2020 at 12:43 pm. 5 Comments :

The reelection prospects for Donald Trump have been mired in an abyss of doom for months. Joe Biden is crushing him in every national poll as well as in most of the crucial swing states. And the post-convention polling has only gotten worse for Trump. That, of course, is not a reason to become complacent or to work less vigorously. Victory is not assured until the votes are counted.

Donald Trump heil

Trump, however, has a real problem. He can’t campaign on the economy, which is in recession. He can’t campaign on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has been a model of deadly negligence and incompetence with deaths nearing 190,000. He can’t campaign on character, because…well, because he’s Donald Trump. So that leaves only one path available for him to stagger down: Fear and division.

Consequently, Trump has wholly embraced a campaign theme centered on terrorizing the American people. The catch phrase most often associated with him is “law and order,” which he has tweeted 52 times so far this year alone. He is painting a hellish picture of the nation as being engulfed in flames with violent insurgents occupying vast territories of major cities and threatening to invade the serenity of white suburbia.

These dystopian delusions have been the core of Trump’s campaign strategy for weeks. He mostly has been maligning the demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism. According to Trump “These are not acts of peaceful protest but really domestic terror.” And now we have some evidence of just how badly his tactics are failing. A new poll by ABC News/Ipsos has found that…

“Over half of the country — 55% … said they think Trump is aggravating the situation, while just over one in 10 Americans, 13%, said they think he is making it better.”

Thirteen percent barely amounts to a third of his base support, so even most of his cult followers don’t think he’s making things better. The poll goes on to ask a series of questions related to public safety and which candidate for president is best suited to handle the crises that the nation faces. The results show that “Between the two candidates, more Americans trust Biden over Trump to…”

  • Keep the country safe, 55%-42%
  • Keep their families safe, 56%-42%
  • Care more about them, 59%-38%
  • Unite the country, 64%-33%
  • Handle the protests across the country, 59%-39%
  • Address racial discrimination, 64%-34%
  • Manage the COVID-19 response, 60%-38%
  • Reduce violence in the country, 59%-39%

Nevertheless, Trump is still relying on an imaginary horror story about rampant crime to juice his campaign. An analysis by HuffPost found that out of “73,000 ads they aired from July 1 to July 26 … 85% of them dealt in one way or another with public safety.”

The fact that none of this is working for Trump may have something to do with his having pulled all of his television advertising. That’s a peculiar thing to do in the week following his national nominating convention and in the last lap toward election day. He either realizes that his campaign strategy is a complete bust, or he’s run out of money. Either way it’s a very bad omen for the future of his campaign and his presidency. Which, ironically, is a very good omen for America and the world.

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

Crybaby Trump Whines that Fox News Polls are Fake News

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

There is nothing more predictable than Donald Trump wailing like a colicky infant whenever he is criticized. His massive, yet fragile, ego simply can’t take the slightest bit of pushback, constructive or otherwise. So he throws petulant tantrums in the hopes that his critics will regret their offense and commit to unflinching adoration.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Fake

That’s a pretty accurate description of his relationship with Fox News. It’s a network that was built to disseminate right-wing propaganda. And in the Era of Trump it has transformed into the Ministry of Disinformation for the cult that he leads. It employs devoted Trump worshipers like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, Maria Bartiromo, etc., who are also his the staff advisors of his shadow cabinet. And it is practically the only network that he will grant interviews to.

But apparently that it isn’t enough. When there is a rare critical commentary by a host or a guest, Trump lashes out mercilessly as if he’s been betrayed by a close confidant. That happens every time that Fox publishes a poll that isn’t as enamored with him as he is himself. Take for instance this Thursday morning…

First of all, Fox News polls were in the middle of that pack with regard to accuracy in 2016. Trump still refuses to accept that the national polling was largely correct, but did not reflect state-by-state returns that produced the Electoral College result. Secondly, Trump can “believe” that he’s “leading BIG” all he wants, but it doesn’t make it true. He is, in fact, getting crushed by Joe Biden nationally, as well as in the crucial swing states. And thirdly, his attempt to connect the Fox News poll with the stock market is just too preposterous to even respond to.

For the record, Trump has taken this stance before. Last year Trump cried about how Fox News polls “have always been terrible to me.” But in reality they have just as often been positive. And when they were, Trump noticed and celebrated their findings, as News Corpse observed at the time:

“What is abundantly clear is that Trump has been more than pleased with the results of Fox News polls in the past. But when one is less than adoring he flips out and insists that they have always had it in for him. That’s a sign of a severe mental infirmity consistent with narcissism, paranoia, and sociopathic disengagement from reality.”

Trump is a well documented malignant narcissist whose psychotic self-absorption twists his perception of reality. He can only accept flattering appraisals and glassy-eyed adulation from the media and even his personal relationships. Anything else is met with abject scorn and unqualified rejection. It’s a sickness that is putting this nation at risk. And if it isn’t brought to an end this November, the damage may be irreversible for decades.

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

Trump Is Toast: Post-Convention Polls Show Biden’s Lead Growing

Posted by on September 2, 2020 at 12:24 pm. 1 Comments :

With both party’s nominating conventions over, the 2020 presidential campaign begins in earnest. There has been much speculation about how these unprecedented, pandemic-challenged conventions would impact the race. For most of the election season to date, Joe Biden has maintained a steady lead nationally, as well as in the crucial swing states. And now we have some early indication as to what effect the conventions will have on that.

Donald Trump Circling the Drain

There have been several polls released since the conventions concluded. Every one of them show that Biden still holds the lead by significant margins. However, it’s important to note that most of them show Biden’s lead actually growing. As reported by RealClearPolitics, four polls have Biden increasing his lead, two show the lead narrowing, and one remains unchanged:

Polls Date Biden Trump Spread Prior Spread
RCP Average 8/21 – 9/1 49.4 42.3 Biden +7.1
YouGov 8/30 – 9/1 51 40 Biden +11 Biden +9
IBD/TIPP 8/29 – 9/1 49 41 Biden +8 Biden +7
Emerson 8/30 – 8/31 49 47 Biden +2 Biden +4
USA   Today 8/28 – 8/31 50 43 Biden +7 Biden +12
Rasmussen 8/26 – 9/1 49 45 Biden +4 Biden +2
Selzer 8/26 – 8/30 49 41 Biden +8 Biden +4
The   Hill 8/25 – 8/28 47 38 Biden +9 Biden +9

This is bad news for Donald Trump who certainly hoped his “American Carnage 2.0” RNC speech would have helped him crawl out of his slump. It surely didn’t help that he lost in the ratings war with the Democratic convention drawing more viewers overall, and Biden drawing more viewers specifically. it also doesn’t help that Trump is incapable of articulating a second term agenda. And on top of that, Biden just pulled in some record breaking fund raising.

As a result, Trump has had to embrace a dystopian theme of fear and loathing, while seeking to encourage violence among his cult followers, which he cynically believes will benefit his campaign. And he will use anything to deflect from his failure to manage the coronavirus pandemic and the economic recession, both of which are the result of his negligence and incompetence.

The most prominent lines of attack that Trump has hurled at Biden have been insinuations about his mental faculties. That has never been true (except for Trump himself), but it hasn’t stopped Trump from incessantly repeating his infantile nicknames and insults. And now that Biden has easily outperformed the low bar that Trump set for him, Trump’s entire campaign strategy is out the window. All he has left is to chase after the racist, white nationalists that have been his most loyal base of support.

None of this, however, will dampen Trump’s resolve to lie and cheat his way victory. He will continue to malign Biden as being stuck in his basement (which is false), or being unwilling to hold press conferences (which he did today). Ironically, it’s Trump who is stuck in a media bunker wherein he only allows Fox News bootlickers to interview him. But whats really sad is that he fouls those up, even as Trump-fluffers like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends struggle to throw him lifelines.

Nevertheless, Democrats must remain determined to see this through until November 3, without any let up or over confidence. We must run like we’re behind 10 points behind. And we must not let Trump get away with any of his deceitful messaging and hate mongering. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and every day counts.

Trump and the GOP have not yet exhausted their capacity for dishonesty and criminality. They are unlawfully exploiting federal agencies from intelligence to the census to the Postal Service and more, in order to achieve their nefarious ends. And they still have Russia on their team. So stay vigilant. Stay strong. And stay committed to winning for America.

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

Trump Approval Drops After Two Days of the Republican Nationalist Convention

Posted by on August 26, 2020 at 2:12 pm. 4 Comments :

What Donald Trump promised would be an optimistic and hopeful celebration of Republican leadership has predictably turned into a dystopian nightmare exalting an aspiring totalitarian dictator. The dark and hostile themes articulated by one speaker after another were unflinchingly foreboding and resolutely reverential of Trump and only Trump.

Donald Trump

This steadfast devotion to the Cult of Trump was intended to jump start his floundering reelection campaign. Joe Biden has been consistently beating Trump in both national and swing state polling for months. So the nasty tone set by Trump and his convention plotters was chosen in an attempt to boost his approval and to smear Biden in such a way as to bring him down to Trump’s level. They sent out their heavy artillery including four members of the Trump family (Eric, Don Jr, Tiffany, and Melania). They were fortified by notorious Trump-fluffers like Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Jim Jordan, Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, and the screeching stylings of former Fox News host, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

However, early indicators show that this strategy is working about as well as everything else Trump has tried to do in his presidency (i.e. utter failure). One week ago Trump proudly tweeted that he had reached a peak approval rating of 51% as surveyed by the disreputable right-wing pollster, Rasmussen Reports. Rasmussen is without a doubt Trump’s favorite pollster and the only one who has ever shown Trump with a majority approval rating.

Now, after two days of RNC ranting, and worshipful characterizations of Trump as Messiah, Rasmussen has him at 47% approve, 51% disapprove. That’s a four point drop (and an eight point negative swing) that occurred in just the two days since the convention began. Additionally, Rasmussen has Trump with a 36% strongly approve rating, and 44% strongly disapprove. UPDATE: Another day, another drop for Trump as his approval on the Rasmussen poll goes down to 46%.

To repeat, Rasmussen is the most Trump-friendly pollster on the planet. For comparison, other recent polls show Trump with considerably worse numbers. RealClearPolitics’ average “poll of polls” has Trump in the red 10.6%. And his performance in the crucial swing states is particularly dismal. Biden is leading in six of the seven states considered as battlegrounds (Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ohio, and North Carolina). North Carolina is the only state where Biden is not ahead, but he is either tied or close. Biden is also challenging Trump in traditionally red states like Texas and Arizona.

Trump’s decline this week so far does not bode well for the remaining days of the convention, Ordinarily, a candidate could look forward to a game changing speech at the conclusion of the convention, But Trump has already played that card by casting himself in prominent roles every day. He even included official duties (the granting of clemency and a swearing in ceremony for new citizens) in his convention events, which many legal experts contend is a violation of federal law.

Consequently, the final two days hold little suspense. Firebrands like Kellyanne Conway, Ivanka Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and a parade of d-list members of Congress will be speaking. The remaining star power consists of Mike Pence, who is scheduled to give one of his always tranquillizing addresses on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, Trump will close the show with what will likely be a sequel to his infamous “American Carnage” inaugural horror story.

How any of that can be expected to move the polling needle is a mystery. But that’s all that the Trump camp has in store. Unless, of course, he surprises us with Hillary’s lost emails, a check from Mexico for the border wall, or a coronavirus vaccine he whipped up in the White House guest bathroom. Stay tuned.

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

Desperately Dumb Trump Embraces ‘Fake News’ CNN Poll

Posted by on August 17, 2020 at 2:00 pm. 1 Comments :

On the first day of the Democratic National Convention, Donald Trump has embarked on his “Narcissistic DNC Disruption Tour“ in order to satisfy his relentless compulsion to always be the center of attention. Unfortunately for Trump, the more attention he gets, the more people are disgusted by him and his infantile, dishonest, and hostile antics.

Donald Trump

Trump began his Monday morning with an embarrassingly bad interpretation of a new poll by CNN/SRSS. The survey found that Joe Biden continues to lead nationally by a 50-46% majority. Taking comfort in what appears to be a narrower margin of Biden’s lead, Trump giddily hammered out a tweet saying…

As with nearly everything that Trump says, this is a starkly shallow analysis that ignores reality on multiple levels. First of all, Trump begins by asserting that there is something wrong with a poll that he regards as favorable to him. There’s probably a name for that sort of psychosis, but I’ll leave that to the mental health professionals.

Secondly, Trump is encouraged that the poll seems to be “increasing me by 10 points in a short period of time.” What he doesn’t seem to know is that this CNN poll has been all over the map in the past few months. The previous poll had Biden ahead by 14 points. Before that it was 5 points. And before that it was 11 points. For some reason CNN’s numbers are bouncing around without any evident reason. As for Trump’s claim that the alleged increase took place in a short period of, that’s only true if you think two months qualifies as short.

Finally, Trump takes a swipe at his own Ministry of Propaganda (aka Fox News). But it’s hard to figure out what he’s whining about. It appears he’s saying that CNN wants to “take over” from Fox as the network most biased in his favor? But then why does he characterize that as being wrong? And which network does he believe is “fake” news now? Does he even know what he’s talking about anymore? There is clearly a problem if he’s praising CNN and bashing Fox (although he has been bashing Fox with some frequency lately).

For the record, Trump’s polling is dreadful. He has good reason to be frightened. After all, he is losing to someone that he says is a mentally deficient socialist. What does that say about him? Of the 122 polls tracked this year by RealClearPolitics, Trump has led in a grand total of one. That was way back in February. The average Biden lead for the whole year of polling is 7 points. Biden’s average lead for the past week shows an acceleration of support to 8.3 points.

No wonder Trump is frantically trying to suppress the vote and subvert democracy. He knows his prospects for reelection are slim to none. What’s more, he knows the legal jeopardy he is likely to face when he returns to civilian life. Consequently, he’s spending most of his time preparing to contest the election results and diminish confidence in democracy overall. It’s a path that is not only unpatriotic, it’s dangerous. And it’s up to the American people to make sure he doesn’t get away with it.

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

Trump Clings to Pitiful Fox News Polling Analysis that Mangles Reality

Posted by on August 2, 2020 at 1:23 pm. 2 Comments :

As Election Day draws nearer, Donald Trump’s prospects for reelection become more distant. All of the national polls show him losing to Joe Biden by substantial margins. Even worse, Trump is losing in every crucial swing state. Biden is even competitive in the traditionally red states of Texas and Georgia.

Donald Trump

With less than 100 days to go, Trump has to recognize that he is deep trouble. Although, with the severity of his malignant narcissism, he may have convinced himself that is universally beloved. But the truth is that his personal and job approval ratings are swirling the drain. His policies are rejected by broad majorities of the American people. His opportunities for in-person campaigning are constrained by the Trump Virus, ironically a problem exacerbated by his own negligence and incompetence. and it’s only been getting worse for him as time goes by.

Consequently, Fox News is stepping up their efforts to defend Dear leader with ludicrous analyses of polls that are inherently awful. Host Jesse Watters delivered a monologue on Saturday night that selected one poll that he managed to spin so furiously he might have created a black hole of derp. Watters led off a segment he dubbed “The Trump Turnaround” by saying that “You can feel the momentum shift in the presidential race. It showed up in the polls too, in key battleground states.”

It’s hard to know what Watters was actually feeling, but it could not have been momentum. He was citing a poll conducted by Change Research for CNBC. They are a pollster that is frequently an outlier that leans to the right. According to their methodology statement, the poll “reaches voters via targeted online ads that point people to an online survey instrument.”

Huh? So respondents self-select by clicking on Internet ads. That is hardly a scientific process for statistical data analysis. However, even this dicey poll had nothing positive for the Trump camp. The take that Watters tried to sell to dimwitted Fox News viewers (and to Trump) was that this poll was less horrible for Trump than the previous one.

Watters noted that the lead Biden holds over Trump in six “battleground” states (Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) were smaller than the poll published two weeks prior. What Watters fails to mention is that they are still leads. That’s right, Biden is beating Trump in every one of these states, and Watters thinks there is good news in that.

Watters also neglected to inform his Fox Cult following that the leads reported in this poll are significantly smaller than the leads reported in every other poll. Comparing these results to the average of recent polls shows Biden’s cumulative lead in the swing states is literally double what the Change Research survey found. So naturally this prompted Watters to aim this admonishment at his audience:

“Don’t believe the lies you hear from the media or on social media about a Biden Victory. This is going to be a very close election. But President Trump has the edge.“

https://twitter.com/WattersWorld/status/1289728874293518337

Concluding that “Trump has the edge” when he is behind in every instance is a feat of Olympian bullshittery. Which is, of course, what Fox News is most famous for. And it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump retweeted this segment to bask in the glow of his epic failure. But if Watters and Trump want to believe this so badly, let’s not spoil it for them. Reality will reveal itself in its own time.

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

The Coronavirus is Killing Trump Supporters, So Now He’s ‘Concerned’

Posted by on July 27, 2020 at 2:07 pm. 2 Comments :

Much is being made by some the more milquetoast members of the media of what they are spinning as a “pivot” by Donald Trump with regard to his position on the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. They have observed him wearing a face mask for the first time after four months of mocking those who did so, including his opponent, Joe Biden. They have seen him resume the coronavirus briefings (aka Trump reelection campaign photo-ops), and managing to stick to the script prepared for him on his Teleprompter.

Donald Trump, Coronavirus

Trump’s months long dismissal of the pandemic’s severity, and his stubborn negligence and incompetence, has resulted in the preventable deaths of nearly 150,000 Americans. And now it is morphing into an awkward display of robotic and transparently insincere “sympathy.” But the consequences of his inaction and deliberate malfeasance are too tragic to ignore. The reasons for which, Trump has just admitted in private discussions with his staff. According to the Washington Post…

“In the past couple of weeks, senior advisers began presenting Trump with maps and data showing spikes in coronavirus cases among ‘our people’ in Republican states, a senior administration official said. They also shared projections predicting that virus surges could soon hit politically important states in the Midwest — including Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.”

So Trump’s newfound concern for the suffering citizens of this country was only triggered by his own political self-interest. He wasn’t worried until he learned that his supporters in the red states that he has pandered to exclusively were vulnerable to the viral disease blanketing the nation. Until now, Trump must have thought that only Democrats were susceptible to the coronavirus. And if so, then he couldn’t care less.

However, Trump could not have been more wrong (as usual). Studies support the more probable likelihood that Republicans and Trumpists are actually at greater risk. That’s because they are more attentive to his self-serving and recklessly false platitudes, and his insistence that COVID-19 wasn’t any more dangerous than the common flu. Trump’s cult disciples believed him when he said that it would just disappear as if by magic.

A series of surveys by Axios show that “President Trump’s words and actions have shaped Republicans’ perceptions and behavior on everything from wearing face masks to worrying about economic collapse.” Among their findings is that Republicans report wearing face masks about 41% of the time, less than half of what Democrats reported (81%). Only 38% of Trump’s followers say they are “‘very concerned’ about the COVID-19 outbreak.” That’s compared to 83% of Democrats. The same partisan gaps exist on questions about whether someone has visited relatives (Republicans 61%, Democrats 36%), and concern about the economy collapsing (Republicans 54%, Democrats 60%).

The bottom line is that Trump’s faithful have fallen in line behind his dismissive view of the pandemic. They continue to reject the serious risks and the warnings of health experts. And many are still convinced that simple and proven methods of mitigating the spread (face masks, social distancing, contact tracing, etc.), are actually “Deep State” plots to infringe on their liberty that will eventually lead to America becoming one big communist gulag.

This deranged behavior is directly attributable to the example set by their messiah. And the more they try to emulate him, the more likely they will become victims of the virus. That is not good news for anyone. These careless Trumpoids can just as easily transmit the virus to Democrats as to Republicans. The virus has no partisan affiliations.

But as Trump is discovering, if the virus spreads more rapidly in parts of the country where his voters are more numerous, then the odds are greater that more them will become infected. And if illness – or death – prevents them from casting their votes for him, then he’s finally going to be concerned. It’s nauseating that it would take that sort of egomaniacal selfishness to move Trump to act, but it’s better than him continuing to not act at all.

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

Majority Say Trump Does Not Have the Mental Soundness to Serve: Fox News Poll

Posted by on July 19, 2020 at 1:38 pm. 5 Comments :

There is trouble in the Realm of the Stable Genius. And the more that reality contradicts the fantasy life of Donald Trump, the more bizarre and dangerous his delusional tales become. But Trump is, without a doubt, his biggest booster. He has to be. No one else with any scrap of credibility wants the job.

Donald Trump, coronavirus

Trump is constantly telling anyone who still bothers to listen that he is brilliant and infallible. He says he knows more than the generals about war; more than economists about the economy; more than doctors about healthcare. And always, Trump insists that he has a mind that is far superior to those of mere mortals.

Sadly for Trump, he has failed miserably at persuading the American people that any of that is true. A poll by his State TV Propaganda Network (aka Fox News), was just published that asked voters “Do you think Donald Trump has the mental soundness to serve effectively as president?” A majority of the people (51% to 43%) responded that he does not.

Of course, anyone paying attention to the steady stream of Trump’s incoherent babbling, whining, and flagrant lying, already arrived at this conclusion long ago. But the fact that Fox News is validating it with their poll has some significance and provides a stinging rebuke to Trump’s laughable self-appraisals.

What’s worse for Trump is that when Fox asked the same question about Joe Biden, a plurality of voters (47% to 39%) responded saying that he is mentally fit to serve. And that is after Trump has spent months trying to malign Biden, particularly with regard to his mental competence. That effort on Trump’s part has actually backfired.

Another poll published last week by Monmouth University had similar results. Only 35% said they are “very” or “somewhat” confident of Trump’s mental stability. A majority of 54% said they are “not to” or “not at all” confident. Biden’s numbers are the complete opposite with 52% saying they are “very” or “somewhat” confident, and only 35% saying they are “not to” or “not at all” confident.

Following the release of the Fox News poll, Trump was interviewed by Chris Wallace, who actually brought up this question. Which led to one of the most peculiar exchanges between a president and the press ever recorded:

Notice that Trump didn’t actually respond to the fact that a majority of the American people think he’s too demented to be president. Setting that aside, Trump’s “challenge” to both Biden and Wallace to take the test and compare results is a typical Trumpian dodge. That’s because he has not – and will not – release his own results. Nevertheless, this isn’t the first time that Trump has issued this challenge. He is apparently exceptionally proud of the fact that he can identify an elephant and count backwards from 100. Well, allegedly. Without seeing his results we really don’t know if he “aced it” or even passed it.

In addition to the Fox News poll’s findings on Trump’s mental infirmities, it also showed Trump…

  • Losing to Biden by eight points
  • Losing women by 19 points
  • Losing Blacks by 64 points
  • Losing Hispanics by 30 points
  • Losing millennials by 22 points
  • Behind on favorability (Trump 43% / Biden 54%)
  • Negative on compassion (Trump 36% / Biden 56%)
  • Negative on intelligence (Trump 42% / Biden 51%)
  • Negative on judgment (Trump 40% / Biden 52%)
  • Less trusted on race relations (-21 points)
  • Less trusted on the coronavirus (-17 points)

And as if that weren’t enough, only 26% percent say they are better off than four years ago. A national mask-wearing order for indoor spaces is favored by 71%. Voting by mail is favored by 63%. Continuing the extra $600/week unemployment benefit is favored by 62%. There is almost nothing positive for Trump to cling to in this survey.

The Trump interview featured some nuggets of nonsense as well. Trump repeated his ludicrous assertion that testing for the coronavirus causes cases; he callously stated that the death toll “is what it is”; he claimed that he’s not losing because all the polls are fake; and he floated the crackpot conspiracy theory that “children are taught in school to hate our country.” These are the same schools that he is now recklessly pushing to reopen, which is also unpopular according to the Fox poll.

What’s more, Trump refused to say that he would accept the results of election if he lost. He railed some more about mail-in voting being rigged. And when asked “How will you regard your years as president” after your term ends, he replied “I think I was very unfairly treated […] I’ve been very unfairly treated. And I don’t say that as paranoid. Everybody says it.” Then he he repeated his oft-stated lie that Obama and Biden spied on his campaign.

Finally, Trump made a point of telling Wallace that “I’m not a big fan of Fox, I’ll be honest with you. They’ve changed a lot since Roger Ailes.” Actually, Trump isn’t a fan of any inference of negativity, regardless of where it comes from. And Trump missing former Fox CEO Roger Ailes isn’t surprising since they both have shared being dishonest, right-wing, sexual predators. But Trump still favors Fox News as his network of choice. It is almost the only network that he grants interviews. And his favorite media personalities (Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs, etc.) are all on Fox.

However, Trump isn’t shy about “working the refs” in an attempt to get Fox to be even more fawning and servile. So no matter how many times Trump says that it’s “So Hard to Watch Fox News Anymore,” he keeps coming back for more fluffing and ego-stroking.

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