Russia

With a Global Pandemic Looming, Trump Becomes Putin’s Political Pundit

Posted by on March 2, 2020 at 2:01 pm. 5 Comments :

The reports of coronavirus infections continues to grow both in the United States and internationally. Six deaths have now been confirmed in the U.S. And most epidemiological experts are warning that it is impossible to know how many Americans are affected because tests have not been been conducted. Those tests number in the tens of thousands in China and South Korea, but only about 500 in the U.S.

Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump

So what is our Commander-in-Chief doing to mitigate the harm and protect the American people? He’s politicking, of course. That behavior is taking the form of bragging about himself and what he asserts is a perfect response to the crisis. He is also whining about criticism he has drawn from Democrats and public health professionals. Of course, none of that is helping to get the nation through this budding pandemic. But to Trump the only thing that matters is how it affects him personally.

For instance, on Monday morning Trump posted about three dozens tweets. Two dozen of those were promotions to elect Republican members of Congress. By contrast, he posted only two tweets wherein he directly addressed the coronavirus. In one he announced that he was meeting with pharmaceutical companies to discuss the development of a vaccine, which is something they were doing anyway without his interruption. The other complained that he was was criticized by Democrats for his ineffective response. Once again, none of that advanced the fight against the coronavirus.

Aside from hyping GOP candidates and whining about being a victim, Trump has also been tweeting up a storm about the Democratic presidential primary. And virtually every comment he has made has been taken straight out of the Vladimir Putin playbook to sow discord and create chaos. More than anything else, Trump has been pushing the conspiracy theory that the Democratic Party is trying to rig the election against Bernie Sanders. Does anyone really believe that Trump cares about Sanders and whether or not he is treated fairly by the party that Trump maligns as all “do nothing, radical socialists”? Of course not.

What’s interesting is that this is precisely the tactic that Putin is pursuing to get Democrats to fight among themselves. It could not be more obvious that Trump is acting on behalf of Russia to advance his own reelection prospects. It’s so conspicuous that when Trump was asked directly what his comment to Putin would be about interfering with the election, he replied completely off-topic that “They ought to investigate Adam Schiff,” and then he pretty much denied that any interference was taking place.

So what’s the point of Trump’s malicious and intellectually vacant attempts at punditry? Clearly no one is taking his analysis of the Democratic primary seriously. Why should they? He has only hostile intentions. It would be like asking a snake the best way to avoid getting eaten by it. Trump should be literally the last person whose opinions of the Democrats would be sought.

The only purpose for Trump is to try to stir up trouble and distrust in democracy. Which, not coincidentally, is Putin’s purpose. And the American people – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – must not allow them to succeed. We must all rise up in unity to renounce Trump’s cynical and un-American ploy. We must respect one another and remain loyal to the the principles that actually do make this country great. And we must come together to make sure that the traitor in the White House is evicted. That means vigorously supporting whoever the eventual Democratic nominee is and working for their victory.

We don’t have the luxury of holding out for whoever is your favorite candidate. If Biden is the nominee, then Bernie bros need to get behind him. If Bernie is the nominee, then those with irrational fears of “socialism” need to set that aside. Whatever one perceives as the negatives of one candidate or another, they are not nearly as destructive or catastrophic as another four years of Trump. So suck it up, America. We have one job to do now. And that’s the complete, unambiguous ouster and humiliation of Donald Trump. For America’s sake.

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

Trump Refuses to Pledge Not to Accept Foreign Assistance in His Campaign

Posted by on February 25, 2020 at 2:31 pm. 2 Comments :

For the second presidential election in a row, Donald Trump is thumbing his nose at the law and political morality. He is openly announcing his willingness to accept the help of hostile foreign nations in his quest to retain power at all costs. Never mind the Constitution or the welfare of american democracy. To Trump the only thing that matters is what Trump wants.

Donald Trump

In 2016 the Russians orchestrated an exhaustive scheme to benefit Trump’s candidacy for president. Trump even abetted that plan by inviting the Russians to hack the emails of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. After the election Trump conceded in an interview with George Stephanopoulos that he would do the same thing again. Recent reports indicate that the Russians are also anxious for another go round. And Trump is effectively greenlighting their renewed intentions.

The repeat of this partnership between Trump and Russia should worry every patriotic American. Unfortunately, Trump’s glassy-eyed cult followers, and his bootlicking sycophants in the Republican Party, are all to happy to embrace this evil cabal. Consequently, Trump is becoming evermore daring with regard to accepting such tainted assistance. And he proved that in an exchange on Tuesday with CNN reporter Jim Acosta (video below):

Acosta: Can you pledge to the American people that you will not accept any foreign assistance in the upcoming election?
Trump: First of all, I want no help from any country, and I haven’t been given help from any country. And if you see what CNN, your wonderful network, said, I guess they apologized in a way for – didn’t they apologize for the fact that they said certain things that weren’t true?

Notice that Trump’s response said only that he doesn’t “want” help and isn’t getting any. We know the second half of that comment is a lie because his own Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently briefed Congress on Russia’s ongoing election tampering on Trump’s behalf. Therefore, the first half of Trump’s comment can also be presumed to be a lie (which is the case with pretty much everything Trump says).

But it’s also notable that Trump did not directly answer the question by affirmatively pledging not to accept any such assistance, whether he wants it or not. By not making that pledge, Trump is effectively admitting that he will accept assistance from Russia, which he has done before. In addition to dodging the pledge, Trump also sought to attack the reporter and the question:

Trump: Tell me, what was their apology yesterday? What did they say?
Acosta: Mr. President, I think our record on delivering the truth is a lot better than yours sometimes, if you don’t mind me saying.
Trump: Let me tell you about your record. Your record is so bad you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You have the worst record in the history of broadcasting.
Acosta: I’m not ashamed of anything, and our organization is not ashamed.

Of course, the apology Trump is referring to exists only in his warped imagination. CNN’s reporting was accurate and corroborated by other news outlets. Trump is fond of inventing phony apologies to himself that never actually occurred. It’s how he satiates his narcissistic appetite for fawning worshipers. But Acosta’s response rattled Trump. It forced Trump to confront the reality that he is a pathological liar. So naturally Trump affirmed that observation by lying about CNN’s record with factual reporting. And if anyone should be ashamed, it’s Trump. That is, if Trump had the human capacity to feel shame.

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

PROOF: The Russian Plot to ‘Help’ Bernie Sanders is Being Led By Donald Trump

Posted by on February 22, 2020 at 1:43 pm. 4 Comments :

This week there were a couple of bombshell reports that revealed how alarmed the intelligence community is about Russia’s intentions to undermine this year’s presidential election. One report disclosed that the Acting Director of National Intelligence, Joe Maguire, a Donald Trump appointee, had briefed Congress on Russia’s campaign to repeat it’s 2016 mission to elect Trump. The other report disclosed that Russia has expanded their efforts in 2020 to include the promotion of Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary.

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

These are perilous times for American democracy. Particularly since Trump has done nothing to protect the nation from Russia’s assault. To the contrary, he continues to deny that there was even any attack by Russia, and he supports the efforts of Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell, to block bipartisan legislation to fortify our defenses. Nothing could be received with more gratitude by Vladimir Putin than Trump’s combination of calculated self-interest and willful negligence. And the differences between the responses to these news events by Trump and Sanders tell the whole story.

RELATED: Trump-Fluffers at Fox News Say the Media and Democrats are the ‘Agents of Russia’

Trump was very upset. Not because Russia was caught interfering in our election again, but because this information was given to the people’s representatives in Congress. He tweeted that “Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me … Hoax number 7!” Never mind that this wasn’t launched by Democrats, but by his own intelligence chief. And it is neither misinformation nor a hoax, but the fully considered research of intelligence professionals.

Sanders, on the other hand, more appropriately directed his anger at our enemies saying that “I don’t care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president. My message to Putin is clear: Stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do.” Trump has never made a such a declarative statement admonishing his pal Vlad to stop interfering.

To be clear, Russia doesn’t really care who the Democratic nominee is. They only care about manufacturing chaos and discord. They are exploiting divisions among Democrats by pretending to support Sanders. Perhaps they believe that he would be easier to beat, or they just think he’s a better source for stirring up division. But none of that really matters. Russia will adjust their cyber-attack campaign to focus on whoever the eventual nominee happens to be.

In the meantime, Trump is executing the Russian playbook without much of an effort to disguise it. Sanders told reporters that he was briefed on the Russian plans to favor him about a month ago. And it was right around that time (January 17) that Trump began tweeting his “support” for Sanders. For instance:


LATE ADDITIONS:

Does anyone believe that it’s just a coincidence that Trump began this Twitter campaign seeking “fairness” from the Democratic Party at precisely the same time that U.S. intelligence reached out to the candidate? Trump had not posted any tweets about the Democrats “rigging” the primary against Sanders for two years prior.

The very idea that Trump would care about the Democratic primary’s fairness is ludicrous. Since when has Trump been an advocate of election integrity? That certainly hasn’t been an issue in his own party. He and the GOP have been canceling Republican primaries across the country, despite (or because of) the fact that he has a credible challenger in former two-term Massachusetts governor, William Weld. Let that sink in. They haven’t been rigging their primaries. They have outright refused to conduct them.

Nevertheless, Trump has found the time and inclination to try to clean up the Democratic Party. But his efforts to do so have a distinct flavor that doesn’t really taste like concern for Democrats. In fact, his tweets look exactly like what you would expect from Russian agents tasked with creating a false promotion campaign for Sanders. If you didn’t know better (and even if you did), it would appear that Trump is the chief operative in Russia’s election corruption plot. Again!

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

Trump-Fluffers at Fox News Say the Media and Democrats are the ‘Agents of Russia’

Posted by on February 21, 2020 at 1:58 pm. 6 Comments :

A new report has revealed that Russia is, as expected, interfering in U.S. elections on behalf of Donald Trump. The report discloses that congressional intelligence committees were briefed on this threat within the past couple of weeks.

Fox News Friends

Upon learning about this, Trump became irate. Not because Russia was trying to subvert America’s democracy again, but because Democrats in congress were among those who were told about it. Obviously Trump is very concerned that Russia’s efforts on his behalf be concealed from the people and their representatives. And as a consequence of this “betrayal” of unflinching loyalty to Dear Leader, Trump fired Joe Maguire, the Director of National Intelligence, and installed a sycophantic bootlicker with zero experience, Rick Grenell, in his place as acting director. Then, of course, Trump took to Twitter to lie about the whole thing:

First of all, this wasn’t launched by Democrats. It was Trump’s own DNI chief who compiled the intelligence and informed Congress, as he was required to do by law. But more troubling is the fact that Trump is, once again, absolving Russia of any responsibility for their blatant acts of cyber-espionage. Just as he did after the 2016 election, Trump is taking Vladimir Putin’s side and declaring that the charges of election interference are a hoax. And on top of that, he falsely accuses Democrats of manufacturing the charges for political gain.

Naturally, Fox News was right there to prop up Trump’s anti-American babbling. On Friday morning’s episode of Fox and Friends, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes went even further than Trump to malign Democrats and the press as “Agents of Russia” (video below). “Alright let’s be clear about what this really all is,” co-host Pete Hegseth began. “This is all an attempt to discredit President Trump. That’s it. Delegitimize him all the way.” Then he elaborated saying that…

“Every single Democrat that parrots what they’re saying, they’re working together, they are the agents of Russia. This is what Russia wants! They want to sow discord and misinformation and delegitimize our republic, destabilize it because they’re not our friends and they know that when we’re strong they’re in a worse position – which they’ve done for years before President Trump. This is what they do.

“The Democrats, the media, fell for it. And the keep falling for it because they hate Trump so much they’re willing to parrot what the Kremlin is saying. They are the agents of Russia. Not Donald Trump, not this White House. It is the people that are spinning this.and continuing to drive this narrative.”

There’s a lot of derp to unpack in those two paragraphs. To begin with, Hegseth is asserting that talking about the Russian campaign to help Trump win reelection is “what Russia wants.” That’s clearly the opposite of reality. Russia’s intentions were to covertly disrupt the election, while benefiting Trump’s candidacy. What Russia wants is for people to talk about Russia’s innocence and how corrupt and dishonest American intelligence agencies are. Which is exactly what Trump and Fox News are so helpfully doing.

Hegseth also contends that Democrats and the media “fell for” Russia’s plot to get them to uncover the Russian plot. How insidious! And idiotic. It goes without saying that Russia did not intend to get caught and have their spying be broadcast around the world. That notion is almost as stupid as Hegseth’s next comment that Trump haters – Democrats and the media – are parroting “what the Kremlin is saying.” That could only be true if the Kremlin were saying that Russia is meddling in U.S. elections and that their actions are illegal and intolerable. That’s what Democrats are saying, but it is plainly not what the Kremlin is saying.

If anything, it is Trump and Fox News who are parroting the Kremlin. They are all saying that Russia isn’t doing anything wrong and any claim to the contrary is misinformation. Trump and his Reich-Wing confederates are unified in disputing what even his own intelligence agencies have proven to be true.

The purpose of this deceit is to pacify Trump’s ego. He thinks any validation of Russia’s attempts to steal the election, no matter how accurate, are personal attacks on him. Consequently, Trump will insult America’s intelligence professionals and he will take Putin’s side in denying the reality that Russia is aggressively trying to undermine U.S. democracy. And Fox News, as always, will obediently march along in lock-step with Trump’s reckless and treasonous lies.

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

After Years of Backing Trump’s Denials, Fox News Asks If America is ‘Ready for Russia’ in 2020

Posted by on January 14, 2020 at 1:39 pm. 2 Comments :

New reporting has confirmed that “Russian hackers targeted the Ukrainian gas company [Burisma] that’s a major focus of impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.” The significance of this cannot be overstated. Recall that candidate Trump asked Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails before the 2016 election. And now we learn that Russia has hacked the company connected to his extortion of Ukraine to probe the Bidens prior to the 2020 election. This isn’t suspicious at all, is it?

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

Throughout the campaign and into his presidency, Trump sought to defend Russia from charges that it was involved in the hacking of Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. He tried to shift blame to everyone form China to “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.” Trump even took the word of Vladimir Putin over that of the United States intelligence community that unanimously agreed that Russia was behind the hacking and the release of the stolen data. Asked point blank if he thought Russia was involved, Trump replied “I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

Naturally, Fox News has been taking Trump’s side in this mission to absolve Russia of any guilt and to deceive the American people. They backed up Trump’s denials at every turn and embraced his absurd call for a partnership with Russia on cyber-security matters. And they continue to do so to this day. On Tuesday morning’s episode of Outnumbered on Fox News, co-host Dagen McDowell rehashed the debunked theory that there were other perpetrators in the hacking, saying that “It’s Russia over here, but what about everything else that’s going on, whether it’s compromising our election or compromising our data security?” That led to this exchange (video below):

Harris Faulkner: I just hope we’re ready for the next election.
Jessica Tarlov: Well, it doesn’t sound like we are.
Brian Kilmeade: I think we are.
Tarlov: Really? But there are election security bills sitting on [Mitch] McConnell’s desk that he won’t touch.
Kilmeade: I do believe we’re ready. And I believe the Russians are gonna learn that we’re going to blink the lights on that country should they try it. I think that’s the best offense. The best defense is a great offense.
Tarlov: Can you call McConnell and tell him to pass some of those election security bills?
Kilmeade: It’s already done.

Kilmeade’s confidence in America’s readiness is peculiar considering that virtually nothing has been done an a national scale to secure our election systems. His assertion that Russia would be punished for any bad behavior has no factual basis, especially since Trump has let them off the hook for their prior transgressions. In fact, Trump still seems to be inviting foreign governments to interfere in our elections, as we’ve seen with Ukraine.

If a great offense is the best defense, then the U.S. is in big trouble. We have no offense whatsoever. And our captain has not said a single word about the new report of Russians hacking Burisma. Finally, Kilmeade’s off-hand response to a request to prod McConnell into action that “It’s already done,” doesn’t even make sense. What’s been done, by whom? Certainly McConnell isn’t going forward with any election security measures.

Let’s face it, Trump doesn’t want anything to be done about election security or Russia’s interference in our elections. Even if he isn’t colluding with Russia, he knows that their efforts benefit him and wants them to continue. That’s what special counsel Robert Mueller was referring to when he said that Trump had “welcomed and encouraged“ Russia in the 2016 election.

It looks very much like the same thing is happening now. And it could have the same effect if nothing is done about it. Congress needs to act quickly and decisively to insure that our democracy isn’t subverted again. The American people need to let Congress know that we expect nothing less from them. And the media must not allow itself to be used again by foreign adversaries to disseminate their propaganda and choose our next president.

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

Victim-in-Chief: Trump is the most Cowardly, Whining, Crybaby to Ever Be President

Posted by on October 23, 2019 at 12:11 pm. 8 Comments :

The national embarrassment that Americans are suffering due to the illegitimate occupant of the White House is excruciating. Donald Trump has managed to instill a sense of shame in so many citizens that they now overwhelmingly support his impeachment and removal from office. Of course, it isn’t just embarrassment that drives that desire. It’s also his rampant lawlessness and disrespect for the Constitution and it’s principles.

Donald Trump Pacifier Fox

The United States is enduring perhaps its most divisive era since the Civil War. Trump has his glassy-eyed base of Deplorables who will stand by him even if, as he said, he shoots someone on 5th Avenue. But the rest of the country is experiencing severe nausea and anxiety. Even Trump’s favorite pollster, Rasmussen, currently has his approval rating near his low for the year (44%).

Throughout this turmoil, Trump himself has remained steadfast and courageous. Um, just kidding. Actually, Trump has displayed his utter lack of character and notorious absence of maturity and morality. The one constant in Trump’s noxious persona is his narcissistic arrogance. And when the chips are down – as they are now – that manifests itself as fear and a desperate embrace of martyrdom.

There has never been a president of the United States – the most powerful office on the planet – who has exhibited greater cowardice and suffering. It is astonishing how a person who holds these reins of power can regard himself as being a victim. Trump has, from birth, lived a life of privilege and luxury. And now he also has immeasurable political clout. But still he whines. Although we should not be surprised since in 2016 he told CNN’s Chris Cuomo (video below) that…

“I am the most fabulous whiner. I do whine, because I want to win. I am a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win.”

That strategy has proven to be a huge failure. Trump has failed to achieve anything of significance in the past three years. No deals with China, North, Korea, Iran, or Mexico. Likewise no domestic deals on healthcare, infrastructure, deficit reduction, immigration, trade, or climate change.

And yet, Trump continues to wail about being a victim. He recently compared his political tribulations to being lynched. That grossly insensitive remark caused an uproar even within his own party. He also has been whining about what he calls a “witch hunt.” While he originally applied that phrase to investigations of his unsavory connections to Russia, he has now adapted it to his more recent unsavory connections to Ukraine. Which witch hunt is which? He considers any and all criticism of him to be a hoax and manufactured by the “fake news””

Trump tries to deflect from his problems by whining about Democrats in Congress. He now refers to them routinely as the “Do Nothing Democrats,” despite the fact that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic majority have passed more than 300 bills that GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to allow the upper body to vote on. Trump has employed the “do nothing” label 32 times just in the past month.

Along with his infantile sloganeering, Trump has also complained that he is a victim of allegedly anti-American representatives who he says have committed treason and must resign just for conducting investigations that are in compliance with their duties. He has been especially focused on Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who Trump has called “Adam Schitt.”

Previous presidents have not had this problem. President Obama was attacked by nutcases who claimed he wasn’t even a citizen. Bill Clinton was himself impeached for a consensual, albeit improper, sexual relationship. But neither of them spent every day whining about how horribly they were being treated. They did their jobs and dealt with their critics in the background.

But not Trump. He is far too self-centered and fragile. Having a crybaby like Trump in the highest office in the land is a stain that will take a long time to rub off. There is simply no excuse for someone with so much power to be such a pitiable snowflake. It diminishes the office of the presidency. And worse, it depreciates the strength that generations of American leaders have infused into our international reputation. Trump’s puerile whimpering makes us look weak in the eyes of our allies and foes alike. For the sake of the country Trump needs to stiffen his spine and STFU! Unfortunately, he just doesn’t have the will, the guts, or the ability to do that.

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

Trump’s Collusion with Russia and Obstruction of Justice are Still on America’s Mind

Posted by on August 15, 2019 at 1:01 pm. NO Comments :

There has been a flurry of profoundly significant news stories over the past few days and weeks. They include the stock market’s biggest point drop of the year (and a harbinger of recession), the death of Donald Trump’s pedophile pal, Jeffrey Epstein (and Trump’s promotion of an insane conspiracy theory explaining it), and a week of mass shootings in the streets of America (at least partially incited by Trump’s hostile and racist rhetoric).

Donald Trump Impeach

However, the biggest story of the year is one that has been on the minds of most Americans for months. Earlier this year special counsel Robert Mueller delivered his report on the activities of Trump and his campaign with regard to Russia’s attack on the American presidential election. The report contained damning evidence of tolerance at best, and conspiracy at worst, by Trump and his closest associates in Russia’s effort to install Trump as president. There were also multiple examples of how Trump engaged in blatant obstruction of justice to cover up his embrace of Russia’s attack and his complicity with it. Mueller himself affirmed those conclusions in his congressional testimony. It was so obvious that even the Senior Legal Analyst at Fox News reported that Trump’s actions were “unlawful, defenseless and condemnable.”

One of the most peculiar and disturbing characteristics of the Trump era is that his scandalous behavior is unleashed with such frequency and speed that it’s hard for most Americans and the press to keep up. And each new offense shoves the previous ones off of the front pages. But the matter of Trump’s treasonous collusion with Russia has managed to remain at the top of the nation’s conscience. And a finding by Politico reveals just how concerned the people still are:

“According to data obtained by POLITICO under the Freedom of Information Act, the special counsel’s final report was downloaded nearly 800 million times from DOJ’s website between its public release in mid-April and early July.” […]

“Mueller’s report didn’t do so bad on the commercial side, either, even with the DOJ making the special counsel’s findings available for free. Several publishers have been selling their own versions of the report, including one published by the Washington Post that spent 15 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.”

Nearly a billion downloads, and it’s still ongoing. That’s a remarkable statistic. Of course, this figure doesn’t account for some people downloading the report more than once. But that’s not likely to have happened very much. Even if everyone downloaded two copies it would be phenomenal. It would mean that every man, woman, and child, in the country got two copies (and then some). It represents an intense interest on the part of the American people to obtain the facts in this matter.

Members of Congress who are conducting their own investigations should be encouraged that their constituents are so engaged. Even when other news takes precedence over the Russia story, the people have not forgotten it. Recent polls show that up to 50 percent of voters favor impeachment. Even a Fox News poll (despite the fact that they lied about it). So while the country deals with other important issues like the economy and gun control, no one should neglect what is is the most troubling and overarching issue of our time: that the President of the United States welcomed and encouraged electoral help from a hostile foreign nation, and then sought to hide that from the law and the people.

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

Fox News and Trump Shill Kellyanne Conway Equate U.S. Media to Russian Election Tampering

Posted by on July 29, 2019 at 1:33 pm. 3 Comments :

The 2020 presidential election is approaching rapidly. And despite the problems with the 2016 election, Republicans are doing nothing to prevent Russia – or any other hostile foreign entity – from repeating efforts to interfere with America’s democracy. To the contrary, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell just blocked two bipartisan bills intended to protect the election. They are actually aiding and abetting the nefarious efforts of our enemies.

Kellyanne Conway, Fox News

It’s no wonder that the GOP is working on behalf of Russia. The Kremlin helped secure the victory of Donald Trump in 2016, and Republicans are well aware that they are unlikely to win in 2020 without more of that help. So the campaign is on by the Trump administration to pave the way for continued hacking and tampering in the upcoming election. He has decimated the Justice Department’s counterintelligence operations. He has installed hyper-loyal allies in critical White House posts. And, as usual, he is attacking the free press in order to keep the American people from learning the truth about his conspiracies with his BFF Vladimir Putin.

On Monday morning, Trump’s Senior Counselor and Chief Alternative Facts Dispenser, Kellyanne Conway, appeared on Trump’s favorite Fox News program, Fox and Friends. And she wasted no time in declaring that the American media is no different than Russian spies when it comes to to meddling in U.S. elections (video below):

“This President is very concerned about foreign interference in elections. We don’t want Russia to interfere. We don’t want China. But you know what? We also don’t want the mainstream media to interfere in the elections this time either, like they tried to do last time. Get your thumb off the electoral scale. Let people fight it out fairly and squarely.”

Conway’s message was clear: American journalists are unpatriotic agents of evil who are intent on destroying democracy. They are to be feared and, if necessary, silenced to prevent them from engaging in their anti-American plots. Conway regards the collection and dissemination of news to be a dangerous pursuit that must be shut down.

And why wouldn’t she think that? The more we find out about Trump and his unlawful activities throughout his campaign and presidency, as well as his efforts to obstruct justice with lies and failures to cooperate, the closer he is to impeachment and possible incarceration. So while Trump is repeatedly referring to the free press in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people,” his designated mouthpieces are equating reporters with Russian spies.

What Conway and her boss are really afraid of is that the American people will discover the depths of criminality to which Trump and company have sunk. They aren’t concerned about the media putting their thumb on the electoral scale. They are concerned that their own thumbs aren’t pushing down hard enough. What does she think Fox News is doing all day and night with their obsequious fawning over Trump and disparaging of anyone who offers the slightest criticism.

Trump was exposed in the recent congressional hearings with Robert Mueller for “welcoming and encouraging” election help from Russia, as well as lying to cover it up. And he’s getting ready to do it again. Why not? There have, as yet, been no consequences for his prior crimes. He’s even so brazen about it that he told George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that he would not refuse help from Russia in future campaigns. How is that not treason?

All of this has been excused by State TV (aka Fox News), who seem to have no issues with the President revealing in advance his intention to commit crimes. This makes Fox News complicit with those crimes. This flagrantly biased Trump-fluffing by Fox should be considered in-kind contributions to the Trump campaign and monitored by the Federal Elections Commission. And Conway, who has her own legal problems for repeatedly campaigning in the course of her official duties (a violation of the Hatch Act), should be serving in the Big House, not the White House.

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

The Fake Fox News Story About Seth Rich Was Planted By Russia and Promoted By Hannity

Posted by on July 9, 2019 at 2:27 pm. 6 Comments :

Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News has just published an extensive investigative report revealing that the bogus story about the murder of the Democratic National Committee staffer, Seth Rich, was originally planted by Russian intelligence. (Insert SHOCKED! face here). This was a completely fabricated piece of actual fake news that was prominently pushed by Fox News, and particularly Sean Hannity.

Fox News, Sean Hannity, Vladimir Putin

The article by Isikoff went into stark detail about the origins of the callous claims that Rich was actually the source of hacked emails the were published by Wikileaks. Those who told and spread these lies had no compassion whatsoever for the family that was grieving the loss of a loved one. Likewise, they didn’t care that they were disseminating falsehoods created by Russian spies intended to disrupt an American presidential election. Isikoff reported that…

“The conspiracy claims reached their zenith in May 2017 — the same week as Mueller’s appointment as special counsel in the Russia probe — when Fox News’ website posted a sensational story claiming that an FBI forensic report had discovered evidence on Rich’s laptop that he had been in communication with WikiLeaks prior to his death. Sean Hannity, the network’s primetime star, treated the account as major news on his nightly broadcast, calling it ‘explosive’ and proclaiming it ‘might expose the single biggest fraud, lies, perpetrated on the American people by the media and the Democrats in our history.'”

“In fact, the Fox story was a ‘complete fabrication,’ said [U.S. attorney Deborah] Sines, who consulted with the FBI about the Fox News claims. There was ‘no connection between Seth and WikiLeaks. And there was no evidence on his work computer of him downloading and disseminating things from the DNC.'”

In an interview on MSNBC, Isikoff elaborated on what his investigation uncovered (video below):

“The timing is so interesting here. The week that this breaks on Fox News, in the story they later had to retract and acknowledged didn’t ‘meet their editorial standards,’ Sean Hannity is shouting it from the rooftops. What’s going on that week? It’s the week that [special counsel Robert] Mueller was appointed. It’s the week [FBI Director James] Comey was fired. It’s when the Russia story was blowing up.”

Isikoff noted that Hannity’s guest was Trump’s attorney for the Russia affair, Jay Sekulow. He had just been hired by Trump, but Hannity left that fact out of the segment. Together they were pushing the phony Rich story as a means to undercut the Russia narrative.

Fox News later issued a mushy retraction that admitted no fault. They said they would conduct an internal investigation to ascertain where they went wrong, but any findings from the alleged investigation remain undisclosed. However, Hannity never conceded any wrongdoing at all. To the contrary, he insisted that his “reporting” was accurate and would continue:

“I am not Fox.com or FoxNews.com, I retracted nothing. For those accusing me of pushing a conspiracy theory, you are the biggest phony hypocrites in the entire world. This issue, it’s so big now that the entire Russia collusion narrative is hanging by a thread. […] These are questions that I have a moral obligation to ask, and I will do the mainstream media’s job like I have most of my career.”

True to form, Hannity never did retract his lies about Rich. But he did delete all of his tweets about Rich (you can still see them here). He is exhibiting the same dishonesty, arrogance, and stubbornness as his bestie in the White House, Donald Trump. They both will cling to the most ludicrous assertions, even after they have been proven to be utterly false. The truth plays no part in their determined propaganda crusades. And neither does patriotism, as both Hannity and Trump have now been been shown to be willing confederates (aka “useful idiots”) of covert Russian operations.

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

COLLUSION: Trump is Committing Treason in Order to Resuscitate His Floundering 2020 Campaign

Posted by on June 13, 2019 at 11:57 am. 10 Comments :

It is impossible to understate the profoundly evil nature of what Donald Trump told George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday. In an extended interview, Trump not only justified his prior collusion with Russia in the 2016 election, he also placed an open call for hostile foreign governments to do the same thing in 2020. It’s an unambiguous attempt to seek assistance from America’s enemies. This is Trump’s reelection campaign strategy.

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

The interview was an astonishing performance by an unabashed traitor to American laws and principles. What follows are a few of the most egregious segments that are profoundly disturbing and utterly inexcusable.

Stephanopoulos: But should [Don Jr] have gone to the FBI when he got that email?
Trump: Okay, let’s put yourself in a position: you’re a congressman, somebody comes up and says, “Hey I have information on your opponent.” Do you call the FBI? You don’t– I’ll tell you what. I’ve seen a lot of things over my life. I don’t think in my whole life I’ve ever called the FBI. In my whole life. I don’t–you don’t call the FBI.

Actually, Trump has called the FBI at least twice according to FOIA documents, but only when it’s to his personal benefit.

Stephanopoulos: Al Gore got a stolen briefing book. He called the FBI.
Trump: Well, that’s different. A stolen briefing book. This isn’t– this is somebody who said, “We have information on your opponent.” Oh, let me call the FBI. Give me a break, life doesn’t work that way.

It’s not different. The information that Trump was seeking (Clinton’s and DNC emails) was also stolen information on his opponent. And calling the FBI is precisely the way it works, even according to Trump’s own FBI director, Christopher Wray. So Trump responded that…

Trump: The FBI Director is wrong. Because, frankly, it doesn’t happen like that in life.

Trump: If somebody comes into your office with oppo research– they call it oppo research–with information that might be good or bad or something, but good for you, bad for your opponent, you don’t call the FBI. I would guarantee you that 90 percent, could be 100 percent, of the congressmen or the senators over there, have had meetings–if they didn’t they probably wouldn’t be elected.

Here Trump is trying to conflate normal opposition research with his collusion with foreign governments, which is illegal. Then he cites some statistics that he’s pulled from his – assumptions and justifies the criminality because, as he says, everybody does it. So therefore it’s okay?

Stephanopoulos: Your campaign this time around, if foreigners, if Russia, if China, if someone else offers you information on opponents, should they accept it or should they call the FBI?
Trump: I think maybe you do both. I think you might want to listen, there’s nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country, Norway, “we have information on your opponent.” Oh, I think I’d want to hear it.

Norway? It’s funny how Trump can’t bring himself to mention Russia. But more to the point, what he’s describing here is collusion, plain and simple. He goes on to say that he wouldn’t report it to the FBI because “the FBI doesn’t have enough agents to take care of it.” Sure, because there are only 13,412 special agents and 20,420 support professionals.

Trump may have point. 33,000 FBI agents might not be enough to investigate all of the crimes that he has committed. In this interview he said once that he might alert the FBI to unlawful communications with foreign governments. But he said four times that he wouldn’t. And he said it again in a series of tweets on Thursday morning:

Notice that the examples he uses are our allies. Once again, he refuses to implicate Vladimir Putin and his pals in the Kremlin. He also fails to mention whether these talks included getting dirt on his opponents. He is deliberately trying to deflect from the real issue. And unfortunately, that will work on his Deplorable followers and his shills at Fox News.

The bottom line is that Trump’s remarks are a direct invitation to our enemies to engage in hacking or other illegal activities and pass along what they steal to Trump. He has already told them that he’d listen. So why wouldn’t they do it? He is unambiguously soliciting a criminal act. And for that alone Trump should be impeached and imprisoned.

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