Sarah Huckabee Sanders

LOL: Trump’s Press Secretary Says the White House is ‘a Very Functioning Place of Business’

Posted by on March 7, 2018 at 2:12 pm. 3 Comments :

The morning after Donald Trump’s chief economic advisor, Gary Cohn, resigned, the White House PR machine went to work pretending that there is nothing the least bit wrong in Trumpland. Never mind that there has been a higher rate of turnover than any presidency in history, or that competent, qualified people are rejecting offers to work in Trump’s administration. Even current staff are delaying departure because they can’t find new employers who will hire them. That’s how toxic the association with Trump is.

trump-departures

The Wednesday press briefing at the White House was a typically shallow affair where press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders spent much of the time replying to questions with non-answers. For instance, she would repeatedly say something like “the President has made his feelings clear on that matter and I have nothing further to add.” So what the heck are you doing there?

Today’s briefing included a couple of questions (videos below) related to White House staffing problems which, according to Sanders, don’t exist. She is parroting Trump’s obviously false contention that he has his choice of “the 10 top people” for any open position because “everybody wants to be there.” That is contradicted by the very fact that he keeps having so many openings. Clearly people don’t want to be there. And this deficit of talent has even Trump supporters worried:

Q: Republican senator Cornyn said today “I’m concerned who the President will turn to for advice.” Should he be concerned?
A: No. The President’s got a number of very accomplished, smart, capable people around him. And he is going to continue to lean on a lot of those people. But at the end of the day the American people voted overwhelmingly for President Donald J. Trump. They voted for his policies, his agenda, and for him to be the ultimate decision maker.

Sanders is right. There is indeed a number of “very accomplished, smart, capable people” around the President. Zero is a number, isn’t it? However, Sanders is totally wrong about Trump being elected overwhelmingly. In fact, Hillary Clinton got three million more votes than Trump. And his policies and agenda have only gotten less popular in the past year. He still has the lowest approval rating of any president on record. And his popularity doesn’t seem to be any higher within his administration than it does with voters.

Q:Why are so many people people leaving this administration?
A: Look, this administration has had a historic first year. We’re gonna continue to do great things. This is an intense place, as is every White House, and it’s not abnormal that you would have people come and go.
Q: But it is actually abnormal. No administration in recent history has had this rate of turnover.
A: But it’s not abnormal to have turnover.
Q: If this is not the definition of chaotic, how would you describe what’s happening in these recent weeks?
A: If it was then I don’t think we’d have been able to accomplish everything that we’ve done. The economy is stronger than it’s been in ages. ISIS is on the run. The remaking of the judiciary. Jobs are coming in at record numbers. There are historic things that have taken place in the first year. Sounds like a very functioning place of business.

So Sanders is reduced to asserting that losing staff is not abnormal, even though the turnover rate in Trump’s White House is historically high. That’s like your doctor saying that losing blood isn’t abnormal while you’ve got an open vein gushing like a fire hose. Everything will be just fine. And her rundown of Trump’s achievements is really a list of the successes that President Obama handed down to Trump. But nothing that has transpired in the past year reflects a functioning workplace. Sanders – and Trump – have an impressive capacity for self-delusion.

The people populating Trump’s administration have never been especially well regarded. Those still remaining include Ben Carson, Rick Perry, Scott Pruitt, and Betsy DeVos. That makes the prospect of Trump selecting new staffers extremely troubling. One name already being floated for Cohn’s job is Larry Kudlow, currently a Fox Business Network contributor. Also being mentioned as a replacement for National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, is another Fox News pundit, John Bolton. It seems that Trump’s only recruiting pool is from those people he sees on TV. And if that’s true, get ready for Secretary of State Sean Hannity, and Attorney General Jeanine Pirro. These are indeed scary times.

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

Trump Aide Huckabee-Sanders Accuses the Press Corps of ‘Leaking Out Classified Information’

Posted by on February 12, 2018 at 4:07 pm. 2 Comments :

The daily White House press briefing has become a predictably contentious affair during the presidency of Donald Trump. His press secretaries, first Sean Spice and now Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, operate more like defense attorneys for Trump than public servants. And the briefing held on Monday affirmed that twisted perversion of the relationship between the White House and the people.

Sarah Huckabee-Sanders

Not surprisingly, much of the briefing focused on the weekend’s disturbing news regarding Trump’s staff secretary, Rob Porter, who was fired (or resigned depending on which story you believe) due to reports of his having assaulted his former wives. Trump’s only public comments on the matter were to offer praise for Porter and best wishes for his future. Trump shockingly expressed his sympathy for how sad it was for Porter, without mentioning the suffering of the victims.

Sanders was asked by several reporters about why Trump would not personally address the plight of the victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. She could not offer an explanation for his deafening silence except to say that the President “supports the victims of any type of domestic violence, but the President also supports due process. And I don’t have anything else further to add beyond that.” When asked why he couldn’t just say that himself she said that he told her and that she’s telling the media, and that that was the end of the story.

Later, Sanders was asked if Trump still wishes Porter well, and hopes that he has a great career ahead. Her painfully tone deaf response was that “the President wants success for all Americans, and that he was elected to serve all Americans, and he hopes for the best for all American citizens across the country.” And apparently that goes for wife-beaters and other criminals as well. Good to know.

Addressing another angle of the Porter affair, NBC’s White House correspondent, Kristen Welker, sought to sail down some inconsistencies in the White House’s explanations for the lack of security clearances by top Trump officials. She engaged Sanders in the following exchange (video below):

Welker: Why are high-level aides allowed to work with classified information without a permanent security clearance?
Sanders: That’s a question that the FBI and other intelligence communities — they make that determination. That’s not something that’s decided by the White House.
Welker: Can you guarantee that you are protecting classified information given that you have someone like Rob Porter who didn’t have a permanent security clearance to access classified information?
Sanders: I think we’re doing and taking every step we can to protect classified information. I mean, frankly, if you guys have such concern with classified information, there’s plenty of it that’s leaked out of the Hill, that’s leaked out of other communities well beyond the White House walls. If you guys have real concerns about leaking out classified information, look around this room. You guys are the ones that publish classified information and put national security at risk that doesn’t come from this White House.

First of all, it is absolutely not the determination of the FBI whether the White House provides access to classified information to people without proper security credentials. That decision was made solely by the President. But more troubling is the way that Sanders deflected her answer to level scurrilous allegations at the press. The problem with unsecured persons receiving classified information isn’t just that they might leak it to the media. It’s that they might leak it to other unsecured persons, or even hostile foreign operatives. In addition, they could be subject to blackmail and present a serious national security risk.

But Sanders avoided all of that in favor of insulting the press. She had absolutely no evidence of anyone in the White House press corps leaking classified information. But she leveled that accusation as if it were a verified fact. What’s more, the press cannot leak anything at all. They can only report information that is leaked to them. They can be the recipients of leaks, not the originators. And the originators, contrary to what Sanders said, are in 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 utterly irresponsible accusations by Sanders were unsupported by any proof of wrongdoing by reporters. And if she has “real concerns about leaking out classified information,” she should look to her colleagues in the administration. They are the ones who provide information to the press, and reporters are just doing their jobs when they inform the public. Sadly, that is often the only to get information to the people in this administration. Trump and company have been notoriously determined to keep deep, dark secrets like tax returns, financial backers, and clandestine meetings with Russians.

Donald Trump ‘Absolutely Believes in the First Amendment’ – And Won’t Rest Until It’s Dead

Posted by on January 5, 2018 at 10:20 am. 3 Comments :

Okay, so it’s still only the first week of the new year. Nevertheless, the reigning champion of flagrant dishonesty, Donald Trump, is making a strong showing for Lie of the Year 2018. In 2017 PolitiFact “honored” him for his relentless insistence that Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was a hoax. Trump stubbornly maintained that he believed Vladimir Putin’s denials more than the conclusions of every American intelligence agency that investigated the issue.

Donald Trump

And now the White House has made a declaration so absurd that it has jumped to the head of the pack for this new year of presidential lies. During the daily briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to comment on Trump’s regard for the First Amendment. She replied that:

“The President absolutely believes in the First Amendment. But as we’ve said before, the President also believes in making sure that information is accurate before pushing it out as fact when it certainly and clearly is not.”

Whenever one asserts their belief in a core constitutional principle, it’s bad form to follow it with “but…” And in this case the qualification is outright bizarre. To suggest that Trump gives a damn about “making sure that information is accurate” flies in the face of his lie-riddle Twitter feed. He has a deep rooted aversion to the truth and he proves it every day. What’s more, the Washington post has documented almost 2,000 lies Trump has told since his inauguration.

The specific lie featured here is especially egregious because Trump’s fealty to the First Amendment has always been a bad joke. After all, Trump has been attacking the free press since he launched his presidential campaign. He routinely refers to it in general terms as “fake news.” He has vilified reporters as “liars, sleazy,” and “horrible people.” And he famously called out the media in Stalinesque terms as “the enemy of the America people.”

The question that drew Sanders’ response was specifically about Trump’s reaction to the new book by Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury. He had his lawyers threatened to sue the author and his publisher. Included in the threat was a demand that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment. The letter warned that:

“Mr. Trump hereby demands that you immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the Book.”

So the President who “absolutely believes in the First Amendment” is attempting to force a journalist to halt publication of a book that is critical of the President. That is such an obvious contradiction in terms that it strains credulity. But it fits neatly into a pattern of oppressive behavior that is typical of Trump. There has never been a president who was more hostile to the First Amendment and those whose profession relies on it. The assertion that he believes in the First Amendment is nothing more than an acknowledgement that it exists. But he clearly regards it as an obstacle to his tyrannical aspirations and is doing everything he can to kill it.

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

Impeach Now: Trump’s Hateful, Deranged Twitter Tirade Affirms His Total Mental Collapse

Posted by on November 29, 2017 at 11:08 am. 2 Comments :

Where’s the bottom? Donald Trump is rapidly declining into a state of utter psychological incapacitation. The evidence has been apparent for years. But since becoming president the severity of his disturbance just keeps getting worse. It is unthinkable that such a diseased mind can actually occupy a position at the helm of the greatest power on Earth.

Donald Trump

This is not a common case of partisan political differences. Trump is spiraling into a profoundly dark space wherein nothing but his ego and grim hallucinations govern official acts. In just the past few days he has raged about not being chosen Time Magazine’s Person of the Year; he insulted soldiers deployed in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving; and his anti-media tweet helped slave traders in Libya.

This is not normal. It’s dangerous. And it’s getting worse. On Tuesday there were reports that he is regressing back to his birther beliefs that President Obama is Muslim born in Kenya. He is even telling confidants that the Access Hollywood video, where he bragged about committing sexual assault, isn’t him. That’s after he previously admitted that it was and apologized (just before hyping his new hotel).

On Wednesday morning Trump devolved further into his dementia. A series of tweets show that he is unarguably unfit to serve as president. Some of them were a continuation of his campaign against the free press. For instance:

Many politicians have had disputes with the media, but no president has ever advocated boycotting a particular network because he didn’t approve of the coverage. What’s more, Trump’s boycott threat is somewhat absurd considering that he has been doing that for nearly a year already.

Next Trump dived into the issue of sexual harassment with tweets about the firing of Matt Lauer. The irony is thick considering his own disgusting record of abuse and assault. However, typical of his malady, he drifted manically off the subject:

Trump’s repetitive whining about “fake news” is just getting tedious. He never actually proves any of his complaints, or even offers examples. It’s just a mindless flood of invective aimed at his perceived enemies. In this case, no one knows what the hell he’s referring to with regard to NBC News chairman Andy Lack or the others that he thinks should all be “terminated.” However, his swipe at Joe Scarborough is more proof that he’s living in a fantasy world. The incident that he wants investigated is neither a mystery nor unsolved.

Furthermore, it’s his favorite network, Fox News, that is by far the most mired in sexual harassment and abuse. It has already jettisoned its CEO (Roger Ailes), it’s biggest star (Bill O’Reilly), and several other prominent figures on the air and in the executive suites. The culture of misogyny continues at Fox with daily segments that disparage women on the news and their own personnel.

Where Trump really exhibits serious mental infirmity that calls into question his sanity is with his tweets of videos of alleged Muslim violence. The problem is that he’s retweeting a notorious British Islamophobe and an official with Britain First, a white nationalist organization. She is a convicted racist who has previously posted content that was proven to be hoaxes. Naturally, none of the videos in Trump’s tweets were verified as authentic.

Why would the President of the United States disseminate dubious materials whose only purpose is to incite hatred and violence? Trump would never post videos of the vast majority of responsible Muslims helping their community or country. He is focused squarely on creating more hate and division. It’s an obsession. Even the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, lashed out at Trump’s recklessness saying that “Britain First seeks to divide communities in their use of hateful narratives which pedal lies and stoke tensions. […] It is wrong for the President to have done this.”

On top of that, Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, is an enabler of Trump’s lunacy. When asked about the sketchy source for the videos he retweeted she gave an almost unimaginably obtuse reply:

“Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real and that is what the president is talking about. That’s what the president is focused on.”

She is actually saying that it doesn’t matter if the videos are fake. This from the administration that constantly (and dishonestly) calls all media, except for Fox News, fake. Never mind that. Trump is allowed to promote phony videos any time he wants, even if they are openly bigoted hoaxes intended to incite violence.

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

The longer Trump is in office, the more perilous America’s future. If he doesn’t start a war with North Korea or Iran, he’ll incite white riots here at home. His muddled brain is too dysfunctional to perform his job and, if special counsel Robert Mueller doesn’t take him out of the game, then Congress and any sane members of the administration have to do it. And judging by the rapid descent he is showing, they don’t have much time.

HUH? WH Press Sec Says Trump’s Sexual Abuse Shouldn’t Be Investigated Because He Denies It

Posted by on November 17, 2017 at 2:25 pm. 5 Comments :

The more Donald Trump and his flagrantly dishonest administration diverge from reality, the harder it is for them to maintain any semblance of coherence. Their lies just keep getting more absurd, which requires ever more ludicrous justifications and defenses. That state of affairs was perfectly illustrated Friday morning when Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, was asked to comment about the allegations against Sen. Al Franken.

Sarah Huckabee-Sanders

The question put to Huckabee-Sanders sought an explanation for why Trump’s history of sexual harassment and abuse should be dismissed while Franken is being subjected to harsh criticism from all sides. After all, There is just one accuser against Franken, but at least sixteen against Trump. [See all sixteen in this moving video that features Trump’s victims in their own words]. What’s more, the allegations against Franken are closer to bad humor and disrespect than to harassment. The incidents described occurred in public with witnesses and clear, but misguided, comedic intentions. Actual sexual abusers generally seek out privacy to commit their heinous acts.

Trump has been uncharacteristically silent with regard to the allegations against Republican senate candidate Roy Moore. The White House said that he doesn’t have time to respond to every news item. But that excuse didn’t seem to apply when it came to Franken. Trump managed to find the time to tweet this:

Let’s set aside Trump’s typically infantile name-calling, his misspelling of “Frankenstein,” and his baseless assumptions about additional photos. The fact that he could post this message despite his own repugnant record of gross, and potentially criminal, behavior, shows astonishing hypocrisy and self-deception. And that psychological impairment appears to be contagious. Take, for instance, this exchange during Friday’s White House press briefing (video below):

Reporter: If it’s fair to investigate Al Franken in the allegation made by his accuser, is it also fair to investigate this president and the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by more than a dozen women?
Huckabee-Sanders: Look, I think that this was covered pretty extensively during the campaign. We addressed that then. The American people, I think, spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president.
Reporter: But how is this different?
Huckabee-Sanders: I think in one case specifically, Sen. Franken has admitted wrongdoing and the President hasn’t. I think that’s a very clear distinction.

Indeed, that’s a very clear distinction. But not in the way she thinks. The fact that Franken has admitted wrongdoing and apologized makes the need for an investigation less imperative. Why probe something that isn’t in dispute? Conversely, Trump’s stubborn denials and attacks on his accusers should make an investigation necessary to resolve the discrepancies between Trump’s version of events and those of the sixteen women he allegedly abused. In effect, Huckabee-Sanders just made the case for initiating an investigation of Trump. Thanks, Sarah.

And just for the record, the American people spoke very loud and clear when they gave Hillary Clinton three million more votes than Trump got. And his approval ratings from day one of his presidency have been historically low. Polls even show that a plurality of voters favor impeaching Trump. So there’s that.

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

Moron Trump Turns Out to Be a Chicken, Backs Out of IQ Challenge With Sec. Tillerson

Posted by on October 10, 2017 at 2:33 pm. NO Comments :

Late last week NBC News revealed that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had openly disparaged Donald Trump as a “f*cking moron.” The surprisingly accurate analysis came during a meeting at the Pentagon in July according to three sources. Tillerson later held an unprecedented press conference to refute the charge that his boss is frighteningly dumb. However, he forgot the actual refutation and never denied that he made the statement.

Donald Trump Chicken

It’s notable that there was almost no one defending Trump’s alleged intelligence following Tillerson’s honest appraisal. However, Trump himself finally addressed it in an interview with Forbes Magazine, saying:

“I think it’s fake news, but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.”

This would not exactly be an epic contest of wits. Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he is woefully deprived in the smarts department. He has the vocabulary of a third grader and cannot seem to retain or comprehend simple facts. An IQ test would resolve this controversy in the “reality show” manner that Trump is accustomed to. And it would give Tillerson an opportunity to prove that Trump’s insult to his intelligence was fake news. Never mind that Trump has previously demeaned Tillerson by stating that his diplomatic efforts were a “waste of time.”

Unfortunately, the big competition has already been called off. Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was asked about the event at the White House press briefing. She advised that the President just “made a joke, nothing more than that.” He never intended to take on Tillerson. Which is a shame because the Mensa Institute had offered to sponsor the event.

Had this match gone on it would have been another fiasco for Trump. He has recently been squabbling with the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker. Corker expressed concern that Trump’s White House was on the verge of chaos. Trump replied with a flurry of furious tweets. But Corker had the last word when he tweeted back saying:

Corker elaborated in a statement to the New York Times. He said that Trump’s behavior “concerned” him and that he feared the President was putting the nation “on the path to World War III.” He also made note of Trump’s tendency to lie, saying “I don’t know why the president tweets out things that are not true.” And he implied that he was not alone in harboring these concerns. “I know for a fact,” Corker said, “that every single day at the White House, it’s a situation of trying to contain him.”

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

These comments should worry every American. If a conservative Republican is this nervous about a president from his own party, there is likely a fire raging under that smoke. It’s time for Corker and his GOP colleagues to stop complaining about the imminent danger Trump represents and do something about it. They don’t have to wait for special counsel Robert Mueller’s report to begin impeachment hearings.

Trump Press Secretary’s Response to His Gross Tweets About Mika Makes Things Even Worse

Posted by on June 29, 2017 at 12:15 pm. 5 Comments :

It’s mid-morning on Thursday and by now most of the country has heard about Donald Trump’s latest expression of his abhorrent character (or lack thereof). For those who haven’t, he tweeted a grotesque insult aimed at MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski. It was fairly typical of his misogynistic tendencies. For some reason, his most vile comments are usually saved for women.

Huckabee Sanders Trump

Trump’s tweets, as usual, were as riddled with lies as with loathing. For the record, this what he wrote:

Let’s set aside the horrific remarks about Mika Brzezinski. They have been appropriately covered and condemned elsewhere. And not just by Democrats and liberals. Below are some of the responses from prominent Republicans.

However, it also needs to be noted that the parts of Trump’s tweets that weren’t nauseating and childish were untrue. Morning Joe has been enjoying record ratings and nine straight quarters of growth. Trump couldn’t possibly know what Mika’s IQ is, and given his raging ignorance, he’s certainly in no position to talk. At the New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago he did not say “no” to Mika and Joe. They were photographed socializing. And, of course, there was no sign of bleeding or recent surgery. Finally, how does he always know what’s on Morning Joe if he never watches it?

Trump’s tweets were received with both disgust and disbelief. Except, that is, from within his own camp. Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders rushed over to Fox News to try to address the erupting crisis. Her efforts were pathetic and even viewed skeptically by host Bill Hemmer. Her position was that Trump is the victim and he was merely defending himself:

“I don’t think that the president’s ever been someone who gets attacked and doesn’t push back. There have been an outrageous number of personal attacks, not just to him, but to frankly everyone around him.

“People on that show have personally attacked me many times. This is a president who fights fire with fire. And certainly will not be allowed to be bullied by a liberal media and the liberal elites within the media or Hollywood or anywhere else.”

This prompted Hemmer to ask “Look, I get it. But is that necessary?’ Sanders just robotically repeated her prearranged talking points. What she apparently doesn’t understand is that, even if the program was critical of Trump, there’s a big difference. They are television pundits. He’s the President of the United States. And for him to lash out in such an infantile manner is disgraceful and embarrassing to the nation. Whenever he launches these odious tweetstorms he is avoiding his duty as president. The fact that he took the time to compose and post these tweets means that he wasn’t working on healthcare, North Korea, the economy, or terrorism. Well, that may actually be good news considering the harm he would likely cause.

Here is a collection of responses from Republicans who were rightfully disturbed by Trump’s hateful messaging:


https://twitter.com/RepLynnJenkins/status/880433829856542721
https://twitter.com/DaniellaMicaela/status/880452357653282816

And for good measure, here is the response from First Lady Melania Trump. Recall that she was going to make a campaign against cyberbullying her White House project.

No one should really be all that surprised by any of this. This is who a minority of the country elected. And he let us all know the rancidness of his character throughout his campaign. He’s a misogynist, racist, ignorant, bullying, narcissistic, pussy-grabbing, wannabe dictator. He’s also a corrupt, anti-constitution, Russian collaborating traitor. And for all of these substantive criticisms that warrant his immediate impeachment, he would likely only reply that I’m a goofy nobody with bad hair.

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