The Trump Effect: Ultra-MAGA PA Senate Candidate Refuses to Back GOP Nominee if She Loses

As the 2022 election cycle unfolds, Donald Trump continues to demonstrate his fetid influence on the Republican Party. His relentless fixation on nonexistent election fraud that he pretends cost him the 2020 election supersedes every other issue and is a prerequisite for receiving his toxic endorsement.

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Donald Trump Effect

In Pennsylvania the candidate that Trump endorsed for the Senate, Mehmet Oz, has not been especially popular with GOP voters in the state. He is currently struggling to hang on to a tiny lead in a three way primary race. Oz is running against another Trump-fluffing candidate, Dave McCormick, and the formerly fringe, now surging, Trump sycophant, and January 6th insurrectionist, Kathy Barnette.

Barnette was recently interviewed by Breitbart “News” and was asked a common and easily answered political question. And yet, she still managed to get the answer wrong:

Breitbart: If you do not win tomorrow, do you intend to support the Republican nominee whoever it is?
Barnette: I have no intentions of supporting globalists. I believe we have ran out of room on this runway for this spaceship. I believe we have very little rope left to just roll the dice and we’ll see how it all works out on the other end. […] I don’t think we have room to just vote for any old warm body with an R next to their name.

That’s great news for the likely Democratic candidate, John Fetterman. Particularly because the GOP’s Yellow Brick Road in Pennsylvania is currently leading toward Oz. If Barnette loses, the Trump cultists who support her could succumb to the poppy fields and sleep through the general election in November. And the Republican Party would have no one to blame for this but Trump.

RELATED: Trump Spokes-Shill Retweets Satirical Demand that ‘If We Can’t MAGA, Stay Home in November’

Trump has long demanded blind loyalty from his cult disciples. He insists that he is the only one who can fix America’s problems and that even other Republicans who aren’t unflinchingly faithful to him are cowards and/or RINOSs. He has even explicitly threatened the Party saying that if they don’t board the “Trump Train,” “Republicans will not be voting in ‘22 or ‘24.”

Trump has said that Barnette cannot win in the general election against Fetterman. But while Trump officially endorsed Oz, he also hedged his bet as he observed Barnette rising in the polls. He even praised her saying that if she won the primary “I will be behind her all the way.” Which is, surprisingly, more tolerant than Barnette herself who refuses to support her primary opponents if one of them should win.

Since Trump’s endorsement doesn’t seem to be pulling much weight in this race, Barnette’s supporters are more likely to follow her lead and sit out the general election. That’s a byproduct of Trump’s tunnel vision approach to party politics. It’s a “my way or the highway” strategy that is favored by aspiring authoritarian tyrants. And it is perfectly aligned with the Ultra-MAGA doctrine that President Biden aptly called the most extreme political organization that’s existed in recent American history.” So if Trump and his acolytes want to burn down the GOP, Democrats should just smile and say “please proceed.”

RELATED: BIDEN: Americans Have a Choice Between Two Very Different Sets of Values: Ultra-MAGA or Sanity

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4REAL! GOP Senators Oppose Ketanji Brown Jackson for Supreme Court Because She’s Too Qualified

The Republican Party has for decades devoted itself to a platform of nothing more substantive than obstructing the good faith efforts of Democrats to advance the interests of the American people. They are proudly anti-government, which makes them a dreadfully poor choice for holding any position of power in the service of the public.

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Donald Trump, Republican, GOP

The GOP (Greedy One Percent) is a party that is defined mainly by what they are against. They oppose taxes, immigration, the environment, consumer protections, and the rights of voters, minorities, women, and workers.

Now, as President Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, is being confirmed by the Senate, the Republican members of the Judiciary Committee have revealed themselves to be steadfastly against justices who have the “drawbacks” of being experienced and qualified.

RELATED: Tucker Carlson of Fox News Says Biden Chose Ketanji Brown Jackson to ‘Destroy’ the Supreme Court

This characterization of Republican obstructionism is not hyperbole. It can be heard in their own words as they announce their intentions to vote against Judge Brown. The Daily Show has helpfully complied the statements of opposition by the Committee’s GOP blockaders, who shamelessly maligned Judge Jackson during the hearings, along with their utterly unreasonable reasons for doing so:

For the record, the Republicans featured in this video are John Cornyn, Josh Hawley, Mike Lee, Marsha Blackburn, Thom Tillis, Chuck Grassley, and Lindsey Graham. And they all delivered remarks that at first effusively praised Jackson’s qualifications and integrity, before announcing that they would vote against her. It’s almost as if Jackson’s qualifications and integrity were the reasons for their “no” vote. And in a sense that’s true.

Republicans are scared witless of intelligent and accomplished people like Jackson because it blows apart their malicious mission to portray them all as moochers, criminals, and degenerates. And they are so averse to the notion of confirming an admirable Black woman who was nominated by a Democratic president that they have allowed whatever measure of rationality, principle, or patriotism to leak out of their tiny, partisan, racist minds.

RELATED: Fox News Floats Ludicrous New Criteria For Confirming Biden’s Supreme Court Nominees

To date the vast majority of Republican senators are planning to vote against Jackson. Only three have have indicated that they will vote to confirm her (Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Mitt Romney). And what they get for their bipartisan integrity is rancid animosity from fellow Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene who tweeted…

That sort of repulsive defamation is standard operating procedure for the GOP. It’s also not surprising coming from the party of QAnon that has been so obsessed with crackpot conspiracy theories about child abuse and sex trafficking run out of pizza parlor basements. That’s seriously the devolutionary state of today’s Republican Party. And while The Daily Show is adept at ridiculing it, the comedy only goes so far when the reality is even worse.

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GOP Sen. Tom Cotton Baselessly Accuses the Associated Press of Colluding with Hamas

There has been a measure of devolution observable in the United States Congress. Some of its newer members on the Republican side are adherents to preposterous conspiracy theories and have a disturbing aversion to facts and/or truth-telling. Names that rise to the top of that list include Lauren Boebert (who recently blamed President Biden for a shortage of Chick-fil-A dipping sauce), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (who is a committed devotee of QAnon).

Tom Cotton

Another Republican conspiracy crackpot is Sen. Tom Cotton. On Monday Cotton took the Senate floor to do his best Tucker Carlson impersonation. That’s a talent that consists mainly of asking a bunch of stupid questions without providing any answers, but making sure that whatever is being insinuated will stick in the gullible minds of his target audience.

Cotton’s topic was the Israeli bombing of a building in Gaza that housed offices of the Associated Press, and also, allegedly, a Hamas military facility. The bombing was highly controversial and was covered by the media in detail. However, the press missed some of the questions that Cotton raised, mainly because they were really stupid questions:

“Whys is the Associated Press sharing a building with Hamas? Surely these intrepid reporters knew who their neighbors were. Did they knowingly allow themselves to be used as human shields by U.S. designated terrorist organization? Did the AP pull punches and decline to report for years on Hamas’ misdeeds? I submit that the AP has some uncomfortable questions to answer.”

Let’s take this from the top. Whether the AP was sharing a building with Hamas is not an established fact. Cotton has no evidence of it, nor does U.S. intelligence (at least as far as they’re admitting). Israel says they have evidence but have delayed releasing it while they are preoccupied with the ongoing conflict. So Cotton’s first question is based on an assumption for which he has no facts.

Cotton goes on to make a back-handed compliment suggesting that the “intrepid reporters” at AP would know all of their neighbors. Again, there is nothing to support that assertion. And there is no reason to assume that the AP had investigated every other tenant in the building. What’s more, if Hamas occupied an office there, they would likely have kept it secret and wouldn’t have been running around with Hamas armbands or other identifying insignia.

From there Cotton makes a repulsive charge that the AP might have been allowing themselves to be used as human shields. WTHF? It is profoundly irresponsible and reckless to make such a charge without irrefutable proof. He is, in effect, accusing journalists of engaging in terrorism.

Finally, Cotton implies that because of the alleged proximity of a Hamas office, the AP would deliberately distort their reporting to benefit Hamas. Again, Cotton is making a horrific accusation without a shred of evidence. He doesn’t even supply any AP stories that he thinks might have soft-peddled Hamas. He’s just taking wild swings in the dark.

This is the sort of thing you would expect from a disreputable cretin like Tucker Carlson. But for a U.S. senator to be flinging unsupported allegations as serious as these from the Senate floor is a grotesque abuse of his position.

Unfortunately, that is what we have come to expect from a Republican Party that still believes that Donald Trump won the 2020 election and that his victory was stolen from him by a massive cabal of Democrats, Republicans, journalists, election officials, voting machine manufacturers, Venezuelans, Germans, and Ukrainians. So if anyone should have to answer some uncomfortable question it’s Cotton and his GOP confederates who actually did support the domestic terrorists who invaded Congress on January sixth.

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Why Every Argument to Acquit Donald Trump is Pure, Unadulterated Bull****

The Senate hearing for Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment has entered its defense stage. This follows the devastatingly effective presentation of the House impeachment managers who factually and passionately demonstrated how unarguably guilty Trump is for having incited a violent insurrection and an attack on the United States Congress.

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Donald Trump

The Trump defense began with a comically stereotypical comment that illustrates just how vacant the defense team’s strategy is. “Like every other politically motivated witch hunt the left has engaged in over the past four years,” began attorney Bruce Castor, “this impeachment is completely divorced from the facts, the evidence, and the interests of the American people.” So Trump’s team has been fully marinated in Trump’s own buzzwords and fallacies.

Castor went on to present a long collection of video clips suggesting that any use of the word “fight” with reference to a political objective was identical to Trump’s repeated provocations to act out violently. There is, however, a significant difference. We know that none of the remarks by the Democrats in the video resulted in an invasion of Congress or any other display of violence. And we know what Trump’s exhortations to his cult disciples did.

In order to have a concise record of precisely why Trump’s defense is so feeble and patently dishonest, what follows is a summary of the arguments that Trump’s lawyers will offer in defense of the indefensible:

Constitutionality
Trump’s defenders have already tried to argue that it is unconstitutional to impeach a president who is no longer in office. But Trump was impeached while he was still in office. The subsequent Senate hearing is explicitly authorized by the Constitution that says that “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.”

Free Speech
Trump’s team will argue that Trump was merely exercising his right to free speech like any other American citizen. But free speech has exceptions when the speech is so inflammatory as to present a threat to public safety. Clearly, the consequences of Trump’s speech show that it fit that exception.

No Direct Incitement
Trump’s lawyers will try to divorce Trump from his hostile rhetoric. But the record of months of relentless goading produced exactly the horrific results that Trump intended and that anyone could have foreseen. And Trump’s cavalier attitude after learning of the assault, and his refusal to provide help, is affirmation of his support for the rioters acting at his direction.

Whataboutism
Trump’s team will attempt to divert attention from Trump’s atrocities to wholly unrelated events. They will suggest that violence that occurred during Black Lives Matter protests was identical in principle to the storming of Congress by Trump’s Seditionist Brigades. But those looters were not associated with the BLM demonstrations or their organizers. And in any case, that doesn’t absolve Trump of any of his crimes. It’s like saying that a bank robber shouldn’t be convicted because some other bank at some other time was robbed by somebody else.

Preplanned, Partisan, Political Theater
Trump’s legal strategy rests heavily on claiming that the whole matter was politically motivated and therefore illegitimate. To believe that one would have to ignore the mountains of evidence against Trump. Facts are nonpartisan. And the fact that some of the insurrectionists planned their crimes in advance doesn’t meran that Trump wasn’t responsible. He was inciting them for months. and even funded the January 6th rally.

Fear of Electoral Repercussions
This would be the only valid argument from the perspective of Republican senators planning to vote for Trump’s acquittal. They surely have good reason to believe that they would suffer politically if they anger the Trump Cultists in their states. Particularly in the highly partisan primary elections. But that is a terrible reason to align with treasonous acts and to succumb to the cowardly position of acquitting Trump despite the evidence against him.

That pretty much sums up the Trump defense. On the other hand, there are much more substantial reasons to convict him. First and foremost is that he is so obviously guilty.

In addition to that, it is imperative that any president who engages in such appalling behavior must be punished. He must be punished out of a sense of duty, but also as a deterrent to future demagogues, as well as future insurrectionists.

Finally, history demands a conviction so that the crimes of this president are established and recorded for posterity. Otherwise, we will very likely undergo the same sort of atrocities by even more destructive, sociopathic, wannabe tyrants.

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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
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Fox News Cuts Away From Senate Impeachment Hearing During the Most Horrifying Parts

The historic second Senate Impeachment hearing of Donald Trump is unfolding with nauseating evidence of the assault by Trump’s Seditionist Brigades. It is new security camera video from inside the Capitol and shows the insurrectionists, as well as the members of Congress and the staffs being ushered to relative safety.

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Fox News, Censorship

These videos would make any sane, patriotic American cringe at the thought of how Trump and his cult followers desecrated the seat of American democracy and threatened the lives of representatives and others performing their constitutional duties. This treasonous riot in progress was among the most compelling parts of the House impeachment manager’s presentation.

So naturally, Fox News stopped airing it. All three broadcast networks, along with CNN and MSNBC aired it all live. But Fox thought it was more important to show their viewers what the screwball pundits on The Five had to say about the day’s news, some of which had nothing to do with the Senate hearing. The last thing Fox News wanted was to show videos of the Trump Brigades breaking into the Capitol and terrorizing innocent people.

This is more evidence that Fox News is NOT news. In fact, they are afraid the news. and they are afraid to allow their viewers to see what really happened on January 6. They need to keep them as ignorant as possible so they will continue to believe the Trump propaganda. And it really doesn’t matter what they show instead.

In this case it was a segment about an NBA team owner who briefly said he wouldn’t play the National Anthem before a game. And Fox thought that was the most pressing news at that moment in time. Seth Myers nailed on Tuesday night in his “Closer Look” segment when he said that “The smaller the story Fox News is focusing on, the bigger the story they’re ignoring is.”

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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
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Trump is Plotting His Post-Impeachment Comeback After His Failed Coup Attempt

The Senate is hearing the case for Donald Trump’s impeachment. There are a lot of good and necessary reasons to convict Trump. His words and actions for weeks prior to the Capitol insurrection are more than sufficient evidence of his intent to incite his seditionist brigades. The violence that occurred would not have happened but for Trump’s encouragement.

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Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

Trump’s defenders are leaning on the argument that it is unconstitutional to impeach Trump after he has left office. That is not only untrue (the Constitution literally states that the Senate “shall” have sole authority to try “all” impeachments), but even if it were, Trump was impeached while he was still in office, so the argument is irrelevant.

What the focus on this bogus defense tells us is that Republicans have absolutely no legitimate defense for what Trump actually did. So they are struggling to avoid that debate altogether and get him off on a technicality. In other words, both Democrats and Republicans agree that Trump’s actions were abhorrent and even impeachable, and he is guilty as charged. Republicans, however, want to let the whole coup thing slide. They seem to be arguing that every president should be allowed one violent attempt to overthrow the government. But after that…?

In the meantime, Trump is said to be biding his time and planning his comeback tour. He’s laying low and playing golf so as to project an impression that he doesn’t care about any of this. But, according to what Trump associates told Politico, he has big plans brewing:

“Now, heading into what could have been an historic bipartisan rebuke, the former president and his team are confident both of his acquittal and that he’ll come out of the trial with his influence over the Republican party all but cemented.”

So Trump is feeling pretty good about having gotten away with a treasonous assault on the Congress of the United States. Just as he predicted, his supporters wouldn’t abandon him even if he shot someone on 5th Avenue. The solidarity of the Trump-publican Party is surprisingly sturdy.

What’s strange about this is is that the American people are solidly opposed to Trump and favor his impeachment and conviction. So what’s in it for Republicans to continue propping him up? This Senate hearing would be the perfect opportunity to free themselves from the yoke of Trump’s noxious and unpopular authoritarianism and egomania. They should take advantage of it.

Furthermore, Trump is not likely to remain sequestered in his Mar-a-Lago bunker forever. His silence will eventually give way to to his narcissistic compulsion to exalt himself. He can’t resist. That could result in some form of televised programming. He could launch another unreality program on Newsmax or OANN. There would be no guarantee of success for him in that venture. In fact, it likely only draw a tiny audience of glassy-eyed disciples.

The worst part of this possibility is that it would subject the nation (and the world) to more of the daily torture of watching Trump lying, and whining, and insulting, and bragging about himself, every damn day. He spent the last four years turning the presidency into a sort of daily soap opera, never giving the public a rest. People forget that in past presidential administrations you could go for weeks without hearing anything about the president. But Trump had to always be the center of attention.

Consequently, while Senators could comfortably convict Trump on the merits of the evidence against him, they should also be thinking about the mental health welfare of the nation. Their conviction could ensure that we wouldn’t have to see his craggy face or hear his grating voice every day. His conviction would banish him to his own private prison where his acid rants wouldn’t splash on the rest of us.

For Republicans, convicting Trump would allow them to pursue their political agenda without having to repeatedly make excuses for more of Trump’s atrocities and idiocies. It would free them to engage in an ideological debate on substantive issues that matter to them. And for those reasons alone the GOP members of the Senate should more seriously consider voting to convict Trump and get him out of their way. The question is, do they have the intellect and courage to do that? Don’t bet the rent money on it.

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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
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Fox News Airs ‘Unbelievable’ Video of Georgia Senate Candidate Doing Nothing Wrong

It can be a painful spectacle to watch when desperation sets in. That’s been so true of Donald Trump and his pathetic crusade to overturn the will of the American people and proclaim himself President-for-Life. And it’s equally true of Fox News as they scramble to justify their raging right-wing bias amidst an avalanche of bad news for the flailing, lie-riddled, conservative agenda that is their mission to support.

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Fox News Alert

The upcoming Senate runoff races in Georgia will determine whether Mitch McConnell remains the obstructionist GOP Senate majority leader. Incumbents David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler are shamelessly fawning Trump sycophants who will serve McConnell’s will. Their Democratic opponents, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock are running close races that will hinge on voter turnout.

Consequently, Fox News is pulling out all the stops to malign the Democrats. However, they are obviously running low on material with which to attack them. And they even seem, at times, to be resigned to losing. On Tuesday’s episode of Tucker Carlson’s White Nationalist Hour he revealed what he thought was an explosive story that would doom Rev. Warnock to defeat. But try as he might, the story was a flaming dud. It’s weakness as both journalism and propaganda is evident in this exchange with Fox “News” correspondent Rick Leventhal:

Carlson: The race is two weeks from now on January 5th, so it’s a little late in the game to be getting this footage we’re about to show you, exclusively. This is footage of Raphael Warnock’s wife.
Leventhal: This is never before seen video, a Tucker Carlson Tonight exclusive. Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock, accused by his now ex-wife Ouleye of running over her foot.

So Leventhal is reporting that Ouleye Warnock made her allegations during “a heated argument” last March. Which Carlson admits is too long ago to be bringing it up, but which he does anyway. More to the point, the video shows Rev. Warnock describing an incident wherein nothing actually happens. He asserts that she was faking her her alleged injury, and Leventhal’s follow up corroborates that with the facts that Rev. Warnock wasn’t charged, and that the hospital first responders who examined her found no evidence of any injury.

Nevertheless, Fox News continued the report with Ouleye’s obviously biased and disparaging comments about her estranged husband’s character. To which Carlson replies, “That video is unbelievable. That woman is believable.” It’s hard to imagine what Carlson finds so “unbelievable” about that video, other than that it is unbelievably insignificant. Although it’s interesting that Carlson is suddenly taking the allegations of an allegedly abused woman seriously. Too bad that it’s regarding an incident where the facts show that no abuse occurred.

Clearly Carlson and Fox News are only interested in the harm this video can do to Rev. Warnock and his campaign. There is no substance to the allegations or news value in the report. It’s simply a wild swing at a political foe, taken in the hopes of some negative residue sticking. And the video has been making the rounds of right-wing media, including Fox’s sister publication, the New York Post, as well as Glenn Beck’s The Blaze, One American News Network (OANN), and the Daily Caller, which Carlson founded.

If they had any relevant dirt with which to smear Rev. Warnock or Jon Ossoff, they surely would be using it. So this is, in effect, an admission that they have no honest criticisms at all. They’re just throwing mud at the wall, and what’s really sad, is that they aren’t even hitting the wall.

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Adam Schiff’s Closing Arguments on Trump’s Impeachment Dare the Senate to Be Decent

As the impeachment trial of Donald Trump enters into its final phase, the litigants on both sides are presenting their best arguments to persuade senators to vote for or against conviction. The President’s counsel are sticking to their complaints about the process and the partisanship of the Democrats. The Democrats, on the other hand, are pleading with members to act on the facts that many of them have publicly conceded have been proved.

Donald Trump, Adam Schiff

Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee Chairman and lead manager for the Democrats, delivered a powerful closing argument that is certain to have a place in history. He distills much of what has been revealed in testimony and documentation into a concise indictment of Trump and the justification for removing him from office. In short, Schiff warns that Trump “has betrayed our national security and he will do so again. He has compromised our elections and he will do so again. You will not change him. You cannot constrain him. He is who he is. Truth matters to you. Right matters to you. You are decent. He is not who you are.”

Well, that last bit may be debatable as Republican senators fall in line behind Trump despite conceding that what he did was wrong. Some – for example Joni Ernst and Lamar Alexander – even said they believe that Trump won’t repeat his crimes now that he’s been impeached. However, there is no evidence that Trump has ever been chastened by attempts to hold him accountable.

The six minute oratory (video below) is profoundly moving and worth listening to in its entirety. The passages quoted below are from the very beginning and the very end of Schiff’s remarks. They serve as elegant bookends to the information contained in between.

“History will not be kind to Donald Trump. I think we all know that. Not because it will be written by never-Trumpers, but because whenever we have separated from the values of our nation we have come to regret it. And that regret is written all over the pages of our history. If you find that the House has proved its case and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history. But if you find the courage to stand up to him, to speak the awful truth to his rank falsehood, your place will be among the Davids who took on Goliath. If only you will say ‘enough.'”

“I put my faith in the optimism of the founders. You should too. They gave us the tools to do the job. A remedy as powerful as the evil it was meant to constrain. They meant for it to be used rarely, but they put it in the Constitution for a reason. For a man who would sell out his country for a political favor. For a man who would threaten the integrity of our elections. For a man who would invite foreign interference in our affairs. For a man who would undermine our national security and that of our allies. For a man like Donald J. Trump. They gave you a remedy and they meant for you to use it. They gave you an oath and they meant for you to observe it. We have proved Donald Trump guilty. Now do impartial justice and convict him.”

Unfortunately, Republicans in the Senate are going to vote against the Articles of Impeachment regardless of the facts. They are only interested in preserving their power and demonstrating loyalty to the Cult of Trump. But thanks to Schiff and others on the House Managers team, the historical record will outlast their cowardice, complicity, and deceit. And the consequences for their weakness may be dealt out as soon as this November.

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

HUH? GOP Concedes ‘Overwhelming’ Proof Trump is Guilty – of Being ‘Inappropriate’

The writing is on the proverbial wall. It appears that Republicans in the Senate are poised to conclude their cover up of Donald Trump’s criminal behavior. The vote on whether to allow the testimony of additional witnesses (such as Trump favorite, John Bolton) will likely fail. That would make this first impeachment in history not to include witness testimony. This travesty of justice was set in place with the announcement by retiring Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander that he would vote against further witnesses and documents.

Donald Trump, Presidenty

Alexander’s principle argument is that the decision to remove Trump from office should be made by the American people at the ballot box, not by the Senate. If so, he needs to explain why the Framers included impeachment in the Constitution. And his argument doesn’t even address the prospect of an election being subverted by a president who intends to cheat, making it impossible for the people’s choice to prevail.

However, Alexander isn’t even being asked to remove Trump from office yet. The question at present is only whether to permit the introduction of new witnesses and documents. Alexander could still decide later not to remove Trump. In the meantime, he’s preventing the American people, who he thinks should make the decision, from hearing all of the evidence. So he’s advocating that the people make an uninformed decision. That’s something that Trump will surely appreciate, because it’s what he does all the time.

Alexander’s full statement on his decision is a bundle of hypocrisies and contradictions. he actually concedes that “the House managers have proved” their case with “a mountain of overwhelming evidence.” So Alexander has seen sufficient evidence to declare Trump guilty. “There is no need for more evidence,” says Alexander, “to prove that the president asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter,” and that “There is no need for more evidence to conclude that the president withheld United States aid.”

In other words, there is no need for further evidence to establish the quid pro quo that Trump used to coerce Ukraine, but has denied repeatedly, despite having actually admitted it on national TV. Alexander was not alone in his assessment of Trump’s guilt. Senators Toomey, Collins, Romney, Murkowski, and Portman are among those who have considered approving more testimony (but will likely vote no anyway). However, Alexander’s vote appears to be based on something entirely different than the facts that he himself has presented:

“It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate.”

Really? Does Alexander know what the word “inappropriate” means? For the record, it means “not suitable or proper in the circumstances.” For example, cussing in front of children. Or wearing sweats to funeral. Or bragging that you can grab women by their genitals because you’re a celebrity.

It is a shameless depreciation of Trump’s flagrant criminal activities to dismiss them so cavalierly. The effort to impeach Trump and remove him from office is not because he committed “actions that are inappropriate.” It’s because he violated the law, the Constitution, and the moral duty to serve the public interest. And any Senator that votes to deny witness testimony – and to acquit Trump – is complicit in his crimes and the cover up. Which is, to say the very least, inappropriate.

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

Trump Suffers Brutal Senate Rebuke for Attacking the Free Press as ‘the Enemy of the People’

On Thursday there was a coordinated effort on the part of more than 350 independent newspapers to strike back at Donald Trump’s relentless and dangerous assault on the media. And it’s about time. As noted by one of the organizers, the Boston Globe, “This whole project is not anti-Trump. It’s really pro-press.”

Donald Trump

Naturally, Trump took time from his golf game to post tweets (three actually) criticising this overdue measure of self-defense and support for the First Amendment. Once again he demeaned the press by calling them the “opposition party.” Actually, that’s true. They are opposed to much of what Trump stands for: lying, corruption, racism, misogyny, and treason. And Trump’s GOP is defending all of those traits in this perverted White House.

Also on Thursday, the Senate passed by unanimous voice vote a resolution offered by Sens. Brian Schatz and Chuck Schumer. The resolution is focused directly at “affirming Congress’ support of the First Amendment and condemning attacks on the free press, which undermine the credibility of journalists and the press as a national institution.” What follows are some of the more pertinent passages from the text of the resolution:

Whereas the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States protects the press from government control and suppression;

Whereas the freedom of the press—

  1. has been recognized as integral to the democratic foundations of the United States since the beginning of the United States; and< /li>
  2. has endured and been reaffirmed repeatedly throughout the history of the United States;

[…]

Whereas tyrannical and authoritarian governments and leaders throughout history have sought to undermine, censor, suppress, and control the press to advance their undemocratic goals and actions; and

Whereas the United States, including its long-held commitment to and constitutional protection of the free press, has stood as a shining example of democracy, self-government, and freedom for the world to emulate: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, that:

The Senate –

  • affirms that the press is not the enemy of the people;
  • reaffirms the vital and indispensable role the free press serves to inform the electorate, uncover the truth, act as a check on the inherent power of the government, further national discourse and debate, and otherwise advance our most basic and cherished democratic norms and freedoms; and
  • condemns attacks on the institution of the free press and views efforts to systematically undermine the credibility of the press as a whole as an attack on our democratic institutions.

It is the sense of the Senate that it is the sworn responsibility of all who serve the United States by taking the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States to uphold, cherish, and protect the entire Constitution, including the freedom of the press.

The fact that a resolution like this even needs to be brought up is a sad statement on the status of the United States government, and particularly the White House under Donald Trump. And its language is unambiguously aimed at Trump himself with the inclusion of the affirmation that “the press is not the enemy of the people.” Moreover, having been passed without any objections in a body controlled by Republicans is an indication that the GOP may finally be sick and tired of some of Trump’s overtly un-American tendencies.

Now if only they would see fit to challenge the President on matters like his punitive and intimidating revocation of security clearances for former intelligence officials; his assaults on the Justice Department and those conducting investigations on him; his reliance on Fox News instead of experienced national security professionals; and his predilection for lying and resorting to infantile name-calling.

And maybe, just maybe, the Congress might hold actual hearings to get to the bottom of his conspiracies with Russia and obstruction of justice. It’s their sworn duty to act as a check and balance, to hold the President accountable for misdeeds, and to offer solutions that will prevent similar problems in the future with rogue leaders and foreign attacks on America’s democracy. Is that asking too much?

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