Trump’s Propaganda Press Conference Turns Into a Fox News Promo

On Thursday afternoon, Donald Trump held another of his phony press conferences that are really reelection campaign events illegally held in the White House. But this one was even more brazenly self-serving than those in the past, which were almost entirely self-serving.

Donald Trump, Fox News, White House

As usual, Trump spent the first half hour bragging about accomplishments that didn’t exist. In his fantasy brain the economy is soaring (it’s in recession) and there is no pandemic (it’s still killing more than a thousand Americans every day).

Trump finished his fictional storytime reading and turned to the reporters to take questions. He only took two before he scurried off with his tail between his legs. The first question was about his deadly deception revealed in Bob Woodward’s new book, RAGE! ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked “Why did you lie to the American people, and why should we trust what you have to say now?” Trump replied “That’s a terrible question and the phraseology. I didn’t lie. What I said is we have to be calm. We can’t be panicked.”

But of course, he did very obviously lie. And it had nothing to do with avoiding panic. If a hurricane was coming you wouldn’t call it a Democratic hoax and insist that it would disappear like a miracle. You would alert the public and advise them to take all necessary precautions. That’s what Trump actually did prior to Hurricane Dorian) I guess he didn’t care about creating a panic then.

Trump went on to say that his confession that he lied was excusable because the person he confessed to didn’t report it quickly enough. Which is a rather bizarre justification for lying. And it doesn’t even dispute that it was a lie. He then took the second question was about the Durham report, a politically stained probe triggered by Trump’s hostility toward his predecessor, Barack Obama, and orchestrated by Trump’s flunky Attorney Genuflect, Bill Barr.

In the course of Trump’s ranting falsely about how he was spied on by the Obama administration, he attempted to back up his allegations by citing his favorite source for classified intelligence, Fox News (video below):

“Probably the biggest political scandal in the history of our country. They got caught. Now, what the Durham report is going to say, I can’t tell you. But if they say half as much as I already know, just from seeing it.”

First of all, Trump’s own intelligence agencies, as well as the Republican-run Senate, have confirmed that there was no scandal, no spying on his campaign. Secondly, What the heck does he already know from “seeing” the Durham report, which would be an extraordinary breach of ethics for him to have seen? But he wasn’t finished:

“You know I watch some of the shows, I watched [Fox’s] Elizabeth McDonald, she’s fantastic. I watched Fox Business. I watched Lou Dobbs last night. Sean Hannity last night. Tucker [Carlson] last night. Laura [Ingraham]. I watched Fox and Friends in the morning. You watch these shows, you don’t have to go too far into the details. They cover things that are…it’s really an amazing thing.”

So every single one of the shows that Trump watched were Fox News shows. He spent at least four hours on these notoriously right-wing disseminators of Trump-fluffing propaganda. He has the world’s most extensive network of international intelligence operations reporting to him, but he’s parked in front of the television gulping down Kool-Aid from Hannity and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes. And he’s doing that instead of – you know – actually working. Which may be a good thing.

What’s more, Trump concedes that “you don’t have to go too far into the details,” mainly because the details wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny if you went any farther than scratching the surface. Everything these Trump cult shills promote on their State TV broadcasts is coordinated with, and complimentary to, Trump’s official PR playbook.

There isn’t any breakthrough revelation in the discovery that Trump is addicted to Fox News and vice versa. What’s notable is that he has gotten so mentally lazy that he would make a public statement that is so blatantly aligned with his Ministry of Disinformation. He didn’t even bother to slip in a few names from OANN, Breitbart, or any of the other irrelevant Internet clown shows Trump likes to patronize.

This was all Fox News. An exclusive promo for the network that made him what he is today. And never mind that he has frequently attacked Fox News when they weren’t sufficiently worshipful. He always comes back because there is no one more loyal, more willingly deceitful, and more successful at corralling the Trumpian hoards who are starving for ever more news about Dear Leader. Their relationship may be rocky at times, but it is still strong – and dangerous.

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

Throwback Trump: If You Told a Republican to Vote Twice They’d Get Sick at the Thought of It

On Wednesday Donald Trump’s desperation and fear drove him to suborn felony voter fraud by telling his cult followers to vote twice this November. That would not only be a crime for anyone who tried it, it’s also a crime for Trump to make the solicitation. An honest Justice Department would indict him immediately, but the Justice Department of the Trump administration is nobody’s idea of honest.

Donald Trump Red Face

Not surprisingly, Trump has had fluid opinions on this subject that change whenever he perceives the opposite opinion to be more to his benefit. Or maybe he’s just to cognitively challenged to recall his own views from one moment to the next. He doubled down on these felonious solicitations Thursday morning on Twitter. But last May he was interviewed by Senior Fox News Trump-Fluffer Maria Bartiromo and he told her that…

“The level of dishonesty with Democrat voting is unbelievable. If you told a Republican to vote twice, they’d get sick at even the thought of it. And you have people that vote numerous times. What’s happening is crazy. So now they want to send out vote-by-mail. Who knows who’s signing this stuff?”

If what Trump said then was true, there are a lot of sick Republicans running around the country right now. Well … more than usual. And that isn’t even counting those with the coronavirus (which Trump thinks you can get from voting).

Due to the complicity of Trump’s traitorous Attorney Genuflect, Bill Barr, and the Senate GOP, Trump appears to be getting away with his crimes again – for now. But the record is clear and will be preserved for the next attorney general to investigate and prosecute. As is often the case, Trump documents his criminality on national television. “Let them send it in and let them go vote,” Trump said to the press. “And if their system’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote. If it isn’t tabulated, they’ll be able to vote.”

Trump’s babbling about how mail-in votes would be tabulated before in-person voting is pure nonsense. In some states that process doesn’t even begin until after the polls close. Anyone who takes Trump’s advice will be in a heap of trouble. This isn’t a gray area. Both state and federal statutes unambiguously state that even attempting to vote twice is against the law. And every reputable law enforcement official will affirm that. For instance…

Karen Brinson Bell, Executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections: It is illegal to vote twice in an election … Attempting to vote twice in an election or soliciting someone to do so also is a violation of North Carolina law.

Michigan Attorney General Nessel: Don’t try this at home. I will prosecute you […] Let me be perfectly clear: voting twice is illegal, no matter who tells you do to it. The president’s idea is a great one for people looking to go to jail.

Ellen L Weintraub, Federal Elections Commissioner: It is illegal in all 50 states and under federal law to vote twice. As any federal officeholder or law enforcement official should know.

Well, any federal officeholder or law enforcement official other than Barr. In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Barr staggered around awkwardly as he tried to avoid contradicting his boss. He trotted out diversions about the point he thought Trump was trying to make, and absurd claims about not knowing state laws. Eventually, Blitzer had to educate him:

Trump was right about one thing. This is “crazy.” It’s so crazy, in fact, that it should trigger an indictment and his immediate removal from office. Or at least the 25th Amendment and a straitjacket. Unfortunately, Trump’s GOP confederates are as crazy as he is and wouldn’t hear of it. So we’ll just have to wait until November (actually January 20) to rid the White House of this madness. If we survive that long.

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

WTF? Bill Barr Told Rupert Murdoch to ‘Muzzle’ a Fox News Trump Critic

The creeping fascism of the Donald Trump regime continues to unfurl as the criminal accomplices in his cabinet carry out his nefarious agenda. Chief among them is Attorney Genuflect, Bill Barr, who doesn’t even bother anymore to disguise his desecration of the Justice Department into a pseudo-legal cabal that works solely as Trump’s personal defense team.

Donald Trump, Bill Barr

A new book by CNN’s media correspondent, Brian Stelter, is set to be released next week, and excerpts are starting to make the rounds. Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth, has already created quite a stir with revelations about how insiders at Fox News privately admit that they think Trump is “crazy,” even while they exalt him worshipfully on the air.

The toxic, codependent relationship between Trump and Fox News has been the source of incalculable damage to American media and democracy. It is an unprecedented political/press partnership that benefits both. Fox News gets an audience with cult-like devotion that they can brainwash with blatant scare tactics and the darkly unifying force of racism. While Trump gets an aggressive assault team to attack his critics and political opponents, and a constant defense for his unending stream of unsavory conduct and outright crimes. It’s a marriage whose foundation rests on lies and ignorance.

Another excerpt from the book was just published by The Guardian. This one describes a meeting that took place last October between Barr and Fox News Overlord, Rupert Murdoch. News Corpse speculated at the time that the meeting resulted in the resignation of Fox host Shepard Smith, which was announced the next day. But Stelter’s book reports that there was another topic of discussion on their agenda:

“The attorney general, William Barr, told Rupert Murdoch to ‘muzzle’ Andrew Napolitano, a prominent Fox News personality who became a critic of Donald Trump, according to a new book about the rightwing TV network. […] Trump ‘was so incensed by the judge’s TV broadcasts that he had implored Barr to send Rupert a message in person … about ‘muzzling the judge’. [Trump] wanted the nation’s top law enforcement official to convey just how atrocious Napolitano’s legal analysis had been.'”

Just to be clear, intimidating and manipulating the media is not a part of the Attorney General’s job. In fact, it isn’t a part of any government official’s job. It is a totalitarian tactic to control speech and clampdown on the free press. And this sort of suppression of the constitutional rights of journalists is part and parcel of the Trump Doctrine that has designated the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.”

Napolitano, the Senior Legal Analyst at Fox News, has been known to criticize Trump. And for that heresy he was entirely excluded from Fox’s coverage of Trump’s impeachment. A few notable examples of his well-reasoned critiques include…

Napolitano has a right to his opinions, and quite often he agrees with Trump. But none of that is relevant here. It was grossly inappropriate for Trump to seek to censor a legal news commentator. And it only makes matters worse that Trump recruited his attorney general to deliver that message. And Barr, of course, should never have agreed to take the assignment. It’s not only improper, and a violation of the Constitution, it has absolutely nothing to with his duties at the Department of Justice.

It is, however, consistent with Trump’s flagrant disrespect for the law, his relentless abuse of power, and his frighteningly obvious tyrannical aspirations. And it’s further proof that neither Trump nor Barr are fit to serve in any position of government authority. They have both proven that they are utterly untrustworthy and the sooner they are deposed, the better for America.

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

Trump is Right About Changing Election Day – Make It Sooner

On the day that civil rights hero John Lewis is being laid to rest, Donald Trump is ranting incoherently on Twitter. But then why should today be any different for him? He didn’t even send a representative to pay respects at the service. The depths to which Trump’s desperation is sinking is profoundly disturbing and predictive of his dangerously devolving psychoses. And the worst is yet to come.

Donald Trump Circling the Drain

The reference to John Lewis is not tangential. He was an iconic fighter for voting rights for all Americans. But on Thursday morning Trump posted another round of tweets attacking the legitimacy of mail-in voting. Never mind that it has been done safely and securely for decades. Or that it is used by Trump and many in his family and administration, and the military. Or that his own commission on the matter found no evidence of fraud. Or that Trump’s Attorney General, Bill Barr, just testified this week that he has no evidence supporting assertions that voting by mail is susceptible to foreign interference.

Despite all of that, Trump still sought to sow doubt about the election. It’s a position he’s taking due to his well-founded fear that he is going to lose bigly. And he’s working hard at it. Trump has tweeted his opposition to mail-in voting at least 22 times so far this year. And he is simultaneously trying to sabotage the Post Office in order to disrupt the election. So he tweeted that…

First of all, there is absolutely no difference between “mail-in voting” and “absentee voting.” That’s just a pitifully illogical dodge that Trump invokes in order to excuse the fact that he frequently votes by mail.

More importantly, Trump’s suggestion that the election be delayed is another brazen example of his tyrannical aspirations. The president has no authority to delay an election. However, Trump’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, a graduate of West Point and Harvard Law, was asked by Sen. Tim Kaine about Trump’s tweet. Pompeo refused to acknowledge that Article II, Section I of the Constitution states explicitly that only “The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States.” Pompeo’s pathetic evasion perfectly exemplifies the Trump regime’s aversion to constitutional law.

It is unarguable that the power to set election dates resides exclusively with the Congress. What’s more, the date that the president’s term ends is set by the Constitution as January 20, and is immovable. In fact, if a new president is not sworn in by January 20, then the Speaker of the House (currently Nancy Pelosi) becomes president. Even Chris Stirewalt, politics editor at Fox News, refuted Trump’s ludicrous proposal as “a flagrant expression of his current weakness.”

However, if we were to humor Trump in his dictatorial ignorance, there is a case to be made for changing the election day. Not to delay it, but to advance it. The harm that Trump is doing to America is escalating with each passing day. His negligence and incompetence with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is producing more illness and death that would otherwise be preventable. He continues to suck-up to Vladimir Putin, and refuses to hold him accountable for putting bounties on the heads of American soldiers. He is cozying up to our enemies and alienating our allies. Domestically, he is deploying his StormTrumpers in cities around the country to assault people exercising their rights to protest. He is issuing executive orders that cut regulations intended to protect America’s air, water, and workplaces.

Every day that Trump remains in office is another day that he makes the nation weaker. And the prospect of removing him sooner by scheduling an earlier election would be an enormous benefit to all citizens, and to the world. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until November 3rd to vote Trump out, and then another two and half months to inaugurate his successor, Joe Biden. Until then, we must remain vigilant and determined to suppress Trump’s worst tendencies. That isn’t going to be easy, but it is necessary and an obligation for all patriots.

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

Panic Sets In As Trump Sees America Overwhelmingly Rejecting Him

With just over four months until the 2020 election, Donald Trump is on bunker duty, forlornly devouring Fox News and tweeting frantically as his poll numbers slide ever further into the abyss of ultimate defeat. The stench of a loser emanates from his dialog and demeanor. And his fury is shooting out in all directions – at Democrats, the press, and his cowering staff and family.

Donald Trump Walking the Plank

The best evidence of Trump’s electoral peril is that his once cherished campaign rallies are shadows of the cultish festivals of messiah worship they used to be. In Tulsa, Trump spoke of a million ticket requests, but ended up with a pathetic crowd of only 6,200 (along with other problems). A few days later he took his traveling revival show to Phoenix, a city with four times the population of Tulsa, but drew half as many Trump-chumps.

Among the reasons for the desertions of these once rabid fans include the still spreading coronavirus. As infections and fatalities continue to mount, concerns about gathering in large crowds who ignore safety precautions (i.e. face masks) could be taking a toll on attendance. But that factor cannot be separated from Trump’s dismal approval ratings. After all, it is Trump’s negligence, incompetence, and even deliberate malfeasance that is the cause of the current COVID-19 spike. Even his supporters, at some level, have to know this.

In addition to the attendance decline at Trump rallies, his polling has fallen to new lows. He is losing to Joe Biden by double digits nationally, as well as in the crucial swing states. He is declining in critical demographic groups that he won in 2016 (such as evangelicals and suburban women). And Trump cannot whine about “fake” news (well, he can and will, but it doesn’t register as credible with anyone) being against him because his downward spiral is showing across a broad array of media sources, including Fox News (which drives him nuts). In fact, every one of the ten most recent polls as compiled by RealClearPolitics have Trump floundering with an average in favor of Biden that exceeds 50%:

RCP Average 51.0 40.9 Biden +10.1
Economist/YouGov 49 41 Biden +8
NY Times/Siena 50 36 Biden +14
Harvard-Harris 56 44 Biden +12
FOX News 50 38 Biden +12
Quinnipiac 49 41 Biden +8
CNBC 51 41 Biden +10
CNN 55 41 Biden +14
NPR/PBS/Marist 50 43 Biden +7
Emerson 53 47 Biden +6
The Hill/HarrisX 47 37 Biden +10

UPDATE! The New York Times just released a new poll of six swing states and things are just getting worse for Trump. Biden is now extending his lead: by 11 points in Michigan and Wisconsin, 10 points in Pennsylvania, 9 points in North Carolina, 7 points in Arizona, and 6 points in Florida.

As a result of this reality, Trump is lashing out with panic, fear, and delusion. He has proposed “slowing down” virus testing as a way of reducing the number of cases. Of course, the number would remain the same, but we just wouldn’t know what it is. He is also threatening to use “serious force” against Americans exercising their constitutional right to protest. He and his crony Attorney General, Bill Barr, are purging the Justice Department of career professionals in order to escape accountability for his crimes. He tweeted a couple of Internet videos of African-Americans committing random acts of violence. They have nothing to do with politics or protest. They are just intended to reinforce a racist fear of “scary” black men. And he is ramping up his bizarre attacks on Democrats and President Obama, who he has now publicly accused of treason.

These, and so much more, are examples of how deranged Trump has become as he recognizes that his political and legal future is virtually dead. And we can expect his crazed behavior and wild attacks to become even more extreme as election day draws nearer. For that reason, no Democrat or progressive can relax. The fierce determination of Trump and his GOP confederates will stop at nothing to retain power. That includes cheating, voter suppression, and recruiting help from foreign governments. He is already laying the groundwork to challenge election results when he loses. So this calls for vigilance, hard work, financial commitments, and enduring resolve to restore American values. We must not let this moment pass.

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

Trump Threatens to Designate ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization – Again?

In his ongoing attempts to inflame tensions, incite violence, and shift blame for his own failings onto others, Donald Trump took to his Twitter machine to once again divide the nation at a time when it most needs healing. The dystopian nightmare vision of Trump’s MAGA Night at the White House is fueling his latest outbursts of unbridled rage. And he seems oblivious to the fact that there have been more than 102,000 deaths from COVID-19 (coronavirus), 40,000,000 Americans out of work, and an economy that is floundering in depression territory.

Donald Trump, MAGA

With everything else that’s going on, Trump is desperately trying to deflect from his negligence and incompetence by exploiting the nationwide protests against the sort of systemic racism that killed George Floyd. He is purposefully politicizing it by attacking Democratic leaders and making wholly unsupported allegations against liberal activists. His Twitter feed on Sunday morning looked like a screed from a typical white supremacist website.

Trump began by offering Congratulations to our National Guard” for “shutting down” the mythical “Antifa anarchists.” Although it’s hard to shut down something for which there is zero proof of existing in the first place. That was followed by by his taking a bitterly partisan swipe at Democrat run Cities and States”And naturally he went after his arch nemesis, the “Lamestream Media” that he accused of doing everything within their power to foment hatred and anarchy.” Because the giant, multinational, billion dollar corporations that control the media just love anarchy. But perhaps the most bizarre twitticism was this:

There is so much wrong with that that it will require some extended analysis. First of all, there is no Antifa organization. At best it is a loose assembly of unaffiliated activists who are opposed to fascism, as are most patriotic Americans. That alone would rattle Trump whose fascistic tendencies are well documented. Secondly, Trump has no legal authority designate any domestic group as “terrorist.” The law only permits such designations for foreign entities. Thirdly, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security already designated whatever it thinks Antifa is as having engaged in terrorist acts way back in September of 2017:

“Federal authorities have been warning state and local officials since early 2016 that leftist extremists known as ‘antifa’ had become increasingly confrontational and dangerous, so much so that the Department of Homeland Security formally classified their activities as ‘domestic terrorist violence,’ according to interviews and confidential law enforcement documents obtained by POLITICO.”

However, Politico also noted that the rise of so-called “extremist” left-wing protests was actually incited by Trump:

“In interviews, law enforcement authorities made clear that Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric and policies — first as a candidate and then as president — helped to create a situation that has escalated so quickly and extensively that they do not have a handle on it.”

That’s true as well with regard to the current protests going on around the country. Contrary to the heated blather of Trump and his Attorney General Bill Barr, it is right-wing extremists who appear to be responsible for the violence that has marred the protests in recent days. Facts on the ground have shown that…

“…the demonstrations that caused so much damage included provocateurs, likely from outside the area. State officials said around 80 percent of those arrested in the Twin Cities on Friday were from outside Minnesota. Former FBI agent and CNN commentator, Josh Campbell wrote, that Minnesota ‘authorities have been monitoring alleged criminals online, including postings by suspected white supremacists trying to incite violence.'”

That’s consistent with studies on domestic terrorism conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:

“There is empirical and anecdotal evidence that far-right hate groups pose a significant threat to public safety. Far-right extremists commit many violent attacks, and some scholars conclude that far-right extremists, especially groups motivated by religious ideology, are strong candidates to commit future acts using weapons of mass destruction”

It is also consistent with studies conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL):

“From 2009 through 2018, right-wing extremists accounted for 73 percent of such killings, according to the ADL, compared with 23 percent for Islamists and 3 percent for left-wing extremists. In other words, most terrorist attacks in the United States, and most deaths from terrorist attacks, are caused by white extremists.”

So all the evidence points to right-wing extremists being responsible for domestic terrorism both generally over many years, and specifically with regard to the Floyd protests. Yet Trump and his confederates are spreading baseless lies to smear the protesters, Democrats, and liberals across the board. It’s a despicable act of disinformation and slander. But it is precisely what we would expect from Donald Trump as he swirls ever lower in the downward spiral of his failed presidency.

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

Joe Biden Brilliantly Nails Trump’s Descent Into Corruption and Tyranny

From day one of his accidental presidency, Donald Trump has exhibited clear signs of his aspirations to emulate the brutal dictators that he so admires (Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin). His reverence for the trappings of totalitarianism has been thinly disguised as he openly exchanged love letters with his autocratic heroes and behaved in a manner that mimicked their oppressive methods of governing.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden

On Friday evening Trump committed yet another act of obvious abuse of power. Hoping to avoid media scrutiny, he quietly sent a letter to Congress indicating his intention to fire Steve Linick, the State Department’s Inspector General. Linick just happened to been investigating misconduct by Trump’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

The Inspector General’s position is supposed to be an independent watchdog post to protect the integrity of government agencies. That’s why Trump could not fire Linick outright, but had to give Congress a 30 day notice. Unfortunately, due to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s blind obedience to Trump, it is still likely that nothing will be done about this, at least from McConnell’s perch.

This negligence on the part of Republicans in Congress is all the worse considering that this isn’t the first time that Trump has fired an IG who was investigating his administration. Nor is it the second time. Or the the third. Linick’s dismissal follows that of Inspectors General Christi Grimm (Health and Human Services), Glenn Fine (Defense Department), and Michael Atkinson (Intelligence Community). Each of these people were non-partisan career professionals who served administrations of both parties. Each of them were probing misconduct in the Trump administration. And all of this took place within a six week period.

Trump has been executing a slow-motion version of a Saturday Night Massacre, wherein he’s terminating honorable public servants who were doing their jobs on behalf of the American people. His brazen lawlessness seems to be growing unchecked ever since the Senate failed in their duty to remove him from office after his impeachment.

Trump is becoming ever more desperate in recent days as the coronavirus death toll for Americans approaches 90,000. Which is another even more tragic consequence of the GOP’s acquiescence to Dear Leader. Lately Trump has been fixated on a thoroughly imaginary “scandal” that he has been calling “ObamaGate.” There is no rational explanation for what he’s alleging, and given the opportunity, even he couldn’t define it. But he has been tweeting up a storm with links to rabid Obama haters making bizarre and unsupported accusations.

On Saturday morning Trump embarked on a raging Twitter-palooza that included one tweet saying that “Scandal has defined the Obama Administration.” Which is peculiar considering there is not even a hint of any untoward activity by President Obama over the eight years of his presidency. However, there is nothing but scandal and corruption engulfing Trump and his confederacy of criminals, many of whom have already been indicted and convicted.

So Trump’s current obsessive acting out against IGs is just his way of trying to put a lid on the discovery of his raging malfeasance in office. He is writhing in fear of losing in November and being held accountable for his presidential crime spree. He knows that his approval ratings are plummeting and most polls show Joe Biden beating him nationally, as well as in many of the crucial swing states. So it is especially sweet to see Biden excoriating Trump in a succinct yet effective tweet of his own:

Indeed. While there are many former Trump staffers who have left his employ under a cloud, the only person Trump ever fired for wrongdoing was his disgraced National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, who got the ax for lying to both the administration and the FBI. But now Trump is praising Flynn after having had his Attorney General, Bill Barr, drop all charges against him. Never mind that Flynn had confessed and pleaded guilty twice.

Trump keeps demonstrating that he will cozy up to those who swear their unflinching allegiance to his White House mob family. Loyalty to him always takes precedence over loyalty to the United States or its Constitution. And he will continue to poison the waters of justice in order to avoid being held accountable for his innumerable crimes. You have to wonder if there is any breach of law or ethics that will provoke Republicans to act with integrity and dignity and patriotism. but don’t hold your breath.

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

HUH? Fox News Implies Barr’s Absolution of Flynn Invalidates the 2018 Election

The criminal administration of Donald Trump is frantically trying to slip through as many political atrocities as it can before it is swept out office next year. And they aren’t shy about hiding behind the tragedies of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in order to achieve their nefarious goals. In fact, it almost seems like they are deliberately making things worse by prematurely “reopening” the country economically in order to better cloak their activities.

Donald Trump, Bill Barr

On Thursday Trump’s Justice Department led by Attorney General, Bill Barr, announced that they were asking a federal judge to drop the charges against Michael Flynn, Trump’s disgraced former National Security Advisor. Flynn had pleaded guilty to an array of charges including lying to the FBI. He also promised to cooperate with federal prosecutors until he abruptly reneged and hired a new team of lawyers. The charges against him were pretty airtight, which is why he originally admitted his guilt. But more recently he concluded that by hanging tough he would be able to secure a presidential pardon or a dismissal, which is what has now occurred.

Flynn was the poster boy for the corruption that infects every cell of the Trump regime’s body. He had unsavory relations with the governments of Russia and Turkey. He was considered dirty even before Trump was inaugurated. President Obama fired him and warned Trump to steer clear. Naturally, that probably had the effect of endearing Flynn to Trump. Birds of a feather, and all that. Just last week Trump unleashed a tweetstorm of 27 tweets supporting Flynn.

The news that Barr was dropping the charges broke pretty quickly as every news network interrupted their programming with special coverage. However, the coverage on Fox News stood out for its predictably biased slant, including bizarre opinions by their “straight” news anchors, Bill Hemmer and Bret Baier. They joined to imply that Barr’s dismissal of Flynn’s charges somehow reflected on the validity of the 2018 election (video below):

Hemmer: It begs the question, what was Bob Mueller doing all this time? And were they out there looking for something that never existed? Were they trying to find a crime were they could not find one?
Baier: We’re in the middle of dealing with COVID and all of the health crisis and the economic crisis, but if you look back and you realize when Bob Mueller and his team knew that there was nothing there there, it was before the midterm election. And that raises its own questions about where that investigation went and how it proceeded.

WTF? If these guys don’t know what Mueller was doing at this point, they are either too stupid to be allowed to function outside of an asylum, or they are brazenly lying in support of their extreme right-wing agenda. Hemmer’s “questions” as to whether a crime occurred is deliberate disinformation. Mueller’s report explicitly stated that he was not able to exonerate Trump. It also enumerated several instances of felony perjury. Plus, there were several indictments and convictions in addition to Flynn’s guilty plea. All of this has been on the record for years now.

As for Baier, his preposterous speculations expose him as a bitterly partisan political hack. He asserts that Mueller at some point “knew that there was nothing there there.” That’s a flagrant lie. When Mueller testified before Congress he said that “Trump and his campaign welcomed and encouraged Russian interference,” and that they “lied about it to cover it up.” Does that sound like he knew there was no there there?

What’s more, the contention that Flynn being let off the hook now has some bearing on the 2018 election cannot be squared with reality. First of all, how can a decision to allow an admitted felon to go free by a dishonest and devotedly loyal Trump Attorney General have any such effect? Barr’s decision doesn’t make Flynn innocent and it doesn’t alter the voters’ choices to sweep corrupt Republicans out of office. Flynn’s get-out-of-jail-free card only serves as a further indictment of the corruption in Trump’s criminal syndicate. If anything, it validates what voters did in 2018.

More importantly, Barr’s Trumpist puppetry will likely spark a new level of outrage among the majority of Americans who already want Trump, and his GOP confederates, gone in November. If they think that coddling traitors is going to translate into Republican votes, they are dumber than Trump looks. Flynn’s freedom will remind every American voter that Republicans are on the side of those who betray our country. The likelihood of a Democratic tsunami at the polls in November became greater today.

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

PRIORITIES: Trump’s Rage-Tweets Focus on Bashing Democrats, Ignore Coronavirus

The importance of the Super Tuesday primaries cannot be overstated. It’s results have reshaped the Democratic race to be the party’s nominee for president. But that is surely not the only story with national significance. The nation – and the world – continues to be threatened by an emerging health crisis that has the potential to be become a pandemic.

Donald Trump, Toilet, Bathrobe

These situations require the thoughtful and forthright attention of our leaders, from local medical facilities right up to the White House. So this would be a good time to see how Donald Trump is spending his precious time at this hour of need.

While news reports confirm that both infections and fatalities in the U.S. are increasing, Trump seems unperturbed by these developments. His Twitter feed on Wednesday morning consists of fourteen tweets, and not a single one addresses the coronavirus. Instead, Trump appears to be fully consumed by the drama in the Democratic presidential primary. Fully half of his tweets were attacks of one sort or another on the Democrats vying to oust him in November. And the majority of those were missives aimed Mike Bloomberg, who Trump derisively refers to as “Mini.” For instance…

It’s pretty hysterical that a pretend billionaire like Trump, whose bankruptcies and other business failures are legendary, attacks Bloomberg for not “having what it takes.” Bloomberg is worth over $58 billion. Also, Trump is lying about what Bloomberg spent on his campaign. But even if it were true, it would be less than 2% of of his wealth. And Bloomberg has promised to spend “whatever it takes” to defeat Trump.

That’s why Trump is so scared. He knows that Bloomberg has the resources to bury him politically. And whether Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders is the beneficiary of those funds, and Bloomberg’s digital operations, they will create the sort of “wall” that Trump can only dream about.

Trump fired off three other tweets about Bloomberg that were equally as insulting and devoid of substance. But he also went after Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. He continues to spin a deranged conspiracy theory that everyone in the Democratic Party is plotting to “crush Bernie Sanders.” And Trump is positioning himself as an advocate for Sanders, who he claims is the victim of a rigged system. Obviously Trump loathes everything about Sanders. So this dishonest expression of concern is rooted in something more sinister. As Trump tells it…

So what’s Trump’s game? He wants us to believe that he considers Sanders an easier opponent to beat. However, he didn’t come to that conclusion on his own. It also happens to be the view of his pal, Vladimir Putin. The Russian campaign to sow discord and chaos within the Democratic Party has been in operation for months. Sanders was notified of it earlier this year. And virtually everything Trump is doing and saying is aligned with the Russian agenda. It is no coincidence that Putin’s perspective and Trump’s are so tightly bound.

In addition to those anti-Democratic tweets, Trump also posted what amounts to a confession that he intended to obstruct justice when he appointed Jeff Sessions to be his Attorney General:

It’s hard to be any clearer that Trump expected Sessions to terminate the Mueller investigation. And when that didn’t happen, he fired Sessions and installed a more obedient lackey, Bill Barr. Now Trump is celebrating Sessions’ difficulties in winning back his old senate seat. And the reason that Trump believes Sessions is getting what he deserves is that Sessions wasn’t sufficiently loyal. Of course, that isn’t in the job description of the Attorney General. What Trump is looking for is a bootlicking sycophant, which is also not in the job description of the Attorney General, or any other cabinet position.

The larger problem that all of this represents is that, while America is worried about the emergence of a potential pandemic, Trump is obsessed only with his prospects for retaining power. That may not be news to anyone who has been paying attention to our Narcissist-in-Chief, but it is nevertheless troubling. The United States is presently burdened with a self-absorbed, wannabe dictator who is content to allow millions of Americans to suffer rather than fulfill the obligations of his job. And therein lies the most urgent reason to make sure that Trump’s presidency ends as soon as possible.

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

The REAL Criminal: Roger Stone Was Prosecuted for Covering Up for Trump

On Thursday morning the media was glued to a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. That’s where Judge Amy Berman Jackson would be handing down the sentence for Donald Trump’s longtime political fixer, Roger Stone, who was convicted on all seven counts of lying to Congress and witness intimidation.

Donald Trump, Prison

Stone’s sentencing was thrown into a whirlwind of controversy after Trump and his Attorney Genuflect, Bill Barr, interfered with the ordinary procedures for prosecutors to recommend the sentence. Barr overruled the prosecutors’ recommendation for seven to nine years as being “too harsh,” despite the fact that they were within the established guidelines. And Trump unleashed a frantic flurry of tweets condemning the courts, the Justice Department, and congratulating Barr for “taking charge of a case that was totally out of control.”

Trump considered the prosecution of Stone a “miscarriage of justice.” But the twelve Americans on the jury unanimously disagreed. Now Judge Jackson has sentenced Stone to forty months in prison. He’ll be joining several other Trump associates who ran afoul of the law, such as his personal attorney Michael Cohen and his campaign chairman Paul Manafort. It really doesn’t pay to do business with Trump.

While Stone’s sentence caps the latest chapter in his melodrama, it does not accurately reflect what should be the main story line. Stone is a supporting cast member. Trump is the star. And what people should be paying attention to was noted in Judge Jackson’s remarks:

[Stone] was not prosecuted, as some have claimed, for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president.”

Exactly! The real crimes here were committed by Trump. His lackeys merely helped him to carry out his nefarious schemes. If, as the Judge said, Stone was covering up for Trump, then there was, by definition, a criminal conspiracy that required Stone’s efforts to keep it secret.

Now that Stone has been convicted and sentenced, there needs to be a full investigation of what Stone was covering up on Trump’s behalf. And if Trump is found to have broken the law, he needs to be indicted and tried. Contrary to some Republican legal hacks, it is permissible to indict a sitting president. The only alleged obstacle is a memo from the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department that has no force of law.

Stone’s case isn’t the only one that implicates Trump in the commission of broader crimes. Michael Cohen is currently serving three years for his role in Trump’s hush money payoff to Stormy Daniels. In that affair Trump was identified in court documents as “Individual-1,” an unindicted co-conspirator.

The fact that Donald Trump is so often on the periphery of criminal activity, but only his minions are swept up in the legal snare, is something that needs to be examined and corrected. It’s clear that he has criminal intentions, but continues to get off scot free. And many of his cohorts will as well via presidential pardons. That would represent an even deeper level of corruption and abuse of power. And for someone who has already been impeached for those very things, it is imperative that Trump be held accountable and forced to pay his own price for his criminal behavior.

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