{"id":45993,"date":"2020-07-21T14:53:46","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T21:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=45993"},"modified":"2020-07-21T14:53:46","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T21:53:46","slug":"gaslighting-on-fox-news-trump-is-a-leader-on-wearing-masks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=45993","title":{"rendered":"Gaslighting on Fox News: Trump is a Leader on Wearing Masks?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You really have to wonder if Fox News viewers are stupid enough to believe the sheer nonsense that flows from the network&#8217;s agents of disinformation (aka hosts). And isn&#8217;t Donald Trump&#8217;s State TV network insulting them by presuming that they will swallow everything thing they say no matter how preposterous? Are there any limits to what the cult will consume without question?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-baby-mask-fox.jpg\" alt=\"Donald Trump, Mask, Fox News\" width=\"550\" height=\"296\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-45995\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday morning the <em>&#8220;Curvy Couch&#8221;<\/em> potatoes of Fox and Friends led off with a segment that featured a tweet by Trump posing for a photo-op while wearing a face mask.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can\u2019t socially distance. There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iQOd1whktN\">pic.twitter.com\/iQOd1whktN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1285299379746811915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 20, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>There is so much wrong with that tweet that it&#8217;s going to take some time to unwind all of it. First of all, Trump has been the most divisive president since the Civil War, so it&#8217;s ridiculous for him to assert that  <em>&#8220;We are united&#8221;<\/em> in any context other than removing him from office. Secondly, even if we concede that the coronavirus originated in China, it&#8217;s success in infecting nearly four million Americans, and killing more than 140,000, is due primarily to Trump&#8217;s negligence and incompetence. Thirdly, if Trump regards wearing a mask as patriotic, then his patriotism has been woefully absent for the past six months. And finally, most polls show that Trump isn&#8217;t even in the top 44 of favorite presidents.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the absurdity of Trump&#8217;s newfound advocacy of mask wearing, Fox and Friends co-host Steve Doocy latched onto it as launching pad for some syrupy sycophancy <em>(video below)<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Trump encourages Americans to mask up. Look at this. [&#8230;] It&#8217;s very telling that yesterday he posted that Twitter picture with him wearing the mask because, as we just opened this segment, certain localities may have to close things down again because the spread is going out there.<\/p>\n<p>But you know, masks are not political. The science says that face coverings are the best way to slow the spread. And if you don&#8217;t want to close things down again, if you want to reopen the schools, if you want to keep businesses open, if you want to go to sports, you&#8217;ve got to wear the masks. And so I think the president is becoming a leader on this issue. Maybe now, once again, MAGA will stand for &#8216;Masks Are Great Again.'&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Seriously? Trump is a <em>&#8220;leader&#8221;<\/em> on this issue? Since when are people who, due to ignorance and vanity, refused to wear a mask &#8211; and even mocked those who did &#8211; regarded as leaders when they claw their way onto the bandwagon five months later, after unprecedented suffering and death?<\/p>\n<p>Despite Doocy&#8217;s new position that <em>&#8220;masks are not political,&#8221;<\/em> Trump&#8217;s reversal on masks is nothing but pure politics. Trump&#8217;s flip-flop is obviously driven by the fact that his approval rating has fallen off the edge of the Earth, and he is losing to Joe Biden in most polls by double digits. This is <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=45962\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a desperation play<\/a><\/strong> as Trump watches his world collapse around him. It&#8217;s the reason he&#8217;s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=45981\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">returning to the daily Coronavirus Task Force briefings<\/a><\/strong>, which were always just thinly veiled reelection campaign events.<\/p>\n<p>Trump&#8217;s aversion to masks is well documented &#8211; by Trump! As recently as this past weekend, Trump was asked by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday if he regretted not wearing a mask and if he would consider a national mandate. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FoxNewsSunday\/status\/1284248195833499653\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">He replied<\/a><\/strong>&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;No. I want people to have a certain freedom, and I don\u2019t believe in that. No. And I don\u2019t agree with the statement that if everybody wear a mask everything disappears. [&#8230;] all of sudden everybody\u2019s got to wear a mask, and as you know masks cause problems, too.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Trump has been saying much the same thing since the earliest days of the pandemic. <em>&#8220;I think wearing a face mask,&#8221;<\/em> Trump said last April, <em>&#8220;as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don&#8217;t know. Somehow, I don&#8217;t see it for myself. I just don&#8217;t.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>However, Trump sees it now. Why? Perhaps because of his abysmal polling and reelection prospects. For Trump the primary concern has always been himself. and it is no longer possible for him to pretend that the American people are on his side. A new <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/64-distrust-trump-coronavirus-pandemic-approval-declines-cases\/story?id=71779279\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">ABC Washington Post poll<\/a><\/strong> shows that 64% say that they do not trust Trump on the matters related to the coronavirus. And 79% are in favor of wearing masks.<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, Trump is suddenly presenting himself as a patriotic advocate of mask wearing. And true to form, Fox News sees that late and exploitative transition as a demonstration of leadership. And both seem confidant that Trump&#8217;s cult disciples will adapt these mythologies to their warped version of reality. The good news for them is that they are likely right. The Trump cultists remain firmly in their comatose state. The bad news for them is that there aren&#8217;t enough of them to fill an Applebee&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><strong>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00QSSMOES\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;tag=newscorpsecom-20&#038;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.<\/a><br \/>\nAvailable now at Amazon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Steve Doocy praises Trump for tweeting a mask photo: &quot;Masks are not political. The science says that face coverings are the best way to slow the spread. &#8230; The president is becoming a leader on this issue.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qsBqKBHICR\">pic.twitter.com\/qsBqKBHICR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/revrrlewis\/status\/1285527791375613959?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 21, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You really have to wonder if Fox News viewers are stupid enough to believe the sheer nonsense that flows from the network&#8217;s agents of disinformation (aka hosts). And isn&#8217;t Donald Trump&#8217;s State TV network insulting them by presuming that they will swallow everything thing they say no matter how preposterous? Are there any limits to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[152,1,684,1200,8,16],"tags":[1397,554,1140,33,134],"class_list":["post-45993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-election","category-general","category-media-bias","category-politics","category-propaganda","category-wankery","tag-coronavirus","tag-donald-trump","tag-election","tag-fox-news","tag-steve-doocy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-baby-mask-fox.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-bXP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53430,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=53430","url_meta":{"origin":45993,"position":0},"title":"Judge Rules that Fox News Acted With &#8216;Actual Malice&#8217; By Spreading Trump&#8217;s Election Fraud Lies","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/22\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The hearings of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection incited by Donald Trump have been effectively exposing the role of Trump and his confederates in politics and the press. It is now an inescapable fact that they knew that their attempts to undermine democracy and overturn the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump, Fox News, Lies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-baby-foxnews-lies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-baby-foxnews-lies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-baby-foxnews-lies.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47923,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=47923","url_meta":{"origin":45993,"position":1},"title":"PolitiFact Lie of the Year: Trump Wins an Unprecedented 4 Years Running","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/16\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The announcement of PolitiFact's \"Lie of the Year\" for 2020 was bound to be somewhat anticlimactic. After all, Donald Trump has already been documented to have told more than 25,000 lies since his inauguration. That's an average of 50 lies per day. And that isn't even counting his lies since\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Trump Lies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/Trump-lies-deceive.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/Trump-lies-deceive.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/Trump-lies-deceive.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55750,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=55750","url_meta":{"origin":45993,"position":2},"title":"Breaking on Fox News: Democrats Put Forward Bill to Bar Trump From Holding Public Office Again","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/16\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The media has of late been abusing the word \"Breaking\" to describe anything that they happen to be reporting on at that moment, whether or not it is particularly important or has any significance to the public. Every story is being treated as if it's a 9.0 earthquake, even if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump, Fox News, White House","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-foxnews-white-house-broken.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-foxnews-white-house-broken.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-foxnews-white-house-broken.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39691,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=39691","url_meta":{"origin":45993,"position":3},"title":"Fox News Accuses Rachel Maddow of Pro-Mueller Bias, Ignored Hannity Campaigning with Trump","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/8\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The hypocrites at Fox News are out in force following the midterm elections that returned Democrats to the majority in the House of Representatives. Which isn't really any different than the way the Fox News hypocrites were behaving before the midterms. But it's clear that they intend to continue distorting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rachel Maddow, Fox News","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/maddow-foxnews.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/maddow-foxnews.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/maddow-foxnews.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54688,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=54688","url_meta":{"origin":45993,"position":4},"title":"LOL: Sean Hannity Thinks He&#8217;s Helping Trump By Scrolling a Long List of His Crimes on Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/13\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"If anyone needs further proof that Donald Trump is desperately in fear of the legal peril that is rapidly engulfing him, all they need to do is take a look at his posts on his floundering Twitter ripoff, Truth Social. He is currently using the site as a cathartic release\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump Sean Hannity","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-hannity-mini-e1549743865260.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-hannity-mini-e1549743865260.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-hannity-mini-e1549743865260.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61172,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=61172","url_meta":{"origin":45993,"position":5},"title":"Sean Hannity of Fox News is Already Making Excuses for Why Trump Will Lose Debates to Biden","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/27\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The 2024 presidential election continues unfold amidst the spectacle of one of the candidates being tried on multiple felony charges of election interference and campaign finance fraud. And Donald Trump's legal problems will surely be among the topics of discussion at any of the candidate debates, should they actually take\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump, Joe Biden","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-biden-fear.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-biden-fear.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-biden-fear.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45993"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45997,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45993\/revisions\/45997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}