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Category: Fourth Estate

On the Obamas, the Trumps, and Christmas

Apparently there is a substantial population who believe that the Obamas banned the White House creche / Nativity display while they were in the White House, and that the words “Merry Christmas” were similarly forbidden, and that now the Trump White House has “liberated” both institutions.

They believe this despite the very clear and easily accessible documentation that it is simply untrue.




I Won’t Tolerate A ‘Different Viewpoint’ When It’s Based On Blatant Lies
A viewpoint based on verifiably false claims it is not worth my consideration. Period.

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Breitbart on the Roy Moore loss

Steve Bannon went in big on Roy Moore, crowing that he’d won the primary for the Alabama theocrat, and that he was ready to win the Senate election for him, too.

Oops.

It’s kind of fascinating seeing Bannon/Breitbart’s reaction this morning. No sign that Jones actually won, or that black turn-out made a huge difference. Nope. It’s all about how The Bad Guys (the media and the establishment Republicans) “stacked the deck” against poor, benighted, underdog Roy Moore.

Remember how the GOP — Bannon included — keep saying, “Clinton lost. Get over it”? Steve might want to take his own advice. But he won’t.

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The more things change

A reprint of an Art Buchwald column from 1973 about things Nixon supporters could (and did) say in response to attacks on Nixon during the Watergate crisis.

Stop me if these sound familiar …

…
6. The Democrats are sore because they lost the election.
7. Are you going to believe a rat like John Dean or the president of the United States?
8. Wait till all the facts come out.
9. What about Chappaquiddick?
10. If you impeach Nixon, you get Agnew.
…

Now to be fair, none of these are exclusive to defenders of Nixon or Trump … but the laundry list of kneejerk responses is remarkably similar to the present case.




Oh yeah? Well, what about Chappaquiddick?
A column written by the immortal Art Buchwald about Watergate-era Nixon defenders has a certain resonance as Robert Mueller’s investigation proceeds.

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Right-wing sting group tries to discredit Roy Moore’s accusers

A woman apparently associated with James O’Keefe’s “Project Veritas” approached the Washington Post multiple times, claiming that Moore had made her pregnant at 15, leading to an abortion. She repeated asked reporters for their opinion about how such a story would affect Moore’s campaign. The WaPo didn’t find her story held together, declined to publish an article with her story, and then later spotted her going into the Project Veritas offices.

O’Keefe’s been responsible for any number of so-called “sting” operations against those considered enemies of conservatism, usually including hidden mic recordings released in a highly edited format.

Interestingly enough, the woman approached the WaPo only “hours” after their initial story on women alleging Moore approached or assaulted them as teenagers.

This is yet another in a series of attempts to spread “fake news” or raise doubts about the reporting on the Moore allegations. It just has the additional sleazy element of O’Keefe’s band of right-wing pranksters being involved.




washingtonpost

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Trump suggests everyone should read bizarro right-wing web site

To be fair, his recommendations are specifically about a list of How Incredibly Great a President Trump Is. But the the site publishing that list is, how does one say, incredibly goofy.




Trump recommends reading this insane website
MagaPill gets the POTUS seal of approval.

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When Press Secretaries are Gaslighters

Sarah Huckabee Sanders isn’t even trying any more. Or, perhaps, she’s just upping her game.

I mean, it’s one thing when Trump says, “X” and Sanders says, “Well, what he really meant was not X, but Y.”

Apparently that’s too many words, as she’s now going directly to “No, he said Y.” Even though, yeah, there’s the video footage of him saying “X.”

There’s Trump, on tape, saying: _”We need quick justice and we need strong justice — much quicker and much stronger than we have right now — because what we have right now is a joke, and it’s a laughingstock.”

And there’s Sanders turning around and essentially asserting he said something different (emphasis mine).

A few hours after Trump’s Cabinet meeting, CNN’s Jim Acosta asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, “Why did the president call the U.S. justice system a joke and a laughingstock?”

“That’s not what he said,” Sanders replied. “He said that process has people calling us a joke and a laughingstock.“

Now, maybe that’s what he meant to say, or maybe that’s what was scripted for him to say. But it’s not what he actually said. He didn’t talk about “people” calling “us” a joke and laughingstock — he said, speaking for himself, that “what we have” is a joke and a laughingstock.

But Sanders isn’t arguing that Trump misspoke, or was unclear, or was misinterpreted. She’s simply asserting he said something different from what he said.

Gaslighting is a psychological term for where someone attempts to control someone else by asserting reality is different from their memory of it. It’s frequently used by abusive spouses and authoritarian regimes. If you can get someone doubting their memory of events, it means they can be convinced that something was their fault, that abuse never happened, or didn’t happen in just that way, or that it was somehow justified, or that future things they perceive are, perhaps, their own misunderstanding.

It’s rare that you see it in political contexts quite so blatantly, or so proximate to when the event happened and was caught on video, as this.




Hours after Trump calls US justice system ‘a laughingstock,’ White House denies he ever did
A reporter quoted the president’s words verbatim to press secretary Sarah Sanders, who insisted, “That’s not what he said.”

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As the nation continues to sink into madness (Vegas Conspiracy Edition)

Because of course the Las Vegas mass shooting was all a government hoax, and the people whom you’ve seen speaking about it were all “crisis actors” hired by the government to justify [insert paranoid lunatic conspiracy rants here], and therefore definitely should receive death threats.

(Facepalm)

My only hope for our society is that this is simply the fractional percentage of lunatics who have always existed but who never before have had the social media reach that they can have today, and that this isn’t simply a spreading sign of something worse.

Though it sure the hell isn’t helped by our Chief Executive spending his days ranting about “fake media” all the time.




‘I hope someone truly shoots you’: online conspiracy theorists harass Vegas victims | US news | The Guardian

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Because who needs diverse voices?

The US has had powerful restrictions on media outlets — newspapers and television stations — for several decades. Though they have been tweaked and made a bit less restrictive over the years, they have continued ensure that single media companies, or a small number of mega-companies, cannot take over the nation’s broadcasting and print journalism.

Ajit Pai thinks that’s silly, and is single-handedly, as head of the FCC, dismantling those protections. Because what could go wrong with a single company owning multiple news stations in a particular market, or companies distributing broadcast local news from a centralized out-of-state source, or companies owning newspapers everywhere? How could that possibly impact the quality and diversity of the information that American need now more than ever?

Fiddlesticks. says Commissioner Pai. Business efficiency and hamstringing the government against restricting oligarchies are clearly far more important causes than that.




Ajit Pai submits plan to allow more media consolidation
Rules that preserve media diversity in local markets will be eliminated.

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Antifa and the problem of short headline-driven news cycles

An interesting video looking at how press coverage of antifa protesters (themselves hardly anything resembling a coherent organization) is misleading in terms of outlier bias (extremity is always more interesting than mainstream; violence is always more interesting than peaceful protest) and in terms of distracting from the message of protest to the practices of a tiny fraction of the protesters.

There’s a fascinating stat early on comparing violence at various anti-alt-Right, anti-White Supremacy, anti-Nazi protests to something much more mundane (and far less covered in the press).

One element left out of the video’s mix is that for much of the mainstream media, the need for catchy headlines and “if it bleeds it leads” journalistic practices are one thing. But there are those (Fox News being the most benign) for whom such coverage focus is actively pursued because of the misleading message it presents, a message they can actively, rather than passively, use to discredit what’s being protested in the first place.

It occurs to me, incidentally, that media coverage of pro Nazi / White Nationalist / White Supremacist / etc. protests, and the violence inflicted there, can similarly be misleading. I can certainly argue that the message of those protests is inherently violent, the rhetoric and culture intentionally aggressive, and the fascist ideologies profoundly dangerous on their own, but it’s still possible to aware that what one sees in a thirty-second blurb on CNN about such gatherings is going to be the most extreme and eyeball-grabbing, whether it’s a grotesque outlier or just the worst of the worse.

This doesn’t mean that one should actively mistrust the media, just that it should not get an automatic pass for what it does, and anything that seems particularly outrageous or troublesome is worth further digging into. Being aware of the bias toward blood that the media (and, honestly, the consumers of the media, i.e., ourselves) has is simply a good thing to remember in updating one’s view of the world.

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“I laugh so that I do not cry”

That’s kind of my attitude toward Donald Trump’s interviews (and his tweets, and his speeches, and …). The man seems incapable of stringing together a coherent sentence, of getting his numbers correct, or of having any interest in governing or policy-making (vs. getting applause and having people obey his orders).

It’s hysterical, except when you realize that (a) he’s the freaking President of the United States, with his finger on the nuclear button and capable of ordering the most awful things to occur, and (b) he’s populated his cabinet with a load of extremists zanies who seem quite capable of tracking the numbers and inflicting huge harm on human beings now and for decades to come.




Trump’s latest big interview is both funny and terrifying
POTUS swings and misses at the softest softballs.

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Tweetizen Trump – 2017-10-07 “Weekend Update”

Haven’t had time to keep up on the Tweetinator this week, Donald, and I don’t propose to touch every tweet now. But it is worth highlighting a bit of the zaniness that keeps you in the hearts, minds, and acid stomachs of so many Americans.

THE DASTARDLY MEDIA!

You were on a tear this week regarding the Unfair Media, the Fake Media, the Lying Media, and NBC. Ten tweets dedicated to it, as many as you mentioned Las Vegas in or the FEMA/Puerto Rico fluster-cluck. So … what was that about?

Well, you started off with retweets of two journalistic icons, exemplars of probity and completely unbiased reporting:

So Bill’s comments have some element of truth — on Monday, 2 October, Fox News was the top cable channel in total viewers and in the 25-54 age demo. CNN was in second place across the board.

The question of trust of the network is a bit dodgier. While Maddow did win an Emmy both for analysis and reporting this last week, my sense of MSNBC is that its strength is in that analytical side of things. If I am looking for up-to-the-second live coverage, I’m usually going with CNN before MSNBC; if I am looking at further discussion as to what it all means, the political interplay following, and so forth, I’m going to go to the MSNBC side.

It’s not a matter of “trust” Bill — it’s a matter of strengths. That’s echoed later in the week — the margin between FNC and MSNBC on Thursday, for example, is much tighter. The overall audience was much smaller, too; Monday was a sport due to the Las Vegas shooting. And while FNC’s Thursday prime time numbers were still higher than MSNBC’s, MSNBC’s were up from Monday, vs FNC’s being down.

FNC has also rolled out its biggest gun to go head-to-head with Maddow, Sean Hannity, and by and large he seems to be winning one-on-one On the other hand, if one talks about a “right wing” media world of Fox and a “left wing” media world of CNN / Headline News and MSNBC, then the latter is eating the former’s lunch. Even on that Monday night in question. Even against Hannity.

And, for what it’s worth, though MSNBC was actually 3rd this week vs FNC and CNN/Headline News, it’s the only one of the three that has shown year-over-year growth. Fox and CNN’s news share has actually dwindled in that time, while MSNBC’s has gone up.

Ultimately, a robust media environment is a good media environment, Donald. Your insistance on making this a horse race, with only the “winner” to be considered Real News (assuming it’s a “winner” that you like) speaks more to your frail ego or autocratic preferences than who’s doing the best journalism.

Speaking of Sean Hannity, you retweeted:

https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/915356118536167424

Apparently this was Hannity going on about how the Left is “politicizing” the Las Vegas shooting. By “politicizing” he seems to mean “talking about it” and “suggesting solutions.” That Hannity is getting all pissy about people he doesn’t like “politicizing” tragic events is, itself, highly hypocritical to an almost laughable state.

Of course, it gets even better when you realize that Hannity himself has a financial interest in not having further restrictions on gun sales. Fair and balanced, amirite, Donald?

But enough about them — let’s look at what you were saying yourself.

Media! Gone! Wild!

Specifics, Donald. Specifics. I mean, we already know that you’re being hyperbolic here (you still give interviews to the New York Times, for example, and just this week you were praising a Washington Post article that said something you liked). So “They will not write or speak truth” is clearly an exaggeration.

The hint that you are struggling to get them to do so is a bit amusing, too.

The specifics were soon in coming:

Actually, Donald, NBC’s Evening News ratings are quite strong, Donald. They’ve been beating ABC and CBS in the age 25-54 demo, which is what advertisers want to see. And we’ve talked already about MSNBC side of the house.

I’m sure you’d love it if running stories you don’t like led to an automatic downturn in ratings, but … well, it just really doesn’t seem to work that way.

Anyway, it seems this tweet-storming was all about an NBC News report that Rex Tillerson had been so angry at you, Donald, that he called you a “moron” and had to be talked down from quitting.

Tillerson denied that he had threatened to resign (because of course he did), but declined to comment about whether he had called Trump a moron [20]. (One of the journalists involved says, ‘My source didn’t just say he called him a moron, he called him an f-ing moron.”)

I get it, Donald. It’s irksome to hear reports — whether they are true or not — that one of your top appointees was thinking of quitting, let alone that he said (in a private meeting) something uncomplimentary about you.

I mean, I know how you love to set up a big table full of people who work for you and then have them go around the table, one by one, on the record, talking about how wonderful you and your actions are. You did it early on with your cabinet, and you did it on your trip to Puerto Rico.

But, honestly, Donald, by going all ballistic on this sort of thing, you’re just letting the folk who don’t like you call the shots. You’re letting them get to you. And you simply add to the sense that you are driven more by a pathological ego than by your own good sense. None of that is good, Donald.

Um … because even in Russia journalistic standards aren’t under the purview of international Intelligence committees?

But, but, Donald, it was Ronald Reagan of Blessed Memory who got rid of the “Fairness Doctrine,” stopping its enforcement by the FCC. It was the GOP and conservatives who were livid over trumped-up rumors under Clinton then under Obama that the liberals were going to try to bring the Fairness Doctrine back

But even in its heyday, the Fairness Doctrine was about news coverage, not about late night talk hosts. Are you telling us that you think we should have some sort of equal time / fairness / political joke tally to be sure that people aren’t being unfairly mean to you?

Here’s an idea — maybe Fox News or some other conservative outlet can put together a pro-Republican (and pro-you!) late night show. Let the American people voice their preferences through ratings. See how that works for you, Donald.

And if they’re not “#1” then clearly they’re worthless and a bunch of lying loser liars, right, Donald? Because only the bestest, toppest, winningest winner is the real winner. Only the guy who got the most votes —

— oh, wait, never mind.

POLITICS!

A few interesting thoughts from you that weren’t obsessions about the unfair media.

It is interesting that you reached out to Schumer on this, though by his report is was just to ask his support for another Repeal and Replace, which he unsurprisingly told you was not going to happen.

The ACA would be in much better shape if you weren’t doing everything in your power, administratively, to break it further, and keep people from enrolling.

Speaking of despicable …

Northam is, of course, a decorated military vet, who served eight years of active duty, rather than dodging the draft and then getting “bone spurs”. Why do you hate our vets so much, Donald? Especially by basically accusing one of treason as a cheap political ploy?

Could it be that you’re just worried that Northam actually has a lead in the polls?

Also, don’t you think it’s kind of weird that Gillespie didn’t retweet your endorsement?

OTHER STUFF!

So what other topics did you tweet/retweet on this past week, Donald? By tally …

10 – FEMA and My Government Response to Disasters, even Puerto Rico, is Awesome!
10 – Las Vegas was terrible but LV response was wonderful! Warmest condolences!
3 – Everyone loves me!
2 – The Economy is Awesome!
1 – My government is working smoothly!
1 – Random “God bless America!”

 

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Russia’s efforts to divide and tear down American society

So if I were an anti-immigrant nationalist, I’d like to think I’d be a bit taken aback to discover that Facebook page with all those cool cartoons and memes I shared with my friends turns out to have been put together by a Russian media group working for the Russian Government.

More likely, of course, I’d simply deny that was the case (having been trained by My President to distrust “Fake News”), or, even if I admitted it, just fall back on, “Well, whatever — what they say still makes sense!”

I could probably go along for quite some time without letting myself ask, “So, why would Russia want to be spreading this sort of sentiment in the United States? What’s their motive here? What’s their end-game? Is it to our benefit, or might there be something here that would actually weaken us, make us less of a challenge to them.”

Facebook said last week that the 470 “inauthentic accounts and pages” it had linked to Russia and removed had bought about 3,000 ads between June 2015 and May this year. Though some ads mentioned the presidential candidates or the election, most “appeared to focus on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum — touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights,” wrote Alex Stamos, the company’s chief security officer.

Again, this is not to say (sadly) that Russia invented this nativist sentiment, or an accusation that every meme or protest against Those Darned Furriner Illegals (and other similar causes) originated in the Kremlin. But, clearly, some of them did. And that really does make one wonder: on the assumption that Russia wasn’t doing this for giggles, or to lend a culturally purifying hand to America, why did they do it? Or, as they used to say in old murder mysteries, Cui bono? And once we figure out who benefits, should that cause us to consider those causes in a new, less attractive light?




Purged Facebook Page Tied to the Kremlin Spread Anti-Immigrant Bile – The New York Times
The page, posing as an activist group, was one of hundreds of fake accounts Russia used in an information campaign during the election, a revelation that has put Facebook on the defensive.

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Journalists are being stonewalled and censored by Trump health agencies

The HHS and other agencies involved in administering the Affordable Care Act — still the law of the land — are being increasingly hostile and non-communicative to journalists when asked for questions or clarifications of anything beyond formal press releases. Even statements and data given out are sometimes being retracted — and the retractions themselves are “not authorized” for quotation.

The question becomes, what does the media actually do about it. Or, for that matter, what do the voters do about it?




Under Trump, health reporters confront an information blockade

Washington Post healthcare reporter Paige Winfield Cunningham recently raised a few serious questions about how the Trump administration planned to manage Obamacare’s fall enrollment season. “The six-week sign-up period will be the first handled exclusively by an administration that’s hostile to the Affordable Care Act,” Cunningham wrote, “and one that hoped by now to see […]

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The EPA seems to consider journalists more dangerous than flooded waste sites

After an AP story about the numerous Houston-area Superfund sites that have been flooded but have apparently not been inspected yet by the EPA to see what contamination may be occurring, or what toxins may be flowing offsite, the EPA refuted the story by noting that inspections had occurred, water toxicity tested, and that teams were onsite addressing all problems.

Ha! No, of course they didn’t. Instead they offered up a lengthy press release basically saying, “Hey, we flew over most of them, and called up some people, so that counts” and then …

… spent three-quarters of the release attacking the AP and the article’s author as being mean to the EPA Director Scott Pruitt in the past, linking to a Breitbart (!) story about how mean the journalist has been before, and extensively quoting an Oklahoma newspaper that criticized the journalist for questioning why Pruitt — previously EPA-suing Attorney General of Oklahoma — was so buddy-buddy with oil and gas industry.

Yeah, this is today’s Environmental Protection Agency, vigorously protecting … their director’s reputation.

 




Donald Trump’s EPA Is Now Attacking Journalists [Updated]
On Saturday, Associated Press journalists Jason Dearen and Michael Biesecker reported at least five toxic, Houston-area Superfund sites in the path of Hurricane Harvey had been deluged with floodwater, potentially distributing the assorted nasty things contained within across a much larger geographical area. The AP report noted while its reporters were able to access the sites via boat, the Environmental Protection Agency was not on scene, and di…

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Tweetizen Trump – 2017-08-21: “Vacation’s Over”

Good morning, Donald! I hope this brand new day, and this brand new week, finds you hale and hearty and ready to serve all the people of the United States with joy, perseverance, and compassion.

Or, we can just turn to your Twitter stream and see what was up this weekend into this morning.

[Being a look at the @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account, with a glance at the @POTUS account, grouped for your topical pleasure.]

ALOHA, STEVE

Ah, yes, the rise and fall of Steve Bannon. It’s interesting, Donald, that someone just reading your tweets would think that Bannon was quietly moving on to some bigger and better service, having fulfilled his mission. It seems it was a bit more tumultuous and abrupt than that.

You do realize that (a) Steve previously held that job at Breitbart (so not “new”) before joining you on the campaign trail, and that (b) Breitbart has been going full bore at the “Fake News” in his absence.

On the other hand, buttering Steve up might not be a bad idea, as the possible targets of his next attacks might be closer to home than you might like [1] — your daughter, your son-in-law, your Friends at Fox, maybe even you. You might have blown that whole “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer” thing, Donald.

BOSTON

(All of the following were cross-posted to @POTUS)

So things seemed to start off in your coverage of the large counterprotest in Boston just as one might expect — railing against “anti-police agitators” and praising the police force there.

But then something weird happened …

Well, one thing that happened is that the counter-protest turned out to be large and pretty peaceful, and the rumors of wide-spread anti-police agitation (cough) turned out to be pretty small beer (30 arrests out of 30-40,000 present is pretty trivial) [16]. As to why you abruptly pivoted into a chorus of “Kumbaya,” Donald, it’s … well, a bit hard to fathom.

At any rate, it’s good to see such a positive sentiment coming from you as a unifier, as someone not completely divisive, who doesn’t search for scapegoats to blame his bad press on …

THOSE WASCALLY WEPORTERS!

I have to wonder, Donald, how your whole “Fake News” campaign continues to go. I mean, trust in the media as a whole is definitely way down (and in a partisan fashion), though it doesn’t seem to be similarly buoying you back up. I just wonder if your constant repetition of the theme helps you, or if it starts to seem like you’re just fobbing your own problems off on “bad coverage” and “mean media” and the like.

Apparently Falwell said you don’t have a racist bone in your body, citing your hard work to help inner city minorities. Not quite sure what “hard work” that is, or how that directly disproves accusations of racism (certainly your earliest days in business weren’t promising here, and some of your present urban housing customers don’t seem all that happy).

Of course, not all Liberty U alums are as thrilled as you are with Falwell’s unwavering support of you. But, hey, “sometimes you need protest in order to heal.”

You retweeted a comment from some random person (who hadn’t posted before three days ago) replying to that tweet:

https://twitter.com/Aroliso/status/899623930503233536

To which you replied:

Really? For that you retweeted some random, anonymous tweeter, Donald, and thanked them? That’s where your ego needs are?

Um … you’re not going John Miller on us again, are you, Donald?

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS

(All of these were retweeted by you on @POTUS.)

Because we need a memorial to the amorphous (and … um … concluded?) war on terrorism, apparently.

For those who hadn’t read anything about it, this has to do with two police officers killed during a potential drug bust.

Oh, and LESM is a hashtag for “Law Enforcement Social Media”.

There has been a rash of US Navy collisions of late, Donald [23]. I know that’s not personally your fault, and I’m know someone, somewhere is searching for common themes, but it’s something you might want to more visibly look into yourself to report to the American people. If you’re going to cover yourself in glory when the US military does cool stuff, you need to be seen taking responsibility and follow-up action when they don’t.

Your and/or your Social Media Minion also tweeted …

… about your amazing and decision-filled trip to Camp David as you wrapped up your Bedminster vacation.

 

Tweetizen Trump – 2017-08-16: “Truly Bad People”

I was feeling a bit down yesterday, Donald. It just seemed like the same ol’ same ol’, and one can only batter one’s head against the Twitter for so long until a headache ensues.

Today I’m feeling a bit more vigorous, so we’re going to dive back in to see what’s going on in that head of yours. I’m sure it will be an exciting journey.

[Being a look at the @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account, with a glance at the @POTUS account, grouped for your topical pleasure.]

Charlottesville

Wow, Donald. So much to unpack there.

  1. Made additional remarks a couple of days later, after staying silent on the violence in Charlottesville until someone was killed (and many injured) by a Nazi sympathizer, and, even then only condemning “many sides” for the violence going on.
  2. The “additional remarks” were apparently calling out the KKK, Neo-Nazis, and white supremacists who marched on Charlottesville in the first place, and who are … well, they’re freaking KKK, Neo-Nazis, and white supremacists, so calling them out shouldn’t be a huge stretch for you, Donald, and you shouldn’t be surprised when people comment about your not doing so for two days.
  3. And after delaying days about doing so, then you get pissy that people are still being critical of you?
  4. And, while we’re talking about KKK, Neo-Nazis, and white supremacists, you have the balls to say that the media are “truly bad people”?

The only thing that would make this any zanier is if you walked back your additional remarks and tried to once again assert a moral equivalence between the KKK, Neo-Nazis, and white supremacists who came to Charlottesville to protest and the anti-racist, anti-fascist people who counter-protested.

Oh, wait.

You also retweeted a guy on the Advisory Board for your presidential campaign:

 

That’s true. Because you didn’t. Or, rather, when you did (finally) address the matter, you did so in a “well, many sides are to blame, many sides” kind of way.

Nazis, Donald.

Big Business

Just as a reminder, when last we left you had just attacked Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck, who had announced he was dropping out of your Manufacturing Council over your tepid response to the Charlottesville events.

Later that afternoon, you attacked him again. Because, hey, that’s kind of got to piss you off, Donald.

So this is as after the CEO of Intel dropped out of the Manufacturing Council, too, over your tepid response to the Charlottesville events.

Though I do have to be amused about you railing over “grandstanders,” Donald.

Um … as has been noted many times, Donald, Amazon is now collecting and paying sales tax in all states that have it, and has been for months. I mean, I realize you have a beef with Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, but you might even try to include a little accuracy in your accusations.

Korea

Retweeting Fox & Friends (!):

You do realize, Donald, that he’s not saying that it’s an actual game, right?

Apparently the DPRK has said that it isn’t going to (yet) “test” fire missles “near” Guam. And, honestly, Donald, that’s about as gracious of a tweet on the matter as I could have hoped for you, even if the “both catastrophic and unacceptable” construction is a little odd.

Alabama

Yeah, “exciting” is a word, Donald.

I continue to root for your choice of candidate here, Donald, if only because Strange is a run-of-the-mill conservative politician, and Roy Moore is a theocratic lunatic. But I could have wished that, in this case, your repeated endorsements of Strange had actually moved the needle some. Moore beat Strange in the primaries, 40-32%.

Potpourri

This was on your return to New York. It’s … not the most coherent statement you’ve ever made, esp. in context of people criticizing you for never spending time at White House and (allegedly) calling it a “dump”.

You know, Donald, it would be nice if you could decide on one story here. Are accusations about Russian interference baseless, could be anyone, not convinced? Did they happen, but to no effect? Is it all just a “witch hunt”? Or was it something very real, something that the _previous_ Administration (certainly not yours) should have done something about.

Pick one, Donald, not “all of the above.”

The report you cite is an interesting one, Donald — not nearly as clear-cut as you assert in your tweet, but it does indicate, with 20-20 hindsight, that the signs of Russian plans to interfere with elections in Europe and the US were there, and State and the White House both resisted some intelligence recommendations for diplomatic counter-measures.

And, of course, it comes out of the right-of-center Politico, and it’s chock-fill of unnamed sources (which you’re always railing against, right, Donald?). And, of course, you understand completely about not letting intelligence agencies dictate what you choose to do internationally, right, Donald?

Also, it would be nice to hear what your Administration is doing about all of this for _future_ elections (aside from standing by while the GOP dismantle federal assistance to help secure the election process).

Retweeting Fox & Friends (!):

Because of course you are. I mean, it lets you reward someone you like, piss off more Latinos (who don’t like you anyway), and poke a thumb in the eye of the judiciary (whom yo dislike, too).

Also, isn’t it weird that you’re retweeting Fox & Friends talking about something you are going to do? As opposed to simply telling us straight out? It’s almost like someone else is doing some of this tweeting for you.

Retweeting Fox News:

Yeah, a real shame the GOP stopped us from spending any money on it twenty, thirty years ago.

But your answer seems to be, “Hey, too many permits are required,” and some of those permits and reviews had to do with considering flooding related to (gasp) climate change. And why worry about that?

Remember the Alamo! 54-40 or Fight! Tastes good like a cigarette should!

I mean, if you can randomly throw out slogans, why can’t everyone play?

Other

You or your Social Media Minion also tweeted under your name about …

… being back in Washington DC for “great trade deals”
… going to New York City for “trade” and military purchases.
… retweeting someone complementing you.
… retweeting someone complaining that the national media is not covering gun violence in Chicago.
… retweeting the VP about Argentina (three times)
… congratulating the guy who won the GOP nomination to replace Jason Chaffetz
… retweeting Jesse Watters (a Fox News flack whom you keep retweeting) thanking a fan who was congraulating him on his cable news ratings (!).
… retweeting the House Majority Leader supporting your infrastructure initiative

 

Tweetizen Trump – 2017-04-17 "They Like Me! Half of Them Really Like Me!"

Well, I had a busy Easter weekend, Donald. Hope you had a fine time in Mar-a-Lago (yet again). What sort of Tweet-of-consciousness did I miss while I was spending time with the family?

===

► Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens! [1]

What a very odd tweet. My first thought, Donald, is to say, “Because you repeatedly and vigorously called China a currency manipulator all through the campaign, even though economists and trade specialists told you that label was at least a decade out of date.”

What’s fascinating here is that you’re linking calling China a currency manipulator, not to whether they are doing it or not, but to whether they are “working with us” on North Korea. Read that again — you’re telling us, Donald, that your accusations and name-calling are based not on the truth but on what’s to your advantage.

That’s not really new news, Donald, but it’s breathtaking to actually see it so clearly spelled out.

===

► I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again? [2]

It’s amazing watching your brain work, Donald. With one breath, you revel in the election like it happened yesterday. Then with the next breath, you dismiss calls to reveal your taxes because the election was sooooooo long ago.

So a few things:

1. You didn’t “easily win” the Electoral College. Your margin of victory depended on a handful of extremely tight races and was lower in Electoral Votes than the vast majority of presidents elected.[3]

2. Wanting to know about your tax returns isn’t just an election thing. It’s an ongoing thing. Where does your income come from? How much in debt are you, and to whom? What investments do you have that your presidential actions might impact? It’s not a request that’s going away any time soon, Donald — get over it.

► Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over! [4]

And there’s the counter-attack. I mean, “organized rallies” are obviously suspicious, right (except for your own, of course). And they must be “small” because you’re so popular (they don’t look small to me,[5] but I suppose it’s in the eye of the beholder), and certainly some secret, sinister force must have “paid for” them, because such protest couldn’t possibly have just happened without a deep, dark conspiracy!

===

► Our military is building and is rapidly becoming stronger than ever before. Frankly, we have no choice! [6]

Um … yeah, I kind of think we do, Donald. I mean — why do you think we have no choice than to have a military that is “stronger than ever before.
In the past, Donald, you were all about how Obama had, somehow, been making us weaker — but this tweet makes it sound like you’re looking not just to undo whatever damage to our military force you’re going on about, but actually increase our military beyond that.

Why? Against whom? What wars are you planning on fighting?

We spend more on our military than the next seven highest spenders — and a number of those are our allies. We spend 37% of the world’s military expenditures. Why do we need to spend even more?[8]

===

► The recent Kansas election (Congress) was a really big media event, until the Republicans won. Now they play the same game with Georgia-BAD! [7]

But, Donald — that election is over … doesn’t that mean we should stop talking about it?

No, but seriously, Donald, I read plenty of media stories about the Kansas election after it was over. Including (as you’ll recall from last time we chatted) how a district you won by 30-odd points, and that every GOP candidate has won by 20+ points since 2002, was suddenly only barely won by 7 points … and that with a last-minute full-court press of robocalls with you and VP Pence and visits by Ted Cruz and $150K from the RNC in TV ads.

So, yeah, that election.

But, then, we heard from you about that election only beforehand[11], then right after the GOP candidate won,[12] and nothing since. Which just about mirrors the media coverage you’re criticizing, Donald. Bad!

► The super Liberal Democrat in the Georgia Congressioal [sic] race tomorrow wants to protect criminals, allow illegal immigration and raise taxes! [16]

Wow. He’s a super liberal! And a Democrat! Hide your children!

I guess the fact you’re not even championing the GOP field (there are several of them) but trying to keep the Dem from hitting 50% in the primary (which would win him the seat) says that maybe you’re a bit worried here, Donald. Polls are close,[17] but you probably will be able to revisit this during the run-off in June, at which time we’ll see where your popularity is.

===

► “The first 90 days of my presidency has exposed the total failure of the last eight years of foreign policy!” So true. @foxandfriends [9]

Oh, Donald. Watching Fox & Friends for your news again? You know that never ends well. But while it’s a cool phrase to (misquote) from Fox & Friends,[10] for those of us without the spare time to watch them in the morning, what specific “total failures” have your first 90 days exposed? How have you made things better since then, aside from blowing $100M on a Tomahawk strike, and another $230K on a MOAB? Inquiring minds want to know.[13]

A bit later you tweeted about a book that was flacked on Fox & Friends[10,14], and then a bit after that you noted:

► The Fake Media (not Real Media) has gotten even worse since the election. Every story is badly slanted. We have to hold them to the truth! [15]

Which is hysterical from a guy who has been tweeting from Fox & Friends (not to mention the Drudge Report). This presumably came from a Fox & Friends segment about slanted media coverage of the Tax Day Protests.[10]

===

And finally, you retweeted Drudge Report (!):

► TRUMP APPROVAL HITS 50% [18]

This in turn links to the Rasmussen poll results[19] that show that 50% of Likely US Voters approve of your job performance. That’s still down from your peak at 59% right after your inauguration, but up from your 42% nadir in that poll. 30% strongly approve; 39% Strongly disapprove, which means you have Presidential Approval Index of -9.

While there’s some skepticism (Fake News!) about Rasumssen’s polling, which usually trends conservative, and other current surveys aren’t quite as bullish on you, Donald (Gallup approval 41%, disapproval 53%; Marist approval 39%, disapproval 49%; CBS News approval 43%, disapproval 52%), everyone agrees that your approval rating has climbed since you stopped focusing so unsuccessfully on health insurance reform and started lobbing missiles at Syria.[20]

So … um … good job?

===

You and/or Your Social Media Minions published under your name breathless news about …

… meeting Atlanta first responders.
… a new VA website that had wait times and performance data.
… a CENTCOM press release about dropping a MOAB.
… your weekly address [P]
… the daughter of an NYPD 9/11 victim who just joined the NYPD.
… a retweet of Melania looking forward to today’s Easter Egg Roll [P]
… a retweet of a Drudge Report (!) tweet about a Fox News article about an arrest in a 2010 Border Patrol agent during the Fast & Furious thingamajiggie.
… a Happy Easter wish. [P]
… live coverage of the Easter Egg Roll!

—–

[1] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/853583417916755968
[2] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/853595628655587334
[3] http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/dec/12/donald-trump/donald-trumps-electoral-college-victory-was-not-ma/
[4] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/853597199619543041
[5] http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/tax-day-protesters-round-us-demand-trump-release/story?id=46818583
[6] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/853604334944354305
[7] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/853771244579282944
[8] https://www.nationalpriorities.org/campaigns/us-military-spending-vs-world/
[9] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/853942936337350656
[10] http://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-calls-barack-obama-foreign-policy-total-failure/
[11] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/851781714028494849
[12] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/852138509355933697
[13] http://www.businessinsider.com/real-cost-of-moab-mother-of-all-bombs-170-000-2017-4, http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/14/heres-how-much-mother-of-all-bombs-actually-cost-according-to-the-air-force/
[14] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/853944453538750464
[15] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/853945633903923200
[16] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/853964023846588420
[17] https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/handicapping-the-georgia-6-special-election/
[18] https://twitter.com/DRUDGE_REPORT/status/853964297822650372
[19] http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/prez_track_apr17
[20] http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/17/politics/trump-approval-rating-rasmussen/

[P] On both your RealDonaldTrump account and the official POTUS account, so you know it’s important.

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Tweetizen Trump – 2016-01-12 "FAKES!"

Well, after all the brouhaha over the … wait, it can’t be a Media Conspiracy without a gate name. Dossiergate? … scandal and rumors of scandal, the last 24 hours of tweeting have been relatively terse. Did having your first press conference since July sort of tucker you out, Donald?

===

► We had a great News Conference at Trump Tower today. A couple of FAKE NEWS organizations were there but the people truly get what’s going on [1]

Oh, Donald. You just can’t talk about people who don’t speak your party line without calling them names, can you?

► James Clapper called me yesterday to denounce the false and fictitious report that was illegally circulated. Made up, phony facts.Too bad! [2]

So that’s kind of interesting. Clapper is the Director of National Intelligence, supposedly the guy coordinating the nation’s intelligence services.

We can’t know exactly what he told you, Donald (and I would hate to assume just based on what you’re saying), but on the assumption that it was similar to the statement his office made about the call, you might be just a wee bit exaggerating in a self-serving fashion here (yes, I know, a shock to us all). [3]

Clapper didn’t, in fact, denounce the report itself (nor did he characterize it as “false,” “fictitious,” “illegally circulated,” or any of the rest). He says basically told Trump:

1. It’s not a US intelligence report.
2. US intelligence has not yet verified anything about it.
3. US intelligence did not leak it, and he doesn’t like leaks.
4. It got included by reference in the briefing to Obama and you because US intelligence has an obligation to provide “the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security.”

Which the shenanigans in the dossier certainly qualify as. And all of which are perfectly reasonable things for him to say. And none of which are how you characterized the discussion. “Too bad.”

► .@CNN is in a total meltdown with their FAKE NEWS because their ratings are tanking since election and their credibility will soon be gone! [4]

I look forward to four years of you yelling at media outlets who don’t toe the Trump line. Of course, I used to look forward to being a teacher in a 2nd Grade classroom, so maybe that’s to be expected.

===

Also tweeted: a retweet of a fawning note from someone with lots of sunshine emoji; an advert for L.L. Bean because Linda Bean supported Trump.

—

[1] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/819393877174087682
[2] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/819520238446411777
[3] https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/224-press-releases-2017/1469-dni-clapper-statement-on-conversation-with-president-elect-trump
[4] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/819550083742109696

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Tweetizen Trump – 2016-12-14 "Hackity-Hacks, Don't Talk Back"

Yesterday was kind of slow on the POETUS' Twitter account — tweets about Victory Tour events, a picture of Bill Gats and Jim Brown.

But this morning, Donald is on a roll!

===

► Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers of @VanityFair Magazine. Way down, big trouble, dead! Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/809383989018497024]

Wow. The soon-to-be-Leader of the Free World, having a hissy fit about a magazine — and calling out its editor by name — that, presumably, said something mean to him.

Thin-skinned lack of impulse control? Or an effort to bully away journalistic dissent?

We know, at least, what GoodThinking magazines write about:

► Thank you to Time Magazine and Financial Times for naming me "Person of the Year" – a great honor!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/809384826193276928]

===

On the ongoing "conflict of interest" debate, just stop paying attention to the man behind the curtain!

► The media tries so hard to make my move to the White House, as it pertains to my business, so complex – when actually it isn't!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/809389774066814976]

If you say so, Donald. Still waiting to hear how you will avoid looking like, when you make global or national policy choices, one of the factors isn't whether it affects your global and national business interests.

Unless the lack of complexity is "I'm President, so I can't legally have any conflicts of interest." That does sort of simplify things, right? It's good to be the king!

===

► If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House waite so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/809392491514527744]

► If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/809403760099422208]

Those two identical tweets are an hour apart (and one has since been deleted). So … is Trump getting to be forgetful? Did someone fumble finger entering messages into some sort of timed release system and end up with dupes? Who's writing (or transcribing) this stuff, anyway?

As to the substance of the tweets, this is classic gaslighting. Because the White House did talk about Russian interference and information was released before the election about Russian hacking efforts. Really, truly, you can Google it.

As to the specific "The Russians were trying to throw this election for Trump" accusation — that information was presented to senor Congressional leadership to form a bipartisan stand against the matter; instead, Mitch McConnell, who now supports a Senate accusation, then called it political shenanigans and refused to go along with it.

And, knowing that making an announcement like this without bipartisan support, so close to the election, would in fact look like official interference in the election process — and, perhaps, being too confident that Clinton was going to win anyway — Obama didn't release what was known, except, again, in vague, non-partisan terms.

This is documented. Again, this can be Googled. Setting up an alternate reality where all this "hacking" stuff only came up after Clinton lost, is to basically lie about it (but set up a new narrative that, no doubt, we will hear from Trump supporters from now until doomsday).

And so it goes.

 

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Tweetizen Trump – 2016-12-12 "Budgets, Interviews, Spies"

A busy weekend for POETUS Trump, at least as far as Twitter is concerned.

===

October 2015 – thanks Chris Wallace @FoxNewsSunday!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/807663477322027008]
(Linked to an interview that Trump had with Wallace back then.)

RT @FoxNewsSunday Sunday– our exclusive interview with President-elect @realDonaldTrump Watch on @FoxNews at 2p/10p ET Check your local listings.
[https://twitter.com/FoxNewsSunday/status/807655142682230784]
(Retweeted by Trump)

I will be interviewed today on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace at 10:00 (Eastern) Network. ENJOY!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/807932020236124160, 4:56am]

Will be interviewed on @FoxNews at 10:00 P.M. Enjoy!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808107215492091904, 4:32pm]

I think he wanted us to watch something this weekend.

===

On Friday, Trump was on about his cabinet picks.

.@RudyGiuliani, one of the finest people I know and a former GREAT Mayor of N.Y.C., just took himself out of consideration for "State".
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/807545243608420352]

And we can all breathe easier. Giuliani was clearly one of Trump's loyalists, but tempermentally he's as far from "diplomat" material as one can imagine.

A few days later:

Whether I choose him or not for "State"- Rex Tillerson, the Chairman & CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/807970490635743237]

He is certainly that. Whether that's what we really need as a Secretary of State is another question.

===

I have NOTHING to do with The Apprentice except for fact that I conceived it with Mark B & have a big stake in it. Will devote ZERO TIME!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/807547249681166336, 3:27am]

Well, and you will have your name in the credits as "Executive Producer." Of course, that can mean as little as "I invested a lot of money in it up front," so you may be in the clear.

Still, doesn't it strike anyone as — well, not normal — to have a reality TV show on the air with the President's name as an executive producer, and with the knowledge that companies are buying commericial time on it, and that a media network (NBC, see below) is paying him to run it?

Three hours later, presumably after a hearty breakfast:

Reports by @CNN that I will be working on The Apprentice during my Presidency, even part time, are ridiculous & untrue – FAKE NEWS!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/807588632877998081]

Funny, your spokesperson Kellyanne Conway said that it would be something you would do in your "spare time".¹

===

Trump was on a roll blasting Pentagon waste.

A very interesting read. Unfortunately, so much is true.
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/807589280071684096]

This was referring to a WaPo article² about a DoD report a year or two ago indicating that $125B could be saved over five years by fixing Pentagon inefficiencies.

So that raises the question of what Trump plans to do about it, even as he promises to throw money at the Pentagon to make our military great (again).

Two days later:

The F-35 program and cost is out of control. Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th.
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808301935728230404]

Well, it should be highly entertaining to watch Trump butt heads with a major defense contractor (Lockheed Martin), the US Air Force, and the Congressfolk who have stuff going on in their district related to the F-35.

That said, Trump is correct that the costs on the program are "out of control." But it's not quite as simple as just stopping it, or saying "Don't spend so much money."

As I said, entertaining and interesting.

===

Donald chimed in last evening on the leaked CIA report that Russia tried to throw the election his way by hacking a variety of sources (which included the Republicans), and then leaking material that would be embarrassing to the Dems.

Just watched @NBCNightlyNews – So biased, inaccurate and bad, point after point. Just can't get much worse, although @CNN is right up there!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808114703922843649]

Which makes his Apprentice deal with NBC all the more interesting.

He then picked up the conversation without a break this morning.

Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory! Unless you catch "hackers" in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn't this brought up before election?
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808299841147248640, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808300706914594816]

1. This from the guy who joked about how Russia probably already had the "missing" 30K emails from Clinton's server.

2. If you pulled the theory from out of your hat, yes, it would be Alex Jones-worthy drivel.⁴ If the CIA were reporting this to the White House and to major Congressional leaders … not so much. Certainly not something to simply dismiss.

3. You know nothing about either hacking or forensic investigations. As far as we know, you haven't attended any briefings on the subject. How do you know it's "very hard"?

4. It was brought up before the election. The White House, bending over backwards to avoid looking like it was cooking the books on the election,³ brought the report to a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders, looking for bipartisan support in publicizing it. Instead, some of the GOPers balked, thought it would call the elections into question, or simply denied that the evidence satisfied them. As a result of your new bestest bud Mitch McConnell's partisanship, it was decided to not go public except in vague statements.

Yeah, I know, nuance and political delicacy and concerns about the greater good are all weird concepts for a Big Boss. You might want to take notes.

===

Other tweets: two on attending the Army-Navy Game; a retweet from the Inauguration team; one on how he won the Louisiana Senate race for John Kennedy.

—-

¹ http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/09/politics/conway-defends-trump-apprentice/

² https://t.co/ER2BoM765M

³ And perhaps a bit overconfident about how the election was going to go.

⁴ See also the theory of how you won the popular vote because of the "millions" of illegal votes for Clinton.

 

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