Recent
messages have reminded you and me both of the fact that our
leaders have a history of telling us big lies about starting wars
for their own selfish purposes. Though he has not started a war
yet, Trump has certainly been much more prolific with his lying than
almost anyone else so far. That does not bode well. How to oppose
Fox News? Well I'm trying. You could help.
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1. "How Trump is
Preparing for War," by Robert Reich, March 26, 2018. Full
text:
"What’s worrying isn’t that Trump is now getting advice about policy
from fanatics like John Bolton and Lawrence Kudlow. Trump has never
cared about policy.
"The real worry is that – with Robert Mueller breathing down his
neck, and several special elections suggesting a giant “blue wave”
in November – Trump is getting ready to do whatever it takes to
maintain his power, even if that requires fanatical policies.
"Fox News is preparing for the same war, and has made a parallel
purge – removing Trump critics like George Will, Megyn Kelly, and
Rich Lowry, and installing Trump marketers like Laura Ingraham, Mark
Levin, and Sebastian Gorka.
"Trump is preparing for an epic war over the future of his
presidency. This has required purging naysayers from his Cabinet and
White House staff, and replacing them with bomb-throwing advocates
like Bolton and Kudlow.
"Fox News is preparing for the same war, and has made a parallel
purge – removing Trump critics like George Will, Megyn Kelly, and
Rich Lowry, and installing Trump marketers like Laura Ingraham, Mark
Levin, and Sebastian Gorka.
"Trump and Fox News are also approaching the war with the same
story.
"Some of it is by now familiar: Liberals have opened America to
hostile forces – unauthorized immigrants, Muslims, Chinese traders,
criminal gangs, drug dealers, government bureaucrats, coastal elites
(Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi), North Korea, Iran, and “political
correctness” in all its forms.
"Trump intends to protect America from these forces.
"The new twist to the story– requiring the recent purges and a
united front – is that these forces are conspiring with the FBI to
oust Trump from the presidency.
"The membrane separating Trump’s brain from Fox News has always been
thin, but in coming months it’s likely to disappear entirely.
"We all know Trump watches an inordinate amount of Fox News,
beginning in the wee hours with “Fox and Friends,” which provides
much of the fodder for his morning tweets.
"How can a television presidency be dangerous? Because it is solely
about marketing Trump. Its only goal is to win.
"Trump has made John Bolton his National Security Advisor not
because Bolton has valuable insights about foreign affairs, but
because Bolton – for years, an on-air fixture on Fox News – is a
showman who knows how to sell big lies and crazy ideas, and thereby
help Trump in the looming battles.
"As undersecretary of state for arms control in the Bush
administration Bolton did more than anyone else to market the lie
that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. During his year
and a half at the United Nations, Bolton was so outspokenly critical
of the organization that he gained the devotion of xenophobic
conservatives.
"It hasn’t hurt that Bolton has sucked up to Trump since then.
Describing Trump’s address last year to the United Nations, Bolton
swooned 'in the entire history of the United Nations, there has
never been a more straightforward criticism of the unacceptable
behavior of other member states.'
"Kudlow isn’t a Fox News pundit but he’s been the next best thing –
a rightwing CNBC contributor known for his sharp wit and
salesmanship.
"Several other cable news anchors and pundits are already in the
Trump administration or will soon be, providing additional
ammunition for Trump’s pending war.
"'He’s looking for people who are ready to be part of that
television White House,' says Kendall Phillips, a communication
studies professor at Syracuse University. 'This is the Fox
television presidency all the way up and down.'
"How can a television presidency be dangerous? Because it is solely
about marketing Trump. Its only goal is to win. It is unconstrained
by truth, reason, or the Constitution. It doesn’t give a fig about
the public.
"When the occupant of the White House and the sycophants surrounding
him are prepared to do and use anything – including trade wars with
China and possibly hot wars with North Korea and Iran – to win a
political war at home, nothing and no one is safe."
It seems more and more likely that Trump will have to do something
extreme to maintain his leadership, if he can do it at all. A CNN
poll today says that almost two-thirds" of Americans believe Stormy
Daniels and Karen McDougal. Twenty-one percent believe Trump's
denials. For whatever it's worth--it's mainly a legal issue--51
percent of Americans believe the women should be free to talk.
Perhaps a bigger problem than his marital infidelity is the efforts
of Trump's lawyers to shut these women up.
See also: "10
Reasons to Fear John Bolton," by Media Benjamin, Common
Dreams, March 27, 2018. I certainly did not know everything
that is in that.
love to you and your family,
Larry
