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Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity Can Save America: He Won’t Even Try

January 10, 2022
by Peter Feinman
If the 1/6 assault had been successful or 2025 preview? (Deep Impact)

The House Select Committee investigating the assault on America and the attempt to overthrow the Constitution provides moments of truth for the people called to testify. It offers these individuals an opportunity to rise to the occasion, to be a profile in courage and to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. At this point, we know that many people would rather be imprisoned than tell the truth. Still, hope springs eternal.

POND SCUM SLIME

Some of the people asked to testify have been lifelong pond scum slime. They were reprehensible degenerate human beings prior to their association with the Hitman and they will remain reprehensible degenerate human beings until the day they die. They will not appear before the Committee or they will take the Fifth or they will not tell the truth.

At some level, one would think that they know they will be named in the interim and final report of the Committee.

At some level, one would think that they know even the currently Missing in Action Attorney General will indict them and try them in the federal court in the District of Columbia.

At some level, one would think that they know they could be imprisoned for years to come if not their entire lives.

Or maybe not. Maybe they genuinely are not capable of thinking ahead. Or perhaps they think the Attorney General will remain MIA. Or perhaps they presume they can stretch things out until the Hitman is restored to the White House at which point he immediately will pardon them and all other victims of the witch hunt against him. But maybe if there comes a time when they realize that scenario will not play out, then they will have a “Come to Jesus” moment and be willing to enter into a plea bargain…in exchange for what? Convicting the Hitman?

FIRST TIME CRIMINALS

Another batch of the people called by the House Select Committee are what I call “First Time Criminals.” These are people who have not engaged in the pond scum slime activities of the first group. Regardless of their political views, they have led legal lives. For these people, their association with the Hitman in planning for January 6 and overthrowing the Constitution was their first foray into the dark side of seditious criminal activity. I do not know if they even believe the election was stolen or if they simply subscribe to the adage that “winning isn’t the only thing, it’s everything.”

For these formerly legal people, they should know the same sequence that the Pond Scum Slime group knows. In addition (and for both groups) there is the legal cost for falling on one’s sword rather than telling the truth. The more “real” the prospect of indictment, jail, and prison becomes, the more likely one of these non-career criminals is likely to turn “Michael Cohen.” Instead of taking a bullet for someone who is willing to throw them under the bus, any one of these “First-Timers” might be willing to make a deal. There is no prospect of that now. Far from based on the events today. Perhaps after the interim report, if the MIA Attorney General decides to act, and the reality of their future sinks in….

MIKE PENCE   

For Mike Pence, it is now or never. I have written several blogs about his failure to be a profile in courage. I also recognize that he is growing aware that he is living a pipe dream. He will not be the candidate in 2024. He has no future as a Trumpican. He will never be removed from the Trump List for failing to serve his Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, Say Hallelujah. He may have reached the point where he remembers at last who his true Lord and Savior is!

He has seen a former aide abandon him and tell the truth even before the election.

He has seen aides who remained with him to the very end now tell the truth.

He knows it is his turn now. It will be his last opportunity to come clean and regain his soul.

On the other hand, he may remain delusional about his prospects for a political future. As always, it seems reasonable against Pence telling the truth, but it does remain a possibility.

If he does decide to tell the truth, it will and will not be important. It will be important for developing the legal case against the Hitman. It will be meaningless for Trumpicans since he has no standing with them. They will denounce him as a Judas, as a Benedict Arnold, and threaten his family. Still for non-Trumpican Republicans and for Independents, Pence’s decision to tell the truth could be significant and even for the 2022 elections.

SEAN HANNITY 

There is one person who could make a difference even for Trumpicans if he decided to tell the truth: Sean Hannity. Back on September 8, 2020, I wrote Will Sean Hannity Be Howard Baker?: Suppose He Wrote a Tell-All Book. We know the answer, of course, was that he did not. Now the situation is a little different. His position as an unofficial advisor to the President of the United States has been exposed. He knows the Hitman is “bat crazy” and listening to people who were steering him wrong. What will he do when his moment of truth comes?

Back in 2020 in that blog, I wrote that Hannity would not write a tell-all book. He would not jeopardize his ratings, his income, his life, and maybe even effect the upcoming election by exposing the bat-crazy moron for who he is. Then I wrote:

But what about after the election? Suppose come January 20, 2021, Hannity is faced with the trifecta of Democratic power: the House, the White House, and the Senate. Then what? Hannity has faced this situation before. He would stand ready to oppose the Democrats just as he did during the Obama years. The question he would ask himself is what is the best way to do so after the vaunted Red Wave sweeps the Trumpican Party from power? What is the best way to resist the Democrats going forward given the likely changes due to the 2020 census? What is the best way to resist the Democrats in upcoming elections in 2022, 2024, and beyond?…. [OBVIOUSLY I DID NOT ANTICIPATE THE POWER OF THE “STOP THE STEAL” MANTRA.]

Similarly Sean Hannity might face a moment of truth after the election as well. He may have no choice but to tell the truth about his meetings and conversations with the President of the United States. After all, he is not a lawyer so they are not privileged. There is no freedom of press issue since these conversations were as an advisor and not a reporter [AND HE IS NOT A REPORTER ANYWAY]. Subpoenas will be issued against him to compel testimony about his participation in the Ukrainian extortion, abuses of power, and whatever strikes the interest of the Congressional investigation committees [I DID NOT ANTICIPATE JANUARY 6]. If Hannity chooses to defy the subpoenas, Attorney General Adam Schiff [I WAS NOT ANTICIPATING A SLEEPING RIP VAN WINKLE INSTEAD] with great glee and satisfaction will add criminal charges to the list and throw him in jail.

My analysis at that time was based on the Loser leaving the stage thereby necessitating Hannity and Foxhub to chart a new course. Obviously I got that wrong. As for Hannity deciding to tell the truth, I concluded:

I am not saying that Hannity will pursue this course of action in the event of a 2020 Democratic trifecta and Red Wave drowning Trumpicans. I am saying that Hannity will have arrived at the proverbial fork in the road. One should not doubt the heady experience it was for him to have the President of the United States at his beck and call. On a strictly psychological level, these four years had to have been a rush, a constant high. Now it will be over. He will feel the disappointment. He will feel the Trumpican pain. He may even decide to wallow in it on a show that nobody in power cares about. Or he may chose not to retire from relevance but to fight on in the real world by becoming Howard Baker and announcing to the world that it is time for THE DONALD to go. Depending on the election results, we will know soon enough what choice Hannity makes.

I was wrong about The Donald leaving the stage; he still dominates the Trumpican Party and Foxhub. But I was right about Hannity facing a moment of truth. I doubt he will rise to the occasion and save the country. He would rather contribute to its divorce instead.

Do Tucker/Trump Oppose the Socialist Chlorination of Water?

August 2, 2021
by Peter Feinman

Do Tucker/Trump oppose the socialist chlorination of water? That action seems to match all the criteria deployed in the current opposition to vaccinations. It is based on science. It is a central government action. Individuals have no choice unless they are not connected to the municipal water system. For that matter, what do Tucker/Trump think about the mandatory requirement to use seat belts? Do they applaud the heroic individuals who decline to buckle up? Is the use of seat belts for children an example of child abuse?

What is going on here? Why is Tucker embarrassed to admit that he was vaccinated? Why is Trump not pounding the pavement in support of the Trump vaccine? This situation highlights that other considerations are involved besides “just the facts” or the merits of the case. Yes, vaccinations have been weaponized in the culture wars as masks were before it. Who knows if the chlorination of water be allowed if it were invented today.

LEADERSHIP

Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump are not leaders. They are channellers. They feel your pain to exploit their gain. They do not cause your grievance but they are skilled enough to sense its existence. Then they can amplify it, use it, profit from it. However, they do not cause the grievance or pain in the first place. The subtitle in the recent article in Time about Tucker tells it all: “By stoking the culture wars and peddling white grievance, TUCKER CARLSON has become the standard-bearer of the right.” Notice, he stokes the existing grievance. As the article suggests, Tucker provides excuses for people to express beliefs that they otherwise might feel uncomfortable with but already had.

And if Tucker/Trump disappear from cable TV or politics, the grievance and pain do not disappear with them. Then the people simply seek or require another mouthpiece to speak for them.

In some ways, these con artists remind me of some of the figures I see in science fiction shows (Star Trek). From time to time there will be aliens with telepathic powers of some kind. They may simply read your thoughts. They may seek to manipulate them for various reasons. But they do no create them. They may tap into the deepest parts of your brain to bring to the surface memories you suppress or ignore. Then those memories provide the alien with the opportunity to exploit you.

Con artists like Tucker/Trump work the same way. They are not leaders in the sense of being able to get you to do something you do not already want to do. An example of a channeller versus a leader was just displayed by Sean Hannity. Out of nowhere, he decided to tell the truth about the coronavirus and the need to be vaccinated. Perhaps someone he knew had died or been hospitalized. He couched his plea in the standard Foxhub rhetoric: talk with your doctor, your decision is confidential, you have freedom of choice. Still the thrust of the message was clear: YOU NEED TO BE VACCINATED NOW!

His message led to an immediate blowback. Viewers could see through his attempt to sugarcoat it that he was asking people to listen to Fauci and do what they already had decided not to do. In other words, he was trying to lead them. The effort failed. The result was he did a Kevin-McCarthy on 1/6. He walked back his failed try to be a leader. He should have known that. Remember when after the election Foxhub lost viewers to other media outlets fully dedicated to the alternate universe. Then Foxhub responded by doubling down on the partisan hype. Most likely Hannity will never again make the mistake of trying to lead his viewers. Instead; he will amplify their fears, insecurities, and need to believe in their view of the world regardless of what is really happening.

One observes the absolute refusal to abandon beliefs in the actions that otherwise defy commonsense. People on death bed exclaim how could they be dying from the coronavirus hoax. Even the hospitalization and looming death of child is not enough to sway true believers from their course. Their minds have been so manipulated and exploited over the years by Tucker/Trump and others that they have lost the capacity to think straight. The increase in vaccinations over the past week show that some people finally are getting the message that the virus is for real. Unfortunately it also reveals how many people cannot be reached.

One might think that the former President would be campaigning full-stop to have his followers be vaccinated. After all, he sometimes like to take credit for the development of the vaccines under his Warp Speed program. Sometimes the vaccine even is called the Trump vaccine so as not to give Biden any credit. And he was vaccinated himself. So why hasn’t he been championing the use of the vaccine?

Here we see that he is not a leader. He knows what Hannity learned by exposing himself to his viewers in his failed leadership initiative. He knows that if he tells his followers to be vaccinated they will not listen to him. Being a warrior in the culture wars trumps everything.

RONALD REAGAN

Consider the contrast with Ronald Reagan. Suppose something comparable had happened during his eight years as a two-term president. Would Reagan have worn a mask? Of course he would have. Wearing a mask did not threatened his masculinity and make him a wimp. It is simply what needed to be done to protect him and his fellow Americans from a threat. He would have made jokes about wearing a mask. He would have told stories about his days in Hollywood making westerns and wearing a mask. We are talking about someone who could make jokes even after he was shot in an attempted assassination. He would have worn a mask and so would the people who heroically refuse to today.

When the former President yanked off his mask on the White House balcony after having been released from the hospital, he was catering to his followers, not leading. The hope of some staff people that now he had seen the light and would be a leader were dashed. He remained true to himself as an insecure weeny con artist who failed to even try to be the leader the country needed. He is not going to jeopardize his extremely successful funding con by taking a leadership position.

In an earlier blog, I suggested that President Biden invite the former President to the White House to promote vaccination in a show of strength. A few days later, Frank Luntz, on CNN Andersen Cooper, made the same suggestion. Such pleas are for naught. Put aside all the comments made above and keep in mind that with our loser ex-President it is always about him.

The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many. Think of how he condemned all the Republicans who voted on behalf of a bipartisan infrastructure bill. How could he appear at the White House with the person who stole the election, who is almost senile, and who is one-step from death’s door? He can only appear at the White House if it is to remove the present occupant as will happen on August 13. Otherwise the hitman would be legitimating Biden’s steal and undermining his own re-election chances.

So, no, Tucker/Trump will not call for ending the socialist chlorination of water based on science. They will not because at present, there is no grievance about chlorination of water for Tucker/Trump to exploit. But if the coronavirus vaccine was distributed through the public water system, then all bets are off. Just as all vaccines are questioned now, so would the chlorination of water. And remember, in Dr. Strangelove, the purity of water was enough to blow up the world.

 

Michael Horowitz, Bill Barr, and Donald Trump: The Sequel

June 13, 2021
by Peter Feinman
The storm is coming (Politico).

Good morning, Mr. Horowitz. Your mission Michael, should you decide to accept it, is to prevent the overthrow of the duly-elected President of the United States.  The presidentially-authorized spying must be exposed. Adam Schiff is involved. It is the greatest corruption scandal in the history of the United States. As always, should you or any of your DOJ Force be caught or killed, the Attorney General will disavow any knowledge of your actions.

For weeks if not months on end, we heard Sean Hannity play a version of these words. The Horowitz probe would reveal the greatest threat to the American rule of law ever experienced by this country. Heads were going to roll. People were going to prison. The Deep State would die. Hannity gleefully looked forward to these traitors receiving their just punishment. But alas, it was not to be. The Horowitz investigation joined similar other investigations into the corruption at the highest level that amounted to nothing. The still-awaited Durham report also was touted again and again by Hannity and the Foxhub staff. Still waiting.

Now we have arrived at the Horowitz sequel. The disappointing for Hannity first movie proved to be a dud. Nothing untoward was exposed. It was all a lot of Nothingburger. But hope springs eternal and nothing can dissuade loyal Trumpicans that there was corruption at the highest level of government. Once again Michael Horowitz and his team have been charged with the task of exposing presidential corruption in involving one of Hannity’s favorite whipping boys. However this time, Schiff was the target of the corruption and not the alleged instigator.

DONALD TRUMP IS ALWAYS GUILTY

Donald Trump is always guilty.

Not only is Donald Trump always guilty, he is always guilty of criminal actions you did not even think off.

There still is no rock bottom. Look at what has transpired in just the last few days. First there was Don McGahn’s testimony on how he had resisted the criminal requests from the President of the United States to obstruct a criminal investigation by the DOJ. No sooner had you caught your breath than the next bombshell hit. There really had been presidential spying and it involved Adam Schiff. No sooner had you caught your breath then another bombshell hit. Because McGahn would not play ball with the most corrupt President in the history of the United States, he too had been a target of presidentially-authorized spying.

At this point one wonders what is next. I shudder to write this blog knowing that it can be eclipsed at any moment. Horowitz has work cut out for him. There are going to be many sequels.

It seems unlikely that Hannity and Foxhub will be cheering during the Horowitz Sequel.

DONALD TRUMP IS ABOVE THE LAW: HIS ACCOMPLICES ARE NOT

I first referred to Bill Barred-for-Life in a blog Will Mike Pence Become a Profile in Courage? (October 3, 2019) (the question was a rhetorical one).  Now the wheels are in motion for the most corrupt Attorney General in the history of the United States to reap what he has sown. Do you think he understands the meaning of “suggest”? It is up to the Trumpicans in Congress to prevent the investigation of the most corrupt President in the history of the United States from moving forward.

Although Donald Trump is always guilty, convicting him is never easy. The best way to prevent that problem is to indict everyone else first. Take Michael Cohen for example. Once upon a time he would take a bullet for “Mr. Trump” as he still calls him. Then he wised up. He realized that THE DONALD would throw him under the bus without hesitation. Now he sings like a canary. He sings before Congress, He sings before the TV camera. He sings whenever he is interviewed. This is the pattern that should be followed. Convict or grant immunity first as in New York, then indict. Indict the organization. Indict the accountant. Indict the children. Indict the former Attorney General. Indict everyone else whose name pops up in the investigation. They are not above the law. Their opportunity to resist investigation has been curtailed. They are on their own now.

Prosecutors should take advantage of their predicament. Let the accomplices do the dirty work. Let them call Donald Trump to testify as a witness under oath on their behalf. Even they know better than to do something so stupid as to call Donald trump to testify under oath. Every time he takes an oath to tell the truth it is a perjury trap. Better to lose everything then to call him as a witness!

FOR HOROWITZ TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE

Horowitz has limited time to complete his investigation. At some point in August at a date still not specified, the most corrupt President in the history of the United States will return to the White House. He will be joined by the two losing Senate candidates in Georgia thereby giving the Trumpicans control of the Senate. The new Attorney General, Sydney Powell, will immediately squash the Horowitz witch hunt. Instead she will be compiling lists of the Satan-worshiping pedophiles for execution. Secretary of Homeland Security Mike Flynn will be tasked with preparing the gallows to do the deed. THE STORM IS COMING AND IT WILL BEGIN IN AUGUST 2021.

The press, as expected has been negligent in its reporting of the coming STORM this August. As with the Cyber Ninjas in Arizona, the press coverage has been treating it as a joke, an embarrassment. The press ignores that tens of millions of people will believe the results produced by the Cyber Ninjas that the vote in Arizona was stolen. They will believe it in Georgia too. They will believe it elsewhere as well. THE STORM IS COMING AND IT WILL BEGIN IN AUGUST 2021.

The press should be using the remaining time to prepare for what is to happen, not to dredge up yesterday’s hoaxes. Our Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, successfully resisted the efforts of Deep State to take him down until they had no recourse but to unleash the Patriots on January 6 to undo the steal.  We will see who has the last laugh. THE STORM IS COMING AND IT WILL BEGIN IN AUGUST 2021.

The press should be asking the rightful President when in August he will return to the White House.

The press should be asking the rightful President what preparations he is making for his return.

The press should be asking the rightful President what he intends to do when he returns to the White House.

Brian Williams should knock off that silly count up of days in the Joe Biden administration and instead start a countdown to when the rightful President will return to the White House. THE STORM IS COMING AND IT WILL BEGIN IN AUGUST 2021.

Joe Biden should invite the 45th President to some event at the White House in August. Everything possible should be done to maximize the belief that THE STORM IS COMING AND IT WILL BEGIN IN AUGUST.

Trumpicans should be roused to a state of frenzy in anticipation of what is going to happen. Every day in August they should be asking is today the day. Every day the press should be asking them starting with Marjorie Green Taylor is today the day. THE STORM IS COMING AND IT WILL BEGIN IN AUGUST 2021.

What will Trumpicans do when it does not happen?

Create a new date.

Marco! Trumpo! Marco! Trumpo! Where Will He Go?

October 21, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home (AP Photo)

The 2020 Presidential campaign may be remembered as the one where one candidate said he would leave the country if he lost and one candidate said he would arrest the other. Oh. Wait.  Both of them were the same candidate.

Was the comment to leave the country a serious one?

In the past, he has abruptly and impulsively ordered the U.S. military to withdraw troops NOW. Then the assertion was walked back by the remaining adults in the White House.

He has just called for the release of all documents related to the Russia hoax to be disclosed without redaction. Then some people decided to take him seriously and obtain all the documents that he had previously kept hidden. Now the Chief of Staff of the President of the United States had to file legal papers testifying to the fact that what the President says especially on Twitter is bull-trump and should not be taken seriously.

He also has renewed his call for the Attorney General to indict his Democratic opponent now. This is the same Attorney General who previously said he did not plan to indict either Obama or Biden: “Not every abuse of power, no matter how outrageous, is necessarily a federal crime.”

Now Meadows and Barr know they are on the Jeff Sessions list.

So what about the statement that he would leave the country if he lost? Was that just more impulsive nonsense from the immature child in the body of an adult with the emotional stability of a three-year old or did he really mean it? And what about all the millions of people he would leave behind to face the ruin of the suburbs and the takeover by the socialists and anarchists who would take over without their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, to fight for them? But then again, it always is about him.

Let’s look at the situation he will face on January 20, 2021.

INAUGURATION DAY

The worst presidential candidate in the history of the United States will be sworn in as President while the outgoing President stands by with nothing to say or do accept to accept this peaceful transfer of power.

The Loser will be standing there silently with the worst presidential candidate in the history of the United States who won by 15 million votes.

The Loser will be standing there silently with the worst presidential candidate in the history of the United States who won in a landslide with more than 306 Electoral College votes. In fact, earlier this week, Hannity referred to the 306 vote landslide. Does he know it was not a landslide or does he think his audience is too stupid to know it?

The Loser will be standing before THE LARGEST INAUGURAL CROWD IN AMERICAN HISTORY!

Then the new President will face the crowd and the nation and say:

WOW!

THIS IS THE LARGEST INAUGURAL CROWD IN AMERICAN HISTORY!

AND IN THE REAL WORLD! NOT THE WORLD OF ALTERNATE FACTS!

Do you really think the Loser will subject himself to this humiliation? And in silence?

PRESIDENT PENCE

Who then will be the outgoing president who participates in the peaceful transfer of power?

It will be the person who thinks it is part of God’s plan that he should be President. Now that plan will be fulfilled. For a few hours on the morning before the new President takes the oath of office, Mike Pence will be the President of the United. During his short stint in the Oval Office, he will perform one and only one task – to pardon his predecessor. He will save the Loser from having to silently experience with a fake smile the peaceful transfer of power to the worst presidential candidate in the history of the United States who trounced him.

The pardon will not be without controversy. If the new President pardons the former President after having taking the oath of office, then it will be valid. However, can the outgoing President rely on the new President to do it? When Mike Pence sold his soul to become President of the United States, this is not what he had it mind. From his point forward, he is politically dead. He will forever be tainted as Vice President Brownnose who sold his soul. He will be called upon to testify with no immunity by various House and Senate committees seeking to investigate what happened during the past four years. Maybe he will have a little fun and refuse to sign the pardon.

To prevent that situation, maybe the pardon will be signed in advance before Pence takes the oath office. In that case the pardon will not be valid, hence the investigation.

Of course, even if he pardons himself or is pardoned by President Pence, he still can be subpoenaed at the federal level as part of investigations. He will not be able to plead the Fifth Amendment since he has been pardoned. But he still won’t tell the truth because he is incapable of doing so. That means perjury which is a crime and not covered by the pardon for past actions. The result is he needs to be removed from the reach of the law at the federal and state level even if there is a pardon.

But where will the outgoing President be since the moment the Vice President becomes President, the former President loses all immunity and is subject to arrest? Will Bill Barr of all people since he will still be the Attorney General for a few more hours arrest him? That won’t happen, but it is fun to speculate.

MARCO! TRUMPO!  

So where will the Loser be? He won’t be at ceremony. He won’t be in the White House where he can be arrested. So where?

MARCO! TRUMPO! MARCO! TRUMPO! –   While President, he has opportunities to travel abroad on official business. True many countries have quarantined the United States due to the horrendous job he did mismanaging the coronavirus, but there may be some countries he can visit as part of an official farewell tour. Of course, he won’t be able to return on Air Force One since he will no longer be President while he is saying goodbye. So where will be on January 20, 2021?

MARCO! TRUMPO! MARCO! TRUMPO! – How about North Korea? Wouldn’t it be happy to provide him asylum? But would anyone follow him there? Think of what the First Lady negotiated just to relocate from New York to Washington. North Korea seems unlikely.

MARCO! TRUMPO! MARCO! TRUMPO!  – How about Russia? He has been a willing and obedient servant to the alpha-male father figure. Perhaps he could obtain sanctuary there. Unfortunately as a Loser, his value as a Russian asset is nil. Everything is transactional and he has nothing to offer anymore. Putin’s last gasp has been the October surprise with Hunter Biden. It worked with Hannity. It worked with Senator Hawley who now has comprised himself. It doesn’t seem to have any traction elsewhere. Russia seems unlikely.

MARCO! TRUMPO! MARCO! TRUMPO!  – How about Israel? He certainly has been very supportive of Israel. There have been definite changes he can point to as his successes. Wouldn’t Israel be only too happy to welcome him? However, there is nothing in it for Israel. It would antagonize the new American government, alienate the American Jewish community, and create unnecessary security challenges. So although it has beaches and resorts, can easily be visited, and can provide the hair care he needs. Israel seems unlikely as a place of refuge and sanctuary for the Loser.

MARCO! TRUMPO! MARCO! TRUMPO! – How about Saudi Arabia? This country has possibilities. He looked the other way when they murdered a journalist in the embassy and they buy his apartments. As long as Saudi Arabia doesn’t care what the new administration thinks, Saudi Arabia is a longshot possibility as a place of refuge and sanctuary for the Loser.

As this review shows, even if the Loser is serious about fleeing the country, his options are limited. He has spent four years alienating and antagonizing countries. On a transactional basis, there is no advantage to any country to take him. Seriously, how stupid would a country have to be offer asylum to the Loser? The more you look at it, the more you realize, he has nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

Can he make a deal? In part, that depends on the vote. If there is a clearcut winner for all the world to see, then his leverage is minimal. The bigger the margin of victory the less people in the government will do his bidding. Even Trumpicans might be demoralized. Unfortunately, if it is close and there are riots in the street and despair in the air, his bargaining power increases. Since he only cares about himself, it might be possible for New York City, New York State, the House of Representatives, the Senate and his $421 million creditors to reach a deal of some kind. Time would be of the essence.

There is one country which might accept him, one country where he is revered and worshiped, where the feeling is mutual. I am referring of course to the Confederacy, home of his hero Robert E. Lee. The Confederacy is the best fit for him. He can rule, I mean preside, forever there. He already is a resident. So maybe what he should concentrate on in November, December, and January is not trying to be President of the United States of American, but of being President of the Confederate States of America. The South shall rise again. Liberate the Confederacy.

 

P.S. When China comes up in the debate, so should Trump’s accounts and taxes there. Biden should declare a new law: Presidents should pay at least as much to the IRS as to foreign governments.

TRUMP ADMITS HE IS NOT A VERY STABLE GENIUS – FOR ONE DAY

October 6, 2020
by Peter Feinman

“Trump’s Corona – False Claims and expectations”: Palestinian Authority editorial:

What if the claim that US President Donald Trump was infected with the corona virus is fabricated? Some say President Trump fabricated this news to win sympathy, and to avoid future debates with his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden…

The Washington Post counted 3,000 lies by Trump, a thousand of them on Corona virus… so the fabrication of infection remains possible. Perhaps the thing that most reinforces this is the fact that Trump’s infection with the Coronavirus was published a few days after his first debate with his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, which Trump turned into the worst debate in history!
Of course there remains [the possibility] that the Corona virus has indeed managed to reach the American president, and that there is no fabrication in that regard. If this is the case, and without malicious joy, perhaps we can aspire that the suffering caused by this disease will cause the American president to re-examine the erroneous and aggressive policies towards humanity and its just causes, which he represents while he fuels racist extremist ideas, and sides with falsehood against truth, and with occupation against liberation and freedom…

Whether or not the U.S. president has caught Coronavirus, we will not analyze this news based on wishful thinking. Coronavirus is a disease that we do not wish for the creatures of Allah wherever they are, and we pray for the speedy recovery of all those infected.
[Al-Hayat al-Jadida, Oct. 4, 2020]

In stunning development Donald Trump openly admitted that he was not a very stable genius, he is not the smartest person in the room. This extraordinary admission occurred when he was hospitalized for the coronavirus. At that time, he announced that now he “gets” it.” And it only took eight months! What a remarkable example of mental acuity. He very well may receive a Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery to go with his Peace prizes.

This learning experience has a pedagogical significance.

“I learned a lot about Covid. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. This isn’t the let’s read-the-books school. And I get it. And I understand it. And it’s a very interesting thing and I’m going to be letting you know about it.”

Now we now why he doesn’t read the briefing books. He doesn’t learn from writing. He doesn’t learn from reading. He doesn’t learn from adult presentations. He learns from real world experience. Sure, he could say to Bob Woodward that he realize how dangerous he was but he didn’t really. He didn’t learn until he had the disease itself.

Some people took the Susan Collins approach like the Palestinian Authority. Remember how being impeached and then tried was a learning experience too. Maybe this time, he would now realize the seriousness of the virus and be the leader the country we need.

Ben Rhodes said, “They are acting like they can defy gravity. The reality has finally come home.”

On the CNN website, the view was expressed:

For much of this year, Trump has spun an alternate reality about the dangers of coronavirus — disputing science and the efficacy of masks, downplaying the risks to the American people, and making false statements about how 99% of coronavirus cases in America are “totally harmless” or that the virus “affects virtually nobody.
He encouraged his aides and advisers to live in that dangerous fantasy land, pushing his luck to the limits as late as this past week when he again recklessly gathered thousands of unmasked Americans at his political rallies and packed the top officials in government into a Rose Garden ceremony for his Supreme Court nominee. All the while, White House officials embraced the fallacy that administering rapid coronavirus tests frequently at the White House could provide a shield of immunity.
The President’s construct crumbled Friday when he was airlifted to Walter Reed after contracting the virus, while many aides, advisers and allies were testing positive for Covid-19 after interacting with him over the past week.

WHAT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? He already is the leader the country needs. He rates himself a 10, an A, and A+, he would change a thing that he did. His construct didn’t crumble. He is more sure than ever that he is on the right course.

Nothing has changed. He said he was going to let us know what he learned and he has.

“Don’t be afraid of it. You’re going to beat it. We have the best medical equipment, we have the best medicines.”

“Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!”

DON’T LET IT DOMINATE YOUR LIFE!

Remember that word “dominate”? Remember how he dominated Lafayette Square as no President in American history ever has dominated a battleground? Remember how he told the governors to “dominate” their cities or else he would do it for them. Remember how he dominated the first debate scarcely allowing the basement-dweller an opportunity to speak, the greatest Presidential debate in American history. Now he has dominated the virus.

What has he learned?

Real men don’t get Covid-19. Only weak people get sick.
Real men don’t go to hospitals. Only weak people do.
Real men don’t get oxygen. Only weak people do.
Real men don’t wear masks. Only weak people do.
Real men don’t have doctors who tell the truth.
Real men don’t have a chief of staff who tells the truth.

He’s back, stronger than ever, stronger than he has been in 20 years. He is raring to go full-steam ahead to put the virus behind us where it belongs. Let’s get America moving again.

Is followers are ready. Over at Fox, Clueless Jim Jordan mocked Joe Biden about when he learned about the positive test result:

He wakes up, has a cup of coffee, and calls it a day.
He closes his campaign at 9:30 in the morning.

Hannity was gracious enough to give Biden a 10:00 AM end of the day. Business as usual.

In fact, Hannity tonight launched an all-out assault on the perpetrators of the greatest political crime in American history, the Russia hoax. It’s time for the Deep State to be hauled off in handcuffs and be locked up. Soon the cry will heard again at Trump rallies: “LOCK HER UP!” and the rest of them, too

There will be no change in policies and procedures on the virus.

There will be no stimulus package until after the election, if then. The stimulus package is not as important as a Supreme Court judge anyway. And since he is going to win, there isn’t going to be a relief package.

This infection has been a learning experience for America too. We now know how important it is for him not to appear weak. Yes, his base wants a warrior leader and he is pretending to be one with his rip-the-mask-off production. But we should keep in mind that it is always about him. He had the opportunity to exhibit sympathy and empathy and he didn’t take it. He had the chance to reach out to the female voters whom he has lost in droves and he didn’t take it. He could have tried to get back into the game as his polls plummeted. But he didn’t even try. Why not? It is more important to him that he not appear weak. He would risk his health and his reelection rather than appear weak. Let that realization sink in: he would jeopardize his reelection, his stay of jail for four years card, rather than appear weak. He dominated the first debate and was not weak when infected. And he trails by 14-16%. What a deal.

Will Sean Hannity Be Howard Baker?: Suppose He Wrote a Tell-All Book

September 8, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Who Will Be Howard Baker? (www.123rf.com)

Tis the season of tell-all books. We have heard from the niece, the fixer, the national security director and will hear from the Watergate reporter again. There have been disclosures from the sister and about the military. Even the former BFF of the trophy-wife First Lady has weighed in with tales of corruption. All these testimonials to President Swampbuilder are impressive. None have made any political difference.

But suppose Sean Hannity wrote a book about his experiences with THE DONALD. Hannity has had extensive contact up close and personal, enough to see the truth. Certainly he has had as much opportunity as Putin, the European leaders, and various people who have worked in the White House and who all know the truth about THE DONALD. According to some reports, Hannity knows that he is dealing with a “battrump” bozo. So why not write a book about it and make a fortune?

One reason why he can’t write such a book now is precisely because that book could make a difference. Millions of people via radio and TV rely on Hannity for the truth. His blessing counts. If he withdrew that blessing now during a presidential election, the odds are it would negatively impact the vote for the wrong side. The beneficiary would be Sleepy Creepy Joe Biden, the corrupt one-step-from-death lackey of the younger Socialists really running the Democratic Party. Hannity opposes that victory regardless of whether the opposition is from a Republican or a Trumpican. Under no circumstances would he do any anything to aid and abet the enemy.

But what about after the election? Suppose come January 20, 2021, Hannity is faced with the trifecta of Democratic power: the House, the White House, and the Senate. Then what? Hannity has faced this situation before. He would stand ready to oppose the Democrats just as he did during the Obama years. The question he would ask himself is what is the best way to do so after the vaunted Red Wave sweeps the Trumpican Party from power? What is the best way to resist the Democrats going forward given the likely changes due to the 2020 census? What is the best way to resist the Democrats in upcoming elections in 2022, 2024, and beyond?

Previously I have suggested that even Senator Ron Johnson might return to the real world after the 2020 elections [Mitch McConnell: Howard Baker (Time to Go) vs Stay the Course (Go Down with the Ship), June 8, 2020]. If Wisconsin votes Biden, the champion of it was really the Ukraine who meddled in the election might want to reconsider that position if he intends to run for reelection in 2022. Similarly his sidekick in stupidity, Senator John Kennedy also might want to express in a folksy way that he had been a blithering idiot when reciting Putin talking points.

By contrast, one person would remain as unchanged as his hair (unless he is caught in the wind and rain). THE DONALD will keep ranting and raving that he was defeated in a rigged election, the greatest and most corrupt political scandal since the one perpetrated against him in the 2016 election. He immediately will begin campaigning for his comeback in 2024. In between all his court appearances in the civil and criminal courts in New York and who knows how many federal districts (Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Washington?), he also will appear before various Senate and House committees that now will be unleashed against him. Yet somehow, he will find the time to launch his 2024 campaign.

Similarly Sean Hannity might face a moment of truth after the election as well. He may have no choice but to tell the truth about his meetings and conversations with the President of the United States. After all, he is not a lawyer so they are not privileged. There is no freedom of press issue since these conversations were as an advisor and not a reporter. Subpoenas will be issued against him to compel testimony about his participation in the Ukrainian extortion, abuses of power, and whatever strikes the interest of the Congressional investigation committees. If Hannity chooses to defy the subpoenas, Attorney General Adam Schiff with great glee and satisfaction will add criminal charges to the list and throw him in jail.

Therefore at some point fairly soon after the election, it may be in Hannity’s best interests both personally and politically to tell the truth about his contacts with THE DONALD. Whether he likes the political results or not, there is a part of Hannity that has enough sense and expertise to be aware of the lay of the land in the real world come January 20, 2021. Even if the masses of Trumpicans profess loyalty to their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, Hannity will realize the necessity of charting a new path. He will recognize the futility of having a serially indicted/convicted/incarcerated criminal as the leader of a successful comeback against the Democrats.

At that point, Sean Hannity might become Howard Baker. To do so, he will have to do what no Trumpican has been able to do or is likely to do. No elected Trumpican, no formerly elected Trumpican, and no appointed Trumpican, is going to tell THE DONALD enough is enough. Hannity might. He would inform the Trumpicans that if they want to oppose the Democrats, that it will be in their best interests to become Republicans again. He will inform them that they need to put THE DONALD behind them and move on or else the Trumpicans will become as irrelevant nationally as the Republican Party now is in California or New York. He will thank THE DONALD for what he achieved but assert that for the good of the country – not that THE DONALD would ever sacrifice his own personal interest for the country. What’s in it for him – it is time for him to leave the stage and let others carry on the battle against AOC, Biden, and Pelosi. And that means all the Trumps!

I am not saying that Hannity will pursue this course of action in the event of a 2020 Democratic trifecta and Red Wave drowning Trumpicans. I am saying that Hannity will have arrived at the proverbial fork in the road. One should not doubt the heady experience it was for him to have the President of the United States at his beck and call. On a strictly psychological level, these four years had to have been a rush, a constant high. Now it will be over. He will feel the disappointment. He will feel the Trumpican pain. He may even decide to wallow in it on a show that nobody in power cares about. Or he may chose not to retire from relevance but to fight on in the real world by becoming Howard Baker and announcing to the world that it is time for THE DONALD to go. Depending on the election results, we will know soon enough what choice Hannity makes.

Fox Triplets: Do You Want a “Socialist” America? Dump Trump Now!

June 25, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Red line is the poll results for Biden; the orange line his opponent

Fox triplets, do you want a “socialist” America? Then DUMP TRUMP NOW!

It’s time to live in the real world.

No more Tucker tirades about the unelected Fauci. It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

No more Hannity hosannas about Texas and Florida. It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

No more Laura LOL drug cures. It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

Do you have the mental necessities to read a graph? How come the number of cases in the European Union has dropped dramatically while America’s is rising? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

Do you think after the struggle to control the coronavirus, the European Union will now accept the White House fantasies of 15 becoming zero, miracle cures, it’s behind us, and embers? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

If our leader rates a “10,” then what would you rate the leaders of  Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong, China and from other countries  that actually have contained the virus? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

Do you think after the struggle to control the coronavirus, states like New York will now accept the White House fantasies of 15 becoming zero, miracle cures, it’s behind us, and embers? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

If our leader rates a “10,” then what would you rate the governors of the states that actually contained the virus? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

Our President said the way to improve schools is to slow down testing: fewer tests mean fewer failures. Problem solved. How simple-minded to you have to be to believe this? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

Oh, wait. He said to slow down the coronavirus tests, not school tests. Fewer tests mean fewer infections mean fewer deaths. How stupid are you? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

At Tulsa, here is what people who take this nonsense seriously had to say:

“This coronavirus is a little bit hyped. The media hypes things,” Anonymous.

If only FAKE NEWS knocked off their hyped reporting, there would be no talk of 120,000 dead and they would not be dead either…or the deaths aren’t really from the coronavirus anyway. Who knows how this unidentified electrician from Seattle is able to live in an alternate reality. The whole thing must be a hoax.

Other examples lends credence to the thinking it is a hoax.

“It’s all fake. They’re just making the numbers up. I haven’t seen anybody die, not from coronavirus. I don’t know anybody who’s got it,” said Mike Alcorn, Wichita, Kansas.

“I’ve been watching this closely over the last four months or so, and the numbers just don’t add up,” said Jeff Eskew, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

“[The virus] is a scare tactic more than anything. And I just don’t believe all those deaths are coronavirus,” said Donald Fanning, Wichita Kansas.

Do you see any global warming in your backyard? I don’t see any global warming in your backyard. It’s all fake, it’s all made up.

How can you even blame China for a hoax? How can China be at fault if it’s all fake? That’s like saying the Bolton book is a complete lie but the lies are classified so it shouldn’t be published.

Just because someone looks up to Putin doesn’t give him the right to play Russian roulette with the lives of the American people. Masks work. Is common sense illegal on Fox? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

Just because someone admires Queen Elizabeth doesn’t give him a 007 license to kill Americans. Masks work. Is common sense illegal on Fox? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

Just because someone’s uncle was a supergenius doesn’t mean he knows what scientists are talking about. Masks work, Is common sense illegal on Fox? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

LBJ knew when not to run for re-election.

Nixon knew when it was time to resign.

There are no Howard Bakers in the Senate

There are no adults in the White House.

It’s up to you Fox triplets to save America.

Do you want a Democratic White House, House, and Senate? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

Do you want Biden to win by even a bigger Electoral College landslide than 306 votes? By a bigger landslide than the 332 of Obama? It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

Why do you criticize what is going on the cities and then support the one person who will make matters worse?  It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

Are you secretly working for Nancy Pelosi?

Are you trying to destroy the Republican Party?

Are you a minion of George Soros?

THEN DUMP TRUMP NOW!

The eyes of the world are upon us and what the world sees is a failed country with a laughingstock for a leader who is way out of his league. It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

Fox triplets: Rise to the occasion. Be a profile in courage. Save the country. It’s time to live in the real world. DUMP TRUMP NOW!

I am not so naïve as to think the Fox triplets will ever read or even know of this blog yet alone act on it. But it felt really good writing it.

DUMP TRUMP NOW!

The China Hannitys versus the American Hannitys: The 2020 Olympics

April 20, 2020
by Peter Feinman
The First Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh Expose a Hoax

The China Hannitys versus the American Hannitys: The battle is engaged. Right now the Hannitys of both countries are battling each other for world supremacy. Who is #1? The Middle Kingdom or the City on a Hill? To some extent, they are not in direct conflict with each other, since each appeals primarily to a domestic audience. In this regard the Chinese probably have the advantage. They are aware of the criticisms of China in the international arena and are responding to it. They also know that the United States is dependent on China for medical supplies and that the President continually praises the Chinese leader.

The United States

Turning to the American position, it doesn’t look so good at the moment. During World War II, the United States was an arsenal for democracy. It initiated the Lend Lease program including aiding China. It was the go to country for world leadership. The United Nations was headquartered in New York, the center of the universe. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States became the world’s only superpower. So how did America do during the era of baby boom Presidents?

When the history of the era of baby boom Presidents is written, it doesn’t seem likely that the United States or that generation will fare too well. It is unlikely that after the first Iraq war that anyone predicted that less than 30 years later the United States would have self-destructed its world leadership position from internally caused actions (second Iraq war, Afghanistan, 2016 elections). We are no longer an arsenal for democracy. We cannot provide material assistance to others. We abandon global organizations instead of creating and/or leading them. We only have transactional relationships where every other country is a foe in a zero-sum relationship with us. There is no more win-win. Our simple-minded immature child President lacks the mental necessities to even understand yet alone propose a global identity for the country.

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed America’s abandonment of being a City on a Hill. “Disease in a World without a Leader” was the headline of an article in Time (Yuval Noah Harari, 3/21/20).

“(W)e are now facing this crisis bereft of global leaders who can inspire, organize and finance a coordinated global response.”

 The Ebola crisis of 2014 and the financial crisis of 2008 were two recent examples where the United States took a leadership role.

 “But in recent years the U.S. has resigned its role as global leader…(T)he U.S. no longer has only real friends, only interests.. The void left by the U.S. has not been filled by anyone else.

Our former friends laugh at the ignorant and immature American President to his face at the U.N. and behind his back at international meetings.

The NYT headline, “In This Crisis, U.S. Sheds Its Role as Global Leader” (3/22/20) delivers the same message. The World War II era is over. There is no Franklin Delano Roosevelt to lead the world. Instead the American President seeks to liberate Michigan, Minnesota, and Virginia and has withdrawn from the WHO. He cannot rise to the occasion. His followers are perfectly willing to cheer “We’re #2. We’re #2. We’re #2.” They have no interest in the United States being a City on a Hill that the eyes of the world are upon.

Still hope springs eternal. In an op-ed piece, Samantha Power, former American representative to the United Nations, put her heart on the line in the hope that one day the United States will be #1 again (NYT 4/9/20). Despite the actions of the American President to withdraw from the international arena and weaken America influence throughout the world, that world still looks to the United States for leadership. She decries the zero-sum approach the simple-minded President brought to the efforts to obtain necessary medical equipment. She dismisses the idea that China can create a global crisis coalition, a goal that China has not yet attained. She yeans for America to take a leadership role in the COVID-19 crisis, but that can’t happen until January, 2021, at the earliest.

China

So America and the COVID-19 crisis have handed the Middle Kingdom an opportunity on a silver platter. While the United States is still the financial capital of the world, China has replaced it as the manufacturing capital of the world. It makes what the world wants. It binds the countries through purchases of the natural resources needed do manufacture goods. China has become a leading trade partner practically everywhere. Its Belt and Road Initiative works to bind the countries of the world to it as vassals, not colonies. Hollywood would not dare defy it. There is no more Taiwan on American airlines. Who would criticize China’s handling of the CORVID-19 crisis?

Now we have the competing stories. The China Hannitys praise the great leadership of Xi Jinping. He acted swiftly, boldly, and decisively. First he rescued China with his lockdowns. Now he stands ready to aid the world. He will save the world from the scourge unleashed by American military personnel when they visited China. What America has wrought, China will repair. All we have to do is put our trust in China, its superior system, its superior leader, its rightful place as the Middle Kingdom in the cosmic center as the world leader.

The American Hannitys take issue with China’s position. China is the source of the scourge. China is the one who acted dishonestly. It did not reveal the truth of the extent of the virus and that it could be transferred from person to person even when there was no sign of the infection. It is China who owes the world for the damage and destruction it has inflicted on it. It is the American President who acted swiftly, boldly, and decisively as he learned the truth that China tried to hide.

The American Hannitys have a track record of success it can draw on to convict China of its guilt in the court of world opinion. Remember how they uncovered Seth Rich at the center of the Russian contacts. The American Hannitys exposed the Russian collusion as a hoax. The American Hannitys exposed the Ukranian extortion as a hoax. The American Hannitys exposed the CORVID-19 as a hoax. With all these successes behind it, exposing the China fraud should be easy.

And the Winner Is….

So here were are. America on its own has abandoned its position as world leader. China is rushing to fill the void but is falling short. Its restrictive currency and racist xenophobic society make it an unlikely choice for world leader. It can dominate vassals by economic force but there will never be a line of people seeking to emigrate there. When people vote with their feet, they still vote America.

While we are no longer #1, we could regain that position. We can do so partly because there still is no alternative to American leadership: either it is us [post WWII] or no one [now]. In my last blog on the topic of World War IV, I wrote of America’s ace in the hole, its soft power. The blog was written after the unexpected death of Kobe Bryant (Kobe and Coronavirus: Meaning for World War IV 2/4/20). It wasn’t that long ago and it was a global event when it occurred.

Now we are witnessing another example of American leadership: the free press. The China Hannitys operate as the propaganda arm of the government with no alternative voice. By contrast, the American Hannitys have to face domestic competition. Try as he might to turn his press conferences into political rallies, our Dear Leader still has to face the press. Now he can’t hide behind the noise of a helicopter. In fact, with social spacing, he faces fewer reporters. It has become harder to escape questions from people who know he is full of bull trump and just playing make believe with the facts.

The net result is neither the American nor Chinese Hannitys can prevail. While we may not know the truth of what happened in China for years to come, we already know the truth of what happened it America. If We the People decide we want an adult in the White House, we can regain our position of world leadership and with the thanks of countries who have been waiting for it.

 

Can China Leverage the Coronavirus to World Leadership?

March 19, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Putin's strawberries (Reuters / Centers for Disease Control)

When the coronavirus first erupted in Wuhan, China, the Chinese government deployed the Trump playbook. It denied that there was a problem. It repressed those who sought to tell the truth. It questioned the whistleblowers. It unleashed the China Hannitys. There was no coronavirsus. There was no coverup. Fake News.

The real situation was illuminated in the title of an article by Li Yuan, the Hong Kong based reporter for The New York Times “China’s Rifts Laid Bare by Outbreak” (January, 29, 2020, print). She quoted a Chinese newspaper editor who wrote:

The local government’s tolerance level of different online voices is way too low…Government agencies have weakened he checks-and-balance function of the Chinese news media.  

She cited two online comments made in response to the coronavirus:

“The current system looks so vibrant, yet it’s shattered completely by a governance crisis,” one user wrote on the social media site Weibo.

“We gave up our rights in exchange for protection,” the user wrote. “But what kind of protection is it? Where will our long-lasting political apathy lead us?”

Comments like this led her to conclude:

From the outside, China’s Communist Party appears powerful and effective. It has tightened its control over Chinese politics and culture, the economy and everyday life, projecting the image of a gradually unifying society.

The coronavirus outbreak has blown up that facade.

My own blog February 4, Kobe and Coronavirus: Meaning for World War IV expressed a similar negative perspective on the Middle Kingdom’s outlook. At the point, the conditions. The coronavirus was rampant with no end in sight. In addition to the medical emergency, there were the economic consequences which were impossible to gauge not only for China but for the rest of the world increasingly dependent on China.

Following the thread of Li Yuan’s articles, she subsequently wrote:

China Targets the Coronavirus, and Farmers Pay a Price (Jan. 31, 2020, online)

Coronavirus Crisis Shows China’s Governance Failure (Feb. 4, 2020, online)

Widespread Outcry in China Over Death of Coronavirus Doctor (Feb. 7, 2020, online)

In Coronavirus Fight, China Sidelines an Ally: Its Own People (Feb. 19, 2020, print)

The coronavirus outbreak has exposed the jarring absence in China of a vibrant civil society — the civic associations like business groups, nonprofit organizations, charities and churches that bring people together without involving the government.

Think of it as the nervous system that helps a society move smoothly and briskly — something Benjamin Franklin recognized over 200 years ago when he organized Philadelphia’s first volunteer fire department, first public library and first charity hospital. “It is prodigious the quantity of good that may be done by one man, if he will make a business of it,” he wrote in 1783.

Score one for America!

Coronavirus Weakens China’s Powerful Propaganda Machine (Feb. 27, 2020, print)

Beijing is tapping its old propaganda playbook as it battles the relentless coronavirus outbreak, the biggest challenge to its legitimacy in decades.

The problem for China’s leaders: This time, it isn’t working so well.

Online, people are openly criticizing state media.

Could the China Hannitys be failing? Are the mainland Chinese (not Hong Kong Chinese) failing to be good little obedient national Communists? What is the Chinese government to do?

Evidently, the Chinese government did something. A different New York Times reporter, Javier Hernandez, provided an entirely different perspective than the continual negative drumbeat of Yuan.

China, in Propaganda Push, Boasts of Response to Crisis (February 29, 2020, print)

According to this article, the Communist Party “is trying to rehabilitate its image as a model for the world.

SOME COUNTRIES SLOW TO RESPOND TO VIRUS read one headline. Gosh, I wonder what country the Chinese meant. As of February 29, in the United States, the corona virus was still a hoax, round three of the media-mob/Deep-State attack in the attempt to undermine the duly elected President of the United States. So claimed the American President and his propaganda outlet.

Hernandez reports that the Party officials were now trying to spin the coronavirus crisis as a testament to the strength of China’s authoritarian system and, of course, to its leader, Xi Jinping.

Mr. Xi has appears eager to reframe the crisis as a triumph for the party and for a vindication of his efforts to strengthen its control over everyday life in China.  

Can you imagine an American President trying to rewrite history as the Chinese leader has to show he is the hero and savior who knew all along it was a pandemic?

The China Hannitys claim that it is the United States political system that is not capable of dealing effectively with an outbreak. Whether or not they could make that claim in we had an adult in the White House is undetermined.

In March, the tide seems to be turning from the failure of China in January to a position of world leadership. The slowing of new cases of the coronavirus to zero in China matches the claim the American President made weeks ago about the 15 cases in America also soon to disappear like a miracle. The number now exceeds 10,000, no, now 11,000, no, now 11,600 and rising. The miracle is nowhere in sight. We still have to spike.

It is easy to understand why China thinks it is in a position not only to gloat but to magnanimously offer assistance to countries in need. Remember the Marshall Plan? Now it is the Chinese who have the masks and testing kits the rest of the world needs including the United States. It is not only in 5G where the United States is second and not really competing, it is on the coronavirus battlefield as well.

Xi Jinping’s victory appearance in Wuhan on March 9 was that of leader strutting his stuff. While other nations (Iran and Italy) and rival America are just beginning to gear up to confront the coronavirus, China is looking back on its triumph, looking ahead on its desire to move forward, and looking around at its willingness to help the less fortunate among the world. Other countries make talk about 40-70% of its population becoming infected – not in China.

There is no talk of 500 million Chinese being infected by the coronavirus.
There is no talk of 75-100 million Chinese requiring hospitalization.
There is no talk of 10-20 million Chinese requiring ventilators.
There is no talk of 5 million Chinese dead from the coronavirus.

True, there is no vaccine so there always is the problem of resurgence.

As prophecies go the infamous article China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia by Walter Russell Mead (Wall Street Journal, February 3, 2020, online) seems to have missed the mark.

The mighty Chinese juggernaut has been humbled this week, apparently by a species-hopping bat virus.

At present, the Chinese juggernaut has survived the virus and is ready to revive its economy…which will be a challenge give the dire straits of its customers. By contrast, it is the United States which has been exposed as the sick man of the world. It was in denial for two months and is poorly prepared to even test yet alone treat those infected and it is only beginning to prepare for the economic challenge and changes to daily life which will ensue.

These changes have led to an extraordinarily surreal moment in coverage by the government propaganda network in the United States. Suddenly the American Hannity is woke to the reality of the crisis. Suddenly he is aware of the consequences when a leader fails to act during that critical first month. Suddenly he has berated and castigated the Chinese Hannitys for their deceptive and dishonest coverage of the coronavirus as propaganda arms of the government. The American Hannity has taken the Chinese government to task for its cover-up and lies. He identified China as contributing to the current medical emergencies in Iran and Italy visited by Chinese because the government failed to tell the truth. People were dying as a result and the American Hannity blamed the Chinese Hannitys and the government for them.

In effect, the American Hannity’s message was:

If a drug manufacturer similarly had covered up the truth, it would be criminally negligent.
If an airline manufacturer similarly had covered up the truth, it would be criminally negligent.
If a car manufacturer similarly had covered up the truth, it would be criminally negligent.

Shouldn’t a government be held to the same standard? How many people have died and will die because the leader of a country was in denial and sought to repress the truth? How many people still don’t recognize a crisis exists because for months that is what their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed be his Name and his propaganda apostles have told them? How many jobs will be lost due this criminal negligence?

The American President has said the United States is in war, that we will triumph over the invasion, the invaders from China. He is right to recognize that it is a war but he has failed to identify the enemy. The coronavirus like 5G and the newspaper reporters is a battlefield but the war is with China.

For three years our immature child President got to play at being President. Now he has to face three crises at once:

1. the national medical emergency unprecedented save perhaps for the flu epidemic of 1918
2. the economic collapse unprecedented save perhaps for the Depression
3. the battle between the City on a Hill with China for world leadership  – Who Will Win World War IV?

In a blog only a week ago, I commented on how much fun our Dear Leader has doing the penguin walk at professional political wrestling arenas (One Small Step for the Penguin-Walk President or One Giant Leap for the Fox President?). It reflects his idea of what adults expect a president to be. Do you think once such rallies are possible again, he still will perform the penguin walk? Do you think he is starting to realize that there is more to being president than he knew? Do you think he understands that even though he is not an adult, Americans want a president who acts like one?

World War II marked the emergence of the United States as the center of the world. It had supplanted England as world leader symbolized by the United Nations headquartering in New York. Now that city struggles with its increasing number of coronavirus cases and Times Square, the crossroads of the universe is empty. Instead the coronavirus witnesses the emergence of a new world order where all roads lead to China. Does Bonespur Boy have the right stuff to go into the arena and triumph in America’s moment of need?

One Small Step for the Penguin-Walk President or One Giant Leap for the Fox President?

March 12, 2020
by Peter Feinman
https://batman.fandom.com

The favorite venue for this President is the professional political wrestling arena. He literally feeds off the emotion and energy there. For the seventh-grade-smart-aleck-dumb-aleck the professional political wrestling arena is a dream come true. He can say whatever he wants, act however he pleases, and make up whatever “facts” occur to him. There is no teacher, no principal, and no school superintendent to control him. In fact, he is the superintendent!

One of the acts he likes to perform is the penguin-walk President. He goes all stiff with arms down his sides and waddles a few steps. He adds a commentary about how this is how the adults in the room tell him to behave as President. Then he laughs at them for championing such rigid behavior. After all, wasn’t he elected precisely to destroy such conduct?

There are a few times when the immature child President knows he has to behave like an adult. For example, the State of Union. Just like the child who knows he has to behave at a funeral or some other occasion, Little Donee Waney can behave properly…for a short period of time, but that’s it.

Then there are the unexpected times when America wants him to act as an adult and he can’t – Charlottesville, Puerto Rico, and now, the coronavirus. One would think by now We the People would know he simply isn’t wired to do so but we hope for the best and then are disappointed once again when he fails to be an adult.

His penguin-walk persona (which is separate but related to his running on air off a cliff behavior, see Running on Air off a Cliff: The Coronavirus and the Real World), provides a window into the mind of the child trying to pass for an adult. It genuinely reveals how the seventh-grade-smart-aleck dumb-aleck perceives the role of the President. For him, acting presidential is what he does when he is in the professional political wrestling arena, not when he is speaking to the nation from the Oval Office or standing alone at a White House podium. It demonstrates the impossible challenge facing him when circumstances beyond his control force him to assume the adult mantle.

His White House coronavirus speech of March 11, 2020, was one such moment. When the Unpresidential Library is built, this speech will be one of the highlights. Visitors will have the opportunity to see and hear Franklin Delano Roosevelt after December 7, Ronald Reagan after the Challenger, George Bush and Rudy Giuliani after 9/11, and Little Donnee Waney during the coronavirus.  In the years to come, visitors to the Unpresidential Library will gasp in horror and shock as this immature child struggled to pass for an adult. It will become a lesson for teachers of American history.

The speech would have been more effective if it simply had been distributed as a handout. It was not the creation of a President writing on a legal pad, typing on a computer, or even tweeting and then giving it to others to polish for the presentation. The speaker was unfamiliar with words, struggled with phrases, and didn’t understand what he was reciting. He looked and acted uncomfortable because he was. Remember, his view of the President as an adult is of a stiff, rigid penguin. He was out of his element and out of his league.

Remember how much fun Little Donne Wanee had had just ten days earlier mocking the height of Mike Bloomberg by ducking down behind the lectern?

Our President Having Fun while the Hoax Virus Miraculously Disappears

This picture of him during the coronavirus when everything supposedly was contained and the count of 15 was miraculously dwindling to zero also will be in the Unpresidential Library. It will hang right next to a picture of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

A float depicting President Trump as Roman Emperor Nero in the traditional Carnival parade in Mainz, Germany, on Feb. 24. (Michael Probst/AP)

THE DEEP STATE IS BIGGER THAN FOX IMAGINED

The reaction to the pitiful performance was worse than even the nightly Fox diatribes against it.

BREAKING NEWS

The E.U.’s top officials condemned President Trump’s Europe travel ban, saying the decision was “taken unilaterally and without consultation.” (NYT, Fake News)

The European leaders are well aware of the mental shortcomings of the immature child President of the United States. They laugh at him to his face at the General Assembly. They laugh at him behind his back at international conferences. They probably laugh at him more times than we know. Still no matter how much he insults and alienates them, they know that American leadership is needed to solve global problems. They know it for climate change and they know it for the coronavirus.

As soon as Little Donee Waney announced the 30-day ban on travel from Europe, they knew the moron in-chief had done it again. My own immediate reaction after gasping was to think of the American travelers who would be stranded in Europe for a month. Where would they stay? How would they pay for it? If they were traveling with medicines, how would they get refills? If they needed to be back in the United States for family and business, what would happen? I am sure other people had equally puzzled reactions to this announcement.

Sure enough almost as soon as the speech was over, the American Government began issuing correctives. What he said was not what he really meant. Why expect clarity in the single most important speech of his presidency? Do you really think he has a White House staff capable of ensuring the final product was coherent?

I presumed he personally knows of someone currently in England so he exempted England from the travel ban so that person could get home. I could be wrong. What’s your explanation?

In any event, his botched performance led to this headline:

Trump address sparks chaos as coronavirus crisis deepens (CNN, Fake News)

President Donald Trump set out to steady a rattled nation and a diving economy in a solemn Oval Office address, but instead sowed more confusion and doubts that he is up to handling the fast-worsening coronavirus crisis.

Trump’s top assignment on Wednesday was to show that he was in charge and that he appreciated, finally, the grave nature of the weeks that lie ahead. But the confusion over the travel ban turned his speech into something of a debacle and may up exacerbating uncertainty over his leadership.

“I don’t think there’s confusion,” Pence said on CNN’s “New Day.”

Who the hell does Vice President Mike Pence think he is deciding for us whether or not we are confused? Why were there so many corrections issued afterwards if the President of the United States was crystal clear? It is one thing to sell your soul, but did he have to abandon his common sense with it?

BREAKING NEWS

U.S. stocks plunged again, as investors reacted with dismay to President Trump’s latest effort to address the coronavirus outbreak. (NYT, Fake News)

European leaders weren’t the only ones to cast judgment against Little Donnee Waney. Wall Street did too. Almost as soon as the speech was over the stock markets began to tank. And they continued to do so throughout the day. Wall Street like Europe knows better than to trust Fox. It could see with its own eyes that the President of the United States wasn’t up to the job of being a leader in a time of crisis. The judgement has been harsh.

Some of the decline has been due to the hit the economy is going to take from the coronavirus.

Some of the decline has been due to the oil battle between Saudi Arabia and Russia (will the world’s greatest dealmaker negotiate a deal?)

Some of the decline has been due to the recognition that we are in a crisis and no one is in charge…or at least, no adult is.

The presidential speech did have one positive impact despite its shortcomings.

The day coronavirus became real for millions of Americans (CNN, Fake News)

Even Trumpicans who watch Fox should be starting to learn that the coronavirus is a real threat that is only going to get worse contrary to the claims of the Fox announcers save for Tucker Carlson.

Is the NBA also part of the Deep State?

Is the NCAA also part of the Deep State?

Is Tom Hanks also part of the Deep State?

And what about the upcoming baseball season?

Meanwhile on the Bull-Trump network, the speech of our Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be His Name, was the greatest speech since the Sermon on the Mount. Such bold and decisive leadership showing full command of the subject and demonstrating the ability to contain and defeat the disease. And remember Trumpicans like mainland Chinese get their news from only one source, the government propaganda network…unless they also watch basketball, unless they also like Tom Hanks, unless they opened their bank statements at the end of February or will do so at the of March.

There is one way to get through to Trumpicans. Margaret Sullivan (Washington Post, Fake News) suggested that

Rupert Murdoch could save lives by forcing Fox News to tell the truth about coronavirus….So imagine if the word flowed down from on high that Fox News should communicate to Trump that he needs to take an entirely new tack on the virus. Imagine if Murdoch ordered the network to end its habit of praising him as if he were the Dear Leader of an authoritarian regime and to instead use its influence to drive home the seriousness of the moment.

Or imagine if Murdoch replaced Hannity with Tucker Carlson. Fat chance. But for a sneak look at what is really important in the Trumpworld and what has the highest priority, it is just what you would expect:

The Trump team is now working overtime to question Joe Biden’s mental fitness (CNN, Fake News)

It’s always about him.