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Sean Hannity

Running on Air off a Cliff: The Coronavirus and the Real World

March 11, 2020
by Peter Feinman
If Only We Lived in a World of No Gravity!

Here is what I wrote last June 19:

There is a longstanding cartoon routine of someone running off a cliff. The figure may be human or an animal and it is almost always male. The figure runs straight off a cliff and then appears to be running on air. The laws of gravity are suspended and the figure remains aloft, legs churning. Finally comes the moment of truth. He realizes his predicament and looks down. There below him, far, far below him, is the hard ground. Suddenly reality takes over. The result is SPLAT! Actually, since the fall does not kill him, it’s not too real.

So far that moment of truth has not yet arrived for the current cartoon character running on air. He has managed to maintain his illusions for far longer than I would have anticipated. There has been no Cuban Missile Crisis. No 9/11. And his hurricane failure occurred in Puerto Rico and not Louisiana. Thanks to John McCain and a few others he was not able to strip Trumpicans of their healthcare otherwise the Trump really would have hit the fan.  Is it really possible to sustain his delusions for an entire four-year term?…

There are a few simple tests to monitor his grasp of the real world, his willingness to operate it, and his success if he tries. We don’t need to wait to see how he deploys his campaign resources to know if he is operating based on real polls or his fake polls. We’ll know in a month because of health care.

“You’ll see that in a month when we introduce it. We’re going to have a plan. That’s subject to winning the House, Senate, and presidency, which hopefully we’ll win all three. We’ll have phenomenal health care.” 

 So claims the very stable genius who is the smartest person in the room and the only one who can solve America’s problems.

That month of waiting for his “phenomenal health care” plan has long come and gone.

Now he says

“the people are getting better, they are all getting better”

“You may ask about the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country.”

“We’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”

And there will be a miracle. Now it is the vaccine which will be ready soon, soon, very soon. Imagine if we did have a “phenomenal health care” plan as promised last June and people didn’t have to be worried about the cost of coronavirus healthcare.

Playtime is over for our immature child president. Try as he might with his Fox assistants, ignoring, denying, and insulting the real world doesn’t cut with the coronavirus. When it first appeared, mainland China tried the Trump approach. It suppressed whistleblowers. It ignored the facts on the ground. It stood by while people died.  And then its leader took credit for solving the problem and being an example to the world of what every other country should do. So besides in trade, the Middle Kingdom and the City on a Hill now are competing as to who should be recognized as the world savior.

America initially followed a similar path as mainland China. The impact of the coronavirus was downplayed. Democrats and the media were insulted. It was all a hoax. Still the stock market tanked and the numbers of infected and died rose. These past few days I have received too many emails about conferences cancelled, lectures postponed, and places closed.

This morning I woke up to see the street where I grew up on the front page of the newspaper. For most of my life, New Rochelle was best known for Dick Van Dyke. Now the National Guard will be enforcing a containment area in New Rochelle that looks like it includes the house where Carl Reiner once lived. It is a strange feeling to see your childhood community on the front page with the words “National Guard” and “containment.”

At this point, no one knows what is going to happen. Eventually, of course, the coronavirus one day will pass as an imminent threat. No one knows when that day will or how much damage it will cause. No one knows how long it will take for normalcy to return.

Think back now to the ancient crisis of the targeted killing of Iranian Major General Qassim Suleimani. Today, March 11, would have been his birthday. On a personal note, March 11 also was the birthday of my father and of a neighbor around the corner from us in New Rochelle, Benjamin Ferenz, the Nuremberg lawyer. Today he is celebrating his 100th birthday. I hope he is in Florida and not at his home in New Rochelle or else he would be caught in the lockdown too.

It was only two months ago when Suleimani died but in Trump time that is eons of crises ago. At the time, Peter Baker (New York Times, January 6, 2020), began an article with:

For three years, President Trump’s critics have expressed concern over how he would handle a genuine international crisis, warning that a commander in chief known for impulsive action might overreach with dangerous consequences.

But this time the crisis is not self-induced. This time it can’t be solved by behaving like a seventh-grade-smart-aleck-dumb-aleck. This time it can’t be solved by Hannity and his parade of Flying Monkeys who have sworn to defend the Wicked Witch of the White House. Iran and mainland China have their own Hannitys, too, and saying “Death to America” won’t solve their problems either. “Lock her up” and “Build a wall” aren’t enough. We need real leadership.

Part of the challenge is coping with the uncertainty. It is no secret that stress aggravates all other physical conditions. Our mental health pays a price for ongoing stress whether it is the abused wife who never knows when she will be struck again, the workers who never knows when they will be laid off or what time their next shift will be, or the kid who never knows when he will stopped by the police. Now We the People know that uncertainty and stress. Where will the coronavirus strike next. If I get it, will it kill me? Besides any specific legislative action, We the People need our Comforter in Chief to tell us not that everything is alright since we know better but that everything will be alright.

No one is less qualified to be America and world’s Comforter in Chief than our current President. He can’t do sympathy. He can’t do empathy. He can’t tell the truth. It’s always about him. It’s always about what he has done. If he tried to be Rudy Giuliani on 9/11, the results would be frightening. He cannot understand why in a moment of crisis, Americans would prefer the calmness of Joe Biden to the ongoing stress of what will this President say, tweet, or do next. Fortunately the coronavirus crisis is not like the Cuban Missile Crisis where a single action might destroy the world. Fortunately he hasn’t eliminated all the government employees with professional abilities in health care and who will speak truth to power. Fortunately these health professionals can be the adults in the room.

This is one crisis where the solution will be despite the President instead of because of the President since on his own our immature child President would drive We the People over a cliff while yelling how great he was.

Can anything get through to him?

Maybe the plunging Dow Jones. Wall Street knows better than to believe him or Fox. After all it was in New York where America’s biggest individual financial loser first made his mark as a con artist who could not be trusted.

Maybe the rich people he helped get richer know the truth and share with him the true situation including how poorly his performance is playing in Peoria.

Maybe watching some of the leading Congressional Trumpicans self-quarantine, including people who were in direct physical contact with him will bring the real world home to him.

Maybe Tucker Carlson will get through to him in a way Sean Hannity hasn’t:

“In crisis, it’s more important than ever to be calm. But staying calm is not the same as remaining complacent. It does not mean assuring people that everything will be fine. We don’t know that. Instead, it’s better to tell the truth. That is always the surest sign of strength.”

Maybe it will be the senior White House official said, “The gravity of the moment was pretty clear.”

Does he at last understand the gravity of the situation? Does he at last understand that real leadership is needed? Does he at last understand that Fox can’t solve the problem? We may know in 60 minutes.

Duped-by-Russia Hannity Again Duped by Russia – Will He Ever Learn?

December 8, 2019
by Peter Feinman
The Great Disappointment: Was William Miller America’s First Hannity?

Remember Seth Rich? He was the first 400-pound Ukrainian to be at the center of the most massive corruption scandal in American history. Night after night, Duped-by-Russia Hannity launched tirades against the murdered Seth Rich and his role in the most massive corruption scandal in American history. Duped-by-Russia Hannity’s ability to weave a coherent fictional narrative from nothing was astounding to behold. Suddenly everything made else. He had created order out of chaos.  The only shortcoming that threatened his steady stream of invective was the fact that there was no truth to it whatsoever. His story proved to be a complete fabrication straight from the alternate reality universe so beloved of Trumpicans. Duped-by-Russia Hannity’s story had absolutely no truth to it whatsoever beyond using the names of real people. Of course, that use of a real name and person, Seth Rich, is what got the network sued.

A little thing like a story with no truth to it did not bother Duped-by-Russia Hannity at all. In fact, it did not even stop him. The Deep State was responsible for the most massive corruption scandal in American history. He named the names. Night after night, week after week, year after year, even longer than the Mueller report itself took, Duped-by-Russia Hannity identified the perpetrators of the most massive corruption scandal in American history. There to flesh out the details of how it all worked was Sarah Carter, the greatest investigative reporter in American history who was ferreting out the details of the most massive corruption scandal in American history.

This time there would be proof. This time there would be a public accounting. This time the government itself would reveal how the most massive corruption scandal in American history operated. The guilty people whom Duped-by-Russia Hannity had named with reap their just punishment. The key was the Inspector General. Slowly, far too slowly for Duped-by-Russia Hannity’s liking, the Inspector General Report was documenting the most massive corruption scandal in American history. Starting last summer, Duped-by-Russia Hannity anticipated the imminent release of the report that would nail the Deep State to the wall and the hang those people out to dry. And he again named those people and spoke of how scared they were as the day of reckoning approached.

Finally, December 9, 2019, would be the day the truth was revealed. December 9 would be the day that Duped-by-Russia had been waiting for all those days, weeks, months, and years. The Inspector General report would be the vindication of everything Duped-by-Russia Hannity had said. Again and again he stressed how afraid all the people he had named were. Again and again he rejoiced in how scared they were. He used that word a lot. They were scared.

How did he know this? In the segments that I watched, he never revealed how he knew all these people were so scared. Did he interview them? Did someone else on Fox interview them? Did he watch them on some Fake News show writhing in agony over the pending release of the Inspector General report? Did he have second-hand information that these people were scared? Third-hand? Six degrees of separation information? Hearsay? Duped- by-Russia Hannity did not seem to have any source of information for his claim that all these people were scared of the about-to-be released Inspector General Report.

So how did he know that all the people he had identified as being part of the Deep State who would be exposed in the Inspector General report, nailed to the wall, and hung out to dry were scared. As best I can speculate his reasoning went something as follows:

All the people he had identified as being part of the Deep State were part of the most massive corruption scandal in American history.
The Inspector General report would identify them as being guilty.
Therefore they had to be scared.

This line of reasoning may not work in the real world but it works great in the alternate reality in which Duped-by-Russia Hannity lives.

Until it does not.

As the day of vindication drew near, Duped-by-Russia Hannity expressed some concerns. Oh, he still launched into his tirade as always but he began to hedge. Suddenly the Inspector General whom he had been touting for months became the “Obama-appointed” Inspector General. Those extra identifiers not previously used in all the weeks, months, and years of denouncing the Deep State, were a dog whistle to his viewers. Being “Obama-appointed” was code for the report might not contain everything Duped-by-Russia Hannity had been claiming it would contain. Perhaps it would not show the most massive corruption in American history. Perhaps it would only show that mistakes had been but there had been no conspiracy. Duped-by-Russia Hannity was left claiming that the Inspector General report did not do the math. It identified the facts but then did not add 1+1 to get 2. And the “Trump-appointed” Attorney General lacked the power to squash, alter, or skew the meaning of the report before it was released as he had done with the Mueller report. Had they Deep State gotten away with the most massive corruption in American history? Will December 9, 2019, be a day of the Great Disappointment?

Not to worry, there was another report coming. This time the “Trump-appointed” Attorney General had launched his own investigation into the corruption of the Deep State using his own chosen investigator. This time the investigator would have subpoena powers and if there is anything the Trump Administration regards as holy it is the sanctity of the subpoena. This time the investigator would have the power to convene a grand jury. This time the investigator would be able to indict someone. Surely now the Deep State would be exposed for perpetrating the most massive corruption scandal in American history. Surely this time heads would roll. Surely now all the people whom Duped-by-Russia Hannity had identified would feel fear.

One example of the superior power of the new investigation was that it was not limited to the United States. Both Duped-by-Russia Hannity and Sarah Carter exulted in the trips to Italy to expose the truth of the Deep State corruption. These trips were not the conscientious effort of an investigator to tie up all loose ends by following any wild-goose chase the Trump State had concocted. No, not at all. Instead the European trips demonstrated how the entirety of the most massive corruption scandal was being documented. Just wait until that report is released and the indictments multiply!

As it turns out Duped-by-Russia Hannity was right to declare the most massive corruption scandal in American history had occurred. Nunes, the crooked clown, Ridiculous Rudy, attack mutt (is he the hero yet?), the indicted Fric and Frac, and John No-Wisdom, were part of the larger conspiracy to promote a fictional narrative involving the Bidens and the Ukraine. I confess while watching John No-Wisdom on Duped-by-Russia Hannity’s show, he made a compelling case. His low-key apparently fact-based narration made him seem like a Fox counterpart to MSNBC Chuck Rosenberg. Who knew that his publications on The Hill were part of a Russian disinformation campaign and that he was functioning as a Russian operative probably without realizing it? Duped-by-Russia Hannity had been duped by Russia again.

We have learned that the corruption scandal of the Trump State includes the

President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
Acting Chief of Staff
Secretary of State
Attorney General.

Trumpicans in the House and Senate are now repeating Russian talking points. Trumpicans in the House have voted to support Russian imperialism in the Ukraine. The Russian campaign is working.

As corruption scandals in American history go, the Trump State scandal may well be the most the most massive corruption scandal in American history.  How come Duped-Again-by-Russia Hannity has not been able to see this scandal?

P.S. Will this President be remembered as being more submissive to Russia, Turkey, or Saudi Arabia?

HANNITY DEMANDS “FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE” WITNESSES BE CALLED

November 14, 2019
by Peter Feinman

An enraged Duped-by-Russia Hannity practically blew a gasket after the first day of the impeachment hearings. He was so mad steam was shooting forth from his ears and every other opening in his body. He was absolutely furious about the hearings. All the testimony was hearsay. There was no testimony by anyone with first-hand knowledge of the extortion actions by the President. To rectify that shortcoming, he demanded that people with first-hand knowledge be called to testify. His list included the Vice President, the Acting Chief of Staff, the Secretary of State, the National Security chief, and the Attorney General. These are the people who met and spoke directly with the President. If the Democrats dared to call such people they would quickly expose the hoax of this witch hunt. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Do the Democrats have the courage and honesty to pick it up?

An enraged Duped-by-Russia Hannity practically blew a gasket after the first day of the impeachment hearings. He was so mad steam was shooting forth from his ears and every other opening in his body. He was absolutely furious about the hearings. Where was the testimony from the hearsay in-chief whistle-blower who had started all this brouhaha? It was vital that this individual be outed and forced to testify. Once this person had been exposed and a target put on this person’s back, the truth of this Deep State hoax and witch hunt would be exposed. The Ukraine witch hunt is just a continuation of the Russian witch hunt. Everything would be resolved if only the Democrats dared to call the hearsay whistle-blower to testify. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Do the Democrats have the courage and honesty to pick it up?

An enraged Duped-by-Russia Hannity practically blew a gasket after the first day of the impeachment hearings. He was so mad steam was shooting forth from his ears and every other opening in his body. He was absolutely furious about the hearings. Article II of the Constitution gives the President the power to do whatever he wants with impunity and immunity unless the President is a Democrat. If the President wants to extort the leader of another country for any reason whatsoever, he has the right to do so. Everything would be resolved if only the Democrats dared to admit the truth. That is the way the game is played. Get over it. Move on. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Do Democrats have the courage and honesty to pick it up?

An enraged Duped-by-Russia Hannity practically blew a gasket after the first day of the impeachment hearings. He was so mad steam was shooting forth from his ears and every other opening in his body. He was absolutely furious about the hearings. The real corruption scandal is not being investigated. The real scandal is the one by Sleepy Creepy Joe Biden and his son. The real scandal is by the Democrats. The real scandal is by the Ukrainians who interfered in the 2016 election and possess the acid-washed and sledgehammer-smashed server that Duped-by-Russia Hannity has been expounding about ad infinitum on his show. If you want to know the truth, subpoena John No-Wisdom. Show after show he has been presenting the truth about the Ukrainians. This calm voice of reason in his quiet low-key manner has been sharing the truth with the viewers while his Fake News MSNBC counterpart Chuck Rosenberg only appears to know what he is talking about. John No-Wisdom is the one with the answers. That is why the Extorter in-Chief cheers him on. Everything would be resolved if only the Democrats dared to admit the truth. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Do Democrats have the courage and honesty to pick it up?

My prediction before the hearings began, a fairly easy prediction I acknowledge, was that American would witness two different hearings.

As a result, there will be two televised hearings of the impeachment. One will be reported by the Fake News networks, newspapers, and websites and the other will be by the Bull-Trump counterparts. Since Trumpicans, like the mainland Chinese, only get their news from one source, the government propaganda network they will only see what Clueless Jim Jordan asks, Duped-by-Russia Hannity reports, and Little Donee Waney tweets. No One to Throw Under the Bus

It did not take long to demonstrate the accuracy of this prediction. See “Fox’s prime time stars are telling Trump that the impeachment hearings are a ‘disaster’ for Democrats” by Brian Stetler for a rundown of the Fox reporting of the hearings. Imagine what would happen if the Democratic presidential race were not in disarray and the Democratic candidate could respond. Maybe by next summer or fall!

In the meantime, there are larger lessons to be learned from the impeachment hearings so far. The impact on the American people will be based on America today, not the America of the last two times impeachment was in the news. Even though there are people alive today who as adults have experienced all three impeachments, the world in which they live has changed considerably.

Just focus on how people receive the news about the impeachments. Once upon a time, the communities of the country had independent and local newspapers. I have been to the local newspaper office in the city where I grew up. I delivered newspapers in the afternoon in my neighborhood in the city where I grew up. I remember the scenes of everyone reading the local paper from TV shows and movies. I remember reading the morning paper on the train ride to Manhattan along with everyone else on the train. I still do that when I take the train to the city. By contrast, everyone else is looking down at a device of some kind – a cell phone, a tablet, a lap top, or some combination of all three. Now that newspaper has been swallowed up into gigantic national powerhouse (After Its Merger, Gannett Will Be the Largest Newspaper Publisher in the U.S.).

Think of the movie Hidden Figures. Everyone is watching the scenes of the Mercury astronauts including John Glenn’s abortive flight. Not even the Superbowl attracts such attention today. Regular TV shows drew tens of millions of viewers then even without being the last episode of MASH. Those days are over. A blockbuster show may attract 20 million viewers and that does not even mean 20 million viewers simultaneously. Impeachment news unlike those Mercury flights will not be a shared experience. Instead the news will be diffused over a plethora of sources. Fox viewers will never know what really happened but the certainty of the Fox announcers helps ensure that no matter what happens, the base will never abandon its lord and savior, the chosen one, blessed be his name. The impeachment hearings provide a great opportunity to bring out the inner seventh-grade smart-aleck dumb-aleck in people like the President’s Press Secretary. The examples in the Stetler piece reveal how Fox is loving it.

To those talk show people who say we should have faith in the American people and let the process play out, I say consider the example of the mainland Chinese in the United States. These people are free of the restrictions and oppression in the homeland (although probably not quite the surveillance scrutiny if the act out of line). Here in the United States, they have access to CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the internet. Have they availed themselves of these options? Have they developed a better understanding of the Tiananmen Square Massacre? Or do they simply recite the Party line on Hong Kong?

The situation is no different for Trumpicans. As long as they think he is delivering on what they actually want they could not care less about all these shenanigans in the Beltway. As long as they are faithful to their lord and savior so will be the elected officials who represent them. Remember when OJ did get away with the murders he had committed? Who cares about the Ukrainians who died because they did not have the weapons they needed and that had been funded by the United States? Go OJ. Go!

No One to Throw Under the Bus

November 12, 2019
by Peter Feinman
Who Are you Going to Blame?

The Wicked Witch of the White House and his Flying Monkeys are at the proverbial fork in the road with no Yogi Berra to guide them. On one hand, there is

NO EXTORTION, NO EXTORTION, NO EXTORTION.

On the other hand, there is

SOMEONE ELSE DID IT, SOMEONE ELSE DID IT, SOMEONE ELSE DID IT.

On the other other hand,

EVEN IF HE DID IT, IT IS NOT IMPEACHABLE.

On the other other other hand

THE DEEP STATE, THE DEEP STATE, THE DEPT STATE IS THE CORRUPT ONE.

Of course, sometimes the Flying Monkeys babble all the scenarios at once. This approach is based on the old standby: run it up the flagpole and see what sticks when you throw it against the wall!

NO COLLUSION TO NO EXTORTION

The phone call was perfect. Never in the history of the United States has there been a more perfect phone call between the President of the United States and a foreign leader. In fact, the only more perfect call is the one about to be released this week when the witch hunt hoax hearings begin.

No president comparable to Lincoln and Washington should be impeached.

The first thing every former Republican now Trumpican representative should do when they get up in the morning is to check and see what tweets have been issued since Fox & Friends began. Your loyalty is to the President and not to the Constitution. No collusion. No extortion. Read the transcript.

EVEN IF HE DID IT, IT IS NOT IMPEACHABLE

The Democrats took this approach the last time around. In January of that impeachment year all the Democratic talk was about the vast rightwing conspiracy. There was no truth to any of the charges. It was all bogus. Nine months later, it was “Yeah, he did it. So what? Get over it.” While there are closet Republicans who would like to take this approach, as Trumpicans they cannot. It will be fun in a tragic sort of way to watch former decent people wrestle with having to sell their soul to show their loyalty.  No collusion. No extortion. Read the transcript. Remain loyal or else. The threat of “or else” may not work on Republicans who are retiring and/or who have a conscience.

THE DEEP STATE, THE DEEP STATE, THE DEPT STATE   

This approach seeks to duplicate the success against the Mueller report now against Schifty Schiff. The subtext of the counterattack against the Mueller report was that the real collusion was by the Democrats with their bought and paid for Steele Dossier. It was really the Democrats who were in collusion with the Russians and the Democrats who should be investigated and charged.

But the Russian never interfered in the 2016 election as Putin publicly declared in a joint conference with the beneficiary of the actual interference siting right beside him. But the Democrats should be investigated and charged anyway even though it was not Russia but the Ukraine which interfered. Are you following this? I am having trouble doing so even as I type it!

The counternarrative believed by all Trumpicans was that the Deep State has instigated the effort to remove the duly elected and legitimate President by any means possible. Duped-by-Russia Hannity has identified the perpetrators of this covert operation. He has been salivating since the summer in expectation of the Inspector General Report that will nail these traitors to the wall. He is still drooling in anticipation as winter approaches

Once the whistleblower is exposed, the truth of the Deep State operation in the Ukrainian hoax will be revealed. The Flying Monkeys are just waiting for the opportunity to trash that person. We witnessed their assault on a decorated soldier who dared to tell the truth who really was a double agent. The Flying Monkeys do not want the whistleblower to testify so they can question this person. They want this person outed so they can destroy this person just as they will do to Anonymous once they discover that author’s name.

Meanwhile Bill Barred-for-Life apparently actually has limits to what he will do on behalf of his client. This shocking development raises some interesting questions. He was involved at some level in the extortion attempt. That means he knows first-hand at some least some of what happened. This is a different situation from the Mueller report. Suppose his global gallivanting to discover the truth of the Deep State Russian witch hunt has not turned up sufficient evidence for him to even go to a grand jury to indict Hannity’s hit list. What then? It is possible that he has a modicum of self-respect and decency to want to preserve what’s left of his integrity rather than turn into Vice President Brown Nose.

None of this will stop the Flying Monkeys in the House from launching a scorched earth assault on the Bidens. That effort will get full coverage on the Bull-Trump network and will be believed by Trumpicans. It will not stop the impeachment but it will provide an alternate reality scenario for Kellyanne Conway to live in.

As a result, there will be two televised hearings of the impeachment. One will be reported by the Fake News networks, newspapers, and websites and the other will be by the Bull-Trump counterparts. Since Trumpicans, like the mainland Chinese, only get their news from one source, the government propaganda network they will only see what Clueless Jim Jordan asks, Duped-by-Russia Hannity reports, and Little Donee Waney tweets.

WHO ARE YOUR GOING TO THROW UNDER THE BUS?

Yes, extortion did occur but it was a rogue operation conducted by people without the knowledge or approval of the world’s worst manager. He had no idea what was going on. Even the Ukrainians knew more about the extortion attempt than the President of the United States did. How could he be expected to know what his personal lawyer, chief of staff, or rich donor with no diplomatic experience were up to?

So will Man Overboard Mulvaney be the one thrown under the bus? Here is what I wrote about him last December:

Mick Mulvaney Parachutes onto a Ship in Chaos the Rats Are Abandoning

Back when Mulvaney was a normal human being, he made disparaging comments about the immature child candidate: he did not like him, he was an unfit role model for his children, and he was not a very good person. And this is from a conservative Republican….

Mulvaney considered the two candidates in 2016 to be the two of the most flawed human beings who had ever run for president in the history of the United States.

“Should either of these people be, be a role model for my 16-year-old triplets? No,” Mulvaney said on a South Carolina talk radio show in October 2016, CNN’s KFile reported. “In an ordinary universe, would both of these people’s past activities disqualify them for serving for office? Yes. But that’s not the world we live in today. The world we live in today, it’s either him or her and for me that’s still an easy choice.”

Then like so many other actual Republicans, he sold his soul and became a Trumpican. But even more than Bill Barred-for-Life, Manoverboard Mulvaney knows what really happened in the failed extortion attempt. He even said so. In public. Without a subpoena. Get over it. Now he has requested legal permission to testify before Congress and the American people. Presumably he is doing so because he intends to tell the truth once the Courts provide that permission. If he dares to tell the truth with first-hand information, what will happen to him? It will be too late to throw him under the bus if the Courts call upon him to tell the truth. But if he is thrown under the bus now, why would he even wait for the Courts to go public with the truth? Despite all the MAFIA talk and the admiration for Putin and Saudi OJ by the extortionist, it is unlikely that a hit will put on Manoverboard Mulvaney to prevent him from testifying honestly. Is there someone else close to him who can be threatened?

WHAT HAPPENS IF VICE PRESIDENT BROWN NOSE DISCOVERS THAT HE IS NOT THE HEIR APPARENT BUT NIKKI HALEY IS? WHAT HAPPENS IF HE REALIZES HE SOLD HIS SOUL IN VAIN? SUPPOSE HE LEARNS THAT NOW AND NOT SIX MONTHS FROM NOW? IS IT TOO RISKY TO THROW HIM UNDER THE BUS NOW? IT’S NOT AS IF HE WILL EVER BE A PROFILE IN COURAGE. (Will Mike Pence Become a Profile in Courage?)

Do you really think he will throw Ridiculous Ruddy, Attack Mutt, under the business? There really is not anyone who can be pinned for the blame except the person in charge. That’s why the message for all the Flying Monkeys, House Trumpicans, and Senate Trumpicans has to be NO EXTORTION, READ THE TRANSCRIPT, THE BIDENS AND THE UKRAINIANS ARE THE CORRUPT ONES.

Making Russia Great Again

November 5, 2019
by Peter Feinman
"You the Man!" Trump honored to be in the presence of alpha-male Putin (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty)

“We’re going to win. We’re going to win so much. We’re going to win at trade, we’re going to win at the border. We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning, you’re going to come to me and go ‘Please, please, we can’t win anymore.’ You’ve heard this one. You’ll say ‘Please, Mr. President, we beg you sir, we don’t want to win anymore. It’s too much. It’s not fair to everybody else.’” Vladimir Putin said. “And I’m going to say ‘I’m sorry, but we’re going to keep winning, winning, winning, We’re going to make Russia  great again.”

Russia is on a roll. Despite limited economic resources, it is moving ahead to disrupt the Western Alliance and the United States. Where it can divide peoples, it does so. Where it can fill a void, it does so. Where it can reap the benefits from the America Alone policy, it does so.

Recently Putin’s Pence handed Russia a win. The sudden and abrupt withdrawal of the United States from Syria was an unexpected gift. Putin could not even take credit for it. He could not claim to have initiated the sequence of events that led to this victory. Out of nowhere, alpha male Erdogan in a phone call to the submissive child president of the United of the States suggested that it was time for America to go home and let Turkey take care of business. He readily agreed to the surprise of everyone who was an ally or enemy of the United States.

Let’s look at what this strategically brilliant, dare one say “perfect,” decision led to.

American allies know they cannot rely on America anymore

Roger Cohen: “Europeans now shrug when they don’t laugh. The consensus is that the United States has lost. There is nobody home.” (Trump’s Gut, and the Gutting of American Credibility, NYT 10/19/19, print).

Mowaffak al-Rubaie, former Iraqi national security advisor: “This guy is all emotional. It is unpredictable….For Americans, their friends are disposable. The Americans, you look for them and they look for the closest exit. You turn around and you don’t find them.” (“Policy Zigzags by Trump Put Mideast in Fog,” NYT 10/13/19, print).

Shimrit Meir, Israeli columnist: “If you are someone that is a rival on the other side ⸺ you’re Iranian, Russian, Turkish, ISIS, Hezbollah ⸺ you understand that this is a time for gain.” (“Policy Zigzags by Trump Put Mideast in Fog,” NYT 10/13/19, print).

Who is the reliable partner to whom countries should turn? Who is it who touts its stability and consistency over the years?  As America bombs its own military facilities before the Russians can occupy them, who is exulting? Besides the Russians there are others.

Now, let’s consider what Putin has done and gauge whether he has overplayed his hand. I am not referring to his ventures into Africa. Trumphole countries that do not want to be vassals of China cannot turn to the United States for assistance. This bigoted President has no interest in them not even to build a resort. He will accept no refugees from them since the United States is full up…and he does not want any immigrants either. The result is void for Putin to fill. And he gets to test the disinformation techniques he will use in the 2020 elections.

Instead, I am referring to the Ukraine. As I previously stated, What Do Seth Rich and the Ukraine Have in Common? Answer: Sean Hannity, Putin’s tried and true tactic to discombobulate America is to give people what they want so they can make a mess of it.

It worked with the Seth Rich story on Flying Monkey Sean Hannity.

It worked with the Steele Dossier for the Democrats. The disruption still has not ceased after the Mueller report. Secret testimony now disclosed is shedding more light on the activities within the Trump campaign and White House on what they did. Meanwhile Flying Monkey Bill Barred-for-Life is traveling the globe seeking to indict the Deep State in part as a result of the Steel Dossier.

It probably worked with some voters when exposed to social media telling them exactly what they wanted.

It worked with the Ukraine.

Did it work too well? Putin advanced on three fronts in the Ukraine. First, it was the Ukraine and not Russia which interfered in the 2016 election. That initiative commenced in 2016 though the manipulation of Paul Manafort. Recall the press conference where the two national leaders joked about whether the Russians had violated the United States. Now we know that not only did Putin say “no,” but he steered the gullible American President towards the “true violator” that even the American intelligence services had yet to discover: it was the Ukraine.

The second Putin ploy was that the Ukraine had the infamous server that the longtime-Democrat-and-Clinton-supporter now pretending to be a Republican sought. We are beginning to be able to see how much he really wanted to locate those 33,000 emails. Somehow all Duped-by-Russia Hannity’s tirades about how crooked Hillary had acid washed the server and destroyed the emails was ignored. They had not been scrubbed, they were in the Ukraine! What a perfect example of the child-mind at work. And this is the very stable genius who is steering the ship of state.

The third Putin ploy is that Joe Biden and son were involved in a corruption scandal just waiting to be exposed. Unearthing this scandal would make Ridiculous Ruddy, attack mutt, the hero as he once had been after 9/11. His discovery of the reality of what originated as a figment of Putin’s mind would validate Ridiculous Ruddy’s shallow life. Clearly Putin knows how to play the conspiracy-minded President.

In each instance, Putin was providing the exact false story that the mark would eagerly embrace. But the results in the Ukraine maneuver may not be to Putin’s liking. The would-be hero is now facing potential indictment. His assorted cast of lowlife associates may now be ready to spill the beans. Never-Trumper and Deep-State operative Sondland posing as an ambassador-buying Trump-donor may now be ready to tell the truth and expose the abuse of power, cover-up, and obstruction even more: Of course, it was a quid pro quo. Get real. Sondland thought he was purchasing a nice cushy job where he could enjoy the good life in Europe. Little did he know how the Trump State operates. He apparently wants no part of it. Would that Vice President Brown Nose reach a similar epiphany! (Will Mike Pence Become a Profile in Courage?  so Nancy Pelosi won’t become President?)

Impeachment was the consequence Putin did not factor into his Ukrainian subterfuge. True if the red wave had not been successful in the 2018 elections in drowning House Republican candidates, impeachment never would have happened. Unfortunately for Putin, the Democrats now are in charge in the House and Putin’s most valuable asset in the United States is now at risk. Even though Putin will not lose his Pence though Senate removal, it is quite possible that a majority of Senate will vote for removal. The American people will see that the President of the United States exploits the power of the presidency for personal gain, lies about, and orders people to obstruct justice. Fortunately for Putin, Trumpicans do not care what this President did or did not do as long as he remains in office fighting for them. Putin has played weak hand well exploiting the submissiveness of the simpleminded immature child President but he may have overreached with the Ukraine since the United States may still be governed by the Constitution.

What Do Seth Rich and the Ukraine Have in Common? Answer: Sean Hannity

October 6, 2019
by Peter Feinman
A beautiful mind can connect dots that do not even exist (https://i.imgflip.com/2fg4dr.jpg)

Sean Hannity has a beautiful mind. His skill in connecting the dots is unrivaled. If there was a Nobel Prize for connecting the dots, he would be the winner.

Who can forget his performance in the Story of Seth Rich? Night after night, week after week, month after month, duped-by-Russia Hannity would regale his rapt audience with the story of how this murdered individual that no one had ever heard of was the critical lynch-pin to exposing the evil shenanigans of the Democrats and the Deep State to undo the legitimately-elected President.

In his performance, duped-by-Russia Hannity was insistent, consistent, and persistent. In the time Rachel Maddow would have spent on one of her long opening essays before getting to the point, duped-by-Russia Hannity would have delivered his message multiple times. All the pieces fit together. All the dots were connected. Buckle up and hear the truth.

There was only one slight problem with duped-by-Russia Hannity’s performance – there was no truth to it. The unfortunate murder of this individual who happened to have worked for the Democratic Party was one of the chance events that sometimes occur in the big city. It was not part of some Jason-Bourne-007-Jack-Clancy intrigue….unless you wanted it to be.

Russia wanted it to be. Give credit where credit is due. The Russian “KGB” quickly seized on this seeming minor event and made it into a political thriller. According to the “real story,” Seth Rich was on his way to talk to the FBI about corruption by the Clintons when he was gunned down by a squad of assassins working for them. It was right there on the web. You could read it for yourself. The alt-right did. So did Fox. What was the source of the story? The Russian “KGB.”  Fox had been duped.

What are the lessons to be learned from this experience?

1. The Russian “KGB” is very good. It responded very quickly and very decisively to concoct a story and to disseminate it on the web. It “proved” that the alleged Russian collusion was really Democratic Party dirty tricks led by Crooked Hillary. These actions demonstrated a familiarity with the American political arena, the willingness to act in it surreptitiously, and the skill to do so successfully.

2. It also demonstrated a technique that the Russians would use again and again to meddle in American politics. It succeeded in duping Hannity because it gave him exactly what he wanted. The Russians knew their audience. They crafted a story that appealed to the conspiracy people eager for a story that confirmed all there predispositions. The Seth Rich story did exactly that.

So why not use that approach again?

The Russians did with the Steele Dossier. That really had originated as a Democratic-funded initiative to get dirt on the Republican opponent. In effect, the Democratic Party had broadcast exactly what it wanted. The effort made clear it was looking for precisely the kind of information that would undermine the political prospects of the Republican candidate.

Guess what the Democrats got in the Steele Dossier?

The Steele Dossier provided the Democrats with exactly the information they wanted. The Steele Dossier was nothing if not dirt on THE DONALD. If the allegations made in the Steele Dossier were true, they would be more than embarrassing, they might even prove fatal. Now the Democrats had been duped.  How much time was spent on the elusive and illusory meeting in Prague? And what about Carter Page?

The Democrats had been played by the Russian “KGB” just as the alt-right, Fox, and duped-by-Russia Hannity had been. Remember how Democrats were practically foaming at the mouth in anticipation of a great victory by destroying THE DONALD thanks to the Steele Dossier. How did that work out? Not so well for the Democrats. As it turns out, they were just as eager to believe what they wanted to believe as duped-by-Russia Hannity was.

The Russians were not done. Why not try offering dirt to THE DONALD on Crooked Hillary? We do not know what “dirt” the Russian “KGB” had manufactured in this effort. It does not seem to have amounted to much. But the words of the son who is not the sharpest knife in the drawer says it all: “I love it!” Although this particular gambit failed, it highlighted the validity of the Russian effort to manipulate the American election: give the people what they want and they will run with it even when there is no truth to it whatsoever.

The Ukraine is the final example of this approach…at least so far. The Ukraine maneuver suits Putin’s needs. It assigns the blame for the intervention into the American Presidential election to his enemy the Ukrainians. Therefore the sanctions levied against Russia should be removed and Russia should be restored to its rightful place in the world just as his American asset has been trying to do. The Ukrainian ploy solves the problems of both leaders. It legitimizes the election of the current present and gets the Russian leader off the hook. All the problems are due to the Ukrainians. Seth Rich lives. The Steele Dossier is accurate. The Americans have been played.

Putin was a former KGB agent. How long do you think it took him size up THE DONALD? How long did it take the alpha male to recognize that the immature-child American President was a submissive, simpleminded, ignoramus? If your answer was more than a nano-nano second, then you are not fit to write about American politics and should never be invited as a talking head on a TV or radio show.  Putin does not watch Fox, he dupes Fox. He quickly realized that the weak, superficial, narcissist was a person he could manipulate. Russia did not intervene in the American election, it was the Ukraine.

There are consequences to being the victim of the Putin’s ploys. For Fox, it is being sued by the Rich family. For the Democrats, it was following a bogus trail and undermining the Mueller report. For THE DONALD it was being impeached and watching his whole stack of lies being undone. The drones used to bomb the Saudi oilfields did not cost much. Neither did Russia have to spend much to totally disrupt the American political process. Who knew it would be that easy?

Will the Democrats Learn from the British Ambassador and Duped-by-Russia Hannity? Probably Not

July 14, 2019
by Peter Feinman

How do you handle an immature child? For a parent coping with an immature and biological child, the task is a daunting one. One must be on constant alert. It is a time-consuming task. One never knows when the immature child will erupt. One never knows when the immature child will cross a line that is not supposed to be crossed. One never knows when the immature child will wreak havoc.

The challenge is even greater when that immature child is in the body of an adult. Think of a high school or college reunion. Somewhere in the crowd there will be that one person who never outgrew college, who never out grew high school, who never outgrew junior high school. He (or sometimes, she) will still act as the 7th grade smart-aleck-dumb-aleck he was back when he was 13. He may have an adult job, be a spouse and a parent, and normally behave like an adult, but there are those moments, especially when the group dynamic kicks in, when he will be the same immature child he was back when he was 13….and now there is no one to send him to the principal’s office…until he actually breaks the law.

Fred Trump knew he had a problem with Little Donnee Wanee. When the immature child was 13, the father placed him a military school in the vain hope that he would grow up. It did not work. Then he spent good money after bad in the vain attempt that the immature child would succeed as an adult businessperson. That was the equivalent of $413 million down the drain. Instead Little Donnee Wanee became the biggest financial loser in American history.

Still, give credit where credit is due. He was always able to con someone into thinking he was really an adult. He created the character of The Donald to act in political professional wrestling arenas and in phony-baloney reality shows and he convinced many people that The Donald was a real person and not just a disguise.

However, there came a time when he had to function in the real world, in the world of adults, in the world that does not watch Fox. And there he had a problem. Pretty much every with whom he had to work on an adult level quickly realized that Little Donnee Wanee was not an adult, he was an immature child.

In this regard, he was no Tom Hanks (Tom Hanks versus Our Immature Child-President). When 13-year old Tom Hanks became big, he was a level-headed kid. He could read a book. He could explain algebra to an even younger child. He could converse with adults on some topics without coming across as a simple-minded child repeating the few words he knew in an almost airhead manner.

But what was the job Tom Hanks had when he was big? His job was to play like a child which he still was and then to report his insights to adults. He was not put in charge of anything. He did not have an administrative job. He did not have an executive job. If he had been placed in such a position, the scam of adulthood would have been exposed. He would have been revealed as a child posing as an adult.

Something similar happened with the world’s worst manager. The same person who bankrupted an airline, who bankrupted a casino, who bankrupted a hotel, now became the person in the office where the buck stops. His management skills have been on display after a hurricane in Puerto Rico (is that in America?) and on the border. He is just as incapable as President as he was in business. However, in business he realized that he could make money branding himself while outsourcing all the building to others. That option does not exist for the President.  As we now commemorate the 50th anniversary of the landing on the moon, we should realize that if Little Donnee Wanee had been president then we never would have gotten there.

Sometimes the adults in the room tried to contain him as president. They would ignore his directives, remove documents from his desk, and pray that no one took him seriously. Sometimes because he is an immature child with limited attention span those efforts succeeded. Sometimes they did not.

From time to time, various reports would emerge that documented his immaturity, his ignorance, his ineptness. Books would be written about him. Anonymous articles would be published. Baby Donnee Wanee blimps would be flown.

Most recently British Ambassador Kim Darroch was exposed as having told the truth about our immature child president. He wrote the ineptitude and incompetence of the chaotic administration. The administration of Little Donnee Wanee would always be dysfunctional, unpredictable, faction-ridden, clumsy and inept.

The temper tantrums would never cease. There would always be another hissy-fit tweet. Perhaps if Britain had deployed its air forces more effectively George Washington would have been defeated and there never would have been a United States. If we had remained a British colony just a little longer until granted independence, there would have been no need for Canada to burn the White House.

The immature child responded to this exposure exactly as one would expect him to: by proving it true.  The same may be said for his reaction to the pre-publication excerpts from Paul Ryan’s new book. The same may be anticipated for every book to be written about him save for those from one of the Flying Monkeys sworn to take a bullet on behalf of the Wicked Witch of the White House.

In so doing, Little Donnee Wanee also has made it clear what ticks him off the most. When he is exposed as being an immature child trying to pass for an adult he goes ballistic. He erupts. Every time. He fixates on the charges. It consumes him. No matter where in the world he is or what he is doing, if someone challenges him on being the 5 “I” president (an inept, incompetent, immature, illegitimate, idiot), he will drop everything to unleash a hissy-fit tweet.

HELLO Democrats! Are you listening? Are you paying attention? He has broadcast what unnerves him the most. He has shown what gets under his skin. He has shown what rattles him. He hates it when people disparage and make fun of him for being an immature child trying to pass for an adult. It is his Achilles’ heel.

Meanwhile, here we are four years after he descended on the staircase and Democrats still do not have a nickname for him. How is it possible that after years of Little Donnee Wanee assigning insulting nicknames to people, the Democrats do not have a standard slew of names for Bonepsur Boy, for Swamp Builder, for the World’s Worst Manager, for America’s Biggest Financial Loser Ever, for Longtime Democrat and Clinton Supporter, for Our Immature Child President?

The Democrats need to go to the Duped-by-Russian Hannity School of Professional Political Wrestling. Put aside for the moment the individual policies he supports or actions he recommends. Focus instead on the techniques he uses to communicate those policies and actions. Recognize his skill in delivering his message. Observe his methods. Note his success. Remember, Duped-by-Russia Hannity convinced his viewers on the basis on absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Seth Rich was the murdered leaker of DNC emails in 2016. It was “the single biggest fraud, lies, perpetrated on the American people by the media and the Democrats in our history” until, of course, the Deep State conspiracy which is about to be exposed and the real colluders and obstructionists are about to reap their just punishment.

WAKE UP AND LEARN FROM THE MASTER!

Duped-by-Russia Hannity
(NICHOLAS KAMM)

Duped-by-Russia Hannity employs several tried and true techniques in the delivery of his message. He is relentlessly on message. He is persistent. He is rigorously repetitive. Sometimes it is hard to tell what day, week, month, or year it is from his monologue since he persistently uses the same words and phrases. If you had a dollar for every time he referred to the “angry Democrats” on Mueller’s team you could retire. Democratic paid for Steele dossier. Unverified Steel dossier. FISA abuses. CORRUPT. CORRUPT. CORRUPT. The biggest corruption scandal in American history. And the guilty ones are panicking now because it is all about to be exposed. Wait till the Flying Monkeys in Congress get through with life-long Republican and decorated-Marine Mueller. It is the Deep State that really is on trial now.

Need-less-to-say, the Democrats have nobody comparable to Duped-by-Russia Hannity. There is no cable host who even comes close to matching him. Lawrence O’Donnell tries but he is no Duped-by-Russia Hannity. And by the time Rachel Maddow has finished one of her essays, Duped-by-Russia Hannity has unleashed a string of assaults that if you missed them then you can tune in tomorrow because he will repeat them. And why Chris Cuomo thinks he is obligated to provide equal time to people who already have a propaganda network is a mystery.

The British Ambassador has exposed the Achilles’ heel of Little Donnee Wanee.

Duped-by-Russia Hannity has developed the weapon to be deployed in such a situation.

The Democrats have been shown what the vulnerability is. The Democrats have been shown how to wield the weapon for the kill. The only question is will the Democrats ever seize the moment. I say, “no.” It will remain a party of no imagination, no metaphors, no story to tell, and no message to thrust again and again into the weak spot of its immature narcissistic foe.

Alien Invasions: Orson Welles and Sean Hannity

January 16, 2019
by Peter Feinman
Fake News in 1938 (https://www.goodreads.com/)

The aliens are coming. The aliens are coming. The aliens are here!

Perhaps the greatest alien invasion of the United States occurred on October 30, 1938. While December 7 and 9/11 still are remembered by Americans (aren’t they?), this earlier invasion is often overlooked or forgotten.

This invasion occurred before television, before cell phones, before the internet, at a time when radio was the one way to reach a national audience at once. It is easy to overlook the significance of this phenomenon in American history. Everyone in the country might watch the same movie but it took weeks for it travel from town to town. Its opening in each theater was a big event. Movies did not open nationwide, it was radio which provided the venue through which one voice could reach out to a nation.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had availed himself of this new technology to communicate with the American people. His fireside chats helped Americans to face the darkest days of the depression with the positive message that there was nothing to fear but fear itself. Normally, this powerful means of communication was used for entertainment, music, comedy, and stories of the Shadow with Orson Welles. They now could be experienced by millions simultaneously. There were other possibilities as well.

On Sunday, October 30, at 8 p.m. a voice announced: “The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the air in ‘War of the Worlds’ by H.G. Wells.” As Ed Sullivan and the NFL later learned as well, Sunday night was a good time to reach out and touch the American public. And what followed was part entertainment and part an interplanetary Superbowl.

Following this introductory announcement, the show proceeded as a normal show. Suddenly there was “BREAKING NEWS.” The news in this case was the astronomical observation of explosions on Mars. The station then resumed its normal programming with dance music. Suddenly there was another “BREAKING NEWS.” This time it was the report of a meteorite striking in New Jersey. Shortly afterwards an on-the-scene reporter described a terrifying scene to the radio audience. The meteorite turned out to be a rocket ship and the invasion from Mars had begun.

As the radio show continued, reports of more and more landings occurred. Skillful radio announcers convincingly described the growing invasion. Truly it was a national emergency crisis. The announcers with great emotion reported on the terrified humans fleeing in panic from the alien invaders. There are debates over how many people heard the report of the invasion. People had alternative radio stations to which to listen. Nonetheless, it is evident that significant numbers of people did listen and did panic.  People did flee. People did clog some roads. One person apparently ran into an Indianapolis church where evening services were being held and yelled, “New York has been destroyed! It’s the end of the world! Go home and prepare to die!”

It should be noted that there is a long tradition in America of people believing the world is coming to an end. Usually such predictions have to do with the return of Jesus. It was almost a century earlier when the first “Great Disappointment” occurred. Now it looked like the cosmic intervention had occurred and in a way that no one had anticipated – an alien invasion.

The idea that the program was intended as entertainment and not a hoax makes some sense. After all, the introduction announced that the show was a dramatization of War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. But even if not planned as a hoax and even if the listeners had been informed in advance about the nature of the show, it still demonstrated the power of the new mass communication technology to engender fear and panic among its listeners.

Consider these examples last June when the United States government began to separate children from parents at the southern border. Laura Ingram reported that the children were being held in what could best be defined as “essentially summer camps.” It should be noted that four year olds separated from mothers to go to summer camps (or school) have been known to cry and be distressed.  She went on to accuse liberals of weaponizing these supposed separated children, a tactic the Trump Propaganda Network (TPN) would never employ.

Ann Coulter, in her typically deft, delicate, and sensitive style, appearing on TPN, denied that children had even been separated from their parents. They were child actors who had been coached by liberals. The crying was part of the scripts they had been given and not genuine emotions. She looked “directly” at President Trump through the camera and implored him not to be deceived by this act. Six months later, she similarly implored President Trump to grow a pair and not succumb to the temptation to enter into a budget agreement with no funding for the wall. Apparently the children are now real and not actors.

If one were to watch the TPN, one would realistically conclude that indeed the United States is experiencing a real invasion. Even as I am writing this post, the United States is being overwhelmed with terrorists, criminals, and drug dealers at the southern border…and normal people too who will be enrolled as Democrats and taught how to vote multiple times in exchange for safe passage. Perhaps never in the history of the United States has it faced such a massive and sustained invasion as is occurring right now. The “day of infamy” and 9/11 were one-time actions against the country while the alien invasion on the southern border is ongoing.

Just as with Orson Welles’ invasion story so many people believe Sean Hannity’s invasion story. With Welles, one might say all a listener needed to do was to change the channel to learn that the alien invasion was not real. Theoretically, the same applies for listeners to TPN. That comparison is false. The listeners in 1938 did not tune in with any preconceived ideas about an alien invasion in the first place. It was not on their radar. By contrast, the viewers of TPN today already know that the invasion is occurring. What they are saying is that thank God, our Lord and Savior is finally doing something to stop the alien invasion.

Alternate facts now trump real facts. The alternate reality now prevails over the real world. To present the TPN audience with the facts about the alien invasion is a lost cause. The fact that illegal drugs arrive through legal ports of entry and not through the barren wasteland is meaningless. The fact that terrorists are stopped in airports usually overseas and never arrive in the United States and that none have been caught at the southern border is meaningless. The fact that students and tourists here legally then overstay their visa is meaningless. The fact that people seeking asylum then disappear while waiting for the court case to be decided is the one fact they might accept. In general, their minds are already made up.

The Democrats, especially the Politically Correct, deserve a great deal of credit for forcing the current shutdown. All their hard work to terrorize white Americans into thinking they are and deserve to lose their country are now paying off. For more than a decade, Democrats have been touting the demographic deluge. There will be an ever increasing number and percentage of brown people in the country who eventually will seize control from the sexist, racist, homophobic, imperialist, polluting heterosexual white people. Truly they may be said to have done a fabulous job of delivering the message that the days of white people running this country are over, that all their heroes are bogus, and that a new world order run by the Thought Police has arrived. In the 2008 presidential election, the Republican Vice President candidate exclaimed that we Republicans are taking back our country. In the 2016 presidential election, the Republican presidential candidate seemed like the last hope to stem the tide of brown people from overwhelming the country.  The 2018 congressional election may seem like that first meteorite that landed in New Jersey in the dramatization of War of the Worlds: the alien invasion is now. The wall then has become the proverbial line in the sand, all that prevents the United States from succumbing to the alien takeover.

Kudos to the Democrats and the Politically Correct. You have been far more successful than Orson Welles in convincing millions of Americans that the alien invasion is upon us.

National Emergency Crisis: The Howard Baker Moment Is Now

January 11, 2019
by Peter Feinman
Canadian Terrorist Burning of the White House during the War of 1812 (Columbia Pictures)

During the course of American history, the country has faced many national emergency crises.

During the War of 1812, Canada burned the White House and the Pentagon in its terrorist assault on the country. To pour fuel on the fire, almost two centuries later Canada imposed on its weaker southern neighbor the worst economic treaty in American history. It is only when our Lord and Savior ascended to the Oval Office, that he rectified the wrong with the greatest economic treaty in American history….although he had to shut down the government to get Congress to pass NAFTA II.

Turning now from the alternate reality to the real world, there have been national emergency crises that tested the mettle of the Oval Office occupant.

The Day of Infamy.

The Cuban Missile Crisis.

9/11.

Each of one these events became a defining moment for the American President. They became the events through which the American people saw whether the President had the right stuff to rise to the occasion and safely steer the ship of state. They became the events historians would study and school kids would learn in districts where American history is still taught. What they all had in common was that the threat to the country came from outside, the crisis was foreign-generated.

Sometimes the crisis could be economic in nature:

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Sometimes the crisis could be in nature:

“Heckuva job, Brownie.”

For better and for worse these events also became defining ones of the President. Who can forget the picture of the President of the United States having fun tossing rolls of paper towels in Puerto Rico?

“Wee. I’m having fun. It’s all about me. Wee!”

Through this photo-op, We the People had the opportunity to see for ourselves how the current occupant proved he was an A+ president with this heroic display of leadership.

Now we come to the current national emergency crisis. At this point, it is no secret that “Build a Wall!” was a great campaign gimmick to shout in professional wrestling arenas. The call and response of who was going to pay for the Great Wall of Trump was an added bonus. The audience really got into the show that was being presented just as it does at a real professional wrestling match only this time they apparently thought it was real.

One of in the indelible images of the campaign, at least for me although I have not seen it replayed on the cable talk shows, occurred after the Mexican President stated that Mexico would not, in fact, pay for the wall. At the professional wrestling arena campaign event, the immature child responded to Mexico in true hissy fit fashion:

Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
You are going to pay and the wall is going to be ten feet higher!

Many people have forgotten that campaign promise to build the wall ten feet higher. What made the moment indelible was the young white man sitting behind him and to his right. When Little Donnee Wannee declared that Mexico not only would pay for the wall but that it would be ten feet higher, this young white man leaped to his feet and thrust his arm to the heavens. It was a great display of the perfect con at work. One wonders how this individual feels now knowing that there never was any expectation that Mexico would pay for the wall and it would be the expense of the American taxpayer if built.

What began as a fraudulent con now has become real. Back in December, the wall looked like it would slide into the abyss never to be constructed. Nothing had happened in two years. The route had not been documented the way the Alaskan Pipeline was before it had been constructed. Eminent domain proceedings had not been initiated to seize the private property along the planned route. Environmental plans had not been filed. I don’t even know if a final design had been selected yet alone one that was ten feet higher. All in all, the world’s worst manager had demonstrated how he had been a serial failure in business by doing nothing to prepare for the construction of the wall in event Congress did approve it.

Following the 2018 election, it looked like time was running out. December was the last opportunity to pass a spending bill with a Republican majority in the House. When the weeny President caved, Ann Coulter was there to provide him the “backbone” that he lacked. Now it was an issue. The line had been drawn in the sand and he would not back down.

There is a saying that when you are in a hole, stop digging. That adage does not apply to this President. After all, he is a winner, He never loses. He won the election in 2016 including the popular vote since all the illegal votes for Crooked Hillary should not have been counted. He won the election in 2018 since he added two seats in the Senate and loss fewer seats in the House than Obama had. That was true on Election night when the losses were only in the 20s and remained true as they creeped up and reached 40. Hannity told him so.

The talking heads often talk about how he needs to show his Republican base that he is fighting for them. That misses the point.

The talking heads often talk about how he needs to placate Fox, Ann, and Rush. That misses the point.

The reason why this truly is a national emergency crisis is because he has to show to himself that he is a winner and not a loser. Even though the wall started as a campaign gimmick it now has become the measure of whether he is a winner or not.  If the wall is not built then NanChuck won and he lost. That is unacceptable. Therefore the wall will be built no matter what, no matter what it takes for him to build it even if the government remains shut down months or years or he has the military build it. NanChuck have left him no other choice but to play the national emergency card.

On one level, the national emergency crisis provides an easy way to end the government shutdown. The Senate could immediate pass all the funding bills submitted by the House or the one it passed in December with no funding for the wall. After, the funding is being taken care of through the military due to the national emergency crisis. Therefore the spending bills to reopen the government could be passed and signed into law right away.

Lawsuits would gum up this process. We know that the military is not ready to build the wall. We know that despite all the fuss about their being a crisis RIGHT NOW, nothing would happen right now. We know that Captain Chaotica does not have the mental necessities to manage such a construction project. But at least if it appeared that the national emergency crisis was underway with the military charged with building it, the justification for shutting down the government would be over. A lawsuit stopping that process also would continue the shutdown of the government since no spending bill would be signed if no building was authorized.

Now we come to the Howard Baker moment. Mitch McConnell is no Howard Baker. Mitch McConnell will never be a profile in courage. Mitch McConnell will never rise to the occasion. But the Howard Baker moment is not about a Senator or Senators going to the President, it is about Republican Senators going to Mitch McConnell. It is about Republican Senators going to Mitch McConnell and saying enough is enough. It is about Republican Senators going to Mitch McConnell and saying the needs of the country come first. It is about Republican Senators going to Mitch McConnell and saying the Republican Party cannot afford another victory like the one in 2018. It is about the Republican Senators going to Mitch McConnell and saying we must pass veto-proof spending bills with no spending for the wall and PASS IT RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THERE IS A NATIONAL EMERGENCY CRISIS AND IT IS THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN.

Will the Republican Senators rise to the occasion and provide the leadership We the People need?

Rorschach Test: Exonerated or Did the Trump Hit the Fan?

December 13, 2018
by Peter Feinman
In Which Reality Do you Live? (Yahoo.com)

We are blessed to live in a world where on a nightly weekday basis we can observe alternate realities. The question is which alternate reality is the real world and which is not. I am referring to the three evening cable news talk shows. If one were to channel surf from one network to the other, one would scarcely know that all three are covering the same event…and sometimes they cover different events which is news in itself.

Let’s examine some of the recent events from the perspective of these alternate realities in anticipation of the voters eventually choosing which version is the real world to the majority of Americans.

1. November Elections

There was a red wave coming and the results were a great victory (for the President and the President  alone). Republicans picked up two seats in the Senate as Nanchuck were just reminded of. Republicans only lost 40 seats in the House, a far better result than Obama’s loss of 63 seats in his first term as Sean Hannity reminded everyone again and again.

Without gerrymandering the losses would have been in the 50s but that is still less than Obama lost.

What station do you watch? What station does he watch?

On a national level, the spread between the two parties is in the 8-9% range. So far I have yet to see the application of the individual state totals for the House vote to the Presidency. In other words, if one examined the total vote for the House elections and awarded the Electoral College vote to the winner of each state, what would the aggregate be? Did the House vote if considered as presidential votes mean the Democratic candidate would have won both the popular vote as well as the electoral vote? Perhaps someone reading this blog can gather the data and make the calculation.

2. Double OO O.J. License to Kill

The double 00 O.J. license to kill is one of the most coveted awards the United States can grant a foreign leader. Recently MBS joined Putin as a recipient of the license to kill. We all recall the scene of the two recipients high-fiving in recognition of their having been bequeathed this designation by the President of the United States. MBS deserves a lot of credit for not only instigating the murder but making preparations for the body chopped into pieces and disposed of. Evidently, he is a great fan of the slasher movies. Shocking as it may be to believe, there are even Republican Senators shocked by this outrageous display or murderous intent. If the Senate can vote unanimously on this outrageous violation of decency and the law, when else might it do so?

A lesson to be learned here is that nothing trumps making money for this President. No President in American history has been easier to buy. This awareness helps shed light on what Putin supposedly has on his poodle (see below).

3. Nobel Prize for the Denuclearization of North Korea

Who would have thought that Little Rocket Man would enable the President of the United States to win the Nobel Prize for Peace? Ever since their historic meeting, his North Korean lover has worked vigorously to remove and deactivate his nuclear arsenal. The claim by the Deep State intelligence agencies that North Korea has in fact been moving full speed ahead to expand its nuclear arsenal is FAKE NEWS!  Our immature child president operates on the basis if you can’t see it then it doesn’t exist. After all, has anyone ever seen Israel detonate a nuclear weapon, launch a missile, or test a missile with a bomb? The answer is of course not because everyone knows that Israel does not have nuclear weapons.  Perhaps Little Rocket Man deserves a Nobel Prize for playing Little Donney-Waney for the buffoon that he is. Does even Sean Hannity think North Korea is denuclearizing?

4. Trade Wars Are Easy

After a careful study through the reading of many books and journal articles of all trade agreements from the Canadian burning of the White House during the War of 1812 to the destruction of Yugoslavia by the Baltic States, the Very Stable Genius concluded that NAFTA was the worst trade agreement ever.  The world’s worst negotiator then decided to take matters into his own hands to produce [ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?] NAFTA II, the greatest trade agreement in the history of the United States. As those manufacturing jobs come pouring back into the country who can doubt the reality of NAFTA II being testament to the brilliance of America’s A+ president.

And what can you say about Tariff Man’s triumph over China? Add another notch to the belt of the winner who never loses.

What station do you watch? What station does he watch?

5. Make America Rake Again

It’s sad watching so-called experts making such fools of themselves. Here we have an extended tragedy engulfing huge portions of California where millions of illegal people voted multiple times for Crooked Hillary denying the rightful popular vote victory to the legitimately elected president.  How can these experts not see what even a child could figure out? What good are all these experts if they can’t see what is staring them in the face? They should all be fired for incompetence. These Crooked-Hillary loving Deep State experts are wrong about global warming, are wrong about Rushian violation of America, are wrong about MBS. Why even keep them on the payroll? How much money are the taxpayers wasting by not simply letting the Very Stable Genius, the smartest person in the room make the decisions? Someone with even with no government experience can accomplish more than any American President except maybe Lincoln and he had a war to deal with!

6. The Witch Hunters: Locked and Loaded

And then there is the witch hunt. There were a lot of expectations about the Michael Flynn sentencing. People were waiting with baited breath to hear what the witch hunters had concocted in the Fake News witch hunt that should be directed against Crooked Hillary and her Rushian collusion. And when the transcripts of the sentencing were released it was a big nothingburger. There was no collusion. There was nothing to indict the President. Is it any wonder that the Flying Monkeys who defend against the Witch Hunter and his mob of angry Democrats were high-fiving live on national television? There was no there there. What a waste. Individual 1 is exonerated.

Or is this beginning of the end? Is it now possible to imagine the end of the current administration? Did he dilute the Ukrainian provision in the Republican platform, seek to weaken the sanctions against Russia, and brag about firing Comey to his Russian friends just in the hope of building a Trump Tower in Moscow? Is it all about the money and his vanity?

What station do you watch? What station does he watch?

The real news of the day was the investigation into the fraudulent Clinton Foundation. The real news of the day was that the Congressional investigation will expose the fraud. The real news of the day was the upcoming testimony by Deep State Comey that would blow the lid off the conspiracy. The real news of the day was the entrapment of the American military hero by the Deep State operatives. The real news of the day was the fraudulently obtain FISA warrants.

What station do you watch? What station does he watch?

And how about that weak Michael Cohen? For years that liar pulled the wool over the eyes of the world’s greatest manager. For years the weak Michael Cohen who deserved to have the book thrown at him colluded with the Trump Organization chief financial officer to steal from the company to make payoffs that never needed to be made and were not authorized…or do you believe that lying David Pecker, too? All those people around the President are weak liars and rats. Only people with the last name Trump tell the truth.

What station do you watch? What station does he watch?

7. NanChuck versus Little Donney-Waney

Perhaps the greatest example of the dual reality seen nightly on the cable news shows occurred with the showdown between NanChuck and Little Donney-Waney. The latter’s preferred venue of choice is the professional wrestling arena. In this scripted one-sided venue he is free to mock, insult, and demean people to his heart’s content. He can say whatever he wants and no one will fact check him. He is always the winner there, it is his favorite reality show.

The showdown at 1600 Hundred Pennsylvania may not rank with the thrilla in Manilla but it certainly ranks with one of the great putdowns of an American President in history. Now he can say that no President was as publicly humiliated live on TV by congressional leaders of the opposing party as he was when he attempted to stage a reality show with people who actually live in the real world and not his alternate reality. Welcome to the rea world when you lose 40 Congressional seats because your name is toxic. Who would have thought that a woman putting on sun glasses would go viral as the symbol of woman emasculating the immature child grabber? He can’t even be called a man! Who would have thought that the red dress would be sold out? [Note one day someone will write a history of the baby-boomer era presidencies from stained-blue dress to red dress with shades.] Suddenly the Congressional leadership is not a bunch of Mike Pences. They are animated. Their noses aren’t brown.

Sean Hannity said the showdown in the arena and demonstrated who had the right stuff: “[Nanchuck are] blithering idiots, way out of their league.”

What station do you watch? What station does he watch?

People anticipate more and more indictments and revelations of the tawdry life of this reprehensible person. So what? Assume every charge is true, a reasonable assumption given the past decades. So what? Decades ago Democratic Hannitys claimed “vast right wing conspiracy” launched a witch hunt against the legitimate duly-elected President to which there was no truth. When the truth became known, Democrats responded with “So what.” Republicans have already started this process. So what if the Republican President instead of knowing nothing about the payments masterminded everything?

Will Republicans will keep saying “so what” through every exposure of the violation of the law Mueller, the SDNY, and the D.C. prosecutors bring to light?

Is it possible that the vote condemning Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi means that Republican Senators have a breaking point?

Is it possible Republican Senators will not support a government shutdown despite the President’s assertion to own the shutdown for national security?

Is it possible Republican donors are catching on that the isolated, weak, and dishonest con artist has met his match with the Department of Justice?

Remember when Spencer Tracy cross-examined William Jennings Bryan and his supporters who had voted for him three times (in three separate elections) laughed at him when the truth was exposed?

Will the cheer in 2019 become “Lock him up; lock him up; lock him up”?

Will the real world trump the alternate reality?

It’s only going to get worse. The trump has hit the fan.