Kevin Koster commented on Fox Host Bolling Is Just Fine With Millions Going Without Health Insurance Because ‘You Have Emergency Rooms’
2016-12-05 02:21:20 -0500
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John, I truly hope you’re right. I just don’t see that situation happening, given what we are already seeing in the works.
Trump isn’t going to be calling the shots on a lot of this in any case. He can be counted on to provide is a lot of sideshow theatrics and chest-pounding and flat-out bullying, but he’s not going to spend a lot of time noodling on about policy. That work will be done by Mike Pence and the Far Right people surrounding him. Trump may demand certain things happen, but the real work will be done by the Pence team.
The other part of this is that the crowds who Trump wants to satisfy have been whipped up into a complete hatred of Barack Obama and the Democrats. They’ve been whipped into a frenzy of wanting to see the ACA trashed and Hillary Clinton thrown headfirst into the slammer. This group wants to see a massive cement wall built on the Mexican border and they want to see Mexico’s President forced to bow down to Trump and pay for it himself. I’m not sure how Trump can really accomplish the final idea, but Pence’s team can easily accomplish the first two goals apace. They’ll gut the ACA right away and do a few victory laps over that one. Jeff Sessions will then go through the steps of pursuing criminal cases against the Clintons. I’m sure we’ll hear a lot about deportations as well over the next year or two. And we’ll hear about the young Borks that Pence’s team will put on the Supreme Court.
I don’t think the Trump base understands that many of these various actions will actually hurt them in the long term – they just want the visceral satisfaction of knowing they killed the ACA or that they were able to see the Clintons frog-marched the way these guys know everyone wanted to see Karl Rove and Dick Cheney paraded.
Trump isn’t going to be calling the shots on a lot of this in any case. He can be counted on to provide is a lot of sideshow theatrics and chest-pounding and flat-out bullying, but he’s not going to spend a lot of time noodling on about policy. That work will be done by Mike Pence and the Far Right people surrounding him. Trump may demand certain things happen, but the real work will be done by the Pence team.
The other part of this is that the crowds who Trump wants to satisfy have been whipped up into a complete hatred of Barack Obama and the Democrats. They’ve been whipped into a frenzy of wanting to see the ACA trashed and Hillary Clinton thrown headfirst into the slammer. This group wants to see a massive cement wall built on the Mexican border and they want to see Mexico’s President forced to bow down to Trump and pay for it himself. I’m not sure how Trump can really accomplish the final idea, but Pence’s team can easily accomplish the first two goals apace. They’ll gut the ACA right away and do a few victory laps over that one. Jeff Sessions will then go through the steps of pursuing criminal cases against the Clintons. I’m sure we’ll hear a lot about deportations as well over the next year or two. And we’ll hear about the young Borks that Pence’s team will put on the Supreme Court.
I don’t think the Trump base understands that many of these various actions will actually hurt them in the long term – they just want the visceral satisfaction of knowing they killed the ACA or that they were able to see the Clintons frog-marched the way these guys know everyone wanted to see Karl Rove and Dick Cheney paraded.
Kevin Koster commented on Trump DHS Transition Hires Islamophobic Wife Of Fox Regular
2016-12-01 09:08:54 -0500
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This is not a surprise, unfortunately. Trump was very clear about the hateful work he intended to encourage during the campaign. And he was clear that his Vice President would actually be the one calling the shots – namely Mike Pence, as we’ve now seen.
So there’s an underlying floor of Far-Right travelers with Pence who will be filling most of the Cabinet and doing the grim work the GOP has threatened for 8 years. This includes Price, Sessions, Pompeo, McFarland and others, even including Gorka. And then you have the REALLY wild picks from Trump himself, like Bannon and Sarah Palin. Make no mistake, this is going to be a full rogue’s gallery of angry right wingers, many of whom are seriously compromised. I honestly don’t see how they can get out of the first year of a Trump Administration without a major graft scandal coming out.
But the bigger flourishes and the Trump tweeting stories will obscure the nastier stuff that’s actually happening behind the scenes. Keep in mind that they’re putting people into these positions who are actually opposed to the very purpose of those agencies. Sessions as AG won’t be trying to protect anyone’s civil rights, unless you’re in his ethnic group – expect aggressive Justice Dept attacks on all other groups. And expect a fairly vigorous investigation and prosecution of political enemies like the Clintons. Price in his position isn’t going to be looking out for the health of most Americans. He’s there to make sure the ACA is completely gutted as quickly as possible. The Congress will effectively repeal and defund everything it can by the 20th of January, and Price will make sure that whatever is left is inactive after that. Price is apparently also quite interested in attacking both Medicare and Medicaid – which could turn into a major problem in the coming years.
And that’s not even getting into the fairly dangerous posture Trump and Pence’s people are planning to take as far as Iran, Cuba, China and the rest of the world. We already know that Pence’s people intend to walk away from the Cubans and the Iranians in a huff, and that this group will abandon any efforts to work with anyone else in the world on Climate Change. And we know that they intend to erase every single thing that Barack Obama did in office aside from appointing two Supreme Court justices. It’s what they do next that’s troubling.
So there’s an underlying floor of Far-Right travelers with Pence who will be filling most of the Cabinet and doing the grim work the GOP has threatened for 8 years. This includes Price, Sessions, Pompeo, McFarland and others, even including Gorka. And then you have the REALLY wild picks from Trump himself, like Bannon and Sarah Palin. Make no mistake, this is going to be a full rogue’s gallery of angry right wingers, many of whom are seriously compromised. I honestly don’t see how they can get out of the first year of a Trump Administration without a major graft scandal coming out.
But the bigger flourishes and the Trump tweeting stories will obscure the nastier stuff that’s actually happening behind the scenes. Keep in mind that they’re putting people into these positions who are actually opposed to the very purpose of those agencies. Sessions as AG won’t be trying to protect anyone’s civil rights, unless you’re in his ethnic group – expect aggressive Justice Dept attacks on all other groups. And expect a fairly vigorous investigation and prosecution of political enemies like the Clintons. Price in his position isn’t going to be looking out for the health of most Americans. He’s there to make sure the ACA is completely gutted as quickly as possible. The Congress will effectively repeal and defund everything it can by the 20th of January, and Price will make sure that whatever is left is inactive after that. Price is apparently also quite interested in attacking both Medicare and Medicaid – which could turn into a major problem in the coming years.
And that’s not even getting into the fairly dangerous posture Trump and Pence’s people are planning to take as far as Iran, Cuba, China and the rest of the world. We already know that Pence’s people intend to walk away from the Cubans and the Iranians in a huff, and that this group will abandon any efforts to work with anyone else in the world on Climate Change. And we know that they intend to erase every single thing that Barack Obama did in office aside from appointing two Supreme Court justices. It’s what they do next that’s troubling.
Kevin Koster commented on Sean Hannity Takes Up Trump’s Anti-American Attacks On CNN Reporter Who Fact-Checked Him
2016-12-01 08:58:25 -0500
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Hannity is simply reflecting what he correctly sees as the new trend of the country: Unabashed bullying. Meanness. Viciousness.
We need to be prepared for this kind of behavior, and a lot more of it. Hannity certainly won’t be stopping this anytime soon. He intends to get away with as much of it as he can, for as long as he can – just as the new Trump Administration will be doing the same on a national level.
So it makes perfect sense that he would go on the attack against everybody else in the entire media system. Doesn’t matter whether that makes any sense. He just hates them and he thinks he has the cover of Trump’s squeaker to get away with this stuff. For now, he does. In a couple of years, if Trump’s presidency is mired in scandal, corruption and an even angrier electorate? Probably not so much.
But I find it chilling that he’s using language like “colluding” to discuss how the media called Trump out on his repeated hateful statements and his falsehoods. Saying that journalism somehow translates to “colluding with Hillary Clinton” is a REALLY scary piece of business. Hannity is trying to get away with saying that if you don’t fully support someone like Trump, you are somehow conspiring with an enemy. Hannity has also described Dems and Clinton supporters as “evil”. It’s frankly troubling to see Hannity not only getting away with the bullying and the meanness, but now taking his attacks to that level. And this is only the beginning.
We need to be prepared for this kind of behavior, and a lot more of it. Hannity certainly won’t be stopping this anytime soon. He intends to get away with as much of it as he can, for as long as he can – just as the new Trump Administration will be doing the same on a national level.
So it makes perfect sense that he would go on the attack against everybody else in the entire media system. Doesn’t matter whether that makes any sense. He just hates them and he thinks he has the cover of Trump’s squeaker to get away with this stuff. For now, he does. In a couple of years, if Trump’s presidency is mired in scandal, corruption and an even angrier electorate? Probably not so much.
But I find it chilling that he’s using language like “colluding” to discuss how the media called Trump out on his repeated hateful statements and his falsehoods. Saying that journalism somehow translates to “colluding with Hillary Clinton” is a REALLY scary piece of business. Hannity is trying to get away with saying that if you don’t fully support someone like Trump, you are somehow conspiring with an enemy. Hannity has also described Dems and Clinton supporters as “evil”. It’s frankly troubling to see Hannity not only getting away with the bullying and the meanness, but now taking his attacks to that level. And this is only the beginning.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox Tries To Legitimize Donald Trump’s Unhinged Twitter Meltdown Over Recount
2016-11-28 04:57:05 -0500
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Conway’s threat about the upcoming Clinton prosecution is not an idle one. It’s actually quite revealing. Trump’s “magnanimous” posture was always intended to give him cover so that he could claim to not be retaliating via the Justice Dept when Sessions predictably decides he has plenty of smoke from which to cobble together a case.
Between Sessions, Giuliani and the general hatred of the Clintons and the Obama Administration by House GOP members, I don’t see how this situation doesn’t lead to indictments by next summer – just in time to be political theater when Trump is struggling to get some things through Congress.
The issue over the show prosecution has never been whether they would do it – they very much want to. The issue was whether Trump would look petty doing it.
Since Clinton has had the temerity to go along with any recounts, it’s clear that Trump is predictably following schoolyard bully rules. If you challenge the bully after he takes your lunch money and your homework, he really has to give you that bloody nose in front of everyone. And that is exactly what will happen here. Expecting Trump to follow any other course would be like expecting the sun to rise in the west.
Between Sessions, Giuliani and the general hatred of the Clintons and the Obama Administration by House GOP members, I don’t see how this situation doesn’t lead to indictments by next summer – just in time to be political theater when Trump is struggling to get some things through Congress.
The issue over the show prosecution has never been whether they would do it – they very much want to. The issue was whether Trump would look petty doing it.
Since Clinton has had the temerity to go along with any recounts, it’s clear that Trump is predictably following schoolyard bully rules. If you challenge the bully after he takes your lunch money and your homework, he really has to give you that bloody nose in front of everyone. And that is exactly what will happen here. Expecting Trump to follow any other course would be like expecting the sun to rise in the west.
Kevin Koster commented on Trump Picks Fox Contributor K.T. McFarland For Deputy National Security Adviser
2016-11-27 23:25:23 -0500
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BTW I would not be surprised to hear about Palin, Bolling and Ingraham being appointed within the next three weeks. And that doesn’t get into what payback Huckabee is hoping to receive, if he doesn’t just go back to Fox News with a big raise for his weekend show. Having Giuliani and Gingrich in this cabinet is already a given. It’s the OTHER guys in the horror show that will make this situation a tad more interesting…
Kevin Koster commented on Fox’s Trish Regan Credits Donald Trump For Rise In Holiday Spending
2016-11-28 05:28:12 -0500
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The Dems are frankly running very scared right now, which they shouldn’t be. They actually won the popular vote and only got squeaked by in the EC because enough Obama voters chose not to show up at the polls. (And are undoubtedly kicking themselves thoroughly now)
The GOP is going to press the “mandate” they think they have right now to push through as much radical stuff as they can during the first 100-200 days of Trump in the White House. The Dems will make some noises about opposing this stuff but they don’t have the votes to stop it unless they intend to be just as obstructive as the GOP was with Obama. And it’s a lose-lose for the Dems on that front. If they obstruct everything (which I don’t recommend), then the GOP gets to say “See! The Dems are doing it too! No moral high ground for them!” If they don’t obstruct everything, the GOP will do a LOT of damage, including the aforementioned tax code changes that could really punch the middle class in another year.
When it comes to the SC, Fox News had a laughing panel of conservative WSJ voices on yesterday. This included our old friend James Taranto, who distinguished himself a few years back by openly calling President Obama “a pathetic little man” on the air. The panel sneered at Chuck Schumer saying that the Dems would oppose any SC nominee who isn’t “mainstream”, noting that Schumer has to say something to appease his base but that he’ll cave so he can try to protect his Senate seats for the 2018 campaigns. They’re correct on that point, but the sneering made it extremely difficult to stomach. The panel also made it clear that Fox News and the Right already know they’re going to get a Far-Right 45-year old judge from Trump’s list to replace Scalia right off the bat. And they know that Trump will only be using that list of Far-Right judges for any SC appointment. What the Right is actually more interested in seeing is whether Kennedy or another justice comes off. Kennedy is 80 years old, and could easily retire within Trump’s first term. If he does so, the court swings solidly to the Far-Right and Roberts becomes the regular swing vote. At that point, decisions like Roe become a lot harder to sustain. And if Ginsburg or Breyer retires, there would no longer be any swing votes – it would be 6 Far-Right to 3 Liberals. Not even a chance then. And we’d be looking at 5 of those Far-Right justices being fairly young, so that this fun would continue for another 20-30 years.
The nastiest part of the panel was the open threat that if the Dems choose to filibuster an SC nominee, Donald Trump would go to their swing state and hold rallies and campaign against those Dem Senators. Funny to hear that, given that Hannity and others on Fox News regularly derided Obama as the “campaigner in chief”. Guess it’s now a good thing to do if it’s Donald Trump on the case.
The GOP is going to press the “mandate” they think they have right now to push through as much radical stuff as they can during the first 100-200 days of Trump in the White House. The Dems will make some noises about opposing this stuff but they don’t have the votes to stop it unless they intend to be just as obstructive as the GOP was with Obama. And it’s a lose-lose for the Dems on that front. If they obstruct everything (which I don’t recommend), then the GOP gets to say “See! The Dems are doing it too! No moral high ground for them!” If they don’t obstruct everything, the GOP will do a LOT of damage, including the aforementioned tax code changes that could really punch the middle class in another year.
When it comes to the SC, Fox News had a laughing panel of conservative WSJ voices on yesterday. This included our old friend James Taranto, who distinguished himself a few years back by openly calling President Obama “a pathetic little man” on the air. The panel sneered at Chuck Schumer saying that the Dems would oppose any SC nominee who isn’t “mainstream”, noting that Schumer has to say something to appease his base but that he’ll cave so he can try to protect his Senate seats for the 2018 campaigns. They’re correct on that point, but the sneering made it extremely difficult to stomach. The panel also made it clear that Fox News and the Right already know they’re going to get a Far-Right 45-year old judge from Trump’s list to replace Scalia right off the bat. And they know that Trump will only be using that list of Far-Right judges for any SC appointment. What the Right is actually more interested in seeing is whether Kennedy or another justice comes off. Kennedy is 80 years old, and could easily retire within Trump’s first term. If he does so, the court swings solidly to the Far-Right and Roberts becomes the regular swing vote. At that point, decisions like Roe become a lot harder to sustain. And if Ginsburg or Breyer retires, there would no longer be any swing votes – it would be 6 Far-Right to 3 Liberals. Not even a chance then. And we’d be looking at 5 of those Far-Right justices being fairly young, so that this fun would continue for another 20-30 years.
The nastiest part of the panel was the open threat that if the Dems choose to filibuster an SC nominee, Donald Trump would go to their swing state and hold rallies and campaign against those Dem Senators. Funny to hear that, given that Hannity and others on Fox News regularly derided Obama as the “campaigner in chief”. Guess it’s now a good thing to do if it’s Donald Trump on the case.
Kevin Koster commented on Happy Thanksgiving To All
2016-11-27 04:15:11 -0500
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I heard from one close relative that he attended a Thanksgiving dinner in the Los Angeles area on Thursday, and was shocked to be confronted at the door by one of the party guests, possibly the host. He was specifically asked to which party he belongs. He told the man that he was a registered GOP voter, which is the truth. The party’s host/guest then angrily responded “Good! Because we weren’t going to let any liberals in here anyway!” It would appear the bullying trend is going wider than we could have anticipated.
Kevin Koster commented on Watch This Fox Guest Confront Host’s Bias Over Black Lives Matter Black Friday Protests
2016-11-26 18:25:41 -0500
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The clip isn’t showing up on my page…
But the “Shout Down the Liberal” approach is one that Fox News is now really trying to push, particularly as inflicted by Bolling, Carlson and O’Reilly. I can’t really tell about Hannity as he’s been too toxic to watch for very long lately, and any time I’ve seen his show, he’s refused to have any non-Right guests.
During much of the W presidency and all of the Obama presidency, the Fox News approach with liberal voices was to let them say a couple of things and then take a condescending tone and cut them off. But you still usually saw Kirsten Powers get a point in when she could, particularly if it was really a right wing idea.
The current idea is to not even let the liberal voice get ten words in before a host like Bolling or Regan angrily shouts them down, saying “Hey! You’re not discussing what I asked you! This is NOT a discussion about (blank)! This is a discussion about (preferred right wing talking point)! Let’s go back to (right wing guest) and see if we can get back on topic, okay?” Having now seen this multiple times over the past week, I am forced to conclude this is the new M.O. at Fox News, and anyone who agrees to appear there really needs to be ready to be treated like that. My hat goes off to Acuff for standing up for himself. Any liberal going on Fox News for the next four years needs to be ready for the host to throw a tantrum like this, and to be able to immediately put the host back in their place.
I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing a large variety of ways that the Right Wing will find to bully everyone else.
But the “Shout Down the Liberal” approach is one that Fox News is now really trying to push, particularly as inflicted by Bolling, Carlson and O’Reilly. I can’t really tell about Hannity as he’s been too toxic to watch for very long lately, and any time I’ve seen his show, he’s refused to have any non-Right guests.
During much of the W presidency and all of the Obama presidency, the Fox News approach with liberal voices was to let them say a couple of things and then take a condescending tone and cut them off. But you still usually saw Kirsten Powers get a point in when she could, particularly if it was really a right wing idea.
The current idea is to not even let the liberal voice get ten words in before a host like Bolling or Regan angrily shouts them down, saying “Hey! You’re not discussing what I asked you! This is NOT a discussion about (blank)! This is a discussion about (preferred right wing talking point)! Let’s go back to (right wing guest) and see if we can get back on topic, okay?” Having now seen this multiple times over the past week, I am forced to conclude this is the new M.O. at Fox News, and anyone who agrees to appear there really needs to be ready to be treated like that. My hat goes off to Acuff for standing up for himself. Any liberal going on Fox News for the next four years needs to be ready for the host to throw a tantrum like this, and to be able to immediately put the host back in their place.
I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing a large variety of ways that the Right Wing will find to bully everyone else.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox Pre-Attacks Obama Just In Case He Sends Anyone To Castro's Funeral
2016-11-28 14:27:15 -0500
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Trump just confirmed his belligerent approach to Cuba in a delightful tweet about an hour ago. His exact words:
“If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate the deal”
That pretty much tells the story. Again, I strongly recommend anyone thinking they can travel to Cuba that they reconsider and not do this. And this also gives us a strong indication where Trump stands on whether he’ll hang on to even a shred of the Obama presidency. The answer is a firm and angry “NO!”
“If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate the deal”
That pretty much tells the story. Again, I strongly recommend anyone thinking they can travel to Cuba that they reconsider and not do this. And this also gives us a strong indication where Trump stands on whether he’ll hang on to even a shred of the Obama presidency. The answer is a firm and angry “NO!”
Kevin Koster commented on This Business Owner Who Refuses To Do Business With Trump Supporters Is Someone To Be Thankful For
2016-11-25 05:11:07 -0500
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I agree that it’s a pointless exercise to take the bakers to court for their bigoted behavior. On the other hand, refusing to do business with those bakers, and publicizing their bigotry is completely appropriate.
Kevin Koster commented on 'Great American' Hannity Declares Himself An Enemy Of The First Amendment
2016-11-24 10:22:40 -0500
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Hannity certainly feels emboldened, doesn’t he? In a sense, he’s right in line with the kids in the elementary schools who lashed out at non-white kids over the week that followed Trump’s squeaker, clearly modeling their behavior after what they saw their parents doing at home and saw Trump doing on TV.
The difference is that one would think Hannity is old enough to know better than to say things like this. But he clearly isn’t. And he’s clearly one of the more visible angry bullies we’re going to have to deal with over the next 4-8 years. As we’ve noted before, you’d think that these guys would be delighted to see Trump get away with this, and that they’d be doing cartwheels down the sidewalk. And we are seeing plenty of glee out of them, and plenty of gloating. But it’s coming from a place of such anger and such obvious hatred that it’s very difficult to watch unfold. Hannity clearly doesn’t just want to celebrate his guy making it to the White House. He wants to rub everyone’s noses in this disaster for as long as he can – a trademark bullying activity that we’re seeing become more and more commonplace on the Right. O’Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, Kelly, Carlson, Bolling and plenty of others are all doing it. They’re openly shouting down anyone who dares to say anything even meekly of protest, and if they have any issues with the incoming mess, it’s that they don’t think that it’s Right Wing enough.
I really do think 2017 is lining up to be the Year of the Bully.
The difference is that one would think Hannity is old enough to know better than to say things like this. But he clearly isn’t. And he’s clearly one of the more visible angry bullies we’re going to have to deal with over the next 4-8 years. As we’ve noted before, you’d think that these guys would be delighted to see Trump get away with this, and that they’d be doing cartwheels down the sidewalk. And we are seeing plenty of glee out of them, and plenty of gloating. But it’s coming from a place of such anger and such obvious hatred that it’s very difficult to watch unfold. Hannity clearly doesn’t just want to celebrate his guy making it to the White House. He wants to rub everyone’s noses in this disaster for as long as he can – a trademark bullying activity that we’re seeing become more and more commonplace on the Right. O’Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, Kelly, Carlson, Bolling and plenty of others are all doing it. They’re openly shouting down anyone who dares to say anything even meekly of protest, and if they have any issues with the incoming mess, it’s that they don’t think that it’s Right Wing enough.
I really do think 2017 is lining up to be the Year of the Bully.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox Host Eric Bolling Being Considered For Trump Commerce Department
2016-11-22 17:04:44 -0500
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Eyes, there have actually been stories that he is considering giving Palin the Dept of the Interior, to make use of her vast knowledge of the environment. Education is a different story – it looks like Trump’s people intend to either phase it out or simply eliminate it – this would check off a major bucket list item for many Right Wingers who want to rub Jimmy Carter’s face in it. EPA is also likely to be slashed way down.
Given Trump’s affection for Fox News and the pundits therein, we’re likely to see a mass defection from the network into Trump’s White House. Another one we haven’t mentioned here yet is KT McFarland, who gained notoriety for trying to lobby a candidate on behalf of Roger Ailes some time ago. McFarland was gloating on Fox about the various extremists already being named, like Flynn and Pompeo, and then said, spectacularly, “The grown-ups are back in charge.” Riiiight. What she means is that the guys who embarrassed us in front of the world and were fired from their jobs are now free to cause more misery and more embarrassment before they get fired again. But the real kicker came at the end of the interview – when she acknowledged that she’s being considered for a position herself.
Given Trump’s affection for Fox News and the pundits therein, we’re likely to see a mass defection from the network into Trump’s White House. Another one we haven’t mentioned here yet is KT McFarland, who gained notoriety for trying to lobby a candidate on behalf of Roger Ailes some time ago. McFarland was gloating on Fox about the various extremists already being named, like Flynn and Pompeo, and then said, spectacularly, “The grown-ups are back in charge.” Riiiight. What she means is that the guys who embarrassed us in front of the world and were fired from their jobs are now free to cause more misery and more embarrassment before they get fired again. But the real kicker came at the end of the interview – when she acknowledged that she’s being considered for a position herself.
Kevin Koster commented on Sean Hannity's Paranoid Response To Accusations Hosts Pretended To Ask Trump Tough Questions
2016-11-23 07:13:25 -0500
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Kelly just came through on her intention to be critical of Trump and company, and no surprise, it was from their right. After Conway made her relatively mild comments about not making a Clinton prosecution a priority, Fox News pounced for most of the day. And Kelly really worked this idea over, with her clear lean being toward a vigorous prosecution. Kelly made sure to ask extreme Clinton haters like Peter Schweizer, so that she could frame the discussion not as a political vendetta but somehow an issue of fairness and the law. Not an issue of gullible people accepting 25 years of lies and smears and now being whipped up into a frenzy by right wing media and Trump’s exploitation of them, but instead some feigned concern about whether the laws of the land apply to “the elite”, and some sudden concern that Trump shouldn’t be talking about this anyway and how he doesn’t have any real say in it anyway.
When Kelly asked someone in Congress about this, she didn’t ask about whether it was appropriate for Chaffetz to keep beating a broken drum like this or whether the Right has played on their base’s hatred of this family. No, she instead began shouting at a GOP congressman and played tape of him essentially promising his supporters that a Trump presidency would mean a prosecution. I think he got her point – if they back off the Clintons, Fox News will make them pay dearly for it.
It’s true that Kelly is positioning herself as a political gadfly to the Trump White House. But nobody should be fooled into thinking that she’s doing this on behalf of anyone but the Far Right. Which is truly staggering to behold. Here we have what will be the meanest, angriest most Far Right presidency potentially in our history – and Megan Kelly is arguing to push them even farther to the right. I didn’t think it was even possible to do that.
When Kelly asked someone in Congress about this, she didn’t ask about whether it was appropriate for Chaffetz to keep beating a broken drum like this or whether the Right has played on their base’s hatred of this family. No, she instead began shouting at a GOP congressman and played tape of him essentially promising his supporters that a Trump presidency would mean a prosecution. I think he got her point – if they back off the Clintons, Fox News will make them pay dearly for it.
It’s true that Kelly is positioning herself as a political gadfly to the Trump White House. But nobody should be fooled into thinking that she’s doing this on behalf of anyone but the Far Right. Which is truly staggering to behold. Here we have what will be the meanest, angriest most Far Right presidency potentially in our history – and Megan Kelly is arguing to push them even farther to the right. I didn’t think it was even possible to do that.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox Hosts Whine About ‘Hamilton’s’ Message To Pence: Why Do They Think Donald Trump Doesn’t Celebrate Diversity?
2016-11-21 12:17:50 -0500
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This whole situation is frankly a distraction. If anything, it only illustrates Trump’s continuing immaturity and pettiness. And it illustrates the Right Wing’s continuing hypocrisy. We shouldn’t give it any more attention than that.
There are much bigger issues and problems in play with Trump right now than what he thinks about Hamilton. Trump just settled his Trump U lawsuit – that’s big news. Trump has now named some seriously problematic appointees to key positions in the government. Over the past week and a half, there have been over 700 documented cases of hate speech and assaults from Trump supporters – far outweighing the handful of angry anti-Trump protesters who have gotten out of lines.
There are much bigger issues and problems in play with Trump right now than what he thinks about Hamilton. Trump just settled his Trump U lawsuit – that’s big news. Trump has now named some seriously problematic appointees to key positions in the government. Over the past week and a half, there have been over 700 documented cases of hate speech and assaults from Trump supporters – far outweighing the handful of angry anti-Trump protesters who have gotten out of lines.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox News Just Can’t Wait For Trump To Cut Taxes – And Social Security And Medicare, Too!
2016-11-23 06:57:08 -0500
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I appreciate the wish of Huffington Post writers to find a silver lining in here somewhere, but even these articles acknowledge some basic truths I believe we need to accept.
The Right is absolutely united about some things and they will vote as a block to accomplish them. Their highest priority at the start of 2017 is to erase the Obama presidency. They all agree that they want to undo all of Obama’s actions and scrap the ACA. As the article admits, they won’t need a single Dem vote to accomplish those things. So those will happen immediately.
As for the various treaties and agreements achieved by Obama’s team, those will be ripped up immediately, and Congress won’t have any part in it. That will completely be a Pence discussion in the White House, where all these various initiatives will simply be discarded. I particularly stress this to anyone thinking that a Far Right White House is going to continue the Obama move to ease relations with Cuba. I know people who were planning to travel to Cuba next year, and I don’t believe they will be doing so now. I think it’s more prudent to expect Trump and his group to follow through on as many of his promises as they can. Which means the TPP is dead, the Climate Change agreements are dead, the Iran treaty is gone and the Cuba embargo will be reinforced.
I keep seeing people grasping at straws for a sign that Trump might not be all that bad and that maybe he didn’t mean all that stuff he’s been saying. Maybe he’ll bend a little on climate change or maybe he’ll go easy on the Clinton investigation obsession. But the people around him aren’t saying those things. Except for the Clinton “Lock Her Up” meme, which some Trump surrogates are trying to walk back. And I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in that, based on Trump’s behavior and based on the Right’s outright hatred of the Clintons. Just last night, we saw Fox News and Breutbart repeatedly attack Trump surrogates for backing off this idea even a little. We already know that Trump acts on what those outlets tell him, and we know that they’ll keep up a drumbeat on this. So I wouldn’t think that this nonsense is over by any means.
I realize this will all sound pessimistic, but we’re going to need to get used to some really unfortunate conditions over the next four to eight years. This is going to be a mean, unpleasant time, governed by mean, bullying, unpleasant people. The best and smartest thing I believe we can do is to make sure that what these people do is documented, just as Ellen has done here for years. These guys are going to try to write the history of our time in a way that makes them feel good and portrays people like President Obama as failures. We need to be able to help keep the actual record straight, now more than ever.
The Right is absolutely united about some things and they will vote as a block to accomplish them. Their highest priority at the start of 2017 is to erase the Obama presidency. They all agree that they want to undo all of Obama’s actions and scrap the ACA. As the article admits, they won’t need a single Dem vote to accomplish those things. So those will happen immediately.
As for the various treaties and agreements achieved by Obama’s team, those will be ripped up immediately, and Congress won’t have any part in it. That will completely be a Pence discussion in the White House, where all these various initiatives will simply be discarded. I particularly stress this to anyone thinking that a Far Right White House is going to continue the Obama move to ease relations with Cuba. I know people who were planning to travel to Cuba next year, and I don’t believe they will be doing so now. I think it’s more prudent to expect Trump and his group to follow through on as many of his promises as they can. Which means the TPP is dead, the Climate Change agreements are dead, the Iran treaty is gone and the Cuba embargo will be reinforced.
I keep seeing people grasping at straws for a sign that Trump might not be all that bad and that maybe he didn’t mean all that stuff he’s been saying. Maybe he’ll bend a little on climate change or maybe he’ll go easy on the Clinton investigation obsession. But the people around him aren’t saying those things. Except for the Clinton “Lock Her Up” meme, which some Trump surrogates are trying to walk back. And I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in that, based on Trump’s behavior and based on the Right’s outright hatred of the Clintons. Just last night, we saw Fox News and Breutbart repeatedly attack Trump surrogates for backing off this idea even a little. We already know that Trump acts on what those outlets tell him, and we know that they’ll keep up a drumbeat on this. So I wouldn’t think that this nonsense is over by any means.
I realize this will all sound pessimistic, but we’re going to need to get used to some really unfortunate conditions over the next four to eight years. This is going to be a mean, unpleasant time, governed by mean, bullying, unpleasant people. The best and smartest thing I believe we can do is to make sure that what these people do is documented, just as Ellen has done here for years. These guys are going to try to write the history of our time in a way that makes them feel good and portrays people like President Obama as failures. We need to be able to help keep the actual record straight, now more than ever.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox Promotes Jeff Sessions By Comparing Him To George Wallace
2016-11-21 11:35:20 -0500
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I think we need to be prepared for Sessions to easily be confirmed. This will actually be a worse situation than we had with Ashcroft, which was already pretty bad – as Ashcroft was also a confirmed racist.
Sessions’ priorities will have nothing to do with protecting the civil rights of anyone other than whites. His emphasis will be greatly increased and visible law enforcement presence wherever possible – including what they will say are operations to fight crime in places like Chicago. A lot of resources will be redirected to targeting and deporting as many undocumented immigrants as they can – look for them to set high goals here that they can point to every 100 days of how many people they’ve thrown out of the country.
And don’t think that Sessions has forgotten his animus against liberal organizations like Planned Parenthood, which are likely to be targeted as promised by the Right Wing for years.
And let’s not forget that Sessions is both motivated and enthusiastic about pursuing an aggressive criminal case against the Clintons, their charity and their associates, as threatened by Trump throughout the campaign. They weren’t all yelling “Lock Her Up!” for show. They meant it, and they intend to see how much political theater they can make out of this moment.
Sessions’ priorities will have nothing to do with protecting the civil rights of anyone other than whites. His emphasis will be greatly increased and visible law enforcement presence wherever possible – including what they will say are operations to fight crime in places like Chicago. A lot of resources will be redirected to targeting and deporting as many undocumented immigrants as they can – look for them to set high goals here that they can point to every 100 days of how many people they’ve thrown out of the country.
And don’t think that Sessions has forgotten his animus against liberal organizations like Planned Parenthood, which are likely to be targeted as promised by the Right Wing for years.
And let’s not forget that Sessions is both motivated and enthusiastic about pursuing an aggressive criminal case against the Clintons, their charity and their associates, as threatened by Trump throughout the campaign. They weren’t all yelling “Lock Her Up!” for show. They meant it, and they intend to see how much political theater they can make out of this moment.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox & Friends Attacks Anti-Trump Protesters As Unpatriotic 'Crybabies'
2016-11-18 12:32:54 -0500
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These guys are moving extremely quickly. He just named Jeff Sessions as AG, and Sessions is to the right of even Giuliani. In saner days, Sessions was considered too far Right Wing and too racist to be confirmed by the Senate in the 1980s.
What we’re seeing right now is them setting up the immediate repeal of the ACA on January 20. Medicare will take a little longer for them to adjust but they’ll do it within the first 100-200 days of 2017. The Dems do not have the votes to stop this behavior unless they are prepared to filibuster everything past roll call, and I do not believe they want to do that. Most likely, the Dems will roll over and allow Trump to do whatever he wants short of replacing Ginsburg with another Alito.
What we’re seeing right now is them setting up the immediate repeal of the ACA on January 20. Medicare will take a little longer for them to adjust but they’ll do it within the first 100-200 days of 2017. The Dems do not have the votes to stop this behavior unless they are prepared to filibuster everything past roll call, and I do not believe they want to do that. Most likely, the Dems will roll over and allow Trump to do whatever he wants short of replacing Ginsburg with another Alito.
Kevin Koster commented on Trumpster Fox Guests Cites Japanese Internment Camps As Precedent For Muslim Registry
2016-11-18 12:53:30 -0500
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To my thinking, the appeal of hate speech purveyors like Limbaugh and Hannity is directly connected to the antidisestablishmentarianism of the Nixon years. When you unpack that term, it describes the pro-Nixon guys who were violently angry at the left wingers who protested Nixon and Vietnam. These people didn’t disappear after that. They continued their same prejudices and anger all the way through the Reagan 80s and the Clinton 90s all the way up to the present day. And they’re still angry at the world. If anything, they’re angry that the world of 2016 is one where they don’t truly hold the majority they had once upon a time.
I also note that the Right worked diligently to block President Obama from being able to help any of these people – even to the point of blocking an extension of Unemployment benefits.
I also note that the Right worked diligently to block President Obama from being able to help any of these people – even to the point of blocking an extension of Unemployment benefits.
Kevin Koster commented on Tucker Carlson Should Be Ashamed Of This Unprofessional Interview About Obamacare – But We Know He Won’t Be
2016-11-17 05:14:23 -0500
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I’m grateful to Lloyd for being so forthright and honest here. He’s being extremely helpful here – because he’s not mouthing the usual platitudes that Right Wingers normally say when they espouse the destruction of the social contract. He’s just out and out saying it: “I Got Mine, FU”.
So when 20+ million people lose their health coverage on January 20, and the GOP tries to blame the problems on Democrats somehow not helping the GOP find a replacement that nobody in the GOP can agree about, we can look back to Lloyd’s helpful comments from today. The problem isn’t that the Right Wing can’t get the help they need to properly get people coverage. It’s that the Right Wing simply doesn’t care if those people have coverage or not.
And again, this issue was never about health insurance in any case. If it was, the Right would have worked with the Democrats when the law was being crafted, and it would have worked with the Dems when they wanted to adjust it during Obama’s two terms. That was never their intention. Their intention was to obstruct it in every way they could, and then to kill it as soon as they could. The part that the GOP actually cared about was that it was a policy achievement by a Democrat, and particularly an achievement by a Democrat President who they all hate. So killing that achievement is meaningful. What does Lloyd care if millions of people suffer so he can smirk at Obama? What does Lloyd care if we put ourselves back in the scenario of the insurance companies gouging everyone and costs continuing to skyrocket with no way of addressing them?
When the Right Wing and Fox News start in with the crocodile tears in January and February as people realize what Trump and his supporters have done to them, we can present them the opinion of Lloyd. So I’m thankful to him for doing this service for us.
So when 20+ million people lose their health coverage on January 20, and the GOP tries to blame the problems on Democrats somehow not helping the GOP find a replacement that nobody in the GOP can agree about, we can look back to Lloyd’s helpful comments from today. The problem isn’t that the Right Wing can’t get the help they need to properly get people coverage. It’s that the Right Wing simply doesn’t care if those people have coverage or not.
And again, this issue was never about health insurance in any case. If it was, the Right would have worked with the Democrats when the law was being crafted, and it would have worked with the Dems when they wanted to adjust it during Obama’s two terms. That was never their intention. Their intention was to obstruct it in every way they could, and then to kill it as soon as they could. The part that the GOP actually cared about was that it was a policy achievement by a Democrat, and particularly an achievement by a Democrat President who they all hate. So killing that achievement is meaningful. What does Lloyd care if millions of people suffer so he can smirk at Obama? What does Lloyd care if we put ourselves back in the scenario of the insurance companies gouging everyone and costs continuing to skyrocket with no way of addressing them?
When the Right Wing and Fox News start in with the crocodile tears in January and February as people realize what Trump and his supporters have done to them, we can present them the opinion of Lloyd. So I’m thankful to him for doing this service for us.
Kevin Koster commented on Bill O’Reilly Wants Women Who Have Been Sexually Harassed At Fox To Just Shut Up
2016-11-17 04:54:41 -0500
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O’Reilly has been getting increasingly brazen since last Tuesday. He appears to think he has some kind of moral standing to lecture people, which is extremely odd given his unresolved temper problems and his history of self-promoting falsehoods.
It’s quite strange to see him acting morally affronted when being asked simple questions about how he stood by when he has known for years that people were being harassed by his boss, and when he actually participated in the harassment. He does not get to hide behind a children’s book when the reality comes out.
His issues with Kelly at this point have nothing to do with morality. Those issues have to do with him feeling that she’s overstepping “her place” at Fox News by starting to openly challenge him there. But we should keep in mind that Kelly’s eventual victory there is not a win for anyone but her – she will prevail within another year, and O’Reilly will retreat, but I don’t know that this will signify any real change at the network, given what we’ve seen on the air. In the backstage areas, it will mean that we won’t likely see someone getting away with the piggish behavior that was indulged by both Ailes and O’Reilly. But on the air, the same vicious rhetoric will continue – as we have repeatedly noted from Kelly.
It’s quite strange to see him acting morally affronted when being asked simple questions about how he stood by when he has known for years that people were being harassed by his boss, and when he actually participated in the harassment. He does not get to hide behind a children’s book when the reality comes out.
His issues with Kelly at this point have nothing to do with morality. Those issues have to do with him feeling that she’s overstepping “her place” at Fox News by starting to openly challenge him there. But we should keep in mind that Kelly’s eventual victory there is not a win for anyone but her – she will prevail within another year, and O’Reilly will retreat, but I don’t know that this will signify any real change at the network, given what we’ve seen on the air. In the backstage areas, it will mean that we won’t likely see someone getting away with the piggish behavior that was indulged by both Ailes and O’Reilly. But on the air, the same vicious rhetoric will continue – as we have repeatedly noted from Kelly.