Lou Dobbs’ Trump orgy in the form of a Fox Business interview would have made any state-run media outfit proud. The fact that it was aired on an American “news” network, with an American chief executive is just tragic.
Dobbs' first question rivaled anything Hannity could slobber up in its sycophancy. (Transcript excerpts via RealClear Politics):
DOBBS: In nine months in office, you’ve already accomplished more in the way of job creation. The move in the equities markets has been extraordinary and record setting. All of the indexes, at or near record levels. You have accomplished so much in that nine months. And yet, as you say, we need tax reform. You’re meeting resistance from within your own party. You’re meeting resistance from the Democrats. How do you move from here?
Trump predicted that Republicans will come together because he’s so awesomely loved!
TRUMP: We have very, very minor—we have great unity. I was with the Senate yesterday, the entire Republican Senate. And other than two people, I tell you, there was a lot of love in that room.
And a lot of love from Trump to himself, that is. According to The Hill, some senators complained the meeting “lacked substance and focus.”
“He said the tax cuts are ‘going to be great,’ ” without going into any detail, said one GOP senator who requested anonymity to assess the meeting candidly.
“He just went on and on, talking about his accomplishments and going off on tangents. It was inane,” the lawmaker added.
But Dobbs said, “A lot of love and a lot to get done."
Matthew Yglesias noted in an excellent Vox article that even with the softballs, Trump was still unable to answer the most basic questions about his policies. For example, there was this exchange about Trump’s tax cut “plan.”
DOBBS: And the middle class—you say this is for the middle class and small business and the pass-through rates are all very attractive. What do you expect the impact to be for working men and women, the middle class, those who aspire to be in the middle class?
TRUMP: You know, we’ve done so well. Pretty much record setting, certainly record setting for nine months in so many different ways. Nine months of a presidency. But you look at the market, how well it’s doing, so you’d say well why do you have to do anything. We can actually do better.
And I think we will do better. We are going to have so many jobs created by what we’re doing. And you know, we’re going to have companies that aren’t going to be leaving our country anymore. You look at what’s happened over the last 25 years, you go down and take a look at Mexico --
DOBBS: Right.
TRUMP: -- and see how many car companies have built these massive factories in Mexico. Not here. We want them built in Michigan, and Ohio, and our places. And they just leave, and they fire everybody, and they go and open up plants. That’s not going to be happening anymore, plus they’re going to be penalized in many different ways if they do it.
Now I don’t work in the Trump administration, but unlike Donald Trump I have taken the time to familiarize myself with the Trump administration’s briefing materials. So I can tell you the answer is supposed to be that the GOP tax plan will help the middle class in three big ways.
First there’s a doubling of the standard deduction. Second there’s an increase in the Child Tax Credit. And third, the corporate income tax cut is supposed to produce an inflow of global investment capital that spurs job creation and raises wages by an average of $4,000. Back during last weekend’s interview with Maria Bartiromo, Trump at least remembered about the higher wages, though he forgot the number and said it was $5,000. With Dobbs, though, he’s a mess.
[…]
Trump actually forgets to sell his tax plan in any way, pivoting instead to Mexico.
Of course, Dobbs slobbered at every possible moment and even joined in Trump's lies:
DOBBS: You’re obviously enthused about what you’re going to get done. You’ve got to be immensely gratified at what you’ve been able to do often with a recalcitrant Congress and Senate. Going forward, there’s another wall and there’s a wall that’s just fallen between the American public, the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
TRUMP: Right.
DOBBS: They funded something called the Trump dossier which they ballyhooed for some time. We now know who paid for it. The DNC and Hillary Clinton and one, as yet, unnamed republican. Do you want to –
TRUMP: Wonder who that might be?
DOBBS: Do you have a suspect?
TRUMP: I think I know but you know I’ll let them find out. They’re going to find out eventually just like they did – don’t forget Hillary Clinton totally denied this. She didn’t know anything. She knew nothing. All of a sudden they found out. What I was amazed at, it’s almost $6 million that they paid and it’s totally discredited, it’s a total phony. I call it fake news.
DOBBS: Right.
TRUMP: It’s disgraceful. It’s disgraceful.
DOBBS: I think her word that she likes to use, it’s so serviceable about that dossier, debunked. It’s been debunked.
In fact, as Slate reported in an in-depth, careful review in September, a lot of the so-called Steele dossier has already been corroborated elsewhere. Yes, some “appears wrong or questionable” but that is a far cry from what these two claimed. Really, this is nothing short of Dobbs and Trump deliberately pushing “fake news” while accusing others of doing that.
A little bit later, Trump started pushing better relations with Russia. There was no concern from Dobbs about Russia’s interference in our election process nor the fact that the Trump administration has missed the October 1 deadline to implement the Russia sanctions he signed into law three months ago. Instead, Dobbs quickly changed the subject after Trump spoke so glowingly about Russia.
TRUMP: A wonderful man came to my office a week ago. A very highly respected man and he sat down and he said, “You know it’s been very unfair. From the day you have been president you’ve been under this little veil of Russia, Russia, Russia.” And with all of this being said, I want to say this, I think it would be great if we got along with Russia. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with – you know they are a power, they’re a nuclear power. I think we could have a good relationship. I think that North Korean situation would be easier settled. And I just spoke to the President of China, I congratulated him on his big victory. But it would be wonderful if we could speak to China and Russia. Because China is helping us and maybe Russia’s going through the other way and hurting what we’re getting.
I mean when I say maybe, I think I know exactly what I’m talking about. If we had a relationship with Russia, that would be a good thing, not a bad thing.
DOBBS: Relationships—you were criticized for even trying to court, if you will, President Xi of China. Everyone, the so-called intelligentsia of this country’s foreign policy establishment, said you’re wasting your time, it just can’t be done. And obviously you’ve made significant progress with him and --
Dobbs was repaid for his loyalty by getting a voice on who will chair the Fed.
DOBBS: You’re nearing a decision on who will chair the fed.
TRUMP: I am.
DOBBS: Any hints?
TRUMP: So I really have it down to two and maybe three people. And I think over the next very short period of time I’ll be announcing it. It won’t be a big shock. It was sort of interesting, the way it comes out. And you’ve been talking about the various people on your show, which I watch absolutely almost all the time, even if it means TiVo or whatever device you happen to be using at the time.
DOBBS: We appreciate it.
TRUMP: But no, your show is fantastic. So I’ll be announcing this role over the next pretty short period of time.
DOBBS: All right. And you --
TRUMP: Do you have a preference, out of curiosity?
DOBBS: I do, and --
TRUMP: Tell me who your preference is.
DOBBS: I think I—may I constrain myself?
TRUMP: Yes.
DOBBS: Because an ad hoc advisor to the president --
TRUMP: No, but I’d love to hear it. You could even cut it out if you want. You don’t have to—I would love to hear you. I only want that from people I respect.
DOBBS: I personally believe that Janet Yellen might be worth keeping.
Then, as if saving the worst for last, or almost last, the two showed their anti-American hostility for our free press:
DOBBS: And I’ve got to ask you, I mean, you’re one of the most—I would say, by the left particularly, reviled, even hated men to ever hold your post. --
TRUMP: I would say so.
DOBBS: You’re also one of the most loved and respected --
TRUMP: I would say that also.
DOBBS: in history. And how does that feel? How—where is Donald Trump today, as you are just now beginning your presidency?
TRUMP: So the one thing that I really thought—because I thought I was treated very unfairly by the press during the campaign. --
DOBBS: Without question --
TRUMP: And when I won, I said, “The good news is, now they’ll start treating me well.” But they got much worse.
DOBBS: Right.
TRUMP: Lou, they put on stories and CNN, and on NBC, and CBS, and ABC, and NBC being an offshoot also with the MSNBC, which is ridiculous. They put on stories that are so false. They have so-called sources that, in my opinion, don’t exist. You know, they’ll say, “Sources have said,” they don’t know.
They’re sitting down, they just—they make it up. It is so dishonest. It is so fake. And you know, I have come up with some pretty good names for people. There’s—I think one of the best names is—you know, I’ve really started this whole fake news thing. Now they’ve turned it around and then, now they’re calling, you know, stories put out by different—by Facebook fake. And they’re fake.
What could be more fake than CBS, and NBC, and ABC, and CNN when you look at some of these stories? And when you look at the amount of negative—I know when I do well and when I do badly. --
DOBBS: Right.
TRUMP: I know a good story from a bad story. But when you have a really good story and they make it bad, I’ll say to my wife, “Oh, tonight, I’m going to enjoy watching television because I did great, and wait until you see this.” And then, they put it on and it’s like—oh, that’s not so good. They are fake news.
And the good thing about social media is that I have so many millions of people, so many—I guess, 128 million. You could add up—you know, you add up all the different platforms—massive social media. At least I can put out—it’s not that I want to do that. I’d rather not do it. I would love to not do it at all. But at least I can put out the truth. And I can put out the real word. And people agree. And if you look at the level of approval of the—of media—of general media --
DOBBS: Right.
TRUMP: if you look at it from the day I started running to now, I’m so proud that I have been able to convince people how fake it is—because it has taken a nosedive. --
DOBBS: Yes. And --
TRUMP: Except for your show, of course—and Sean, and a few of them. Right?
DOBBS: Yes.
In his Reliable Sources newsletter last night, Stelter noted that Trump did not start “this fake news thing” and then nailed why that matters:
He has it backwards, of course. Craig Silverman was using the term “fake news” way back in 2015. And I started showing examples on “Reliable Sources” in 2016. Our focus was always on fake stories spreading via Facebook and other social networks. Trump didn’t start exploiting and redefining the term until a month after election day. He says “they’ve turned it around,” but he’s the one who actually did that...
[...]
Here’s why this really matters: Actual “fake news,” hoax stories designed to deceive you, is a digital age plague. A responsible president would take this problem seriously. A responsible president would discourage the spread of misinformation, encourage the private sector to help stop the plague, and promote media literacy for all Americans. That’s what a responsible president would do.
Of course, Dobbs didn’t say a challenging word. He was too busy admiring Trump:
DOBBS: Well—I—you—you are a, if I may say, everything as advertised as you ran for President. And appreciate everything you’re doing. Thanks so much.
Watch this disgrace to the First Amendment below, from the October 25, 2017 Lou Dobbs Tonight.
“Truly a shame that he went over to the dark side. Really liked him when he was on CNN years ago”
Yes indeed Anita. It only serves as a warning:
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF MURDOCH’S $$$$!
’Nuff said.