Just a few hours after Donald Trump made it clear he didn’t want to abide by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against adding a citizenship question to the census, Sen. Mike Lee defended Trump’s fascist, kleptocratic July 4th parade by praising Trump’s judiciousness to the hilt.
Fox’s The Story with Martha MacCallum is ostensibly hosted by a “straight” journalist," but the show’s top story was not Trump’s shocking disregard for the rule of law but an opportunity to propagandize his July 4th celebration.
Although the census forms reportedly started printing after Trump lost his effort to add a citizenship question – after evidence emerged that it was a deliberate effort to drive down the count of minorities and favor Republicans and white voters – Trump is so intent on muscling his racism into the process that he reportedly ordered the Department of Justice to keep looking for ways to include it.
But for “straight news” host Gallagher, Job One was joining his network’s cheering squad for the July 4th Trumpaganza. The guest there to help the effort was Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT):
GALLAGHER: Is it so bad to show off our accomplishments on 4th of July? Is it so bad to show off our pride on this day?
LEE: No, not at all. I mean, look, tanks are great and if we want to clap for some tanks as they come by before we light up the grills and watch fireworks, that’s fine. Look, what these [critics] are needing to come to terms with is the fact that this president, President Donald J. Trump, has been more respectful of his power as commander-in-chief and more careful about using it than any president in our lifetimes. And I think they’re freakin’ out about that, that’s part of why they’re mad about this. This isn’t a problem, this is celebrating our country and our armed services who protect us.
Actually, it’s more about celebrating Trump who, as I explained in a previous post, stands to benefit financially from the event. Meanwhile, his administration won’t even disclose the amount of the bill he’s sticking the taxpayers for. In other words, an abuse of power.
Actually, Donald Trump’s abuses put him in a class of his own. The Mueller report, alone, cites numerous ways Trump tried to obstruct justice; Let’s not forget (even if Lee would like us to) how Trump over-rode national security concerns in order to give his daughter and son-in-law security clearances; hired completely unqualified sycophants for important government roles; disregarded Congress’ appropriations in order to build his border wall; displays “willful ignorance” toward intelligence briefings; attacks Americans while abroad, and, of course, he’s a pathological liar.. Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Instead of challenging Lee’s ridiculous statement, “straight news” anchor Gallagher prodded Lee to make more pointed and more vicious attacks on Trump critics and the media – in the name of patriotism, of course. Gallagher played a brief clip from a New York Times video calling America “just OK.” Adding that “a lot of the claims, critics say, are utterly preposterous,” Gallagher “asked” for Lee’s response.
Sure enough, that prompted outrage from Lee that included just what Gallagher was clearly hoping for when Lee accused the Times of “engaging in this progressive, self-loathing criticism.”
Gallagher nodded as Lee spoke, then returned to Trumpaganza cheerleading:
GALLAGHER: There’s an argument that says, look, if you look at America, I mean, parades are part of our fabric. You know we have parades for military members, we have parades for World Series champions. It’s kind of who we are. And on 4th of July, what’s wrong with a good old-fashioned parade, whatever it includes?
What’s wrong, as Gallagher must surely know or else he’s not qualified for his job, is that, just like #unwantedIvanka, Trump has inserted himself into an event he shouldn’t have and turned it into a militaristic political rally designed to line his pockets at taxpayer expense.
We'll see what Kleptocrat Trump does tomorrow night. But here's one person who won’t be watching. I’ll be at a free concert in a nearby park, hosted by a friendly, non-partisan mayor who will welcome everyone, who isn’t using the event to enrich himself and who doesn’t need a display of military force to make himself feel important.
Watch Gallagher’s phony-baloney “straight news” hosting below, from the July 3, 2019 The Story with Martha MacCallum.
Dumbo will issue an Executive Order next week mandating the citizenship question in the census. The rationale will be a flimsy pretext invoking voting rights data. The Repug Supreme Court will ignore the mountain of evidence proving the true intent—-undercounting immigrants—-and approve the question.