Hint: If you’re a Republican pedophile, money launderer or a White House communications director who was fired after only 10 days on the job, you are not on Fox & Friends’ “naughty list” of political losers in 2017.
This morning, the Fox & Friends Trump sycophants ate up, without a single challenge, “GOP communications specialist and a speechwriter” T. J. McCormack’s Trump-ego massage disguised as a political year in review.
McCormack began his list with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, for sticking up for Democratic Rep. John Conyers after he was accused of sexual misconduct. Each name was an excuse to play some unflattering video of the person. In Pelosi’s case, she was being shouted over by immigration rights activists.
Next up, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), for calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment.
“Maxine Waters, she’s unbearable, she’s awful. … If you have nothing nice to say, then you’re probably Maxine Waters,” McCormack sneered.
Or Donald Trump. But somehow, despite his hundreds of Twitter insults, Trump didn’t make it on to the list.
However, the dig at Waters drew loud chuckles from the Trump Friends.
In a phony nod to bipartisanship, Republican Senator Jeff Flake made the list. But that’s because he knocked Trump. “Nice to be loyal,” McCormack said contemptuously.
Last but not least, Rep. Corinne Brown who is, you can probably guess, another Democrat! She has been sentenced to five years for using a charity for poor students as her personal expense account.
"The surest way to end up on a naughty list is to go to jail," McCormack snarked. He referred to Brown as “Cuddly Corinne.”
Apparently, the indictment of Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, for money laundering, is no biggie to this crew. Nor was Donald Trump’s support for pedophile Roy Moore (after his first choice for the U.S. Senate seat lost).
And who can forget the expletive-laden rant that got White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci fired after only 10 days on the job? Scaramucci, by the way, recently resigned from an advisory board at Tufts University after what The New York Times called “several weeks of conflict with students” that included threatening to sue a student and the school paper over harshly critical op-eds.
Referring to Brown, cohost Todd Piro said, “The rest of this stuff is just politics. But when you’re taking money from kids… this is ridiculous.”
“It is!” McCormack agreed.
“And that’s how you become a political loser!” cohost Lisa Boothe added.
“And on the naughty list for ever and ever,” McCormack continued.
He forgot to add that taking from kids to line your pockets is A-OK when Republicans do it. Because that’s exactly what Trump and the Republicans hope to do now that they’ve given a big, fat gift in the form of tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans via the recent Trump tax bill.
Watch the blatant propaganda below, from the December 26, 2017 Fox & Friends.
If we were to compile an actual list of good and poor political behavior for the year, it would look like this:
Poor Behavior:
-Mitch McConnell, for repeatedly making a point of ramming partisan bills through the Senate and refusing to allow any input from Democrats. He gets special points for stealing a Supreme Court seat and then celebrating with high fives on the Senate floor after getting away with it.
-Paul Ryan, for also repeatedly making a point of ramming partisan bills through the House and refusing to allow any input from Democrats. He gets special points for openly lying about the impact and intention behind the legislation he’s repeatedly been trying to inflict. And for celebrating after generating a massive tax increase for middle class families so he could reward large corporations.
-The GOP Congress in general, for failing to accomplish almost anything during an entire year, with the exception of a regressive Tax Transfer that will harm millions of American families.
-The Pence Cabinet, for intentionally wrecking multiple executive departments by deliberately understaffing them, and by ripping up most of the work that’s been done in those departments over the past decade.
-Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn and others in the Trump 2016 campaign, whose illegal behavior is now leading to indictments and plea deals.
-Roy Moore and other racist extremists like the White Supremacists who have repeatedly invaded communities like Berkeley and Charlottesville in their now-emboldened attempts to terrorize everyone else.
-Jeff Sessions, getting special notice for refusing to recognize human or civil rights but instead focusing on attacking any minority group he can get away with targeting. Most egregious has been his cancellation of the DACA program, with the intentional effect of terrorizing its recipients into either fleeing the country or into going back into hiding.
-Mike Pence, for directing US domestic and foreign policy as our Acting President over the past year in such a disastrous manner that this nation is now openly the laughingstock of the world. Under Pence’s failure of leadership, the US has backed away from international commitments and is now openly risking serious conflict in multiple arenas, particularly Korea.
-Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Anthony Scaramucci and Kellyanne Conway, for repeatedly and intentionally lying about the above situations.
-Fox News and Right Wing AM Radio shouters, for constantly reinforcing the lies and “alternative facts” from the above group.
-And finally, Donald Trump, for abrogating his responsibilities to Mike Pence and for spending a year essentially watching television, playing golf, and compulsively using Twitter to sow hatred and embolden the above-listed racists and extremists.
-Honorable Mention to the 2-3 million Democratic Party voters who chose not to vote in 2016 in the swing states and bear responsibility for the unfolding disaster we are continuing to endure. It is hoped that this group is learning their lesson from that mistake and that perhaps they’ll make some time to show up at the polls in 2018 and 2020. If they don’t, the mess gets a LOT worse. (And we should keep in mind that the Far Right still has a full year to inflict further damage before the midterms take effect, assuming the Dems show up to vote. Count on the GOP to maximize their opportunity to inflict that damage.)
As for the Good Behavior List, it’s not very long:
-The Democratic Party members of the House and Senate, for standing up for their principles throughout the year – regarding the stolen Supreme Court seat, the initial attempts to destroy the ACA and the successful and regressive Tax Transfer inflicted just before Christmas. It should be noted that many decent and dignified arguments were presented about how unfortunate the Right Wing’s behavior has been over the past year – at least to get those arguments on the record. (It’s true that the Dems allowed a Continuing Budget Resolution to go into effect last week that did not save the DACA group, and there are some very hard feelings about that – but let’s be realistic on that front. There is not going to be a DREAM Act passed by this Congress, and no relief is going to be provided to the DACA group until there’s a new majority in both Houses and an actual President in the White House. Shutting the government down over that reality won’t help the DACA group or anyone else.)
-Individual US Citizens who stand up every day for themselves and each other, and who are keeping track of the many lies from the Right Wing, and who are refusing to be bullied into silence. It is this group that will hopefully make the difference in 2018 and 2020. And we’ve already seen what is hopefully a preview, from the people of Alabama who defied everyone’s expectations and made a point of standing up to Roy Moore and his acolytes.