Media are betraying the public trust by covering Trump’s lying propaganda speech tonight

Last updated on: January 8, 2019 at 11:34 am by Mark Shea

Media are betraying the public trust by covering Trump’s lying propaganda speech tonight 2019-01-08T11:34:44-07:00 Mark Shea

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There is no crisis at the border and no need for wasting $5 billion on a wall to inflict sadistic punishment on refugees. There is no need for Trump’s sadistic and selfish shutdown of the government. None of this is necessary and everything Trump is saying to rationalize his stupid vanity project for the benefit of his base of bigots is a lie.

No. Really:

At a June 21, 2018, cabinet meeting, Donald Trump talked about “the illegal immigration crisis on the southern border.” But data coming from his own administration show there is no such crisis. This year, illegal cross-border migration is only about 11% higher than at the same point last year – and the administration said last year was the “lowest level” on record.

Even FOX is calling BS on the torrent of lies from the Trump Administration:

So, in panic at the thought that even FOX, his most loyal pack of liars, are calling him out, Trump is now going to the border to offer more lies in a speech tonight that is intended to do nothing other than fill the airwaves with the Big Lie that undergirds this whole stupid policy: his racist claim that refugees constitute some grave terrorist threat to the US and his idiotic lie that a wall will save us from that pretend threat.

The reality, of course, is that 73% of the domestic terrorism in the US since 9/11 has come from Trump’s base of white supremacist and far right kooks. His response: disable law enforcement in pursuit of such terrorists.

It’s his base of racists he must please. He promised them a Wall and they will hate him if he breaks that promise, because punishing the poor and the brown is the very core of the contract he made with his base of white racists. Cruelty to the poor and brown matters more to them than their own happiness and prosperity. As one Trump supporter summarized their outlook:

A prison employee in Florida who voted for President Trump argued that Trump is to blame for the current government shutdown.

“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” Crystal Minton told The New York Times in an article published Monday. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”

The entire mentality driving Trumpism is summarized in that quote. Note the definition of “good things.” They voted for him because they wanted him to inflict sadistic cruelty on their enemies: the brown and those poorer than themselves. Now they find that the reckless and stupid predator they adore does not see them as allies in the struggle to punish those weaker than themselves, but as useful and stupid prey to be eaten at will in his own game of enriching and empowering himself. If the shutdown he has recklessly inaugurated smashes them, he could not care less. And they are surprised at this perfectly predictable betrayal. Will they learn? History does not suggest this is the likely outcome. Because they still choose to believe his lies in the hope that things will get better for themselves while still smashing the people they hate. But there is a risk that even his base might get a clue.

So Trump is walking a tightrope tonight. He needs to tell the base he sees as acceptable losses to stay the course and keep taking it on the chin because if he loses his Wall, he loses everything and the base may finally figure out they have been conned by a liar. They have already managed to lie to themselves and forget his pledge that Mexico would pay for the Wall because they will tell themselves all manner of lies in pursuit of their goal of cruelty to the weak and poor and brown. But if the Wall is abandoned entirely, even this pack of deluded cultists may not be able to perform the feat of shifting the blame on to the Democrats. They tremble on the verge of actually holding Trump accountable for what he said and if break this core promise even they may finally give up on him. And if that happens all their rage and hate may turn on him at last, a prospect Trump dreads.

And so the speech tonight, which will be a torrent of lies. If the networks had any self-respect they would refuse to cover it, since it will be the quintessence of Fake News. Yeah, I know. “But it’s the President!”

Big deal. The networks refused to cover the Brown Guy when he give a speech on his immigration policy. But when the lying white supremacist whistles up airtime, they all come crawling.

I, for one, will find something useful to do with my time rather than listen to a torrent of lies on behalf of a moronic, wasteful Wall. As a Catholic, I believe we have a duty to form ourselves in truth, not lies.

Here’s some truth: 9 things you should know before Trump starts spewing lies in Tuesday address to the nation

Here’s some more truth:

“When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was a stranger and you did not welcome me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee a stranger and did not minister to thee?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

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