Republicans Abandon Fox News

One of the problems with American society today is the fact free bubble in which much of the far right exists.  Many of the right have literally no knowledge of what is really happening in the world and the causation behind events.  One of the main purveyors of this embrace of ignorance and deliberate refusal to objective reality has heretofore been been Fox News - or Faux News on this blog.  Now, Republicans appear to be abandoning Fox News, because the network is not sufficiently un-tethered to reality.  What is frightening is that many of those walking away from Fox News will likely gravitate to even more ignorance based "news" outlet.  Perhaps these people fleeing from Fox News will opt to make Storm Front or perhaps The Crusader, the KKK's official newspaper as their preferred source of "news."  Salon looks at the phenomenon.  Here are excerpts:

Since January, Fox News has seen a precipitous drop in its reputation amongst its mostly conservative viewership — falling to 50th place on a list of brands most trusted by Republicans over the past two years.

In 2014, the most dominant cable news channel was the 10th best-perceived brand by Republicans, according to AdAge. But in a YouGov Brand Index survey released at the end of February 2016, the perception of Fox News among Republicans had “declined by approximately 50 percent since January of this year” — to a three-year low.

And in a just-released 2016 YouGov BrandIndex ranking, Fox News’ position plummeted to outside of the top-20 for the first time.  

Trump’s feud with Kelly tarnished the networks’ perception amongst viewers who suspected an anti-Trump bias. And while Trump still found safe refuge at “Fox & Friends” and even had Fox News host Sean Hannity appear in a campaign ad on his behalf, the blatant boosting alienated supporters of other Republican candidates.

Then one of the network’s most veteran female anchors accused former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment.

After Gretchen Carlson filed a blockbuster lawsuit against the Fox News boss, the network saw its biggest shake-up with the retirement of longtime host Greta Van Susteren and the ousting of Ailes — who went on to join the Trump campaign as an adviser.

Enter Trump.TV. As Salon’s Matthew Sheffield’s explained, Trump will be ideally situated to benefit from the demise of the Fox News brand among Republicans. Reports since Ailes’ ousting indicate that Rupert Murdoch and sons Lachlan and James, who help run parent company 21st Century Fox, plan to begin shedding the network’s image as a right-wing media outfit in favor of a more serious journalistic effort.

Host Shepard Smith recently told the Huffington Post that Murdoch indicated after the Ailes scandal that he planned to make Fox News “the best news organization in the America.”

But a more mainstream news source is not what Republican viewers want. While Fox News’ reputational ranking went down, Republicans still despise both CNN and MSNBC much more. CNN and MSNBC were ranked 1,470 and 1,471, respectively.

“If you’re tired of biased, mainstream media reporting (otherwise known as Crooked Hillary’s super PAC), tune into my Facebook Live broadcast,” Trump told his supporters ahead of the third presidential debate Wednesday. According to the Financial Times, the nearly four hours of coverage had 8.9 million views by Thursday afternoon.

Ted Cruz: the Big Loser in Last Night's Debate

Frankly, if there was a star at last night's GOP debate, it was Megan Kelly who got off some real zingers and put Ted Cruz in his place when she played videos of Ted Cruz's past statements on immigration reform which diametrically differ from what he is now saying on the campaign trail and tried to claim last night. It's as if she had prepped with Rachel Maddow.  It was delicious to watch.  Others took their hits last night and overall Jeb Bush and John Kasich came across as the most rational - not that sanity and rationality matter for much any more in today's GOP.  As for Marco Rubio, his statements aimed at prostituting himself to Christofascists made me question why he doesn't simply have "I'm a pandering whore" tattooed on his forehead. A column in the Washington Post looks at Cruz as the big loser and other aspects of last night.  Here are excerpts:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who has been in a tailspin since Trump put him in his place at the last debate on “New York values,” had his worst debate outing, to put it mildly. His initial question on Trump’s absence ushered in a drippy tribute to Iowans who welcomed his family, but then dwelt too long on Trump. Asked about his inconsistent defense record, he doubled down on his silly embrace of “carpet bombing.” The event vividly explained that without someone to attack Cruz has precious little to say.

In a cringe-worthy moment, he got shouted down by moderator Chris Wallace for interrupting. He looked, well, weak. Complaining about others attacking him (they were not) drew boos from the crowd. His joke that he would have to leave the stage if people don’t stop being mean fell flat.

By contrast Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), who has been picking up momentum and going hard after evangelical voters, had an exceptionally strong first half of the debate, navigated his way on immigration and may have pushed closer to Cruz in Iowa.

In his face down with Cruz on immigration, Rubio went for blood, saying, “This is the lie that Ted’s campaign is built upon” — namely that only he is a conservative and everyone else is a RINO. Rubio kept going, “We’re not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who’s willing to say or do anything to win an election,” and accused Cruz of trying to “trump Trump on immigration.” All Cruz could do was to cite support from anti-immigration extremists like Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) — whom is unknown by the vast majority of voters outside Alabama.

Jeb Bush did not avoid embracing his father and brother, and made his pitch for a candidate with a “record of accomplishment.” Throughout he seemed steadier and more relaxed than at any time previously, citing his detailed plan to defeat the Islamic State. He wound up in an argument with Rubio over “amnesty,” accusing Rubio of “cutting and running,”  although he then seemed to undercut himself by saying he agreed to support Rubio’s bill. . . . Without Trump on the stage, Bush arguably had his best debate night. We will see if it came too late in the race to make up lost ground.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie chose to hit Clinton rather than his opponents, citing her mishandling of confidential material.

Rand Paul got his chance to make his case for anti-interventionism and criminal reform. In his best moment of the night, he slammed Cruz for switching positions on immigration, in essence taking Rubio’s side in the argument as to whether Cruz was an opportunist. He flatly said Cruz had an “authenticity” problem.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich made his usual pleas for mature leadership, but once again lacked the stage presence and concrete, specific ideas to distinguish him from the crowd. He gave an impassioned plea for helping the mentally ill. For much of the debate however he seemed to be an afterthought.

Finally, Dr. Ben Carson rarely made an impression, although he put in a plug for getting tough with Russia. His quiet demeanor seemed like resignation, a sign his campaign has played out.

With several winners and one obvious loser (Cruz), the debate may cement rather than change preferences. The GOP as a whole regained some solemnity and brain cells without Trump present. The voters will render their verdict on Monday.

Republicans Remain Largely Silent in Face of Trump’s Bigotry and Misogyny

With Donald Trump spouting some crazy, racist or misogynist virtually every day, one would think Republicans would be up in arms protesting the batshitery.  But they are not.  Instead they remain largely silent and the reason for this is simple: Trump is spouting the beliefs of the swamp fever sickened GOP base.  To attack Trump would be to attack the Christofascis/Tea Party base of the party and few Republicans dare face the wrath of these hate and fear driven extremists.  Meanwhile, the GOP continues to alienate more of the rest of the country.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at the phenomenon.  Here are excerpts:

Wednesday was Women’s Equality Day, the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave American women the right to vote 95 years ago.  And how have Republicans marked this egalitarian milestone? Why, with another bimbo eruption, of course.

The perpetrator, as usual, was Donald Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, who, in his three-week-old feud with debate moderator Megyn Kelly, circulated a tweet late Monday once again referring to the Fox News star as a “bimbo.”

Fox News boss Roger Ailes, who had already had words with Trump over his sexist attacks on the anchor, fired back Tuesday with a statement saying Trump’s “surprise and unprovoked attack on Megyn Kelly during her show last night is as unacceptable as it is disturbing.” He went on to call Trump’s Twitter attack “crude and irresponsible.”

Trump’s response, at a press conference in Iowa: “It is a very small element in my life, Megyn Kelly. I don’t care about Megyn Kelly. No, I would not apologize. She should probably apologize to me, but I just don’t care.”  Right. The victim of Trump’s misogyny should apologize to him. 

[T]he character of the [other GOP presidential] candidates already has been revealed. Trump is acting like a sexist and a bigot — and the rest of the candidates are, with occasional exceptions, too timid to call him what he is.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus even praised the contribution made by Trump’s candidacy. “I think it’s a net positive for everybody,” he said in a radio interview.

A net positive? That’s an intriguing calculation, considering all the gross negatives:
Describing Mexican immigrants as rapists and thugs.
Kicking one of the nation’s leading Latino journalists, Jorge Ramos, out of a news conference, telling him, “Go back to Univision.”

[A]s the Trump outrages continue, they tend to be met more by eye-rolls and a Trump-will-be-Trump acceptance — and less by condemnation. After this week’s bimbo episode, a Washington Post search for responses by the candidates as of late Wednesday found only George Pataki (yes, he’s still in the race) weighing in, saying Trump was “over the line” and displaying a “demeaning attitude towards women.”

The way to combat Trump’s bigotry and misogyny is to denounce it as loudly as he spews it. 

When Will the GOP Face Reality About Donald Trump?

Having been in the car for 12 hours yesterday and then a bit out of the loop today I am a little bit behind the curve on the latest news.  However, that said, one thing is clear: Donald Trump is a train wreck for the GOP.  The number one question, therefore, becomes one when the party as a whole not to mention opposing candidates will face reality and stop treating Trump as a viable candidate.  Between his newly launched war against Megan Kelly and Fox News in general, Trump continues to prove that he is a loose canon and that his candidacy is nothing more than a circus act with a loud mouthed, egotistical buffoon at its center.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at the GOP dilemma.  Here are highlights:

Donald Trump’s attacks on Fox News’s Megyn Kelly have brought his Republican presidential rivals to another moment of truth. How long can they try to treat him as a sideshow before they and the party they seek to lead suffer the political effects of his excesses?

For Trump’s rivals, the political calculus this summer has seemed relatively straightforward. At this still-early stage in the nomination contest, they prefer to pursue their own campaign strategies, not react to his. As Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) told NBC’s Chuck Todd in a “Meet the Press” interview that will air Sunday: “If I comment on everything he said, my whole campaign will be consumed by it.”

Because his rivals assume that Trump will either implode or eventually walk away in a fit of anger, they have generally tried to ignore him rather than seek a confrontation. Sometimes they’ve been forced to voice their displeasure, as has been the case in the past 48 hours.

They responded after Trump, in a CNN interview Friday evening, escalated his criticism of Kelly, calling her a “lightweight” and accusing her of coming after him in last week’s debate in Cleveland with “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”

Saturday’s flurry of statements criticizing Trump had a sense of déjà vu. Just three weeks ago, the same almost-ritualized performance played out after Trump had dissed Sen. John McCain of Arizona as not being a hero, despite McCain’s having endured torture and permanent disability as a POW during the Vietnam War.

Tentativeness has marked the candidates’ strategy in dealing with the Trump phenomenon. You could see their hesitation during the debate Thursday. No one really came to Cleveland with the goal of taking on Trump. Not one of the other nine candidates on stage came to Kelly’s defense when Trump went after her for asking him about derogatory comments he has made about women in the past.

There is another reason beyond the other candidates’ wanting to run their own races or wishing not to be the object of Trump’s considerable ire.

They all think that Trump’s support reflects more than fascination with celebrity, that he has tapped into something visceral in the electorate: anger and insecurity, revulsion with Washington, disgust with political-speak and political elites. Because they hope Trump will sink of his own weight, they wish to avoid offending Trump for fear of offending his voters. The candidates want those voters to turn to them if they abandon the reality TV star.

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.),  . . . warned that Republicans risk blowing a chance to win the White House if they fail to take on Trump. “There comes a point when it becomes about you and Mr. Trump,” he said.

Right now, Trump’s megaphone is louder than the collective voice of the others in the GOP race. The nomination contest for now is Trump vs. the rest of them. As long as he stands tallest in the polls and loudest on the cable stations, his message will outweigh theirs. It’s clear now what kind of campaign Trump will run and what kind of candidate he is. That’s the reality that now confronts the rest of the Republican Party.