Jon Stewart is back on The Daily Show on Mondays, but we have him right here! Sort of. If you missed it, here's his opening segment from yesterday with a funny piece on Solar Eclipse Mania and and a much less-funny (but still able to find humor) one about U.S. support in Israel-Gaza.
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Just a brief bit of history that's very current and most people know. But it bears repeating for reasons that will be clear. We know for instance that Trump was found guilty of business fraud for grossly overstating the value of his properties for a decade and fined $455 million. And as recent as that, we also know even more recently that Trump posted a bond for $175 million to appeal the finding, but that bond appears to be fraudulent and has been rejected by a New York court. We know all this. It's really recent. Trump not only has a history of vastly overstating the money he has, but he had been convicted in court (pending appeal...) for it. So recent that it's near-impossible to not know about it, if you follow the news even tangentially. And all the more so if you actually report the news. That's why it's -- sorry, I don't know if the proper word is "shocking" or "irresponsible", so instead let's go with -- shockingly irresponsible that most of the news media has been reporting Trump saying that he raised $50 million at his recent Mar-a-Lago fundraiser over the weekend. And almost no mention that this number has not be verified, and almost no mention that only Trump has announced the figure, and almost no mention that Trump has been convicted for hugely overstating his finances often in the past. I say "almost no mention" to be fair. I haven't seen it mentioned on TV news, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been mentioned somewhere I didn't see. I did see a couple of mentions of it by journalists on Twitter. But for the vast most part, I've seen no mention of any of that, just pure acceptance of what Trump said about his money. For instance, MSNBC even did a segment yesterday morning on Ana Cabrera's show where the full panel blithely accepted what Trump said on how much was supposedly raised. Not a single word even questioned whether Trump's figure might be inflated. Or that he had just been convicted of overinflating the value of his properties. Speaking only personally, when I heard Trump (and Trump alone from the event) say that $50 million had been raised, I was immediately skeptical. Though that's putting it politely. My first thought was Trump is lying. My second thought was Trump is lying. And my third thought was also that Trump is lying. My whole list of thoughts was Trump is lying. If some other list exists in the world and has facts that even conceivably say that's the number, Trump doesn't know it. Because he's just making up numbers without asking anyone and is lying. Because that's what he does. And has been convicted for it. In fact, let's even add a bit of more distant history to drive home the point about Trump and lying about his finances, but this time with a case that is specifically about him fundraising. Back in January 2016, you may recall that Trump skipped a Republican debate and said that instead he would hold a competing event (to draw away attention) and make it a fundraiser for veterans. And afterwards, he claimed that he had raised $6 million!! The problem is after relentless questioning, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski finally admitted in late-May to the Washington Post that, no, Trump had not raised $6 million. And added that he did not “know the exact number." (Keep in mind, that this was four month after the fundraiser, and Lewandowski supposedly still said he didn't know how much money had been raised. Further, after this same four months of questioning by reporters about if any of the money had been actually donated to veterans groups (all of which said, when questioned, that they hadn't received anything), only then -- four months later, under pressure -- did Trump at last donate $1.9 million. Out of of the $6 million he claimed to have raised. To be fair, some reporters have pointed out that the money Trump raised will likely go to pay his legal defense fund, rather than to support his election campaign which is where the $25 million President Biden just raised at his fundraiser will go. And some reporters have mentioned that any billionaire who donated the upper limits at the Trump event would have given the most they could during the election and would be maxed out, meaning Trump will not be getting any more directly from them. That's unlike the Biden fundraiser where the upper limit was far less, and there were also many tickets sold for $200 and $300 -- meaning more money can come from that all. But though it's good that they reported that, it's a totally separate matter from journalists and expert analysts blithely accepting Trump's word on anything out of his mouth about his finances. But most especially this. I would say that I hope journalists do better when it comes to reporting anything says about his finances -- but that's too low a bar, because this was a layup, and they missed it...and can't do any worse. Because HBO changed their posting schedule for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, I forget that it now goes online on Thursdays, so I forgot to post it then. I'll do my best to get back on schedule, but for now here's the Main Story from last week. And it's excellent. It's something I've long been aware of, but not the depth of the problem. I only thought it was a sort of usury-type issue with food delivery services like GrubHub and Postmates, but it is far more pervasive and deceptive. The report tells it well with get detail and a lot of humor. There was not only a fascinating, but telling and critically important exchange that Jake Tapper had on CNN with Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH). It's deeply important not just for what was said, or even just that Turner is a Republican, but also because he chair of the House Intelligence Committee. And the exchange is further important because he's asked about confirming what another Republican, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) said -- and Turner not only confirms it, but expands upon it. The short version is that he confirms how Russian propaganda has not only been used by some of the Republican base, but that even some of his colleagues in the House use Russian propaganda on the floor of Congress. (Unfortunately, the platform service is having technical difficulty letting me embed the video. If the issue continues, and it doesn't post, you can -- and should -- watch it here. Mike Turner is very detailed and far more specific on Republican use of Russian propaganda and the threat of that than I am above. The video is only 1-1/2 minutes)
There's a bitter irony in all this. It was in the 1950s when Republicans lead the House Un-American Activities Committee investigations of liberals and Democrats who were even suspected of having sympathies with Russia, and pushed by Rep. Joseph McCarthy, (R-WI) began investigations based solely on inuendo of Russian ties, and the hell of the Republican-led Blacklist destroyed lives. And into the 1960s, the GOP mantra was "Better dead than Red." And "Socialist!!!" has still been the cry by Republicans to smear Democrats for the past 70 years. Yet here were are, two Republican Congressmen, including the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, talking about how actual Russian propaganda has seeped into the Republican base -- and even on the House floor, GOP representatives are spreading the work of Russian propaganda. Probably unwittingly (probably, to be kind), but clearly without any effort to learn that they are doing so or correcting it when told that it's what they've done. In Russia, that's know as "Useful Idiots." Just yesterday, I saw video of a MAGOP-clad woman saying how she would vote for Putin over President Biden. Her reason -- well, actually the reason doesn't matter, since the decision is indefensible from a party insisting their actions are as supposed "patriots" to save America -- is that “Hell yeah!… Putin wants to go back to good morality.” Putting aside that since "good morality" is her standard, this woman likely knows little about the despot Putin who has his opponents killed and started a war to overrun a democratic ally of the U.S., this is from someone supporting a man found liable by two juries for the equivalence of rape. And given the many other videos we've seen of the MAGOP base, defending the attempted overthrow of the government, her words stand for so many of today's Republican Party. But how could it be otherwise, when they enable Trump who said he trusted former KGB operative Putin, and perhaps the leading enemy of the Unites States, more than U.S. intelligence services. Still, though, it's the support of Russian propaganda by elected Republican House members -- even to the point of pushing it on the House floor, as stated by the GOP head of the House Intelligence Committee, that stands out the most, since that's the leadership of the Republican Party. And that's today's MAGOP. It's not about Trump, we know who he is. It's the elected members of the Republican Party who enable him -- and have made fascism and Russian propaganda their own. From the archives. The contestant this week is Brandon Martin from Minneapolis, Minnesota. This was a rarity – I not only was able to get the composer style – and get it before the hidden song, but I got it within a few notes. That’s because the opening is clearly based on a famous piece of music. And I even got the hidden song pretty quickly. I suspect many, if not most people will get both, as well.
On this week’s episode of 3rd and Fairfax, the official podcast of the Writers Guild of America, the guest is Cord Jefferson, who won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, for American Fiction, which he also directed. With credits that include Succession and Watchmen, he talks about the challenges of adaption, and creating Black-centered narratives. If you want to jump to his conversation, it starts a little past the 18:00 mark.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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