Finally Friday Reads: Peak Delusional Lies and Empty Fury

“In case you missed the most important prime time presidential address since the Cuban missile crisis. Here’s what happened.” John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

I knew that last night’s Presidential rant was going to be a doozy. I actually dialed up PBS and made it through maybe 2 minutes before the stream of lies, and the madness got to me. I still can’t hear him or see him animated. The only thing left to Orange Caligula is madness. I wanted to see how bad it had gotten. It took me all of a few seconds to feel like I had stepped into bedlam.

It appears that many media outlets were discussing the consequences of airing such obvious lies and propaganda surrounding elections. Here’s a sample of that from The Independent via Yahoo. Rhian Lubin has the lede. “Trump calls for NBC and ABC to have their licenses revoked for not airing his ‘election interference’ speech.” He really hates the First Amendment and free and open elections.

President Donald Trump called for NBC and ABC to have their broadcast licenses revoked for not airing his primetime address about “election interference,” accusing the networks of being “part of a plot.”

ABC and NBC covered the Thursday night speech on their online streaming platforms, with both networks airing special reports summarizing Trump’s remarks once the president concluded. But he still rebuked the outlets for not airing it on their primary channels.

“In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech,” Trump said in his evening address. “They and others in the media are part of a plot. They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason…Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses.”

White House communications director Steven Cheung also joined in the attack. “Cowards. NBC and ABC don’t want you to hear the truth,” he said in a post on X. “All they want to do is hide the facts from YOU.”

NBC News NOW, the network’s streaming service, carried the speech live, as did ABC on its ABC News Live platform.

Fox News aired the full speech live but CNN did not, with Kaitlan Collins explaining to viewers that the network would be “monitoring” what the president said in order to fact check the address.

“We’ll be monitoring what the president says tonight, as we always do, but aren’t taking it live, given the president has a well-documented history of saying blatantly false things about elections,” Collins said.

In the rare primetime address, which lasted approximately 23 minutes, Trump accused unnamed national security officials of hiding information about the security of America’s elections and alleged there were Chinese efforts to interfere in the 2020 election, which he lost.

Citing no hard evidence, the president claimed American elections are vulnerable “to hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference” and accused the People’s Republic of China of carrying out “the largest compromise of election data in history” by acquiring election data — much of which is commercially available for purchase by political campaigns and other interested parties.

This report is from Reuters via Yahoo and is written by Helen Coster. Trump threatens to revoke licenses of US networks for not carrying primetime speech.”

Two of the three major U.S. television networks and CNN did not broadcast a prime-time address on Thursday by President Donald Trump on their primary platforms, drawing a rebuke from a president who has placed unprecedented pressure on American media.

The speech focused on election security, four months before the critical midterm elections.

During his speech, Trump said that networks that ‌did not air his speech were engaged in a “plot” and should have their licenses revoked.

“In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said they would not cover this speech,” he said, adding, “Fraud ‌like this should mean a revocation of their licenses.”

Networks have broad First Amendment rights to decide what they choose to broadcast, experts say. But historically, broadcasters have carried most such speeches on the grounds that they provide information of public importance.

Late on Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for ABC News said ​the network would run Trump’s speech on its ABC News Live streaming platform and ABC News Radio – not its broadcast channel.

NBC News carried the president’s remarks on its free streaming service, NBC News NOW, but not on its main broadcast channel, according to a person familiar with the matter. The company declined to comment.

In a statement, CNN said it would monitor the speech for news, with a live feed appearing on its website and CNN All Access, its subscription streaming channel.

The ABC and NBC streaming channels generally draw a fraction of the viewers that their traditional broadcast signals reach. CNN’s digital network is a paid-for service with a smaller audience than its regular cable channel.

In the speech, Trump declassified intelligence that he said showed Chinese interference in ‌U.S. elections, reviving his long-running attacks on election security despite a U.S. intelligence assessment ⁠that found no evidence Beijing altered the 2020 vote, which he lost.

More details on the coverage by the major stations can be found in this Guardian article. “US TV networks split on broadcasting Trump’s election-focused speech. NBC and CNN stayed away from White House speech, while Fox News, MS Now, CBS, and some ABC affiliates aired it.” I’ve basically quit watching what is now MS Now. As I said, I just went to YouTube to find the live speech. I doubt I could’ve tolerated the anchors trying to deal with this as if it had anything to do with reality.  Well, at least Jen Psaki tried.

MS Now chose to air about half of the speech despite warnings from Jen Psaki, the network’s 9pm host and former Biden White House press secretary, who told viewers that it would be unlike a traditional White House address.

“When you’re in the White House, these are selective moments a president typically takes to speak to the American public,” she said. “We are not in normal times, as you all know. And this speech is not going to be about this country, and it is not going to be about the American people and the challenges people face.”

Trump’s remarks focused on “the deep state” and efforts by China to “meddle” in the US’s election system.

About 15 minutes into Trump’s comments, Psaki cut into the speech and pushed back on his assertions about the electoral system.

CBS also cut into Trump’s speech just over 20 minutes in, bringing on Tony Dokoupil, the Evening News anchor, and Major Garrett, the chief White House correspondent.

Before the speech, Dokoupil explained the network’s decision to air a large portion of it.

“It’s a speech expected to address safety and security of American elections, a topic, of course, that the president has talked a lot about for years now,” he said. “At times, almost constantly, and honestly, much of what the president has said on this topic has been false. Most notably, of course, the claim that he won the 2020 election, when of course he did not. Because of this, there is an argument that it’s irresponsible to air the president’s speech tonight. But this speech will be made. It will be news. And it’s our job to cover the news. And so we are.”

Rather than airing the speech, CNN hosted a panel discussion featuring experts from across the political spectrum. The network’s on-air graphic cast doubt on Trump’s remarks, telling viewers: “Trump Gives Address On Elections After Years of False Claims.”

Here’s some analysis from Election Law Blog and by Rick Hasen. “Trump’s Underwhelming Announcement on Voting Does Not Even Purport to Show That Any Illegal Votes Were Cast in the 2020 Election or That Voting Machines Have Been Hacked or Vote Totals Inaccurate; He Also Made a Pitch to Pass the SAVE America Act But Offered No New Federal Mandates.”

Donald Trump gave a national address where he made some recycled claims (“burn bags,” anyone?) about supposed voting machine vulnerabilities, about thousands of supposed noncitizens registered to vote, alleged voter registration fraud in Michigan, and about a cover-up concerning interference from China in the 2020 election. Among his biggest claims was that China had access to millions of American voting records. He said that there will be newly-declassified documents to back them up.

What Trump did NOT do was even purport to show a single ineligible voter voted in the 2020 election, or that any voting machines were actually compromised, voting machines or voter registration databases breached, or election results inaccurately reported.

Overall, this was an underwhelming announcement delivered with low energy that changes nothing about how state and local election administrators should run elections.

If his government had actual evidence of noncitizen voting, there would be indictments; Trump has been hounding US attorneys to bring such cases, and the fact that he hasn’t shows that these claims likely have no legs. Claims of noncitizen registration often evaporate upon closer inspection (such as the systems’ failure to catch newly naturalized citizens). And he’s made no claims about noncitizens actuallly voting.

He also did not offer anything new by way of policy proposals, saying DHS and others will work with states to remove purported noncitizens from the voting rolls and similar actions. He called for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act again, but offered no new executive orders on voting. That’s a good thing, and it is because the President has no power over how American elections are run.

Given Trump’s track record of incessantly lying about election rigging and voter fraud,view everything he says with a skeptical eye.

One of his major claims is that China got access to voter registration databases. We will have to wait to see what evidence he produces, but here is the earlier declassified intelligence report. Its first conclusion reflecting the collective wisdom of the intelligence community is at odds what Trump is saying:

Key Judgment 1: We have no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 US elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results. We assess that it would be difficult for a foreign actor to manipulate election processes at scale without detection by intelligence collection on the actors themselves, through physical and cyber security monitoring around voting systems across the country, or in post-election audits. The IC identified some successful compromises of state and local government networks prior to Election Day—as well as a higher volume of unsuccessful attempts—that we assess were not directed at altering election processes. Some foreign actors, such as Iran and Russia, spread false or inflated claims about alleged compromises of voting systems to undermine public confidence in election processes and results.

So that thought about waiting for the summaries was exactly what I did about 3 to 5 minutes in.  I can’t imagine anyone finding it appropriate to put such a mentally incapacitated individual on the screen for the world to see. The slurring alone should indicate that he’s not well.  I’m going to end this drama and trauma today with a post in Democracy Docket. “Trump pushes debunked election lies, demands SAVE America Act in primetime speech.” Yunior Rives has the lede.

President Donald Trump used a primetime address Thursday to resurrect debunked claims about the 2020 election, allege sweeping foreign interference in voting and pressure Congress to pass the anti-voting SAVE America Act.

But despite years of claiming that the election was stolen, he presented no evidence that any entity, foreign or domestic, manipulated votes or registration records, or in any way altered the outcome of the 2020 election. In fact, he didn’t even assert it.

In a disjointed speech, Trump claimed China obtained 220 million U.S. voter files and accused intelligence officials — whom he termed the “Deep State” — of concealing election threats. And he suggested electronic voting systems had previously been compromised.

Trump also announced that his administration would declassify intelligence documents supposedly backing his claims.

In fact, the U.S. intelligence community previously concluded that no foreign actor attempted to alter voter registration, ballot casting, vote tabulation or the reporting of results in 2020. Federal agencies also rejected claims that Venezuela, China or other foreign governments controlled voting equipment or manipulated vote totals.

Trump nevertheless described the newly released material as “brand new and irrefutable information” and said his administration would notify states about alleged vulnerabilities before the midterms.

Then he pivoted to pushing SAVE, his pet legislative project that election experts call “the most restrictive voting bill ever.”

“Addressing this crisis of election security demands that Congress must pass the SAVE America Act,” Trump said. “The only reason you wouldn’t do it is if you want to cheat.”

The massive anti-voting bill, which has stalled in the Senate, would require voters to show photo identification and provide documentary proof of citizenship. Trump also demanded an effective end to mail voting, falsely calling the practice “inherently corrupt.”

In pushing SAVE, Trump has regularly claimed — falsely — that illegal voting by noncitizens is widespread in U.S. elections.

During his speech Thursday, the president went further, saying that an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had identified 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in federal elections.

Orange Caligula simply cannot accept that the overwhelming number of people in the country hate him. His childhood traumas, major personality disorders, and advanced dementia keep him isolated in his own private America.

I hope you have the chance to enjoy something pleasant and peaceful this weekend. While my insane governor continues to rail about how useless New Orleans is, I am absolutely glad I am here. You can read about this feud at this link from MSN. “‘New Orleans thinks they’re so special’: Landry takes jab at city amid rising tensions. We not only are the bread and butter behind all state spending, we also have this news that lets us know that we are. “New Orleans named only city on World Monuments ‘Irreplaceable America’ list. Supporters say the World Monuments Fund recognition points to a broader conversation about the city’s future.”

New Orleans has been named the only city on the World Monuments Fund’s new Irreplaceable America list. It’s a designation recognizing places that help tell the nation’s story, while also facing significant threats to their future.

Unlike the other sites selected, New Orleans was recognized not for a single landmark, building or monument, but as an entire living cultural landscape.

If this country wants to keep convincing itself and others that we’re that shining city on a hill, then these MAGA Republicans and Trump himself. need to be kicked out of their offices. They value nothing about our people, our history, or our culture.

What’s on your Reading, Action, and Blogging list today?