Clicking on the link for “World must prepare for Trump’s second term” on The Australian will get you to two readable paragraphs and a paywall.
I wasn’t about to subscribe even though the article had an intriguing title and the paragraphs that could be read suggested this wouldn’t be a pure puff piece describing Donald Trump.
I clicked on the link three or four times and to my surprise the entire article came up. Before it could disappear I copied the text and emailed it to myself. Therefore I can write about what the article said and share a few excerpts that were rather critical of Trump.
The third paragraph, the one below the two you can read for free, isn't exactly complementary. It uses the word narcissism, a word that when combined with Trump in a Google News search comes up with 54,200 news items.
Trump’s rule-breaking narcissism and vindictiveness — so far — have not brought him undone. Just the reverse, and his re-election manifesto must be seen with brutal realism: Trump is a master of politics as reality television and, for many Americans, a credible huckster for national economic revival and patriotic assertion. Trump extremism has had another dividend — it drives much of his Democratic Party opponents towards a self-lacerating madness.
The section on the impeachment is telling, not complementary of the Democrats but also saying Trump’s behavior justifies his removal;
As for the impeachment, while Trump’s behaviour justifies his removal, that removal should come only by the democratic vote of the people at an election. The Democrats risk being exposed as frauds — seeking to remove Trump in a trial because they cannot beat him at an election. They disguise their weakness with a flawed moralism.
The long article is descriptive of Trump’s presidency, what the author considers his successes and failures. However interspersed are these snippets about Trump which would be eye opening if a Trump sycophant uttered them on Fox News.
- Trump’s record reveals his contempt for US institutions and the foundations of democracy.
- Consider the consequences — a re-elected Trump will claim vindication, forever. His authoritarianism and dangerous “American First” ideology will gain fresh life. The risk to global politics and American allies such as Australia will only intensify... that means a further decline in US global leadership...
- Trump is running a cultural campaign appealing to the nobodies against the somebodies.
- Peggy Noonan, a Reagan speechwriter said in The Wall Street Journal: “This was the President putting the Republican Party on the side of the nobodies of all colours as opposed to the somebodies. This is a realignment I have supported. I very much regret that the President is a bad man and half mad because if he weren’t I’d be cheering.”
- In politics extremism breeds extremism but Trump’s skill in managing the politics of polarisation far exceeds anything seen from the Democrats so far.
The article ends as follows:
Like every past president, Trump claims ownership of the transition he has wrought and presents himself as the embodiment of the American spirit. Witness his speech: “America is a land of heroes. This is a place where greatness is born, where destinies are forged and where legends come to life. This is the home of Thomas Edison and Teddy Roosevelt, of many great generals including Washington, Pershing, Patton and MacArthur. This is the home of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Harriet Tubman, the Wright brothers, Neil Armstrong and so many more. This is our glorious and magnificent inheritance. America is the place where anything can happen.”
The last sentence is true in a way Trump didn’t intend: the anything that happened was the Trump presidency! His pitch may sound corny but this is the presidential vernacular. The Democrats and their supporters face a decisive test. Anti-Trump populist frenzy and Nancy Pelosi’s theatrical tearing up of Trump’s speech is no substitute for a moderate, resolute, tough-minded appeal to the middle ground of America.
A second Trump term will shake the world. The idea that Australia will escape is remote — and we are simply unprepared for what that might involve.
I have my own personal Fox Watch here at Daily Kos and have written about him several times wondering what would happen at Fox News if Murdock abandoned him.
In January 2017 I wrote this one.
I wrote:
If Rupert Murdoch is worried about the psychopathology and fascistic megalomania of Trump as much as we are, there could be drastic ramifications for how Fox News covers him.
I never watch Fox News… but we should stay alert for indications at some point that Rupert Murdoch has abandoned Trump…. if he does there will be a shift, subtle or obvious, toward Fox becoming balanced for the first time. I don’t see them as ever abandoning championing the right wing agenda, but Trump is not ideologically pure. Murdoch has to know this by now.
Fox News could become more like MSNBC, favoring the conservative focus, but also presenting the progressive side the way MSNBC does the opposite.
While Murdoch wants Fox News to be the only mainstream right wing network because that is where the money is, he also has a political agenda which may not be as reactionary as many liberals think it is.
On June 26, 2019 I wrote this.
I wonder if Rupert Murdoch will read this article which was just published in the Australian Herald Sun and on News.com.au which he owns.
He should. Perhaps if he did he would reassess his allowing Fox News to treat Donald Trump as an Mt. Rushmore-worthy president. At the least, he would see to it that the fact that countless mental health professionals, including experts on violence like Bandy X. Lee, MD, editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, consider Donald Trump to be dangerous.
I am sure there are mental health professionals who would be willing to appear on a Fox New show, especially now that Trump is showing more and more signs of becoming deranged.
As far as I know, only one Duty to Warn psychotherapist, clinical psychologist Dr. John Gartner (who is the founder of the group) has appeared on a Fox News show. He was on Watter’s World a year ago. He’s been on Lawrence O’Donnell along with another Duty to Warn shrink, Harvard psychiatrist Lance Dodes. John Gartner is currently in the news because he is one of the editors of a just-published book, Nuclear Madness and the Mind of Donald Trump (which I wrote about here a few days ago). John Gartner is also working on raising funds for a documentary #UNFIT: The Dangerous Mind of Donald Trump. I explain the history of the Duty to Warn Onmovement here.
On August 25, 2019 I wrote about another Murdoch owned newspaper:
Of those members of the MAGA cult who watch television news with any frequency, and my hunch is that this isn’t a large percentage, I am certain that almost all of them exclusively watch Fox News. Since his election I have wondered what would happen if Rupert Murdoch decided make sure the Fox news coverage of Trump was accurate, and he added more high profile anti-Trump conservatives like Jennifer Rubin to his opinion segments and shows. Currently Fox has Juan Williams and Donna Brazille and Trump is not at all pleased with this: see Fox News Democrats Fire Back at Trump's "Tiresome" Criticism of Network.
There is also a battle between overwhelmingly pro-Trump personalities —Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Ingraham—and the "straight news" hosts—Bret Baier, Shep Smith, and Chris Wallace. See: DONALD TRUMP'S FOX NEWS INFLUENCE SPARKS NETWORK CIVIL WAR AS LAURA INGRAHAM, CHRIS WALLACE TRADE INSULTS
It remains to be seen whether today’s Wall Street Journal article will rile up the unstable autocrat, the self proclaimed emperor of economics.
I followed that story with this one just a few days later:
Since posting these articles, prompted by the impeachment and Trump’s behavior several more Fox News personalities like Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano have been highly critical of Trump.
Since 2019 Trump has had hard words for Fox News every time they don’t bow down to his Royal hinny, Consider: Trump criticizes Fox, which 'isn't working for us anymore’ from 8/28/19.
The most recent poll I put on is as follows. I’ll repost it again with different wording to see if your opinions have changed.