Did Rudy Giuliani's most destructive act take place in 1996?

We hear a lot in recent days about Rudy Giuliani's acts in the end stages of Donald Trump's political career, from his activity in Ukraine that helped lead to Trump's impeachment to his current inept attempts to throw out hundreds of thousands of Democratic votes as Trump refuses to accept his overwhelming loss (in the Electoral College as well as the popular vote) to President-Elect Joe Biden.

But what I've been thinking about today is the action of Mayor Giuliani's that may have done as much as any other to lead Trump to the White House in the first place.

In 1996, the Fox News Channel was started by Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, with its main studio in New York. However, it was not immediately available in any major television markets, including New York City. There was no internet method of getting video news in 1996, so Fox News was even more invisible than Trump's current favorite online right-wing channel, OANN, to the vast majority of Americans. The only cable provider in NYC was Time Warner, and they said they had a waiting list of 30 other cable stations vying for space and they didn't have room for a nascent cable news channel from the Australian owner of the New York Post.

"It began with a phone call to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani on Sept. 20 [1996], an entreaty that would soon mire City Hall in a feud between two media conglomerates. On the line was an old friend of the Mayor, Roger Ailes, a former Republican political consultant who is now chairman of the 24-hour news channel started by Rupert Murdoch." --New York Times, November 4, 1996

It could be just that Ailes was an old friend, or that Rudy's second wife, Donna Hanover, was then working at Murdoch's local station, WNYW-5, or that Rudy saw Fox as a national stage for his own presidential ambitions, or that he was unselfishly trying to save a few hundred NYC media jobs for a fledgling cable station, but the fact remains that he went to bat -- hard -- to get Fox News on New York's only cable provider, engaging much of the mayor's office and staff to do so, and he was ultimately successful. 

On a personal level, this has stuck in my head (and craw) because in the same year, 1996, Rudy sold the television station I watched most regularly, the city's PBS station WNYC-31, to a private buyer who immediately stopped showing BBC & PBS programming (he also sold my favorite radio station, WNYC-FM and AM, but those airwaves were bought by a foundation that kept the call letters and they have remained the city's main outlets for National Public Radio content.)

We'll never know if the struggling brainchild of Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes would have survived its infancy if it hadn't been able to move into the New York cable market, but maybe more importantly, we'll never know if tri-state real-estate con man Donald Trump would have become PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP without the Trump/Fox feedback loop that created his political "philosophy" and gave him a similarly-brainwashed audience for his political ambitions. Even though Trump had shown some of his political leanings publicly as early as 1989 when he lobbied heavily for the killing of the (innocent) Central Park Five, he was mainly a tabloid punchline for his marriages and affairs and bankruptcies and real-estate battle with Leona Helmsley; it's hard to imagine Trump becoming TRUMP without Fox News. It's hard to imagine now, but there was a real possibility that Fox News never would have appeared on the television screens in the Trump Tower penthouse without the heavy-handed intervention of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. It may be one of Rudy's greatest crimes.

A True Blue Liberal POTUS & SCOTUS Poll

Here's a poll that will be up on the @TrueBlueLiberal Twitter page this week about President Trump and two of his favorite judges:

POLL:
Due to his very, very GREAT respect for the American justice system, the next judge whom @realDonaldTrump plans to elevate to a seat on the Supreme Court, if he gets the opportunity, is...

— True Blue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) November 14, 2017

A Poll About @realDonaldTrump's Tweets Without an Obvious Answer

Trump's tweets from July 1, 2016 at 10:10 AM EDT.

This morning, for the third morning in a row, the official presidential statements in tweet form from the account of @realDonaldTrump have been used to attack "Crazy Joe Scarborough" and "dumb as a rock Mika" Brzezinski; he also threw in shots at NBC, Comcast, and CNN. Over ten percent of his tweets since becoming president have been targeting journalists, aimed at the "failing New York Times" and "Amazon Washington Post" as well as CBS and ABC. They are all, in his opinion, "Fake News," and his supporters are buying it. Only Fox News, Breitbart, Infowars, and The National Enquirer escape the wrath of his little twitterfingers.


So here's the question. With more news breaking every day about the pre-election collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to affect the November results, isn't it in his interest to do everything he can to discredit the messengers who are reporting #TrumpRussia breakthroughs every day?

POLL
Are the non-stop media attacks from @realDonaldTrump the rantings of an elderly TV addict or a conscious attempt to kill the messenger?

— True Blue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) July 1, 2017

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday Evening Update:
The Tweeter In Chief ended this day the same way he started it, while also adding the phrase "Modern Day Presidential" to the language.

Trump's Tweets from 7/1/2017 captured at 8:30PM EDT.

[Almost] Back to Business As Usual in the GOP/Fox Universe

After yesterday's Twitter misstep by the current resident of the White House, he was attacked from both sides of the aisle for reverting to his true bullying misogynistic personality (with a healthy dollop of his professionally-unexamined female blood obsession). Among the Republicans who attacked the anti-Mika Brzezinski tweets was Ben Sasse of Nebraska who responded, "Please just stop. This isn't normal and it's beneath the dignity of your office."

This morning Senator Sasse was on Donald Trump's favorite show Fox and Friends and called for a change in strategy to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:

A few minutes later, the president (whose own understanding of the mechanics of drafting and passing laws is less than rudimentary) tweeted this:

Looking at the time stamps on those tweets, it looks as though the official presidential statement in tweet form might have come before the Fox broadcast, but a CNN reporter retweeted by Sasse confirms the original sequence:

The sequence, however, is actually immaterial. The real point is that the GOP White House, the GOP Senate, and the GOP television network are all getting back on the same page and are rededicating themselves to working hard to achieve job one, removing health insurance from the poor and middle class in order to give large tax cuts to the very rich. Hooray! The world is back to normal!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HOLD THE PRESSES! While I was writing this, it seems that a certain television addict in the White House switched the channel from Fox News to MSNBC, and got his tweeting back on track.

Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017

Trump Tweet Translator:
"#PresidentBannon needs to give me more things to do. It's not good for me to have too much time to watch TV. Sad." https://t.co/np3XL8Wlt0

— True Blue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) June 30, 2017

Today's Fine White Whine comes from Bill O'Reilly's lawyer.

It's amazing how the people who would have been supporters rather than targets of Tailgunner Joe in the 1950s are becoming fond of throwing around charges of McCARTHYISM! now whenever they find themselves under attack. The current right-wing occupant of the White House famously misused that label against the former occupant of the White House last month over fake wiretapping charges, and now the lawyer for another infamous right-wing sexual harasser, Bill O'Reilly, is pulling out the charge again in this legal whine:

"Bill O'Reilly has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America. This law firm has uncovered evidence that the smear campaign is being orchestrated by far-left organizations bent on destroying O’Reilly for political and financial reasons.

“That evidence will be put forth shortly and it is irrefutable."

Wah. Wah. Wah.

In addition to playing the victim, it's also amazing how people on the right are always looking for financial motivations among those on the left. The current White House occupant is always asking about who is paying the millions who are demonstrating against him; I think it's actually hard for him to believe that so many people would act without monetary compensation, just as it might be hard for Bill O'Reilly to believe that many feel it's simply a public service to speak out against primetime television hosts who bully guests, sexually harass and demean women, and spread untruths that have played a role in lifting an unqualified kleptocrat into the White House.

Backup for @realDonaldTrump's wiretapping tweets

The FBI, Justice Department, and British intelligence may have all publicly denounced Donald Trump's early morning tweets about President Barack Obama personally wiretapping Candidate Trump at Trump Tower, but I discovered during a trip to the supermarket this afternoon that a major defiler of newsprint has joined Trump's friends at Fox & Friends in backing him up.

If it's in the National Enquirer -- the only publication the current resident of the White House allows next to his toilet -- it must be true.

Surprisingly, Trump's Official TV Network Gives Trump All the Credit for Dow 20K!

This tweet from @FoxBusiness a few minutes ago reminds me of when Fox News gave President Obama all the credit for the market advancing from 7,949 to 19,743 during his years in office.

Captured on 1/25/2017 at 9:41am

Today's Fine White Whine comes from whiny (and gropey) Roger Ailes

All of these privileged rich old white guys who would never apologize to anyone about anything on principle, are always the first to demand apologies from others. This time we're not talking about Donald Trump's precious little hurt feelings, but those of the sexual predator who was forced from his job as the head of Fox News earlier this year when the weight of evidence finally became overwhelming.

Roger Ailes personally called New York Daily News columnist Don Kaplan and said "I was hoping you would be a gentleman and apologize" for the gropey old man characterization used in a headline. 

A personal phone call? Hasn't Roger learned that the modern way for rich gropey old men to whine for an apology is in a tweet?

Defending Putin in the Right-Wing Media Bubble

This morning @DonaldJTrumpJr felt it necessary to retweet @FoxAndFriends' tweet about Fox News' dumbest anchor and Trump friend @SeanHannity interviewing Julian Assange about how (contrary to what the CIA and everyone else in the world seems to believe) Russia had nothing to do with the DNC documents provided to Wikileaks.

Sometimes it's helpful to get a quick peek into the completely counterfactual media bubble within which Donald Junior's father has comfortably cushioned himself. Donald Senior is not someone who seems to have a desire to dig too deeply for information on his own (or accept any information that might contradict what he already 'knows'), so this glimpse into his son's Twitter feed is like a glimpse into the President Elect's brain. Maybe he actually doesn't know, or have the ability to believe, the role the Russians played in tipping the election in his favor.

Proof that Donald Trump never meant to take his joke as far as New York.

It's obvious that Donald J. Trump grossly underestimated the stupidity of the Republican primary voters. His children made it clear this week that he never expected to be a viable candidate when the calendar reached April 19. If he had expected to be one of the survivors from the initial field of 17 GOP hopefuls when the New York primary arrived, wouldn't Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump (or someone on their father's staff) have made some effort to find out what was involved in making them eligible to vote in the Republican primary?

"They had a long time to register and they were, you know, unaware of the rules, and they didn't, they didn't register in time, so they feel very, very guilty...But it's fine. I mean I understand that. I think they have to register a year in advance and they didn't. So Eric and Ivanka I guess won't be voting." --Donald Trump phone interview on Fox News, April 11, 2016

When Bernie Sanders (who is not my father) announced that he was running for president on May 26th of last year, I went to the New York State Board of Elections website to start the lengthy process of changing my registration from "No Party" to "Democratic Party" almost immediately. Wouldn't the children of an actual presidential candidate have done the same? And wouldn't that actual presidential candidate have a better idea about his home state's election laws than "I think they have to register a year in advance"?

This is a publicity stunt and ego trip that got completely out of hand, and now he's trying to figure out the rules as he goes along.

~~~~~~~~~~
Update 12:32EDT, 4/14/16:
Now we find out a top Trump surrogate and attorney Michael Cohen can't vote for his boss either, due to the fact he's registered as a Democrat in New York.

The Trumpism of the Day

The quote of the day from the improbable GOP frontrunner came during an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program yesterday. When asked to name his foreign policy advisors, Trump answered:

“I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things."

Hearing that, one can't help but wonder where that very good brain gets its data. Unfortunately, I think we already know. As with the people who support him, he admitted on CNN back on August 19th that he learns much of what he knows about the world from watching TV (which, until his highly-publicized romantic breakup with Megyn Kelly, meant an almost exclusive diet of Fox News' paranoid world view):

Finding this screen grab from last summer made me realize that we can all learn a lot from watching television; Mr. Trump seems to have gained some weight on the campaign trail. Hasn't he learned yet that all seasoned politicians are experienced bulimics who vomit out their endless trail of obligatory campaign meals and required ethnic snacks?

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Update at 3:30pm EDT
The foreign-policy-expert/candidate now also gets bonus bogus information from unverified internet postings as well as his television!

via GIPHY

Today in Corporate-Media "News"

Why should today be different from any other in our Trump-dominated media landscape?

From the @realDonaldTrump Twitter feed, 16 March 2016.

After ranting about "lies, deceit, viciousness" among the "disgusting reporters" who showed up for his incoherent victory speech last night, those lying, deceitful, and vicious reporters (or, at least, their ratings-obsessed corporate overlords) are anxious to have the short-fingered vulgarian on their screens again this morning. The media were also told that last night's event was supposed to be a press conference, but the candidate took no questions from the reporters he berated in front of his tuxedoed and bejeweled guests at his Mar-a-Lago Club.
If the media had any guts, they'd be giving all their airtime to John Kasich this morning and ignoring this man who bullies them into lying on their backs in submission.

vul•gar•i•an -- The TBL Word of the Day

Have a man and a noun ever been as perfectly matched as Donald J. Trump and vulgarian?

"A vulgar person, especially a prominent or wealthy individual with coarse or conspicuous tastes and manners."? Bingo.

Graydon Carter improved on The Donald's nickname in the pages of Spy magazine by giving him immortality as the short-fingered vulgarian in that short-lived monthly's pages. In last night's GOP debate on Fox News, the thin-skinned Trump once again erupted over the issue of his tiny hands and stubby digits (and what that might have to do with the size of his penis).

"He [Rubio] hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands; I've never heard of this one. Look at those hands. Are they small hands? And he referred to my hands, 'If they're small, something else must be small.' I guarantee you, there's no problem. I guarantee." -- Donald J. Trump, 3 March 2016

He never heard any remarks about his short fingers before? That may be the biggest of his many lies. Marco Rubio referred to his hands because he knows what a sensitive area this has always been for Trump since a young age, when his little sausage fingers prevented him from reaching his true goal as a concert pianist.

To get back to the word of the day however, even if we hand Donald Trump the possibility that his fingers may be nearly normal size, there's no denying that he is the perfect illustration of a vulgarian.

[Today's dictionary entry comes from New Webster's Dictionary of the English Language, Encyclopedic Edition published by Delair Publishing, 1981, page 1114]

Further Proof that Polls May Tell Us NOTHING in 2016

In some ways, this post is just a follow-up to the "Political Horse Race Polling Is Officially Dead" entry from last week, but I couldn't resist bringing up the subject again after seeing this "Majority say Clinton won debate" headline on The Hill today. The debate winner has been a topic of debate on Twitter since the debate ended on Tuesday night and the CNN crowd of talking heads all declared Hillary Clinton the winner while their live online poll showed Bernie Sanders maintaining at least a 50 to 60 point lead.

My screen grab of the CNN/Facebook online poll at 10:50pm on Tuesday, just before closing statements.
Bernie Sanders' 78%  was far from the largest lead he had, and I never saw it dip below 75%.

The CNN poll was not the only poll going on during the debate, and they all showed a Sanders lead far beyond any normal margin of error; I wasn't the only one grabbing screen shots during the debate.

Polls show the people believe @BernieSanders won #DemDebate, trust the people not mainstream media! #FeelTheBern pic.twitter.com/raSuFm9PwN

— Obsrvtns of Dvnc (@AtBestIsKorny) October 14, 2015

@BernieArtists @BernieSanders pic.twitter.com/XSN2OM7LYQ

— Highcentered (@Highcentered) October 14, 2015

And it wasn't only instant online polls, it was focus groups as well that were uniformly leaning in Bernie's direction. Here, for example, is Frank Luntz on Fox News with a group of 28 Florida Democrats, half of whom were for Hillary before the debate began:

"Poor Jim Webb." -- Megyn Kelly

So how did the "first scientific poll" about the debate reaction manage to come up with a 53%-33% Clinton win over Sanders? Well, first of all, unlike the screen grabs up above, it took place in the two days AFTER the debate, i.e., after the corporate media's barrage of pro-Clinton spin. Second, it involved "Survey Monkey" participants, so you KNOW it's correct.

If this were going to be the only debate, it might be to Hillary Clinton's advantage to have all the official spin spun in her direction, but with five more debates to follow, it may work against her; she may be expected to dominate the next debates just as she "dominated" the first.

The First GOP Debate, Brought To You First On TrueBlueLiberal.Org

I just finished watching some of the Voters First Presidential Forum on C-Span right now and it makes me glad that I no longer pay my cable company enough money to get the package that includes the Fox News Network. That gives me a great excuse not to watch the first "real" debate later this week; I'm left free to simply imagine the garish red, white, and blue flag graphics behind the row of red white, and blue podia, behind which will be standing ten men, all of whom will be dressed in dark blue suits, white shirts, and an assortment of red, blue, and TrumpGold® ties.

After the preliminary prayers, Pledge of Allegiance, singing of 'God Bless the USA,' 'God Bless America,' and the Star-Spangled Banner, there will be short introductions of the candidates and then the questioning will begin without opening statements so that all ten candidates will have the chance to respond to at least one question in the remaining thirty minutes of airtime.

Blond Female Fox Questioner: Gentleman, we'd like to begin with a few questions to establish the areas of broad agreement between you -- and in opposition to your Democrat opponents -- before we move on to the minor details of management style and policy nuance that may separate you. So first, by a show of hands, how many of you are committed to reducing the onerous tax burden on patriotic job-creating Americans like the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson and ...

Candidate Trump: ...and me myself, the winningest and classiest multi-billionaire job-creator-like guy.

Candidate Walker: Yeah creating (inaudible) jobs in China.

BFFQ: Gentlemen Gentlemen. We know this is an issue near and dear to all your hearts, but you'll all get a chance to speak shortly. Now by a silent show of hands, how many of you are now willing to publicly commit to lowering the job-killing tax rates currently imposed on America's job-creating heroes?

[The camera will pan slowly across the stage to show each candidate with his hand raised. Governor Perry will have both hands up until he realizes that his nine companions are only raising their right arms; he'll lower his left hand and his microphone will pick up a soft "ooops."]

Male Fox Questioner with Brown Hair Combed in a 1930's Style: In another area that we feel may elicit broad agreement, please raise your right hand if you pledge to declare war on Iran as one of your first acts as President.

Candidate Paul: Everyone will know on Day One that Rand Paul is not a peacenik like his Dad!

Candidate Walker: Nuke 'em!

[The other eight candidates will also raise their hands enthusiastically, but silently.]

MFQwBHCia1930S: Thanks to most of you for following the instructions. For answering twice out of order, Candidate Walker has lost his chance at a closing statement.

Candidate Walker: What the fudge?

MFQwBHCia1930S: All the Candidates were given a copy of the rules, which featured the three-strikes rule, so give Candidate Walker the hook and hand his podium to Alternate Candidate number .... [MFQwBH will pull a ball from a velvet bag and read the number on it] ...three. Alternate three, Governor Jindal, come on up!

[The camera will follow Scott Walker raising two fingers on each hand into nixonesque V's and waving them to the crowd as he leaves stage left. In a split-screen image, we will simultaneously witness a goofily-grinning Bobby Jindal enter from the stage-right wings.]

MFQwBH..: Candidate Jindal, do you agree to cut billionaires' taxes and bomb Tehran?

Candidate Jindal: Of course. Of course I do.

MFQw..: OK, we're all caught up here. [MFQ will nod to his smiling co-questioner]

BFFQ: For our final group question, please raise your hand if you're demonstrating your opposition to so-called "Gun-Free Zones" and adherence to the Second Amendment by carrying a concealed firearm and a copy of the Constitution tonight.

[Eight of ten candidates will immediately raise their hands.]

Candidate Christie: A few of us [he will nod to Candidate Trump] have goons to carry our guns for us.

[Candidate Perry's raised hand will actually be holding a cute little pearl-handled Colt revolver, which he will accidentally discharge into some key electronic components in the ceiling. "Ooops" will be the last word heard as the screens across America go blank.]

Bill O'Reilly n'est pas Charlie (and neither is anyone else at Fox News claming a sudden infection with Francophilia)

Bill O'Reilly dot com may be out of stock for this popular item from the days of "Freedom Fries" and the "Axis of Weasel," but his Boycott France bumperstickers are still on display there a week after the Charlie Hebdo attack:

Screen grabbed on 13 January 2015.

Speaking of the attack, it's worth learning to read French (a.k.a., the "Freedom Language") just to experience this heartbreaking first-person account from Charlie staffer Sigolène Vinson featured in Le Monde this morning: «C’est Charlie, venez vite, ils sont tous morts».

Saluting the Four-Legged Foot Soldiers in Our Liberal War On Christmas

Bill O'Reilly and the other defenders of our annual midwinter marketing schlockfest don't stand a chance against these feline warriors!

Fox News Training Film Exposed

A true blue liberal mole within Fox News HQ at 1211 Avenue of the Americas has, at a great risk to his or her safety, released this key video used to train all new Fox News reporters and talking heads:

* * ALERT * * FOX TO REVEAL ALL TONIGHT * * ALERT * *

In the moment all of America has been waiting a decade for, the fair and balanced Fox News Network will finally tie all its paranoia up in one bullet-proof Grand Unification Conspiracy Theory tonight, beginning with the story of how an evil young Kenyan infant invented a fictitious Hawaiian birth story and a chemical concoction he gave the name "Ebola" and proceeding through the nexus of the all-powerful Acorn-Alinsky-BlackPanther secret socialist power structure patiently pushing its Kenyan messiah and an agenda of marijuana and gay marriage to distract us from the real threat of Ebola-carrying Guatemalan children crossing the porous border and infecting the very last bastion of real Americans -- Texas. 

The Fine White Whine of the Day is Emanating from My Alma Mater

A little bit of background first: Rutgers University invited one of the Iraq War principals, Condoleezza Rice, to be the 2014 commencement speaker. She may not ooze the same stench of pure evil that follows Donald Rumsfeld and Dick "Dick" Cheney in a thick visible cloud, but there should have been no surprise that offering her an honorary degree and $35,000 to speak would engender some protest from students and faculty and alumni. The invitation to Dr. Rice was not withdrawn by the University after growing protests, but she withdrew magnanimously over the weekend, "Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families. Rutgers' invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time."

Her supporters are shocked and stunned. In the following video we have a right-wing hack Steve Malzberg interviewing the head of the Rutgers College Republicans, Donald P. Coughlan, who states that "an overwhelming majority of students seemed to be really excited to see her" and that there was only a small vocal minority of 50-100 students protesting her appearance in the past week:
 

Even better is the young Republican's open letter to the University President Robert Barchi itself in which this statement appears: "As the protests escalated to your office, university property was damaged further frightening students who do not share the opinion of the protestors and preventing them from voicing a counter opinion." The "overwhelming majority" of more than 30,000 Rutgers students were "frightened" to speak in defense of Dr. Rice because of the actions a handful of people who broke a pane of glass and wrote on a wall? That's some fine white whine. (Maybe not a fine as the vintage white whine coming from Rutgers' New Jersey neighbor Princeton this week, but still some good stuff.)

Oh, unsurprisingly, Fox is all over the young Republicans' outrage and Newt Gingrich has piped in to say that Dr. Rice's decision not to appear at Rutgers is a result of "liberal fascism." Those liberals at Rutgers should just forget, or at least remain silent about, the hundreds of thousands killed and wounded and tortured under the Bush administration's wars (in the same way conservatives are forgetting the four Americans personally killed by Hillary Clinton in Benghazi).