It’s pretty bad when you get called out by your biggest media cheerleader, Fox News, over complete evasion of the story of the day, fully set up by the White House. This really IS Nazi Germany (oops, sorry for breaking Godwin’s Law there… how about “Soviet-Pravda Era,” or old reliable “George Orwellian”… ok?) kind of stuff. On purpose, questions are taken from two guaranteed in-the-tank “reporters.” As a result, of course, President Ignoramus is not put on the spot and made to feel “uncomfortable” and can simply lapse into repeating campaign boasts “my huge electoral college win” in the midst of generic pablum. One American press question from the Daily Caller, and the other from Sinclair Broadcasting. The Daily Caller is Tucker Carlson’s little right wing tattler sheet. Promise not to say anything about Mikey Flynn, The Russian Whisperer? You got it, big guy!
Sinclair Broadcasting is TRULY the definition of FAKE NEWS. (They own ABC 45 in the Triad) Sinclair is the second largest owner of local tv stations in the country… 154 on their way to 165 outlets.
Trump was, as he always is at these kind of events, bored out of his mind. Read the statement like it was the first time he’d ever seen it. Low Energy Donald. But the stage-managed questions were beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Mr. Trump…. you’re losing FOX NEWS, although your butt boy Hannity is probably preparing a “very special” Hannity Excuse Squad Special: “Why Trump NEVER Needs To Take a Question From Anyone He Don’t Want To.” Oh, Canada.
As we enter the final month of Donald Trump’s Journey of Self-Discovery… as he discovers the traits that made him Fake Business Genius Bully Trump are not acceptably transferrable to become President Trump… it’s important to recognize the horrible legacy he’s leaving behind. The King of Reality TV Stars thought he could cross over to the White House as easily as Hootie went country. Not gonna happen. But like the cartoon Tasmanian Devil, Trump is leaving behind a damaged, divided citizenry. I knew I recognized Trump from pop culture from somewhere other than Celebrity Apprentice:
Taz is generally portrayed as a ferocious, albeit dim-witted, omnivore with a notoriously short temper and little patience. His enormous appetite seems to know no bounds, as he will eat anything in his path. He is best known for his speech consisting mostly of grunts, growls, and rasps (in his earlier appearances, he does speak English with primitive grammar) as well as his ability to spin like a vortex and bite through nearly anything
You surely remember the depiction of the Civil War that could literally tear a family apart, pitting brother against brother or father against son as each rallied to the flag of the cause that captured his heart. Not since the height of the Vietnam War has the country been so divided. But Vietnam was over something that truly was a life and death situation. This is about Donald Trump, who has emerged as the black hole of all of the worst aspects of America. Some of those characteristics are noted here, in The Atlantic’s first endorsement of a presidential candidate since 1964, when they warned of the danger of Barry Goldwater and backed LBJ. That followed a 104 year-record of non-endorsement, when they’d backed the saving of the Union by getting behind Abe Lincoln in 1860. The magazine was founded in 1857. Imagine all those angry subscription cancellations! Hardly head over heels for Hillary, a flawed candidate for sure, the Atlantic makes the choice and comes to the conclusion that:
Donald Trump….has no record of public service and no qualifications for public office. His affect is that of an infomercial huckster; he traffics in conspiracy theories and racist invective; he is appallingly sexist; he is erratic, secretive, and xenophobic; he expresses admiration for authoritarian rulers, and evinces authoritarian tendencies himself. He is easily goaded, a poor quality for someone seeking control of America’s nuclear arsenal. He is an enemy of fact-based discourse; he is ignorant of, and indifferent to, the Constitution; he appears not to read.
“Appears not to read,” is a good dividing line. You either believe that education and study and scholarship and learning about stuff outside your main area of interest is important…. or you think a narrow, self-interested, unprepared, simple closed mind that is 100% convinced of its own invincibility is just great. Trump needs to be asked the “what newspapers or magazines do you read?” question.
Much has been written about people at the office not talking to each other about the election. Bumper stickers and yard signs seem scarcer than ever out of fear of your car getting bashed, someone flipping you off, or your house burned down. It’s even infected Fox News Channel, where adherence to the code has made them number one for 20 years. Sean Hannity and Megyn Kelly went at each other this past week, then pretended to make up, sending out a picture of the two of them faking togetherness as they realized the checks still don’t bounce from Rupert Murdoch every 2 weeks. Mommy and Daddy were fighting but they love each other now!
Finally, my favorite Division of America. Inside medicine, you can almost predict your doctor’s likely political leanings based on their specialty. The most Top Gun-like specialties of them all, surgery, and their necessary sidekicks in anesthesiology, are easily the most Republican-leaning. Pediatrics, psychiatry, and infectious disease docs, who spend more time than others face to face with people they have to talk to, lean most heavily Democratic.
The fields with higher average salaries tended to contain more doctors who were Republican, while the comparatively lower-paying fields were more popular among Democrats. That matches with national data, which show that, for people with a given level of education, richer ones are more likely to lean Republican (possibly because of a concern over the liberal policy goal of taxing the wealthiest at a higher rate).
156 years after The Atlantic endorsed the house divided against itself cannot stand guy, we’re a month away from the possible Trumpocalypse. Hang on.
I always enjoy batting around the estate tax…. relabeled decades ago the “death tax” by that sleaze Frank Luntz. It’s the tax you’re most definitely not likely to have to pay, and if you do, you’re currently very rich and will be dead when the 40% federal tax is paid on your estate, which must be over $5.45 million for a single person and double that if you’re married. Anything under that is exempt and you can give it tax free to your little Don Jr, Eric, or Ivanka. I became aware of this story Thursday when stopping by the Fox “Business” Channel, which is 92.5 % identical to its big brother, Fox “News,” peddling non-stop skewed right-wing drivel all day long. Of course, bemoaning the End Of The World and Who Would Ever Want To Be Rich and Successful If Death Taxes Went That High, the anchors pandered to their core audience, most of whom are actually near death but not likely to owe any estate taxes. Once again proving my irrefutable theory that all tv news is produced by 22-year-olds, this wonderful screwup on screen that says “Clinton Real Estate Tax Plan” bespeaks of the complete, utter ignorance of these people, not knowing the difference between estate taxes and real estate taxes. I’m lovin it!
Wall St. Journal:“The Clinton campaign is now changing its previous plan—which called for a 45% top rate—by adding three new tax brackets: a 50% rate that would apply to estates over $10 million per person, a 55% rate that starts at $50 million per person and that top rate, which would affect only those with assets exceeding $500 million for a single person and $1 billion for married couples. The 65% estate-tax rate would be the highest since 1981 and marks one of the most enormous tax-policy gulfs between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump, who would repeal the tax. Neither of their proposals stands much chance of succeeding in a divided Congress where Republicans control the House and Democrats can block action in the Senate.”
Can’t wait for Donald “The people that like me best are poor people and middle-income people” Trump to defend his contention that all estate taxes need to be eliminated. Another reason to see his taxes: so we can see how he’s monkeyed around with whatever assets he really has so if he croaks his heirs pay little or no estate tax. Can’t wait to hear him tell the rest of us how we’ll all lose our incentive to build businesses and chase the American Dream if Uncle Sam will take so much of it when we die. Hey Donald, you know the best way to legally avoid estate taxes? Give tons and tons of money to charity. Oh, I forgot, you don’t do that. Not your game. My apologies.
THE BIG NEWS: Despite cries of shenanigans, Our Hero came through and made it three-in-a-row with a victory in the Nevada Caucus. The Cuban Twosome finished second and third (Rubes then Cruzer) and Carson edged Kasich for fourth place. All five are expected to take the stage for yet another debate Thursday in Houston, courtesy of the good folks at CNN. Trump finished with over 40% of the vote in Nevada, making it the first time he’s crossed that particular threshold. At this point, The Donald’s nomination is all but inevitable
CNN’s Political Director David Chalian had the amazing stat that Trump got 44% of Nevada’s Latino vote vs. 29% for Rubio and 18% for Cruz. Perhaps these folks are looking to be deported and think that DT would provide the cheapest way
The Donald strolled out to his victory speech to the opening strains of Van Halen’s “Right Now” (which was once used to sell Crystal Pepsi). This speech was in stark contrast to the Decaffeinated Donald we saw in New Hampshire. Flanked by his sons Eric and Donald, Jr., he pointed out his good friend Steve Wynn in the crowd. Actual quote:
We won with the poorly educated. I love the poorly educated
Here’s the entire victory speech, if you hate yourself
“I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks. It’s true.”
Mr. Trump added, “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell yah.”
Speculation that DT could pick Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) as his running mate. I don’t know if that’s the deal, but, remember Scott fits the “pettiness” requirement. Here he is refusing to take the stage because his debate opponent had a small fan (oscillating variety)
Which brings up the question: What if Trump hadn’t skipped that last debate in Iowa? He might be 4-0 right now
At one point, Brzezinski tells Trump that she had “a wow moment” when he brought two men up on stage after they had removed a protester from a rally. Trump responds: “I saw it, I watched your show this morning. You had me almost as a legendary figure.”
So, we can put Mike Brzezinski on the list of women DJT wants to bang (presumably, after his daughter)
Troy Pope, the Collegian’s editor-in-chief, said the newspaper’s website crashed on Monday due to all the traffic the editorial attracted. He said the student-run paper stands by its decision to print the controversial headline on the front page and was prompted by Trump’s win in the South Carolina primary this past weekend.
“Trump is railing against Muslims, Mexicans – basically people who aren’t white, and he’s becoming popular because of that. That’s what’s dangerous,” Pope said. “That’s no different than Hitler rallying the German people against the Jews.”
“Well, that’s because of you guys,” he asserted in the clip first spotted by Media Matters. “Donald Trump gets up in the morning, tweets to the entire planet at no cost, picks up the phone, calls you, has a great conversation for about eight minutes, which would have cost him a ton in commercial money, and meanwhile his opponents are all out there trying to raise the money to run an ad.”
“Look, you could say that Trump is the candidate Fox & Friends invented,” he fired back. “He was on your show I think more than any other show.”
To be fair, Fox & Friends is even stupider than The Donald, but not by a whole lot
I know you were wondering, so I’ll let you know that Gingrich and DT have both been married three times
For all your Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day needs, shop BradandBrittAmazon.com. It’s the same as Amazon, but they kick back a little to the B and B Show and that’s a great way to support us. Lil’ Rush on Cam Newton and the Fox vs, Trump War, B and B break down an unintentionally hilarious interview Bill O’Reilly had with Trump. twitter.com/BradandBrittfacebook.com/BradandBrittShow BradandBritt.com
Check the time stamp. Nearly 12 hours later. So, why did you call her a bimbo (which you did)? If the PR statement was what set you off, why was it necessary to slander her? Did she write it?
Some time today or tomorrow, Fox will agree to release an anodyne statement saying they intend to treat all the candidates fairly, including Trump. At that point Trump will declare victory, saying that because he’s such a great negotiator he got them to capitulate to him, just like he’ll do to the Mexicans and the Chinese. Then he’ll participate in the debate, after garnering two solid days of wall-to-wall Trump coverage
*sigh*
Yahoo! News says Trump>Ailes because Donald got Roger to stoop to his level
If Trump doesn’t make it to the stage and, instead, does the fundraising event for veterans in Iowa, one veterans group is saying no thanks
If offered, @IAVA will decline donations from Trump's event. We need strong policies from candidates, not to be used for political stunts.
That was RT’s by The Donald. Rush has given himself enough space on his show that if the whole Trump movement turns to crap, he can back away from it without owning it. He certainly speaks highly of Trump, but the proof that he wants to maintain a little distance is this: Trump hasn’t appeared on Rush’s show since he started running for president. It could be easily arranged and Trump has appeared on just about every show on every possible platform
Trump has presented quite a dilemma for local talk radio hosts across the country. Many of them know he is crazy and that his rhetoric is pure BS, but they have to walk a thin line because the crazy right-wingers that still listen to talk radio love Trump. Some of these hosts have to take weak pokes at Trump then they go home and drink themselves into a stupor and cry themselves to sleep because they have to pretend to like him
It’s sort of a double-win for me: Not only am I on the main stage, but we don’t have to put up with a lot of empty blather and boastfulness and calling people names
SC’s Lt. Gov. endorsed Trump. Seriously, he’s going to win SC by like 30 points unless they catch him peeing on Strom Thurmond’s grave. A maximum of 8% of people in any state can even name their Lieutenant Governor
Brothers Ernie Martin and Lee Walter from Cresco, Iowa, were among a group of zealous Trump fans at the front of the line outside a Trump rally in Des Moines on December 11. They had waited more than seven hours to see the candidate in person.
“Hey, hey. Ho, ho. All the Muslims have to go!” Walter, a 64-year-old retired factory worker, began to chant
You can do better than that, Walter, buddy. How about
Two, four, six, eight. Being white is really great
Shop at BradandBrittAmazon.com for all your Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day needs. Lil’ Rush on Trump vs. Megyn Kelly, B and B discuss Trump skipping the GOP debate, top sporting events ever in NC, guy goes to court because he took away his kid’s phone. twitter.com/BradandBrittfacebook.com/BradandBrittShowBradandBritt.com
As we prepare for The People vs. OJ Simpson on FX (February 2nd), it’s important to examine how destructive the brutal murders and the ensuing trial were to America
The rise of Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show. While historians credit the Hugh Grant interview as being Jay’s great turnaround point (Leno struggled mightily in the beginning on Tonight and was soundly beaten by Letterman when Dave moved to CBS), it was the daily drama of the Simpson trial that allowed Leno to cash in on the phenomenon with such genius as The Dancing Itos. NBC even promoted Tonight as “Your OJ Trial Humor Headquarters” during their primetime programming. Meanwhile Dave wouldn’t touch OJ. I recall this exchange happening on The Late Showsometime in 1995
Howard Stern: You don’t do a lot of OJ stuff, do you?
Letterman: I just don’t find double homicides that funny
(applause)
Advantage Jay. America ate it up and Leno never looked back
2. The whole Kardashian BS that we have to deal with to this day. Robert Kardashianwas OJ’s friend and attorney. His name became known to every American man, woman, and child in existence in the mid 90s and that name recognition trickled down to his big-bottomed daughters who now make a lot of money doing nothing. Oh, and his ex-wife also makes a fortune being annoying as hell. Also, Keeping Up With the Kardashians is produced by Ryan Seacrest, so the OJ crap helps put money in his pocket, tangentially
3. The television career of Nancy Grace. Grace was hired by Court TV founder Steven Brill to do a show along Dream Team leader Jonhhie Cochran. He helped bring her to prominence, then left the show. She’s been ruining our TV sets ever since
4. The television career of Greta Van Susteren. CNN hired her to do OJ analysis and this lead to a bidding war (really!) for her services before she moved to Fox News in 2002. She’s been ruining our TV sets ever since
5. Legal Zoom commercials. Yep, that Robert Shapiro, one of LZ’s founders and a bona fide Dream Team alumnus pitching his crap
6. Gavel-to-Gavel coverage on cable news. While, OJ certainly wasn’t the first to get this treatment, the cable news networks saw gold following OJ and that extends to this day. So, if you loved the daily developments in the Jody Arias, George Zimmerman, or Casey Anthony trials, you can thank OJ
7. The rise of Mark Fuhrman as some sort of right-wing pundit/crime writer/police expert. I suppose he garners sympathy because he was publicly shamed for using the N word (think Paula Deen)
White House as easily as Hootie went country. Not gonna happen. But like the cartoon Tasmanian Devil, Trump is leaving behind a damaged, divided citizenry. I knew I recognized Trump from pop culture from somewhere other than Celebrity Apprentice:
Finally, my favorite Division of America. Inside medicine, you can almost predict your doctor’s likely political leanings based on their specialty. The most Top Gun-like specialties of them all, surgery, and their necessary 
sidekicks in a
