So after a couple days like that, Donald Trump turns up zombified and sniffing.
There is no point to the observation, yet, as we have yet to see if he brought anything other than concussed spite. But the first bit has been, shall we say, strange.
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Brian Williams
The Donald Trump Show (Trump Dump)
Welcome to the Donald Trump Show. We expect this will be, proverbially speaking, at least, interesting, and would encourage at all times to bear in mind that this is, after all, Donald Trump we’re talking about.
To wit, NBC has severed ties with Trump; Cynthia Littleton of Variety explains:
NBC is ending its long relationship with Donald Trump in the wake of the presidential hopeful’s recent comments about Mexican immigrants.
NBC said it will no longer carry the Trump-produced Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants. Nor will he return to the long-running reality show “The Celebrity Apprentice” as host, a role Trump already said he would give up because of his presidential bid.
“Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump,” NBC said in a statement. “At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values.”
Trump told CNN that he was considering filing suit against NBC. He said in a statement that “NBC is weak, and like everybody else is trying to be politically correct” before saying that NBC will support disgraced journalist Brian Williams “but won’t stand behind people that tell it like it is, as unpleasant as that may be.”
“We must have strong borders and not let illegal immigrants enter the United States,” Trump said. “As has been stated continuously in the press, people are pouring across our borders unabated. Public reports routinely state great amounts of crime are being committed by illegal immigrants. This must be stopped and it must be stopped now. Long ago I told NBC that I would not being doing ‘The Apprentice’ because I am running for president in order to make our country great again.”
So, here’s the thing: This might be a calculated gamble.
More Fun with Bill
“Bill O’Reilly was caught in a lie. No, not that one. Or that one. Or the whole sexual harassment loofah thing. This is not really news. Brian Williams being a fabulist was a little more surprising, but not really. Network and cable news are pretty much infotainment anchored by narcissists.”
It is unfortunate, as Brain McFadden notes, that “there’s been no comeuppance for the liars that got us into the Iraq War”, an aspect of these weird chapters of the American press that seems strangely lost on all the right people. Wrong people. Right people. Whatever. What more and more seems like the inevitable fall of Brian Williams has its tragic aspects. That there really isn’t much for comeuppance in Bill O’Reilly’s case is hardly unexpected. But it makes for great comedy vérité.
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McFadden, Brian. “America at War: with Bill O’Reilly”. Daily Kos. 6 March 2015.
Bull O’Reilly
Right. This is going to go on for a while.
Move over, Brian Williams. You have company.
Sort of.
What?
I mean, we all knew this was coming, right?
No, seriously, name one news anchor you flat-out trust. If you can, I’ll bet it’s a pundit-show host. Or else you attend public broadcasting ....
Anyway, never mind. This is really happening.
A matter of inevitability, really, and regardless of how stupid it seems.
But come on. This was going to happen, and we all knew it.
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Lewis, Eric. “Animal Nuz #239: Bull O’Reilly Edition”. Daily Kos Comics. 21 February 2015.
A Jump in the Water, Come on Baby Get Wet With Me
Perhaps it is a bit early in the day to be diving into the comics page, but we might as well pick up where we left off yesterday. Well, okay. Sort of. You know what I mean.
Mark Fiore animates the “Frog of War”, who in turn reminds that NBC News’ Brian Williams is hardly the only person to have lied about what went on in Iraq during the Bush Wars. The cartoonist himself reminds:
Sure, it boggles my mind how Brian Williams could embellish and “misremember” an event like his helicopter ride in Iraq years ago, but the firestorm around his imagined combat experience is inordinately fierce compared to the relative silence around all of the other Iraq War-era ‘misrememberings’, journalistic and otherwise.
Remember the networks’ “military analysts” who were part of a coordinated Pentagon propaganda campaign to sell the war, who personally profited from defense contracts at the same time? I don’t remember any higher-ups in the media or the military getting fired or suspended because of that shameful episode.
A Modicum of Derisive Laughter
All I’m gonna say is that Cartoon Brian Williams has a point.
Detail of Tom the Dancing Bug, by Ruben Bolling, 12 February 2015; via Daily Kos Comics.
This Is 