The way that I've griped about Fox News Channel lately, you might think that I have it on all the time. No. It's more like like Springsteen sang: "57 channels and nothing on". It's not like I'm going to watch Hallmark's umpteenth rerun of "Golden Girls" episodes. Ion often has episode-a-thons like tonight's old "Law and Order" shows. I never cared much for Gunsmoke, but maybe if someone ran old Bonanza or Lone Ranger shows or some comedy series like one of Bob Newhart's shows or the "Big Bang Theory" or some sort of "Dallas" retrospective. But most of all, I have little interest in FNC nightly fare in the prime time fare of Hannity, Carlson, or Ingraham. I don't think that Fox will ever resurrect RedEye, but it seems that occasionally FNC will break the tedium of primetime reruns with its flavor of "fresh news. I've never liked many of the contrived interview segments, which often skew against immigration, e.g., might feature a prominent family survivor of rare immigrant violence and some Trumpkin Republican Congressman.
At least, Carlson is modestly tolerable, having been a conservative debate stand-in on another, more mainstream network earlier in his career. So I tuned in, only to find him cede coverage to the latest Trump pep rally, this one based in West Virginia.
I knew about FNC's doting coverage of Trump, even covering his airplane arrivals during the 2016 campaign. I do know prior Presidents did stump for their party during campaigns, but I don't recall Clinton, Bush or Obama holding pep rallies. (Maybe they did and I just never realized it. I do recall that Obama was seriously overexposed during his early Presidency, giving hundreds of speeches, not to mention his administration was trying to monopolize media access.)
I'm not going to do one of those point-by-point refutations of Trump's speech. it would be boring, repetitious and almost unfair. Trump's speeches are often meandering, narcissistic ramblings. Even his gimmicks are routine and predictable. Take his rubbish assertion about "winning". In one spot (look it up; find a transcript) he poses the GOP Senate candidate he's supporting to take incumbent Manchin's seat (which I think is at best a longshot) as coming to him and saying (paraphraed), "Trump, West Virginians are begging to stop all the winning you're doing; they just can't cope with it." And Trump says he'll respond by pushing back, refusing to stop winning. PLEASE. There is no "winning" under Trump. The fact that we are paying lip service is like playing on his home court where he hopes to control the conversation by forcing his opponents to address his inane talking points vs. addressing real issues.
He disingenuously ties immigration to violent crime--not a hint that the dysfunctional, failed war on drugs creating sky-high profits luring international criminals. He's "smarter" than everyone else; he's got the "best education". He lectures on how Congressional Republicans weren't selling tax reform until he told them to promote it as a "tax cut" package. He basically caricatures West Virginia as little more than a coal economy (I never met a single miner in the year-plus I lived in WV), politically attacked by the Obama Administration. Whereas there is no doubt Obama's green energy policies didn't help coal producers, the real impact had more to do with much cheaper natural gas (obtained via fracking), a substitute for coal. By some statistics, natural gas was up to a third cheaper to deploy. The lower carbon emissions were an environmental bonus.
I don't buy Trump's playing the victim card over largely self-inflicted wounds like contradicting Rosenstein's rationale for terminating FBI director Comey. He's the guy who hired Manafort and Cohen. His calling the press the "enemy of the people" is unconscionable. Most people would get turned off by endless bragging and self-promotion. He promises to spend much of the time backing the GOP in the upcoming mid-term elections, but just to give an example, his endorsed fellow billionaire Friess lost in deep red Wyoming. It's highly possible the House will revert to Democrat control, and the GOP may actually make gains in the Senate. And I predict that Trump will claim credit for any gains and blame the GOP for any losses claiming they didn't nominate enough Trumpkins. Quite frankly, I'm bored. But, and I'm reluctant to make this point, the Democrats taking power may actually work to help Trump's chances at reelection.
