Don’t rely on fake Fox News
By Norman Hoffman • Guest Columnist
It is truly amusing to see an apparent “conservative” say that liberals are out of touch with reality because they don’t watch Fox News. I tend to watch several networks and frequently have found that what Fox talking heads are saying does not match the facts. Not only do they tend to have a strong bias to saying what conservative want to hear, their “facts” are often wrong or distorted.
As to the writer’s other statements about the country, let’s consider the following. The writer complained about the hatred. Remember, it was the Tea Party activists that made harassing public officials and name calling an art form. President Trump has fueled the hatred by calling Mexicans rapists and all Muslims terrorists. Almost every statement from him is a “we vs. them” theme. His slogan of “Make America Great Again” is really “Make America White Again” by getting rid of all those brown people. The hate in the U.S. is fueled primarily by the right-wingers and the white supremacists. When anyone pushes back on their hate speech and demonstrations it is they who get labeled as haters by conservatives.
As to bringing back jobs, there has been more smoke and mirrors than any real results from Trump. Remember the big production about the Carrier plant in Indiana where he claimed to save a thousand jobs? But the reality is that 800 of those jobs have gone to Mexico and most of the rest will be gone by now if they are not already vanished. The big production about bringing back coal mining was another example of promotion over performance. The few coalmining jobs that might have been produced are minute compared to job growth in the areas of wind and solar energy. Coal for energy production is not cost competitive to natural gas or even renewable sources. All the hype just gives false hopes to those in coal mining areas. Most recently, there are the theatrics about steel production. With the automation of the steel industry, there will actually be few jobs created by a tariff on steel. What the tariff is more likely to do is cause job losses in industries that use steel by raising the price of steel. But in the end, it is likely that as with a lot of Trump productions little, if anything, will actually happen.
Then there is the famous “swamp draining” that Trump promised. Instead he has filled key positions with people with potential conflicts of interest and flat out incompetence. Almost all of the cabinet positions have been filled by rich white guys, who have interests that may be served by their position in government. Some of the judicial nominees for jobs as lifetime federal judges have never actually worked as a lawyer — much less have any judicial experience. The State Department is essential to keeping up with what other countries are doing and thinking. Experience here is key, but we have lost a host of experienced people with no replacements. What Trump has done is drain the federal government of people who know what they are doing.
Then, there is the issue of whether Trump and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, are selling out the US to Russia and/or other foreign interests. If there is nothing nefarious going on, why have they lied about all those meeting they had with Russians who answer to Putin? One of the first things Trump did was blow the cover of an Israeli operative by giving classified information to the Russian ambassador. Kushner has reportedly been trying to get huge loans from the Chinese and Arabs to bail out his failing business. Being so desperate for money is one reason he probably does not qualify for a security clearance.
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Finally there is the constant lying. During the campaign, Trump claimed he has no business interest in Russia. However, the evidence clearly shows that he was involved in trying to get Russian investments in his businesses from at least 2013 to 2016 while he was running for president. The fact checkers have found that Trump has racked up more than 2,000 flat out lies per year. How can you run a country when you can’t believe a thing the president says? Conservatives need to wake up to the real reality and not rely on Fox Fake News.
(Hoffman lives in Waynesville.)
