Yes, slimey TV personalities who abuse women SHOULD get canned…
The world we live in gets stranger every day. For the last two days, I’ve been traveling and a bit out of the loop. So I sit at my laptop to catch up on the news before ending my day, and I see that the lead story on most of the news sites I follow is about a TV personality losing his job.
This is probably one of these things like NCAA tournament games coming to Columbia two years from now — people who follow 24/7 cable TV “news” are likely to see it as a far bigger deal than I do.
From what I’ve read, it seems to me no wonder that he’s being shown the door. But maybe people didn’t think it would happen. Or didn’t think it would happen at Fox (despite what happened to Roger Ailes). Or something. I don’t know. I’m a bit color-blind in the TV “news” celebrity range.
To the extent I have an opinion about it, I say way to go, Fox. If the allegations are true, sounds like he’s a major slimeball. But I have to say I’m more concerned about the fact that we have a president who has boasted of similar behavior.
And other stuff.
Check out this Jennifer Rubin column, appropriately headlined “Trump’s ethical squalor is worse than you thought.”
From his abuse of his access to secret intelligence to smear the former administration to the unbelievably tawdry, petty, tacky personal financial dealings of the Donald and his kin, we are seeing behavior we have never, ever seen on the part of anyone with so much power over our country and the world. As the conservative columnist writes:
President Trump’s ethical sloth and financial conflicts of interest are unique in American history. (The Harding and Grant administrations were rife with corruption, but the presidents did not personally profit. Richard Nixon abused power but did not use his office to fatten his coffers or receive help from a hostile foreign power to get elected.) But it keeps getting worse….
You would think, reading of his doings and the business dealings of daughter Ivanka, that these were dirt-poor people who had for the first time in their lives set eyes on a chance to pick up a dollar, and were so desperate to seize the opportunity while it lasts that they would never pause for a second to consider the ethical considerations. What do I mean? Cheesy stuff like this, which Ms. Rubin cites from The Associated Press:
On April 6, Ivanka Trump’s company won provisional approval from the Chinese government for three new trademarks, giving it monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world’s second-largest economy. That night, the first daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner, sat next to the president of China and his wife for a steak and Dover sole dinner at Mar-a-Lago, her father’s Florida resort….
And yes, this is part of a pattern:
This is hardly an isolated event for Ivanka Trump. Recall that as she was working on a clothing deal with a Japanese apparel giant — whose parent company’s largest shareholder is wholly owned by the Japanese government — she was sitting in a transition meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Even aside from this, Jordan Libowitz, spokesman for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, observes: “This raises serious questions that we should not have to be asking. The White House is not a side gig.”…
Yeah, I know — this stuff (and Trump’s ongoing refusal to disclose his tax returns or truly wall himself off from his businesses) is going on every day, and doesn’t seem as fresh as the nasty doings of some guy on TV.
But, as I keep saying, we can’t allow ourselves for a moment to regard any of this as normal…
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Yes, but Hillary’s e-mail!
Trump is truly a reprehensible piece of S***. I’ve pretty much accepted it. We should probably just focus on policy going forward. There’s enough terrible policy to keep us busy.
He’s slowly alienating his constituents. Sooner or later enough people are going to realize what a disaster he is. I just hope it’s before he gets us into unnecessary war or really messes up the economy.
Unless the Republicans lose some of these special elections I’ll continue to be skeptical of any alienation issues with Trump supporters. Nate Silver had a good analysis of the die hard Trump voters compared to the reluctant Trump voters. By huge margins the die hards approve of Trump. I suspect they’ll just blame someone else for any war or recession.
Yes. I hope Karen is correct, but I’m not holding my breath. Republican candidates around here don’t seem to be distancing themselves from him. Look no farther than the Mick Mulvaney/John Spratt distict in SC: see any moderation there? Looks to me like they are still trying to out-crazy one another. Shei Few is running an ad, on purpose, looking like she’s commemorating Dylann Roof posing with a Confederate battle flag and a military weapon.
“Few is running an ad, on purpose, looking like she’s commemorating Dylann Roof posing with a Confederate battle flag and a military weapon”
link?
I think he’s referring to this:
Although I guess Larry said confederate flag and the ad I saw was a US flag. Sorry to Bryan and Larry if that’s the wrong one.
Thanks, John. They may have meant that one, since she mentions “flags” at the beginning, and it seems pretty clear that the Confederate banner is what she was referring to.
I think it’s fair to say she is invoking Roof’s “guns and the flag” imagery, in a way. As ironic as it may be for her to be defending the flag of treason against the United States in front of the U.S. flag…
Of course, if you have any doubt about where Sheri stands on the battle flag, this should settle it:
Eye status: Rolled.
You know, my search for that took me back to this story in The State several weeks back about ads from the GOP candidates in that race.
And it’s really… depressing.
Basically, they’re all competing with each other to see who can appeal the most strongly to gross ignorance and blind hostility to government and politics. All about who’s the most conservative and “Christian,” and most against career politicians (coming from people who’ve been around the political block a startling number of times) and “political correctness,” yadda yadda. It’s a festival of stupid.
It would be so wonderful to see just one of them make a statement offering actual proposals about actual issues facing the actual state of South Carolina — or the Unites States, seeing as they’re running for Congress.
But no, we don’t get that.
I’m going to have to do a separate post…
The party of Trump keeps spewing this nonsense.
Oh, dear Gussie! I don’t know whether she actually means what she’s suggesting or if she is unbelievable tone deaf.
Actually, Karen, I don’t think it’s that she’s deaf. She hears a dog whistle you don’t hear…
or the environment…..or science……or education
Slimy
Yikes!
Yes, I see the MIck Mulvaney types. But I also see lots of voters who voted for Trump. The ones I”ve talk with are having more and more doubts about Trump. My hope is that the aforementioned political individuals have pushed out to see in a boat that’s springing more and more leaks.
And anyone who didn’t realize a long time ago that O’Reilly was a slimeball whose real talent was the ability and willingness to out-shout the “guests” he had on the show.
Karen I don’t know who you’re talking to but the Trump voters I talk to adore the man and insist he’s moving the country in the right direct. Right track/wrong track polling seems to support this.
Confirmation bias at its best (worse?).
Say “Bill O’Reilly” to me, and — having never seen his show — I think, “That’s the guy who cranks out those Killing (Fill in the Blank with Major Historical Figure) books, right?
Yes. Google says he is.
Well, he’s still got that. And the good news is, I doubt that writing conspiracy theories about the death of George S. Patton gives you nearly as many chances to abuse women…
How lucky for you to have never seen the show. Family beach week has it’s ups and downs as I have family members who are avid fox news watchers. And the TV that usually has Fox news on it is in the room with the Puzzle (very rude). Being very attracted to puzzles and very repelled by Fox news, I tend to spend a good bit of time in a state of consternation. I’ve heard my share of O’Reilly. He likes to hear himself talk.