Boris Johnson just appeared on Donald Trump's favourite show to heap praise on Donald Trump

Fox and Friends is Donald Trump's favourite TV show. Since becoming President he's mentioned or retweeted the show over 70 times. That's more times than he's mentioned subjects like health, debt and the economy! 

On some mornings the President of the United States just live Tweets the show, hastily paraphrasing their right-wing talking points on his Twitter account in one Tweet after another.

Boris Johnson knows this. He knows about Donald Trump's morning Tweet storms and his symbiotic relationship with Rupert Murdoch's Fox News propaganda channel, so it was no surprise at all when Johnson showed up as a guest of Fox and Friends and began lauding the President.

The interview started off with a few softball foreign policy questions when any journalist worthy of the name would have nailed him to the floor over his catastrophic mishandling of the Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe case, but no. Fox News employees are not journalists, they're propaganda agents for the right-wing media baron Rupert Murdoch, so Johnson was handed the easiest ride possible.

All he had to do was more-or-less match Trump's opinions on Russia and Syria, then he was handed his golden opportunity to shine in his audition to curry Trump's favour.

When asked his opinion on Donald Trump's Presidency, Boris leapt at the chance, describing him as a "huge, great, global brand" and praised him for "penetrating corners of the global consciousness that few other Presidents have ever done".

Since Donald Trump became President the global approval rating for the US Presidency has cratered from well over 60% to the all time record low of just 22%, but you wouldn't believe that to be the case if you took Boris Johnson's sycophantic grovelling at face value.

He was so keen to display his enthusiasm that he even praised Trump's method of launching early morning Tweet storms, which gave away the fact that he knew exactly what he was doing by appearing on Fox and Friends.

Here's the grovelling little charlatan @BorisJohnson sucking up to Donald Trump on the Rupert Murdoch propaganda show that he knows that @realDonaldTrump watches religiously. Pathetic! pic.twitter.com/KIrwebqThy

— Tom (AAV) (@Angry_Voice) November 9, 2017

The previous evening Theresa May had hurried off to genuflect before the Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre because she knows that if he turns his guns on her she's well and truly finished, but within hours her unsackable subordinate Boris Johnson was auditioning to replace her with even more powerful people than the Daily Mail's hatemonger in chief. He's decided to prostrate himself before Donald Trump on the Rupert Murdoch propaganda channel that put Trump where he is.

Boris likes to pretend that he's just a harmless floppy-haired buffoon, but it's all just an act designed to disarm people into thinking he's harmless when he's a cynical operator who knows exactly what he's doing. He can smell blood, and he knows that when Theresa May goes down in flames, which she inevitably will, it will be very useful for him to have the likes of Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch firmly onside.

Here's the grovelling little charlatan @BorisJohnson sucking up to Donald Trump on the Rupert Murdoch propaganda show that he knows that @realDonaldTrump watches religiously. Pathetic! pic.twitter.com/KIrwebqThy

— Tom (AAV) (@Angry_Voice) November 9, 2017

OR

Sean Spicer: A man of boundless ineptitude

The United States has suffered some pretty appalling governments in its history, but surely none of them can compare to the multiple displays of abject incompetence that the Trump administration have packed into their first three months.

Things started badly with Trump's tantrum over the fact that Obama's inauguration crowd was bigger, Spicer's lies and Kellyanne Conway's excuse that Spicer's lies were not lies, but actually "alternative facts", and then they just got worse and worse from there.

There was the resignation of Michael Flynn for outright lying that he hadn't been in contact with Russians; the introduction of Trump's profoundly unconstitutional Muslim Ban and his deranged attacks on the US judicial system when it was ruled unlawful; the bizarre spectacle of the Trump and his administration lying that he'd been spied on by Obama and the British intelligence services; the debacle of Trump's failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act; and countless examples of Trump Tweeting about whatever gibberish he'd just been watching on Fox News propaganda channel.

When it came to Trump's decision to attack Syria and lambaste Barack Obama for having not attacked Syria earlier, his rhetoric was massively undermined by his own Tweet history (see image).

The August 29 2013 Tweet that demanded that Obama seek Congressional approval before attacking Syria was especially damning in light of the fact that Trump didn't bother to seek Congressional approval for his own attack on Syria.

Sean Spicer then weighed in to defend Trump's attack on Syria by claiming that Adolf Hitler never used chemical weapons, which looked suspiciously like an act of Holocaust denial from a member of a regime that was propelled into power on the back of the so-called Alt-right white supremacist neo-Nazi movement.

Spicer's Holocaust denial sparked outrage, prompting a hasty apology, but during his televised apology he literally said that the objective of Trump's attack on Syria was to "destabilise the region"!

Whether Spicer's "destabilise the region" comment was a Freudian slip in which he admitted the truth about Trump's agenda, or just a case of "mis-speaking" as our American cousins say, it's an astounding display of incompetence.

Imagine being such an incompetent blabbermouth that you'd somehow contrive to deny the Nazi Holocaust, and then state that the objective of your President's military action was to destabilise the Middle East during your apology!

Now imagine being such a stubborn, fact-averse narcissist of a President who is so lost in a cloud of Fox News propaganda that you refuse to even consider how much of a total arse your press secretary is making you look!

I do feel a slight twinge of sympathy for Spicer given that defending the constant stream of outright lies and mutually contradictory gibberish that Trump comes out with has to be one of the hardest jobs imaginable, but then I remember that he's only there because he wants to be there, and that he could easily step aside if he had any awareness of a. the sheer impossibility of the job he's tasked with or b. his own bumbling ineptitude.

 Another Angry Voice  is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.

OR

The ugly divisive fiction of the extreme-right opportunists

The terrorist who attacked Westminster has now been confirmed as British-born, yet before his origins were revealed the extreme-right were absolutely desperate to use the attack to fuel their divisive anti-immigration, and to misleadingly portray London as a weak, scared and divided city.

The UKIP and Leave.EU bankroller Arron Banks was one of the first to use the attack as an excuse to promote his fanatical and divisive anti-immigration rhetoric. Long before the (British) origins of the attacker were known, Banks started blabbering on about immigration and borders, Retweeting extreme-right comments, and slinging abuse at people who dared contradict his divisive rhetoric.

Nigel Farage was another extreme-right politician to see the carnage as a golden opportunity to spread divisive anti-immigrant nonsense. Instead of waiting for information about who the attacker was, he charged onto Fox News to opportunistically weave the Westminster attack into his personal anti-immigration narrative.

It's not just anti-immigrant sentiments that extreme-right used this attack to promote. They also wanted to instil fear. The woman who will not be named on this blog also scuttled off to Fox News to tell the Americans that in London "people are cowed, people are afraid, people are not united".

The woman who will not be named was obviously lying through her teeth because the vast majority of Londoners are not cowed into submission, they're getting on with their lives and refusing to let the terrorists win. 

London survived the Blitz; London survived loads of IRA attacks in the 70s, 80s, and 90s; London survived the appalling 7/7 bombings; and London will survive this.

The extreme-right want to portray London as a weak city that is quivering with fear because it helps to sell their fanatical  fearmongering agenda to the lucrative American audience, but the reality is totally different.

The real stories are the remarkable displays of bravery in the immediate aftermath of the attack, and the stoic solidarity of Londoners on the day after it.

The extreme-right elements who misleadingly portray London as weak, scared and divided are shameful opportunists who know that their ugly divisive fiction is more marketable to the right-wing news channels in the US than the reality; the stoicism and resilience of London.

The extreme-right don't care about waiting for the facts before they start spouting off.

The extreme-right don't care about the reality that most Londoners are determined to get on with their lives rather than wallowing in fear or self-pity.

The extreme-right are absolutely desperate to use anything they can to spread their agenda of fear and division.

The grand irony of course is that by behaving like this they're doing the work of the Islamist fanatics. The Islamist terrorists want to make us live in abject fear of their attacks. The Islamist terrorists want to create divisions and even more anti-Muslim prejudice in the West.

The extreme-right love to see themselves as defenders of our culture, but by deliberately spreading fear, hatred, and division they're actually reacting in precisely the way the Islamist fanatics want them to.

In fact the extreme-right and the Islamist fanatics both share the same vision. They both crave a violent and destructive clash of civilisations. They're the opposite sides of the same disgusting coin. The Islamist fanatic in ISIS occupied Syria who joyously celebrates the attack on London is no different to the extreme-right fanatic in Britain who is full of glee because they see the attack as another wonderful opportunity to spread their divisive and dishonest hate-fuelled rhetoric.

 Another Angry Voice  is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.

OR

The best of #FoxNewsFacts

In early January 2015 Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel ran a bizarre fearmongering interview with a so-called terrorism expert called Steve Emerson, who made a series of increasingly bizarre and misleading statements including the claims that the city of Birmingham is 100% Muslim and that London has special Muslim dress code police who attack people who refuse to wear Islamic attire.

The embedded video below is the specific 30 second segment that triggered the #FoxNewsFacts Twitter storm, but the full five minute clip is actually much more disturbing because this supposed "expert" (who has apparently contributed to at least seven congressional committees) made a load of other fearmongering claims like "Europe is finished" with the presenter fueling the fire by harping on about how European countries like France, Belgium and Germany are "metastasizing" with "caliphates". You can see the full clip here.

#FoxNewsFacts

The reaction to this story on Twitter was absolutely brilliant, with thousands of British people mocking Fox News with made up facts of their own using the hashtag #FoxNewsFacts. 
Here is a selection of my favourites.

Mecca Bingo, probable proof of the Islamic domination of Birmingham according to #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/idByIkkrzQ
— Lewis Bush (@LewisKayBush) January 11, 2015

Terrifying photo of how a typical Muslim from Birmingham guards the city gates against infidels. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/w1TJt93VEi
— Pavilion Opinions (@pavilionopinion) January 11, 2015

British children are able to purchase these little confectionary mosques at any corner shop. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/hDcMYpvT8i
— Jack Tindale (@JackTindale) January 11, 2015

You're only allowed to drive like this if you're a Muslim woman #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/qroQ5wHuj1
— Yasmin Gooner (@Yasmin_Gooner) January 11, 2015

The name "Birmingham" was shortened to "Brum" just so to omit the reference to ham. #FoxNewsFacts
— David Allen Green (@DavidAllenGreen) January 11, 2015

Legislation passed in Islamified Britain forcing the Queen of England to don a traditional headscarf #FoxNewsFacts pic.twitter.com/yT0CTRTpi8
— Sarah M (@sazza_jay) January 11, 2015

If you are a non-muslim and would like to visit Birmingham #illridewithyou #FoxNewsFacts
— Rabeb Othmani (@Rabeb_Othmani) January 11, 2015

Radical cleric Mullah Kintyre demands everyone should bow down to Macca to pray five times each day. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/rkUGhjG2GW
— Peter Thompson (@TheRedRag) January 11, 2015

Birmingham has a chain of fast food restaurants called "Burqa King" #foxnewsfacts
— Tom Copley (@tomcopley) January 11, 2015

Jam jars across Britain are becoming radicalised. #FoxNewsFacts pic.twitter.com/0O4Cfv1DIo
— Parvez Anwar (@pavanwar) January 12, 2015

Dangerous bearded fanatics have a history of running Birmingham's sporting institutions #FoxNewsfacts pic.twitter.com/beKSwZzGAF
— Richard Adams (@RichardA) January 11, 2015

BREAKING! Margaret Thatcher was secret Muslim Jihadist (seen here wearing Hijab): #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/q2iGty9Icx
— Tom Pride (@ThomasPride) January 12, 2015

I couldn't resist having a go myself:

#FoxNewsFacts - @FoxNews terrorism experts get all of their information about the UK by trawling the #BritainFirst Facebook page!
— Another Angry Voice (@Angry_Voice) January 11, 2015

Some people couldn't resist spoiling the party by using the hashtag to present actual facts about Birmingham though!

FYI, the share of population in Birmingham neighbourhoods reporting as Muslim at the last census. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/N0aTwQx9p1
— Chris Cook (@xtophercook) January 11, 2015

Even after Steve Emerson apologised for having completely made up his claims about Birmingham the ridicule kept coming.

I asked Steven Emerson for a comment on #foxnewsfacts. Guy apologises and is going to make a donation to charity pic.twitter.com/GQeWZ7Fukq
— Chris Stokel-Walker (@stokel) January 11, 2015

The Fox News guy has apologised and called the city of Birmingham 'beautiful'. The guy can't get anything right, can he? #FoxNewsFacts
— James Gleave (@jamesgleave1) January 11, 2015

Conclusion

On the down side it is alarming that inaccurate fearmongering gibberish like that is being presented as "news" in the United States by a channel that is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who is a guy who Tweeted that the Charlie Hebdo atrocity was the collective responsibility of all Muslims (Sunni, Shia, Sufi, Ahmadiyya, Ibadi ... who cares? They're all the same right?).

On a more positive note, #FoxNewsFacts is a demonstration that when people make inaccurate or insulting comments about the British, we take the piss, and once we get going there's no stopping us. The fact that #FoxNewsFacts has been trending ever since this fearmongering rubbish was broadcast demonstrates that a significant percentage of Brits now see Murdoch's Fox News channel as a byword for inaccurate and misleading journalism, and little more than a target for satire.

 Another Angry Voice  is a "Pay As You Feel" website that accepts no donations from big business, political parties or governments. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.

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