We’re sorry (not sorry) but the president is lying…again

During Donald Trump's news conference on September 25, Nicolle Wallace—host of the MSNBC political talk show “Deadline White House”—cut away from the president’s audio saying: “We hate to do this, really. But the president isn't telling the truth.”

She neglected to add the word “again.”

This statement by Wallace—a former Republican operative who worked in the second Bush White House and helped run John McCain’s presidential campaign against Barack Obama—should become the normal response from all of the news media whenever Trump gets in front of a microphone and starts rattling off a succession of lies…which is to say, every time the president speaks in public.

Giving Trump free air time to lie to the American people is what got the racist con man elected in the first place, and it’s what he’s counting on to win him a second term in office. “You just say it,” he once told a confidant, “and they believe it.”

Or put another way, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” (For the record, the author of that statement was Paul Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda for Nazi Germany. The rest of Goebbels’s quote goes like this: “The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Does any of that sound familiar? How about “repressing dissent” and that “enemy of the state” business? Where else have we heard those words?

So here’s the problem. Before running for office, Donald Trump was a popular TV reality show producer and host who is very comfortable in front of a camera, but was considered a joke as a presidential candidate. The American news media—desperate for readers and ratings—covered every word of his campaign for the sheer stupidity of it and, in doing so, unwittingly gave him the credibility he needed to be accepted by that 35% of the population who hates the government, opposes abortion, fears immigrants and wants to preserve white supremacy.

The media created Trump in the name of ratings (read that “revenue”), and three years later, other than Nicolle Wallace and a handful of others, it still hasn’t figured out what to do with him. But I have some ideas.

On January 14, 2017, I wrote this in the shieldWALL blog:

If you saw the news conference, you know that Trump opened up by calling out CNN for reporting “fake news,” and then refused to recognize (Jim) Acosta when he tried to ask a question. This is setting a dangerous precedent under which Trump will never have to answer a question he doesn’t like. He’ll just “suspend” reporters one at a time until there is no one left to make him accountable for the decisions he makes as president.

He’s not even in office yet and Trump is already taking the First Amendment and grinding it up under his heel, and the worst part is, the media is letting him get away with it. For my money, I don’t know why the rest of the reporters in the room didn’t get up and walk out the second that Trump shook his finger in Acosta’s face and said, “I’m not going to give you a question.”

Trump is nothing if not a creation of the news media. He’s the monster to their Dr. Frankenstein. They built him in the lab during the long campaign by giving him hours of free air time to ramble on at rallies unedited and uncut, and then appeared shocked when their monster got loose and started pillaging the countryside and killing sheep.

I’d suggest the reporters who cover Trump need to get organized, find a way to cover each other’s backs and stop trying to “normalize” the alt-president. He may love to discredit the media, but he’d be nothing without them. The reporters who cover the White House are going to have to stand together or they are all going to fall separately until there is nothing left but Twitter rants from Trump’s golden realm.

So here’s my idea:

Back in the day, before the 24-hour news cycle, the media used to show up for events such as a presidential rally, speech or press gaggle the way they do now, only the event wasn’t broadcast live or posted instantaneously on the internet. The press would photograph the event, take notes and return to the office to edit their coverage and write stories about the actual news—if there was any—that was generated by the event. If, say, a president would stand outside the White House for 20 minutes and spew lie after lie, the resulting story would say so. If he told the same lies day after day, that would be reported as well. The more lies he told, the shorter the stories would be. No news, no story. Period.

Get the picture?

There are a dozen or so Democrats running for president. How many of them get wall-to-wall coverage every day? How many of their rallies are covered live? Did I hear someone say “zero?” This is what the media should do with Trump. Take a cue from Nicolle Wallace and monitor the president’s statements but report them after the fact if there’s any actual news to report. If not, just ignore him and report on events that are real, honest-to-goodness news and not a fantastical narcissistic campaign stump speech repeated over and over again.

Lie. Rinse. Repeat.

If Trump wants to do something presidential, send a reporter. Otherwise, if he has a campaign message he wants to deliver, let him buy an ad like everybody else. He certainly has plenty of money to do that, since he apparently pays no taxes. No president of either party should be allowed to put the job aside and spend every minute of every day either watching TV or running for re-election, and especially not a president who’s bat-shit crazy.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “Donald Trump is the president of the United States. He was elected to the job and you can’t just ignore him. That would not be normal.” Am I right?

Well, Trump is deep into his third year in office, so tell me one thing about this presidency that IS normal. Just one thing. Anything, large or small, significant or otherwise. I’ll wait right here.

Readers react to 'Time Capsule,' my first mystery novel

Early reviews have all been positive from readers of Time Capsule, the first in a series of mystery novels I have written. It’s the story of newspaper reporter Rob Covington who planted a tree in his own back yard and dug up something he wasn’t expecting to find—a time capsule buried by middle school students nearly 40 years before.

Opening the box unlocks a mystery that Rob and his reporter wife Jennie pursue to a stunning and unexpected conclusion.

Along the way, readers will encounter three individuals who share dark secrets from their childhood that haunt them even as adults, and whose lives become intertwined in a way that none of them could have ever seen coming. 

Time Capsule is a character-driven, easy reading, fast-moving mystery full of twists and surprises, secrets and lies, instincts and doubts, mystery and murder—all revolving around a cryptic clue unearthed by accident 62 years before its time.

The book is available at Amazon.com.  Click here to order a copy.

 Here’s what readers are saying:

Amazon reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars
Worthy read

“I just finished reading TIME CAPSULE by Marshall Scott Shields. This character-driven novel is a quick read with lots of real-life experience behind the writing. Scott was a news reporter for many years...so he has a lot of background to draw from. He brings his character of Rob Covington to life by his engaging descriptions and his crisp dialogue.

“Rob’s wife Jennie is also a news reporter and obviously in love with her husband….Scott introduces the reader to several interesting and memorable characters who all play a part in the mystery/unsolved crime that Rob and Jennie uncover while planting a tree. The mystery all unfolds near the end of the book as we connect the interrelationship of these vibrant characters.”

5.0 out of 5 stars

Great mystery that you won’t want to put down.

“I’m not normally one to read books just for pleasure. But this book I read in one day. I couldn’t put it down. It keeps you guessing up to the very end. The characters are everyday people that find themselves in the middle of a mystery. I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially those looking for a good mystery to read.”

5.0 out of 5 stars

A really good story!

“I love how this author brings his background as a journalist into this story. He's a good storyteller; and effectively wove different storyline threads together. I didn't see the ending coming and I can usually see it mid-book. The main characters are appealing, and I'll be looking for more in this series. Recommended!”

5.0 out of 5 stars

Great Summer Read (or anytime!)

“Twists and turns, great character development, and a perfect wrap up at the end. Shields has done it all in this captivating mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend!”

Other reader comments

“Just finished your book and I loved it! Wow, kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. Was especially intrigued by the way you wove all the side stories together and how they intersected at the end, with little clues along the way!! Prior to reading yours, I had read a mystery that James Patterson co-authored with some gal, but I have to say I found the storytelling far superior in yours!! Can’t wait for the next one!!”

“You had me hooked from the very beginning.”

“I certainly didn't see that coming.”

“Enjoyed your book - great read. Looking forward to the next - let me know when you publish.”

“Enjoyed it a lot. I like a lot of twists and you delivered.”

“Finished the book. Definitely enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next one.”

“Read it. Liked it. Want the next one!”

“Hi Scott. I finished your book about an hour ago. I so enjoyed it. Your descriptions of your characters made them very real to me. The plot and subplots were real life. I am looking forward, very much, to your next book. Feel like I need to thank you for an interesting and pleasurable read.”

“I read and enjoyed your novel. The story line unfolds nicely and the closing touch is an unexpected surprise. Well done and more to come as I understand. I'm handing it off to my wife and know she'll enjoy it as well. Congrats.”

“I could not put it down. Started at bedtime and finished at 3 a.m. What a twist in solving this one! Congrats.”

“I really liked your book. I plan on reading it again.”

And this is why it matters when half the country doesn’t vote

Many years ago (I’ve forgotten when) I told somebody (I’ve forgotten who) that there was more to electing a president than which man would do the best job of running the country. (Yes, it was always men back then.)

I said that the person who sat in the Oval Office was less important for his executive skills, leadership ability or policy positions than he was for the fact that he might get to appoint one or more Supreme Court justices for life. (I could have added “and other federal judges as well.”)

I suggested that even a weak president could fill his cabinet with qualified secretaries who would run the country while the president sat back and took the credit, but that appointing justices—should he get the opportunity—could affect the country in much more important ways and for much longer than the typical eight-year presidential term. A 50-year-old justice could easily serve for 30 years or more, outlasting the terms of three or more presidents while making decisions that forever change the lives of millions of American citizens.

I’m fairly certain that the person I was talking to thought I was completely bat-shit crazy.

Well fast forward to 2019, ladies and gentlemen, and I am ready to rest my case.

Watching Corey Lewandowski smart-ass his way through testimony before the House Judiciary Committee today while Donald Trump live-tweeted his approval brought home the fact that the worst president in the history of the country is having his way with the Constitution and the law and, because he also controls the Judiciary and the entire Justice Department, there’s not a damn thing any of us can do about it except vote him out of office, and hope that he actually leaves when his term eventually expires.

I never thought I’d see the day when a corrupt president could double down on his corruption by feeding information to a legislative committee witness in real time and for everyone to see—and get away with it because there is no one to hold him accountable. It was like watching a cheerleader rooting on his favorite team on live TV. I could almost see Trump wearing a letter sweater and a pleated skirt and waving some red MAGA pompoms.

I was reminded of the line from the movie “A Few Good Men” when Jack Nicholson asked who would man the wall at Gitmo if not for him. “Who's gonna do it?” he asked. “You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom.”

I was thinking that all of the witnesses who have been subpoenaed to testify before House committees and refused to appear—or did appear and put on a clown show like Lewandowski did today—should be held accountable by, oh, I don’t know, maybe being sent to jail for a few weeks to think about their refusal to cooperate with legitimate congressional oversight. But then I heard myself ask, “Who’s going to do that? You, Attorney General Barr? You, Justice Kavanaugh? You, Justice Gorsuch? You, FBI Director Wray? You, Trump-appointed federal judges? You, anybody else in Trump’s government?”

And then I heard myself say, “Of course not, you idiot. There is no one to make them obey the law. They’re all afraid of, or otherwise beholden to, Donald Trump.”

Until 2016, I don’t think anyone could have imagined that the president of the United States could so effectively consolidate his power that he could control both the Executive and Judicial branches of government while rendering the Legislative branch completely powerless to rein him in…but that’s exactly what has happened.

And all because Hillary Clinton was such an unpopular candidate that 46% of the voting public stayed home on Election Day, and a few thousand others in three key states voted for third-party candidates that had no chance of winning a race for county executive in Bumfugg, Idaho, let alone the presidency. That cleared the way for a shallow, narcissistic, misogynistic, xenophobic, racist con man tax evading pathological liar and sexual predator with dangerous, Fascist-inspired ideas and a probable mental illness to occupy the nation’s highest office while committing at least one crime almost every day of his presidency.

Thinking about it drove me outside to sit on my deck and drink.

On the bright side, I guess, we didn’t elect a woman whose husband once got a hummer in the Oval Office and had a bunch of personal emails she didn’t want anyone to see, because having her as president would certainly be much worse than the mentally deficient and morally bankrupt criminal we’re stuck with now.

Don’t you think?

That time when following the Constitution was ‘unconstitutional’

After declaring that impeaching the president would be “unconstitutional,” the White House is now considering a number of other significant changes to many of our federal and state laws. At least that’s what I’m hearing, so it must be true. Am I right?

According to rumor, the administration is preparing to issue executive orders stating the following:

* That rapists can no longer be arrested for rape if the female victim has, at any time in her life, consumed alcohol, taken any drug or allowed herself to be dosed with any type of date-rape potion. Those actions by her make all sex consensual and therefore the crime of rape is not possible.

Special consideration will be given to the alleged rapist if he is a prominent judge, sports celebrity, oil and gas producer, Republican politician, campaign donor or promising student at one of our finer private prep schools and military academies with good grades and outstanding athletic ability.

And if he’s white.

* That child traffickers will be considered nothing more than volunteer babysitters and therefore not subject to the law.

* That fraud is a legitimate business practice and is to be encouraged whenever possible. This includes such activities as setting up fake colleges to scam people out of money and inflating or deflating the value of one’s property as appropriate to either puff up one’s reported wealth or to manipulate downward his or her property tax liability.    

* That failing to pay contractors for work they perform not only isn’t a crime, but it’s also a recognized business activity designed to help people who are granted a million dollars by their father become multi-millionaires and eventually billionaires—at least on paper—at the expense of individuals and small businesses that provide services in good faith.

* That lying under oath is no worse than lying to your spouse about infidelity, which as everyone knows is okay as long as you can get away with it.

* That discrimination against any non-white people is supported by the law, because those people “are coming to replace us” and threaten the Conservative Fundamentalist Judeo-Christian White Supremacist Western European principles upon which this nation was founded.

* That any individual or group that opposes our God-given right to possess and acquire military-style assault rifles and 100-round magazines under the Second Amendment to the Constitution—and attempts to legislate stricter gun laws in any city or state—may be arrested for treason and either executed by firing squad, jailed indeterminately in a cage on the southern border or deported to their “country of origin,” which will be decided by White House Policy Advisor Stephen Miller in those instances where the deportee was actually born in the U.S.

* That news reporting by any organization not friendly to the administration shall be considered unlawful fake news, and any “enemy of the people” who attempts such reporting shall be arrested and sent to Guantanamo Bay forever.

* And finally, that any attempt by that annoying gaggle of Democratic lawmakers who call themselves "Congress" to interfere with the actions of the newly empowered Executive Branch shall be considered an illegal “over-reach” and discarded as “incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial,” just like Hamilton Burger was cast aside in all of those episodes of Perry Mason.    

In case you missed it, White House Alternative Facts Meister Kellyanne Conway said over the weekend that attempting to impeach President Donald J. Trump would violate the U.S. Constitution. “They need to read the Constitution in the Democratic Party,” she said. “Tell them to stop the nonsense of harassing and embarrassing this president and the people around him when you have no constitutional or legal basis to do so.”

Never mind that the U.S. Constitution clearly sets forth the process for impeaching the president if he commits crimes while in office, and that the list of said crimes committed by Trump is much too long to mention here. Of course, that’s what the Constitution said before Trump became president and started rewriting all of our guiding principles and laws.

It’s rumored that Trump once told his advisors (who were mostly his daughter and her husband) that, "The Constitution is decades out of date, and these old laws are far too restrictive to allow me to make America great again as I alone can do it. Besides, if we need any laws in this country, I’ll be the one who decides what those laws are going to be.”

Now in the interest of full disclosure, I wasn’t in the room when Trump supposedly said those things, but it’s what I’m hearing from some pretty reliable sources, and if that kind of credibility is good enough for Trump, it’s good enough for me. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. After all, I could be one of those stable geniuses I keep hearing about, who knows? I guess you can decide that for yourself.

And the Brass Balls Award is presented to…

Today’s Brass Balls Award is presented to Texas Governor Greg Abbott who just held a televised news conference to decry the recent rash of mass shootings in his state…on the same day that a batch of news laws went into effect loosening restrictions on the ownership and possession of guns.

Who signed those bills? Well, he did, I believe.

The new laws open up more opportunities for Texans to own and carry firearms and store ammunition in public places. From churches to public schools to foster homes, the laws also loosen restrictions on where a firearm is permitted to be carried.

Today, Abbott bemoaned the tragedy of mass shootings in Sutherland Springs (27 dead), Santa Fe High School (10 dead), El Paso (22 dead) and now Odessa-Midland (7 dead), despite the presence of god knows how many “good guys with guns” wandering the Texas streets—including several cops who were wounded by yesterday’s shooter before authorities finally caught and killed him in a stolen mail truck.

Total dead in these four shootings: 66.

“We must keep guns out of the hands of these killers while protecting our Second Amendment rights,” Abbott said.

Right.

This is the same governor who, in 2018, told the National Rifle Association convention, “The answer to gun violence is not to take guns away, the answer is to strengthen the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. The problem is not guns, it’s hearts without God.”

So the answer, clearly, is to allow more and more guns in more and more places. After all, this is Texas, and this is America. We wouldn’t have it any other way.