Sean Hannity's lies once helped Barack Obama win the presidency. So eager and egregious was Hannity's lying about Reverend Wright that Obama had to give what turned out to be a landmark speech on race in Philadelphia. It was a turning point. From then on there were few doubts that Obama would gain the White House and the nation.
From judge's chair to Trump Tower
Judge Napolitano is a single New Jersey man who went to Princeton and then Notre Dame. He became a respected judge in a state that was rigorous in limiting his compensation to $100,000 a year.
Because the judge was sought after as a lecturer and speaker this chafed. That was the beginning of Napolitano's move all the way to Trump Tower where he now has a place. He became a Fox News personality. Money flowed. He was known throughout the nation. Now his lies have given him world notoriety.
Fox News censures Napolitano
Fox News has just censured the judge for saying on the air that the British helped Barack Obama wiretap Donald Trump. Overhearing this, Sean Spicer precipitated an international incident by repeating it to the nation and the world. Donald Trump remained obdurate and would not budge from insisting his falsehoods are true.
Trump Offers No Apology for Claim on British Spying https://t.co/pbhT2e0a3U
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) March 18, 2017
Decadent drama
If evil is harm then the judge was evil in passing on lies he got from someone who once harmed Michelle Obama with similar falsehoods.
We need a Tennessee Williams to give us the proper magnolia-scented picture of the decadent hurtfulness that seems to circulate from Fox News to the White House and back and into the living rooms and garages and shops and bars of the nation where Trump's base is nourished.
Consequences
The possible harm that could come from this includes the following laundry list noted in the New York Times: Mexico refuses to deal with us; Australia is not interested in conversing with Trump; Sweden has been almost entirely alienated from our nation, and China is on edge.
A time of anxiety
It is the frenetic nature of the seeming nightmare we are in that creates anxiety. Some would say it is the way a dictator softens us up for the sudden preemptive act that transforms everything. No day passes without one more offense. Will the presidential scowl become the daily face? Where are the good GOP folk?
