I shouldn’t be, I know, but I’m always surprised whenever I rediscover there are people out there who don’t seem aware that Fox “News” is a political propaganda machine.  It’s not a credible news outlet, despite it’s misleading name.  It’s just an attack machine aimed at any individual considered an enemy by whomever is running the show that day.  Barack Obama was a favorite.  If he said “up”, Fox “News” said “down.”  Simple.  Always oppose.  It’s just what attack news is all about and always has been.

You may not be aware that when this country was born, well-positioned people sponsored entire newspapers to be their voice to the populace, specifically creating papers run by editors loyal to whatever cause the sponsor was promoting at the time.  In that same tradition, Fox “News” is set up by rich people to benefit rich people.  They’ve taken advantage of a certain mindset in this once-great nation and those minions keep Fox going by parroting whatever they hear on ‘Fox and Friends’ or Hannity.

Mostly, the adherents of Fox are old.  Really old.  Scared of dying, they become frightened of everything else, too, and Fox is there to make sure the fears seem real and justified.  It’s actually unkind.  These people don’t think well anymore.  Fox “News” is terrorizing old people and weak thinkers to further their own political agenda and they do so with great effect.  And now, we’ve got a group of those gullible, weak-thinkers in the White House…

I don’t know exactly how long Trump has been a Fox viewer but I’d guess it goes all the way back to when his brain first calcified.  The self-described master of the Art of the Deal – which, apparently, is NEVER honor an agreement – doesn’t seem to understand that Fox “News” doesn’t know – or even care – if what they say is true.  “True” isn’t relevant.  Only attack is relevant.  As such, they attacked everything the Obama administration did, good and bad.  But Trump, apparently, never figured out that it’s just a ploy so, like most Fox viewers, he actually believes the crap they spew.

When the world made an agreement with Iran, Fox trashed the deal.  Sure, they had to make up details in order to attack it but they’re always happy to make things up over at Fox and so…attack they did.  Not because it was a bad deal.  Fox trashed it because Obama was in office when it was finalized.  That’s it.  It was the attack message of the day: Obama = bad.

So, naturally, our National Embarrassment has used faulty information to make actual, real-life decisions about the world at large, including Iran.  Trump just did what Trump does: pull out of an agreement that has already been made and start agitating for “a better deal.”  Was the Iran agreement the very best deal in the history of deals?  Probably not.  Was it the complete and utter failure Fox told Trump it was?  Not in the least.

Smart people, so-called “intellectual elites” in the Fox crowd, tried to stop him.  Emmanuel Macron came from France to try to stop him from pulling out.  Angela Merkle came from Germany to try to stop him.  Intelligence agencies from around the world insisted the deal was working as planned.  But Macron and Merkle – people who DO know what they’re talking about – don’t hold the same sway with the dotard as Fox and Friends – people who clearly DON’T know what they’re talking about.  So, Trump pulled out of the deal, anyway.

At first, I was a little concerned.  Outside of Fox “News” and Trump’s calcified brain, everybody knows that ending the deal is setting Iran on the path to nuclear weapons right away.  But, as is the case with everything regarding this maladministration, one doesn’t jump right in and start making predictions.  It’s better to wait a day or two, think about things; watch things unfold a bit.  I pretty quickly realized that the rest of the world knows that Trump is untrustworthy, dishonorable, and just plain fucking dumb…um…not at his intellectual best.  So the rest of the world has put the US on hold, as they should have done.  They’ll get back to us just as soon as we solve our problem.  In the meantime, the world is moving forward without us.

That thought gave me comfort.  Sure Trump can be counted upon to do the wrong thing, make the wrong move.  But the rest of the world doesn’t have to pull out just because Trump did.  I’m guessing that even as Donnie was holding up his paper to demonstrate that he can still write his name, the rest of the world was on the phone to Iran reassuring them that they’ll stay in the deal.  Sanctions, for example, don’t have much effect if the rest of the world won’t honor them and I’m hoping the rest of the world won’t honor them.  (And, yes, that is what it has come to: most Americans hoping the rest of the world can hold out against America!  Thanks, Don…)

Then I see this headline in the Guardian:  US threatens European companies with sanctions after Iran deal pullout.  Think about that for a second.  Trump made the wrong move for the wrong reasons.  Now he’s threatening US allies if they don’t make the wrong move with him.  You might want to read that again: Trump is threatening US allies if they don’t make the wrong move with him.  Our allies…

I’ll tell you this: I hope the world defies Trump despite the threats.  They just need to hold out for a little while.  We’ll correct our error and dump Trump as soon as we can.  Then we’ll be able to rejoin the world community as grownups, not petulant brats…