Trump Speech–Most Fascist in Decades

Huge changes at Fox News, Trump takes over the party of Lincoln, white nationalists celebrate, and more …

Kevin,

Beyond the notable Media Matters work below, here are highlights from what I’ve watched and read this week: Michelle Goldberg on the GOP’s cult of personality,Molly Ball on the “chaos” convention, Zac Cheney Rice on displays of racism at the Republican convention, and Margaret Talbot on sexism at Fox News.

John Whitehouse
@existentialfish

		Trump completes his takeover of the GOP Donald Trump officially accepted the Republican nomination for president on Thursday night. Media across the political spectrum were appalled at his speech, calling it “terrifying,” “disgusting,” and “apocalyptic.” And Donald was not the only member of the Trump family whose speech drew poor reviews. Ivanka Trump absurdly portrayed her father as a champion of women and equal pay, but experts noted that none of what she said was actually reflected in Trump’s previous comments or the GOP platform. In fact, just minutes earlier, the Trump campaign’s chairman declared that women were upset that their husbands couldn’t provide for them, shocking the MNSBC host. And that wasn’t the only sexism on display at the RNC convention. Fox News thought the Trump speeches were just aces, though as Jon Stewart heroically returned to point out, their hypocrisy on the matter runs deep.

		A tiny bit of justice at Fox News It’s official: Roger Ailes has resigned as chairman and CEO of Fox News, succeeded for now by Rupert Murdoch himself. Ailes’ stunning fall in less than a month was accelerated by thenumber of women who came forward to note his long history of sexual harassment — even whileAiles himself may have been pressing women to not speak out. Ailes, who also has long history of bigotry, leaves a legacy of building the communications arm of the Republican Party in the guise of a “news” network. It’s serendipitousthat Ailes resigned on the same day that Trump took over the Republican Party, as Trump was enabled by the same forces that Ailes unleashed for decades on Fox. In fact, the two were reportedly even consulting with each other this week. Meanwhile, there is the very real possibility that his fall may encourage other women to speak up about sexual harassment elsewhere. As for Fox News, misogyny at the network goes much deeper than one man.

		Anything you say, I can say too Melania Trump, Donald Trump’s wife, gave a speech Monday at the Republican National Convention that was roundly criticized for lifting segments from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech at the Democratic National Convention. Trump surrogates, led by campaign chairman Paul Manafort, flocked to the press to defend the allegations. A Fox News host excused the plagiarism using the logic that Melania’s speech “applied to her life.” But since the evidence was so overwhelming, much of the media actually pushed back on the attempts to defend the indefensible, including some conservatives. Yet when an in-house speech writer for the Trump Organization took the blame for the plagiarism, though, one outlet ignored the possible blatant campaign finance violation.

		White nationalists say Trump’s convention was the tops Race relations have become a major theme of this election cycle. Donald Trump’s candidacy has emboldened white nationalists. Trump has been noted for interacting with them through his Twitter account, but now the movement isspilling over into the mainstream of the GOP. At the Republican convention, tweets from white nationalists were featured in the convention hall, and a white nationalist was even granted a passand recorded a radio program from inside the arena. Following Trump’s acceptance speech, which was seen as a message to white America by at least one prominent African-American commentator, the nominee drew praise frommany in the white nationalist community, and the following morning former KKK grand wizard David Duke announced his candidacy for the senate, even citing Trump as an inspiration.

Featured Video Carlos Maza attended a big pro-Trump rally at the GOP convention thrown by conspiracy theorists, and came away understanding exactly how much Trumpism is taking over the Republican Party:http://mm4a.org/2ablru0		Featured Post Richard Engel, who has been to Benghazi and knew Ambassador Christopher Stevens, noted that the RNC was manipulating the grief of the mother who spoke at the convention.http://mm4a.org/2a4HWRi