Another one bites the dust as the patriarchy collapses under the pressure of so many sexual assault allegations against seemingly untouchable men. NBC’s Matt Lauer is the latest to go down, and no doubt Trump is feeling the heat as 16 of his own sexual assault allegations fester, uninvestigated.
Rather than channeling it into the pressing tasks of dealing with nuclear North Korea, or ensuring tax cuts for billionaires, Trump’s anxiety manifested in a spasm of accusatory tweets directed at NBC shortly after Lauer’s termination was announced.
Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.” But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack’s past!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2017
Matt Lauer was terminated for “inappropriate sexual behavior,” according to a statement Lack issued to NBC this morning. Lack is the chairman of NBC News and MSNBC since 2015, having previously helmed the companies from 1993 to 2001.
It’s not immediately clear what Trump is referring to in Lack’s past, though a basis in truth has never been a requirement for establishing his conspiracy theories. (See also: birther campaign.)
Trump didn’t stop there, though.
So now that Matt Lauer is gone when will the Fake News practitioners at NBC be terminating the contract of Phil Griffin? And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the “unsolved mystery” that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2017
Phil Griffin is the head of MSNBC, and presumably a target in this instance for some combination of “fake news” and “not being Fox News.”
Trump’s tweet references the 2001 death of a young woman in Scarborough’s District office when he was a Florida Congressman. Lori Klausutis, 28, died after passing out from a heart condition and hitting her head on a desk in the office. Police reported no foul play at the time and the case was cleanly closed.
Scarborough resigned as Congressman in May of 2001, months before the woman’s death in July of that year.
Trump has had an ongoing feud with Scarborough and his Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski.
I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017
…to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017
Since Scarborough apparently disengaged from responding to Trump, the petulant president seems to be looking for any opportunity to take a jab at him.
This is some typical Trumpian misdirection: assume the rest of the country is as idiotic and easily distracted as you are. But this “look at the birdie” tactic is getting old. Trump can try to discredit the media as much as he wants, it’s not going to change the facts: he’s failing.
