Russiagate Huckster’s Ratings Collapse
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
As the saying goes: Live by the sword, die by it. MSNBC huckster/doyenne of deception Rachel Maddow’s ratings surged by pushing the nonexistent Russia/Trump connection – the Big Lie claim about Putin owning Trump.
Special counsel Mueller burst the conspiracy balloon. House and Senate committees did it earlier, but who bothered to notice.
TV pundits in their own minds focused on Mueller to deliver a coup de grace to take down Trump, wanting revenge for triumphing over media darling Hillary.
Maddow and likeminded con artists benefitted from promoting the Russiagate hoax, practically to the exclusion of everything else.
Anyone paying attention with minimal adolescent intelligence knew there was no there there, no Russian US election meddling, no illegal or improper Trump/Kremlin connection or collusion, no DLT obstruction of justice.
Conspiracist Maddow and others like her were mortified over AG Barr’s Mueller report summary. They’re a pathetic lot, suckering viewers to watch television worse than soap operas, as bad as c-span House and Senate political bluster by pols making a living by lying and serving special interests.
There was no just cause for Mueller, House and Senate Russiagate witch hunt probes, McCarthyism on steroids, one of the most disturbing political chapters in US history – especially because of round-the-clock cable TV coverage, utter rubbish masquerading as “news.”
Russiagate was great for business, easy to dupe viewers following events on television in large numbers, boosting ratings. What goes up artificially comes down all the harder.
For Maddow, it was with a resounding thud, losing about 20% of her naive viewers after Mueller let air out of the conspiracy balloon – burst earlier by House and Senate committees.
Cable channels focused on Mueller, their great white hope to take down Trump, giving scant attention to House and Senate probes for failing to deliver what they wanted.
Maddow, other MSNBC hucksters, and their CNN counterparts proved Americans are easy to deceive – no matter how many times they were duped before by pols and snake oil hawkers these cable channels feature to the exclusion of all else.
Fox News is Trump’s favorite TV channel, having him on often as a guest. Its programs gained viewers at the expense of MSNBC and CNN, the channel calling it “substantial…since the findings of the Mueller report were publicized.”
TV conspiracists had things their way for over two years. They’ll need a new issue to recover. An obvious one is Russia. It’s never too early to falsely claim Kremlin meddling in 2020 elections, still many months away.
Conspiracy promotion propelled Maddow’s rating to top of the pack, along with leading Fox conspiracist Sean Hannity, having a near-direct line to Trump, one of his strongest MAGA allies.
Instead of cutting her losses and moving on, ideally off air forever, Maddow isn’t quitting, claiming an “incredibly provocative set of unexplained behaviors” in her punctured conspiracist mind, nowhere else.
If she keeps deceiving viewers, maybe she’ll lose them all. Since Trump’s election, she’s fed nightly rubbish to her naive cult followers – inventing stuff like other Russiagaters because there’s nothing real to report.
Ralph Nader addressed the sordid issue, saying: “Some Mueller Report! He didn’t demand an interview with Trump, and he didn’t make any legal recommendations, leaving it up to Trump acolyte AG William Barr while spending $25 million.”
“Massive distraction. Need to get back to Trump’s destruction of health and safety laws now.” What about endless wars of aggression and coup plot against Venezuela, Ralph? And a whole lot more dirty business begging to be exposed to the light of day.
Most Americans are so brainwashed by major media rubbish, mainly on what passes for TV “news,” millions likely haven’t come to terms with the colossal Russiagate hoax.
As long as they follow conspiracy TV, they’ll remain mushroom-like – well-watered and in the dark.
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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
