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On the 11/12/25 edition of The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, host Lawrence O’Donnell made a striking observation: current Vice President J.D. Vance’s near-silence on the swirling Jeffrey Epstein files scandal mirrors the posture then-Vice President Gerald Ford assumed as Richard Nixon’s presidency was collapsing under the weight of Watergate. O’Donnell pointed out that Ford, sensing the sinking of Nixon’s Presidency, deliberately kept his head down—he knew the ghosts of Nixon would dog his tenure if he didn’t distance himself.
I did two media interviews literally today, one of which is airing in a few hours. https://t.co/xsldmacKe4
By the same logic, O’Donnell argued, Vance appears to be doing exactly that: he knows the Epstein files may blow up and run Donald Trump out of office, and thus is doing everything he can to not get sucked into the scandal, to avoid becoming the next Ford.
As expected, social media erupted following O’Donnell’s segment. I posted a clip of the show, and to my surprise the reaction came from none other than the Vice President himself. That’s how provocative the comparison proved.
In his response, Vance strongly objected to O’Donnell’s suggestion that he was intentionally silent about the Epstein scandal. Vance pointed out that he had addressed the issue in prior TV appearances—citing his interview on Hannity scheduled for 11/13/25, which coincided with the date I posted the segment.
Interestingly, in that very 11/13/25 show O’Donnell claimed Vance had in fact ignored the Epstein issue entirely—and reaffirmed: “He’s still Gerald Ford.”
Now that the “Gerald Ford” comparison has caught Vance’s attention—and by implication, the President’s—it will be fascinating to watch how it plays out going forward.
Eric Trump appeared on Fox News’ Hannity show (03/30/23) moments after the bombshell revelation that a Manhattan grand jury had indicted his father for crimes related to the hush money payments he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
A visibly angry Eric Trump accused the Manhattan DA of among other things, abusing his power, telling host Hannity that he is neglecting rampant crime in New York to go after his father. He also cast his father as the target of an elaborate political witch hunt by both the Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and the New York Attorney General Leticia James.
Eric Trump specifically told host Hannity(2:08 ): “My father’s only crime was winning the 2016 election…From the time my father went down that escalator, we got subpoena after subpoena. We would have people like Alvin Bragg, Leticia James, and so many others, go out and campaign on the promise that they would take down a person, not knowing anything about them…These people are evil, they’re wicked, and is why people have lost trust in the system in the U.S. This is third world tactics.”
Eric Trump then threw in the political bias allegation saying(2:43 ): “You have Hunter Biden who has crack pictures on his laptop, you have Bill Clinton who is paying Paula Jones $850,000, you have Bill Clinton who is diddling interns in the White House in the Oval Office, you have Hillary Clinton who’s deleting 33,000 emails while under congressional subpoena, and no one says a damn thing about any of those people, but when my father’s leading by 35% in the polls, and they know he’s going to be the guy that Joe Biden…will ultimately…run against…that’s who they go after, right up against the statute of limitations…They will do anything to take the man out of the race…”
Interestingly, Eric Trump also alleged that his father’s prosecution was somehow orchestrated by billionaire Democratic super donor George Soros. He specifically said(5:40): “Americans see people like [George] Soros paying $1 million to get Alvin Bragg elected, and then this guy’s going out and doing this guy’s dirty work. People get it…That was their calling card. This was a mission. This is what they promised their donors. This is what they promised Soros that they would do. It’s why they received the big checks.”
He strangely concluded by saying his father “needed a pass”, which is interesting because it would appear to suggest that he is conceding his dad’s criminal conduct, but only lamenting the fact that he is not getting a break like DOJ presumably gave Hillary Clinton over the email saga. Hmm, very interesting argument indeed.
Bottom line folks, it is perfectly normal for Eric Trump to come out guns blazing in defense of his father over the newly disclosed indictments. The problem he might find himself in however, is that neither he, nor the public, currently knows exactly what allegations are laid out in the indictment(sealed). Eric’s reaction is perfectly understandable, but the wise option would be to wait for his dad’s court arraignment in a few days, where the allegations against him will be laid out in detail.
Maybe, just maybe, the indictment will lay out very serious allegations against his father, which will justify the DA’s/ grand jury’s actions, even in the eyes of Republicans.
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When regular people encounter obscene images on the internet and elsewhere, the natural reaction is to recoil in dismay. Strangely however, America is witnessing daily an obscene relationship between President Trump and Fox News with seemingly no “recoiling in dismay” from politicians (especially Dems) or other sections of the mainstream media.
This lack of dismay/outrage at the obscene relationship between President Trump and Fox News leaves the wrong impression that this is okay/acceptable. Folks, this is not acceptable and Dems need to start screaming about it. There has to be a reasonable distance between the White House and a major U.S. news organization
Luckily Brian Stelter host of CNN’s Reliable Sources gets it and is beginning to call out this obscene relationship between Trump and Fox News. In a July 8 2018 segment, Stelter details how Fox News and Trump are engaged in conduct no other U.S. administration has ever engaged in with a major news organization–the stuff of state run tv stations in foreign dictatorships.
Stelter for example talks about how Maria Bartiromo literally handed Trump talking points in what was supposed to be an interview. Or how Trump promotes Sean Hannity’s show to his twitter followers and gets regular advice from him(Hannity) on political matters. Or how Lou Dobbs calls into Oval Office meetings to give his opinions(wow). Or how Kimberly Guilfoyle is now dating Trump’s son yet still appears as a host on Fox News discussing the Trump family. Or how Jeanine Pirro asked Trump for a job at DOJ. Or how Trump at the suggestion of Sean Hannity is now bringing in Bill Shine, former Fox News executive into the White House as Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications. Folks, examples of this obscene Trump-Fox News relationship are endless.
By the way Bill Shine’s wife Darla is known to post very racist things on Twitter. She has since deleted her Twitter account but Mediaite captured some of them. This blatant racism by Darla would be enough for any other U.S. administration to pull the plug on Shine’s appointment but not the Trump administration.
According to Stelter both Trump and Fox News benefit from this obscene relationship–Trump getting regular “soft” interviews which are essentially public relations campaigns and in turn he pitches the various Fox News shows, books etc to his massive twitter audience. It’s a great arrangement from a business standpoint, but goes against everything U.S. journalism has stood for–holding those in power accountable. Maria Bartiromo and her cohorts at Fox News appear to have twisted this age old journalism principle to “using those in power for ratings and profit.”
Yours Truly was on this Fox News beat way before it was vogue but admittedly, never thought it would ever get this bad.
Bottom line Dems need to start calling out this obscene Trump-Fox News affair. Simply put, this overt alliance and coordination between the president and a major news network is detrimental to a democratic society and needs to be vociferously called out.
***POST UPDATED on 10/15/23 to include the fact that CNN has since cancelled Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources show, so the referenced 07/08/2018 video segment is no longer available***
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