Bill O'Reilly just making up his own "facts"Trump and Putin re working furiously to reshape access to the minds of their followers, primarily by undermining public confidence in the media. Putin actually has media people who step too far out of line murdered. So far Trump has resisted that particular authoritarian impulse. But it's early yet.While Trump and his regime were intensifying their campaign against the NY Times and the TV networks last week, the Putin regime was accusing The Times, Bloomberg and NBC of spreading false information about Mother Russia. American polls show that, by wide margins, Americans have more faith in the media than in either Trump or Putin, both of whom are widely seen as congenital liars and manipulators.New PPP surveyRememeber Hillary's "vast right wing conspiracy?" Trump and Putin are just cogs-- big ones-- in that wheel. But they're not alone. Yesterday the Daily Mail took a closer look at Fox News' attempt to justify Trump's crackpot statements about Sweden by airing an interview by Bill O'Reilly-- a master of fake news-- with a make believe Swedish national security advisor. Fox should lose its license to broadcast because of this incident. Seems harsh? I don't think so. Let's look into who Nils Bildt is.Sweden may be laughing at Fox and Trump but Americans shouldn't be. Bildt is just a random right-wing nut from Sweden who O'Reilly and Fox tried portraying as a national security official to give credence to his reactionary, xenophobic ravings. The government of Sweden has denounced him as an imposter. Let's hope Trump doesn't appoint him to the National Security Council with all the other crackpots he's "accidentally" put onto that body!
[I]f viewers might have taken the 'advisor' for a government insider, the Swedish Defense Ministry and Foreign Office told the newspaper Dagens Nyheter they knew nothing of him.In fact Bildt is an 'independent analyst' who moved to the US in 1994. He describes himself as a founding member of Modulus World LLC, a corporate geopolitical strategy and security consulting business which has offices in Washington, Brussels and Tokyo.In his bio, Bildt boasted of his expertise on defense and national security issues. He said he had served as a naval officer, worked for Japanese officials and had written books on creating business opportunities in hostile environments.But security experts in Sweden said he wasn't a familiar figure in their ranks in that country.'He is in not in any way a known quantity in Sweden and has never been part of the Swedish debate,' Swedish Defence University leadership professor Robert Egnell said by email to The Associated Press on Saturday.He and Bildt-- also known then as Nils Tolling-- were in a master's degree program in war studies together at King's College London in 2002-2003, and Bildt moved to Japan soon after, he said.Bildt has since admitted that he is merely an 'independent analyst' and says Fox knew as much when it booked him to appear on the show.He told the Washington Post he made it 'clear' to producers before going on-air that he did not work in official capacity. In his response to Mediate, he said his job title wasn't the issue.'Sorry for any confusion caused, but needless to say I think that is not really the issue. The issue is Swedish refusal to discuss their social problems and issues.'Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who has a brother and son with the same name, said he believed the man was cashing in on his family's political pull.The executive producer of The O'Reilly Factor said Bildt was recommended by people the show's booker consulted with while making numerous inquiries about potential guests.'After pre-interviewing him and reviewing his bio, we agreed that he would make a good guest for the topic that evening,' executive producer David Tabacoff said in a statement.The network said O'Reilly was expected to address the subject further on Monday's show.Bildt's appearance comes a week after Donald Trump appeared to refer to a terror attack in Sweden which never happened.The president cited 'what's happening in Sweden right now' during a speech on terror across Europe, prompting many to deduce he was out of touch with facts.President Trump later said he was in fact referring to the country's immigration issues that he'd read on Fox News.
