DEAD SOULS: Barack Obama engaged in a treason?

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2025

Dead souls spread the word: By now, the brilliance of the DNI had been on display for everyone to see. 

Mainly, though, her brilliance had been put on display for denizens of Red America to see. 

Last Friday night, she had appeared on the Fox News Channel's Hannity program. On Saturday morning, she sat for an "imitation of life" interview with a trio of friends on the Fox & Friends Weekend program.

On Sunday morning, in her most ludicrous interview yet, Director Gabbard sat with Maria Bartiromo on the Fox Business program, Sunday Morning Futures. Again and again, then again and again, the solon stated her finding:

According to the DNI, President Barack Obama had engaged in astounding misconduct—in "a treasonous conspiracy!" Indeed, he had engaged in a "seditious conspiracy," the equivalent of an attempted "yearslong coup," the director repeatedly said 

The treasonous conduct had starting in the immediate wake of President Trump's surprising win in the 2016 election. So said Director Gabbard, employing that inflammatory language again and again and again.

The T-bomb littered the countryside as the director reported what she said she had found. To some, it could almost sound like a serious charge. According to the leading authority on the matter, conviction of treasonous conduct can lead to such outcomes as this:

Treason laws in the United States

In the United States, there are both federal and state laws prohibiting treason. Treason is defined on the federal level in Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution as "only in levying War against [the United States], or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." 

[...]

Penalty: Under U.S. Code Title 18, the penalty is death, or not less than five years' imprisonment (with a minimum fine of $10,000, if not sentenced to death). Any person convicted of treason against the United States also forfeits the right to hold public office in the United States.

Many traitors would happily take the five years! But there you see the seriousness of the charge Gabbard seemed to be slinging around.

In fairness, she may have grown up in a cult. Over the years, that possibility had been explored by everyone from The New Yorker on down, including last December's report by the Honolulu Civil Beat. 

That triggers a full disclosure:

At this site, we aren't inclined to blame the adult for the damage which may have been done to the child. But whether it had been a cult or merely a sect, this was plainly hard-hitting stuff from the DNI.

Gabbard was saying that the former president had engaged in treasonous conduct! Beyond that, she said that she'd forwarded a recommendation of criminal charges on to Attorney General Bondi, who had sworn up and down, in the late fall of 2020, that President Trump had lost re-election only because the election was rigged.

With giants like these in control of the game, the criminal pursuit of President Obama was potentially major stuff. 

By Monday morning, it fell to the gang on Fox & Friends to inform the Red American nation about these fast-moving events. On that morning, a certain car had rolled up to the studio and it had disgorged these friends:

Fox & Friends: July 21, 2025
Lawrence Jones: co-host, Fox & Friends
Ainsley Earhardt: co-host, Fox & Friends
Brian Kilmeade: co-host, Fox & Friends

That was the new morning lineup. After almost thirty years, original co-host Steve Doocy had been banished to the road, apparently suspected of possibly being too soft. 

Fox & Friends goes on the air each morning at 6 o'clock sharp. At 6:05, those friends began to attempt to discuss, or perhaps began to pretend to discuss, the startling claims DNI Gabbard had made. 

First, though, this:

Earlier that morning, on Fox & Friends First, co-host Todd Piro had already tackled the matter, dim-wittedly offering the following statement as he spoke with Chris Swecker, a former FBI official. 

With this minor malaprop, the spread of the message began:

PIRO (7/21/25): I want to get your thoughts on this—DNI Tulsi Gabbard revealing even more details about the Obama administration's alleged, quote unquote, "treacherous [sic] conspiracy" against Trump. 

The administration's treacherous conspiracy? Sad! 

The fellow had explicitly said "quote unquote"—and he'd then proceeded to misquote Gabbard's language! At that point, he played tape of Gabbard with Bartiromo, after which Swecker wandered the countryside, discussing everything except the specific claims Gabbard had brought forward.

That said, it was "close enough for cable news" in this degraded era! When Swecker's wandering finally ended, Piro told viewers this:

PIRO: Could be the scandal of our lifetime! Chris Swecker, thank you for your time.

It could be the scandal of our lifetime! That's what Fox News Channel viewers were told as the week began.

For the record, Piro is an occasional Friday night panelist on the Gutfeld! program. On that show, he's lampooned as a guy who can name all the major porn stars. 

That version of the Fox News Channel crawls out of the garbage can each evening at 10 p.m. The broadcast day starts at 5 a.m., and on this occasion, the day was starting with Red America being told this:

It could be the scandal of our lifetime! 

That's what Piro said. His co-host, Carley Shimkus, didn't speak up. She's sharper than Piro, but she too works for the Fox News Channel. Attention must be paid!

With that imitation of a report, the stage had been set for the three friends on the three-hour Fox & Friends program. They went on the air at 6 a.m. Their imitation of a report about Gabbard started five minutes later.

For the record, one slight surprise was involved this day. For a background report on what Gabbard had said, Earhardt threw to reporter Doug Luzader, and he quickly offered this

Critics say Gabbard is conflating two issues—whether Russia was trying to directly interfere with vote counts, or whether they were trying to influence the U.S. electorate.

That's exactly what critics were saying—and Luzader said so right on the air! For the record, that's also what Gabbard had plainly been doing, whether she knew it or not.

Good lord! Luzader was reporting the possibility of a major hole in Gabbard's presentation. But when Luzader's report was done, the attention swung back to the trio of friends who had emerged from the car that morning.

Now it came time for the friends to speak! Doocy's replacement offered this, the very first thing which was said:

JONES (7/21/25): James Comey should be in jail! He just straight-up—Ainsley, you're right. He just flat-out lied to the American people!

James Comey should be in jail! The ball of confusion continued from there as the three friends wandered the countryside, thundering about almost everything except what Gabbard had actually said.

Full disclosure! As the day wound on, several major players aggressively challenged Gabbard's presentation:

In this piece for National Review, Fox News contributor / legal analyst Andy McCarthy trashed her presentation up one side and down the other.  At Mediaite, Isaac Schorr's report appears beneath this headline:

Fox’s Andy McCarthy Torches Gabbard Over ‘Misleading’ Attack on Obama and Russia Investigation

So wrote Andy McCarthy. After that, along came Dan Abrams, founder of Mediaite, on his eponymous YouTube show. You can get the overview here:

‘This Is So Dishonest’: Dan Abrams Systematically Dismantles Tulsi Gabbard’s Alleged Obama Scandal

So Dan Abrams now said.

Right from the start, the New York Times had reported that Gabbard's remarkable claims were based upon a bone-simple act of conflation.  Now, McCarthy and Abrams were spelling that out. But over here in Blue America. others were still staying silent.

All through the course of the day, viewers of the Fox News Channel were sold the Gabbard line. McCarthy and Abrams spoke up—but in the wider reach of Blue America, the regulars kept looking away.

The Fox News Channel is a cancer on the possibility of a discourse, spread by a gaggle of clowns who are paid to agree with each other's jibes as they read their talking points. Yesterday morning, the clowning began in the 5 o'clock hour, then continued on through the long day.

Barack Obama had engaged in a treason! "Dead souls" were spreading the message around. 

Over here in Blue America, did other such souls look away?

Tomorrow: The nature of the conflation