All the lying on its own by itself tells you there's something seriously wrong with Trump. (Now at least 20,055 false claims in 1,267 days, as of July 9, 2020 -- an average of almost 16 per day.) Now we can't believe a single thing Trump says, which is a real shame for a President of the United States.
Of course there's clearly much more wrong with Trump, and even his defenders know he's an asshole. His niece, trained in psychology, wrote a whole book about it. Look at the country now compared to what it was four years ago -- it's seriously damaged politically, economically, in public health, in public trust, in racial justice, in economic equality, in peaceful streets. Trump is the difference, and his incompetence, especially with respect to the pandemic, is the difference. His racism and arrogance and incompetence are the difference, not Democratic mayors, who were there before Trump but without all the protesting and rioting.
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Anyway, The Daily Howler is worth reading, in my opinion too.
32 comments:
Because The Daily Howler often criticizes liberal media, it's easy to forget that its moderator, Bob Somerby, is actually quite liberal.
Cheers
So why did you recommend it?
Because he focuses on facts and accurately reports instances of media bias. His blog is basically about media criticism, rather than political issues.
Cheers
Yeah, and here he's criticizing the media for failing to keep reporting on Trump's obvious psychological problems.
Do you really believe many conservatives don't see them? How about all the Republican Congressman who stream into the Congress past reporters who ask them about the latest insane thing Trump said and time and time again they quickly say, obviously embarrassed, "no comment?"
Do you think someone who lies as frequently and as obviously as Trump is mentally balanced?
As a kid, when I was about 10 or 11, I had a friend, a year older, who started to lie about everything, just to get out of responsibility. For everything and anything, even trivial little things. Even to his mom. It was frustrating, but also comical and laughable. It lasted about a year, and then he grew out of it.
Trump still acts like an 11-yr old kid. He never grew out of it.
I'm hopeful there are principled Republicans willing to put their integrity before their agenda in November.
Personal attacks on Trump were effective in 2016. Nobody knew how he would perform as President. He was represented, with some justification, as a liar, a sexual predator, a ruthless financial wheeler-dealer, and possibly not sane. How he won that election is a miracle.
Today, we all can see how Trump performed as President. IMHO he performed very well: Peace agreement between Kosovo & Serbia. Peace agreement between UAE and Israel. Defeat of ISIS Caliphate in Syria. Terrific economy prior to the pandemic. Rapidly improving economy today. Realistic recognition of and steps to deal with PRC's threat. Excellent judicial appointees, etc.
People who approve of these results will vote for Trump. People who disapprove of Trump's results will vote against him. Neither side will be affected by Trump's personal characteristics IMHO.
Cheers
Just a few revelations from the last 24 hrs.
Trump knew covid was a much greater threat than he was telling people and he admits he deliberately misled people. People definitely will have died due to this. He has mishandled the crisis since the start.
Mcenany told the press he didn't mislead people when there's a recording of him saying he did. They just continually lie and gaslight.
A whistleblower says that top political appointees in the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly instructed career officials to modify intelligence assessments so that they coincided with Trump's lies.
A former intelligence chief appointed by Trump thought that Putin must have something on Trump as it was the only way he could explain his behaviour.
The justice dept. is seeking to defend trump in a lawsuit regarding a rape allegation. This will probably delay the case which he could settle by giving a DNA sample. It also means the taxpayer will be paying for his defence.
That's not all and this just in the last 24 hrs. Trump once said he could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and his fans would still vote for him. It's becoming more and more obvious that he was not a
exaggerating.
The excuse some are coming out with for Trump lying about coronavirus is that Fauchi also made a statement downplaying the need for action. Fauchi was likely just stating government policy though which was set by Trump not him. It doesn't get Trump off the hook anyway as he admits to lying.
---->I'm hopeful there are principled Republicans willing to put their integrity before their agenda in November.
-->People who approve of these results will vote for Trump.
I think you have too low regard for the integrity of Americans. At the very least, people must be getting tired of being lied to.
J.D. "We were talking about the reality of what was going on," Fauci said. "And then we would get up in front of the press conferences, which were very, very common after our discussions with the president, he really didn't say anything different than we discussed when we were with him.
"So I may not be tuned in to the right thing that they're talking about, but I didn't really see any discrepancies between what he told us and what we told him and what he came out publicly and said."
Fauci said that the president wasn't distorting anything when he spoke to the press.
https://thepostmillennial.com/woodward-bombshell-falls-flat-as-fauci-confirms?fbclid=IwAR2Pmbe85D3blSJ3dmk67OK1zPrfooMTH12cEiOcaiVuZVtTN0PqGKqcqpk
J.D. - I read a lot of political stuff on both sides. One unpleasant practice, common to liberals and conservatives alike, is to automatically believe anything critical of the other side, even if it's contradicted by others.
Cheers
Layzej - Here's an aphorism I learned years ago: The American voter is a selfish pig. People care less about being lied to than about their personal welfare.
Furthermore, there's no hope of electing a President who doesn't lie. Three Biden whoppers that come to mind:
-- Trump called Nazis "good people"
-- Trump's deferral of SS assessments means that SS will be cut or will end.
-- Biden didn't know his son was getting millions of dollars from a corrupt Ukrainian energy company.
Cheers
David, don’t even try to compare Trump’s lying rate to any other politician’s — you just look foolish.
Trump DID call Nazis “very fine people.” Same thing.
-- Trump called Nazis "good people" - TRUE
We all heard him say that: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/trump-defends-white-nationalist-protesters-some-very-fine-people-on-both-sides/537012/
You just don't say of a crowd chanting "Jews will not replace us": "There were some fine people among them!"
-- Trump's deferral of SS assessments means that SS will be cut or will end. - Uncharitable
Trump takes all side of every issue. He's said he won't end payroll tax. He's also said: “On the payroll tax, we’ll be terminating the payroll tax. After I hopefully get elected, we’ll be terminating the payroll tax.” -
https://www.570news.com/2020/08/13/trumps-suggestion-to-eliminate-payroll-tax-doesnt-add-up/
That's not ambiguous. Payroll tax funds SS.
Taking every side of every issue has worked well for Trump because folks can hear whatever they want to hear. There are downsides too.
-- Biden didn't know his son was getting millions of dollars from a corrupt Ukrainian energy company.
Do you have a quote?
J.D. - I read a lot of political stuff on both sides. One unpleasant practice, common to liberals and conservative alike, is to automatically believe anything critical of the other side, even if it's contradicted by others.
Just like you did with the evidence-free NY Post article.
David and Layzej - Read the truth about that Nazi quote on Daily Howler, a liberal site that cares about accuracy
http://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2019/03/in-search-of-what-trump-actually-said_15.html
http://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2019/03/in-search-of-what-donald-trump-actually.html
Cheers
This is the conclusion of the Washington Post fact checker.
The evidence shows there were no quiet protesters against removing the statue that weekend. That’s just a figment of the president’s imagination. The militia groups were not spurred on by the Confederate statue controversy. They arrived in Charlottesville heavily armed and, by their own account, were prepared to use deadly force — because of a desire to insert themselves in a dangerous situation that, in effect, pitted them against the foes of white supremacists.
Trump earns Four Pinocchios.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/08/very-fine-people-charlottesville-who-were-they-2/
The problem is that Trump is always reluctant to condemn and even encourages right wing militias. Remember when he tweeted liberate to encourage armed militias on to the street? From the same WP article.
That’s the language of militias, McCord said — code for liberation from a tyrannical government. And who has been showing up at the rallies opposing shutdown orders? Armed militias associated with the Patriot movement.
Trump apologists say he's not a racist but racist groups invariably support him.
David in Cal wrote:
"David and Layzej - Read the truth about that Nazi quote on Daily Howler, a liberal site that cares about accuracy"
David, we all know what Trump said, without needing someone to spend paragraphs and paragraphs trying to parse and un-explain it. That's just someone bullshitting you by telling you want you want to hear.
Learn to recognize bullshit regardless of its target.
You also don't read carefully, David, just as you didn't read that NY Post article carefully. The first link says this, and the second link says essentially the same thing:
"In fact, we aren't attempting to evaluate Donald J. Trump at all! Instead, we're asking a basic question today about Shields, and Cooper and Walsh and Boot, and about a host of others.
"We're assessing our upper-end journalists! We aren't assessing Trump."
David -- from my first link
Trump made his statement about "very fine people on both sides" as part of a press availability on Tuesday, August 15, 2017. Ryan could have reviewed the full transcript. She could have watched the whole tape.
Instead, she did what members of our species tend to do. She decided to rely on her memory—on that, and on the pleasing script her rock-headed guild had devised.
Huckabee Sanders told Ryan that Trump had "condemned neo-Nazis by name." We're sorry to be the killjoy here, but we'd have to say that Trump actually did that during that August 15 presser.
He also condemned "white supremacists" and "white nationalists" by name. In our view, it's hard to say that those were the people he was talking about when he said that there had been "very fine people on both sides."
It's not complicated. In a press conference a few days after the march, Trump said there were fine people on both sides. In that same press conference he made it clear that he was not calling Nazis and white nationalists "fine people". He made that clear by specifically denouncing these groups by name.
Layzej - Trump said he will fund SS from the general fund when SS money runs out. BTW SS money will run out in a few years, even if assessments stay at the current level.
Cheers
Layzej - I am not sure, but you may be saying that people who march with Nazis and White Nationalists cannot be fine people. That's a debatable proposition, but it's separate from whether he called Nazis and whit Nationalists fine people.
Cheers
BTW SS money will run out in a few years, even if assessments stay at the current level.
Easy fix -- Congress just raises the amount taken out of paychecks, in some fashion.
David in Cal wrote:
...you may be saying that people who march with Nazis and White Nationalists cannot be fine people. That's a debatable proposition
It's not fucking debatable -- people who march with Nazis and White Nationalists are not fine people. Period.
Didn't you learn anything from the 20th Century????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Layzej - Trump said he will fund SS from the general fund when SS money runs out. BTW SS money will run out in a few years, even if assessments stay at the current level.
Yeah, except there's already a deficit. Trump says the cuts will pay for themselves because "There's going to be tremendous growth", but clearly that's not true. Seems fair to point that out.
you may be saying that people who march with Nazis and White Nationalists cannot be fine people.
Yeah. Clearly. If you march with people shouting "Jews will not replace us", you are not a fine person.
Trump said "very fine people on both sides."
Biden: "With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,"
Exactly right.
BTW SS money will run out in a few years, even if assessments stay at the current level.
Not true. Social Security trust fund has a surplus of $2.9 trillion. Enough to last three years IF Trump cuts funding. "The payroll taxes bring in close to a trillion dollars every year, and the benefits cost around a trillion dollars"
Has there ever been a more corrupt administration?
The man the Treasury Department called "an active Russian agent for over a decade," met with President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.
Andrii Derkach, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, and three other Russian-linked individuals were designated, Thursday, by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, for attempting to influence the U.S. electoral process.
"Andrii Derkach and other Russian agents employ manipulation and deceit to attempt to influence elections in the United States and elsewhere around the world," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
Last November, Derkach appeared with Giuliani as part of a One America News (OAN) "investigation" that aired in December, the same week the House of Judiciary Committee approved articles of impeachment against the president.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/treasury-department-ukrainian-linked-rudy-giuliani-russian-agent/story?id=72942083
Layzej - I am an actuary. I know what I'm talking about on SS. Read the annual SS Trustees'Report https://www.ssa.gov/oact/tr/2020/
Cheers
Ok. I read it. They can coast for a few years just on the surplus. With existing funding it will last well over a decade. I'm not an actuary. Let me know if I'm missing something.
Probably we're using a different definition of 'few'.
Regardless, cutting funding will result in a quick end to the program. Funding it from revenue already in deficit isn't really a solution. Seems appropriate to point this out.
Trump takes every position on most issues. They're being uncharitable by highlighting the worst. He's a little tricky because he'll almost always be able to claim that he's said the exact opposite. The truth is he's said both.
Layzej - Yes, funding from a revenue deficit is not a solution. IMHO there is no solution. No matter who is elected, the federal government is in store for trillion dollar deficits indefinitely. Stein's Law says, if something cannot go on forever, it will end. The ending of the US spending deficit will be ugly.
Cheers
P.S. although my wife and I are on SS, I think SS benefits should be cut. They're just too generous IMHO.
Let's compare to a real lie:
A reporter asked: "Are you confident that we can surpass 5,000,000 test/day?"
Trump responded "Oh we're going to be there very soon."
Speaking to reporters the following day, Trump denied having said there would be 5 million tests per day, but he added that he does believe there will, in fact, be 5 million tests per day at some point.
“Somebody came out with a study of 5 million people. Do I think we will? I think we will, but I never said it. Somebody started throwing around 5 million. I didn’t say 5 million,” the president insisted, adding, “Well, we will be there. But I didn’t say it. I didn’t say it.”
What even is the point of this lie? He's telling people he didn't say something he did say just the day prior, and he said it on video.
Most folk don't like being lied to. You can say, well, everybody lies. That's true. But when the lies are so obvious, so pointless, and so constant... well, I think it must be getting old..
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