We have some bad news.
You are probably not going to like or even believe this, but Trump may have told a fib or two in his time.
Okay, hundreds, probably.
I know, right?
This whole time he’s been accusing everyone else of lying, but it’s really Trump who’s been doing most of it this whole time!
Some of the lying is done via hyperbole. (“Our military is a disaster,” he is wont to say.)
Some of it is recitation of long-debunked conspiracy theories from old chain emails so laughable your Natty Ice-swillin’ uncle would be embarrassed to repeat them. (Ted Cruz’s father was involved in JFK’s assassination, anyone?)
Some of it, well, some of it unwittingly reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how democracy works that’s so bone-chillingly profound that you’ll want to run for cover. (Hillary Clinton is guilty of breaking the law and ought to be in jail.)
Let’s examine some of our favorites, from notes I’ve taken at the multiple Trump speeches I feel fortunate enough to have seen in person.
“They make us out like such jerks it’s unbelievable. These are the most dishonest people. They’re horrible people… You should be ashamed.”
We heard him say this at a Lakeland rally. No, the media are not lying to you, unless you count that bias-confirming clickbait you keep seeing. Most of us are over-worked and don’t have access to cloning machines that would allow us to be all things to all people.
“Of all of the online polls we won ten out of ten by a big margin.”
Another Lakeland rally quote about his debate performance. It is, of course, not true, and even if it were, those polls aren’t remotely scientific. The ones he did win? Likely it was with help from trolls voting en masse to make it appear as if he’d won.
Claims he received an endorsement from U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement (ICE).
That is not technically true, as government agencies do not endorse political candidates. It was an officers’ union that endorsed him.
“There was no ISIS…[Clinton] created a vacuum, she and that incompetent president.”
Um, no. Islamic State terrorists became a thing sometime around 2003, when the administration of one George W. Bush pushed for an invasion of Iraq. One might argue about how things have unfolded in the wake of the invasion, and the circumstances that helped the group gain strength, but Clinton and Obama did not create ISIS.
“No one knows the system better than me. Which is why I alone can fix it.”
Unless there is something homeboy isn’t telling us, this gem from the RNC is quite the whopper. It’s physically impossible for one person to fix something so large and complex, let alone one who has repeatedly demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of how the system works.
“I said don’t go into Iraq, they’re going to destabilize the Middle East.”
He said this during a Tampa rally in July, and it’s not technically true. Sure, he was critical of the invasion after it happened. And his endorsement of the invasion was half-hearted (“yeah, I guess”). But he sure as hell said it.
Clinton is far from transparent, but she doesn’t make stuff up on the fly based on whatever’s convenient at the moment.
Love, Kate
This article appears in Nov 3-10, 2016.