What in the World? - Liars and Hypocrites

Liars and Hypocrites

"Trump won the Presidency by gas light. His rise to power has awakened a force of bigotry by condoning and encouraging hatred, but also by normalizing deception. Civil rights are now on trial, though before we can fight to reassert the march toward equality, we must regain control of the truth." - Lauren Duca, TeenVogue

"You're saying it's a falsehood. And they're giving -- Sean Spicer, our press secretary -- gave alternative facts." - Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President.

It is encouraging to see that, except in MAGA-land, few Americans believe Trump's false claims, according to a December 2018 Washington Post poll. What's less encoraging is the poll's finding that "the share of Republicans who say honesty is extremely important has fallen to 49 percent, 22 points lower than in the [2007] AP-Yahoo poll."

Following is a rolling list of some recent lies and hypocritical comments emanating from the tongues of Trump and his minions.

Lie, Jan 5: Trump claimed that the only persons not wildly in favor of his wall are "drug dealers, human traffickers and criminals." Polls taken in the last month show support running in the mid 40% range with nearly 70% saying it is not a priority.

Lie, Dec 29: Trump Lies to Troops’ Faces About Pay Raise He Gave Them; no Donald, it's not 10%

Lie, Dec 13: President Trump’s claim that Democrats gave Iran $150 billion (but won't agree to fund $5 billion for his border wall). The most recent of his 30 or so statements to this effect caused the fact-checkers at the Washington Post to finally give it a Pinocchio rating - 4 Pinocchios. The Post introduced a new Pinocchio rating inspired by Trump's repeated false claims about the same subject. In a column published Monday, Kessler announced “the Bottomless Pinocchio” to rate politicians “who repeat a false claim so many times that they are, in effect, engaging in campaigns of disinformation.”

Lies, Nov 24, a recent tally: TRUMP ramped up his mendacity in the weeks before the mid-terms. Analyzing figures from the Washington Post Fact Checker blog, CNN reports that in the month of October, "Trump said 1,104 things that were totally or partially untrue....The scope of Trump's falsehoods is literally breathtaking. In the 649 days between his inauguration and October 30, Trump has made 6,420 claims that are partially or entirely false."

Lie, Nov 12: “The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged,” TRUMP tweeted shortly after dawn, without providing any details or proof. “An honest vote count is no longer possible — ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!” His proposal delivered on Veteran's Day would effectively prevent the ballots of active servicemen overseas from being counted.

Lie, Oct 25: After pipe bombs were sent to prominent Democrats and CNN offices, TRUMP blamed the media for inciting "anger."

Lie, Oct 22: Slate reports: "President Donald TRUMP continued his regular habit of fulminating at Central American migrants, warning Monday morning of 'criminals and unknown Middle Easterners;' threatening again to cut off aid to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, and saying that it was the Democrats’ fault....It is true that there is a sizable group of people who have fled, mainly from Honduras, and who are currently making their way through southern Mexico, but nearly everything else Trump is suggesting is unproven, implausible, or won’t happen. It is all designed to ramp up the sense of threat and lawlessness on the border with Mexico and scare people away from voting for Democrats."

Lie, Oct 9: After being talked into a limited FBI investigation into allegations against Kavanaugh, TRUMP pronounced the attempt to derail Kavanaugh's confirmation "a hoax."

The New York Times reported that [White House counsel Don] McGahn had to get Trump to back down from a request to let the FBI investigate anything because “a wide-ranging inquiry like some Democrats were demanding—and Mr. Trump was suggesting—would be potentially disastrous for Judge Kavanaugh’s chances of confirmation.” (Slate, Oct 10)

Boastful nonsense, Sep 25: TRUMP addressed the UN, leading with “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any other administration in the history of our country. So true,” Trump told the UNGA on Tuesday morning. It’s a standard Trump line, which he usually delivers in front of two primary audiences: supporters who believe it, and reporters who just scoff and shake their head, knowing it’s not true. The delegates at the UN were neither so supportive nor so jaded, and they openly laughed at him. Trump rolled with it. “Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s okay,” he said, eliciting another round of chortling. (The Atlantic)

Lie, Sep 13: TRUMP falsely claimed that the death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year was not the officially reported number of 2,975. “3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico,” he said, without basis. Twelve minutes later, the president added, “This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible."

Hypocrisy and Lie, Sep 12: Secretary of State POMPEO, in an attempt to scuttle the rising opposition to the US role aiding the Saudi coalition in their Yemen war crimes, "certified" that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are protecting civilians in their Pentagon-enabled catastrophic war in Yemen. In mid-August, a US supplied bomb killed 40 children on a Yemen school bus. Eleven adults also died and 79 people were wounded. Apparently complying with all requirements of an international agreement (Iran nuclear deal) does not qualify as certifiable while ongoing war crimes in Yemen does.

Hypocrisy, Sep 5: UN Ambassador HALEY was rebuffed when she tried to get the UN Security Council to investigate protester deaths in Nicaragua. This is the same Nikki Haley who prevented independent investigations into the Israeli Defense Force killings of unarmed Palestinians or even to offer the protesters UN protection against unnecessary lethal force. Since the "March of Return" protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 168 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 18,000 people, according to health officials in Gaza.