As of this writing, it appears that the GOP is prepared for the possibility that Donald Trump may not be their nominee for president. His campaign is not viewed very favorably by “establishment” conservatives- perhaps they are worried about how he is viewed by the rest of the world.
Whether or not he is the eventual nominee, what many find particularly troublesome is Trump’s disdain for facts, and his being able to get away with it. What has happened to the ability of the press and fact checkers take him to task?
“It’s a technique abusers use: through manipulation and outright lies, they so disorient their target that the person (or in this case, the country) is left defenseless.
“Political journalists have been repeatedly criticized for not confronting Trump on his lies. But of course they have. For political journalists, a politician caught in a lie is chum in the water. But when they confront Trump with his lies, he doesn’t behave like most people. He doesn’t blush or equivocate or argue. He steamrolls. He bullies. He lies some more. And the journalists don’t know what to do. They brought facts to an ego fight, and found them to be worthless weapons.”
In what turned out to be a prescient warning in an article published in the Washington Post last November, Chris Cillizza wrote:
“The obsession with disqualifying the ability of the media to referee what is factual and what is not is a terrible thing for the future of our democracy. Of course the media makes mistakes. Of course there are bad apples among us. Of course we are human.
“And, yes, the fracturing of the mainstream media has made it easier than ever to get your own set of ‘facts' and your own ‘evidence’ that supports those ‘facts’. You can now live in a world in which only your opinions, often loosely based on factual evidence, are not only never challenged but are affirmed. But just because you can do it doesn't mean you should do it. Challenging your assumptions, digging beyond surface claims, educating yourself on what's real and what's not are the basic tasks of being a citizen of this country and of the world. Refusing to do that allows this fact-less environment not only to continue to exist but to prosper.
“No matter your political affiliation or how negatively you view the media, think of Trump and this campaign more generally as the leading edge of what politics could look like if fact checkers and the media suddenly disappeared. Not too pretty, right?
“That is the path we are headed down as of today. Campaigns and candidates, seeing the success Trump has had, will imitate his cavalier attitude toward an established and agreed-upon set of facts. And, before long, the media will be helpless to fight for facts because the efforts to discredit what we do have been so sustained and successful.
“That's not the future I want to be part of — as a journalist or as a citizen.”
Amen to that.
D. Norman
Your post was a compendium of quotes about Donald Trump’s alleged lying. But nowhere in your post did you cite an example of his alleged lies. What do you think he has lied about?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI was writing about the Trump phenomenon in general. I really didn’t think that providing examples was necessary, except in a scenario where all of my readers have been in a coma for many months. Here are some that come to mind:
Delete1. Trump claims over and over that he is a great businessman and dealmaker.
- promised the NJ gaming commission in 1988 that he would not use junk bonds to finance the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, saying that they are “ridiculous” and he would flat out not use them. He did use them, and paid 50% more to finance the casino. It opened in 1990 and went bankrupt in 1991.
he said that it was his prerogative to use junk bonds. He also said it was his prerogative to use the system to declare bankruptcies- that it proved he was a great negotiator.
at the time, he owed more than $3 billion to his lenders, of which he had PERSONALLY GUARANTEED $833 million. At the time of the Taj Mahal bankruptcy, he ended up, through his negotiations, giving up half of his interest in his other three casinos. He also had to sell off his airline and his yacht.
2. Trump claims to now be worth $10 billion in his financial disclosures to the U.S. government. Forbes insists that it is $4.5 billion, and Bloomberg News has it at $2.9 billion.
3. Trump claims that many Democrats have switched to vote for him.
in Massachusetts, the percentage that switched this year was 5% vs 4% four years ago.
in New Hampshire it was 15% vs 12% four years ago.
4. Trump claims that Democrats aren’t turning out to the primaries because of him.
people who study such things say there is no correlation between primary turnout and general election turnout. It has more to do with interest, such as the Clinton-Obama race compared to Clinton-Sanders where people don’t see much of a difference.
5. Trump claims that the Hispanics love him.
this was based on the 8% that turned out in a GOP primary in the Nevada caucus.
a recent Gallup poll shows a 77% unfavorable vs. 12% favorable rating for him with Latinos.
the same poll shows a net unfavorable of -29% among GOP Latinos.
6. Trump retweeted an erroneous graphic about black and white crime which is in clear conflict with FBI data.
the tweet shows that the percentage of whites killed by blacks is 81%, while the FBI reports 15%.
the tweet shows the percentage of whites killing whites to be 16% vs the FBI with 82%.
The reason is clear- people are more likely to be killed by someone they know.
7. Trump criticized Hillary Clinton for "being all talk”, and “reading it all off a teleprompter”. This was just hours before addressing AIPAC and reading his speech from a teleprompter.
8. Trump claims that the U.S. is a “poor” country.
average disposable income is the highest of any advanced economy.
U.S. defense spending is twice that of Russia and China combined.
our economy is so strong that investors around the world are willing to lend the United States at interest rates that today are around 1.9% for a 10-year bond. China pays 2.9% for the same type of bond.
9. One of Trump’s “alleged” lies from one of the “compendium of quotes” in my post was about the “thousands of people” cheering in NJ when the Trade Centers came down. Do you think that wasn’t a lie?
Here is one of many articles on this subject:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/12/exclusive_jersey_city_cop_residents_say_some_musli.html
Here is another that clearly proves he was lying:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-911_us_565b1950e4b08e945feb7326
And, to inject a little humor: all things he has actually said- with links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-best-most-only_us_56f0a08ee4b03a640a6b7380?eiji55wtnhnkx1or?