Jim Coufal
Jim Coufal

COLUMN: From Here and Back Again

Trump’s lies: Telling it like it is.

By Jim Coufal

One of the reasons many people say they voted for Trump or support him is because he “is telling it like it is.”

I’m going to tell it like it is, starting by saying Trump ‘tells it like it is,’ is itself a lie. Trump is a narcissistic megalomaniac; therefore, he tells it like he wants it to be, especially if it brings grandiosity to him.

The New York Times of Dec. 4, 2017, reported, “There is simply no precedent for an American president to spend so much time telling untruths. Every president has shaded the truth or told occasional whoppers. No other president—of either party—has behaved as Trump is behaving. He is trying to create an atmosphere in which reality is irrelevant.”

He does this by blaming others for “fake news.”

To prove that Trump is a pathological liar is not difficult. One of his earliest was his assertion (a positive statement without backing evidence) that his inaugural crowd was much bigger than Obama’s. Simple photos of the two events clearly indicated this was not true; it was a lie. He does this by accusing others of using “fake news” and by attacking the media as enemies of the people.

During the campaign, the Toronto Star listed 494 lies made by Trump in his statements. More recently, Politifact recorded 5 percent of his statements as true, 12 percent as mostly true, 15 percent as half true, 22 percent as mostly false and 32 percent as false. Further, Trump is likely to say he never said things that are on the record or change his position from one day to another.

A few examples follow.

Trump bragged that “We enacted the biggest tax cuts and reform in American history.” In truth, it is only the fifth-largest cut since the 1960s and the 12th largest in American history, as a share of the economy.

Further, as “Politics in the Real World” reported June 9, 2018, the bragged-about “tax cuts are permanent for the wealthy and large corporations; they will end for the middle class next year. This bill will add at least $1.8 trillion to the deficit.”

Also, by far the largest proportion of the cuts goes to the wealthy and large corporations. But then, look at who his largest donors are and at the makeup of his cabinet.

Trump’s willing to lie on the most honored of stages. At his commencement speech at the U.S. Naval Academy, Trump asserted that “We just got you a big pay raise, first time in 10 years. We got you a big pay increase, first time in over 10 years. I fought for you. That was the hardest one to get.”

Politifact rated a similar statement Pants on Fire. It was the biggest pay raise since 2010, and other than 1983 there was a pay raise every year since 1961. And so it goes, lies, lies and more lies. As the New York Times wrote, “On days without an untrue statement, he is often absent from Twitter, vacationing at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, or busy golfing,” the frequency of which breaks another campaign promise—another lie.

Couple his lies with…

  • His pardons of convicted felons who support his position;
  • his love of dictators of the past and of today;
  • his misogynistic, racist, homophobic, pro-religion views on setting laws;
  • his lining his and his family’s pockets in violation of the Constitution;
  • his disregard and castigation of science and his handling of the children at the border while lying that he is just following the law;
  • his admiration of past and present dictators…

…and he is quite obviously on track to destroy the U.S. Constitution and our democracy.

Have you ever questioned what Trump means by his promise to “Make America Great again!”? What point in our history does he think was great? Or do you simply buy into the slogan because it sounds comforting? But that’s another story for another time.

Telling it like it is—the worst of this is the number of those who voted for and support Trump, and his continued support by gutless Republican congressional office-holders, regardless of his actions: You are complicit in the destruction of our country and will be remembered as such.

If my telling it like it is upsets you, please let us know what your telling it like it is looks like.

Editor’s note: Jim Coufal of Cazenovia is a part-time philosopher and full-time observer of global trends.

By martha

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