Trump, Hillary Both Bend The Truth
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Gary [email protected]
It drives them crazy because no matter what Trump says, it doesn’t seem to doom his campaign.
Most recently, Trump said he saw “thousands and thousands” of Muslims cheering in the streets of New Jersey following 9/11, celebrating the destruction of the twin towers.
Well, that didn’t really happen. I mean, it didn’t happen at all. I mean, if it did happen, there is no evidence of it – no news reports, no videos on YouTube, nothing. (YouTube was created in 2005, but surely somebody would have taken a video of thousands of Muslims celebrating 9/11 and uploaded it by now, wouldn’t they? Failing that, at least the local newspaper photographer would have got some photos.)
Anyway, Trump’s 9/11 celebration pronouncement received the dreaded “Pants On Fire” rating from PolitiFact.com, a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics.
According to the website: “PolitiFact is run by editors and reporters from the Tampa Bay Times, an independent newspaper in Florida. ... PolitiFact staffers research statements and rate their accuracy on the Truth-O-Meter, from True to False. The most ridiculous falsehoods get the lowest rating, Pants on Fire.
Here are some other Trumpisms that have received the “Pants On Fire” rating:
• Crime statistics show blacks kill 81 percent of white homicide victims.
• The federal government is sending refugees to states with governors who are "Republicans, not to the Democrats."
• The unemployment rate may be as high as "42 percent."
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership "was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone."
• Bernie Sanders is going to "tax you people at 90 percent."
• "The Mexican government ... they send the bad ones over."
All of these statements are demonstrably false – however you want to say it, lies, fabrications, just plain nonsense, whatever.
And these are just the things that aren’t true. This doesn’t even take into consideration all the boorish comments he has made regarding women, immigrants and a reporter with a physical disability.
But it really doesn’t matter what he says. People who support Trump don’t care that he utters blatant untruths while blathering on in seemingly endless spates of campaign prattle.
He can even mock physically disabled reporters and get away with it.
I bet Trump could have been video-recorded on Black Friday tripping little old ladies in the crosswalk on the way to skinning live baby seals on the front steps of Trump Tower and not lose one percentage point in the polls.
It’s certainly not because the media hasn’t been trying to bust Trump’s chops. Every word the guy says is scrutinized and fact checked.
And after the fact checking, it becomes a top news story for a few days to be sure everybody knows that Trump is at it again.
Still no poll drop.
This has folks – especially folks in the media – scratching their heads in disbelief. They simply can’t understand why none of these Trumpisms seem to hurt him.
But I understand why.
First of all, there’s a pathology among certain people who strongly believe something. If you tell them it isn’t true it only reinforces their belief in it – even in the face of incontrovertible evidence.
But mostly it’s because lots of people who support Trump simply don’t trust the media.
They perceive the fact checkers as “out to get” Trump. And they don’t think it’s fair.
It’s a sad situation, really, that the media has fallen so far in trustworthiness.
Remember the good old days of three black-and-white channels? Remember guys like Walter Cronkite?
People trusted the media back then. If Cronkite called you out, you were a liar. Period.
And you fell from public favor.
But today, Trump can wear his media scrutiny as a badge of honor before his followers. He can play the victim. The media is picking on him.
Truth is irrelevant. That’s the way he can play it off because so many people have so little respect for today’s media.
And the media have no one to blame but themselves.
There is a marked and quantifiable difference between the way the media treat candidates like Trump – who they don’t like – and Hillary Clinton – who they do like.
There are tons of examples.
During the last Congressional hearing on Benghazi, emails were made public that showed for the first time that Hillary knew right away the Benghazi attacks were coordinated by al-Qaida. She knew they were terror attacks, not a spontaneous protest caused by an anti-islamic video.
But even though she knew the truth, for a couple of weeks she and other administration officials lied to the American people. Why? Because a terror attack just didn’t quite fit President Obama’s re-election campaign narrative of “al-Qaida is on the run.”
The headlines?
Clinton shows leadership in response to 'Benghazi Hearing’
Benghazi hearing concludes; Democrats say 'nothing new'
No “Pants On Fire” ratings, no fact-checking. Business as usual. Nothing to see here folks, just move along.
She was named for Sir Edmund Hillary ...
She came under sniper fire in Bosnia ...
She was dead broke when she left the White House ...
She tried to join the Marines but they told her she was too old – at age 26 ...
She was instrumental in the Northern Ireland peace process ...
She broke no rules using a private email server ...
She’s never had a subpoena ...
She only used one email device ...
She never sent or received any material that was classified at the time it was sent or received ...
Certainly all these things – either unverifiable or demonstrably false – have been noted in the press, but not with nearly the same level of intensity and enthusiasm as the foibles of Republicans.
And certainly no one in the mainstream media is calling Hillary unfit to serve as president because of her penchant for bending the truth.
This is nothing new.
Here is an expert from a William Saffire column, “Blizzard of Lies” in the New York Times in 1996:
Americans of all political persuasions are coming to the sad realization that our First Lady – a woman of undoubted talents who was a role model for many in her generation – is a congenital liar.
Drip by drip, like Whitewater torture, the case is being made that she is compelled to mislead, and to ensnare her subordinates and friends in a web of deceit.
He then details the level of deceit. It’s a good column. Everyone should read it.
Donald Trump lies. He twists facts, exaggerates or just plain makes stuff up to prop up his narrative and make himself look better. This is a character flaw that portends a lack of integrity I believe disqualifies him from becoming commander in chief.
I believe precisely the same thing about Hillary Clinton.[[In-content Ad]]
It drives them crazy because no matter what Trump says, it doesn’t seem to doom his campaign.
Most recently, Trump said he saw “thousands and thousands” of Muslims cheering in the streets of New Jersey following 9/11, celebrating the destruction of the twin towers.
Well, that didn’t really happen. I mean, it didn’t happen at all. I mean, if it did happen, there is no evidence of it – no news reports, no videos on YouTube, nothing. (YouTube was created in 2005, but surely somebody would have taken a video of thousands of Muslims celebrating 9/11 and uploaded it by now, wouldn’t they? Failing that, at least the local newspaper photographer would have got some photos.)
Anyway, Trump’s 9/11 celebration pronouncement received the dreaded “Pants On Fire” rating from PolitiFact.com, a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics.
According to the website: “PolitiFact is run by editors and reporters from the Tampa Bay Times, an independent newspaper in Florida. ... PolitiFact staffers research statements and rate their accuracy on the Truth-O-Meter, from True to False. The most ridiculous falsehoods get the lowest rating, Pants on Fire.
Here are some other Trumpisms that have received the “Pants On Fire” rating:
• Crime statistics show blacks kill 81 percent of white homicide victims.
• The federal government is sending refugees to states with governors who are "Republicans, not to the Democrats."
• The unemployment rate may be as high as "42 percent."
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership "was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone."
• Bernie Sanders is going to "tax you people at 90 percent."
• "The Mexican government ... they send the bad ones over."
All of these statements are demonstrably false – however you want to say it, lies, fabrications, just plain nonsense, whatever.
And these are just the things that aren’t true. This doesn’t even take into consideration all the boorish comments he has made regarding women, immigrants and a reporter with a physical disability.
But it really doesn’t matter what he says. People who support Trump don’t care that he utters blatant untruths while blathering on in seemingly endless spates of campaign prattle.
He can even mock physically disabled reporters and get away with it.
I bet Trump could have been video-recorded on Black Friday tripping little old ladies in the crosswalk on the way to skinning live baby seals on the front steps of Trump Tower and not lose one percentage point in the polls.
It’s certainly not because the media hasn’t been trying to bust Trump’s chops. Every word the guy says is scrutinized and fact checked.
And after the fact checking, it becomes a top news story for a few days to be sure everybody knows that Trump is at it again.
Still no poll drop.
This has folks – especially folks in the media – scratching their heads in disbelief. They simply can’t understand why none of these Trumpisms seem to hurt him.
But I understand why.
First of all, there’s a pathology among certain people who strongly believe something. If you tell them it isn’t true it only reinforces their belief in it – even in the face of incontrovertible evidence.
But mostly it’s because lots of people who support Trump simply don’t trust the media.
They perceive the fact checkers as “out to get” Trump. And they don’t think it’s fair.
It’s a sad situation, really, that the media has fallen so far in trustworthiness.
Remember the good old days of three black-and-white channels? Remember guys like Walter Cronkite?
People trusted the media back then. If Cronkite called you out, you were a liar. Period.
And you fell from public favor.
But today, Trump can wear his media scrutiny as a badge of honor before his followers. He can play the victim. The media is picking on him.
Truth is irrelevant. That’s the way he can play it off because so many people have so little respect for today’s media.
And the media have no one to blame but themselves.
There is a marked and quantifiable difference between the way the media treat candidates like Trump – who they don’t like – and Hillary Clinton – who they do like.
There are tons of examples.
During the last Congressional hearing on Benghazi, emails were made public that showed for the first time that Hillary knew right away the Benghazi attacks were coordinated by al-Qaida. She knew they were terror attacks, not a spontaneous protest caused by an anti-islamic video.
But even though she knew the truth, for a couple of weeks she and other administration officials lied to the American people. Why? Because a terror attack just didn’t quite fit President Obama’s re-election campaign narrative of “al-Qaida is on the run.”
The headlines?
Clinton shows leadership in response to 'Benghazi Hearing’
Benghazi hearing concludes; Democrats say 'nothing new'
No “Pants On Fire” ratings, no fact-checking. Business as usual. Nothing to see here folks, just move along.
She was named for Sir Edmund Hillary ...
She came under sniper fire in Bosnia ...
She was dead broke when she left the White House ...
She tried to join the Marines but they told her she was too old – at age 26 ...
She was instrumental in the Northern Ireland peace process ...
She broke no rules using a private email server ...
She’s never had a subpoena ...
She only used one email device ...
She never sent or received any material that was classified at the time it was sent or received ...
Certainly all these things – either unverifiable or demonstrably false – have been noted in the press, but not with nearly the same level of intensity and enthusiasm as the foibles of Republicans.
And certainly no one in the mainstream media is calling Hillary unfit to serve as president because of her penchant for bending the truth.
This is nothing new.
Here is an expert from a William Saffire column, “Blizzard of Lies” in the New York Times in 1996:
Americans of all political persuasions are coming to the sad realization that our First Lady – a woman of undoubted talents who was a role model for many in her generation – is a congenital liar.
Drip by drip, like Whitewater torture, the case is being made that she is compelled to mislead, and to ensnare her subordinates and friends in a web of deceit.
He then details the level of deceit. It’s a good column. Everyone should read it.
Donald Trump lies. He twists facts, exaggerates or just plain makes stuff up to prop up his narrative and make himself look better. This is a character flaw that portends a lack of integrity I believe disqualifies him from becoming commander in chief.
I believe precisely the same thing about Hillary Clinton.[[In-content Ad]]
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