Showing posts with label donald trump lies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label donald trump lies. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

An Accelerated Deterioration



With the exception of his mindless cheerleaders and coterie of sycophants, it is obvious to the world that Donald Trump has led the United States into a steep, perhaps irreversible, decline. His response to the Covid-19 crisis has only accelerated that process.

And the public record, unlike Trump, does not lie.

About his early response to the crisis, Edward Luce writes:
People often observed during Trump’s first three years that he had yet to be tested in a true crisis. Covid-19 is way bigger than that. “Trump’s handling of the pandemic at home and abroad has exposed more painfully than anything since he took office the meaning of America First,” says William Burns, who was the most senior US diplomat, and is now head of the Carnegie Endowment.

“America is first in the world in deaths, first in the world in infections and we stand out as an emblem of global incompetence. The damage to America’s influence and reputation will be very hard to undo.”
Trump's refusal to heed warnings about what was coming was nothing short of criminal, and will likely be apparent to all if and when a commission of inquiry into the pandemic response is struck:
The inquiry would find that Trump was warned countless times of the epidemic threat in his presidential daily briefings, by federal scientists, the health secretary Alex Azar, Peter Navarro, his trade adviser, Matt Pottinger, his Asia adviser, by business friends and the world at large. Any report would probably conclude that tens of thousands of deaths could have been prevented – even now as Trump pushes to “liberate” states from lockdown.

“It is as though we knew for a fact that 9/11 was going to happen for months, did nothing to prepare for it and then shrugged a few days later and said, ‘Oh well, there’s not much we can do about it,’” says Gregg Gonsalves, a public health scholar at Yale University. “Trump could have prevented mass deaths and he didn’t.”
True to form, the Infant-in-Chief blames others for his manifest failures, China and The Who not the least:
A meeting of G7 foreign ministers in March failed to agree on a statement after Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, insisted they brand it the “Wuhan virus”.

Most dramatically, Trump has suspended US funding of the WHO, which he says covered up for China’s lying.

Trump alleged the WHO’s negligence had increased the world’s death rate “twenty-fold”. In practice, the body must always abide by member state limits, especially the big ones, notably the US and China. That is the reality for all multilateral bodies. The WHO nevertheless declared an international emergency six weeks before Trump’s US announcement.
So where does all the blaming, the posturing, the incompetence of a depraved president lead to?
Early into his partial about-turn, Trump said scientists told him that up to 2.5 million Americans could die of the disease. The most recent estimates suggest 135,000 Americans will die by late July. That means two things.

First, Trump will tell voters that he has saved millions of lives. Second, he will continue to push aggressively for US states to lift their lockdowns. His overriding goal is to revive the economy before the general election. Both Trump and Kushner have all but declared mission accomplished on the pandemic. “This is a great success story,” said Kushner in late April. “We have prevailed,” said Trump on Monday.
It is the kind of simpleminded triumphal language that a nation weary of restrictions and given to uncritical acceptance of Trumpisms welcomes, but it doesn't change reality.

And it doesn't change a truth recently uttered by George Conway, husband of one of Trump's chief promoters, Kelly Anne Conway, about the lamentably ill-equipped president:
“In my view he is a sociopath and a malignant narcissist. When a person suffering from these disorders feels the world closing in on them, their tendencies get worse. They lash out and fantasize and lose any ability to think rationally.”
A terrible combination in the best of times. A literally lethal one is these worst of times.








Tuesday, November 12, 2019

And Now, A Word From Chip Franklin

Love this guy.

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Memo To The Press

As usual, Robert Reich is spot-on in his insights. Here, he offers some solid advice to real journalists on how they should cover Trump:

Sunday, April 15, 2018

The Lie Deflector

This is a device critical thinkers probably don't need, but many others could benefit from. Simply click on the link within the box below to view the video:


Lie Deflector from MarkFiore on Vimeo.


On the other hand, we could dispense with such technology with this Spoiler Alert: You know Trump is lying when his lips move.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

A Primer On Trump's Mendacity

You probably don't need this, but it is an incisive analysis of the multitude of lies that permeated Trump's State of the Union Address.

Friday, May 12, 2017

Truly, Madly, Deeply

Although the above title is taken from both a song and a movie title, it seems as apt a way as any to describe the current state of the American republic under the insane leadership of Donald Trump. It is truly, madly and deeply a nation in almost unfathomable crisis.

Last night, NBC's Lester Holt conducted an interview with the Orange Ogre, one you only have to watch a few minutes of to realize that almost everything Trump says is either a lie or a manifestation of his deeply unstable mind. With no regard for keeping stories straight, he readily admitted his firing of FBI director Comey had nothing to do with a recommendation by his deputy attorney general:
And, in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said: ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.’”
Another bald lie was his assertion that he had been reassured by Comey three times that he was not under investigation, something that would seem extremely unlikely.

In any event, watch a few minutes and see what you think.




If you have the stomach, watch a few minutes of a racist in Florida abusing and threatening a Muslim family in the name of Trump.



Only the most ideological or insensate will be unable to understand that Trump and his ilk are a terrible, corrosive and cancerous blight on the American body politic. The only question that really seems to matter now is, "Will the republic succumb to its aggressive disease, or will it do what is necessary to return to some semblance of health and normalcy?"

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Saturday, February 4, 2017

In Case You Hadn't Noticed



Meanwhile, Star letter writers offer their suggestions:
Re: Chaos, fear and anger, Jan. 29

Canadians outraged at Trump’s ban on Muslims and refugees can take concrete action by contacting the United States embassy in Ottawa and pledging not to travel to the U.S. until the ban is overturned. We can’t vote south of the border, but we can ban ourselves in solidarity with the victims of Trump’s racist policies.

John Gilmore, Montreal


While emphasizing Canada’s diversity and willingness to accept refugees are good things, they are not enough. President Trump and his cadre are putting in place the foundation for religious and racial discrimination that, liberals are convinced, will lead to undermining democracy and endangering the world by pitting Muslims against non-Muslims.

I recognize that our relationship with and trade dependence on the U.S. is important, but the U.S. government will operate in what it deems its own best interests regardless of what Canada says publicly. There is no more risk to speaking out than in staying relatively silent. The rest of the world, however, needs to hear our message and see our opposition to this intolerance.

The federal government, as one of the last liberal regimes in the world, must be a voice for the sort of fairness and equality that will alleviate the fears of others and undermine the messages of fear and hatred coming equally from Daesh and Trump.

Bruce Milner, Richmond Hill

Sunday, October 30, 2016

The Danger Of False Equivalency

In this morning's Star, Daniel Dale has a very interesting essay on why, despite the fact that it forks no lightning but provokes much outrage from his supporters, it is important to keep reporting on Donald Trump's shameless aversion to truth. Unfortunately, it is not yet available online, but if it becomes available, I will add a link here.

On a related matter, however, my friend Jonathan alerted me to a piece from Bill Maher that is well-worth watching in which he indicts not only the lying Trump but also excoriates the laziness and cynicism of those who embrace him:



And one more thing: it appears that Trump is right in claiming the election is rigged, just not in the way he meant.
A woman in Iowa was arrested this week on suspicion of voting twice in the general election, court and police records show.

Rote told Iowa Public Radio that she cast her first ballot for Donald Trump but feared it would be changed to a vote for Hillary Clinton.

"I wasn't planning on doing it twice — it was spur-of-the-moment," Rote told the radio station. "The polls are rigged."

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

A Post Fact-Checking World?

That seems to be the opinion of Donald Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord, who offers this view: I honestly don’t think this ‘fact-checking’ business ... is anything more than one more out of touch, elitist media-type thing.

I'm sure the rabble would agree: