Lying is WROMG - period. Lying by a public official to the American people is CRIMINAL. When the "boss" of these liars isa himself a lying narcissistic sociopath who sets the ethics bar below ground, lying to US is the norm.
May I point out that US is THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, regardless of "party". These liars and crooks MUST be held responsible for their actions, and that responsibility should start at the top - with Donald Trump, the LIAR-IN-CHIEF.
We. as a country, have become uncivilized and morally reprehensible - well, at least those of the Trump camp. We are shunned by every other nation, our citizens are humiliated abroad and the Republicans at home are becoming rejects of society. Rightfully so until WE make the ethical changes necessary to pout this country back on a civilized track.
YOUR chance to do this is coming up. The mid-terms approach.
VOTE!
1
President Trump is a pathological liar and so are the republicans that support him , and each an everyone of them should be driven from office this fall and impeachment should begin against trump as soon as democrats regain control of congress this fall .
3
May be Trump learnt lying from his biggest supporters , the Evangelical leaders..Most of the politicians are crook and liar. But there is a limit which is tolerable. But Trump has big problem with the Truth or speaking truth. He is an amazing liar.
2
It should be a fire-able offense to purposefully lie to the American people - and still get paid by the people. Yet the master liar himself fires those who do tell the American people the truth.
How can anyone lead an organization full of liars? How can an organization be lead by a lying leader? This is what it means for a country to be run by a conman.
2
No surprise here. In every organization, what the leadership condones the rest of the organization will condone. When a traitor and a liar heads the country, as is happening now, we will find traitors and liars at every level.
1
September 24, 2018
A)
Non ducor, duco.
I am not led, I lead.
The motto of São Paulo, Brazil,
This phrase is a great, albeit somewhat aggressive way to assert your dominance while also letting folks know that you’ve read a few books.
It corrects anyone under the mistaken assumption that you aren’t the absolute boss and/or innovator of any given situation.
B)
The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else. George Bernard Shaw
www.brainyquote.com/topics/liar
JJA Manhattan, N.Y.
1
While these assertions may be true - that the President creates the environment that cultivates prevarication - let's not pretend that the individuals in question would otherwise be paragons of virtue. If you hire an arsonist to watch your furniture factory you can't claim surprise when you show up in the morning to smoking rubble - even if the boss likes to smoke in his office.
2
"Donald Trump’s chronic dishonesty threatens to infect his entire administration." More to the point, it threatens the moral fabric of the entire country. The tone of any corporate body, even a nation, is set by the ethical standard exhibited in daily practice by its top authority.
Or, to put this in the vernacular, "The fish rots from the head down," and our head tuna has rotted totally from the neck up.
3
Telling the 'truth' is boring and so yesterday.
I mean, really.
When the country asks me if the jeans make her look fat, of course I tell her "no."
Facts and truth are so limiting.
1
‘Threatens to infect’?
That’s like saying the Spanish flu ‘threatened’ to become an epidemic in 1918 — after it had finished killing about 675,000 people in the U.S. and millions more around the globe.
2
Know that the lying has contaminated the many agencies doing rule-making under Trump. They have been given unreasonable and dangerous mandates (roll back mileage standards, roll back methane controls, undo coal fired green house gas control standards). The only way to justify these rules is to do incomplete analysis; use poorly developed or defended models; use incomplete data or select inputs that support the outcome sought; be slow to answer requests for data, or don't show or share the analyses at all. It will take years for these federal agencies to restore the public trust in their work, if ever.
2
It's one thing to be a pathological liar; it's another to have an authoritarian personality. When the two are combined you end up with a completely compromised and consequently dysfunctional work force.
It is simply impossible for competent, responsible people to do their jobs to the best of their ability in service to the American people with that kind of imperative.
I mention the American people, because there appears to be a serious misunderstanding about government service, not just on the part of a woefully ignorant and arrogant president, but his underlings when it comes to who they work for with much discussion about loyalty to a single individual.
In fact, everyone who serves "at the pleasure of the president" is also responsible according to the oath each person takes (including the president), to the country and its citizens. If that responsibility cannot be carried out with an out of control president, who makes demands that most resemble those of a dictator or mob boss, then the country and its citizens is/are in big trouble.
Thus far, the president has tried to undermine, insult and fire not just individuals who get in his way, but to remake entire institutions to suit his individual preferences. Even more disturbing is watching the GOP led congress not only lie down prostrate in the face of his untoward behavior, but join in the lies, punishments and obstruction.
Our democracy is in peril and not just from external forces.
5
What's the legal definition of "fruit of the poisoned tree"?
Trump's whole life has been based on lies, his performance as president has been one lie after another, and virtually all the members of his so-called "administration" (Pruitt, Flynn, Bannon, etc) have made repeated lies on virtually a daily basis.
Basically, this is a cancer that's metastasizing and destroying the body of our government and our nation.
5
Trump's combination of incessant lying, ignorance, stupidity, terminal narcissism and emotional instability clearly make the 25th Amendment the central issue of our times. Its conceivable the November election will advance the feasibility of invoking it but the need for a 60% majority in the Senate will preclude invoking it unless either the Rs face up to reality(unlikely) or his progressive apparent early dementia accelerates so that he calls the question in an unavoidable way. The same goes for impeachment. So the focus needs to be on castrating R majorities in both houses of Congress as opportunity arises to minimize the damage done. Its going to be a painful wait for 2020.
2
As a retired federal prosecuting attorney (1995-2010 and a Navy Vietnam veteran ('65-'69) I respectfully disagree with the assertion that, "Donald Trump's dishonesty threatens to infect his entire administration."
On the contrary, I would argue that anyone, who agreed to serve an individual, whom the evidence had already revealed was a pathological liar, was already infected with a proclivity to lie. Indeed, one need look no further than the list of all of the forced and unforced resignations, and the liars who remain.
2
To me, the really scary thing is not the number lies Trump tells, but the number of people who believe them. Like tens of millions of people denying climate change.
5
Republicans believe that "The End Justifies the Means."
That's why when you confront them with Trump's known egregious LIES, they ignore and STILL respond with some random derogatory statement about Hiliary Clinton.
3
At what point do we realize our country is in free fall, never anticipated by our founders, and consider all options? Our major problem is that the party, now in power in all branches of our government, is totally corrupt.
Everyone must vote in November.
4
Lying is not contagious. Those who lie do not catch it from others. If one lies, one is predisposed to lying. What has happened since Trump's inauguration is the contagion of sycophancy in the Republican party. Politicians lie all the time, regardless of party affiliation. But Republican legislators, if one were able to look into their innermost thoughts, know their leader is a pathological liar, yet they continue to defend him. Their refusal to cross him (out of fear of retribution) is tantamount to lying because they are omitting the truth. It's interesting to note that only those Republican senators (Flake and Corker) and congressmen (Charlie Dent) who are leaving have criticized Trump. Those who remain are lying to themselves by making excuses for Trump's flagrant dishonesty.
2
Yes, it is tiresome, but it is also undeniably a matter of policy, right out the Putin playbook of degrading perception wherever possible. Stark, visible lying must become unconditionally permissible, which is to say, irrefutable, irreproachable, and a rite of loyalty. It must attach itself to the smallest and least disputed matters, to portray its natural vitality. Warnings abound, from Gessen to Applebaum to the nameless, faceless civil servants in our intelligence agencies. Please do not marvel at this policy or its practice as any form of incongruity, whether a disability or a moral lapse. It is calculated, it is strategic, and it is disciplined. True, the President makes it look like fun, but so did Leni Riefenstahl.
I worry about that student of this lesson, somewhere out there in the wider American lands, watching and learning about success through lying, and taking those lessons through an evolution that places a nice layer of manners and empathy on top. He/she would be sure to be more stealth about the 'qualities' that trump is blatant about. The chance we'd make the same mistake all over again is far from zero.
2
When Trump declared he would surround himself with the best, little did people know, the best meant, the beast thieves. I would like to see more written about Mr. Ross's stint as head of the Bank of Cyprus.
3
Trump and his fellow D.C. con men fail to understand the consequences of lying to the people, creating a kangaroo court to benefit themselves and handing out $trillions to their buddies. The people will simply stop supporting the grifters.
Without justice, without representation, there's no people's government and no reason for paying taxes anymore. Let the fat cats and and their "fans" foot the bill; they can pay from now on.
1
They worry that Trump would, could or might infect his staff, the WH, and anyone else within reach of the virusm is past. They all have it. They are all sick with the Trump virus.
The Trump derangement syndrome, if real, is more of a mood thing...where an otherwise good mood can be blasted apart by listening to, or hearing about another dopey move Trump or his crew makes. Easily reduced by the sight of a puppy, a hug, some sun on the skin, a drink (or 4 or 5) yoga, a warm bath, a good cry, or a honest belly laugh. Remedies are readily available.
Whereas the Trump lying virus is a real disease, a dangerous infection. That demands real medical intervention, along with huge doses of logic and fact based intervention. Maybe even shock treatment to change the bad habit of lying - especially when the truth is the better choice.
I can easily reduce my anti-Trump feelings. But those infected with the Trump lying virus...they are gonna need whole new credibility transplants. Not even the great Mayo Clinic can help them with that!
5
Out leadership sets the tone by example. Trump has made lying not only tolerable but something to emulate.
2
People voted for Trump with full knowledge of his sleazy behavior and outright lies. I guess as long as you tell the right lies, it doesn’t matter. If you are just the right kind of sleaze, that matters not either. Jim Jones would be so proud and jealous.
2
I wouldn't assume that all those, or even most, working in this administration (or DC) are going to do Trump's bidding. We are actually seeing quite the opposite. So, Ed Board, please stop pushing everyone that is a Rep or works for a Rep under the bus. The Dem party has plenty of it's own falsehoods (i.e. live in a glass house).
The entire Republican opus is built on lies (trickle down, scary Mexicans, poor people are lazy, etc.) so it seems natural that republicans across the nation support an agenda built on lies. That's why the republicans work so hard at destroying education: an educated voter is much more likely to vote Democratic.
So it's no surprise that the republican population in general all support grabbing women by their - well, you know.
Maybe I could get rich selling anti-republican, female friendly athletic cups so that women can protect themselves from the coming republican invasion?
2
Of course we are here. Didn't we all learn "follow the leader" before grade school?
1
I do not know which is worse, lying as Trump has been proven to do innumerable times when there is stark proof he lies, or watching Sanders stand up and back up what she must, at some level know is not the truth.
4
The president has lied some 5,000 ties since assuming office by official count. That number embraces so much content that it is amazing Trump isn't contradicted far more often by careless officials. Hence, telling lies to gratify Trump, the response of wary vested interests and sycophants, has become a sort of pavlovian response. But far more pervasive and devastating is the silence.
Woodward and nearly two years of leaks from the disgruntled tells us everyone knows Trump is ethically challenged, ignorant and narcissistic. Nowhere are these disabilities more on show than on the national stage. He is truly unfit for the job. Even with the daily cacaphony it is the silence and not the lying that overwhelms and makes space for new lies.
The silence of Trump's lambs--Trumphagy! Only ultra-nationalists, greedy vested interests and extreme cognitive dissonance can explain the silence. They know but they wont tell. Wont allow the wrongness to give voice to their culpability in voting for and taking advantage of the chaos.
Lying is the preserve of those few who cannot escape into silence.
But it is silence that threatens America and the GoP. Like an assault at a drunken teen party by a Supreme Court nominee that everyone believes to be true but the GoP continues to deny. Giving the lie to plausablity and words to the guilty silence. And the greatest challenge to Americans and our institutions is not the lying against which we have defenses. It is the silence.
3
Speaking of complicit liars, Mitch McConnell, stalwart champion of truth, when speaking to the "great unwashed" last week assured the crowd Kavanaugh's confirmation would be "rammed thru." He failed to mention investigating Mrs. Ford's claims of assault or allowing Mr. Kavanaugh a chance to clear his name. NO, this is about appointing another Rightwing flunky to the Court ASAP before the President is subpeoned or indicted.
3
Yes, it is tiresome, but it is also undeniably a matter of policy, right out the Putin playbook of degrading perception wherever possible. Stark, visible lying must become unconditionally permissible, which is to say, irrefutable, irreproachable, and a rite of loyalty. It must attach itself to the smallest and least disputed matters, to portray its natural vitality. Warnings abound, from Gessen to Applebaum to the nameless, faceless civil servants in our intelligence agencies. Please do not marvel at this policy and its practice as any form of incongruity. It is calculated and strategic.
3
"This is not about politics. This is about lying."
- Harvey 'Youthful Indescretion' Hyde, justifying adoption of Articles of Impeachment against President Clinton.
..."Most corrupt administration in American history".
-Millions of concerned citizens, 2018, describing the Trump presidency.
Let's have those tax returns. Let's have sanctions on elected officials who are knowingly lying.
3
Very selective. What about the whoppers that Hilary told (her private v public positions) and her husband, Bill Clinton, and yes, Obama, too (DACA, red line, keep your doctor, immigration).
The whole world lied about the Paris Accord, no country is on track to meet the commitments, especially Tar Sands Canada and coal-mining Germany. Ironically, Trump was the honest one, to break from the bad deal. Also, the Iran deal was big fat lie to the American people, and Trump was honest to break from the Iran deal, too. Germany wanted to trade with Iran much more than providing more security to Israel. Obama and Germany were lying to themselves, thinking that the Iran deal was good for the world, when it was no such thing.
I will take Trump over Obama and Merkel any day.
1
If your teenagers told falsehoods on a regular basis like Trump & Company, you'd ground them or administer some other meaningful punishment.
And yet I never ceased to be amazed how otherwise intelligent and caring adults are not outraged by Trump's repeated lies and those of his staff.
When you normalize lying like this administration has, there are grave consequences both now and in the future. This petri dish of lying needs to be expunged and cleaned - probably cauterized - come November.
3
I think the most disappointing thing about all this is the Republican's sellout to Trump and his lying ways.
What happened to formerly sane guys like Lindsay Graham? And even those like Flake and Corker still have the nerve to take him on and try to stop the worst of his agenda.
And now with the Kavanaugh debacle they are digging themselves in deeper. There seems to be no bottom to their cowardice and desire tor power at all costs. The family of values party is totally a sham - and it's a term they never dare use again.
9
This contagion also includes the holier that thou crowd like Sarah Sanders and Mike Pence..
5
You can break all rules of ethics, wreck all institutions and norms, ignore truth, ignore truth-telling, ignore science, ignore reason, ignore consistency in thinking or speaking, attack and abuse all of the above, violate all the ten commandments and more, as long as you don’t violate the eleventh:
“Thou shalt be loyal to me.”
2
President Trump is wrong on so many things it's hard to keep track of them all.
but one thing is sure: his assertion that Democrats would have to do or say anything to make him look as bad as possible, when the reality is nobody can make Trump look as bad as he himself does.
9
Regarding the citizen status question on the Census:
I'm confused. That question was on the American Community Survey form that I recently received from the Census Bureau, and I was required to answer it.
Haven't they already gotten what they wanted?
1
But, Puerto Rico is counting deaths that occurred months after the Hurricane. The death toll was a lie. Yes, 3000 may have died if we count deaths that occurred since then, but those deaths are not the result of a hurricane, they are the results of a corrupt government that has let their infrastructure devolve into a shambles - with or without a hurricane. It wasn't the hurricane, it was the government.
1
Trump did not invent lying or make it contagious. Presidents, politicians, heads of state tend to lie to their subjects. What's unique here in this is that the party that claims to love the truth is accepting lying as a way of doing business. The GOP has lied often but it has not had this much power and, therefore a reason, to keep the lying going the way it does now. Trump is in the White House, the GOP controls both houses of congress and many of the statehouses. Why on earth would they want to tell the truth about anything?
Perhaps the real issue is that we, the people, believe them less than ever and, if there is a national emergency that requires our cooperation, such cooperation may be sorely lacking. It's hard to take fools and idiots seriously.
4
The question is for any member of his Administration is thus; do you value your integrity or your job more? Trump will not be in power forever and he may fire them at a moment's notice. At the end of the day away from the bright lights and cameras, one will have to look themselves in the mirror. Because the president is willing to debase himself with constant lying doesn't mean they have too either. One day Sanders' daughter is going to ask her, "What do you do for a living, mommy?" Her response will be, "I lie and mislead on a daily basis to the American public for a living, honey."
10
@damon walton "Trump will not be in power forever ". You sure about this? Are you taking for granted that Trump will follow American law and practice of allowing a maximum of two 4-year terms for a president? I suggest the possibility that he and his allies have no intention of doing so.
"Honesty is the best Policy"
No wonder Donald Trump has no coherent policies on so many current and outstanding issues, subjects, concerns and matters.
9
Read earlier today about the voter who stopped reading political news because it upset her.
Yet she will vote GOP all down the ticket anyway.
MAGA indeed...
16
"Presidential Lying is Contagious"
I see Trump as the product of the onging lying by the US Media Establishment, led of course, by the august publication...which ironically can't see past the GW Bridge.
2
@R Henry: Are his policies working so much better west of the Hudson? What lies by the media are you talking about?
"When the president repeatedly sends the signal that he regards honesty as a handicap, he can quickly drag the whole executive branch down to his level."
If that is true, then it indicates the rule of law is rule by submissive and cowardly politicians and SCOTUS.
Who wants to obey anything that's nothing more than enforced confirmation bias?
2
Thank you! Finally, the Times details in one place various of the many misdeeds and abuses of the law in the Trump administration. Sometimes it helps assuage our collective angst to quote Shakespeare, and sometimes "just the facts, ma'am" are the most powerful words.
11
And when the lie comes to light and threatens to blow up in the president's face, he can conveniently blame his underling. "If you or any of your IM force is caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions."
5
Like attracts like. A corrupt liar isn't going to attract honorable people to work for them.
23
How do we take the NYTimes seriously anymore, after this paper just irresponsibly published a hearsay article, at an absolutely irresponsible time, which led to Rod Rosenstein's resignation and possibly, the end of the Mueller probe.
If the nation descends into a constitutional crisis - or worse - it's on this paper's shoulders.
3
In a nation of winners and losers, what's wrong with lying, as long your guy/political party/sports team wins?
Until we figure this out, this country is in big trouble
6
there ia no integrity in lying to win but half the population is just fine with a WH that has no integrity
1
donald trump is one of the most honest ,handsome and charismatic people in the world..i can lie like a champ also
7
Thomas More didn't lie to satisfy Henry VIII. While it's true that Trump sets the tone & conditions for an environment of dishonesty, most individuals are true to their essential character. It's more likely that Trump selects members of his administration who are disingenuous to begin with. In our culture we interpret body-language to infer another person's true intent. We might say that our bodies engage in unconscious communication. —Without words, our meaning is conveyed, heard, responded to. We reveal who we are, one way or another, continuously. Trump, in his pervasive lying, not only enables dishonesty. He sniffs it out and elevates it ... even to the Supreme Court
15
@Lois Ann Cipriano
Becket also didn't lie to satisfy Henry II, and lost his life like Thomas More.
In the current administration, those not willing to lie on behalf of the wanna-be dictator in the Oval Office, only lose their jobs and pensions.
9
It is amazing that all the so-called Christians support this lying administration.
27
they convenitly forgot that
lying is a sin and part of the ten commandments
just like adultery
3
Those who lie down with dogs get up with fleas.
8
Who in their right mind would want to work for such a boss? It makes me wonder about the people who are willing to put up with this-- what's wrong with them? Are some focused on getting ahead at all costs? Giving up their ethics? Or, maybe they would like to be a boss from hell or maybe they are similar to him in their management style?
5
Presidential lying has reached its apex with Trump. No other president comes close. Trump lies are blatant. He lies on a daily basis, numerous times in that day. Trump's lies are proven am instant after they come out of his pie-hole. Trump lies about the most minute and the most major topics of the day. Trump tells more lies than he speaks the truth. And now, because 63 million gullible voters and a rigged Electoral College made him president of the most powerful nation on Earth, this despicable lout wrecks havoc with sheer abandon, with his party of Republican co-conspirators, now ready to confirm a sexual predator, just like the president himself, to the highest court in the land. Are the American made as heck, and not willing to take it any longer? Come November, we shall see. May God have mercy on our souls should we choose wrong and not remove all Republicans from elected office.
DD
Manhattan
9
@Dennis D.
What is he up to now? 5,000? 6,000? He did tell the truth the other day, much to my surprise. He told us that water was wet, although calling it the wettest ever was a bit of an exaggeration.
4
Please Editorial Staff, replace the word chronic dishonesty with pathological dishonesty. There, doesn't that feel better?
11
Hitler's seizure of power (Machtergreifung) was brought about in part by the "Enabling Act" which permitted government by decree without legislative participation. These events brought about the collapse of democracy in Germany. The current attack on the Department of Justice, the Supreme Court, and the increasing irrelevance of a congress comprised in the majority by corrupted sycophants who support executive orders--tariffs, etc--are disturbingly similar. And, it all started with lies about people defined as "others" and enemies within. Principally, of course, Jews--but then Gypsies, Socialists, Homosexuals, mentally challenged and eventually even various Christians and finally, everyone else. It was GERMANY FIRST. The MAGA of its day... Trump's continuous lying is just the symptom on the surface of a deeply rotting situation. His minions are simply that; creatures of his own design.
22
We ought to be every bit as concerned about the lies we tell ourselves and one another, such as the lie that we are entitled to whatever we can grab and the rest of the world exists merely to hand it to us, the lie that we deserve infinite health care without getting off the couch or paying for it, the lie that Gawd loves us and only us, the lie that Hillary Clinton cheated St. Bernie, the lie that the news media didn’t report extensively on exactly what Trump was and is, the lie that....
3
If you manage to find a person that doesn’t lie, you have rediscovered Jesus!
Did you watch the CBS “60 minutes” last night and how Google used its monopoly to promote own profitability at expense of the customers?
Even the federal agency in charge of fighting against such market manipulation created the written recommendations for the judicial proceedings against the gigantic tech company.
Do you know when this incriminating report was assembled? In 2011…
Who was the acting president in the White House?
Obama Barack!
What did he tell you on the campaign trail in 2008? That he is going to Washington D.C. to fight on your behalf against the lobbyists, the big businesses and those who campaign donations corrupt our elected officials. He promised you to pusnish those responsible for the housing bubble and the Great Recession.
What did he do to the Wall Street insiders? He hired them as the Cabinet members and put them in charge of creating his economic policies and as the tresury Secretary.
The number of the criminals sentenced to the prison for saddling the taxpayers with several trillion dollar debt is ZERO.
Mr. Obama would have imprisoned the culprits but he needed them first to pull us out of the economic slump?!
4
The difference between this sad excuse for an administration; and that of a truely great President ; one Abaham Lincoln could not be more black and white. Lincoln surrounded himself with the beat and brightest. Trump picked sycophants who would be next in line to kiss his (fill in the blank) One of the most sickening things I ever saw was the spectacle of the day the press was let into a room to record every major player in the White House proclaiming what a great honor it was to "serve" under Donald Trump. Beyond pathetic. The list of those who are not only proven liars; but now convicted criminals continue to grow. As a contrarian; I have always been amazed at how many sheep there are in this world; who will blindly follow a so called leader no matter what. That is how Hitler came to be. A nothing corporal from W.W.1 who learned the more you instilled fear and anger in people; the more they blindly followed your insane lead. To question or oppose such a man was to eventually put your life in danger. Is Lying contagious? Absolutely; if you are a weak sniveling sycophant. Trump`s entire cabinet has been a horror show of just how bad it can get. There may be a few (Kelly ?) who are trying to keep the house of cards together; but in the end lies and MORE LIES; can only lead one down a rabbit hole where there is no escape. When oh When does this insanity end?!
7
Threaten to infect? Heck no.
Has infected.
Just listen to Ms. Huckabee Sanders for five minutes. She is so tired of lying that she has given up on briefing.
Lying fatigue has set in. While Trump can easily contradict himself (he just tells a new lie and continues on as though nothing happens), unprofessional liars endeavor to keep their stories straight and that gets stressful.
Just wait till your children grow up and follow these examples. Life is going to be hell in the future, not the least because of global warming...but all of the lies, the unending lies.
4
Once the United states survived the lying-based Obama administration, we all knew we could survive anything future presidents threw at us.
Obama's lies, often Texas-sized, defined his method of governing, from ''you can keep your doctor'' to his passion - maybe even a fetish - for secrecy. He is even spending over thirty million dollars trying to keep the property of the people away from them and the Nat'l Archives: the history of his administration.
When you recall his deals allowing Hizbollah to run opium into our country as part of his obeisance to the Iranian regime, the future Obama statuary should always show him in his knees.
5
@L'osservatore
Oh Lordy. Why not mentioning that Obama supported ISIL, was both a secret Muuuschlim and a foreign Manchurian candidate to boot?
17
@L'osservatore
Obama made deals allowing Hezbollah to run opium into the US? What are you talking about? That's utter nonsense. Obeisance to Iran? More nonsense. How could anyone take that seriously?
16
@L'osservatore
You need to google some things before writing them online.
https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Obama-say-you-can-keep-your-doctor
We get it..you hate Obama, that doesn't mean you should actually lie about him.
16
Its actually the liberals who are the dishonest ones. Trump is countering the exaggerations of the lunatic lying left with his own exaggerations. Its what you deserve. You should expect an equal response to your crazy daily lies. America is sick of your deception
4
Thanks for pointing that out. Enlighten us with a few examples.
6
Everyone who comes in contact with Trump before and during his presidency has their reputation ruined. Donald J. Trump is a despicable human being. There is no other way to put it. He will corrupt everyone around him. The yahoos in the midwest thought they were electing some business whiz they watched on The Appentice, but that was an illusion. They were electing a venal, amoral malignant narcissist. A sociopath with autocratic tendencies.
12
I also find that a certain segments of society have coarsened their daily actions by "following the President as role model." I see more "Don't Tread on Me" and "Trump" stickers that cut off people in traffic, tailgate, finger salute, and literally yell from their cars at folks just driving normally. It's like everyone just decided to drink some kool-aid that makes them angry. I see it in many places, including in a beer line at a music festival, jeesh! I would detox from AM radio and Fox News if I were them, as this is not civilly acceptable.
13
@Buffalo Fred
I have been protesting by holding signs on Fountain Square here in Cincinnati. Last week my sign said, " Do you share the President's values?". The response that said it best was the guy who gave me the finger. How far we have fallen. How much more do we have to endure?
3
While I am disgusted that Trump has a large segment of the American populace who could care less that he is so transparently a compulsive liar, I am more disgusted with the larger, more consequential, (and only slightly less transparent) institutionalized lies of the Republican party.
They incessantly vocalize patriotism and unwavering support for our soldiers, while repeatedly, callously involving our young men and women in entirely avoidable, unending, and unwinable battles. For those who make it home alive, but with permanent disabilities, they do not commit the resources to the VA to adequately help them.
They continue the lie of "trickle down" economics, despite the rejection of that notion by the bulk of economists, and the manifest failure of the benefits of that approach, repeatedly, since the time of Reagan.
They use "right to life" to recruit voters, and then repeatedly enact policies that erode support for child rearing, education, and child healthcare.
They pit middle and lower class Americans against each other, deriding those who need government assistance as invariably weak, lazy, and saprophytic. Meanwhile, savings derived from clawing back basic support for the poor, are redirected to tax breaks for the wealthiest, and "incentive" programs, etc, for corporations.
I just hope that continued Republican support of the unsophisticated lying of Trump, lays bare their own fraudulence, and voters start to wake up.
250
@Anne Ominous For now, Trump's economy is growing at a rate president Obama declared would require a "magic wand." Candidate Obama had promised to keep joblessness below 8%; his stimulus passed and joblessness promptly topped 10%. (Every stimulus dollar came from somewhere else, so it had no good effect overall, and laundering the dollars through unproductive bureaucrats made things worse.)
2
Saprophyte! Was I the only one who had to look at one up?
@Anne Ominous I was about to submit a comment, but after having read your well thought out and complete remarks, I will close with a heartfelt amen.
1
Trump seems intellectually deficient at many levels, ethically questionable, and indisputably incompetent in the exercise of the duties of the Presidency. Birds of a feather flock together.
5
Trump is a symptom, not a cause. The GOP adopted The Big Lie strategy years ago, at least as early as Reaganomics, if not sooner. The Whitewater investigation of Clinton was a big lie. The claim of WMDs in Iraq was an big lie. Vince Foster's death was a lie. Obama's birth certificate, beloved by Trump, but not invented by him, was a lie. Benghazi was a lie. Pizzagate was a lie. The theft of the Merrick Garland seat and the "Biden Rule" was a lie.
Trump, a congenital liar, has merely found a party whose culture suits him. The GOP is the Party of Liars, and Trump is welcome there.
14
The fact that there has to be on NYT editorial on lying , tells us everything about the America of today.
If any British Government minister (from the Prime Minister downwards) is found to be lying, they are out. No ifs or buts.
8
It's good to be reminded of all of this, I suppose, but simply recycling the outrage is not enough. Trump's unbelievable, despicable behavior (and that of his pathetic toadies) is now the norm and will continue until he's hemmed in by Congress or, better yet, frog-marched out of the WH in an extra large jumpsuit. The only way an average citizen like me can get can there is: 1) pray fervently for Robert Mueller, and more concretely, 2) work for and vote for a Democrat, any Democrat, in a couple of weeks. Save the cataloging of his mortal sins for the afterparty - we already know Trump is irredeemably evil.
8
'Donald Trump’s chronic dishonesty threatens to infect his entire administration.'
'Threatens?' Only 'threatens' to? In exactly the same way an exploded munition 'threatens' to kill and dismember those it already has.
Please, let's get our tense correct. Past perfect. 'It has happened'.
Besides, there is no 'administration'; only a licensed, and exceedingly cruel, kleptocracy. This is obvious everywhere but in the US. The uglier Americans.
7
With the news that the Deputy Attorney General is being forced to resign or is being fired, I can only assume that the newspaper that brought legitimacy to the first Gulf War is now doing the aiding and abetting for the destruction of our Republic!
2
Let me be clear that my statement concerns the info being given to the NYT by White House insiders and the propensity of these insiders to follow their boss’s lead.
1
The willingness of the Trump Administration's top political appointees to benefit personally from their offices if appalling. Of course there have been many scoundrels appointed to high office before, but not since civil service reform has the scale and breadth been so brazen. As a former career federal employee I would have been immediately terminated if I had committed even a whiff of what these people have done. It's disgusting.
4
I fear the infection is not limited to his administration. Trying to do business in the US or with the US today? Would you be surprised if you needed to grease the wheels to get that tariff exemption or a favorable government contract? In India and China, there is a widespread expectation that corruption not merit is what wins the deal. This is the negative spiral that Donnie Boy and his junior mafia are promoting, and from which it may take decades to recover.
4
I think you missed the point here, Trump's administration doesn't lie to emulate him, they lie because he chose to populate his administration with people who are just like him, eg habitual liers
9
There are 2 parties to lying: the liar and those receptive to and accepting of lies
Without getting into mind-conditioning and audience manipulation, the way for Trump and his lyin' ways has been paved for decades by:
Republicans dog whistling bigotry to get elected
Fox News propaganda and right-wing conspiracy theories
religious groups that cling to fantasy and eschew facts & science
constant advertising, PR, & spin to persuade us (it works!)
weak, frightened, lonely, dependent, alienated people, who embrace the phony promises, lies, and simple-minded solutions authoritarian personalities and sociopaths offer.
The way was also paved by:
the domination and control of the 1% and corporatism, at the expense of civil society and a strong middle-class (evidenced by the rising inequality and distribution of wealth every upward--rampant job insecurity, stagnant wages, loss of well-paying manufacturing jobs)
the excesses and greed of capitalism (free-market capitalism without the necessary responsibility & checks): predatory and vulture capitalism (evidenced by student loan debt, financial fraud and bank crises, bankruptcies for the middle class and a free-pass for the 1%), laws to protect wealth but not consumers, lowering taxes for the rich while raising the deficit
political rigging the system by campaign finance laws and Citizens United, gerrymandering, etc
the left's insistence on post-modernism--what is "real" is my reality only
Trump is a only a symptom
3
This Editorial by the NYT is not news for those who receive fact based information about the most crooked administration in the history of the US and the man at its helm.
On the other hand the Trump base - especially the "under-educated" he declared his love for - do not get their news from NYT, Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and other foreign news sources.
They receive their so-called news 24/7 from Fox News - aka Faux Noise - and fright radio by Rush Limbaugh et.al.
This is one editorial that just wasted a lot of black print.
6
The Editorial Board's sense of immunity to the spread of disinformation while writing this article is more than a little ironic.
Bad as our current president is, the alternatives make him a reasonable choice, despite his sins, flaws, mistakes, and things he lacks that would be useful or nice.
Hillary? She called millions of Americans "irredeemable," and candidate Trump called her on it. How arrogant, how proud, can she get? I'm a Christian, a Calvinist, a Puritan, a fundamentalist--and I consider it true that triune Jehovah can redeem anyone (even an apostate Goldwater girl).
Besides pride, she has a track record of failure. November voters could see her under-performing against a "weak" GOP candidate, underperforming against Barrie Sanders, losing to Barack Obama in '08: failure as a candidate. Failure as Secretary of State, leaving our country weaker, our enemies fearing us less and our friends trusting us less. Nonentity as Senator. Failure as 1st lady, bringing in the first GOP congress in 40 years, after which her husband dumped her and shacked up with Newt Gingrich who balanced the budget and reformed welfare working bipartisanly.
Morally, one might argue for her or Mr Trump as less evil, but I don't think either had much of an edge. Did she treat her husband's accusers as she would like Mr Kavanaugh's accusers treated?
Our previous president lied (contagiously) about O'Romneycare, saying we could keep our doctors and plans. Bush Jr. had promised no nationbuilding, president Clinton lied about adultery, Bush Sr no new taxes.
The devil is the father of lies. Repent.
Scott Pruitt, Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Ben Carson (who may just prefer to believe in his own awful misconceptions), scary blond pr lady Kellyanne Conway, Devin Nunes, and Mitch McConnell shouldn’t be left out as offensive, brazen, liars and misguiders.
Read the October 1, 2018 New Yorker article reporting on rigorous academic data analysis that gives teeth to the oft-ignored concerns about targeted voter influencing by Russians. It shocked me when this wasn’t touted as a bipartisan area of major concern, but I guess treasonous disregard of the undermining of our democracy is secondary to personal political power, influence and lower taxes. People, we are passing a tipping point for global warming - we can’t go back and prosecute Pruitt and Trump and his other enablers after the fact. Wake up, America!!!!
3
It's like sports. We usually play to the level of our teammates. Trump has lied all his life, so a race to the bottom and the gutter where Trump has always lived. I appreciate journalists and editors who unmask the deception because I refuse to read anything coming out of the White House, a propaganda machine that'd make Joseph Goebbels proud.
5
"And Jesus said, “You shall not ...bear false witness...."
Matthew 19:16-26
So please, tell us how the Evangelicals who swear loyalty to Lord Trump can swallow his lies without choking? Is he Mister 666?
7
The fish rots from the head.
6
There must be some mistake regarding Ms. Huckabee Sanders. As a devout Christian and the daughter of an ordained Baptist minister, I'm sure she's aware of and religiously (so to speak) follows that "you shalt not bear false witness" thingie.
155
@Rep de Pan
Valid point, Rep, but in Trump speak. "So what?"
2
@Rep de Pan As she's found it so easy to ignore in others, say "thou shall not commit adultery" let alone serially or with porn stars, "false witness" seems like an easy pass.
2
@Rep de Pan
That and how does she kiss her children goodnight with that mouth? Whats her explanation to her children, for the lies she supports and utters?
Shes an operative, her experience is in campaign rhetoric and defense - as such she went inot the job of Press Secy, as always defensive, always punching. Like her boss. But they fail at the fine art of knowing when to punch and when to slip and duck, and slide past. To them its punch all the time. No nuance, no subtlety, no grace under pressure. Just punch...flail the arms and hope to connect
2
Big Deal! The Republican Party has been lying with impunity for years, about just about everything--global warming, voter fraud, their position on the deficit, about ACA, about just about everything. And what they haven't been lying about they have callously broken precedent--for example the Judge Garland case. Trump only does it with complete impunity, knowing full well that Republicans love it.
14
Donald Trump, the Republican President, leads his party by his example and ideology.
It’s pretty commonplace these days to hear someone say, ‘I’m for some of the policies but I hate the man’.
Don’t believe them, they’re lying just like the president.
If someone is on board with Trump, they’re on board because they’ve got a little bit of Trump is inside them... racism, bigotry, misogyny, narcissism, greed and moral corruption... qualities that destroy men and nations.
6
Trump's lies extend across borders and Canadians know that all to well. We have watched him throw out “alternative facts” all through the NAFTA negotiations but we have managed to stand strong as a nation, united against his lies. Our Prime Minister and his team reflect our values, they will not get down in the muck with him and nor will we. It is not in our DNA to throw out unsubstantiated, undocumented and patently false information to gain an advantage to score points with one political party.
Our country is one country, we are Canadians first, our values will always transcend party affiliation. This does not mean we are not vulnerable to vitriol, it is always simmering somewhere, but Trump has given us the template, and hopefully we will never go down that rabbit hole.
108
@Sweetbetsy
I fear it everyday, we are vulnerable, every country is, and this is a sad fact. We live in scary times, let us all hope change will come.
@Holly That's what we used to think about the U.S.A.: that we were Americans first and a country of values. Clearly 35% of our electorate do not care about the truth.
It happened in Germany, it is happening in the U.S., and it can happen in Canada too. Beware. We too have had honest-enough presidents (Carter, Eisenhower, Lincoln, Washington), as far as we know.
55
I admire the Canadians, but I don’t get this fascination with hockey. ;-)
FEMA's chief had a number of things that "could have" happened that shouldn't be counted as storm related deaths. Wasn't his mission to leave Puerto Rico able to deal with their everyday situations? What FEMA left were docks of aid material left undelivered, electricity restoration left to undermanned, unqualified crews, assistance unprovided. "Nice job, Brownie," was the Trump response and a few paper towel rolls tossed out.
Any Congressional committees looking into that. An unnecessary loss of thousands of lives? No, the Republican led Congress is too tired from Benghazi hearings.
I agree that in any normal, functioning organization, the top person sets the tone. The expression "the fish stinks from the head" clearly expresses what is common knowledge. However, I doubt that people like Wilbur Ross, Ryan Zinke, et. al. were corrupted by the Trump administration. They were chosen because they were already corrupt, or so likely to be unbothered by rampant dishonesty that they'd be happy to go along. I don't think Trump himself even thinks in terms of true or false. He says what he wants the hearer to believe and his goal is advancing his own agenda. It's always about him. And if you want to keep your job in this administration, you'd better keep that priority front and center or you'll go from being "a very fine person" to being one of Robert Mueller's star witnesses.
3
@A. T. Cleary
Yes - this is made crystal clear I. The case of Scott Pruitt who managed to barely outrun damning evidence of it in his role as the state’s attorney general. Thankfully, his determination to continue his complete disregard for ethics and the rule of law has caught up with him, but plenty of damage was done. I think Trump is so damaged, deranged, and ego-protective that it’s impossible to see anything that is not fatuously complementary as heresy, objectivity is a dot to him.
1
Speaking of Sara Sanders being the most committed follower and the very mouth-piece of Trump, the press still eagerly goes to listen to her lies and half-lies at the press briefings...
The only way to cure these oxymoron briefings , is the clear the press briefing room and leave it EMPTY, when Sanders walks in...
7
We should be grateful to the editorial board for this summary of how corruptly the Trump administration has continuously lied to the American people. The press is our only hope for holding them accountable.
1
President Trump was right about the political estimate of the number of dead resulting from a hurricane in Puerto Rico. Can you prove otherwise? Show and tell, or go to....
Tsk,tsk,tsk. Why does this opinion piece use the word "threaten"? It does not threaten to infect his entire administration, it has already completely overtaken it along great swathes of the body politic, thereby jeopardizing the traditional understanding many have of acceptable public speech. Presumably this infection has a partial cure for now: the November 11 mid-term elections. So,get out your brooms and get ready for that sweeping sound.
14
Just last week I had a conversation with a life long friend who is a Trump guy he asked me can't I see how good things are now! And why don't I like him I replied he is a pathological liar for one thing and a terrible example for children and for all of us he replied back you are right we can't talk about him and I need to stop reading and watching the left wing socialist news. There you have it from the other half country (heart land) good people common sense has lost there ears. I'm at a loss on how to correct it.
4
What is most troubling, for me, is the persistence in telling the lie when the lie has been proven false. This is straight out of the Roy Cohn playbook: tell the most outrageous lie you can and then keep repeating it, no matter what.
Don the Con has employed this tactic his entire life (read Wayne Barrett's biography of Donnie-boy published in 1992.) His cabinet and other underlings adopting this behavior is no surprise. It is disturbing that 40% of the public chooses to believe lies rather than deal with the truth.
5
Anyone associated with Trump’s anti-reality campaign should be prepared to live with their self inflicted political scars for the rest of their lives.
7
And let's not leave Judge Kavanaugh off the list of infected individuals. Even setting aside the current sexual misconduct allegations swirling around him, earlier in the confirmation hearings Judge K gave less than truthful responses to questions.
These are perilous times for our nation when all three branches of government have been infected by a lack of truthfulness. I am amazed by the damage President Trump has been able to inflict in less than two years. The President and his enablers in the Republican Party are out to destroy the rule of law to support their positions of power, wealth, and privilege.
4
Not to mention the whoppers that gain a life of their own in the form of various memes that spread like flesh eating bacteria on social media.
As our president makes tweets and proclamations which seem to spring forth from indigestion, morning news stories about other subjects bring needed relief . . A school bus driver somewhere allowed some young students to 'drive the bus'. Made the National news. And then I thought, 'That's what we have done, we've given a dimwit the keys to spaceship Earth'.I'm making an appointment with a therapist.
2
We could spend all day musing on the horrible mess this administration has made of our country. What we need to start doing is demanding that the next Administration studies this and comes up with plans to never again leave the American people in a state of disarray and FEAR for the future of our children and grandchildren. We will not have our democratic country much longer if this goes on. The whole Trump crowd are like a gang of mobsters led by a crazed maniac no nothing.
4
The people in the administration and those in congress are so fanatical with their lies in support of the President, I have often wondered if there is more to the story.
1
These people were infected before they accepted their positions. That's why Trump chose them. Birds of a feather fly together.
4
Do you want another examples of the contagious lying?
Allegedly, the sexual molesters are fit for a position of the Federal Judge but not for being the Supreme Court Justices?!
The same rules are valid in the Vatican, aren’t day?
2
I don't think hat Trump believes his lies. He has made a living as a real estate huckster, and a media huckster, and lying has worked for him.
But the hyperbole that we see in his public utterances haven't made it into policy. This administration has actually been very effective, if one takes the time to read the Federal Register.
Trump's manipulation of the media has been both epic and masterful, constantly focusing them on his silly tweets and distracting them from the administration's actions.
Contrast with both Bill and Hillary Clinton, who are pathological liars. They don't believe their lies either. But that's because a pathological liar does not perceive a lie when uttered. They say with a straight face and conviction, whatever is required to achieve their goal. Truth is an undefined term to a pathological liar.
The second case, is the far more sinister type of liar.
I'll take Trump's lies over the Clinton's any day.
The editorial board is spot on once again.
The president sets the tone for how his staff and administration will behave. If we look closely at the Obama administration , or even back as far as the Nixon administration this will be born out very clearly .
So if the president behaves like a jerk, with no moral compass with no integrity, credibility or honesty to show for, it gives his staff and his administration permission to do the same .
11
As a college professor I don't even know what to say to my students about lying and cheating when the president of our country behaves this way on a daily basis.
2
“A fish smells from the head” and the head of this Administration stinks to high heaven. It’s also not surprising that so many in the Administration are of very questionable character.
The news media goes along with plastering all those lies on the "front page." It is being used as a tool by the Trump people. Look in the mirror.
1
One of the reasons the lying continues to escalate is that our news media has not made it their responsibility to call out the lies for what they are. They have failed to keep truth and defend it. Trump hates the media anyway; so what does the media have to lose by holding this regime accountable for its mendacity? Not all media outlets engage in responsible journalism in the first place, but please, let's think back to how badly you all behaved when the US attacked Iraq in 2003. For unbiased news one actually had to turn to foreign media. Stop confining your outrage at this so-called presidency to the op-ed pages and start writing news pieces without all the fumbling for "neutral" words.
2
The shocking consequence free dishonesty of Donald Trump has given a welcome boost to many extreme end conservative politicans in Australia.
Before Trump, the political voices that screeched for Australia to ban all muslims, to dig up and burn more coal, to withdraw from the Paris accord and to shamelessly deny the clear evidence of man-made global warming, were rightly ridiculed and quietly sidelined.
Since Trump began stomping around the world, talking dangerous nonsense and getting away with it, Australias half witted right wing politicans are back at it. They openly admire Trump for bodly flaunting the sort of cracked ideas that they agree with, like - nationalistic white race purity, the evils of Islam, how dark skinned indigenous people (the most disadvantaged group in society) are exploiting welfare and how coal mining/burning is good, etc etc.
These reinvigorated right wing political extremists can also thank News Corp (who also backs Trump) for giving them exposure and renewed relevance. They should also thank News Corp for giving them one big policy item - that Australias only truly fair and balanced news source (the ABC), must be attacked because they claim it is left wing biased. As it so happens, for over 10 years, News Corp media in Australia has scurrilously attacked the ABC for being left biased, when it is not. This is a great big fat lie that News Corp gets away with. No consequences.
1
In the earliest days of this Administration, Kelly Ann Conway, Trump’s hyper-loyal communication’s poodle, incredibly claimed the existence of “alternative facts” before an incredulous Chuck Todd of MSNBC. This breathtaking act, a lie itself, was the template for what has followed with this corrupt and corrupting band of immoral heathens. And here we are, thousands and thousands of lies later. Who can possibly be surprised?
6
It was obvious that Trump was a liar from the earliest days in his campaign. He lied that his "University" taught anything, he lied about companies who brought suits against him for nonpayment, and he lied about the many women who said he sexually assaulted them. All of these lies and many more were pointed out in the NYT and many other publications, but with Russia's help, he was elected anyway.
His lies continue daily in the White House. They come so quickly on so many different subjects, it's difficult for news agencies to keep up. His lies are repeated and added to by his supporters in Congress and throughout his administration, as well as Fox News. But the truth keeps coming out, in scandals throughout his administration, and hopefully will continue to come out in the Mueller investigation and the Kavanaugh hearings. I applaud NYT for spotlighting the lies as often as possible. Truth matters because our democracy matters, and democracy doesn't work without truth.
20
Why do we debate deaths from natural disasters at all? Making this a political issue is deplorable no matter which side of the debate you are on.
1
Dishonesty has pervaded all politics for decades, becoming much worse with the arrival of Gingrich in the 90’s and exploding with the Citizen United (unconstitutional) amendment to the constitution in the last decade. We are getting inundated with political campaign adds that are not remotely honest.
Our government is for the powerful, by the powerful, fir the powerful. We now just need Trump to declare himself dictator for life
4
VOTE! Start the process to end this in 2020! We need to get out of this web which is destructive to all of us.
9
"When you mix fiction and news, you diminish the distinction between truth and fiction, and you wear down the audience's own discriminating power to judge."
–-Bill Moyers
In the early '80s, the FCC deregulated television programming, to the extent that channels had only to carry a modicum of information that served the public good.
News programming became blended with lighthearted banter. Shows with opinions, like 60 Minutes, became popular.
Now, Fox News is registered as "entertainment", which frees it from journalistic ethics.
How are Americans to know what is true when lies are everywhere? Trump, the liar-in-chief, tells people 3,000 didn't die in Puerto Rico. He says Medicare and Social Security will continue, as Republicans in Congress prepare to decimate them.
The best protection from all these lies is to read multiple sorces, compare and try to discern the truth. But most Americans have job and family time constraints, so they turn to television "reporting". Much of news reporting is now classified as entertainment, so listeners hear bias, opinion, but not necessarily the news.
The Republican Congress parrots Trump, doubtless to retain power and their big tax cut. They neither serve nor protect 90% of Americans. For them, it's safest, albeit an abrogation of their duty, to follow the Trump model. They've discovered lying works.
Those who can't or won't independently research must not believe large-type headlines, nor everything they hear.
3
The most frightening thing about all of this is that Cult 45 members (Trump supporters) either don't believe or don't care that he lies.
3
Presidential lying is contagious! Is this some kind of subconscious admission of own guilt?
Did you watch the CBS “60 minutes” last night and how Goggle selfishly promotes their own interests and the worldviews by putting the things that are the most favorable to their bottom line and profitability on the top of the first page?
If a link to your business is placed at the bottom of the fourth page, nobody will ever find it or benefit from the best deals you provide at the reasonable prices.
Our free press is acting exactly in the same way.
If you submit some column or comment beneficial to the entire society but is unfavorable from the stance of the editorial board policy, it will be withheld and placed at the bottom of the news pile, thus dooming both the solution to the problems and the most urgent national priorities to the endless waiting…
Of course, there is even worse alternative that the most valuable op-eds aren’t published at all…
My local paper didn't print a word yesterday about trump. Such a relief. if one day , just one. all the outlet's went silent, except for Fox, this guy would freak out.JUST ONE DAY
1
I'm not sure how much we can attribute the widespread dishonesty to Trump's behavior. He hires corrupt and dishonest people. Shouldn't we expect corrupt and dishonest behavior? I don't think Trump is a role model so much as an egoist. He likes to work around people similar to himself. He's looking in the mirror. We therefore get similar results.
65
@Andy
Until we see what happens with Mueller's report, Trump has proven CRIME DOES PAY.
@Andy I think you let him off the hook far far too readily. His entire life conveys the message that you can get away with anything.
With no moral compunction; adept at twisting facts; and unmoved by human misery, the kind of stinking political universe Trump has created in Washington is certainly proving contagious likely to infect and cripple the whole bodypolitic of America unless remedied soon.
1
The presumption with the Trump Administration must be that all pronouncements are false. The burden is on them to prove they are true. Think of it as an Alt-Truth Administration.
11
@Pat Choate
Mike Tyson used to say in a comedy skit,you right Mr trump.you b right Mr Trump,you right!, Tyson should of been Vice President with that attitude
Very simple. No one with a backbone and code of ethics can work in a Trump administration. That's the deal they make.
32
One of theories that is a part of the concept of the Chinese dynastic cycle is that in a fading dynasty corruption starts at the top and filters down, while the futile attempt to stem corruption operates by the implementation of severe penalties for crime starting from the bottom of society upwards. That trend seems to be in operation here.
Typically a dynasty lasted 200-300 years before falling from its own corruption.
Can democracy stall or reverse such a trend? I was encouraged by Watergate, that a correction could be made at the very top. Now a more virulent form of corruption seems to have taken hold, and it seems to be filtering down from the top at speed.
Can democracy survive its own corruption? Are we so enamored of instant gratification that we will sacrifice first principles for chimerical expediency? Do we want a "strongman" to fix everything immediately and for us not to be bothered about how?
We are, after all, the great democratic experiment. But an experiment none the less.
23
@Jim Hugenschmidt
If the market competition is the driving force behind the social success and advancement, then we can understand easier why the capitalist system in America was functioning better during the existence of the USSR.
It was forced to provide the better benefits to the middle class and to the poor than the competing economic system…
2
@Jim Hugenschmidt: Isn't it time we stop calling a grossly malapportioned voter nullification scheme "democracy"?
8
It's a truism that "All governments lie". Unfortunately, this Administration does it reflexively and continually.
23
I have never seen a president who is battling with press, the people, and his own administration staff almost daily. In the meantime, he twits on every places and subjects that he should stay out of it. It is none of his business, but he goes anyway. He is the daily talk show host that loves attention, verbal debating, excitement, applause, and boos as well. The problem is that he forgets his presidency which can influence the future of this country.
25
I’ve wondered why the responsible media distributes the lies of administration leaders as news. And, now the new news is that they have lied and are lying. Wouldn’t it be better to simply do investigative reporting and report what this political gang are doing and leave the press events to Fox News and Breitbart et al to cover? I don’t think we need to hear their denials or their justifications for their calumny. It makes as much sense as publishing the names and life stories of mass murderers thereby glorifying them. One of the findings of studies of Presidents is the feedback relationship and manipulation of the media by Presidential administrations. For this administration could the NYT and others withdraw from their half of this relationship, please?
43
Unfortunately true to my experience of writing Senator Thom Tillis. He wrote me back that Judge Kavanaugh's testimony was candid and forthcoming. That itself is a lie, Senator Tillis.
46
The Trump administration (or more correctly, misadministration) is nothing more than REALITY TV writ large.
The plot has more twists and turns than a bag of pretzels.
The only underlying principle is that if it gets TRUMP fawning coverage on cable, it is good, and if it gets TRUMP unflattering coverage, or somebody else or some other matter coverage, it is "fake news."
Facts? They do not matter.
Read "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer, for a previous version of this story. The ending of that one was not good.
40
Do you want social security? Do you want healthcare? Or do you want another giant tax cut for really rich guys.
52
It's not just Trump, Bill Clinton forged new territory in mendacity. Hillary too.
5
@Son of Liberty We are not talking about them.
@Son of Liberty False equivalence. They never approached Trump's level.
@Son of Liberty And Dick Nixon, Colin Powell, and Bush II lied. So What? Trump calls himself "President" now. What matters is his lies, his trade war, his immigration policy that puts kids in cages separate from their asylum-seeking parents. Trump isn't just following the "norm" of other presidents. His number of lies are in a whole different universe. The damage done by Trump's lies and his policies will take years to repair.
4
'I was just following orders to support my president', he quipped in his furor over the defense of the high death toll in Puerto Rico.
Long also likely believes the president's claim that global warming is a hoax invented by the Chinese to subvert American business interests (not really sure how that would work, but that is POTUS's theory).
One of many rubes in an administration replete with of desperate incompetence and intellectual dishonesty.
27
Integrity, honesty, good faith, honor and a social conscience have always been the glue and oil that allow our nation to function. These values have always faced their counterpart in every level, from the smallest town to the largest city, from the local board to the halls of power in DC. What we face today, however, is a serious tipping whereby the lack of those values has become so great as to threaten our very soul as a nation. The current version of the GOP is largely at fault as it seeks to gain and retain power at all costs and until it regains a better hold on these timeless values, it causes serious damage to our nation's future.
27
When the president repeatedly sends the signal that he regards honesty as a handicap, he can quickly drag the whole executive branch down to his level.
The whole executive branch?
Look at congress.
Look at his base.
36
@AWENSHOK ... and look at Supreme Court that Trump is trying to build! Put Judge K on there and 1/3 of the men on the SCOTUS will have been accused of sexual improprieties. That's a nice way to build confidence in such a formerly revered institution, isn't it?
4
@Confirmed Independent
"Only I can fix this..."
How about this for a theory on the why of Trump's audacious lack of things truthful: He knows the truth on any given matter and chooses to go the opposite. This does two things:
1) It puts him on center stage where he loves - and craves - to be; and
2) It feeds his playbook for his loyal 35% base (our guy has the guts to tell it like it is, no matter what the consequences!).
Trump doesn't care. He was shocked, SHOCKED that he actually won the election. He expected to lose! And if you follow that script it makes all his outrageous behavior and his boorish commentary during the campaign completely logical.
All that matters is controlling the news content for any given day. Listen to his interviews with Howard Stern. There was no bottom to his outrageous statements, from how hot he found his daughter Ivanka to be (if she weren't my daughter I'd be dating her), to the size of a woman's bra cup size in relation to her sexual attractiveness.
Trump wanted his own TV station and program, and he figured his loss to "Crooked Hillary" would provide him the fodder for this new venture. Instead, he got handed to him a media platform that was beyond his wildest dreams. His dream, and the nation's nightmare.
31
Trump & Co. may well be, and in my experience is the extreme in dishonesty; but that dishonesty per se is a new American practice on account of Trump and his crowd is ... well, more dishonesty. That, “thanks” to these, the adverse effects of dishonesty are blatantly obvious to most is a good, because seeing and feeling these effects full-blown seem necessary to appreciate fully that actually “honesty (has to be) the best policy.” Even at that though, if only self-interest could be dispensed of! And being exceptionally clever doesn’t help the situation at all, “truth” becoming a commodity, insidiously employed to justify oneself ... and the one justifying self believing in the lie of himself. What could be worse? It is hard to own up to the truth because that forces taking responsibility. For example as re facing up to our basic American problem, broadly speaking: How has the lie of American exceptionalism contributed to the misery of the injustice that is suffered and made worse every day?
3
Is this really a surprise? All organizations eventually take on the character of their leaders, for good or ill. And, liars hate to have honest people around them. Who will call out their lies among people lying themselves? Re-vet all Trump's picks for his administration, because we'll focus so hard on the blatant liars we might miss the clever ones.
Also, we became so used to "spin", which has become more and more outrageous over the years, that the next step to outright lies was so small we barely recognized it had been taken, generally refusing to call Trump's prevarications lies until well into his term. Even now, some are still reluctant to call them out.
I also have to say that while Democrats still spin, perhaps sometimes outrageously, Republicans have become shameless liars; at least, those we see in power or monopolizing the ranks of the media. That predates Trump, and it's getting worse.
History tells us that great empires and cultures always fall. One symptom of the impending fall is when their rulers eventually become so morally bankrupt that the citizenry either becomes equally bankrupt or they start to revolt. Modern technology - travel and communications, mainly - accelerates that progression. That same technology, however, gives us a better chance to avoid the pitfalls. I hope we can.
8
Since Mr Trump came down the escalator in his building in Manhattan and announced he was running for president, which was the only factual statement he made, the lies soon followed. I didn't think the American people would allow themselves to be duped, or that anyone was desperate enough to want to put a liar into the Oval Office, but there we have it. And we are all responsible for this because we Americans want to be the rugged individuals, or we want someone to shake up the status quo, and old, but competent just wasn't good enough.
Yet, I wouldn't lay all this deception at the feet of Donald Trump and his cabinet of elites. The Republican party under Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan have a great deal to answer for. When it became obvious that Trump was a liability for the country, our Republican lawmakers coddled and protected him to get their agendas supported and their bills signed. Like a trained puppy, Trump deregulated protections on our environment, education, and the economy. Of course his being a habitual liar gave licence to Senators like Lindsey Graham to also become habitual liars. It's become hard pressed to find the truth in the government anymore.
19
I long had have trouble with the commonly implied proposition that perpetual lying is not a violation of the Presidential Oath of Office and, hence, the Constitution. My nonlawyerly background (in science) leads me to the conclusion (tentatively, of course) that presidential lying is not in accord with the Constitution in that, at a minimum, it undermines establishment of Justice and subverts "general Welfare".
Is blatant and continual lying not an affront to "original intent"? Comments?
24
A leader's values are reflected in their followers. The more Trump lies, the more his followers see it as OK in any situation...business, sports, marriages etc. This is a very big problem for our society.
13
"If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor." "The ACA will see Americans with $2, 500 more in their pockets thanks to the ACA." Lies about Benghazi, deleted emails, among others. " I did not have sex with that woman." Hmm, let's see , Trump was not in office during these lies. How about previous administrations' facility with lying? Lying by our government began long before Mr. Trump came into office and will continue to exist as long as power plays and the courting of constituencies is the primary objective of both political parties.
2
@SRH
Sure, government lying started long before Trump. Your example of the Monica Lewinsky scandal — that was litigated publicly, in congress, etc. I am sure you are not suggesting that the lying happening under Trump should never see the light of day.
17
@srh
Except for “I did not have sex with that woman” none of those claimed “lies” are proven. Yet it would be easy to list a thousand blatant falsehoods that trump has spouted. Pretty hard to argue that the scales are anywhere near of a similar magnitude.
1
@SRH
Sure, other presidents have lied (although Obama's comments on the ACA were more likely what he thought would be the effect of the healthcare law rather than a flat out lie).
You're not suggesting, however that Trump's lies are equivalent are you? Trump told 6 times as many in his first 10 months in office as Obama did in his entire presidency!
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/14/opinion/sunday/trump-lies...
6
Sadly, this administration puts me in mind of an old saying: "The fish rots from the head down."
This very paper has discussed the phrase before, albeit a very long time ago.
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/11/magazine/on-language-rot-at-the-top.html
O, for the days of the low key political squabbling of the Bush-Dukakis match-up...
6
If the repubs couldn't lie, they would have nothing to say.
54
@libdemtex Your comment made me think of the movie Liar Liar, in which Jim Carrey plays a lawyer who cannot lie for a whole day. He tries, but he cannot actually speak the words; gibberish or the truth is the best he can do. It would be a hilarious sight to see the Republicans gagging on their mendacious syllables all around Capitol Hill as the Democrats clearly enunciate their ongoing efforts on behalf of the rest of us.
3
The lying issue goes far beyond adminstration staff. Beginning years before Trump, Congress, esp. Republicans, have been steadily upping their lying and distortion. Trump wasn't the first to call global warming a hoax. He is just the extreme practitioner.
Simply getting rid of Trump isn't going to get rid of the lying, the extortion (death threats green-lighted by Trump and others), the stonewalling, the character assassination, etc. All that has been inculcated into our country's politcal culture.
That's why simply switching party control from GOP to Democrats, even though it's absolutely necessary, isn't enough to do the job. It certainly won't if Dems go 'centrist' and allow Red-State type candidates. These are just Republicans wearing a blue coat.
The Dems must totally pack their slate with Ocasio-Cortez type people, who will change not only the party that controls the government, but also the government itself.
19
@Msckkcsm
This sounds like a Republican designed plan for the Democratic party. As a Democrat living in Texas, I don't think "Ocasio-Cortez type people" could get elected dog catcher here. Beto is a centrist and for the first time in a very long time is doing quite well. Even the odious Ted Cruz has taken notice.
1
America's children are witnessing a string of endless lies from the department of justice, white house, senate,
and the antics of low life congressmen like mark meadows, devlin nunez, and jimmy jordan.
These children will grow up with a distrust for any thing in Washington.
20
Although, such across the board hypocrisy and lies are so vividly a web, this admin is the poster child for telling the truth.
Glaring examples of short term power grabs, falling over an abyss, are on display, daily, for moral lessons across our nation.
As 45’s nonsensical approach to everything from lunch to dangerous interactions with adversaries and allies, alike, continues to unfold, his brazen disregard for truth, facts, is understood by most kindergarteners.
1
Donald Trump does not lie. He just not what the truth is SO he makes up the facts, some of them provided by his Fox And Friends. Did he also lie to Melania? May be she has never believed him. But she got her citizenship and for her parents too. So she sacrificed for her parents. I don't know what she thinks of Eric, Jr. and Ivanka? Donald has demanded loyalty not only to hm but his "facts" and he mst conduct seminars for them on "Art of Lying". He makes sure his selection knws how to lie cnvincingly. Did Kavennaugh pass this test?
1
Donald Trump has taken to heart the perplexing statement that freshmen philosophy students share with their dates over a beer: Truth is what you perceive it to be. This has given those beneath him on the organizational chart leave to make the truth whatever's convenient. As Rudi pointed out, there is no real truth in the Trump administration. In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer, and this will be based on a "survival" algorithm. Then we will all learn the truth of how we have tricked this survival program with our ridiculous beliefs about just what is supposed to survive. At that point, we can begin the long trek back to truth, reason, and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
6
Trump is a bald-faced liar of the highest order. He is unfit for any public office, especially as POTUS. It is simply impossible to believe anything that comes from this administration. He needs to go and go now.
26
Monkey see, Monkey do. Not just animals, but humans as well. Our government is malfunctioning....it all starts at the top, always. Scary....very scary. Hope it’s all better by Halloween.
1
Trump disavows the NY Times as “fake news” yet he’s using their lead story about Rosenstein and taping Trump as grounds for firing Rosenstein.
Which is it, Trump? Can’t be fake if you’re taking it seriously enough to use NY Times story as your reason to fire Rosenstein.
26
@JTH Trump has just summoned Rosenstein to the White House. I fear for the last honest man.
I work in a business where if people lie people die. Its as simple as that. And I am not alone. In this country there are doctors, nurses, engineers, constructors, trades, and technicians, and so on for who truth not only matters but is a matter of life and death. We've seen the results of lying and dishonesty in these professions.
Trump is a developer. Developers are unconstrained by the truth. Big developers lie bigly. I've never met a developer who doesn't lie to get what he wants, thus I believe that all developers lie. "And some, I assume, are good people.”
As a developer Trump is surrounded by those who are professionally required to be honest. He knows that they are supposed to tell the truth, so he can can take advantage of that. And he has and he does.
3
The words 'under oath' are rendered meaningless by Trump and his cabinet of Liars. Does anyone believe a 'Trump Republican' will tell the 'honest' Truth because they are afraid a 'Just God' is watching them? Swearing on the Bible is a ridiculous outdated Ritual.
3
How DOES Sarah Huckabee Sanders sleep at night? Is it not being able to tell truth from falsehood, or something else? Tell us, Sarah...
5
Where was the NYT in calling out the following lies?:
"If you like your health-care plan, you can keep it."
Because of Obamacare, "over the last two years, health care premiums have gone up -- it's true -- but they've gone up slower than any time in the last 50 years."
"The day after Benghazi happened, I acknowledged that this was an act of terrorism."
"I didn't call the Islamic State a 'JV' team."
"Fast and Furious" began under the Bush administration
etc., etc., etc.
1
His lies threaten to infect his entire administration?
If this editorial was written on 11/10/16 it would have been dated.
7
Surely, any discussion of truth and lies must include Fox News?
13
More sinister than the idea expressed in this column is that the endemic lying throughout the Trump administration is not just people trying to please the boss, but a deliberate policy choice.
The seminal book, "The Death of Democracy", by Benjamin Carter Hett, points out that as the Nazis rose to prominence, one of their most powerful techniques was to deny objective reality. To them - to quote Rudi Giuliani - "the truth isn't the truth".
No one should compare, and no one is comparing, Trump to Hitler at this point. But the tools he uses are not new, and they are very, very dangerous.
Vote Democratic in November!
11
Even Rex Tillerson pleaded for the respect of truth.
1
Dear NYT Editorial Board
I find this latest opinion column a bit hypocritical given I cannot recall a single time that this media outlet used the exact word ‘lie’ in the headline when reporting on this president or anyone within his Administration.
Not before his election when you bent over backwards to appear fair and balanced. And not after his election when Mr Trump quickly realized he was getting a pass.
But yet the NYT had the hubris to print a story on Friday based completely on hearsay about what Mr Rosenstein might or might not have meant with the words he said.
So please stop pretending all is well and come down out of your ivory tower and start doing the job of the free press and report the real news.
The President of the United States is lying to the American people. Everyday.
And it’s not OK.
11
We teach our children that lying is bad and yet allow the POTUS to lie on a daily basis without reprimand.
19
In a few years, after Trump is gone, and his lackey's run out of unemployment benefits, they'll collectively begin to scratch their heads and wonder how they could have been so stupid. Trump will be home in his gold plated apartment and they'll be trying to pay the mortgage..
6
The sad truth is that this lying will not stop as long as Trump is president, and, thus, will continue to be increasingly prevalent in Washington. Lucifer, himself, could appear in Washington in this era and have more credibility for truth telling than Trump and his minions.
7
"Quickly," you write? It's already happened, gentlemen and ladies of the editorial staff, and you know it. It's a fine line you tread, and a wobbly fence top you straddle. I understand that, but as a common citizen of the United States from birth, I have no journalistic restraints.
I can say it loudly and clearly: this administration is corrupted beyond saving. Nothing that comes from it is to be trusted. The Head of State is a pathological liar, and his word is meaningless both domestically and diplomatically.
His motives no longer matter. They're best left to psychiatrists to sort out, if they can. Our nation will be in deep, deep trouble until he's gone, whether by impeachment or being kicked out of office by a rightfully enraged citizenry.
17
Kavanaugh is lying too. He is also shameless, just like our President.
Do all these Republicans ever reflect on WHAT they are doing? If yes, then HOW can they live with themselves?
11
Booming economy, jobs for everyone, Tax cuts, Strong defense, immigration enforcement, Controlling Ecofreaks, real judges... these are the real news.
Trump sticks it to the liberal elite... and the whine back with trivia.
1
If you lie, you lose your self. No longer genuine, you may forfeit redemption.
1
True To Form.
1
The GOP really is in an impossible spot. On one hand they want to talk how unfair the DEMs are in say the Kavanaugh case while they walk lock step with their dear leader and liar in chief. When I see these people on TV I wonder what goes through their mind when they make up stuff live on cable tv for the world to see and then vouch that is the truth.
5
I want to know who REALLY allowed an obviously corrupt psychopath to run under the Republican banner, acquire the nomination, then win the election, and for godsakes be inaugurated? And now we have reporters and at least half of Congress treating him like he's actually a leader rather than the obvious money laundering mobster wannabe he's always been.
Any sane country would have prevented ALL of this from happening.
12
Threatens?
Have you been paying attention?
3
Propaganda starts at the top.
2
The reinforcement of the lies extends throughout this pariah administration down to telling national park employees not to use the
“G W words”. (Global Warming) Who said not to believe your eyes and ears?
10
Let's not confuse cause and effect here. Trump's "chronic dishonesty" has been known for at least 40 years. The kinds of "friends" (the word requires quotes because it's not apparent Donald actually has a single true friend) he attracts are likely to be people just like him. Anyone else would run in the opposite direction, as fast as his/her legs could carry him/her.
It has been said that you can judge people by the company they keep. In the Trump Misadministration, that observation clearly goes both ways. Why would any truly honest or moral person wish to be associated with our Puerile Misogynist And Race Baiter-in-Chief?
So what does that leave?
13
The plague of the mud king has penetrated and infected his courtiers in the swamp, managing to infect the old sedentary members of the GOP sect.
3
These are people with absolutely no moral compass. None. They are no better than their nefarious leader. And when the history is written about this Trump regime, I suspect members of their families will make a decision that the relatives of Hitler made: not related even though ancestory.com would should otherwise. We keep thinking this Conradian "The horror! The horror!" can't get any worse. But it does.
7
Come on, New York Times. Take the kid gloves off. Trump is a liar, a buffoon, propped up by so many other liars and buffoons. Who, laughably, call themselves true Americans. Trump's lying does not "threaten to infect his entire administration." It has already thoroughly infected, gangreneously, his administration, the spineless republican moldwarps who support him, his base base, and the nation. He has already "dragged the whole executive branch down to his level" - and with it, once again, the entire nation. Don't give the monster a millimeter. Put on your Joe Louis gloves and give him what for. Or just take the gloves off altogether. You want to watch the nation sink lower than it already has? With a don like this and his minions in power? Now is not the time to equivocate. Our democracy is on quicksand, snake oil its main lubricant. We all need to speak and stand for the truth. Please shout before it's too late.
7
Lying is indeed contagious. I'm a progressive - and my initial reaction to reporting by the NYT regarding Assistant AG Rosenstein's assertion that he would wear a wire to demonstrate djt's unfitness for office was: rage. "You idiots!" I thought. "By reporting this you've given trump the pretext to fire him!"
A lie of omission is still a lie. It sickens me that we are forced to play by these (lack of) rules. The GOP has mastered this game of misinformation. redirection and revisionism. It is not a game that suits my temperament, nor I think most progressives. I'm certain I was not alone with this angry reaction. But I'm starting to feel like "we gotta do what we gotta do" - including lying - to save the nation. Rational people understand democracy itself is hanging in the balance.
11
@Jeff
I share your frustrations!
But I cannot go along with the "we gotta do what we gotta do" strategy, which would include blatant misrepresentation of the facts. I can't go there.
8
@Jeff I am convinced that both the Rod Rosenstein piece and the anonymous piece came from the White House. Look how connected they are to the same narrative of the rediculous deep state rhetoric. Shame on you, NYT for falling for it.
Liar, liar, sets the pants of everyone near him on fire.
And don’t think this doesn’t affect the public. When the President is clearly lying, the citizenry takes a holiday from the truth, and the respect for law and order goes down the tubes.
2
All politicians from both parties do their share of “truth stretching” and outright lying to bolster their credibility with their supporters.
However, with this gaggle of liars we have sullying the White House today and the lying toadies that continually curry favor with the liar in chief, there is not enough pants on fire awards to go around. Yet, the supporters still believe in the fake news that oozes from this administration rather than truth.
That stench that Trump complains about is his doing.
5
Hey, THIS sounds just like what Plato was defining, when he said, THIS:
"You'd see that if a tyrant wishes to change a city's habitual ways, he doesn't need to exert great efforts or spend an enormous amount of time. What he has to do is first proceed himself, along the route he'd like his citizens to turn toward, whether it be toward the practices of virtue or the opposite. He need only first trace out a model in his own conduct of all that is to be done, praising an honoring some things while assigning blame on another, and causing dishonor on anyone who disobeys in each of the activities."
Yeah, and, you know, it's actually kind of like saying, "THIS:"
“The Times weighed in, finding the entire school of art 'eccentric,' its theories 'crazy' and Picasso himself 'the wildest of wild men.' And those were among the nicer things. Picasso’s work was 'a series of childish, not to say imbecile, scribbles that are of no interest,' a correspondent wrote in the last paragraph of a look at the arts scene. And just in case anyone missed the point, it was repeated: 'They are just fumbling, incompetent scribbles of no significance whatsoever.”
And then, saying "THIS" about Pablo Picasso NOW:
"Pablo Picasso was a genius - he produced the pictorial equivalent of Einstein's relativity..."
OH MAN!!!
1
Trump and the Team of Liars! They are all trying to drain the swamp towards themselves and spreading it beyond controllable bounds.
They are killing the concept of public service by focusing more on self service. Shame on them all.
7
Trump has learned a long time ago that lying is a very effective means for getting ahead in life. The broader question and concern is will this type of role model teach America's youth that lying is good, so good in fact that you can become rich, famous and powerful if you develop your lying skills? These are very dark times and I wonder if and when we will see our way out.
8
"Threatens to infect Trump's entire adminstration"? Too late NYT. That ship has sailed.
7
Those voters who support Trump and cheer and chant in unison whenever their leader bellows that Washington DC is a swamp and he’s the man to drain it now have my sympathy.
They’re right! It is a swamp. A reeking bog of Republican apparatchiks and wannabe GOP fascists and stupid far-right misogynists, all of whom are cold-blooded as crocodiles. And they slither. Dodge. Dive. Chomp. Eat. They are naturally cold in their responses to people who pay taxes that fund their golf outings, to people who are desperate, people who are ill, people who happen to be female or black or born in South America, people who require Medicare or Medicaid, Social Security, housing, school lunches ... (I’m looking at you, Paul Ryan).
Swamp.
Let’s not forget the song:
“Never smile at a crocodile
Never tip your hat and ask to chat a while
Don’t be taken in
By his friendly grin
He is thinking of how you will fit beneath his skin.”
10
Isn’t it ironic that a few years ago a member of congress shouted “You lie!” at a president during an address to congress. Rep. Joe Wilson (R) to Obama. Haven’t heard Joe shout anything at Donald...
12
Strange that NYT editors provide ZERO counter-evidence to Brock Long's questioning of the number and methodolgy from the George Washington study (and no ref. provided), only suggesting that he is twisting things because he's "going through a professional rough patch". Mr. Long does seem to be professional. But these editors sure don't. Lately, articles from the 'Editorial Board' appear to have simply abandoned objectivity as a goal - and they seem to project authority, in compensation. Their standards have fallen so greatly and their writing behavior has gotten so exaggerated that I'm guessing self-preservation instincts are somehow being triggered.
2
Given the fact that Donald Trump has been known as a liar, cheat, and proudly ignorant buffoon for several decades, it is only logical that those who chose to work with him have to accept these behaviors as appropriate, perhaps even Presidential. These people are nothing more than grifters----the whole lot of them.
20
Lying is one of the first skills that a good politician has to learn...
This is not a Republican vs Democrat, or a left vs right or a conservative vs liberal/progressive thing. It is bi-partisan in nature and extends to the absolute limits of the body politic.
That Trump is an expert at this is nothing more than a reflection of how he has operated for most of his life.
We have to remember, though that our former Secretary of State once had to dodge sniper bullets when flying into Bosnia and wasn't engaged in insider trading when she turned a $1000 bet on cattle futures into $100,000. (Note that she was able to make that bet for $1K when the minimum cash requirement for entering the market as $12K.) She also claimed that no classified material ever went to her private server in Chappaqua and that she had permission to keep the server from State Department IT officials. She also claimed that she had no involvement in the a Travel Office scandal even though there was more than enough evidence to confirm that she was.
Then there is a senator from Connecticut that claimed he was in Vietnam during the war when the closest he ever came was California. And, there is a senator from Massachusetts who claims to be a Cherokee-flavored citizen and then doubled-down on the claim when clear evidence was produced that she had no Cherokee blood in her veins.
Bi-partisan willingness to eschew the truth is a major problem in our world today.
When are we going tell them to stop it?
3
@The Owl
I find it a bit amazing that you couldn't find any examples of political "lies" other than those you attribute to Democrats. If it's not a "Republican vs Democrat" or a "left vs right" thing, then surely your examples should be a bit more fair and balanced, don't you think?
And no one - I repeat, NO ONE - in government, whether currently active or retired, is guilty of the level of dishonesty and blatant falsification of the facts that Mr. Trump is obviously guilty of. Seriously, the Hillary meme is more than a bit tired.
6
@John...
Read the third paragraph.
The examples of Hillary Clinton, Richard Blumenthal, and Elizabeth Warren were to establish the bi-partisan nature of troubled relations with the truth.
I leave it to you to come up with examples of Republican making misleading and false statements; there are surely more than enough to establish the truth of the premise...
As I am sure that you are more than willing to do a the drop of the word "conservative" or "Republican". Buy such is the nature of our divided body politic...which leads me to the statement that the #youtoo-ism is as equally bi-partisan in nature as the penchant for politicians to lie...er...sorry...to be "taken out of context".
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: I am surprised she is not more taken to task every single week for her eye-brow raising distortion and simple flat out lies to the American people.
There are virtually no consequences for the USA press secretary to speak as she does, so she does.
20
@K Henderson
Don’t forget she is the daughter of a Minister and claims to be a ‘righteous’ Christian. I don’t claim to be either but my Christian friends tell me the lying is still a sin. I know truly righteous people believe that.
I wonder what ethical standards her father taught her and what she teaches her own children. Shameful.
5
Gosh, I will be glad when this whole nightmare will be over. But I tell you, the next Administration will have to be scrupulously clean, incredibly decent and completely honest to win back the people's respect and trust.
17
At some point, the press will stop doing breathless articles on the President's lying as if it were a yuppie lifestyle choice.
The mendacity mine works that has unearthed this Presidential Golem is expensive to run. For many years now, Paul Krugman has lifted the curtain on wingnut welfare, the well-heeled safety nets awaiting any good ring-wing soldier who is unfortunate enough to get caught doing his real job.
Sure, occasionally articles refer to our equivalent of Russian oligarchs. We are squarely against Russian oligarchs, right? We know that any moves they make are for personal enrichment and not to improve the lives of Real Russians (imagine Sarah Palin drawling "Nyet!"), right? So, when we view our own plutocrats bankrolling legislators who then do their bidding, how do we paint them as different than their Russian soul mates? It's gotta be propaganda.
Ah, propaganda. All fair in war, but seemingly all fair in political war as well. This week the right-wing Ethics and Public Policy Center (where's Orwell? He could use a laugh) was embarrassed enough by the lunatic ravings of its President that he is now temporarily (one can only assume) on the sidelines while the public wipes its memory clean.
It appears that our right-wing countrymen have Etch-a Sketches for minds, and a shake of their heads wipes the screen clean after each documented lie, never mind the myriad ones that slip under the radar.
Lies are good for somebody. Woodward, follow the mendacity.
7
@Jack Mahoney-“Etch-A-Sketch” minds: great description!
You are being generous. His entire administration has been a pack of lies from day one. e.g. the crowd size for the swearing in of the President.
4
In a bizarre twist, it is possibly better that Trump lies all the time. It would be worse if his utterances were a mixture of truth, lies and half lies. We would be required to sort through them and separate them all out. At least now, we recognize his lies immediately.
11
The most effective of Trump's lies exploit fear. Fear of the other. Fear of the deep state. Fear of the media. Fear of having guns taken away. Fear of being economically left behind. To Trump's base, these aren't lies, they're facts that validate their reality.
7
I do not think that Trump is dragging down the whole executive
branch down to his level. They were at that level all along. It is why they were hired.
Anyone worth their salt would never have taken a job in the Trump Administration. "Birds of a Feather" and all that.
17
Leaders such as Trump always seek sycophants. And all to often human beings make themselves subservient to deceivers rather than face the moral consequences of their choices. Yet some do face their wrongs and whether due to pangs of morality, an awakening or fear of reprisal from others- speak out- directly or indirectly. Yet their courage- such as it is- is not unnoticed- and no good deed goes unpunished- so if they are fortunate- they are purged in mass- the knives come out- and the lies deepen. This process is always accelerated by an imagined wrong- a slight and pernicious paranoia.
So this is the American government executive branch in 2018. An evil whose perils are yet untold.
8
I hate this country, its very corrupt politics, and the extremely immoral people, including my relatives, that go with it. A year ago I was planning to emigrate to a better place. Then I found that I have a terminal disease and I am stuck here. I am not going quietly; I will go out with rage.
2
"Only the best people..."
1
why flirt with the truth when you get rewarded richly for lying?
8
Just like trump, they were liars and thieves before they got there. Just like trump, that's how they got there.
8
Except that the fallout to the administration is just the pandering of the elected and appointed underlings of Trump desperate to keep their jobs. Doing a good job and representing the people of this country has gone beyond a quaint idea straight to as abstract and absurd notion. The difference between Trump and those that follow his lead is in how knowingly they lie. Trump is pathological, the followers are just pathetic. Trump needs to be removed for lack of a mind. The followers for lack of a spine.
3
His lying has already infected the administration and the whole country. Also his incompetence has seriously damaged the country and individuals living in it. I got up this morning to more nightmare disclosures about a sex criminal that the Republicans want on the Supreme Court. There are constantly disclosures about selfish crimes by Cabinet members and high-ranking people in the White House. Will he go to the Carolinas to toss paper towels to flood victims? Trump is a joke, but not a funny one. Today we're waiting to hear what nastiness he will spew to his audience at the UN. The midterms are close. and I hope they change things.
22
To paraphrase Barry Goldwater it has come to this in our new world: Lying in defense of your tribe is no vice.....truthfulness in pursuit of the common good is no virtue.
3
Vote in November, so that we the people, can take back our country.
4
Another chapter in “The Banality of Evil”.
3
If only we lived in a divided limited power constitutional republic of united states where the people are sovereign and supreme then we could rely on the legislative and judicial branches to check executive branch Presidential lying. If only they were all our elected and selected hired help and we had a 1st Amendment protecting the freedom of assembly, expression, press and protest.
5
As Trump well knows, spewing self-promoting and scurrilous falsehoods is a way of keeping one's opponents constantly on the defensive. It's also a way of demonstrating power, by saying in effect: "I can get away with doing and saying things you can't." And it shows that underneath it all, Trump holds nothing but contempt for the millions of people who believe him.
3
Dishonesty in this Administration is an illness that spreads like a virus, with Donald Trump being patient zero.
1
Trump lies and have lied since I have heard of him
GOP lies and have lied since Reagan
FOX lies and have lied since they started
GOP voters is not listening to facts and has been believing lies of GOP & Trump & Fox
What to say and where to go?
4
For me the lying started with Nixon.
Republicans: proudly lying since 1969.
They aren't chagrined or remorseful at all. They brag about their lying. Thus it should be their copyrighted tag line under every elephant. I'll give it too them free of charge - as long as they use it and not bury it.
3
And so now we suffer the sycophants lying on behalf of the liar in chief and the pretzel twisters on these pages trying to save the sycophants from themselves by the hemming and hawing that has kept Trumpist garbage barge afloat. This man has lost eleven billion dollars and touts his deal making and has bankrupted six times in the process, and now declares economic war on everybody not him, finding on his team the likes of Kudlow and Navarro who have spent decades pontificating on behalf of the curve just passed. Trump and his ilk speak to a tiny minority of this country but they do so on behalf of the wealthiest constituents who will prop them in a Congress as corrupt as a brothel at Mardi Gras. Add to these a debased evangelical audience who have misread the Bible and you can view the truth in the fetid waters of the climate changers of the Carolinas, maybe God’s wrath for the perversion of the human spirit but surely the result of human greed and ignorance.
5
America elected a self serving, self dealing liar who surrounded himself with the same. Why are we now acting surprised? Elections matter. Our votes matter. Want change? Go out and vote.
18
Times: '... President Trump’s claim that, contrary to Puerto Rico’s official estimate, “3,000 people did not die” as a result of Hurricane Maria, ...'
Trump's tweet refers to "two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico." The editorial cites only one. Now who is lying?
1
A number of months ago, I heard an interview with a Staten Island (New York) voter. SI is 'Trump Country', by the way.
The interviewer asked the woman how she dealt with the fact that Donald Trump had routinely been caught in lies. How did she feel about that?
The woman replied that, yes, she knew Trump was a serial liar but that:
"He lied for the good of the American people."
I still have not gotten over that.
NOT my president
21
Small men like the Donald must surround themselves with toadies.
This administration is the working definition of The Peter Principal.
Np person of moral fiber or stature could work for Dishonest Don.
6
Let me refresh the EB's memory. Benghazi. President Obama clearly lied when he said the attack was a spontaneous reaction to an anti-Muslim film. Then he sent Susan Rice to the talk shows to repeat the lie. All along he knew, as did HRC, that it was a planned attack. However, that narrative was critical as the election was drawing near and he had run in large part on the message that terrorists were on the run.
ISIS is the JV. Really.
The ACA will drive health care prices down. Sure.
Politicians lie.
As far as the Puerto Rico death count. First, the Puerto Rican government came up with the initial count. 2): the method of counting all deaths that were above the prior few years avg isn't crazy, but is hardly definitive. PR's death rate has ranged from under 8 per 1000 to almost 9 over the last decade and a half. With a population of over 3.5 million that's around 3k deaths. 3): you would expect the PR death rate would go up, but other islands that were hit didn't have near the number of deaths as PR. Why? 4) -- no other hurricane has used as a death count the number of additional deaths that occurred in the months after.
But let's say the death count is accurate -- whose fault is it? I'd say a big chunk goes to the PR government for lack of preparation. They're in the Caribbean. They get hit by hurricanes. Getting immediate help to them is difficult.
2
No, the GWU study may not be perfect but as several readers have pointed out the magnitude of the difference (less than 50 versus greater than 1000) should make one stop and think. And the argument that the fault lies in Puerto Rico's poor infrastructure is ridiculously shallow. PR is an American territory in hurricane alley and the US should have worked toward that end instead of just taking advantage of the island for soldiers and agricultural products. Hurricanes can be seen coming for days. For FEMA (or the dolt in the WH) to use the excuse that it's an island surrounded by water and thus difficult to get to is ridiculous. As for lying about everything else...I haven't believed a word coming out of the WH or from any cabinet member since January 2017.
4
Indeed!! The press is incurable inflicted with it and if they do not take care of themselves it could become terminal.
1
As a citizen of the free world, supposively lead by the POTUS, and as an annual vacationer to your wonderful country, I despair with my you, my American friends.
Never let your moral fibre be eaten away by ignorance, lies, corruption nor arrogrance. Be forever stolic and unmoving.
You shall overcome.
5
"Donald Trump’s chronic dishonesty threatens to infect his entire administration."
Your verb tense is wrong. It is not something that might happen in the future. You need the present tense: "Donald Trump’s chronic dishonesty" infects "his entire administration."
5
‘Making things up’ and ‘lying’ and ‘perjury’ -- those are such horrible names for the things we here in Trumptopia, USA, all just DO, in the normal course of our day-to-day lies.
Our president seriously needs to outlaw the use of such casually-tossed-about, slanderous language.
“Spousal abuse goes through the roof. You can’t blame spousal abuse, you know, after a disaster on anybody.”
Not even the spouse? What planet did you say these people were from?
1
Trump is a pathological liar, plain and simple.
The media should stipulate every statement he makes with a qualifier:
DJ Trump makes the claim that "..."
or
"Despite evidence that clearly contradicts his statement, Trump stated "..."
Nothing he says should be trusted because nothing he says is trustworthy. Don't give him unearned respect because it gives his Presidency legitimacy that doesn't exist.
10
@Rebel in Disguise This is the best advice I've heard. I hope all journalists take it.
5
"When the president repeatedly shows he regards honesty, decency, fairness, patriotism and care for ALL citizens (not just white ones) as handicaps, he can quickly drag the whole executive branch down to his level."
Fixed it for you.
5
The "sincerely held beliefs" of sociopaths now trump all establishments of science. The US fell down a rabbit hole, and it can't get up.
11
Trump has no idea how his penchant for lying and insistence that others bolster his own self-praise make obvious what a weakling he is.
1
What troubles me most about Trump's multiple and various lies is that his followers are given permission to lie, as well.
7
We live in the time of "reality television" which calls the fictive ..truth. The blurring of fact and fiction is endemic and epidemic.
Opinion is asserted as undeniable truth. Truth is belittled as opinion.
We have moved full steam into the Orwellian nightmare world of "doublethink."
3
Actually, I fear Trump and his Administration’s impact on future politics and on the Nation, as a whole.
More and more,,it seems that even honest people regard this as “just the way it is”. It’s become almost commonplace. A few months ago, a neighbor told me that she caught her son in a lie. The child said, “Trump does it, and he’s the President”.
This guy Trump along with his enablers are like a disease that’s infected our Country.
3
From everything I’ve read about Fred Trump, Donald learned the advantages of lying from only the best- his father. And when Fred was not present, Trump emulated the other father figure in his life and another evil genius of lies - Roy Cohn. Trump has been selling “the art of the lie” ever since.
The Trump administration is now so awash in blatant lies and corruption that it rightly deserves the epithet “the Big Lie.”
But the willfully ignorant electorate who continue to support Trump’s lies as he trashes everything good and decent about this country deserve an epithet of their own - “the Big Sleep.”
13
@Susan
We must move forward and look beyond the trump supporters, we don’t even know how many are out there. He holds rallies to present the illusion that he has a lot but I don’t believe they are true supporters, I would love to know how they put these crowds together and who pays for it. Tax payers may be paying for more than expensive golf rounds.
Justice has a way of taken care of the cheaters, lyres and criminals, to be sure of the truth and facts takes time.
(
3
And where was Trump's mother?
1
@Melda Page
She didn't spend much time with him, she left that up to Fred. Trump was a difficult child who got into trouble (bought a knife) and supposedly pushed his sister down the stairs and why they sent him to Military school. He was a bully even then!
Mrs. Trump was disappointed in him during the divorce brouhaha from Ivana because he had so many negative things written about him.
Trump did not put a picture of her on behind his desk in the Oval Office only a pic of Fred. Someone asked him or mentioned her picture wasn't there and then he put a picture of her next to Fred's.
Trump and his base are all fans of 'telling it like it is'. So, can we stop with the 'mistruths', and 'alternative facts' and all other code words and call it like it is - 'lies!'.
Trump lies!
Sarah H-Sanders lies!
Everyone in this administration lies!
I wish this newspaper and other print and visual media would call them liars ---- to their faces.
18
Trump has brought no one down to his level, that implies they were honest to begin with.
He hires liars.
You make it sound like this lying is some sort of passive affliction.
It's willful, immoral and damaging. These aren't decent people sucked into some vortex. These are sleazy liars by nature who have found their home in the Trump administration.
The Trump administration is a gift to those who enjoy lying for a living.
15
Surely you jest, Editorial Board! They all lie already, the infection is alive and thriving. Hell will freeze over on the day they stop lying, though doubt that day will come.
4
Who will be the first administration official with enough moxie to call Trump out -- publicly and not anonymously -- his or her job be damned? From the looks of it, nobody. Not a shred of integrity among the lot of them...
17
The President is a snake oil salesman. Plain and simple. Ethics, morality and honesty do not exist in his world. His goal of personal loyalty has no place in a democratic society. " We the People" is how our Constitution begins. We should remind ourselves of that once in a while.
Honesty will win out in the end. Prevarication will only get one so far. The sunshine of truth will prevail.
7
It seems ridiculous to ask people filling out a U.S. Census if they are citizens.
First, I doubt people living in the U.S. without being citizens would endanger themselves by filling out a Census form, and even if they did, they would not check "yes" to that question.
Adding that question only seems to be a way to threaten and intimidate people.
3
@Panthiest Yes I agree, it seems meant to intimidate and threaten. Under law the Census is meant to enumerate the residents which is important for federal funding.
As was said before, “Our children are watching.”
Our children’s future response,”Trust no one”.
5
When this nightmare is finally over, Sanders will be lucky to get a job washing floors overnight in a MacDonalds.
4
Truth is... cynicism and chronic lying are the last squares in the patriarchy board game. When corruption and sexism are so ingrained in the public mind that no one questions either.
Time to start over with a non-male-dominant model?
4
Presidential lying has been the "norm" for a long time now: Ike lied about our spy planes over Russia, LBJ about the attack on our Navy in Vietnam, Nixon about most everything, Bush 43 about Iraq. (Bill) Clinton about his "affairs" and about "feeling our pain." (the Outsourcer in Chief gave us more) and on and to Obama (on the Iran deal) to Trump and his 2016 opponent. Mort Sahl summed it up best: "Washington couldn't tell a lie, Nixon couldn't tell the truth, Reagan couldn't tell the difference." Our political system has been in the hands of liars (for the most part) ---not just in the age of Trump and the Wall Street Ponzi schemers. The bigger the liar, the better his or her chances of winning the election. H.L. Mencken called it eight decades ago.
6
Thank you for putting this in perspective—something the press in incapable of doing. Honorable people who would always tell the truth have no way of ever becoming president; they could not get enough votes!
1
This is so like Trump. Lie when the truth would do less harm, appoint sex offenders to the Supreme Court and create tariffs to destroy American business. Putin must be so proud of his protege. Make America great again!
3
It’s OVER.
Except for the impeachment.
Brett Kavanaugh should be impeached from his seat on the Appeals Court.
Trump needs to be declared Unfit. His every appointment, beginning with Pence, should be nullified.
We need to start over.
11
One of Trump’s earliest falsehoods as President remains one of the most remarkable: his assertion that President Obama wiretapped his phones in Trump tower. He has never withdrawn that statement, and his close associates have repeatedly stated that he firmly believes it to be true.
There are two possibilities: that Trump is not just a liar but a pathological, sociopathic and compulsive liar, incapable of the truth even when his lie is absurd and self destructive, or alternatively that he is subject to paranoid delusions. The latter strongly suggests that he has a thought disorder, i.e. he is insane.
Which of these situations is compatible with functioning as President of the Unites States?
33
@Richard Williams MD
My earliest recollection is the 'birther' nonsense. I lost all respect for him as a result of that egregious lie. And he has never apologized.
3
Trump's base doesn't care whether they have a president who committed sexual assault, so why should they care whether they have a supreme court nominee who has done the same thing?
11
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Gobbels.
This administration is one big lie, to be maintained at all costs by attacking the non faux media and first amendment.
5
President Trump is not a leader. By every definition, Trump does not lead - he presides or reigns over his administration. There are no speeches or ethics directives or standards which he asks his staff to uphold. It's all reactive with him with a hefty dose of cut. slash and burn all from the past administrations. In his position as savior, he has to denigrate as 'the worst ever' all that came before.
Trump does "lead" by example to a certain extent. As king, messiah or savior he makes sure he is at the top of the pyramid unquestioned and followed. Notwithstanding the supposed existence of Mr. Anonymous, the 'staff' must pledge allegiance and supplicate themselves to the ruler.
In this power structure of course the staff have to lie. To feed the beast. That's all that matters to Trump. His version of loyalty to him.
4
He wants to be Henry the VIII.
Our elected representatives, including past and present presidents have hidden the truth. Some more than others.
No, Obama did not really mean we could "keep our doctors", hiding increases in badly abused H1b visas behind announcements about allowing illegal immigrant children...
Which do you think is worse? A sex worker trying to provoke a scandal in the pursuit of money isn't going to affect me that much.
We just have to evaluate what we can accept.
1
In many matters, it is obvious when this administration is lying. The problem is that they do that so often that I no longer know when they are telling the truth.
4
So the propaganda goes on and on. Trump is a liar. It took the press months to say it. Now his words are openly condemned, yet after thousands of documented lies, he believes he can get away with it, and seemingly he does.
Thank you for calling out Brock Long, Wilber Ross, Kirstjen Nelson, Sarah Sanders and untold others as liars too. Unfortunately not soon enough and not strongly enough. They are liars and should be branded with that for the rest of their careers. They should be ostracized from the community of professionals with integrity -- clearly they do not belong in that group any longer.
McConnell, Ryan, Graham and all the others are liars too. They should also be called out -- now and forever.
This insanity must end.
17
As the saying goes, "the fish rots from the head."
The rot has taken hold and has weakened the entire country.
6
@DM
In reality, the guts go first. The stench from the Republican party has been building for decades.
This article fully supports the television series, “The Circus”. The Trump Administration has made a complete mockery of the truth!
4
Trump is merely the rash that our body politic has broken out into. His insane babblings are treated by some as oracular pronunciations, and must be given lip service by those he has appointed to various places in government. Each day that passes with the brattish irrational freak on the throne is a day that increasing numbers of his subject say the same thing: the government's mandate is running out. Will we degenerate into civil war or will we disintegrate into regional warlordism as the Chinese did before the Japanese invasion and Mao's eventual triumph? A massive meltdown of our society and government is coming and anyone who doesn't see it is blind.
2
I don’t know about anyone else, but I am utterly exhausted by the daily melodrama of deceit, half-truths, and outright lies.
I don’t do it, I warn my children not to do it, and my ex-wife perfected the art of lying.
I hate liars.
Times: "Ms. Nielsen found herself insisting that the administration did not have a policy of splitting apart migrant families even as she was aggressively enforcing and publicly defending that policy."
The editorial board is creating a straw man from Nielsen's tweet. Nielsen gave a much more detailed and nuanced explanation in a press briefing:
Kirstjen Nielsen Addresses Families Separation at Border: Full Transcript
By The New York Times
June 18, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/us/politics/dhs-kirstjen-nielsen-fami...
“Spousal abuse goes through the roof. You can’t blame spousal abuse, you know, after a disaster on anybody.”
I know this isn't the point of this commentary, but really? So whenever there is a natural disaster, it's okay for one spouse to abuse the other (and most of the time that's the husband beating up on the wife)? Republicans are so unbelievably misogynistic it is impossible for me to wrap my head around it. Their words are akin to treating women like chattel. Shameful.
7
It can always be blamed on whomever cannot control themselves, whenever. So Trump is revealing he has abused his wives whenever he has had a setback?
This is so like Trump. Lie when the truth would do less harm, appoint sex offenders yo the Supreme Court and create tariffs to destroy American business. Putin must be so proud of his protege. Make America great again!
11
THREATENS ??? That Ship has sailed, and is about the hit the Iceberg. HE IS a contagion, and everyone and everything he touches is infected. The only treatment is quarantine, and prevention. VOTE in November. VOTE out ALL his Collaborators. It’s the ONLY way to contain the Infection.
Seriously.
1
It also seems to be contagious in the media.
1
That ship has sailed and its gaining speed. Here's why: Most who had a moral anchoring and/or a backbone left the administration. They just couldn't bring themselves to be the mouthpiece for the mouth that is. That's how Reis, Spicer, Tillerson, Comey, and many others left or were forced out in some way convenient to the administration. In their places we get those who are willing to do the bidding and lying. Enter (and stay) Sarah Sanders. Pompeo. Bolton. And more.
They know where their bread is buttered and they know what happens when you don't kiss the ring. They lying not only will get worse; it already has and it's gaining audacity and pervasiveness not only in the administration but among those who are the enablers like Fox, most in the GOP, and those who attend his rally's.
3
Indeed, when the boss is a liar, and demands loyalty from his underlings about supporting the unsupportable, the whole organization as a whole (governmental fraud) suffers and becomes complicit. As you said, the dishonesty become the norm, hence the danger of believing falsehoods and acting on them as if they were the dogma truth. The only way, unless the democrats are able to 'recover' a captive republican Congress, is to oust this vulgar scammer from the Oval Office.
3
Trump is trying to destroy American democracy month by month, and is doing quite well at it. And no one seems to recognize this or care. Part of this is that the average American is too stupid to understand the principles of American democracy. And the GOP are not about to tell you.
1
'Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.'
Isaiah 59:14 NLT
Trump is a pathological liar. Never trust a pathological liar. So true, like moths to a flame he draws the innocent and the devious and all replicate his disease.
4000 lies and the sociopath never feels the restraint of shame. His modus operandi, where he feels at home, and comfortable, when he's sowing discord, chaos and confusion. Or if you like, go to the beginning of the Good Book: fear, shame, and blame.
Godspeed Mr. Mueller.
10
Trump has the problem that already before his office now he was a "continual liar". This perpetuates. We all know from court cases that lying can be infective.
So it is no wonder lying is now infiltrating into the administration. It is kind of "natural".
1
You can’t blame Trump for Huckleberry Sanders. She lies with the verve, gusto and sneering enjoyment of a true enthusiast.
11
For the last 15 years, the Fox channel has been lying incessantly. I know most educated people do not tune in to this channel. But Glen Beck, O'Riley, Lou Dobbs, Hannity, Tucker Carsen and Limbaugh and Alex Jones on the radio.
7
Not to mention the GOP Congress.
4
I'm beginning to think and believe that people who get elected or appointed are people who just can't cut it in a real world job. Why is it the incompetent end up in government service as elected officials or appointees? Why are these people compelled to lie, cheat and deceive?
This didn't begin with trump. He's only an enabler giving his nihil obstat to all the others.
Now, voters who put people like trump into office are complicit. The soon find themselves defending their actions and do so in the same terms as trump would, ignoring what is fact and true.
3
Anyone living in NYC during the 80's and 90's remembers Donald Trump for his self aggrandizing statements, such as his telling the architect for Trump Tower (Der Scutt), which replaced the classic Bonwit Teller building, "tell them it's 68 stories tall, they won't know the difference"...when it was 58 stories. What's 10 floors among friends?
If you need a refresher course, I suggest a quick viewig of the movie "Bonfire of the Vanities".Panned, but applicable here.Personally i think it's funny how it portrays such ego centric fools.
No surprises here. Just a bunch of Republican and bureaucratic fools self- immolating their career paths.
For trump too will pass. He doesn't think so, and they don't act so. But believe me, he is no factor in the NYC real estate market now, nor was he ever. Least of all when he thought the polar opposite.And they will find, like he will, that all the hooplah and time taken to overwhelm us just made us sick and tired of him sooner than later. Be gone bud, nothing to see.
Only the gawking unsophisticated foreign tourists still visit Trump Tower. There's nothing to see. There never was.
3
Timothy Eagan's quote from Abe Lincoln in his September 14th column is appropriate here as well: “No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar".
3
Well... let's hope the contagion doesn't spread to the press...
Trump voters don't care about Trump's lies, or those of his Cabinet. Oh, sure, they'll bear the brunt of this Administration's recklessness, the staggering damage it has caused inside two short years, but they really don't care.
Trump voters don't mind living off the largesse of the Blue states' tax revenues, and fiscal responsibility has never been in their lexicon. So why should they care if Cabinet members use our Treasury as their own private cookie jars?
And why do Trump voters continue to look the other way when Trump and his toadies lie? Because they made a pact with the Devil, and so far, the Devil has kept his end of the bargain. Trump voters wanted only one thing from him -- to be a "president" who tells them that as whites, they're superior to the rest of us, and only their rights matter.
The lying will undoubtedly hurt them more than most Democratic voters. But let me repeat. They don't care. Even though these lies come from Trump or his Cabinet, they will continue to lie and claim that Obama, or Hillary, or Bernie, or Liz is really to blame...
But Trump voters need to understand that the rest of us see them for who they really are. A group of people who are happy to see this nation turn into an ignorant, racist backwater of a country, where only the very rich can live decent lives. This is the deal they'll make every time, so long as their "president" tells them that as whites, they're the "real Americans". This is all they've ever wanted.
5
We have a misogynistic, xenophobic, racist, congenital liar for president, one whose own ex attorney said recently under oath told him to commit a felony, and the rest of government is complicit in allowing him to stay in office.
As people follow him in lies, they also follow him in attacking those from other countries and women. Think of how our young girls are facing classmates who may follow Trump's model of assaulting women.
1
Finally: NYT is calling the "truth-stretching" and other euphemisms what they have been and continue to be: Lies.
Thank you
I have been tired of hearing the cop out that the word "lie" implies intent to deceive, and so many media folks have opted out of using it. The fact is this occupant of the White House is aiming to deceive, as are his minions, and it started well before he took up residence.
12
@Jeremy
I agree, you have to call it what it is. If these had been reported truthfully during the election maybe we would not be having this discussion.
We all know the definition of a lie and truth lies repeatedly, even when it doesn’t make sense to lie.
4
Nevermind your concerns for President Trump. You've never cared about him, only for his demise. So it might be best for you to put this new and surprising concern for truth into action right in your own backyard.
1
You've got it backwards. Trump is simply the logical result of a party for which honesty and integrity lost all meaning years ago. Those who continue to support him don't care about honesty or integrity either, which is why there's no reason for me, or any rational, thoughtful person to engage them. They are, by extension, liars themselves.
3
It will certainly be good for the country when trump is gone for good and takes his lies, hatred and resentment , and sexual impropriety with him. The damage has been done. Young adults and children have seen a President that no one should want to emulate. We now live in a time where it seems manners and empathy do not matter. Trump's enablers and supporters have lowered our country's standing in the civilized world. Will you all wonder if the price you paid was too high?
4
Trump's lies "can quickly drag the whole executive branch down to his level?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!?"
That would be "done." No "can" about it.
End of story? Let's hope not. And let's hope for a big (and quick!) ending.
Unfortunately it's far worse than this, his lying, bullying, and other unethical behavior trickles down to the entire country and the world. It's a really really bad example that such a person could become the president of the United States.
11
Why is trump still in the White House?
Why hadn't he been removed, impeached, fired?
Why do we have to go along with this madness?
Where are those who want to save our country?
Why can't the press stop writing about him every five minutes?
The planet is dying!
1
This is really a "Dog Bites Man" story rather than a "Man Bites Dog" one. Sanders started lying the second she took the job as Deputy Press Secretary, to Sean Spicer, who lied just as much but never was a comfortable doing it as Sanders is.
They all lie, and the one least comfortable lying is General Mattis, who also seems to do it the least, and, of course, is due to be sacked after the mid-terms.
Is it any wonder that Trump calls every woman who accused him of sexual assault, who accused Roy Moore of sexual predation, who accused Rob Porter of sexual abuse, and the 2 women (so far) accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault are all, All, ALL lying?
Because every woman in his administration, current and former (other than those like Sally Yates, left over from Obama, or career professionals), as well as every man there, ALL lie for him, and all lie for themselves.
He surrounds himself with liars (for who else can stand to be around other liars) and presumes that everyone in the world lies like he does.
No, Mr. Trump, very few people lie like you do, about consequential and mundane matters alike, about crowd sizes and vote totals, about costs and savings, about "the best", "the GREATEST", "the worst", "a disaster", about every judgement against you as "unfair" and "biased". Nobody.
That's the one "Greatest" achievement of yours: You are the greatest and most frequent liar ever to hold the Presidency, or any public office.
13
The president's lying has infected the entire government of our United States. No point cataloguing all the lies (from "Birther" accusations against President Barack Obama to denying there were 3000 deaths from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year). We pluribus unum want only to be rid of the 45th president who was elected by his ignorant base of angry people. We have known for the entire history of Donald Trump in the past 30+ years that he is a scammer, carney-barker and very rich liar. His mantra for past 2 years -- "build the wall!" and 'Who will pay for it?" "Mexico!" -- and Trump's treatment of our planet ("climate warming is a hoax"), and his denigration of our allies ( NAFTA and NATO and the EU) is monstrous. Trump befriends our enemies. The 45th American presidency is a global scandal. When will we the people rise up against the destruction of our democracy?
10
"Threatens to infect"??? We are way past a threat. It's a full blown illness that is destroying our country. The lying of this "administration" is a terminal illness. Either they go or the country goes.
10
The CULT OF TRUMP is apparently alive and well.
Just like Jim Jones in Guyana in 1978, who told about 900 of his followers in the People's Temple Cult to drink poisoned Kool-Aid, if Delusional Donnie told his followers to jump off the George Washington Bridge, the traffic disruptions would make Chris Christie's Bridgegate look like smooth sailing.
These people will follow him and accept whatever nonsense he feeds them.
Vote on November 6 to take back our democracy.
6
Please stop using cute terms like “whoppers” to describe lies. A lie is a lie. Do not wrap it up in “aw shucks folks, I was just foolin” folksiness.
Doing so may be less offensive to the tyrant, but it softens the malice to the detriment of the people.
7
Lying and corruption are key features, not bugs, of the entire Trump regime. He lies continuously, brazenly, and without regard to the truth, and he has no penalty, since a third of America seem to be fine with it. His lackeys follow suit. We therefore end up with a thoroughly dishonest regime.
All decent Americans need to vote in November.
3
When truth no longer matters to voters, the logical end result is this current collection of power-hungry, self-serving, bald-faced liars. I hope that the delusional Trump followers, who can’t separate fact from fiction, are significantly outnumbered by voters for whom facts matter in the November midterms. I don’t know if the country can survive much longer, if our president and his disgusting band of grifters continue to treat reality as annoying and irrelevant.
11
Transparent, pathological deceit is the hallmark of 95%
of today's Republican Party.
Everything Trump touches he eventually destroys. This is no secret; there are decades of evidence of Trump's nefarious behavior, both personally and professionally, and it's impact on others. These administration officials should have known that. Instead, they exchanged morals, values, and whatever personal integrity they had for power, access to power, and who knows what else.
You lay down with dogs, you get fleas.
11
How about McConnell, Ryan, Nunes and the entire Republican Congressional cesspool? What's their excuse? They do behave as if Trump were their boss too, but in some dark corner of their tiny minds they must know they're a separate branch, don't they?
7
Oh boohoo, we lament and wring our hands over trump lying about almost everything (even when it seems to be unnecessary) but in fact millions of Americans voted for this cult of personality while ignoring his penchant for tall tales and flim-flammery. It would have been easy to predict in advance where his grasp of factual reality (or lack thereof) was headed.....all one had to do was go back to his draft dodging days and his reception of mentoring from the most notorious liar/lawyer of his era, one Roy Cohn. Trump's web of contradictory draft lies became more than even he could keep track of (resulting in future ever more bizarre tales about his selective service maneuverings) and the combination of bluster and brazen obfuscation taught him by Cohn long ago showed us what the present day "deal-maker" trump would become. And now we have the nightmare of him being president rather than just a shady contractor using bankruptcies as a weapon.
But he rescued the economy from the Obama malaise, he's got China on the ropes, he has rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons, he has improved relations with Russia, he gave us a huge tax break and his White House is a smooth operation according to Steve Bannon, Sean Hannity, and Trump himself.
3
For sure, the you-are-who-you-eat is a viable life lesson..
The media in a sense contributes to fake news by presenting the full dishonest texts of such perpetrators rather than putting forth conspicuously redacted versions. Mr. Pinocchio needs to be in prime time, front row center.
Lying erodes trust not only in the listener but by the liar from him/herself. Lying is a cancer that eats away at self respect, inner peace and general happiness. It is never okay. Mistakes are made honestly, but lying never. No good will come from this until we stand up, as this article justly does, and call the lies and liars into the light of truth. Thanks.
3
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, Too Rich to be Corrupt, warned us at the 2016 Democratic National Convention that Donald Trump is a New York Con. In fact, Bloomberg even said, I'm a New York businessman and I know a con when see one. And Donald Trump is a con. Could Mike's message have been any clearer? But since the Russians rigged the voting system, none of that mattered at all. Trump steamrolled over a 2.6 million voter majority to be slopped into office by 70+ GOP operatives from the electoral college. People keep on saying that Trump won the election. HE DID NOT WIN THE ELECTION . He was NOT elected by a majority of the popular vote. He won on a technicality that may prove to be the end of the US experiment in democracy. Cons, as is well known, are pathological liars. In fact, the Trump mis-administration of cons has renamed lies as "alternative facts." Alternative facts, my foot! Trump is using the Goebbels great lie theory--if you tell huge lies often enough, people will start to believe that they're the truth. So let us be mindful of the ways in which Evil triumphs over Good. After all, the only thing that is needed for Evil to triumph is for persons of good will to see that Evil and do nothing. Let this be a rallying cry for US citizens to view these "alt facts" as the lies that they are. Let those who view it as their civic duty to challenge lies, also challenge the Evil that lies and their liars perpetrate, so as to defeat Trump's LIES with the TRUTH! RISE UP!
21
Long after Trump launched his political career with his ugly birther lie, a Newsweek poll taken less than a year ago shows 51 percent of Republicans continuing to believe it, and 57 percent of those who voted for Trump continuing to believe it (compared to 14 percent of Democrats--egad...).
Which is to say, people don't need either the best lie or the best liar to believe a lie. What's needed is that they be predisposed to believe one or the other. The Times can endlessly publish weekly lists of blatant, outrageous Trump and Trump Administration lies and Republicans reading them are never going to budge an inch.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-birther-obama-poll-republicans-kenya-744195
3
Trump is not pathological: PATRIARCHY IS. Combine patriarchy with capitalism and you get a structural system in which both thrive and amplify power on every level and those who support it—are willing to lie—benefit. It’s systematized sociopathy, where the poor, the middle class, women of color, immigrants, those differently abled—literally everyone except perhaps white women who align themselves with this system/these men—all of us will be ground down to nothing (indebted for life with student loans, broke, in detention centers, jails, homeless, working menial jobs, dying from opioids, terrible health care, gunned down in school shootings (by, of course, sociopathic men)).
6
When you bring the swamp into your administration, you have to expect these kind of criminals. Look at all the illegal and unethical things that Scott Pruitt did while at the EPA. Where is congress in following up with his crimes? I hope the next congress will review all of the actions of all of the crooks in this administration.
1
Trump is not just lying: he’s delusional. He has gaslighted himself. He lives in a state of distortion. Some call him psychotic. He cannot see/believe/acknowledge the truth. Nothing is real for him unless it mirrors His wish for His truth. Consequently those around him become confused and then their reality becomes distorted. Lies, yes, literally countless lies, all day, every day. His sycophants lie knowingly and increasingly, they are joining him in lala-land.
3
With Red approval ratings in the mid 80s not much will change with the dictator light supporters.
Will Blue voters finally come out to vote? That is the big question.
This is a cancer that needs to be cut out.
Time for young voters, women and people of color to take charge.
5
As a child, the most oft told story of President George Washington was about him chopping down the cherry tree.” I can not tell a lie”. Now I understand why this simple story was so important.
I read these editorials and I feel as though I am at the theatre. And all you Trumpsters out there blow my mind that you cannot or will not see who this man truly is. And you cannot even comprehend that he is NOT going to save your behind.
I'm thinking that buying stock in Kool Aid might be a grand idea!
6
It is a sad and despairing day—
When any utterance from the White House is assumed to be a lie until proven otherwise.
6
There is a word for this administration. Kakistocrisy, rule by the worst. I did not realize that there were that many rocks to crawl out from under in the educated set.
3
I want to go back or forward to a time when I do not wake up every morning and after reading the news, do not put my head in my hands and say "Oh Christ" in disgust.
3
As Annah Arendt explain in her book "Eichman in Jerusalem"in 1963 it as become ok to have such behaviour without questioning yourself,to simply obey and follow a certain way of thinking.In french it is called La Banalisation du Mal.
1
'Read my lips- No New Taxes'. 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman'. 'If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor'.
Trump is, sadly, building upon a foundation that has been built lie by lie, year after year after year. It just keeps getting worse. And I fear that the next holder of our nations highest office, Democrat or Republican, man or woman, will just continue this destructive trend.
35
@Randy
"'If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor'. "
This was not said as a lie.
The intention of the legislation was to have no effect on whether you could keep your doctor, but as it did not go into effect immediately, private insurers took the opportunity to change their sets of doctors in the interim.
It was not a smart thing to say, because even before the ACA private insurers routinely changed provider lists---it happened to me (ie my PCP was removed from a plan in the middle of a year before the ACA took effect)
In contrast, Trump intentionally tells thousands of lies. His goal is marketing (eg his Trump tower has ~10 fewer floors than he claims) not accuracy.
1
@Randy
You are correct, they all lie. But the amount of Trump's lies have taken it to a different stratosphere.
@Randy:
False equivalence. Those were notable examples of things not true, but much more the exception than the rule for each of those presidents. Trump has told hundreds and thousands of lies, almost daily.
And he would be doing this no matter what the precedents were, because he is dishonest to his very core.
3
What you are pointing out is something the rest of the world has now come to understand. In general (though clearly with individual exceptions) the US is a nation of people who will lie when it suits their purposes, and who rarely, if ever, apologise when they get caught out. Your national hubris is, to most of the rest of the world, unfathomable and inexcusable.
3
I still find myself thinking the the GOP folks must absolutely love Trump. He is constantly tweeting and stating inane comments, which the media immediately jumps all over. The result, as I see it, is that the rest of his administration, and the legislative branch, can carry on with whatever it is they are doing, with complete impunity. No one is bothering to look at what they are saying and doing; all eyes and ears are on Trump. No wonder the GOP slavishly follow him! I suspect, also, that if Pence were to become President, the GOP would not be nearly as happy, despite the fact they prefer Pence to Trump for stability and sanity. Pence would not be making the same inane public comments, with the result that attention would go to the legislators and the administration, to cast light on what they are doing. And that, I think, the GOP would hate. Better the Trump they don't like, but who takes all the focus off their actions, than the loss of Trump and the resulting light on their actions.
I have become disaffected by the Trump presidency and all those who have come forward to join in on all the dishonesty. I don't know if it has never been this bad before, or if there has never been a president so completely unable to be truthful. He must have some rather serious personality disorder but who really knows with all the lying. I was raised to value truth and to be honest. I just can't believe that there are as many people as there are who have no qualms about all the lies, and go even further and attest to the dishonesty.
The issues at stake are serious and they've turned it all in to a high stakes poker game. Makes me glad I'll be dead soon enough to avoid the world they'll leave behind if this continues in the direction it has taken, but I'll be wishing we could do something serious about it and reclaim honesty and truth. I will leave people I love behind when I die, and wish for them a better country and a world with better individual character especially in the people who govern us and in their entourages .
3
Don't forget the Judiciary Committee whom it turns out have known for a week that there is a second accuser against Mr Kavanaugh and in speaking to the New Yorker the only copncern they showed was for whether or not Kavanaugh would egt confirmed and then accelerated the process. SO that explains the irrational refusal to get the FBI to look at Ms Blasey's allegations.
BTW I have no knowledge of an honest republican living in the wild since Nixon was president. when reagan was elected they institutionalized mendacity in the agencies of our government after purging it of loyal American professional Civil Servants first of course.
4
I am wondering what bible the evangelical's use?
Does it contain the ten commandments?
It is apparent that Mr. Trump et.al. are laughing all the way to the bank and yet the E's still support him.
The question is WHY?
4
This is the saddest of all. Whom do they follow even more to the point I think.
The truth seems to be missing from Trump's skill set.
By now the lies have become a self-reinforcing loop along with taunts, tweets and insults.
Taking perspective must rarely interest him, nor is he likely skillful with it. Then there's the fact he's an out-sized personality who's unfiltered.
He'll repeat the same lies even when corrected. It's part of being grandiose.
But it is adversely affecting how he's discharging his powers and duties as president. And remains quite disturbing.
The Trump Regime, in its attitude toward the facts, science, and the truth, clearly has the earmarks of an authoritarian regime.
If the person at the top has led a life of getting away with stuff, the subordinates will follow the example. In God we trust, but nothing is wrong unless you get caught.
1
Trump encourages corruption, to include lying, in "his" officials as a way to control them. Once they have lied to defend Trump, there is no barrier to doing so again. Witness Spicer's lying about the size of the inauguration crowd. If one of Trump's people briefly strays to the truth, as Gorsuch did on Judge Curiel during the hearings or several Fla politicians did on Maria deaths in Puerto Rico, Trump calls them up short.
It's a mass psychosis on the part of the GOP. They are in thrall of Trump. Ditto his mass of base voters.
I have no idea what will stop them, but winning 2018 would be a start, but not the 'beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning', as WC said.
Just from what I see on The Daily Caller, Fox,
and other right wing outlets we have a long hard slog ahead.
4
Whether Trump tells the truth, or distorts it to his liking, is not particularly worrisome to this American because my interest lies in how and why we are reacting to the above.
A commentator reminded me earlier that we do not have emperors or dukes in our country, forgetting to mention that we have a president who is behaving like a dictator, without accomplishing much of anything. Wait, here come his supporters with a list they carry of his achievements!
Half the country seems to have wanted 'change', without understanding what change they wanted. Earlier an Ad popped up, promoting a technological gadget: 'the controller that rules all others'.
Fifty years from now, when our younger generation is asked what it remembers of the Trump Era, the reply might be that it was a revolution in some ways, unsettling for some, inexplicable to others, nobody really knew what was happening or wanted. Perhaps, something decent and clean.
For those in the President's administration, 'I was just doing my job', bringing to mind memories of guards in security camps, and possibly a black-out.
3
With a President in the Oval Office who couldn’t pass an Intellegence Test, let alone a Security Clearance, my best is that Trump
deliberately selects people who are
on both scaled just a few notches below himself, to make him look smart. How else to explain their answers when they’re called on to make a statement. It’s not just ICE,
‘Homeland Security’ and FEMA are are a real concern.
6
I think your analysis of the administration lying is actually rather benign and not adequate. It appears to me that psychological and propaganda techniques have been and continue to be employed since the Trump campaign began. They continue to this day. They do hold the podium and the Complicit Television industry.
Trump makes Nixon look like a boy scout. The article says the constant dishonesty will color the entire administration through history. That's true but it doesn't go far enough. Witnessing untold numbers of lies by nearly everyone in the administration, coupled with similar activity in the Republican-controlled Congress, will undoubtedly have a negative impact on Americans' psyche. Watching a president lie day after day and the Republican Congress refuse to fulfill their Constitutional responsibilities by checking the Executive shows that lying is acceptable. Because Congressional Republicans have abrogated their responsibility to provide a check on Trump tells Americans that not only is dishonesty OK it's also free of negative consequences. If we emerge from the Trump administration as still a democratic country, I hope we have learned a very important lesson: Chatacter matters when selecting a president. In fact, it is the most important factor.
From the very beginning, president Trump's lies have been audacious, bordering on delusional: The inauguration crowd size; illegal votes for Ms. Clinton; Russian contacts......the list goes on and on. Kellyanne Conway even clarified things by informing us that the president has "alternative facts".
All of this was predictable as the GOP decided to nominate a demonstrated conman and fantasy "author", "billionaire" and "reality" TV star to represent their party and lie to the people with impunity. His underlings lie primarily to protect Trump's understandably fragile ego.
This is a very dangerous and dysfunctional situation. Corrective action needs to be pursued on all fronts, particularly November 6, 2018.
1
Trump is the king of shame, and these people merely his court jesters. But we are a democracy and we as a people have failed to tend our own house. We need a thorough cleaning and then Reform to fix the problems that cause the lies.
A servant may not serve two masters, and that explains the lies from the GOP. The Liar in Chief has aroused a potent voting block "the base" that needs to be consistently agitated. He lies to them about health care, a wall, taxes, a trade war, immigrants, and well darn near everything. The lie is that these policies will improve their lives. Yet the true benefactor of these policies are corporations and wealthy investors, the top 2% who chill with the liar in chief in his exclusive clubs. Thus as it was stated in One flew over the cuckoos nest "just play the game" and so they lie.
To the sentient we know what the result will be. You may prefer not to believe in gravity, but you will accelerate at 9.8 meters a second regardless.
If we want the madness to end, get out and vote and bring a friend, clean house and send a new message.
1
You think? What a revelation!
Those people associated with trump have been lying since he became "president". In fact, they were lying before he became "president".
Worse is, it filters down to people that are not even closely associated with the "president". It will become the new norm.
Trump has lied his entire business career. Everything he ever did or planned to do would be the very best, the biggest, the most spectacular ever seen. His words throughout his life amount to a challenge: "Hey, prove its not true!"
He lied to bankers and bond holders, intentionally or otherwise, about how much money the Atlantic City casinos could rake in. Bankruptcy.
He said he would run the Eastern Airlines shuttle, Trump Shuttle, "like a diamond". Less than 3 yrs. after taking over, he gratefully unloaded it.
He lied to bankers about how well he could run the Plaza Hotel property, taking out a full page ad to admit he overpaid. Result: dumped in a pre-packaged bankruptcy.
He, by extension, lied to people who signed up for his "hand picked" instructors on getting rich through real estate through Trump University when even the name was a lie. It wasn't a university but very expensive "courses" taught in hotel ballrooms.
The list goes on and on.
This is a person who conned his way into a fortune, but we will never know how much fortune because he persistently inflated it when he was a NY real estate salesman and won't show his tax returns. If a building his company put up was worth half a billion dollars, he counted the whole building as his net worth, even after selling the units to others.
This is a person who doesn't want to be confused with facts, questioning military leaders on why they were briefing him on Afghanistan.
The base loves him for all of this.
3
I am continually amazed and disgusted that this President gets overwhelming support from evangelicals. Apparently character and morals are not important to this group.
4
Beyond actual lies is the crashingly ironic (often unwitting - or shall I better say, witless) misuse of language which begins at the top and has spread to so many of those below. Example: Trump refers to his SC appointee Kavanaugh as "fantastic" - the secondary ( in this case more applicable) definition of which is "fanciful or remote from reality."
And, of course, we're all wondering who is lying in the forthcoming testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Unfortunately, Donald Trump; Sen. Charles Grassley, Chair of the senate Judiciary Committee; and apparently Judge Kavanaugh himself have decided, against the wishes of Dr. Blasey, not to request an F.B.I. background check of her allegations. In the climate of lying, this only adds to one's suspicions about Judge Kavanaugh. When one side works to prevent the truth from being uncovered, it's only natural to suspect their honesty.
12
All I can offer here are remembrances from my history and civics lessons in my elementary school (1950-56). This was a long time ago but some things you're just not supposed to forget.
The teachers who stood before us and walked the aisles to see if we were following their blackboard presentations were always quick to extol the virtues of the American president. I never heard one teacher express a preference for a particular president or for a challenger to the incumbent. But they made one thing clear: the president was not a god; was not infallible; but *did not, ever* lie to the American people. The office-holder of the presidency was almost sacred. To think that he would falsify anything bordered on treason and almost certain dismissal from school.
Dwight Eisenhower was seen as the virtuous, just liberator of both Europe and the Far East. He wasn't perfect but no one never mistrusted his motives.
John F. Kennedy was the youthful and vibrant knight who would get us into space. When that loud splash in the Bay of Pigs punchbowl threatened to soil his presidency, he manned up.
LBJ and Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan were all caught in whoppers but we had long lost our innocence about truthful matters, Vietnam and civil rights stretching the fabric to tearing.
But Donald Trump has crossed a line that few of his predecessors would have dared violate. His presidency, such as it is, is dominated by the false and the fabricated. He is less a president than he is a spectacle.
1
I formed my overall assessment of the honesty of politicians and bureaucrats, generals and diplomats, federal law enforcement and intelligence services while growing up watching the Vietnam War, and other events of those times, including, but not limited to, the Kent State murders, the publication of the Pentagon Papers, the disclosure of the FBI’s non-stop, 20-year domestic criminal program code named COINTELPRO, the CIA overthrow of the democratically-elected Allende government in Chile, and then, while I was in
college, the Church Committee reports of the U.S. government’s domestic and foreign crimes from the end of WWII up through the mid-70s. This early-developed belief that those in positions of authority are fundamentally dishonest had stood me in good stead in my 38 years as a trial lawyer.
As I tell my clients, baseball isn’t the national pastime in America, lying under oath is. Good liars are naturally drawn to government work, and so if the witness works for the government then he (or she) was a talented liar to begin with and has broadened his (or her) skills with a lot of practice.
What is refreshing about Trump is that I know when he is lying. Before, I knew I was being lied to 90% of the time but couldn’t always tell exactly when the 10% of the time I was being told the truth was happening—so just assumed I was being lied to all the time. So really, nothing has changed.
1
Not just threaten, contagiously, his entire administration, but an entire generation or two of Americans as well. Since he became the Republican nominee, and increasingly since, I noticed more and more people, of many walks of life, being emboldened to lie and/or twist the truth into something unrecognizable. And this is especially so among young adults and certain members of the “lawyerati”. And even in otherwise valid disputes, many people seem to feel they are entitled to act and speak almost viciously to one another and to do so with an air of utter impunity. Nothing good can come of this
Kellyanne Conway announced the new world of "alternative facts." Her colleagues knew a good idea when they heard it and signed up for more.
1
His administration, yes. He is their boss. Maybe in a sick, this-is-how-it-is-now way it makes sense.
But what about the Republican party? Why are they all so willing to drive off the cliff for Donald Trump?
I remember Watergate. I'm a yellow dog Democrat now and I was then, but nonetheless on the day Nixon resigned there were elected Republicans I respected. Today, it's not just I don't respect any elected Republicans -- I actively am horrified, disgusted, and (looking at you, Ted Cruz) creeped out by them.
We are witnessing the demise of the Republican party. And for Donald Trump? I don't know. I keep looking for indicators that there's some bigger plan at issue, but everything just keeps pointing back to him.
Why are they throwing everything away for that man?
It didn't start with Trump.
Given the values, priorities, and political M.O. of the Republican Party since at least the 1980s, the Liar-in-Chief had no trouble finding operatives (and lackeys in Congress) who were only too willing to fall in line. You can't blame the words and actions of Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell on Donald Trump. They were old hands before he ever came down that escalator.
15
What’s the big deal about lying? It’s not like there’s a holy commandment about it.
Or whatever, maybe there is, but God didn’t really know what he was talking about when he sent those iPads to Moses. Besides there is no way that he could have anticipated how important it would become to move the Republican agenda forward. Commandments are meant to be broken. Evangelicals like me are constitutional originalists, not biblical ones.
"When the president repeatedly sends the signal that he regards honesty as a handicap, he can quickly drag the whole executive branch down to his level".
One answer to this dilemma: Define "honesty" as
"meeting the expectations of the President who appointed you"!
In summary:
The fish rots from the head.
Sadly, proven again.
4
What is the responsibility of the special prosecutor if he discovers evidence that Donald Trump is fully engaged with the Russian government to damage and weaken the United States? An attack from the executive branch would be unprecedented, and ongoing, there should be an urgency to stop it if such a thing is discovered.
1
Imagine the time and energy put into justifying lies told by the current president, administration officials, and members of Congress. Too often, the justifications are lies relying on public lack of knowledge and devious, mass psychological ploys like repeating a lie often enough makes it a reality. It results in conflicting statements, as pointed out in the Op-Ed by Ms. Nielsen, where inhuman immigration policy cannot be justified in any way, shape, or form, and can only be accepted by near-sociopathic supporters. They lie because they can get away with it and this betrayal of public trust is an abuse of power justified by circular arguments that support abusing power because they have the power.
Having lived through several presidencies, I have heard several lies but nothing on the scale we are experiencing today. Lying by government is a disease that infects democracies. Ignoring fairness, ethics, human morality, laws, rules, norms, and regulations strongly suggests an anti-democratic agenda.
"When the president.... regards honesty as a handicap, he can quickly drag the whole executive branch down to his level."
I would offer another theory, the employees of the executive branch were already at Trumps level before he hired them.
Someone with their moral compass aimed in the proper direction will resist this dishonesty, and quit before lowering themselves to Trumps level. You may not like former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson but he was a moral man and refused to stoop to the Presidents level. He resigned rather than capitulate.
12
@cherrylog754 Actually he was fired, via Tweet no less.
Many of us have an apparently antiquated notion that truth has a place in basic human existentialism. When we ask a question, we actually expect the truth.
But the Twitter mentality seems to have reached dominance in our life ethic. Everyone says what they feel they would like to be true or would like others to believe to be true. The adolescent incantation "oh, everyone is doing it" seems to be in play.
Are we to believe statements made under oath? Apparently not. Or the food contents printed on food packaging? Maybe that's all fake news too. Laws or no laws for lying our Republican governments are deathly opposed to prosecution of crimes committed by rich people. So our nation of laws, isn't. The rich are always correct and they can oppress the poor if they want and lie about it.
It isn't quite clear what human existence is supposed to be like if every question receives an answer that we guess is probably a lie, since "everyone does it".
Why isn't it terrifying that we have a President and his Administration for whom truth is merely a list of convenient talking points that can be discarded and changed on a whim?
I'm terrified!
3
Uh, threatens to?
Not a single honest person there as far as I can tell. Even if you believe someone in this disaster of a White House is honorable (I would disagree), it's not possible to be both honorable and honest in this administration. Anyone both honorable and honest would be compelled to explain publically and in plain terms what a disaster this administration is, and resign.
1
The article is also implying the mo of despots: keep people around you who need your protection. It works for Putin and it works for Trump.
The article is good except for the part where you say Trump's dishonesty 'threatens' to infect his entire administration.
As the article demonstrates, it already has infected the administration, so the need for the word 'threatens' is obviated.
It's not that Presidential lying is contagious thanks to Donald Trump’s chronic dishonesty, it's that lying is central to every job description and job specification in the Trump administration. In 2003, while a state senator, and long before working for Trump, Scott Pruitt purchased a home in Oklahoma City through a shell company he formed. The house was purchased at more than $100,000 below its actual value from Marsha Lindsey. Lindsey, a lobbyist for the telecom giant SBC Oklahoma, sold to Pruitt at a massive discount based upon an understanding that Pruitt would use political influence to help SBC Oklahoma. At the same time a group of corporations paid Pruitt to find a way for them not to pay out on legitimate worker's compensation claims. Pruitt lied about wanting to reform worker's comp, and proposed legislation stripping injured workers of the right to challenge any reduction or denial of benefits. In 2000 Wilbur Ross (now Commerce Secretary) created a private equity fund. He then proceeded to steal money from investors. In August 2016, Ross agreed to reimburse investors $11.8 million and pay a fine of $2.3 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission probe. In the 1980s, when Donald Trump was bankrupt, his three casinos in Atlantic City under foreclosure threat, Ross sold out the investors he was hired to represent. He convinced bondholders to strike a deal which was bad for them, but great for Trump. Trump didn't make these liars, he's just hired them.
1
The most damaging aspect of our growing culture of falsehood is that voters, particularly Republican voters, have become inured to it. They simply don't care that their elected officials and representatives lie as long as the "agenda" ie. climate change denial, gun rights and right-to-life issues, are met.
Truth has become, in the eyes of many, a quaint vestige of the past. George Washington and the cherry tree mythology. Scout's honor nerdishness. Lies are simply more entertaining and appealing. Trump's base prefers his lies to the inconvenience of truth.
Yes he lies but its the people who support him that encourage this. FOX TV learned years ago that their audience wants to hear things the way they want them to be. FOX learned that truth and facts were of no importance to attract an audience it was confirming the listeners -viewers ideas and perceptions. Fake news, alternate facts were the tools they have used for decades. Trump recognized this, found the things that would get him popular and then went for it. It began as a trial run about Obama's birth place and it worked very well. Once this was recognized he just went 100% . If you watch his rallies it still works he tells them whatever they want to hear and they roar with approval
12
What difference does it make? That must be the question the members of this Administration must ask themselves every day. They see there is no penalty assessed to the boss and he assesses none to them either. If any of these clowns worked in a large corporation and carried on in this way, they would have been out on the streets long ago.
A fish rots from the head. And when there are few, if any, consequences for lying, why should these people stop?
Taking back the House and Senate would be the first and best message that this kind of behavior is not acceptable.
1
This administration is infected with dishonesty from top to bottom and throughout the U.S. We should be appalled by all of it and vote them out. Government employees are supposed to be civil servants not kings and queens accountable to no one. And if the next administration is the same, Democratic or Republican, we should do the same. Chronic dishonesty is poison to our nation’s health.
13
They can lie all they want. But know this: their toxic reputations mean their careers are over once the Trump administration finally disappears. Then they will have plenty of time to look in the mirror and contemplate the immorality of their conduct.
12
The study funded by the Milken Institute, Michael Miliken the same guy convicted of investment fraud, is flawed. It uses news sources along with extrapolations over a six month period.
FEMA provides a death benefit, and their total applications is about 2,900, with 400 rejected.
Trump was a natural next step for Republicans. Their leadership has been lying to the rank-and-file for decades. The truth is often hard to take, so just lie a little, then a lot, then always.
1
When the officials named realized that they were not speaking to the American people but rather to a party of one: trump, the lies started to flow.
Let's begin to end this nightmare by voting D down the line on Nov. 6.
10
It's not only that lying goes on and others cover for the lie. Every time a Republican says something that is either so outlandish or hurtful, then apologizes for saying it, I want to scream "Lier"! Once it's said, it is out there for others to latch onto. It becomes a dog whistle. I don't believe for a second that they couldn't help themselves to say what they did.
3
FEMA has corruption running at every level. Look at the ADR cadre and its head Rob Scott. Mr Scott knew of overbilling for hours and per diem and fired the messenger rather than deal with the issues--he does not like conflict.
3
What now seems to be more contagious than presidential lying is flipping on the president when lying on his behalf no longer paid any dividends. Flynn, Gates, Papadopoulos, Cohen, Manafort all can’t be lying or wrong in their about-face to come clean and spill presidential secrets. Since Mr. Long has misused taxpayer money for his own private uses, he joins such squeaky clean former administration officials such as Tom Price, Scott Pruitt, Ben Carson, Steve Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross who have abused their positions to bilk their own government of funds for personal expenses.
The watchword for honesty in this administration is Sarah Sanders who never heard of a lie she couldn’t tell if it meant defending the president. Compared to Sanders, the departed Sean Spicer looks like Mr. Integrity.
10
One day Trump will be gone. But will the culture of lying go with him?
And because the lies are repeated again and again and again and again, they must be called out for the lies they are, not misstatements or errors, but lies, again and again and again and again.
It's tiresome, but truth is worth the effort.
1
This article is a bit disingenuous and misses its point. To be sure, organizational dynamics are shaped by the style of the leader. Apparently, Trump’s whoppers must be reflected back to him like the Emperor’s New Clothes. Trump also recruits compulsive liars to serve in his administration. Debating the chicken vs the egg is not that important. Trump is a would be dictator for whom the truth is incompatible with his goals and methods. However, EVERY administration has put its “spin” on the truth to suit its purposes. The Warren Commission, WMDs, and the official 9/11 findings come to mind; not to mention the “war on drugs.” Trump did not invent governmental lying. He has just challenged the limits of absurdity. And, although psychologically challenged he is also calculating and malevolent. His outrageousness is just his brand of misdirection.
However, the most devastating effect of his “fibbery” is how it is infecting the larger society. The mass media and many people no longer respect the truth lest they be labeled a “socialist” or a conspiracy theorist. Trump is the official mascot of compulsive lying, but every American is challenged to reflect on whether he/she knows or cares about the truth. Trump has just made it more acceptable to drop the pretenses.
The vast majority of people in this country, and indeed the world, are praying for the day when Donald Trump will say, "I'm not going to prison for the rest of my life", as he's taken away in handcuffs.
Here's to Donald Trump's "last lie".
4
?
The GOP has been lying since the Reagan years, and their supporters believe all those lies - Reagan miracle (it was Volcker's recession and Volcker's recovery), dems tax and spend and are fiscally unsound (Reagan, Bush, Trump spent more and cut taxes giving higher deficits), Reagan was tough (Iran-contra arms for hostages deal?). The lying increased after the financial crisis and great recession, and Obama was elected; Trump has upped the ante but the disease of lying, simple statements and the choir buying into it was already there for 3.5 decades. Let's not pretend that what was there before Trump was in any way acceptable or constructive for the country.
1
This, more than anything else, has been *the most* damaging aspect of this Presidency. Evil policies might be reversed by future administrations. But once it becomes acceptable to tolerate lies, corruption, and demagoguery at the highest levels of the administration, it's a quick and slippery slide to a government that acts and behaves like typical corrupt third-world governments.
If this behavior is not punished severely at the voting booths, then there will be little incentives for future politicians to display any honesty and integrity. Instead, politics will become an attractive option not just for the merely corrupt, but for downright criminal types of characters.
The most difficult thing for me to understand is how Trump continues to have the support of so many religious leaders, particularly “conservative Christians”.
The predominant religions of the world either teach the Ten Commandments, or offer similar teachings.
Whatever happened to “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour”?
What do Trump supporters tell their children when they lie?
People around the world look to America to stand up for democracy - but how long can democracy continue to exist with lies that go unrefuted in the name of “conservative” values?
1
There is a reflexive retreat to alternative facts among Trump and his inner circle.Trump’s entrance to politics was a lie-the lie that Obama was not born in the United States.It got him attention and enthusiastic fans so he repeated it early and often.From that it was easy to invent other stories and sell them to crowds.Low information voters are susceptible to cons and conspiracies.Trump has surrounded himself with those who will support his whoppers.They need to get together in the Situation Room and coordinate their stories so singly and together they do not look like such bumbling liers.
1
Too late. There is no "threat". The entire Trump administration is already infected with chronic dishonesty.
Whether it comes from having close contact with this president, or it was an underlying condidtion all along, they all suffer the from the same symptoms, with the same outcomes.
And there is no cure.
5
I will say this plainly because the media seems to dance around the issue: Trump is a bad person.
He violates most universal moral principles such as truth telling, honesty in business, fidelity to one's spouse, etc. The fact that he has filled the government with people similar to himself should be of no surprise.
3
seems to have affected and infected Kavanaugh- if he had owned up to his teen age behavior and apologized and taken ownership of it he would now be a on the high court. instead he stonewalls and lies.
1
All presidents lie. The most frequent lies occur because some policy or promise fails to measure up and the lie is invented to cover its failures.
But more recently governmental lying, especially by presidents has taken a decidedly ideological turn.
Bush and Cheney lied about Iraq's connection to Al Quaeda because they knew that they never would have been elected if they told the American people the truth.
When those lies were exposed, they simply invented a new one around WMD's. Everyone, including the media fell in line.
But Trump's campaign of lies has gone even further. He has decided to assault the very idea that there are such things as facts and that they matter.
Part of this is his personality. By obscuring reality with lies and contradictions he keeps everyone around him uncertain and off balance. In that respect, he functions somewhere between a shrewd, crafty politician and someone with a real mental disorder.
But his barrage of tweets and string of campaign rallies attacking the press and anyone who criticizes his administration is simply propaganda.
Trump actually intends to replace accuracy with distortion and truth with lies and remove the publics ability to discern what is really happening in the world. In this self-serving confusion, Trump the 'leader' will tell them what to think and what to believe.
Things have indeed taken a very dangerous turn, especially in this digital world because these are the steps that authoritarian governments take.
When the truth is no longer the truth, the law is no longer the law.
When anything goes, everything goes.
Vote.
5
Lying infected previous administrations. The ACA was sold with a plan that was intentionally deceptive. Fast and Furious comes to mind. Johnson/McNamara- what was really happening in Vietnam? That infected the next administration. Nixon added personal paranoia to it. When will we stop making this about party and individuals and start making this about principle? If we want honesty and transparency, we will have to demand it and dismantle the processes and agencies built around secrecy and deception. We will need a press that is about truth, not political advocacy. Daniel Patrick Moynahan asked for it in a great book, issued not long before he passed, and i think his views were based not just in observing closely the adverse affects of lying as apolitical tool, but I sensed his personal regret for being a part of it, and genuinely wanting it to be different. So please, stop making this about Trump, but rather how Trump is the culmination of and probably the worst example of dishonesty in government. Trump is not very good at this, making calling him out easy. It is the ones who are very good at this who have used lies to cause the most suffering. That includes every administration that I have lived through-Vietnam, Watergate, Iran-Contra, sex abuse in the White House, ethinc cleansing in the Balkans/Rwanda, Iraq, ACA, IRS abuse, Benghazi, etc. We need victory of principle, not party. Madison told us what factions will do. He was right. We don't seem to care.
3
@TD "The both sides do it" approach to this problem ignores the degree and frequency with which Trump lies and that his lies are setting the entire culture of the nation more towards dishonesty. Much if Trump's lying is designed to either inoculate his followers against any information that Trump doesn't like or it is meant to simply protect his fragile ego from harm. Either way, Trump is a singular phenomenon ......truly
5
@TD W deliberately lied about WMD and destroyed a country. The ACA was not allowed to pass as presented by the Republicans. Yes, there are instances where presidents lied or misrepresented. But Trump is the worst of them all. He has no experience in government and doesn't respect it unless it favours him. The Washington Post tracks his lies and they are numerous. He has caused suffering by his refusal to see the harm.
1
@TDWhat you say is true but no president has lied as much and as routinely as the current POTUS. The writer’s point is valid: corruption starts at the top.
1
Aside from those who work in the Administration who are selling out their integrity to keep their jobs, the media shouldn't be throwing stones either. Why do they continue to even show up at WH press briefings when they know in advance they're going to be blatantly lied to? Why not boycott them until Trump and his mouthpiece Huckabee-Sanders start telling the truth? Why not challenge every statement Trump makes and demand he back it up with facts before printing or broadcasting it? In short, deny this megalomaniac the very thing he wants: attention!
Would this approach be unprecedented? Certainly! But we are living in the most unprecedented of times.
Actually, the constant lying by this administration makes it easy to be an informed voter: just assume that they are always lying. Whatever they say, the opposite is probably the truth. Makes it simple!
1
These administration officials make up a very small % plus there’s Trumps family’s activities too. Barely the tip of a grotesque iceberg that’s not melting anytime soon, unfortunately.
1
What is God's name do you mean by "threatens". There's no threaten about it. They're all lying right now. It's almost a contest as to who can lie the most and the best. So far Sarah seems to be in the lead with Kelly Ann and Donald Jr. and Mike and Rudy and others close behind.
But it's going to get a lot worse because now the entire Republican party has bought into the idea that lying is the way to go in view of Trump's success with it.
So this November in all the political races watch for a tidal wave of Republican lies about their Democratic opponents Many of them will be so bad they'll be positively sickening and one can only hope the media forewarns their audiences that the onslaught is coming and to be prepared for it.
10
And what is both laughable and mind-numbing is that despite the chronic and well-documented falsehoods by Trump, his administration, and the GOP congress, Trump's supporters will still point fingers at Obama and claim he couldn't tell the truth.
When challenged for an example, most will fall back on the oft-repeated nuggets "if you like you doctor, you can keep your doctor" or the one about "57 states."
To his base, the truth matters not...only if there is a Democrat involved.
1
While Trump and his administration have definitely brought lying to an extraordinary level, they did not actually start it or the only one lying. The presence of these people in our government and their lying are made possible because of the many years of lying by the Republican Party, habituating their base to such behavior.
Because the Republican politics is that of perpetually misleading their base, making promises they could not and would not keep, the average working Republican voters find themselves worse off, angry and not understanding why their lives have gotten so bad.
Trump seizes on this anger, manipulates it further and lead the Republican voters and this country down an abyss void of truths and facts.
But Trump and his administration can do this because the GOP supports them in their lying and often times join in.
Lying is the norm of Republican politics these days.
10
Trump's strength is that that comes from racism. Racism is partly based on instinctive feeling (which I do not blame) but mostly on hysterical sentiment shared by mass (which I deplore) and rejects rational persuasion and logical reasoning. Lying is a symptom of racism further obscuring reality which racism already clouds.
Reading below about the common good made me think of John McCain. I was never much of a fan, but it is easy to see how, against the backdrop of our current clown-car administration, he was head and shoulders above the majority of Washington. He was classy and made some great moves and had his heroic history, but also made some tragic blunders of judgment. So, he was one of the last of the true statesman, but in the final analysis, a mediocre one.
My current thought experiment: Imagine how quickly society would re-order itself if your vote counted in inverse proportion to your net worth.
1
I never understood that the President's example is a powerful kind of Permission. The Permission many are taking from Trump's behavior is damaging the whole country: lying is normal, the Press the Enemy of the People, greed and self dealing are fine, US Intelligence is not to be trusted, Putin is more believable than the FBI, and now nominating a Supreme Court justice that thinks the President should be above the law and claiming he is being persecuted by the Deep State and the Russia Investigation is a hoax. So Conspiracy Theories are OK, truth isn't truth, NATO is quaint and America First means Trump never being held to account. We are sliding downhill into darkness. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.
1
I am tired of the review of controversial statements by fact checkers. A thumbs up or a thumbs down, or maybe a little of this and a little of that is not enough. Whether a statement is true or false or a little bit of both is just the beginning. Next, you need to know whether a misstatement was intentional. And then you get to what really matters: WHY are so many lies being told.
With regard to Trump, it could be all about his ignorance. It could be that he believes that controversy works in his favor. It could be his disdain for those affected by his lies. It could be that the lies serve what he thinks is a higher purpose. It may just be that he believes he can get away with it. Or it could be any number of other things.
At the risk of being maliciously quoted, the fact is that lying is not a true-false question. Inquiring minds want to know why they are being lied to, what purpose the lie serves, and why the liar shows disdain for the truth.
A gotcha just won't do the trick. Fact checkers are pedantic. And how many lies are told in 26 days is not thoughtful analysis. When it comes to the number of deaths from Maria, what matters is why Trump evaded the truth when it surely would been easier and more sensible to just say "3,000."
@michjas When I go to a fact checking site, they generally do everything that you claim they should do (weigh and examine the evidence, resulting in a nuanced verdict). Where do you do your fact checking at that only gives a thumbs up or down?
2
Trump lies deliberately or he says things, without checking if they are correct. Trump claimed The US had a large trade deficit with Canada, when in fact it is Canada who has a large trade deficit with the US.
A President needs to be honest in his dealings with Americans and foreign leaders. Instead of checking information, Trump just plucks figures from somewhere, with no factual basis. Let that sink in, that Trump has a problem in dealing with facts.
Trump claimed the tax cuts were bad for him personally, even though it is clear Trump and the mega rich, had tax cuts skewed heavily in their favour.
Now if Trump could release his tax returns, we could check on Trump’s alleged generosity to worthy causes, and if the tax cuts were bad for Trump.
Why does Trump fight facts with fiction? Labelling factual articles he does not like as ‘fake news’, is a disgraceful way to avoid serious discussion on facts.
Trump’s whole Presidency shows loud fiction, can trump facts for 63 million people. Americans should demand their leaders be held to a higher standard, yet Trump continues to lower the office of the President, ever day he is in the White House.
Hucksterism and veracity as opposites in the mindset of the Twitter in charge? The opportunity to create false narratives and equivalencies is a finely honed skill. Not just any rube or boob can fashion tall tales that 30% of Americans ingest as truth.
Sadly, the fractured fairytales approach to governance is Aesop’s dilemma. Tall tales, tweets and trump are the Page Six Presidency and tabloid fodder the Apprentices toolkit.
Lying is part of the job for virtually anyone working at the upper end of any corporation or business in the world. It may be called court room strategy, speaking points, sales and marketing or key messages, but clearly these sophistries have little to do with the truth and everything to do with producing desired outcomes. It is accepted as the norm to the point where advanced level courses are offered in technique at our universities. They're called 'Communications'.
Some take to this like a duck to water, EG Kellyanne, Sarah, Rudy and the Don himself. Some are stressed to the point of breakdown, say James Comey. Others are careful to avoid such lines of work. The law is meant to catch them, or so we tell our children. Hello Brett Kavanaugh.
1
The Republican Party rank has reduced to their most hardcore members who will believe or tolerate any lie that Trump and his people make. This includes all the Evangelical leaders and followers that support Trump. Trump did not just corrupt the people working for him. He has corrupted the souls of at least a third of the country. This corruption will have effect on the country and the world for years to come after Trump is out of office. This is his legacy.
"When the president repeatedly sends the signal that he regards honesty as a handicap, he can quickly drag the whole executive branch down to his level." Yes, most certainly those without integrity, shame, self-respect, self confidence, or those that are delusional. Otherwise, there are jobs aplenty in the economy. Go work someplace else to keep your pride and self respect.
What administration. This is just a gang. They are not really Americans since they try in every instance to undermine the principles of our Constitution. So many of the cabinet members are simply there because they paid for the job-like the Sec. of Education. And we cannot let go unsaid the the Sec. of HUD and Energy are totally incompetent. Or how about old Wilber who just cheated his partners of 120 million-Lets not forget 2 of the cabinet members who left in disgrace. In the end this is not an Administration-its just a gang-more dangerous them MS13.
3
Editorial Board: why even bother talking about Trump's lying? It's obvious from reading the commentator responses to most reporting about Trump's dishonesty, recklessness and incompetence, his supporters couldn't care less. They go along because they know Trump is giving the finger to liberals. This is more important than any real public policy successes or even making their own lives better.
It's also important to recognize that the right-wing, propaganda Media led by FOX News and Rush Limbaugh are a fearsome weapon in the war against the truth.
2
When I catch someone in a significant lie, I immediately lose all respect for them and disassociate myself from them. Life is too short to put up with lies.
No country can survive if the public discourse is infected by mendacity, lying and double-speak. This was one of the main reasons for the collapse of the USSR: people got fed up with the incessant torrent of lies that made it impossible to understand what was real and what was fake. Vaclav Havel, a writer and the first president of post-communist Czech Republic, wrote eloquently about the importance of honesty and truth in politics. Trump’s mendacity is on a par with the worst excesses of East European socialism (though he does not have its finesse or its long practice). But lies and dishonesty are not limited to the GOP. Bernie Sanders’ campaign was based on falsehoods and half-truths. Lies, or at least distortions, are ubiquitous in the liberal social media in relation to such issues as the nature of radical Islam, the crisis in Venezuela, or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unless truth, no matter how inconvenient, is respected by all sides, the USA may follow the USSR onto the dust-heap of history.
It may take a while but as these people make little to no effort to hide their lies, they're starting to catch up with them.
Those designed to hide crimes will be punished in the courts and that has already started to happen. Those told for political purposes are being documented and they will be punished at the polls in November.
This administration is a chaotic dishonest disaster that gets worse by the day. This time next week things will be even worse after a bunch of clueless old white men disgrace themselves yet again by attacking a woman simply because she's inconvenient They couldn't care less whether or not she's telling the truth because it doesn't matter to them.
But it does with the majority of Americans and we will be voting in November. On Wednesday, November 7th there's going to be a lot of defeated Republicans playing golf. You can bet they'll be cheating on their scorecards.
3
For relief try a Randy Rainbow or Parody Project video.
Laughing helps fight the despair of the immoral new normal.
Then check your voter registration and locate your polling place, please.
“The first casualty when war comes is truth” said Hiram Johnson a progressive Republican Senator from California in reference to WW1. In the mad world of Trump the first casualty of peace is truth.
What scares us even more is the way the religious evangelical set has ignored this this lying. Bearing ‘false witness’ should have them up in arms, especially with this consistency.
6
"The truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God, Mr. Kavanaugh."
God will not help him, but he will help himself.
8
With all due respect, the rotting of all the president's men, and the nation, over time, is not unexpected at all.
Trump was elected by Russian ATTACKS (not merely meddling) as president.
Being an anti intellectual and a liar, was one of the reasons Russia, and many in his cult like base continue to follow and emulate him.
At the risk is stating the obvious, our midterm elections are still being hacked, polling companies are being hacked, and even 11-year olds can/are hacking voting machines in all 50 states, and easily change voting tallies/results in a minute or less.
It is not far fetched that to shore up the Russian and Chinese ongoing hacking of our elections, his only job, and that of folks in his administration, is to continue sowing doubt and chaos through consistent lies, unbridled corruption and wild misinformation...
The Trump Repulicans have probably been promised the Midterms, or a sliver of a loss at the very very worst.
The lies from the members of this administration, and Trump himself, WILDLY foster the goal of hostile nations, to retain this escalating Trumpian type decay of our republic.
Again, the whole deal depends on people believing the lie, or worse, not caring.
As long as people eat the narrative being built up, there is no real way to stop the behavior. Anyone who challenges a narrative immediately is "fake news" "Liberal elite" or just biased. They are trying to take stuff away from you and give it to someone else, most likely someone you loathe.
Geobbels taught us the reward for lying was everything. It is easier than integrity and simple to accomplish: shout louder and more frequently than the other guy, and no one will care that the Emperor is naked.
So sure they lie. If they can lie about Maria, then no one will look too closely at Harvey, and the downstream effects of that storm. Or any storm for that matter. Lying is effective, cheap and easy.
It isn't going to stop unless we vote it out of office.
1
They don’t care if he lies, obviously.
Truth has never been Donald Trump’s forte, and birds of a feather flock together. Their heads must be spinning though, trying to figure out day to day logistics, because siphoning lies isn’t always easy. Sarah Huckabee Sanders must be exhausted by the time she walks up to the afternoon podium.
In the meanwhile, we taxpayers just keep pouring our money into their salaries. So we’re, too, dragged in and part of the circus.
3
I beg to tell this “paper of record” that some of your own reporters seem to be more “scribes” than “independent thinkers” when it comes to reporting the news these days.
Even your own employees appear to be cooperating with a bent administration - in an effort to maintain their access to sources.
Please - stand up for the truth - even if it hurts! Trump’s lying and criminality must be exposed, not catered to.
7
Given a choice of believing Trump or my lying ears, I'll stick with my lying ears. I long ago stopped believing anything this reality show president says, and that applies to his cabinet, his press secretary and all the others who lie on his behalf. He may have Fox News as his Pravda, but most of us sensible folk have the New York Times, the Washington Post and more believable TV news outlets to counter the propaganda.
14
"Threatens to" infect his entire administration? I think we're long past that point.
3
It isn't just the entire administration (and the entire Republican Party) that has engaged in a culture of lying openly and deliberately. It is also his "base," who have caught the fever of being bare-faced liars. In this paper the comments section on Hurricane Florence contained comments that there was no flooding and only "an inch of rain." There was no point to this lie, it was made just because it could be made. One third of this country have now become habitual liars as well as almost an entire political party. We have never seen anything like this and it is impossible to see where it will lead and if it will last forever. President Trump and his believers seem to think that endless lies are harmless.
3
The lying that is prevalent in the executive branch is now threatening to spread to the judicial brach, as Mr. Kavanaugh increasingly appears to be a liar too.
We can not blame Mr. Trump alone for the assault our democracy is currently under. Every American citizen who fails to vote this November will have to share in that blame.
3
Trump's administration is a house of cards, built on a foundation of lies. Trump, himself, seems incapable of telling the truth about virtually anything, or sticking to one story (almost always a lie) without replacing it with another story (again, almost always a lie). He insists, further, that his entire administration serves him, not the American people, and that therefore they must support his continually shifting lies.
Aside from the obvious issue, which is why anyone believes him or his shills (Sanders, of course, is the prototype shill), and how the GOP actually continues to keep a straight face, the real problem is the extent to which his incessant lying and the shameless support of his shills has debased our national discussion. What is there to talk about with someone who lies all the time? What is there to say to someone who -- knowingly, but without acknowledging it -- repeats those lies or remains silent when it's time to tell the truth about them?
We have lost the fundamental currency of political discussion -- truth. In so doing, we are doing nothing but talking at cross purposes and getting mired in lies and deceit.
All the Trump side kicks you mentioned, are still in job which proves how much Trump admires lies, dishonesty and corruption. It seems only hope America has is the election on November 6th, 2018 to stop and eliminate this cancer.
1
So far, Trump lies numerous times a day. Nothing negative happens to him and his base sticks with him. There are no consequences for our lying President. So, why wouldn’t his Cabinet and the Republicans lie too? It has been working so well for Trump! It is stunning to see how low these people have sunk. Lower than a snake’s belly, as my grandfather used to say. Somehow, they have ignored their consciences and morals. Or, perhaps they never had any. How they can call the Republican Party a party of conservative values is laughable.
Now, we’re getting word that there is another Kavanaugh accuser, and that’s why there was such a frantic rush to confirm him. Here’s the deal. If something having to do with Republicans seems suspicious, it’s because it is. When it comes to Republicans and Trump it’s starting to be “guilty until proven innocent.”
1
"While scandalous, this kind of behavior is also depressingly predictable."
And the fact that we pay these people is predictably depressing.
3
When did we ver say,”....to save our democracy?” WWII, but the enemy was obvious. It wasn’t from within. This is madness. The Republican part in effect has become the enemy! The two party system of our democracy is in chaos.
4
As for the plague of dishonesty that Mr. Trump has inflicted on this White House-- Let's not forget that the first thing Mr. Kavanaugh did, directly after his nomination, was tell a lie. He told us that the president had carried out the broadest search ever for a Supreme Court nominee. In fact, the president selected Kavanaugh from the short list of names given to him by the rightwing Federalist Society. Mr. Gorsuch was selected from that same list.
Here, for your convenience, is Kavanaugh's lie:
“No president has ever consulted more widely, or talked with more people from more backgrounds, to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination.”
1
If this Fake President’s ceaseless lying, in addition to his venal Administration’s acquired habit of also spreading falsehoods, were a physical disease, the C.D.C. would have already sounded the alarm bells of a dangerous health epidemic gripping the country. Not only the Executive Branch has been defiled by this unprecedented disregard for truth, but also his compromised, sycophantic Republican Congress. If Trump is not stopped, and soon, this morally revolting, unethical contagion will further continue to affect the general population, including our younger and impressionable generations.
Don’t think for a single second that the individuals who hate the others are somehow the bad people.
No, they are not. They are just very incompetent and of extremely limited abilities.
It takes the enormous confidence, the intellectual strength and openness, the courage and the great mind to focus on the really important things to be able to love the entire world.
Thus all those hateful people are just the victims. They are mentally incapable of loving such a wide variety of the people. They can only focus their minds and affection on a tiny segment of the entire population.
Do we have the right to be dismissive toward the intellectually handicapped individuals, as if they personally wouldn’t like to be better, stronger, smarter and more loving humans?
Not all the humans are blessed with such a gift…
Does being elected as the US president bestow all those qualities upon you?
What would he give if he just were able to love and protect at least all the fellow Americans…
Didn’t he swear to care for all of us?
It’s not that he won’t but just can’t…
My wife and I have decided we are just living in opposites world. He is not lying he just says the opposite of the truth every time he opens his mouth. "I have the best cabinet" "We did a great job in Puerto Rico" "North Korea is no longer a threat". See its just opposites administration. If you look at it that way he is "the most truthful" president ever!
1
Trump's lying was a threat to our government during his campaign and once he was elected he became a clear and present danger to our national interest.
The fact that he has been allowed to remain in office is a testament to the weaknesses in our system of government that prevents the removal of this dangerous psychopath. That weakness must be remedied at congress' earliest opportunity tp ensure that this never happens again.
We became used to our president lying to us back in the '60's but what we've got going on now isn't as much lying as it is Trump Fanfiction.
1
Acorns don’t fall far from trees, and a rotten apple ruins the whole barrel. There’s a reason old saws become old saws. And the folks you have pointed out are only the tip of the iceberg. Donald has played the dozens his entire life, and the people who voted for him detested Hilary to the point they found him acceptable. They knew what they were getting, and a pox on both parties for not fielding candidates of better quality. Think, people.
Did the lying start with Trump or did it start with Fox News?
Is it a cancer that has been infecting Americans for decades?
It's well known that Trump has been lying forever. He brags about it in his books and in interviews. He was a known package. That is who was elected by a majority of the Electoral College.
What's more insidious are those that lie just to make points with Trump. One wonders - have they always been liars, like Trump? Or is this something that they have acquired in order to keep their jobs. Is working at the White House that amazing that folks will debase themselves?
Someday, when they are all in jail, I would love to see them forced to listen to an endless loop of their lies and changing stories.
2
This American carnage stops right here and stops right now. Who knew we would be referring to those carnage days as the good old days?
1
"Threatens to infect?" I'm afraid that ship has sailed. In the Trump administration and the Trump Party, "truth isn't truth. Facts and science are not to be believed if it makes you look bad. Sexual misconduct and infidelity is just "boys being boys" and should have no consequences. Accumulating money justifies everything. And of course, wealthiness is close to godliness.
1
The fears readers express on the effects of continuous, endemic, pathological lying have already set in and are now reproducing like a cancer. The bleach blond don lies like most people breathe, and as a result, so do his minions. They can't even keep their lies straight. "Don't believe what you see and what you hear," he said. Every day is beyond belief.
15
This article could be titled, "A fish rots from the head down."
There is a smell of moral rot coming from the White House and extending to all whom it touches.
Did you ever notice that if you stay in room with a bad smell, after while, you don't notice it? It is only when you leave the room and return that the full power of that odor hits you.
3
I think the country has suffered enough from this 'truth-challenged' president and his 'fact-challenged' cabinet.
In about 23 months this president has told the American people more than 2000 lies. Beginning with the January 2017 inauguration audience size to August 2018 and the number of people killed in Puerto Rico by hurricane Maria.
It's getting late on the East Coast so I'll make this short.
There seems to be very little truth coming from this president or his White House. If we, the American People, are struggling with the honesty of our 'leaders' what must the rest of the world be thinking.
@Lalo Writing from Hong Kong, I can tell you that I have only once encountered a Trump supporter here, and he was an outright racist. It is received wisdom here that Trump is a dangerous clown and the GOP a bunch of greedy, self-interested enablers. Admiration for the US is dead and gone.
@Philippe Thank you for your reply.
Most people here that I know are trying to fight back against the constant lies and drama from trump.
Either through the media, court battles, support for a democrat congress or demonstrations in the streets people here are actively working for restorative political change to recapture the American ideals of human rights, justice, equality, and peace. Thank you
President Trump has no right to criticize the fake news because exactly the corrupt billionaires like him inflicted the enormous harm upon our free press.
The damages are extremely deep, serious, and structural. Are those reversible? It doesn’t depend on the presidents, the billionaires and the editors but solely upon us - the citizens, the residents, the users and the buyers.
The big business targeted the free press several years ago, bought the media outlets for cash and fully controlled ever since. The owners have the right to hire the editors and the smart ones always find the way to politely explain to the young journalists what the preferred worldviews are, thus there is the day-and-night difference between the CNN or FOX NEWS reporting.
It seems almost a half of the newspapers and the programming content are the outright lies. It’s called the advertisement and has the sole purpose of brainwashing you into being addicted to the fast food, soda, beer, wine, drugs, celebrities, professional sport, gambling...
If you don’t remember, let me remind all of us - “you deserve it and you are entitled to pursue the personal happiness equated to the advertised corporate products…”
That’s why it’s being reported for weeks now that he most important national matter is whether some drunk teenager grabbed equally incapacitated girl at some wild party three decades ago.
This president has been telegraphing that misbehavior and misspeaking are fun and profitable. Why not just say anything? Who cares? Have at it. This has been the drumbeat of his amorality from the beginning.
Don’t fall for this trap.
Do the right thing even when the wind blows wrong.
3
"When the president repeatedly sends the signal that he regards honesty as a handicap, he can quickly drag the whole executive branch down to his level."
Nielsen, Zinke, Sanders, Ross, Long. It's hard to see how Trump is dragging any of these folks down. More likely he has simply given them an opportunity to freely express their true inner selves. These buffoons are kindred souls to Trump chosen for their moral compatibility. No one needs to worry about further corrupting them.
During his campaign trump showed his racism, acted like a bully, (the NY times did a 2 page spread of all the people he insulted), told hundreds of lies, showed his distaste for several government agencies and their oversight, said climate change was a hoax and more.
Half of us knew from day one this man was no leader! I can say with 100% certainty if he had offered me a job, no matter how much money, I would not have taken it. These people were already corrupted, already had no moral ground or they would have looked for a leader not a bully boss.
3
I appreciated the detailed observations about the contagious lying, but because this behavior was evident from Day One - (Sean Spicer on crowd size is a prime example) - I wish the NYT could have adjusted it's habitually deferential tone toward the Presidency two years ago, to more accurately reflect this new regime that was so outrageously out of bounds. It was scary and depressing to see the media take so very long to openly acknowledge how bad it really was and is. And why not take it further, and move on from the word "lie", to the word "disinformation"? Clint Watts wrote an interesting book about the current Administration using Soviet propaganda techniques. The European press have serious guidelines for use in managing right wing jargon, employed as a matter of course. That Europe knows first hand about the horrors of fascism clearly has a lot to do with their cautious attitudes, but not everything. Couldn't your headlines and reporting reflect more honestly the obvious truth of what we are now living under? There is a daily barrage of dangerous junk from the Administration, their surrogates, and many GOP politicians, pushing Kremlin ideology and (potentially) "sowing discord". Certainly the naive base is thoroughly brainwashed by now, and the more repetitions, the more brainwashed they become. They parrot foolish Trumpian catch-phrases like trained seals. Even I found myself waking up one morning with the words "No collusion!" in my head! Things are different now.
1
The lying will never stop if the press let’s him get away with it. If you never confront the liar, it will never end. NYT and other need to do their job. Your over reliance on anonymous sources needs to stop.
Anyone working for Trump is permanently stained. History won't be kind, to state the obvious.
Is any Trump careerist working for the interests of the United States?
Try to name one.
A combo of wacky and crazy, mixed with vanity, and greed.
Not to mention all the lies about contacts with Russians, lies on security clearance and disclosure forms and in front of Congressional committees and FROM Congressional committees (looking at you Rep Nunes). Dishonest, underhanded, corrupt. And it's our government. It's disorienting and unprecedented.
1
Trump expresses himself with the affect and exaggerated language of the working class, while his critics hold him to the communication standards of the professional class. Despite their lack of education, the working class is very aware of this and unrepentant. The professional class (and those aspiring) consider this prideful ignorance and ugly. In this case, the human need for dignity doesn't seem to factor in much... unless those humans bear little physical resemblance. Such patronage by those afraid of social falling is a little ugly, in it's own right. The perils of seeing the world in black and white.
Sorry - patronization, not patronage (and its, not it's)... I was at capacity with this one.
Have you seen a pattern yet? Can you point to one good thing that Trump has done?
New Yorkers know a con when they see one. Those of us from NY know that Trump has been lying since he was born. We knew what kind of president we were going to get. We shuddered at the thought of a President Trump. That's why we didn't vote for him.
12
Trump chooses the people around him carefully. None of them can have any value, any intelligence, any capacity to oppose or support him. Andrew Sullivan wrote an excellent column about lesson's learned from reading Plato’s Republic: "...the tyrant must gradually do away with all of them, if he’s going to rule, until he has left neither friend nor enemy of any worth whatsoever.”
Only when there is no one left with a single shred of value will Trump have what he needs in place: toadies, lackeys, yes men, liars, thieves willing to pay him tribute and slaves to their own addiction to power. With help from his crack media squad he has gotten rid of the single greatest Russian spy catcher in FBI history (Strzok) and is gunning for Bruce Ohr, a government lawyer with a knack for helping the Feds arrest and convict Russian mobsters. Cui bono? Who benefits? Putin, his master. Who objects? No one. As long as their 401ks are up, the citizenry will go along with it. As long as he controls the most popular media, he can get them to believe he is doing it for them. There was a Married With Children episode where Peg Bundy wins time with a private trainer. Within weeks, she turns him into a fat, out of breath bon-bon eating couch potato. Trump's is the "Peg Bundy Presidency." Everyone who serves it is greatly, perhaps even fatally, diminished.
Not only that, but other country's leaders and spokes-persons are echoing his toxic rhetoric.
5
Trump's lying is contagious but so are his incitements to violent behavior. All over the nation unstable people feel freed to take their frustrations out on those around them in word face to face or on the internet or in person in the mall. But like a TV show: the actions and language are being copied by people up and down the social scale, and in Florida you only need to claim to be defending yourself to get off for murdering a neighbor! What a country.
5
““If a ruler listens to lies,
all his officials become wicked.” Proverbs 29:12
Everything old is new again...
Whatever.
His lying got him this far - he's not stopping.
The Republican party has based its political strategy on distorted talking-points, and military-grade propaganda.
From the "liberal media"; to "judicial activism"; to "welfare queens"; to "evolution being unproven"; to "regulations hinder business", to "there is no global warming"; to the nonsense about a war on christmas. All distortions and lies.
Republicans have substituted Talking Points for Honest Debate. And like the brain-dead cult they are, the "traditional" republican goes along because that's how cult members behave.
A cult of the deliberately ignorant. Republicans.
This editorial gets things backwards. People chosen by this administration are liars to begin with. Lying is always a troubling part of politics. As Obama himself said, politicians have always lied, it is just that in the past they were embarrassed when caught in a lie. Trump isn't. He literally brags about his lying. Everyone who goes to work for him knows this and accepts it.
3
When the boss lies, one may be inclined to go along in the beginning, but if it persists confronting the lie and liar is the basis of all functioning organizations. Human beings have a history of accepting kings in the past, who dictated their reality and we followed. Most recently we have observed governments annihilate populations when the ruler differed with them or required scapegoats to provide cover for the ruler’s failure. Now we are confronted by Trump, who was able to sweep aside Republican competition because they were all compromised. They could not stand up to Trump because they participated in extraordinary lies. Trump’s birther movement was enjoyed and exploited by Republicans. Overt racist tropes, anti-Muslim bigotry, male supremacist disenfranchisement of women, and delusional misrepresentations of the ACA trapped them all in the Republican lie that Trump used to silence them.
Trump is not the pathological lying boss. No. He is very dangerous to world order, trade, peace and to “domestic tranquility”. There is no need to “cast about” for what Trump means. He openly threatens violence if he loses the next election.
Trump is not normal, his supporters and the Republican establishment who exploit him are profoundly immoral and malevolent. All of their “policy changes” are fundamentally a usurpation of democracy. Treaties, agreements, alliances, Constitutional guarantees, law, division of powers, human rights, and gender equality are subject to Trump’s whims?
1
If the GOP has taught us anything it is the truth doesn't really matter!
2
Everyone in the Trump administration is tainted and unemployable in the future. They are public servants who don’t serve the public
Brock Long knows that Puerto Rican’s died due to lack of access to medical care, clean water and administration apathy. Trump didn’t care about brown people who can’t vote for him so the public servants who work for him went along.
I would never hire or work for anyone who worked in the Trump administration
Would you?
3
The question should be: why does half the population of America not care?
Well these are some of the "best people" Trump knows. Think about how bad it might be for the country if he appointed the worst people he knows? And from everything we know about Trump, he knows a lot of the worst people, being one himself.
Tongue in cheek comments aside, these people are a reflection of the Republicans in Congress and THEIR voters. These people just don't care about the corruption and lying, or the danger to our country...these people are some of the worst people Trump knows.
This!
Lying, self-dealing, breaking of norms and ethics, appointments without adequate vetting, policies that destroy families, healthcare.
We’re becoming a laughingstock and a parody of everything this nation has stood for.
I am ashamed. I am disgusted. I am 73 and wish I had a way to flee to another country. Can you believe it?
3
Brock Long's decision to support Trump's lies about the deaths in Puerto Rico are particularly unfortunate given that the person responsible for preventing them was... drum roll... himself!
Take for instance Brett Kavanaugh's bizarre statement at the occasion of his nomination: “No president has ever consulted more widely, or talked with more people from more backgrounds, to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination." This is classic Trump. Its a lie, but its also propaganda in that it is the exact opposite of the truth. That the judge could so effortlessly and gratuitously make such a statement should give us all pause about what he is willing to do for a promotion and how he might handle awesome power once its handed to him.
64
I recently read an interview in The Sun literary magazine undertaken with Cornell West. He stated, "And then you have Trump and others who came in with pseudopopulist language and are tied to Big Money and thoroughly lack integrity. Trump has made mendacity a way of life. He has made lying seem normal. That is his way of being in the world. ...We are living in a very bleak moment".
I am disheartened and very worried for our country. I am saddened when I think about the courageous, stalwart, sacrificing people who came before, and though flawed at times, thought of more than themselves.
46
This op ed piece highlights a critical problem that will erode public confidence in government and lead to increasing corruption. In countries where corruption is rampant, it becomes so endemic, that it is almost impossible to control. If the leadership of government departments lack ethics, it is going to trickle down to the rank and file. Soon, there will be little confidence in government. Of course, many would argue that may be intentional. Weaken the state and transfer power to oligarchs and large corporations.
30
If Republican candidates told the truth of what policies they would actually like to enact, there is no way they could gain a majority of votes in an election in most districts of our country. The lying starts there.
28
@Frank Agreed. A plus here with the GOP driving the toppling cart is the revelation of their true colors, whether defunding healthcare, dismantling immigration processes, or going full Scrooge on the global poor and displaced. They have suffered under the full light of their policies in the last two years.
11
Perhaps most worrying to me is how this affects other elected officials and the people who elect them. Once we accept that the president lies constantly, that becomes normalized to some extent, no matter how conscious we are of it. By comparison, the politician who tells only a handful of egregious lies per month looks reasonable. We can also justify the occasional lie from our side, or, at least, are more likely to defend lies from "our" politicians, because of who we are defending our politicians from. It's incredibly corrosive to our country and I don't see a single Republican who is doing anything about it.
39
@Max Farthington The Republicans who currently "serve" in every state legislature and in congress have shown Americans and the world that they do not care about a single thing except keeping their seats and enriching themselves. They've been lying to their constituents for years, promising to care about their bad schools and bullet wounds and to represent them while knowing full well they will not. They don't care about anyone's future but their own, and all appear to be using magical thinking to separate their fates from everyone else's, at least when it comes to the climate. They chose and support Republican President Trump, whose lies push theirs off the front pages, and I hope they have tied their fates to his so that when he destroys himself, he takes them all with him.
1
Trump’s constant lying is not only contagious, but also corrosive to our democracy. Truth is the glue that holds our system of government together at the executive, legislative and judicial levels. By playing fast and loose with the truth, the Trump administration is losing credibility not only at home, but also jeopardizing our nation’s reputation in the world – amongst allies as well as with our enemies – as friends start doubting us and our foes stop fearing us.
While the contagion has spread among members of the Cabinet, let’s not forget that it has also seeped into the current judicial nominations process. Many Democratic senators have expressed concern that Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, has not been truthful in some of his answers to the Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearings. If truth is not sacrosanct to a nominee for the highest court in the land, then justice loses its essence.
Trump pretty much lives in a reality of his own making – a world in which the media is not the fourth estate, but the enemy of the people. As the NYT Editorial Board has illustrated, the Trump administration cannot distinguish between its reality (“alternative facts”) and the truth. I would encourage the Trump administration to read my short essay, “Top 10 Differences Between Truth and Reality,” so it can understand why truth matters.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-10-differences-between-truth-reality-...
16
@Jack Nargundkar
Nice read. Doubt many in the trump administration will read or care.
" a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest".
I hope we can get passed the present reality.
It is too bad that we cannot ask President Johnson who put his heart and soul into the voting rights act of 1965 what he might think of Mr. Ross' preferred addition to the census questionaire.
7
When as a child I was caught in a lie, my mother washed my mouth out with soap - such was the commitment to honesty. We've gotten past that but I'm not sure why.
21
@bob ranalli
No soap, but my mother would glare at me with her big, dark eyes and the truth would come pouring out.
We're approaching this all wrong, thinking he cares about something like credibility. I don't think he cares whether we believe him or not. He's supremely indifferent to any issue of credibility. He's talking to his loyal base; and they don't care whether he's lying or not, as long as he says what they want to hear.
I saw an analysis of the recent Russian media interview with the Salisbury poisoning suspects. The interview was preposterous: it had no credibility whatsover. The point made in the article was that it wasn't intended to be credible; it was intended to show the West that Russia doesn't care whether we believe them or not. Its purpose was to show Russian defiance against the West.
I suspectTrump and his cohorts are doing something very similar, and when we take them seriously we are merely playing into their hands. Their point is to show they don't care one iota whether we believe them or not. In that I think we can say they've been successful.
308
The people in this Administration are bound to constantly provide multiple stories because they are constantly lying to appease their bosses. If they told the truth, they may be fired but they wouldn't have to remember what they said the first, second or third time. As Twain allegedly said "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."
12
Well Trump didn't start the lying as a matter of policy. Nor did he originate the lying embodied in swift boating. Or the lies to start wars with countries that had nothing to do with attacks on the US on 9/11.
Nixon gave lying legitimacy among Republicans. Demonstrated its effectiveness. Eliminated the quality of truth as from "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" to replaced by win at all costs, the ends justify the means.
Republicans: proudly lying since 1969!
22
Bravo. Such an accomplishment. Wars and anger.
1
I would think that any observer of the daily comings and goings in this administration could not but wonder about the psyche of people in positions of responsibility under Trump, especially those who sacrifice their reputations in defense of his patently false statements and psudo-policies.
But the sort of relish with which the board in this Opinion juxtaposes the facts at its command to expose the devil's deal these "soldiers" seem to have made, while entertaining, is unbecoming -- it just falls short of seriousness. And what's being described is, after all, a pretty serious situation.
Our president may consider lying as a strategy for governance, and may give appointees no choice but to improvise lies of their own in his defense, but how about some insight into why these people make that devil's deal? I mean, these are actual people. Or even more importantly, how about having an opinion as to why so many Americans are ok with government via "alternate facts," and what can be done to correct those conditions in our society that rendered "alternate facts" acceptable?
At this point, we need more than laughter through our tears.
17
Trump has no honor. None.
His complete lack of honor saturates all those who work for him.
Part of the proof is evidenced by his and their belief that they work for him, not us.
People withour honor endanger us all.
Restore our honor.
Vote, November 6th.
44
Times: "Mr. Long was dismissing their [GWU's hurricane mortality estimate] methodology in his quest to support Mr. Trump’s tale of political victimhood."
Unless someone on the editorial board is a mind-reader, there is no way to reliably determine Long's motives.
As for the "methodology", that is indeed possible to criticize, and it should be.
GWU's population "estimates" are reported to the exact number of "inhabitants". No census of 3 million people could possibly be that accurate:
"We estimate that in mid-September 2017 there were 3,327,917 inhabitants and in mid-February 2018 there were 3,048,173 inhabitants of Puerto
Rico, ..."
2
All the lying is reminiscent of the frauds perpetrated by the Soviet Union on it's citizens. The Soviet Union claimed it had the cleanest air on the planet; Donald Trump recently said in Las Vegas that the US has the cleanest air on the planet. Both claims are obvious lies. In the Soviet Union universal pay raises were celebrated with a day off and free vodka. To their dismay people found out the next day that all the prices had gone up as well; Trumps big tax reform was celebrated as giving American consumers more spending money. It now turns out that the tariffs act as just another tax, negating the effects. As history has proved over and over again, lying will only get you so far.
18
A fish rots from the head first.
"For a long time I have not said what I believed, nor do I ever believe what I say, and if indeed sometimes I do happen to tell the truth, I hide it among so many lies that it is hard to find." - Machiavelli
27
Would anything change if we brought back and ENFORCED the "fairness doctrine" in the media which ended in the Reagan era. After all, this is when hate radio with Limbaugh characters began their raid on reality using the Soviet era tactics big time on the American people.
39
Readers to the NYT are well aware of the facts, however to correct the trajectory of the country, it is not the promotion of facts that has to change, rather it is the story. Historians will tell you facts get in the way of a great story.
What is needed today is a compelling narrative that people can aspire to, delivered by a leader with a clear vision. Drop social media as a source of news, rely on it only for pictures of distant family, maybe even for some innane cat videos. Pluck the facts from responsible sources, sources that will admit when they are wrong. Hang the facts on that uplifting story and once again become the country leading the world.
We pay for quality in our food, clothing when selecting personal purchases. Treat information the same way, a small price to pay.
22
Might as well add to this list the President's overall record as the 'world's healthiest person' as described by his former Naval physician.
These examples almost make Jeff Sessions stand out to be as a profile in courage.
Funny if it weren't so sadly true. More's the pity.
Vote.
37
Perpetual lying is a papering over of everything coming from a completely different intent. We can see this.
My vote is going to go to those who want to approach things differently and have a track record of doing so. Some planning for the changes coming from globalization would have been a lifeline for those displaced from its impact.
6
The Hurricane Maria study claiming 3000 people died as a result of the storm may be accurate to some degree, but it is a study that attempts to impose a new standard on how fatalities are calculated in the aftermath of a storm. Similar studies do not exist for other storms like Sandy or Harvey, and we therefore, have no way to compare storm impact or response to the Maria study. The Maria study was initiated by the Governor of Puerto Rico for the express purpose of fully evaluating the effect on the storm. There was some political and financial motivation there that is pretty easy to see. The storm was devastating, but much of the aftermath can be attributed to the poor state of Puerto Rico’s infrastructure prior to the storms of that year and a seemingly lame effort by Puerto Rican official to implement relief and rebuilding efforts post the storm. Attempting to lay this all at the Trump administration’s feet is blatant political spin.
2
@Mark V
This is basic epidemiology! It’s nothing new.
Concur on Zinke. If one watched the confirmation hearings for Zinke and compared it to his actions since assuming office, it is clear he was deceptive and answering with falsehoods during the confirmation hearings.
31
The GOP has left American values and character based leadership on a bus stop bench. Trump is at the head of the anti-character Russo-Republican regime, but people like Cornyn and McConnell have been amazing in their willingness to give away their personal integrity. It will take a generation to undo the damage, but the initial historical accounting is nigh. This will be viewed by US historians as a period where truth and justice in America took a dive for a payout.
130
@Agilemind
What integrity??
The GOP has long ago abandoned integrity and has been morally bankrupt for at least two decades.
@Agilemind
Well said except: Cornyn and McConnell ". . . give away their personal integrity."? A thorough review of their careers in the Senate and House should disabuse you and others of the notion there was much if any left to give away.
1
@Agilemind
I admire your optimism, but am curious to know what makes you think the damgage will ever be "undone"? Many historical events show that damage can be permanent (genocides, for example). More likely, the US will become as feudalistic as most of the rest of the world.
Of course. Is this not in the campaign textbook for these people, likely including Supreme Court nominees? Instructions seem to be that if caught, vigorously deny. If forced to testify, plead loss of memory. To be perfectly fair, members of both parties have faithfully followed this method, but the current DT/GOP crowd has honed it to a not-so-fine art. November cannot come soon enough.
81
Life is a series of snapshots, and the picture that we’re seeing is vividly clear, while at the same time, intentionally misleading. Trump, for all intents and purposes, has created a government by “verbal photoshop,” where we can’t believe what we hear.
The entire issue of lying goes beyond the federal government and Trump’s acolytes. It invades our culture and signals anyone with ears that prevarication is not only ok, but also justifiable and defensible.
To the extent that presidents are role models, the example being set by Trump and his entire administration is one that can have lasting consequences across a broad spectrum of circumstances. It starts with shaking confidence in our leaders and our government, not only at home but also abroad. It defines downward America’s place in the world, and it’s not a pretty picture.
Say “cheese,” America. The whole world is watching.
121
Coupla thoughts.
First, there is more than one kind of “lying”. Trump does it reflexively, superficially and instinctively in his own way to “sell” something. Others selectively filter and analyze information for their own purposes, while offering the smile of the assassin about to slip a shiv between your ribs. It’s an interesting question which is the more dangerous form of “lying”.
Secondly, why should we rationally expect to get our broken and frozen politics moving again after as a people we cahooted to break and freeze them … WITHOUT paying a significant price to do so? The price is that we must tolerate the KIND of lider who demonstrates the ability to get us moving again. In 1933 and Germany, that was Hitler, and in the U.S. in 1932 it was FDR. In 2016 it was Trump. Multitudes believe that all three choices (although Hitler’s was an appointment after losing an election) brought unhealthy results, but many believed that some good came of those choices. Each of those leaders had their ways of getting things done.
Lying as a general matter is not something we teach our children is a virtue. But the birds do it, the bees do it, even journals of record do it in their own way, and it’s not productive to point to it one-sidedly as the end of being and ideal grace when the liar is getting the trains to run on time again and putting food again on families’ tables.
Yet it can’t be surprising that members of an administration take direction from the guy (or gal) at the top.
2
@Richard Luettgen
A major problem with the Trump brand of lying is that it's continuing to sell myths that impede rational approaches to real systemic problems. Automation, for example, will continue to eliminate manufacturing jobs. Blaming other countries merely illustrates the Trump Administration's myopia. Continued failure to think in long-term solutions in order to deliver wish-list items to the factions of Trump's electoral coalition will prove terribly painful when the coming contraction inevitably arrives.
100
@Richard Luettgen
"Hitler’s was an appointment after losing an election"
Conceptually, so was Trump's. Roosevelt, on the other hand, won the popular vote by nearly twenty percent. It's an interesting distinction (albeit arguably less interesting than trying to defend Trump's unprecedented aversion to the truth by comparing him favorably to Hitler, but, straw-clutching is always tough), and one rather pertinent to a nation borne of democratic ideals.
Persisting with the false equivalents of "everybody lies" is likewise disingenuous. It appears to have even made you believe that the economy was bad in 2016 and that it has somehow done more than simply proceed along the same course since.
The Trump Administration managed not to botch the tax cuts the GOP Congress had prepared and postpone or reexamine Obama Era regulatory protections in the hope of superficially goosing GDP numbers; but, those gains are not sustainable. Wages, even with low unemployment, are not keeping up with inflation. Deficit reductions during the preceding Administration have been annihilated. Consumer confidence numbers reflect both the knowledgeable who were confident in 2016 and the ignorant who simply refused to see the reality of eight years of steady recovery.
(Cont)
1
@Richard Luettgen
I don't think hat Trump believes his lies. He has made a living as a real estate huckster, and a media huckster, and lying has worked for him.
But the hyperbole that we see in his public utterances haven't made it into policy. This administration has actually been very effective, if one takes the time to read the Federal Register.
Trump's manipulation of the media has been both epic and masterful, constantly focusing them on his silly tweets and distracting them from the administration's actions.
Contrast with both Bill and Hillary Clinton, who are pathological liars. They don't believe their lies either. But that's because a pathological liar does not perceive a lie when uttered. They say with a straight face and conviction, whatever is required to achieve their goal. Truth is an undefined term to a pathological liar.
The second case, is the far more sinister type of liar.
I'll take Trump's lies over the Clintons any day.
1
There's one question about the fatality figure for Hurricane Maria that someone should be able to clear up.
Taking a single methodology, such as GWU's, how does that figure compare with the figures for Katrina and other disasters? Or, starting from the accepted figures for those disasters and using the methodology that produced them, what is the comparable figure for Maria?
Certainly the Trump administration's handling of Maria has been awful, and Trump's demonstrated attitude towards the Americans of Puerto Rico is outrageous. But in our thinking about the number of fatalities, which inevitably refers to our knowledge of other disasters, we need to make sure we're not comparing apples and oranges.
We've already seen the recently revised figure for Maria compared in the Times to the number of people known dead soon after the World Trade Center went down. People continue to die from that, too.
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@Longestaffe excellent observation and question....
"... what is the comparable figure for Maria?"
I'm not sure what you are asking, but the simplest thing to do is compare the officially reported numbers.
Note that the GWU estimate of the number of fatalities is NOT based on a census. Instead of whining about alleged "lying", the editorial board should have pointed that out.
There is a link to the GWU report here:
Nearly a Year After Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico Revises Death Toll to 2,975
By Sheri Fink
Aug. 28, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-deaths...
(See page iii.)
1
@MJW
Thanks for the reply and for the link.
What I'm asking, though perhaps not very clearly, is how to compare the officially reported numbers for various disasters in a principled way. I'm assuming they were not all arrived at by the same procedure as the GWU estimate for Maria.
I'm not thinking of a per-capita comparison, but simply a single yardstick for establishing absolute numbers. If one figure includes all deaths that can be attributed to a disaster many months later while another includes only those tallied in the immediate aftermath, we can't make a valid comparison.
Dishonest Don the Mad lies, surely you joke sir, not our honorable fabricator of fables, right up there with Honest Abe, he says so himself.
Thousands come out to her him tell it like it is, how he and Chairman Xi are great friends, and what a great business man he is, how he took some failing casinos and made them better by using bankruptcy to make himself richer, and how all those contractors love him for showing then how to cut costs when they bid on jobs.
And for showing his golfing companions how to keep their scores low, by nudging the ball just a little bit, or finding them on the fairway when it looked like they went into the rough.
Dishonest, no it is the FBI, the CIA, the Liberals who are all dishonest, just ask him and he will tell you. And if you live in Kansas, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Utah, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, and especially Texas, you know he is as truthful and any Texan you ever met.
Yes we have never had a president so bold and outspoken about what a great guy he is. In the Evangelical churches he is just a few points behind JC himself, their savior for all eternity who will excise the heathens from Israel, and lead then to salvation.
What more could you ask of him,? And his reward for being such a grand wonderful humanoid, will be to consort with Yama the god of the Vedic.
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"he can quickly drag the whole executive branch down to his level."
Maybe not every member of the executive branch. There are thousands of federal employees working to apply the laws and regulations fairly across the board. Workers at SSA, NOAA, FAA, USDA and even the IRS come to mind.
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@Dan, thanks for this defense of the honest people who do the real work. The editorial, as I read it, refers to policy-makers and others in leadership positions, but that needed to be made explicit.
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Yes, important distinction - career or appointee. Career managers and staff selected and trained according to the regulations or appointees selected by relationships and policy positions. Both are necessary but not similar.
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@Dan
I'm sure the author was referring to those appointed to Trump's cabinet and other high-level positions, not the rank-and-file employees who were doing their best for the country before the election and continue to do so now.
12
"Mr. Trump has made clear that he considers it the duty of all administration officials to peddle his version of reality to protect his interests..."
As much as I dislike the Trump administration, I do think that FEMA chief Long has a point. This article, and a lot of the brouhaha surrounding the death toll from Maria, is not so much about "alternate facts" as it is a matter of who gets to decide what the measuring stick is? It clearly is an arbitrary choice as to how deep the chain of events are allowed to go to attribute a death to any hurricane, something this article points out.
Puerto Rico let George Washington University decide how to count deaths but that choice is just as arbitrary as Trump saying we are going to count the way he wants to count. Just because GWU is independent does not mean their way yields facts and everything else is alternative facts. Clearly, FEMA needs to decide what the process is for assessing disaster tolls, publish it so that everyone knows how it is assessed, and use it from then on. The point here is lack of definitional consistency, which apparently is the case here, leads to these silly arguments over who is right. It's like a football game where the rules are made up on the fly.
1
@Scott Werden
There was nothing arbitrary about the way GWU or Harvard counted deaths - they used standard statistical techniques on various data, and published numbers with a margin of error. Trump just used the first in figures and stuck with it even while the early figures were increasing daily. While the figures coming out of serious efforts differ, their ballpark is way way above the numbers Trump wants to hold onto.
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@Scott Werden. Please read the GWU report: https://publichealth.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/downloads/projects/PRst...
I think you will change your opinion once you have done so. The rules were not "made up on the fly." It was through, concise, the definitions reasonable and the study was well in line with similar studies done by professional public health organizations in the past.
I do agree it would be a good idea for FEMA to publish guidelines as long as those guidelines are developed by public health professionals and not politicians or agency officials that have an interest in minimizing any public criticism of their performance
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@Me Thank you for the truth. GWU was using the best known methods to find out the truth of the matter, but when looking at the damage one year later it is "defacto " truth about the GWU. They got it as right as is possible and it is very doubtful if any other decent institution would have and different result. It's true that those that make the rules sometime make up the rules to get the results they want. It's doubtful that GWU did that.
3
This editorial is welcomed as a sampler of the willingness to lie, even under oath, by Trump officials. The Mueller investigation will greatly expand the number when completed.
I feel very confident that AG Jeff Sessions lied to the Senate Committee under oath that he did not recall the nature of his meeting with then-Ambassador Kislyak. And the plea deal by Gen Flynn might well expose his lies. In fact, almost every account of contacts between Trump transition team members and Russian officials has been changed, often more than once.
KT McFarlane, deputy NSA under Flynn, famously e-mailed about sanctions relief since the Russians helped elect Trump. Then she called the WAPO to deny that Flynn had contacted the Russians about this, only to later say she didn't recall and finally change her story once more after Flynn himself pled guilty.
This same pattern fits the Trump Tower meeting and other known contacts with Russian officials.
And Trump makes it all ok, by setting a great example with thousands of mistruths as President.
It is a remarkable example our children are observing. Lets hope for their sake we can have a full accounting of this foul period someday and a resolve not to let it happen again.
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@Look Ahead, this illustrates the old dictum that a good liar needs an excellent memory.
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@Look Ahead. Funny to think that if Mr. Sessions did lie (I make no judgment; I’m waiting for the report), then he should have resigned, possibly resulting in the report never being undertaken. A logical conundrum for the ages!
2
@Thomas Zaslavsky
Or a Republican-controlled Congress who abrogate their Constitutional responsibility to check the Executive.
Ever since Trump started his presidential campaign with lies--or "truthful hyperbole," as phrased in "The Art of the Deal"--when he raged about the terrible condition the country was in and how it needed to be "made great again" on his terms, it's been pretty obvious to many of us that he has no particular interest in the truth, especially if a lie will benefit him somehow. Any hope that he might have tried to meet the standards of a U.S. president whose statements are dependably truthful has disappeared, as he just seems to become more confident in his prevarications as time goes on. It's just as well that the leaders of other nations tended to catch on pretty early, and treat his comments accordingly.
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Almost anyone who has worked in a sensitive are might have been pressured to support the [party line, to tone down their private opinions or avoid certain topics. So many evade questions, or give answers readily - which don't relate to the questions asked.
Outright lying on the record?? Lying which is about your own unethical behavior is always reprehensible. Lying to merge your opinion with the mercurial, left field crazy utterances of Trump is like going swimming in one of those hog waste lagoons we have been hearing about, and thinking no one can smell you.
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@cheryl The Emperiors New Clothes. Trump supporters seem to be blind.
1
Let's not forget the current Supreme Court nominee who is following the president's very clear instructions: deny, deny, deny.
My hope for this country is that at some point the Senate will revisit this sham of a confirmation hearing and demand that Brett Kavanaugh be held accountable for lying under oath. Ideally, the same should be done to Clarence Thomas who is another who lied his way onto the Supreme Court.
At some point the truth, like the unredacted Interior report, will come out.
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@avrds
Don't count on Republicans doing the right thing. This current crop is beyond corrupt and need to be voted out. We must send a message that the behavior demonstrated in the past two years is completely unacceptable. (Even before the 2016 election, Republicans shamefully refused to fulfill their Constitutional responsibility to "advise and consent" to an Obama nominated candidate for SCOTUS) We as a country need to vote Blue in 2018 and 2020. We need fairer representation is we are to save our democracy.
1
@avrds
Who needs to be sworn in? Kavanaugh lies in public with a big smile on his face. How about this whopper?
"No President has ever consulted more widely, or talked with more people from more backgrounds, to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination."
— Brett Kavanaugh addressing Trump, in his acceptance speech for the Supreme Court nomination.
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@avrds
What little of the truth does come out will likely do so after 30 years or more, far too late to do any good.
The interesting questions never go away, but always come back for round 42.
The question at hand here is whether reality exists purely as a projection of (some majority) people's beliefs and minds - let's all hold hands, squeeze eyes shut good and tight, and *just believe* and bang/presto, or that reality stubbornly persists outside the circle of our true-believer fervor.
History is littered (pock-marked) with the remains of attempts to make this work. Shall we talk about China's Great Leap Forward which led to the deaths of some 55 million citizens? (I wonder how many continued to be true believers to the bitter end.)
In 1920s America what about those fervent believers in the Power of the Markets who borrowed every penny they could get their hands on and bet on investment bubbles whose only true substance was the stuff of their collective imaginations and greed and folly? Uh oh. Pop.
Please people, it is not possible to *believe* a thing into existence which is not compatible with the world outside our minds no matter how much we want or need it to be true. Nor do poll numbers or "likes" have any power to bend reality around our collective conviction either. Being president is not the same as selling stuff.
For many on the Right the proverb is coming to pass right before our eyes, "The surest way to destroy a dream is to make it come true."
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@paultuae: Right now the ratio of market value of financial assets to the underlying economy's annual economic product is at a historical high, much as in 1929.
5
What do you mean "threatens?"
26
"So when the president of the United States continually makes clear that he is a huge fan of “alternative facts,”
His supporters will dismiss any negative criticism of him as fake news, and why shouldn't they, that's exactly how he won. They voted against his opponent, he's against free trade, against climate change, against immigrants, against women's values, and against minorities.
His negative platform unites his followers negative attitudes.
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@mlb4ever Whatever our current president's lies, his supporters are right not to trust Big Media, and even fact-checkers. A Romney? ad saying senator Santorum voted for the "bridge to nowhere" passed fact-check. But the point of the ad was to paint Santorum as a big spender, which overall he was not. So the ad deceived and was meant to, even tho it passed big media's fact-check.
I recall (from A.D. 1984?) a day when Chattanooga's liberal paper (the Times, parent of NY Times) headlined some bad economic news, and the conservative paper headlined some good economic news. News? Bias? (On both sides? Everyone has a point of view; neutrality does not exist; justice can, and is a duty for Christians.)
The swamp of lies is there for a purpose. It is a weapon to further stratification and hide problems or simply deny they exist is part of the program.
I realize that with changing demographics the democratic armistice or peace that was brought about after post civil war reconstruction is finally falling apart, brought about by the rise of PoC majorities utilizing great society programs. I realize that many in the shrinking white populace don't want to lose privilege, but we all need to realize what a war rather than a negotiated peace will do to us.
Rather than making America great, it will leave us impoverished and divided, unable to share the heavy burdens growing due to the changing environment and a less friendly and cooperative world. We have failed for years to negotiate this to a solution, and hardening our positions will only lead to unrecoverable loss on both sides.
While the sugar/dollar high of the extraordinary tax cut has kept the 1% above it all for a while, the costs will come due within a year or at most two. The less fortunate are already feeling it.
Can we live as two societies, stratified by $ holding rank? Maybe.
All these lies support the stratification. Press is free to those who can buy it. Lawyers ate there or those who can afford them. Medicine, next. Travel, food, water, fresh air, rescue from floods or earthquakes or hurricanes....
Under Trump, everyone lies to keep the 90% down.
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Of course, the endless foreign wars, the colossal national debt, the chronic budget deficits, and heavy dependence on the Chinese imports have been pushed under a rug in the meantime.
Let’s focus on the urgent matters – “did Bret do it or not…”
The real problem is that the reckless tax cuts have created the easy money used to establish and fund even more irresponsible media outlets that divide, polarize and antagonize the country for the sake of ratings and directly related ads revenue…
32
Just a modest suggestion:
Add a plank having to do with personal honesty to the Democratic platform.
This doesn't mean a person can never have told a lie their entire life, just that they must have demonstrated a pattern of honesty, and that a pattern or even serious episodes of serious dishonesty are disqualifying for public service.
Today this type of thing is technologically feasible. Fact checking is taking place on a scale hitherto undreamt of (thanks Donald!), and we are within a stone's throw of using AI to detect falsehoods. People, and entire news sources, could be scored on multiple dimensions reflecting their factual credibility.
Democrats should take the lead on this. Republicans certainly won't, and couldn't if they wanted to. It's time to make verifiable honesty a prerequisite for public service.
Just my 2 cents...
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@Lee Christensen
Much more than 2 cents, Lee.
This is true sense.
Character counts, and should be addressed in the Democratic platform.
3
As Michael Corleone said to a US Senator "We're all part of the same hypocrisy."
Sure, Trump is far more outrageous than all others in his blatant lying and falls outside political norms, but I can't see any political party moving on your suggestion.
@Lee Christensen
If the computer would let me, I would recommend this a dozen or more times.
2
When citizens can no longer believe their leaders then democracy can no longer function as intended. It is sad that we now rely on truth or accuracy meters as well as Pinocchio's to verify the degree of truth telling of our politicians. The genie is now out of the bottle and it will be almost impossible to put it back in.
It is easy to blame the politicians but most of the blame lies at the feet of citizens who don't seem to mind that they are being lied to and in fact applaud and cheer as the lies are shoveled at them from the podium.
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Values come from the top. You can’t change the institution unless the leader himself sets an example. It never works. If there is an honest person left among the Republicans, that person needs to become the leader, before the rest of the Republicans will fall in line.
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@Jonathan
Would someone please suggest who might be that honest Republican. I'll start. Maybe Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, but in almost any other state he'd be a democrat.
@Jonathan
If you follow political news closely, you will find that there are very few honest Republicans left.
1
Dead on. The moral and ethical corrosion caused by bad inspiration cannot be overestimated. The primary function of any leader is to provide positive inspiration, period. If they can't do that, they don't belong there.
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This article is brilliantly written.
What happened to our sense of the common good, and why have so many people who are holding public office serving themselves and their associates? Why are so many of our public servants not willing nor able to do what is honest, truthful, and in the public interest. Why are so many of our politicians and lobbyists not ashamed of what they are doing? For us to regain our democracy, we need to elect people who will work hard to restore the values that have seen us through other difficult times. We have to be honest. We have to be kind. We have to be generous. We have to listen. We have to be considerate of others. We have to be steadfast in pursuit of the truth. We have to make difficult decisions about so many problems facing our society, our economy, our climate, and our world. And in the meantime, we have to call out the lies, each and every time, as you have done so eloquently in this article. Thank you!
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@Bartlett
Part of the problem is that Republicans can't sell the actual policies they want because if they were truthful they wouldn't get very many votes. As we have seen during the past two years, Republicans are pretty much owned by the ultra rich. For example, if they told Americans that we are going to continue the tax breaks for the rich, the upward redistribution of wealth, because we want to change the nature if the country to favor the ultra rich, who would vote for them? To save our democracy, we have to join together and say politicians work for us. If you're not honest and working for our interests, we will not vote for you.
34
@Bartlett
The answer is we have to take money out of politics. The buying of our state and Congressional representatives who themselves are beholden to wealthy special interests in order to finance their political campaigns is the cancer that is destroying our democracy. See yesterday's NYT article describing Sheldon Adelson's stranglehold grip on the Trump administration's radical policy in the Middle East. Why? Adelson is one of the largest if not the largest financial contributors to the Trump campaign and to Republican house and senate members up for reelection in November 2018.
See: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/22/us/politics/adelson-trump-republican-...
1
@Bartlett--Thank you for writing this!
1
Compulsive liar. Serial adulterer. Tax cheat. Doesn't pay his bills. Bankruptcy. Possible money launderer. Thinks about dating his daughter. His minions are just as bad.
Trump and his administration. Everything we don't want our children to be.
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@Linda
I was in court recently against a kid (20's) who had been speeding and on his cell phone when he totaled my car and his. I know he was on his cell phone because I was out of my car and at his open car door within seconds of the accident, in time to hear a voice say, "Dad, gotta go, been in an accident."
(My bad for not subpoenaing his cell phone records. I get it.)
He came to court with an older man. I asked the judge that, if the man was indeed his father, if I could ask the father a few questions.
The young man AND HIS FATHER both lied. Oh, no, he wasn't on his cell phone. Oh, no, he called his father when he was standing across the 4-lane road, out of my earshot.
(Then how the heck did I know anything about his father? How did I know he even had a father?)
The kid and his father were practically doing chest bumps in the hall afterwards.
This isn't about Trump. We all know Trump ain't no role model in any way, shape, or form.
This is about America and Americans. We are supposed to be the guys in the white hats. The good guys. Better than everyone else. When did that concept of "the good American" stop?
4
@Linda "His minions are just as bad"? You're calling a lot of people names. One obvious example of (excessive) integrity is Mr Sessions recusing himself from the Russian investigation.
@Linda You don't want your children to be. There are about 60 million people who voted for him, that would be ecstatic if their children could be just like him.
At some point, we will need to notice that a significant portion of the American electorate is unconcerned with facts.
These people are faith-based--in that they believe whatever they choose to without regard to any facts which contradict their belief.
We must ask ourselves how long these people have been voting without regard to the facts and whether they will continue to do so. Because if our voters have no interest in facts, our republic will not stand.
The future, whatever it may be, holds more Trumps and less Roosevelts.
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@L\
My sense is that presemt research has not reached deeply into what these people feel. If it is faith based, not factual, there is a bridge most difficult to cross. It becomes a "wedge issue."
Wedge issues are not only difficult, but perhaps always to remain. Perhaps what a wedge issue encompasses needs to be identified to the public since we are so divided. There is plenty of history and lots of wars to reference.
8
@Lkf
That should be "fewer Roosevelts," not "less." Perhaps correct grammar, like good speech, matters as much as facts. After all, it is with their tortured rhetoric that politicians manage to distort the truth!
1
@Lkf I am not sure they were this way at the start, bjt having their very own blowhard conditions them in kind. Folks are malleable enough. If we asked them what they prefer, wouldn't they yet say it is someone they could trust, someone who cared about truth telling?
I work in the aerospace industry. How would you like it if engineers started using half truths and lies when designing critical structure? Why is it acceptable elsewhere. Lives are still at stake, a excellent example is how we got into our never ending war, with lies.
635
@Paulie
Lies and fabrications are being told to schoolkids in class.
The same kids who will become our future engineers.
1
@Paulie
You're so right. Imagine your flight when the co-pilot notices something wrong with the altimeter; the pilot keeps on flying over the Rockies because he knows better. And with regard to appointing a new judge to SCOTUS: would you allow your daughter to date this man? Case closed!
1
@Paulie Occaisionally, in healthcare a Dr. Bozo goes off the rails like Dr Wakefield who dummied up his “studies” on vaccines to “secretly” support new vaccines for his personal gain. He was a liar, his license was revoked, he paid a fine. Thousands of children have become sick and hundreds died.
In general, healthcare professionals are astute in confronting lies and fraud. When they fail there are dead bodies.
If we persist in housing Trump in the WH because the election was “rigged” by gerrymandered districts, voter suppression, a prolonged propaganda campaign by Russia to harm Clinton and later to help Trump (as admitted by Putin in Helsinki) via the theft and weaponization of millions of FB and other social media profiles, and because for “the good of the country” the election was not contested we are abdicating the a fundamental obligation of any democracy.
1
This is an era where facts don't matter any more.Truth is in the same category. So much about the world is hazy and confused to a lot of people, especially those with little education, education that would give them a knowledge and structure to hang what they see and hear on. People are all at sea and so is the political world at this point. But in the end, facts do matter, truth does matter, morals and ethics matter as well and at some point people will want to see more clearly and understand what they are living through better and once more they will start to rely on evidence and have a need for truth. It has to happen, humans have a need to make sense of their world. Out of this chaos will come something better, it has happened before and it will again, chaos forges synthesis and understanding.
Out of the fire comes a new vision and a new strength.
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@joyce
What is the basis for your wild optimism? How can you be sure is sin't simply wishful thinking?
1
Everything worries me about Trump's lying. I begin to question myself.
I consider myself somewhat of a health care expert; only in the sense that twenty years of working with health care financing made clear that the Republican health care legislation was not going to provide his supporters with what he promised on the campaign trail. OK, a campaign, who doesn't exaggerate.
Now, almost two years later, I find the discussion has not become more clear, but now the media has become a much more identified part of the sorting process of a very basic tenant: what is true?
I find myself sorting out what I want to read. FOX: just can't do it, Washington Post: yeah! New Yok Times: OK until the recent Supreme Court article appeared. Tonight another report regarding the potential Supreme Court nominee, who knows which side pushed that into the public area?
So now, we are somewhat having a public discussion on sexual issues, but this is not OK without establishing parameters. No laws will never be perfect, however our children deserve to know how their lives may be affected beyond their immediate moments. We desperately need parameters and debate relative to this issue.
How does this relate to Trump's consistent lying -- I take the hit -- he says it: it becomes an immediate target unless I like it. Forgive me.
14
@Tanis Marsh
"... a very basic tenant" is NOT the same as "a very basic tenet." Grammarist.com: "A tenet is a principle held as being true, especially by an organization or a group ... A tenant is...someone who pays rent to occupy property."
11
Come on Archie! We all know what was meant. And Trisha’s right, we all do it: believing the things we hear that agree with way we feel!! Forgive Me too??!!
1
@Archie Seriously this is your response to a well-written comment on the topic of lying? "A very basic tenant" might be a spell-check error, or not. You are missing the point if you can't see past this one word. Maybe you would benefit from thinking more about why you have the need to be rude and petty toward a stranger.
I happened to hear a couple of radio interviews and a public forum with Sean Spicer on his book tour a few weeks ago. In each case he was asked about how he justified repeated or defending falsehoods from the president. He simply said that it was his job to represent the administration, not the truth and not himself. Everyone questioning him just accepted this as normal, as if personal ethics or morals were something that had no place in the workplace. It isn't just Trump or his White House, the whole culture has become much more tolerant of dishonesty in recent years. Before Trump, the media routinely glossed over lies from the GOP or the right wing media, following the rather dishonest principle of "balance." I still hear reporters on NPR falling into this pattern about Trump and his collaborators. Trump is obviously off the charts in terms of dishonesty, but he didn't just appear out of thin air.
653
Martin: I didn't hear Spicer say that, but knowing a little about him I don't doubt it. If he really said that it was his job to represent the administration, not the truth and not himself. he's exactly what used be described as "a good German." There are a lot of them in this administration. We can only hope there aren't too many among the voters.
53
@Martin
“I was just following orders.”
Where have we heard that before???
1
@Martin, I wish someone would have asked him about the oath of office he took. He didn't take an oath to uphold trump, he swore to uphold the constitution of the United States. Just another kind of dishonesty.
I work as an engineer on global data networks. In networks there is an "A end" and a "Z end", which can be anywhere in the world. So for the Fortune 50 companies that I work for I need to make sure their data gets there (50... 100 countries) and is secure. That's technical easy, but politically difficult.
Until trump, US employees workers oversea were the "Mother Teresas" of the business world. You could trust everything they said and this acted as a restraint on the "fabrications" that are part of business in the rest of the world.
When both sides are lying, getting anything done is hard. In the Middle East and Eastern Europe, one side is always lying and the Americans aren't. It's still hard to get anything done but a bit more efficient given that you can trust at least one party, the Americans.
Do we really want this kind of chaos to start in the US? That's what trump will do to American business, and American politics, and American society. Covering for trump's enormity of lies degrades the truth, and when all facts are not facts. When truths are not truths, as Rudy Giuliani claims, then any human interaction becomes suspicious; not straight forward.
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@OSS Architect We are well on our way to becoming a Banana Republic. Truth and transparency are critical to our country. An honest free press and media - with appropriate balance - must be maintained.
67
@OSS Architect - Errr, no. The 'Americans aren't always telling the truth.'
Truthers are sneered at in this country. Ask for the truth of any given situation or calamity to be discussed, investigated, researched openly and fairly, and you get stonewalled. Then a war is waged and thousands or millions die, on our side and theirs. We continually declare ourselves exceptional, in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
Maybe, just maybe, Trump's obnoxious pathology will spawn a lasting backlash and we'll be able to look at reality instead of denying it. The same people who gave us 'oh, maybe he'll pivot' also gave us the Gulf of Tonkin lie, and the 9-11 lie, and the climate change denial. At least now North Carolina realizes that if you get a 100 year flood every year, it's time to reassess your situation and belief system...
1
@OSS Architect - 'American business leaders are ethical and don't lie'. Hmmm. What color is the sky in your world, my friend? Do you mean like that time when all 7 CEO's of the tobacco industry stood before Congress and said that cigarettes were not addictive? Or when the CEO's of major banks lied for years about their finances just prior to the 2008 crisis? Or how the CEO's of big Pharma are lying now about who created the latest drug epidemic? Or how the Oil, Gas and Coal CEO's funded 'research' to show that there is no human-made climate change to be worried about?
Guess what my friend? US business leaders are just as crooked as their counterparts in the rest of the world. Since the vast majority of US politicians are either former business men (yes, men) or corporate lawyers and since they are all lobbied by the same - is it any surprise at all that these same politicians are nothing but liars? Like many commentators have noted; Trump has invented nothing new here. He's just more brazen about it. Better the devil you know?
If you want the boss to like you, you follow his example. And if personal loyalty to Trump is demanded by him free and independent thinking will be in short supply. The best decisions are the result of listening to all points of view. This cannot happen in the Trump administration. Trump’s senior advisers and cabinet will simply tell Trump what he wants to hear. Facts do not matter. Truth does not matter.Integrity does not matter. All that counts is agreeing with Trump. Line up or be fired.
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@Milton Lewis
…or sneak papers off his desk before he can sign them, and ignore his most irrational demands...not the best options.
21
I figured out long ago that everything at a business comes down from the person at the top. The person at the top lies, and everyone in the business thinks they can lie. The person at the top is ethical, and everyone in the business strives to be the same way. It's the same way from mom-and-pop stores all the way up to the president of hte united states.
468
@BHM - You are absolutely correct. I spent 20+ years in the Biopharmaceutical industry. All of us in the industry were committed to the truth in our research and business dealings. This is not to say we never made mistakes, we did but once we learned of the mistakes, we quickly corrected them and apologized for them.
12
@BHM
Pathological leaders lead to pathological institutions.
It’s gonna take decades, if it works, to get rid of the rot.
We look like a failed state now.
6
@BHM
Wholly concur. Furthermore, respect is earned and not demanded. Reliability is consistent not erratic.
1
It is quite wrong to not mention that the lying spread from the GOP'ers in the Legislature obstructing during the Obama years to the GOP'er primaries led by the developer of 'birtherism', who proclaimed his investigators "cannot believe what they are finding."
Lying which Agent Orange from KAOS regularly discounts by saying it was priced in by voters when they chose him - after all, he's an entertainer.
While true that His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness is abysmal, he is merely extending to the Oval Office and the Press Room the same 'end justifies the means' lying which has motivated GOP'ers for the better part of 40 years - since St. Ray-gun lied about having a budget plan, which now-famous David Stockman admitted after the 1980 election:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1981/12/the-education-of-da...
Of course, admitting the lie in Dec. 1981 was entirely different than having told the truth back before election day in Nov. 1980.
Meanwhile, is the Mar-a-Loco crowd still running the V.A. while the press is getting hauled around to rallies on Air Force One:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/08/politics/va-mar-a-lago-crowd-trump/index....
The jaw-dropping corruption is just as rampant as the lying.
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@R. Law
You left out Nixon's secret plan to end the Vietnam War.
The lying did not start with Reagan.
We are now a full half century down that rabbit hole, and are starting to work on the next half century.
Something like 2/3 of all Americans have lived their entire lives during the Age of the Lying Republicans, and if you want people to actually to remember a time before Republican lying was routine, you are probably looking at one person in 10.
3
@R. Law Lying didn't start with this administration. The previous one lied saying we could keep our doctors and plans, and then rammed O'Romneycare through with such corruptions as the "Nebraska purchase" and the "Louisana purchase." Young Bush had promised no nation-building. President Clinton didn't even know what "is" is, and dropped his law license for lying. The older Bush, having done everything his country asked for 40+ years, decided he had the right to raise taxes after promising not to, and I think his breach of promise was a significant step downhill for the whole society.
Lyndon Johnson and FDR were peace candidates and war presidents, and adulterers--neither their wives nor their voters could trust them.
Not, of course, that lying started then; it started in the Garden of Eden.