The most disturbing thing about a president who is constantly not telling the truth is that if there ever is a need to actually believe what the man is saying, I for one, will just roll my eyes, say “whatever” and move on.
This President has destroyed the social compact and rules of civil behavior that we have counted on since the founding of the country.
2
He also suggested that Democrats will soon be looking to hand out free luxury cars to illegal immigrants.
Here in California I wouldn’t be surprised if they do and try. Here after saying the driver’s licenses to illegals will keep us safe with fewer driving illegally without insurance, giving them Teslas could be rationalized as keeping us safer from CO2 emissions whereas otherwise they’d be driving dirty heaps. California will find a way to give away anything, but not pay its public school teachers for all their education and training.
I love the NY Times and read the editorials almost everyday (and agree with most), but your comment that Donald "likes a brawl" is not correct unless you refer to times when he knew that he couldn't lose. For example, when he was so "brave" that he ridiculed a handicapped reporter who was asking him a question. It was cowardly and cruel, characteristics which define, in my opinion, Donald.
I'm surprised that you haven't reported on the more less savory aspects of his character, such as his running away from service in Vietnam after he was called to his draft board to prepare for service in Nam. He was afraid to go into the war and pretended to have a serious foot problem which allowed him to get out of combat, but required another young man to go in his place. What a brave president we have!
Millions of Americans don't know that he is not a brave man who fights hard for ordinary folks but, rather, a man who thinks only about himself. He is not a Lincoln who had the courage to free the slaves, or Roosevelt who, while physically handicapped himself, brought us out of the Great Depression and then led us through World War Two while he was gravely ill. They were giants. Donald is just a coward and a huckster who brags about how great he thinks he is.
13
Why the sudden fixation with "lying"? Could there be an election coming and a desperate drive to chip away at the president's credibility?
1
While I fully appreciate and agree with this paper's editorial about Trump's pre-election demagoguery, what I need - what this nation and the world needs - is for this paper, and any remaining news media outlets with any sense of impartiality or journalist integrity, to specifically and consistently outline, with each story, with each lie and manipulation…
...the possible outcomes, consequences, and potential dangers of the relentless lying, deception and manipulation of information coming out of the President’s mouth and of his administration’s policies…every single day.
While I fully empathize with your precarious position, you too are attempting to dance on the head of a pin in an effort to avoid calling a spade a spade; and in doing so you are thereby helping to normalize lying, illusion, delusion, deception and manipulation of truth, information, and reality…on a daily basis.
God bless and God speed…we need you now more than ever. Not to sound corny, but if anyone can do this, the NY Times can.
3
We are now engaged in a great civil war. It is a struggle for the survival of our nation. It is a battle between Trumpists and those who care sincerely about the future of our country. Trumpists cannot distinguish the Apprentice Reality TV show from truly governing our country. After more than 5200 documented Trump lies and counting, it is clear that the Trump base is disconnected from reality. Poor working class Trumpists live in a closed-in fantasy world where Trump will always be a decent man no matter how many people he shoots on 5th Ave, or how many babies are ripped from their immigrant mothers' arms.
There are three kinds of voters that chose Trump: racists and bigots, the uninformed and low information voters, and the Evangelists for whom defeating Roe v. Wade overcomes every other Christian value. There are 10's of millions of American's whi have been conned into believing that Trump and the powerful manipulators behind him would look after their welfare. This is a testament to the strength of the vast Fox/Breibart propaganda machine - the voice of the super-wealthy right wing extremists that have taken over our country. Social Security and Medicare are now in the GOP cross hairs.
The United States is now just like those so-called Banana Republics that have undergone a right wing coup.
You cannot reason with Trump voters. The majority of the 40 million Americans who sat out the 2016 election must go the polls and throw these GOP traitors out of office.
14
Is there a 12 step program for pathological liars, a sort of Liars Anonymous, where Trump can possibly be helped before he ruins the country?
12
Trump says democrats are paying for the Honduras migrant caravan. Am I the only one suspecting that it is the GOP and/or the Russians who are doing the paying? The timing is suspiciously precise, and the cost would be negligible, compared to the funds available and the projected impact. If Democrats will lose, this is how.
8
Trump is using you, the Television industry, and social media for free campaign influence full of fake news..........news about our fake President. The problem isn't just the lying, it's the surrender of mass media we have to think about and reconsider. Always balance Trump's lyin' ways with rebuttals highlighting most forcefully the truth and that he is lying just as you did here.
The mass media serves a public with great responsibility to be truthful, not convey lies so easily.
10
@Shakinspear, both sides have become like broken records, always the same thing over and over. However good the song was, no one can stand hearing it anymore like that.
1
Just how much of the is Stephen Miller? Quietest and deadliest of staffers. The next-to-quietest is Jared. But Jared may be deadlier I dunno . . . .
1
“Then they’ll say the car’s not good enough, we want — how about a Rolls-Royce?”
Does Trump know this is a British car built in the UK?
5
The Times choice to use folksy language casts a serious problem as if its an informal annoyance.
Lying is not a predictable outcome of an impending election. Mr Trump doesn't "play the polarization game because he enjoys it."
He does it because it profits an elite class of wealthy people to divide the working class by distracting them with salacious (bigoted, racist, xenophobic, sexist, misogynist, lude, moralizing, nationalist, threats, et al.) comments.
While liberals and conservatives are stoked into a frenzy, a ruling class of rich and powerful elites redouble their wealth by offloading the burden of living in America to working people. They cut taxes, they kill safety nets, they lift regulations to expand profits, they dismantle agencies having oversight over their financial dealings.
The New York Times owes its readers, most of whom work for a living, a serious tone in a serious time. It may seem humorous to the Editorial Board, but its life and death out here.
Get a grip.
8
There's the lie, the liar and the lied to.
The lies we know, the liar we know even better, but the lied to are a curious lot.
Like oxygen to a flame, those eager to believe lies become the impetus for lying. Their rowdy cheers at rallies thrill Trump like nothing else and his addiction to bogus acclaim compels him to more outrageous lies.
Those who consume Trump's diet of whoppers do it as an act of puerile defiance. Like the stage children go through when they signify themselves by being obstinate and contrary. Likewise for his acolytes. Believing his lies is how they claim significance and visibility.
It's as if Trump and his horde speak some obscure patois incomprehensible to normal folks. It's a secret code for a surrogate reality where everyone is white, chants "Lock Her Up", conceal carries, wives cook and clean, children are never heard (but for"thoughts and prayers" after they're gun statistics), non-whites are loathed or shot through the lung as a courtesy warning. All punctuated with a red MAGA cap.
For the liar -- Trump -- twisting the truth is akin to a super-power: it enables him to leap tall buildings and launder Putin's soiled rubles with impunity. There's no Kryptonite to buckle his knees. He lies loudly, blatantly, persistently, promiscuously, repeatedly because what's the point of being king if you can't conjure a fake world with lies?
Besides Trump gets a 20% tip for every lie he utters about the Saudi cover-up.
15
He's using a fictional tax cut to buy votes. Shouldn't that be illegal. Yikes!
10
Why would the NY Times use this asinine piece of hyperbole when referring to Donald Trump " he does love a brawl"? You're referring to draft dodger who would run from from a fight rather than taking a stand. I personally take offence to describing a self aggrandizing egominical bully in this manner. The NY Times editorial board needs to learn the use of language in their opinion pieces.
7
Donnie is a insecure little man. If he ever looks into himself he'll see nothing.
4
"lying up a storm"
How cute.
The American president is manipulating mainstream media into complicity with a Hitler-like, fear mongering, race baiting, propaganda campaign that has had so much success that the 'base' will literally believe anything, and hate anyone, as told, without question.
We may be too late in appropriate outrage.
6
The New York Times (once a great newspaper) Is Lyin’ Up a Storm
1
His lyin' creates chaos. He hides behind the chaos. DON'T FALL FOR IT. Keep the issues out front. He can't hid behind the issues.
4
I don't care if 5000 immigrants enter the United States- I just want them to enter legally. No possible way everyone has a legitimate asylum claim. So that means THEY TOO are also lying. They come here to game the system and get FREE STUFF! I am a Democrat and my patience for these people has run out! Seal the border and deport all of the illegals.
BTW.. 65% of the fruits and vegetables we buy is imported anyway - so don't give me the "who is going to pick our food?" line.. There are already 12 million illegal residents here- don't tell me everyone is gainfully employed. There are too many here as is- we don't need more illegals.
3
Mr. Trump does politics the way Mr. Machado does baseball.
The GOP base, along with plenty of otherwise ambivalent moderates don't even need the President to get them riled up these days. The shameful character assassination of Brett Kavanaugh combined now with the Honduran 'caravan' on its way north at the welcome invitation of Democrat immigration policy - sanctuary cities, subsidized healthcare, subsidized housing.. I mean, why wouldn't a poor Central American saddle up for all of that? - has the Republican base plenty fired up just fine, thanks. Let's vote!
No surprise that the Republican base would support someone like Kavanaugh, a minor league partisan hack who lacks anything that qualifies him for the Supreme Court, and is occupying a chair only because of his willingness to allow this president to evade any penalty for his criminal behavior.
6
Its been said before, its worth repeating. When Trump is talking, he's lying. Absolute 100%, Grade-A, lies. Doesn't matter that he mixes up half-truths, random factoids, or made-up "alternative facts" - at their core its a complete lie. Because he's trying to mislead and misrepresent reality so to foment anger and fear and discord among his remaining fan base.
Its akin to a car salesperson, trying to sell a Toyota, but pitching a Lexus, and calling it a Ford, while the finance manager is working up a contract for a Chevy. Its a car, it has an engine, sits 4 adults, and runs - but the pitch, terms, car are all lies front to back, side to side.
He's not selling his fans reality, but feelings! He's not seeking to turn non-fans into fans. Rather he's content stirring the same pot, and serving the same food to the same people over and over. And they love it. Its like going to Granny Annies on Main St, to get biscuits and gravy like momma made 'em. Comfort foods for the brain for a large number of people who simply refuse to care to analyze what he says, or what he's doing.
Far too many of them have been quoted as saying: "I don't care what he says, I love it all, love it, and want more!"
When pressed about details, they freeze like a deer in the headlights. They don't care the car is gonna run them over and not the ones they should be angry at. (Corps, wealthy receiving tax cuts, etc)
They only care about how they feel, and he makes them feel empowered. Even if its false.
4
This is second time recently that someone from the NYT has referred to Trump as someone who likes a brawl. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If you observe closely, Trump is at his boldest when on Twitter (where he is at a safe distance), at a rally of like-minded worshipers, or surrounded by his toadies.
That is why he tries to avoid the legitimate press. He is afraid of them. All this aggression and hostility is just a front. He cannot honestly answer a hard question.
If he cannot not be in a position where he has control, he will offer nothing but verbal swipes, particularly towards women, because he views the as easier, weaker targets.
This is man who has avoided service even as he declares his great love for it. (Never mind the member of this group has personally insult.)
This is a man who praises physical violence while admitting he cannot stand the sight of blood, or flinches at the sound of a loud noise.
This is man who is bold when only surrounded by his minions and fans. This is a man who will not be caught in Mitch MConnell's "dark alley".
6
I'm repeating myself, but if nobody i.e. the real Press, paid any attention to what comes out of trump's mouth or fingers, he wouldn't have the loudspeaker he currently enjoys. Lies, deflections, hyperbole, if unreported, wouldn't have the ability to rile us up. We could all sleep a little better at night - and trump would have no voice other than Faux news which reaches only his base anyway. All of us, thinking people, know him for what he is - we don't need to hear him or have his lies explained to us. Would he wither and die if he didn't get all this free press? Or will you be responsible for the GOP getting a majority during the mid terms? Will you be responsible for his being re-elected in 2020?
What would happen if all Americans, or at least a majority, decided that Donald J. Trump did not ever exist? We could just go about our business without a POTUS. Like Trump who lives in his own fantasy world, we can get a "Wizard-of Oz"-type actor to pretend he/she is the all-powerful POTUS in place of Trump. We could instead pretend Trump is the W.H.gardener like Chance in Being There. This medical marijuana is great stuff!
3
Didn't the NYT just run an article detailing how Trump has NOT been effective in rolling back a lot of environmental regulations? I liked hearing that version of events better.
2
The caravan is symbolic of the total incompetence and failure of Trump and the Republican Congress to deal with the issue of immigration. The Democrats should be screaming about this failure of Trump’s number one goal.
3
When Trump flys into Republican rally’s on Air Force One, with a cadre of Secret Service, it must cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Who pays?
4
We pay for it just as we paid for every president, Democrat or Republican.
@PaulN
Perhaps NYT reports the cost of each and every jaunt our takes President when he leaves D.C. and his responsibilies behind in order to do a carnival show for his party.
That is an outrage.
2
Maybe one of you brave reporters should ask the spokespeople if trump cannot distinguish fantasy from reality. Ask them, hound them, ask them where are the rioters? Prove it. Stop treating these repulsive jerks as if they were normal people. If you read Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich you can see where he discusses Nazi newspapers, with their phony, screaming headlines, much like Fox News. By the mid-1930s, foreign newspapers were largely illegal and in any case the average person there had no access to other news sources. But this is the U.S., not Nazi Germany. Reporters, assuming they find their spine, can and should not let these lies go. Where are the rioters? Where are the ISIS infiltrators? Where did that million job number come from? Like, exactly where?
3
Yes. He's lying. We know he's lying. If all of us that knew this would band together we could through the bum out.
The problem is the people that need to vote don't. Think of the black man gasping for breath refusing to be taken to the hospital lest he should lose his place on line to vote. That is how we all should treat this right.
1
Are not the blatant and fragrant lies spouted by the POTUS grounds for impeachment?
1
Reading this you could think hes losing his mind and the job is about half done.
Trump is a horrible human being, if you can call him that. He has lied his way through the presidency and while campaigning prior to the 2016 election.
My question is why did the press, even follow this man during the primary season? They knew he wasn't telling the truth or had the knowledge needed to be President of the United States.
I wish the press and media would just stop giving this immoral and clueless man a platform to speak . If they did , perhaps his appeal would diminish.
Go out and vote people, we need to control this man before it's too late.
5
It's not just Trump that's "lyin' up a storm." The entire Republican Party is "lyin' up a storm." Trump's success in 2016 has just about every Republican candidate running in 2018 trying to copy Trump's formula. A big part of that formula is lying.
Trump didn't invent fearmongering, nor did Trump invent lying. Both tactics have existed in politics for a long time. But Trump is an innovator in that, until Trump came along, nobody knew you could get away with such blatant, easily verifiable, straight-up lies in politics. It turns out, if you can't find enough real headlines to support your fearmongering, just make it up! Bowling Green Massacre! ISIS hiding in the migrant caravan! California giving away BMWs to illegal immigrants! Just make it up!
And that's precisely what Republican candidates are doing this election cycle. And the marvelous thing is...it works. Democrats who present facts and statistics find themselves nitpicked and ultimately drowned out by lies shouted over and over again. Perhaps this is how American democracy dies, in a tide of fake news purveyed by people screaming "Fake news!"
3
It was obvious that Trump is a serial liar before the election, and that fact is ever more clear since he took office. What is said is that so many Americans are either too stupid to see it, or they just don't care.
4
He has been lying since day one NYT, good to see you've noticed.
2
So where is the NY Times boldface headline across the front page "TRUMP LIES". His lemmings won't respond to it- but it might give the rest of us some hope.
7
One can look at it two ways.
Isn't it great that the New York Times is calling out the Reality Show Con Artist for his lies?
To me, the better way to look at it is why is the New York Times disseminating the grifter in chief's lies?
The coward in chief was never running for President; he was running for attention and was only in it for money and vanity. He never wanted to win. He wanted to cash in but the media is as desperate for eyes and ears as he is so they covered every inane comment. Since only 1 in 5 people read below the headline, his lie gets the coverage he wants without most people hearing the truth.
Attention is the most valuable currency of the 21st century and any attention outside of pedaphilia can be turned into cash. It has made a family who created and distributed a sex tape multimillionaires and an unfit narcissistic fraud President.
He also knows the studies show the mere repetition of lies makes them more plausible to people so the media's amplification of those lies is borderline criminal.
We don't cover people running on the field at baseball games because we don't want to encourage that type of behavior. Unfortunately we haven't learned that lesson with the fraud we have made President.
4
NYT didn't cover Obama's lies; they don't get to talk about Trump's.
One would expect a disciple of Roy Cohn to resurrect the gospel of Joe McCarthy. "The Reds are coming to destroy our land," was his mantra; now it's "illegal aliens are here at our doorstep to overrun the nation." The disciples of fear and rage are the ones bringing down our democracy. Fueled by an abundance of hate throughout the land from those on the far right, we're bombarded day after day by a president who is little more than a demagogue out to destroy all who disagree with him.
1
Articles like these from the NYT do nothing to aid our country, nothing to further the uniting of a divided people and Nation- all is designed, written, and edited to rile-up emotion and anger in folks who have already made-up their minds that they are not going to vote for Trump. So what's the point?
We all know the NYT hates Trump, we all know most of the folks posting here also hate our president. In truth you never gave him a chance, your resistance is about never giving him a chance, but resistance is futile as they say. Trump is our President, Trump is winning, Trump is getting stuff done (important 'stuff'). The electoral majority HOPED this would be the case in 2016, now with the midterms upon us, these same people (and others!!!) know that Trump is the real deal.
No matter how much folks attempt slight, slander, and undermine Trump, he keeps winning- because he can!
After these midterms, support our President. Whether you like his manner, his tone, or not- it doesn't matter. He is working for all of us (it's called 'America First'), and if we can just find it in ourselves to give him broad, non-partisan, support, THINK what we can do, and where we can take our country.
But of course, the majority here... think differently. NYT will 'probably' not publish this comment (yet, again) due to their bias. I say that, because I have noticed that when I say similar, they sometimes do actually publish, 'just' to show how 'un-biased' they really are.
Trump is the Real Deal
1
@Rob Campbell He's not working for everyone. He's working for his base. You know, the ones who have no problem palling around with white supremacists and neo-Nazis. That's who Trump represents, which is why decent Americans reject him and always will. He's had every chance in the world and have screwed them all up. No decent person supports this cretin.
5
Well this headline is nothing new,he's lied his entire life.
Con-man, Deflector in Chief, Receptor of the Poor
Diminished Capacity in Chief, Cunning Hunter of a Deal,
Sell-outer of Democracy for a Million Dollar
a comedy writer could find lots of material in naming this character of no character
it would all be funny, if it weren't for the nuclear weapons he now controls
Vote Vote Vote!!!
He's trying to turn our Nation into a third world country.
Divide and conquer. you've heard that before.Vote like crazy to end this chaos. This has never been as important, Putin wins when Americans don't vote.
3
like when harry reed said Romney didn't pay his taxes or when obama said you can keep your plan or your doctor kind of like that right
1
Trump jerks us around because he thinks we are all stupid. The next two elections will give us a more accurate total.
3
If the minority voters of 2016 elections gloat and fan the lyin'up stormer, do we all learn to and submit to and lie-proudly- as our First Citizen does.
One day this world will point to us -hay you "strongest-richest" nation in the world, you all are COWARDS as you are meek to this lier-D.J.Trump.
You don’t say.
Weren't the Nazis successful via the Big Lie and the massed rallies that harped on the scapegoating of enemies?
We have already lost the 4th Ammendment and they are after the 1st.
2
Ignorance is alive and well in the U.S. Trump is the most ignorant of all. He is truly the stupidest and most dangerous man elected to the Presidency in at least 100 years. Our Bigot-In-Chief is a pathological liar. He knows he's lying constantly, but does not care. He truly thinks that the American people are beneath him. What a contemptible clown Trump is!
4
Two quesions:
1. Who pays for Trumps endless "rallies"? He has been in constant campaign mode since the election. When does he do anything presidential? When does he have the time?
2. Why aren't the Democrats screaming about his lies from the top of their lungs - about healthcare, Social Security, Medicare, etc.? WHERE ARE THEY?
12
I am not sure now is the time for "balanced reporting." Let me qualify that statement: Sure, it's always good to see both sides of any issue, and I would expect the NY Times to lead the media in that regard.
But there's a lot at stake here. So much damage has already been done to the nation by Trump's blatant lying and total disrespect for law and order, by his naked embrace of dictators around the globe, by his sucking up to our enemies under the mantle of "It's GOOD that I get along with Putin and Kim Jong-Un!" Yeah. Right.
So please, Editorial Board, when you describe "die-hard partisans on both sides of the battle," I know which ones you mean on the Republican side of the fence. To whom are you referring on the other side? Die-hard Democrats who want universal healthcare for the nation? Who want a fair minimum wage for the middle class? Who want to curtail corporate welfare (do we REALLY need a $750 billion dollar defense budget?).
To whom are you referring?
112
Luckily voters decide who is honest not the NY "Trump has a 9% chance" Times. Voters picked Trump over all others including the sniper fire dodger. Then Trump support went UP since Election Day.
Is the NYT reporting all that?
Here is what adults do after a tough loss:
1. praise their opponent which raises their own side
2. accept full responsibility
3. coldly assess their own flaws so it does not happen again
Here is what little babies do:
1. "the guy who beat us sucks!"
2 "the rules suck!"
3. 'they cheated"
4. And the ALL TIME CLASSIC: "they are liars!"
Well, there’s a lie right there in your second sentence. The voters picked H. Clinton over all others. By 2.9 million votes.
5
Trump is determined to win. He doesn't care if he falsifies or uses fiction. The objective is the prize -, it's everything for him.
Meanwhile, on our side, we have the Democratic leadership that is hiding somewhere in caves. I suppose in their own way, they must feel they do good by warming up those places for the returning bears in the coming winter.
And the media on our side of the aisle is too damn greedy to pay attention to what they do. Verbally they oppose Trump but then they turn around to show clip after clip of him. You wonder if they are that ignorant that they do not realize by so doing, they actually amplify his message and thus promote him some more.
Lately, I have come to believe that I am going to harm my health, emotionally, if not physically, by investing so much of my feelings opposing Trump. I would still oppose the man. But perhaps for my sanity, I should stop paying much attention to the politics of the day.
6
Rather than twitch and sputter every time the loser of the popular vote throws words around (aka, making crap up); maybe we should simply figuratively turn our collective back on him and proclaim, "What nonsense!"
Then proceed to focus on the task of restoring our country to what it once was, oh so many months ago. Our focus needs to be on making that poor excuse of a human being irrelevant to our way forward. We have the numbers, we should have the votes.
It will not be easy but really how long are we going to allow that "nonsense" to draw all of the attention to himself and distract us from moving forward to a more just and equitable society?
4
The Republicans have visible and vocal leadership - Trump and McConnell - and they have the benefit of incumbency and being able to influence the news cycle.
On the other hand, the Democrats appear rudderless. Pelosi is out of touch and toxic. Schumer’s spectacles are forever falling off. Between them they have zero street appeal, no charisma and no message.
Furthermore, none of the Democratic presidential candidates have stepped forward to lead the charge against Trump.
The Democrats appear to be still stuck in the “we don’t talk to the deplorables” mindset of Hillary Clinton.
The reality is that the Democrats are gong to have to talk directly to the people in the so-called Trump base in order to win elections.
It should not be hard. They want better jobs. They want health care. They do not want American society flooded by uncontrolled immigration. They want politicians working to better their lives and to preserve the good things they see in America. It should not be hard - after all many of them used to support the Democrats.
Will the New Democratic leaders please step forward and chuck Schumer and Pelosi out of leadership positions !!
After all, they are proven losers.
2
We ALL know that Trump cannot open his mouth without lying. However, at some point, journalists will have to actually address the character of people who attend the Trump rallies and who at this (very) late date continue to support him.
I don't know what you can call them, but nothing decent comes to mind when they continue to chant their vitriolic rally cry, "Lock her/him up!" at every single event, give the middle finger to journalists and call them even uglier names, and then say they are "good with Trump's policies." From where I'm standing, he hasn't come through on any. Our tax cut did nothing; gasoline prices in my area are up $0.85/gallon from inauguration day, and prices at the grocery store are up around 150%. Interest rates are climbing. The wall that is being "rebuilt" in certain areas is NOT being funded by Mexico, and where's that great infrastructure bill? Or the "oh, so-easy fix for health care that was supposed to be better and cost less?
Trump, unless someone is spiking the water at these events, cannot make people behave the way they are behaving ~ which is boorish and acting like a bunch of punks when they denigrate the legacy of John McCain, chant ugly slogans about women and other groups, and ALL of the other ugliness they demonstrate.
I literally get sick to my stomach when I hear them. It is high time to call them out.
The rest of us need to get out and vote. Ignore the polls. Let's make America decent again.
12
Obama not born in this country (LIE). Mexico will pay for the Wall (LIE). Ted Cruz’ father was involved in the Kennedy assassination (LIE). Tax cuts will pay for themselves (LIE). Social Security and Medicare will not be gutted (SOON TO BE A LIE).
But, who are we kidding. It appears the deplorables (people who accept and support non-stop pervasive lying) are winning. I give them their due - they show up and vote. And so it goes.
5
I believe it was Stephen King who said that Tramp's campaign slogan is "BE AFRAID".
Well I am afraid. Afraid that the narcissist-liar-in-chief will go unchecked unless the Dems at least take the house, and I'm afraid this could actually happen.
4
"But it is more than a little dispiriting for the millions of Americans already exhausted by seemingly endless outrage."
That statement describes me. I'm tired of his lies.
I live in a sanctuary city in California. No one is rioting in the streets.
All Trump does is lie.
And he gets away with it.
9
I disagree that Mr. Trump likes a brawl.
Mr. Trump enjoys "punching down": he likes using his power to attack the vulnerable and exploit those without standing. He never picks on someone his own size and never has.
7
a lot of this is just leakage. trump doesn't remember five minutes later what he promises. he's just going for the applause.
but the trnasgender ban (which is what it is) just gets to the heart (!) of the trump posture. why do this? why hurt these people for no reason? just to get votes? isn't that kind of...disgusting?
5
And the surprise here is...? And the story here is...? Isn't this a NEWS paper? There's no news here. News would be if the senate and congress would get their acts together and dump lying Trump. There's the new hat, "Dump Lying Trump: Make America Sane Again."
4
I cannot believe the stupidity and hypocrisy of some individuals. Farmers who are affected by soybean tariffs and pork are still waiting for the miracle while their profits disappear and WE, the taxpayer subsidize them. Evangelicals, one issue voters on abortion do not care what this president does or says as long as he says he is against abortion. What about the other 9 Commandments, I guess they just don't count. Coal miners, how do you like your 400 jobs in almost 3 years while you die from black lung disease with no good health insurance. Forget fixing pre-existing medical problems under this administration, they lie! We have the biggest national debt ever, corporations are richer than ever, sure we have low unemployment, but people are working for minimum wage and have to work 2 or 3 jobs to survive. Meanwhile, our country is riddled with ugly vitriol, racism, and a cultural and economic divide that I have never seen in my life time. The democratic party has their head in the sand. Where is the outcry regarding the fact that republicans want to modify and amend social security, Medicare and Medicaid? Where is the hue and cry regarding the lack of medical insurance for all Americans. What about the high cost of a college education, lack of job training, and low paying jobs. How dumb is the Democratic Party when election cycle after election cycle they fail to engage the largest voter minority in the country.
3
Let me get this right.
Unknown and most likely nonexistent "Islamic men" in a caravan organized for safety reasons since it is so dangerous for them to travel alone or in small groups, we are to be terrified of.
But
Known "Islamic men" who organized and murdered dismembered and disposed of an American Journalist in their consulate in Turkey they get the POTUS protesting that they should be held innocent until proven guilty when the known facts leave out any doubt that the prince and his men are actually guilty?
These are people with limitless wealth who have fully infiltrated our country already and are responsible for dozens of terrorist attacks on the US including September 11th 2001 and the deaths of thousands of US Citizens they are to be regarded as not terror inducing?!
Is that about the size of it mr El Trumpo?
5
@magicisnotreal“They had a very bad original concept,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
About the execution in Istanbul. Be afraid.
1
Dear New York Times Editorial Board,
As usual, a great piece of writing and reasoning. But, I have an idea. Why doesn't the NYT's put out a "special edition, " devoted solely to, and filled with nothing but, the out right lies and falsehood that trump has spewed out?
I am with you 100 percent on your piece, but believe it's time to just lay it all out there. Sure, trump will call you the "lying, failing, blah blah blah" New York Times, but then he would just be adding to his incredible BIGLY list of lies.
But, that "special edition" of lies by an American president will be out there for all time. History and Civics teachers in the future will make it required reading, to show what can happen when a nation - even one as wonderful as ours - falls prey to evil.
Just a thought. Otherwise, great piece.
4
@Sua Sponte,
Here ya go, the definitive list from the NYT: https://nyti.ms/2rLnZpi
...and the WAPO https://wapo.st/2D2rqRX
...and poliFact https://bit.ly/2mLdAZY
...and so on
At least he isn't using Prophet Al Gore's favorite term - RISKY.
He is a very, very bad man.
6
When will the nation have a real debate about Trump's policies? There are taboos to debate about global trade-wars, weaponizing the economies with more and more sanctions for every little thing. We have no honest social debates about health care, education, and real family policies, like childcare housing and early childhood development, all we have is the same old repeat of nothing but just thoughtless stupid Trump lies and the mob applauds while intelligent debate and real governing is ignored.
4
I have decided it is time for some optimism here. I predict that the minority and youth voters will rise up and vote in record numbers this off year election. As a result the Democrats will gain control of both the House and Senate, and the subsequent investigations will lead to Trump's resignation. Congress will then proceed to pass legislation to address our unjust tax laws, global warming, and medicare for all. Overwhelming public support for these laws will force the GOP to support these and other progressive laws. The sun will shine on America again.
3
Since 2016 numerous articles have tabulated Trump's LIES, and they fill volumes (simply search for "list of all Trump's lies"...when you have some time).
Trump's LIES are the worst kind, deliberate and calculated to manipulate people's actions. They are plain, naked deceit, currently designed to motivate votes, ironically coming from the man who complains so much about "con jobs" in the media.
His LIES cross the boundary into legal fraud. Yet he continues with these and other crimes, arrogantly defying justice and the mythical American notion that no one is above the law. That is beyond dispiriting. It is OUTRAGEOUS, INFURIATING, and FRUSTRATING.
From the beginning Trump has been an unnatural disaster, forcibly controlling the majority due to the anti-democratic workings of the electoral college. It is amazing to me that the majority tolerates Trump's LIES, cheating, lawlessness, vulgarity and his dangerous control of the nation's fate. I wonder whether the tolerance has an end, and if so, what will happen when the end is reached.
3
Thanksgiving is coming . . . "Just around the corner and two weeks past the 2018 Mid-Term Elections.
Will we have much to be "thankful" for ?
Win or lose; Will we have much to say to our Republican relatives ?
WHAT - You don't have family members or friends who are Republican ?
The pain we have all been suffering since that horrid news early morning after the 2016 election has taken quite a toll.
The disgusting lies just keep getting further and further from any possible truth and we are beyond numb from all of this.
Without the availability of "the Flux Capacitor" - the last two years seems like 20 !
The daily pain of seeing Trump at one of his rallies - Preaching LIES to his Kool-Aid-Drinking followers is beyond the point of any rational person to bare.
We are mentally and physically sick from all this -
SEEING what our Forefathers died for being wasted away on a Lying Conman.
I hope for all of us . . . that we wake up to good news on November 7th !
4
What scares me more than Trump is that 47% of survey respondents think he's doing a good job.
How any sane individual can say this astounds me. The fact that 47% of individuals do, scares me more than Trump.
7
"I’m a New Yorker, and New Yorkers know a con when we see one! Trump says he’ll punish manufacturers that move to Mexico or China, but the clothes he sells are made overseas in low-wage factories. He says he wants to put Americans back to work, but he games the US visa system so he can hire temporary foreign workers at low wages. He says he wants to deport 11 million undocumented people, but he seems to have no problem in hiring them."
Michael Bloomberg, 2016
5
I'm sick of this political electioneering puffery that has taken over our national debate. The last President who disclosed the issues we have faced as a nation with frankness was Jimmy Carter, and the public hated him for telling them bad news. Reagan just trivialized everything and offered simple and easy solutions, and he was loved like a savior. The trouble was that he really did not know how much of what he sold was true, but he truly liked what he sold.
We are not enemies and we do share a common life together in this country. We all benefit together from our common cooperative efforts or we all suffer with the problems that result. The rich and powerful may separate themselves but only somewhat from problems that affect everyone else, and the separation becomes a kind of imprisonment although in a gilded cage.
Trump is just making our challenges more challenging by manipulating people with lies to gain their loyalty against everyone else. We need to end this phony civil conflict he is producing.
3
Last time I checked Trump was President. His party controls all branches of government. The question that should be asked is why does he let the caravan ever depart from Honduras? Unable to negotiate a deal? Afraid to try? Does he want the caravan so he has something to bellow about?
The caravan is on Trump. The Democratic party will be there to help those poor, desperate people when they arrive at the border having walked 3,000 miles carrying all of their possessions. Democrats act in the great tradition of America. It's one of the many things that make our country great. Don't take my word for it. Check out Matthew 25. Trump and his people need to develop backbones and stop being so afraid.
Trump's supporters are basically doing everything they can to rationalize their support for him, which is ironclad as long as he plans to "Make America White Again." Faux worries about illegal immigrants (a.k.a. hard-working young people who keep payroll taxes and restaurant costs down for the rest of us) are about white nationalism, not economics. With millions of job openings, what harm exactly are they causing?
Do Republicans care that Trump's tax cuts have added about 50% to the debt trajectory he inherited from Obama, about $34,000 per family more debt than otherwise over 10 years? Nope; nary a peep from the Tea Party.
Do Republicans care job creation was faster in Obama's last 20 months than Trump's first 20 months through September? Nope.
Do Republicans care Trump's ACA sabotage has added about 1 million uninsured, on its way to 7 million, up 25% vs. the Obama baseline? Nope.
Do Republicans care inflation and mortgage rates are higher because Trump applied stimulus to the booming economy, forcing countermeasures by the Fed? Nope. Gas prices up? Nope.
See, no matter how incompetent and despite constant lying and an utter lack of credibility, he's focusing on the one issue Republicans really care about: Whiteness.
We need to get our best psychologists to lie detector test Republicans so we can stop wondering if my hypothesis is true; let's get it scientifically confirmed, so they can ignore that along with climate change.
3
I do not understand? The Media continues to say that Trump is lying when it come to Trump stating that there are MS13 members in the caravan. The Media states that there is "no evidence" of MS13 in the caravan. But if there is "no evidence", how do we know that Trump is lying and not the Media, who is lying?
ZZZZZZzzzzzzz. Does any of this really matter at this point? It's just noise.
Trump's base loves all the lies and inflammatory rhetoric, but is any of it changing anything vote-wise? I can't imagine it does.
And the reverse it true as well -- Trump's spiel has become stale to all but his base. There's nothing in it -- it's hard to muster much reaction anymore other than a reminder that voting matters.
I wish the media would lessen the Trump drama coverage and focus on the actual policies being implemented and the corruption. This is what is important. This is what we need to vote to change.
4
When you have Journalists that don't follow up, we are left with no choice, but to believe him. Maybe, maybe, for once Journalists will start asking more questions rather than open ended questions and not following up.
Mr. Trump is doing his best to destroy everything that is honorable and decent in the United States. The fact that millions support him because of bigotry, induced fear or ignorance is indicative of what needs to be fixed. But I am afraid that Trump supporters have more gins than those who support principles of honor and decency.
1
We can call the President out on his lies all we want, but unless and until Democrats start to punch back, nothing will change in Republican and White House behavior. Adults only learn to curb their worst behavior by negative reinforcement, and Republicans are only human. That is why we have jails and a justice system.
All we need are Democratic men and women willing to get in the gutter with the dirty-trick Republicans and punch back as hard and as low as Republicans punch all of the time.
If Democrats take over Congress and don’t start immediately punishing the deplorable unpresidential behavior of the White House, and Republicans, we are done.
1
At last: “Donald Trump is Lyin Up a Storm”. Would he be President if the Press did it’s job before the election or doubled down on any of the myriad of scandals that were normalized by the absence of moral outrage?
Time to take Trump on with the truth: Trump is a would be dictator who is unraveling our democracy, has corrupted the Republican Party, extolled racism, xenophobia, and hatred of women. Please provide readers with that context. Madeline Albright has the gravitas and has not hesitated to spell out what Trump’s continued presence is doing. It will take courage and there is not enough time in the universe to wait for Republicans or Trump’s supporters to wake up. This election should not occur without an explicit reference to the grave danger that Trump is to our country and the world. The NYT has described in detail what Trump does and now it has told one meaning: lies. His actions and words also mean dictator.
3
But, even as the lies are emitted from this souless being his base rants and raves with enthusiasm. The only logical conclusion is the republican base Is also without honorable character traits. If the republicans keep the house Trump will become A tyrant and our democracy is on a precipice of ruin.
1
Bad for the country? What, him worry? Trump and the GOP are in the mother of all symbiotic relationships—they get their draconian and reactionary policies realized while he gets to be in the eternal spotlight. And both get to laugh all the way to the bank on America’s snookered dime. It’s beginning to feel very hopeless...
4
He is the President of the United States. He lies, constantly. These are two alternative facts, but not really.
1
Those who oppose President Trump need to remember to be honest, compassionate and aware of those less fortunate than we are NOT because Donald Trump is the antithesis to all of the aforementioned , but because it is the right thing to do, and it is the right way to be. This is what the Democratic Party should stand for ...
Those of us who believe that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our democracy should always remember what we are voting FOR , rather than what we are voting against.
4
"But it is more than a little dispiriting for the millions of Americans already exhausted by seemingly endless outrage. And it is really bad for the country."
But it has been great for the top 0.1% and top 5% of real estate holders.
11
This a.m. I searched for a sample ballot and clicked on a hyperlink that was supposed to specify my local district and poll location. Here's what appeared:
"403 - Forbidden: Access is denied.
You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied."
(I didn't supply any "credentials" for that search other than my county of residence.) Repeated attempts produced the same result.
I was angry until a flash of insight revealed that I'm now so old that, by the Grace of God, I've just been excused from worrying about the current absurdity of life in the USA. Gradually, it will just devour itself, like Trump University and all those casinos.
Meanwhile, I can withdraw in my urban hermit lifestyle and take some private comfort in helping better folks than me offer succor to innocent victims.
1
Trump issues "dark warnings" about Democrats that are based in fantasy. In response Democrats need to set the record set while issuing dark warnings about Republicans based in reality.
Here are some starters. Republicans want to:
Slash Medicare and remove coverage for pre-existing conditions. Hope you can afford to stay healthy!
Slash Social Security. Good luck in your retirement (assuming you can even retire)!
Arm everybody with a gun. Everything from handguns to military grade weapons. Talk about chaos. Stay safe!
Exacerbate global warming thus ensuring the destruction of the planet and civilization as we know it. Sleep well!
And one correction to the article. The economy which is chugging along has absolutely nothing to do with Trump. Remove that please from his list of "achievements".
8
Donald Trump transfers fear into hate-mongering. He's obviously frightened about the prospects of a Democratic-controlled House, which would stymie his agenda and most likely launch impeachment proceedings. Given that scenario, Trump holds hateful rallies and panders to his adoring base who give not one wit that he is a pathological liar and whom he depends on for unbridled adulation. Trump's constant lying has conditioned me to not believe anything he says. That will mean nothing unless I and the rest of us who have had it with this sorry excuse for a president show up to the polls and vote out the sycophant Republican legislators who know he's horrible yet don't have the courage to cross him.
5
Trump Dominates the News-Cycle.
He has before the election and every day since; "The biggest inauguration crowd ever" !
Just about everything about him is a lie.
Lying about his wealth to get on a Forbes list.
Lying to investors for all of his projects.
Lying to all of the students duped into Trump U.
Lying to all of his wives - "He's a philandering pig".
Lying to his base - "Everything he says"
Lying to the American Population -
Lying to the entire world.
As we approach the second full year of his term, Donald Trump may have told more lies than every president preceding him combined - - - "And Counting" !
It is baffling to anyone who frequents these columns - how those hurt the most by the GOP, remain blindly loyal.
Trump's 90% approval rating among Republicans is astonishing.
Sadly, the Democrats "have no game" !
Their big Blue-Wave margin appears to be vanishing.
A week ago, Mitch McConnel stated how he intends to cut benefits for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security - in order to shore up the huge and growing deficit "he caused" by giving the wealth of America to the Already Wealthy and Powerful.
There is no lie that Trump cannot get away with -
Those who follow him do not care about truth or facts - his follows are the last bastion of white dominance globally and this is happening all over the world.
Sadly; "It's going to get worse, before it gets better".
4
Donald Trump is lying. There's most certainly nothing new about that.
After all, this is someone who has always had a pathological problem with telling the truth...and FACTS.
That his lies might be more outrageous these days, definitely has something to do with the upcoming mid-term elections and his ability to fire-up his base.
But that still doesn't alter the fact that he, and they don't represent the majority of Americans.
And let's be grateful for that.
2
One question that seems very suspicious is this: Was the so-called Central American migrrant caravan set up to coincide with the Mid-term elections? We need good reporting on the subject.
6
What exactly is a lie?
Perhaps saying that global warming is not real is a lie.
But then isn't neglecting to add that the reason for global warming is population growth also a lie?
In 1968, Paul Ehrlich published the Population Bomb which argued that population growth would ultimately drive down living standards. In 1972, Meadows, Meadows, Randers and Behrens published the Limits to Growth which presented mathematical models describing scenarios for population growth, depletion of resources and environmental degradation as more human beings crowded onto planet Earth.
Democrats have embraced the message regarding global warming. But for the most part they are silent on the broader problem of population growth.
Thus nobody talks about the projected doubling of population in Africa between now and 2050, and what it means for quality of life for Africans. Why?
We need to face the facts regarding population growth. It is population growth in Honduras which causes the caravan of migrants making its way to the US.
Just saying we want open borders does not solve the problem. US population has increased by 36% since the Immigration Reform Act of 1986, which was ignored by politicians once passed.
But the poor in the US can see the effects, to which the liberal elite are blind. Homelessness is becoming widespread. Many of the poor are dying early because of inadequate health care.
Do Democrats have solutions? Tearing down statues of Robert E Lee will not work.
2
What a tragic fellow, one with untreated mental illnesses.
4
The average person does not like or look up to liars, bullies, those without humility, draft-dodgers (ie not taking their medicine with the rest), tax-frauds, creatures of privilege, disloyal husbands with fervent unrepentant infidelity, misogynists....all accurate descriptions of Mr Trump. Most people would find some uncrossable red line in this laundry list of adjectives. Yet somehow his support persists. There is one fault of his that shields all others - Racism. This is so clear to non-white people but elicits deft dancing from his supporters. I am not a citizen but I hope what is "great in America" is still what is "good in America", and it will prevail in the midterms.
2
I think Democrats need a street fighter to knock trump out. A Joe Biden or a Michael Avenatti. Democrats don't have to cater to the base, they have them. They have to peel off Trump supporters who have doubts or some regrets. They have to pull in independents. These voters like a fighter, like Trump. The party affiliation will be secondary to these people really.
2
@Gene Cass - Not Avenatti. We need someone with some actual experience, not another "star" who draws a crowd.
1
Are the corporate democrats being paid to say nothing
ab out the lies by their donors do you think? And is that why they are really angry at Progressives winning primaries?
They are the only democratic candidates who can say anything about the lies of the GOP since they are not bought. What a lovely thorn they are for Citizens United and the corrupt Dems and GOP.
How's it going Cuomo with out your nefarious and corrupt Republican enabling buddies up there in Albany? I think you have two left right? Having fun, having to work harder to hide your corruption? Oh those dastardly progressives who just had to shine a light on your criminal ways. Hmm, do not seem to hear of you being one of the Democrats running for president in 2020. And most of the have stopped taking dark money. Too much of a stretch for you?
1
Thanks to Trump, we now understand that a significant portion of our population doesn't see a lie even if it hits them right across the face, bam! Plus, another portion will believe anything so long as it comes from someone they support or with whom they have fallen into partisan love.
These are not entirely new discoveries because, seen from one sharp angle, our national politics has always been about crafting clever half truths to get the voters to do what the consultants and politicians want. I remember a top aide to the late congressman (later defense secretary ) Les Aspin telling me that when Aspin first ran for Congress people were continually asking him, "What do you have against aspirin?"
Most people who are better informed and who have followed politics for years never imagined it could be bad as it is now under Trump. Raw, bold propaganda (unknown middle eastern people?) now takes centerstage. Plus, there are platoons of right wing talkers ready to back up the propaganda.
Presidents have lied to the public and some, like LBJ and Nixon, were caught and lost the support of the majority because of it. Has any president lied so often, so forcefully as Trump? No.
There will come a time when the Trump era is over (trust me). How, after it ends, do we get our belief in truth back? How can we have future dialog about the nation's problems if multiple sides can't agree on basic facts? By undermining truth, Trump is dividing us in a way that is doing permanent damage.
4
@Doug Terry
His followers don't care how much he lies because he's the "Make America White Again" president. Slower job creation, higher deficits and inflation to fund tax cuts for the rich, and more uninsured are all OK by them, not to mention the daily embarrassment.
1
You don't want our input. You have your solutions, and they generally include getting rich by enslaving the poor.
You still don't get it. Until you lose you probably won't get it.
1
Trump continues to be Trump and the newspaper continues to tell us he's doing so.
1
While I admire the journalistic approach of the Board pointing out the President's approach to politics I cannot approve your editorials which do nothing to reverse the constant bombardment of racist cards that the President plays. When will the editorial boards get up the journalistic nerve to have Front page news that have banners in size 18 font that states the obvious: LIAR, THIEF, CHEAT, RACIST! And then present each case to the public in excellent journalistic verbiage? The entire industry of journalism is now at stake in addition to the democracy of our republic! When will the entire news media refuse to cover the presidential newsroom in the White House? When will the entire news media refuse to recognize Fox News as nothing more than a propaganda tool for the President and the Republican party? If all the editorial boards of the leading papers around the country sit on their collective posteriors then our Republic is doomed to those who embrace authoritarians. Please show us the pen is mightier than the sword!
5
Why is expressing an opinion a lie? Where is the proof that criminals and people from the Middle East are NOT coming with the caravan?
1
Well I’ve watched several broadcasts including FOX with multiple reporters who are actually walking along side of these people.
And they report no evidence to support any claims that Trump has made.
These are Trump fabrications to work up a small group of people before November elections.
A shameful use of “hate politics” from my perspective, that should be beneath the office of the president. Guess nothing is too low these days.
Vote in November my fellow Americans, the country needs to restore some checks and balances.
3
What did you expect? Lying is one of the tools Trump uses to strengthen the loyalty of his target audience: hateful, intolerant, violent, gullible people.
He keeps winning the war between himself and civilization for the simple reason that a majority of Americans are now members of that target audience.
The only way to keep the white supremacy nationalists from destroying this democracy is to somehow change basic human nature in America for the better. Good luck with that.
See how well that tactic is working for the rest of the world? Right. Human nature uber alles.
2
He is not a President to be proud of, he is not a man of dignity and I believe the Republicans are undermining democracy with their winner take all attitude. His rallies, his tweeting, his bragging, his lying, his racism, that isn’t in any manner presidential. A lot of people mention Hitler and I realise people roll their eyes, however, the similarities are there, we should never forget what history has taught us, the erosion of human rights can be a slow process until it is too late. There is no honour in supporting another’s dishonour.
4
Most of the public, and especially his base, does not register the more sinister aspects of Trumpian 'Truthful hyperbole'.
So, you might hear- "He tells it like it is!" Or, "Well, he might be exaggerating, but he has a point."
They have come to expect that he is an entertainer; his is the world of hokum and bunkum. But understand, it's as American as Apple Pie, P.T. Barnum or H.L. Mencken. The more outrageous the better, because that is memorable and it provokes reactions- like this editorial- got your dander up, didn't it?
The rallies are a celebration of opposition- against what they see as an over-serious, alien and even ludicrous democratic establishment. Trumpers are hearing what they want to hear; they are energized. To the rest, it is a big turn-off, a reason not to be engaged- in any of it.
To me, this is depressing and dangerous. Equally vexing is the lack of an effective counterpoint and compelling Democratic response. Come on people, wise up. Where is Will Rogers when you need him?
3
WORD: mythomania, mythomaniac
1
The rich don’t care and the Fox News audience is too stupid to argue. The republicans are the party of hurt, hate and lies. The New York Times should be printing a daily updated list in large print the lies spewed from trump’s lips. Each and every republican candidate should be made to go on record with their defense of his lies. The press needs to be a protector of the truth. Our country depends on it.
6
Are you sure that the stuff about transgender individuals was LEAKED? I am certain that it is bait,
9
The GOP created an atmosphere of hatred and racism following the election of Barack Obama, our first black President. They paved the way for the rise of Birther Trump - a life long racist and bigot himself. Trump's base of poor whites and hypocritical Christian fundamentalists are enthralled by this pathetic TV clown - they even say he is one of them!!
Trump's thousands and thousands of lies, his inexperience, instability and ignorance has been a useful distraction while the Republicans dismantle government, destroy health care and fill the pockets of the 0.1% That Republicans allow Trump to humiliate the United States before the world and enhance the strength of our adversaries is of no concern to these GOP traitors.
We must throw them all out. The primary lesson of the 2016 stolen election is that we must get out the vote now!!
5
The so-called president, last night:
"You know, they have a word. It sort of became old-fashioned. It's called a nationalist. And I say, really, we're not supposed to use that word. You know what I am? I'm a nationalist, OK? I'm a nationalist. Nationalist. Nothing -- use that word. Use that word."
Trump supporters are the modern analog of the Europeans of the 30s who aided and abetted Adolf Hitler.
6
Silly piece. You can do every President the same way. In a NY minute. But of course you don't.
Did Obama lie up a storm? Of course he did:
Benghazi youtube video, Fast and furious started under Bush, Mitt Romney wants to deny Gay people the right to adopt, You like your Dr you can keep your Dr, We doubled the distance cars will go on one gallon......I could go on and on.
That is why so many people dismiss what you write as Fake News. The bias is palpable.
Many of what you claim are Trump lies are more hyperbole or joking then actual lies. To drive home a point. With an underlying core of truth.
The 'buy em a car' quote is one example.
Trump supporters see this as just one more partisan hit piece...because it is.
3
I am not sure it matters so much anymore - the lying that is - now that we are mostly immune to his pandering to the base. And the base doesn't need much convincing anyway . . . the hope, of course, is that voters (independents) will have had enough - more than enough thank you very much - of this vile and despicable phony unfit to occupy even the esteemed office of the village idiot . . .
6
Yet another well-considered and well-written New York Times lead editorial.
I wonder, though, why day after day the nation's leading newspaper has so little to say about fossil fuel emissions, which will destroy all life on earth unless we reduce them.
3
All we read about is trump. Can’t you please hold it down just a. It and report what Democrats are saying?
8
@Wendy Bradley
Are the Democrats saying anything? I'd sure like to hear from them.
3
Calling the Don the Con,the POTUS,a liar ("lying up a storm") by the NYT Editorial Board..is a MAGNIFICENT example of freedom of the press ! All patriotic and honest Americans will applaud the NYT BANNER expression of this"plain truth".
However,the NYT Boards statement that," Its not that this President has failed to achieve anything in his first couple of years in office.The economy is chugging along now.."
Surely ,Trumps deregulation,at behest of corporate lobbyists..of environmental,health,and safety laws and regulations..at immeasurable future harm to the health and environment of current and future generations of Americans..IS NOT an achievement,simply because it increases corporate profits ..NOR is packing the court system with conservative lobbyist and benefiting corporation approved judges..to continue eroding and deregulating rights of the MAJORITY of citizens in favor of the FEW corporate and financial benefactors... Surely,"Trumps Tax Reform" to benefit, mostly, the 1%wealthy and multinational corporations..creating a 3+ TRILLION ,or more future budget deficit........cannot be considered an achievement ..in favor of the American voter.
The economy is chugging,DESPITE Trumps (too many to list political,social and economic STEPS BACKWARD !
ThIS regime of a self serving,corrupt ,and incompetent LIAR,POTUS.....can only destroy whats left of American Democracy........vote wisely !!!
3
He IS lyin' up a storm, and meanwhile the NYT & The Washington Post publish those lies every day as if they were Gospel, and no retort, except insipid editorials about how bad things are.
Quit publishing his tweets.That's for his 'followers'
If he lies, call it out in the story. It's part of the story.
Fix it or shut up.
10
I think Trump is unhinged....he is off the wall!
10
Should not such outrageous and blatant lies told to the American people not be a criminal offense? This has not been a lie,or two, or three, or four...this has already been THOUSANDS of lies! Not just by trump, but by his republican good 'ol boys club. And these are not little lies--they are big lies. If this is not criminal, WHAT IS IT?????
5
Sounds like you're not tired of losing yet.
2
@Amadeus
Lying is not winning.
1
People are all unique and they solve the challenges of life all a little differently but they find solutions which all address the same concerns. We learn to live together in peace by tolerating those differences. The differences which Trump magnifies to unify his base against the rest of the country are deliberately misrepresented by Trump. They destroy the mutual trust that enable us to live in a free country. But the absence of that trust gives a lot more power to people with great personal wealth and influence, which is why he uses such tactics.
2
Trump is a vulgar bigoted narcissist. Narcissism is a recognized personality disorder characterized by delusions of grandeur and chronic lying. Actually, referring to Trump as a liar may not be quite accurate because he very likely believes that whatever he says is true; because, as a narcissist, he probably believes in his delusions that he, and he alone, defines what truth is. At any rate their is little doubt that he belongs in therapy and not in the White House. Republicans in Congress know this, but have decided to lay low; that their own reelection is more important than to stand up and do what is right for our country.
5
The Editorial Board as well as many Democrats don't understand the basic message which is that Trump is a manifestation of the Democrats refusing to act as Democrats such as FDR, Truman, JFK, and LBJ.
I and many other Americans *are* for gender rights, but they must be implemented correctly. First they must be new laws passed by Congress as mandated by The Constitution (Congress legislates, The Executive enforces legislation).
Second, the rights of privacy and safety and in general of genetic girls and women in showers and restrooms must not be violated by allowing genetic males in those showers and restrooms.
Under Obama, the Democrats had a majority in both houses of Congress from 2008 to 2010 to pass reasonable legislation. Instead AG Eric Holder issued an illegal memo abrogating the rights of genetic girls and women. Illegal, because the memo in effect was legislation.
Similarly Obama legislated DACA instead of working with his Democratic congress during 2008 to 2010. When DACA went in front of the Supreme Court, the vote was tied 4-4 but notably swing Justice Kennedy voted that Obama had broken the law.
Obama, a Harvard Law grad who taught Constitutional Law at U. Chicago Law school knew he was breaking the law.
Trump is merely a symptom of a Democratic Party that has lost its way defined by FDR, Truman, JFK, and LBJ.
4
Since when does Donald Trump need an upcoming election as a reason to lie? What he needs, and rarely has, is some kind of motivation to actually tell the truth.
4
Trump has no interest in governing. At least I can give him credit to the fact that he knows that! He couldn't care less. He's more interested in his image. The image that will earn him big bucks when he's out of office. Business deals will be made easier and more profitable. All the free publicity he gets is worth millions to his businesses. He couldn't care less about the country, honesty, bravery, kindness, empathy.....all those things I and so many of us were taught by our parents, and that we hold so dear. He couldn't care less.
9
I believe that the democratic strategy is resignation. If we do not get it now, there is nothing that can be done or said that will change peoples minds.
It is a frightening strategy. The main point of which is that it is going to get worse, perhaps much worse, before it even begins to get better. And we have no real choice except to watch it happen.
The last time this happened, when the desires and needs of the majority conflicted so completely with those of the owners we had a depression and a world war. Those events righted the balance for thirty years and now it has gone back.
A little apocalyptic? Maybe?
NJ is emblematic of our cynical times beyond the crooked D at the top of the ticket.
Take Rodney Frelinghuysen’s district, my district, reliably R for 24 years.
A Navy pilot swoops in from Montclair of all places & without pause proceeds to invade enemy airspace—Fox News—daily—hiding her hard-left culture-warrior extremism with poll-tested, narrowly-focused slick ads targeting the NJ-11 moderate R woman.
I don't think they will buy what's she's selling. Women are especially good at sniffing out a phony.
Example: She says she's a leader for gun control, & yet her second biggest donor is the NRA's go-to law firm.
She presents herself as female flying ace, prosecutor, pro-woman, and—despite evidence to the contrary, anti-Pelosi, a moderate, a non-politician—as she caricatures her opponent, a 46-y-o Harvard Law grad (as is his wife) & NJ Assemblyman—a young Jimmy Stewart who evokes the Capra DC flick—as a regressive anti-woman troglodyte, which is absurd on its face.
Crazy hyperbole, the Democrats’ post-2016 MO, is a losing proposition: Desensitization requires ever increasing absurdity.
My prediction: Mr. Smith goes to Washington.
1
@Marian She's leading in all the polls, and in some by a large margin. She will win. I'm from the 11th and it's not a gun loving, anti-brown people, bible thumping district. What Trump's selling here isn't wanted anymore.
2
In response to Trump's "dark warnings" about Democrats (based on fantasy) the Democrats need to set the record straight and at the same time issue some dark warnings about Republicans (based in reality).
Here are a few for starters:
- They want to slash Medicare and remove coverage for pre-existing conditions. Good luck staying healthy!
- They want to slash Social Security. Good luck in your retirement (assuming you can even retire).
- They
2
Tax cut for the “middle class”.
Isn’t that how Trump and Republicans positioned the last tax cut?
That as we know turned out to be a. Tax payer funded government hand out to billionaires and commercial real estate developers - know anyone like that?
The con game continues - vote my friends in
November.
9
If this essay reflects the collective best work of the entire editorial board of the NYT, it stands as proof of a once credible, adult newspaper going completely off the rails. How so?
For example, it misrepresents darkly humorous hyperbole by Trump as lies. No reasonable person could listen to Trump's speech and conclude that he was serious in his suggestion that California was going to give luxury cars to illegal immigrants. It was humorous because, like most satire by exaggeration, there is a nugget of truth to it. This is, after all, a state with sanctuary cities, generous benefit programs of illegal immigrants, and one in which efforts are apparently made to register illegal immigrants to to vote and give them driver's licenses.
Also, recent events have shown that the only difference between Trump calling Senator Warren "Pocahontas" and her own claims to being a Cherokee is that Trump manages to call out the fraud for what it is.
Referring to Democratic candidates as promoting policies that might turn states (and the country) into the next Venezuela, again rhetorical hyperbole, makes complete sense when the self-identified "new faces" of the Democrats are avowed purebred socialists (not the capitalist plus variety from Europe) who want to engage in massive wealth transfer and control of a major sector of the economy.
Trump loves a brawl, to be sure, but a rhetorical one, unlike the Democrats who prefer real ones.
4
I’ve lived in NYC since 1980 and watched Trump lie and con his way all over this town.
Sorry my friend, these are Trump lies and unfortunately millions of mis informed people seem to believe him, and yes, they take it literally.
Trump is the most lying, corrupt, shameless President of my lifetime.
And after having lived through Nixon, that’s saying something.
8
@Titian
Your post is a real stretch -Warren finding out what grandma told her was correct that the family had an indigenous member is not fraud whether you are whining about her or not.
Trump being told to pay 29 million back to customers he cheated through his phoney Trump U IS fraud. And not paying his taxes. And claiming his father's income, etc etc.
Trump is a talk show host for people well off enough to fritter away their country.
2
@Steven Perhaps providing evidence to back up your claim would be helpful to some other discussion. But, it does not salvage a half-baked editorial by credulous (actually or dishonestly) editors who fail completely to justify the headline. That isn't to say that someone, like you, might be able to put together a convincing case that Trump, at least to your eyes, is a con artist. Our country would be a lot better off with such (ostensibly) well-written, evidence-supported essays, not this pablum that supports a click-bait headline with an empty box. (By the way, Trump got elected, in my estimation, by a lot of urban fancies thinking that those who opposed liberal policies were misinformed, stupid, or evil. Neither party, in truth, has a monopoly on those all-too-human qualities. By and large, the Trump supporters I know (and I'm not one of them) are way more decent, empathetic, and thoughtful than the young crop of Neo-Socialists who think that capitalism is evil.)
Everyone in the caravan of the 5000+ illegal immigrants has a legitimate asylum claim? Doubt it! Whose really doing all the lying? Let them come - but legally!
2
I'm really sorry I read this compilation of recent ridiculous lies. It's enough to make a sane person run screaming down the middle of the street. And yet tRump's support grows. My only consolation is an increasing sense of moral superiority (something I never had or even considered before). There are some BAD actors in this fragile democracy of ours.
2
“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”
~Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
She also states that truth-telling to lies does not good. The lies are known to be lies. They are not meant to be true; rather they are designed to set agendas.
8
They vote for this version of Every Mother's Nightmare because of his poor character. He is one of them.
3
Trump's lies aren't what make "the storm." It is the storm inside his head and heart which makes the lies.
There is no Trump. There is only The Trump Inner Storm.
3
Please New York Times, stop giving Trump rallies these glowing reviews. We've known he's a liar for quite some time. That's not fake news, it's old news. And lately, pointing out Trump's gift for gas-lighting, is starting feel like a creepy, cryptic endorsement. It's as if you've given up and joined the circus. I bought my subscription to the Times the morning after Trump's election. I was counting on you to keep me informed. I listen to NPR for the same reason. But, in recent months, I have felt an eerie complicity in reporting like this. There are too many pieces on Republicans gaining momentum leading up to the primaries and gleeful photos of mobs at Trump rallies. The left is organizing around and in spite of the Democratic party. There is real anger and fear out here, and it's not just mobilizing scared white men. You have real impact on the possibility of hope for defeating an increasingly, boldly tyrannical agenda. As an almost insignificant aside, I am a transman. I would not be surprised if, within a year or two, my existence was criminalized or worse, if a list was created from legal gender changes nationwide to round us up. Please think about the impact of your reporting.
2
He's been ducking the truth and the law most of his adult life. What's more alarming is that a considerable chunk of the country continues to lap this stuff up!
10
Republicans dominate because they fight dirty. Democrats are genteel & statistics-quoting & logical. The average voter doesn’t want reason, she wants her prejudices upheld. FDR was good at that. So is Trump.
2
We are witness to one of the greatest confidence schemes in history: a known con artist and fraud who is unfit and unqualified for the office he stole with help from the Russians, embarks on his personal grievance filled mission, detached from reality, to reshape the world in his own image.
3
@Dano50
and good luck with that, from a Canadian who understands and commiserates
I am disturbed by the the news media reporting continuously on what Trump claims or says. So much is exaggeration at best if not lies or incredibly inappropriate. By repeating the lies they get reinforced in the brains of those unable or unwilling to spend the few minutes needed to think about these issues. Report in clear terms about the issues and where the Democrats stand versus the Republicans. On issues it is very clear. Trump is throwing smoke to obscure the facts. Stop spreading the smoke.
2
Having succeeded mostly at doing things that will hurt their base, Trump and the Republicans are left with appealing to fears, lying about their accomplishments and positions, and pretending to be who they are not. Perhaps the idea is that if you are playing a con, you might as well go all out, but Republicans are making their own best argument for the voters to implement term limits on them come November.
2
I take some comfort in knowing history will savage this dreadful excuse of a human. Let's hope he is known as the nadir in American Politics. We Americans are better than Trump and the lies and dishonesty of his Trumpism. "Americans are better than this" should be a common rally call in 2018 and 2020.
4
These migrants were not sent by democrats. What possible assistance could they provide our party in such a tight election, which despite the polls may result in a red wave? Simply put, this group of 3000, or 5000-- whatever the number is useful to the GOP and its monstrous leader trump-- as it a) forces democrats to defend or pity them, especially in light of trump's threats to separate children from parents, which no sane democrat could support, even those (like me) who are vehemently opposed to illegal immigration of ANY sort) and b) gives trump something to rant about, a hook to his horrible voters and yes-men supporters in congress-- thus getting out more of the angry white folk vote. So-- since there is ZERO benefit to the timing of this wave to the Dems, how about we imagine that this could be fostered and paid for by the GOP? Folks, let's be real here-- there is nothing so low that the current republican party would not stoop to. This "invasion" is pure red meat. The timing and force of this is the lens through which investigative journalists need to be viewing and reporting on this suspicious and theatrical influx of migrants.
4
Trump uses the two oldest games:
the first is tribalism, currently the whites
the second is racism, those others in this case the browns
Unrelated but truly absurd is that the Democrats aka as
Liberals have somehow become the traitorous enemies
The bigger issue is our Congress, Congress for decades have failed to write any meaningful legislation, immigration or otherwise. The why is interesting, our Representatives are always running for office and elections need constant funding. Therefore, they avoid anything they can be used against them in a sound byte or upset their donors.
Elections in America have become ruled by money. Money in politics allow the policies or personal enrichment, of the rich, thus the control of our elected officials to do their bidding.
2
Surprisingly, this editorial comes close to getting it. Close. Trump's campaign style and publicity style is hyperbole, braggadocio, name-calling, bluffing, and brand reinforcement. His wild tweets and impulsive outbursts are just more of the same, throwing serious and sensitive people way off balance, but delighting his followers, partly for that very reason. There are serious issues beneath all of this, some political, some cultural, and they get mentioned as identification points at the rallies--but the rallies are for something else. Calling campaign-rally-Trump a liar is like calling an actor an impersonator.
The reality of the President is in the real strategies and goals he pursues, the ones he pursues to the end, not the ones he throws out as bait. Some are quite questionable. Some are effective and worthwhile. Just like any President's. Although Trump pokes and prods and shakes things up a bit more.
1
@Nathan When his financial and economic policies bear fruit, it will be a shock to his fans. The American economy is headed to a nasty fall.
2
In relation to the honduran migrants caravan, the biggest of all times and growing each day, beyong the Trump´s populism, there is another reality that must be said: This is product of the US foreign policy, supporting only goverments that obbeys its orders, but they act against the democracy, the freedom, the progress, the security and incluiding the life of the hondurans.
And in this case, it is one of the product of Trump administration decisión of support the Juan Hernández goverment, knowing that he violated our Constitution to run for the reelection, he lost the last november elections and the worse of all, his illegal administration is taking a series of decisión against the most poors of our people.
Imitating to Mr. Trump, Hernández lies, saying that the honduran opposition organizated this caravans. The people in them are only desparates humans beings, whom their goverment have impoverished and stolen even the hope.
9
trump (he is NOT my president. hillary is) has not done any of the many things you described here. the man can't open a jar of peanut butter, much less orchestrate a referendum. what i cannot wrap my head around is the outright lies he tells all day long, day after day, month after month. is there not a way to call him on these lies, to press for someone, anyone to be slandered and libeled by the lies and press charges? it's like we live in an alternate universe. please, somebody stop him.
6
Let’s be clear about something. We elected an immoral, self-centered, conniver as President. Don't just blame the Republicans. In Hillary Clinton, the Democrats had their own conniver, perhaps to a lesser degree than Trump, but a conniver anyway. Neither candidate ran for office to help the country nor it's citizens. They ran for office for personal power, prestige and stroking their own egos.
Two major reasons for this happening is Citizens United and Gerrymandering. Both disenfranchised voters. For the politicans voters became less relevant than money. Both allowed politicans to ignore what citizens wanted and instead allowed them to focus on raising money, and thus giving their focus to what big money wanted rather than what the average citizen wanted and needed.
until this problem is solved America will continue to slide in terms of influence and accomplishment. until things change we will continue to foolishly call ourself a democracy.
3
As this editorial states, "Mr. Trump is not letting reality interfere with his performance".
This eloquently describes how the fiasco occupying the Oval Office operates.
"...and it is really bad for the country" sums it up mildly.
5
@Irene
It's not too late for Democrats to employ this scare tactic. In fact, it's high time. Especially this close to Halloween.
Chuck Schumer is just the guy to do it.
Let's hear some hyperbole from our side for a welcome change.
2
Isn't it time to not report at all the nonsense this "oracle" spouts, to not show his portrait, and ignore as much as possible his oral debris. Every word that comes out of his mouth becomes magnified, that is what he likes, irrespective whether reported from the left or right. This creature is so totally attention hungry that he devours anything in its path. The artwork that best reflects the current situation for me is perhaps "Goya's Saturn devouring his Son", https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/saturn/18110a75-.... Let us return to one of Goya's early works such as his "Parasol", https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-parasol/a230....
2
You forgot an item.
Return to sender: Postal union warns of fallout if US leaves
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/return-to-sender-postal-union-warn...
So we will not be able to send or receive foreign mail???
Is this not fun ...
DJM
"Mr. Trump is not letting reality interfere with his performance."
Maybe - but the reality is that his performance is increasingly favored by the American public.
Rasmussen pegs his approval rating at 48% - higher than Clinton, Bush and Obama two years into their Presidencies.
Rather than laying out what the Times thinks are Trump's failings, they ought to be analyzing why such failings are popular with a huge swath of the American public.
5
@Mike Edwards
To understand why Americans like President Trump one would have to acknowledge his successes. Not sure they're there yet.
Exhausted, yes. Ready to quit, not even close. What is amazing is the number of people who are incapable of separating the rhetoric from the truth, if indeed there is any truth, escaping Trump’s lips. Let the nightmare end.
3
It’s sure fun for us to tally up Trump’s lies and Republican dishonors. But in the longstanding and very successful Southern tradition of political brawling that the GOP has now made national, such self-indulgence is just another dead armadillo along the road. This is a serious war. Since Reconstruction, Southern oligarchs have continually used lies, deceit, distraction, voter suppression and violence to keep the majority’s pols out of office. Once they hold onto their House majority, democracy is toast.
5
@Keithofrpi
In other words they have been communists all along.
Trumps believes in "say anything" because it got him elected. In his mind, he remains immune to any consequences because, so far, no one in the G.O.P. and no one else or no other circumstances (e.g. a really bad disaster or a new war) hold him accountable. His despicable behavior throughout his life has rarely been called to account, at least in any sense that it might reform him, as is often the case with insecure bullies. Of course, advocating violence would not be helpful, but Joe Biden's comments that Trump should have been "punched in the nose" long ago resonate.
2
I apologize, I am not good for metaphors but I think I can make my metaphor clear enough: as mushrooms don't grow in the desert, people like Mr. Trump and family didn't grow out of the thin air but here in the USA. So, what is in our "democratic" system that made possible to have such individuals as the head of our country: in our territory as in foreign policy.
3
Thank you. But I'll have to agree also with the "seemingly endless outrage." People raised to be decent and honorable in their behavior and even work day to day in honest professions cannot help but feel outrage overload here. But also in agreement with Masha Gessen who wrote two days after the 2016 election-- See Rule #4. https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/11/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-... . Please vote Trump's ilk out in November and keep hoping for Mueller and team to get him gone, too.
2
The caravan of refugees winding its way through Mexico couldn't have been timed better for the GOP. I'm a Democrat and I don't know anyone that wants this mass of (largely) unskilled people simply coming in. Are we afraid to agree with Trump on the rare occasion he's right? Enough hand-wringing!Our party must take action now and declare similar opposition or there will be no blue wave.
3
@Jeff
This nation was built by a mass lf largely unskilled people.
Why isn't anyone talking about why they are fleeing their country?
Because it if previous republican foreign policy as far back as 1980 that created the crime ridden chaos they flee that is why.
1
@Jeff
Instead of dealing with the reality of this mass of immigrants, they are fixating on whether Trump lied when he said there were gang members hidden in there. They are more interested in proving Trump wrong (and themselves right?) than they are about what will happen when this group reaches our border.
Meanwhile, Trump is concerned about this mass and about who might be in there. And they wonder why he is winning?
@magicisnotreal
You're correct magic. Our foreign policy has contributed to this mess. But it isn't the only reason - the leaders of those countries must be held to account. Moreover, I'm concerned about this election - right now. Without big gains we stand no chance to rein in trump. Failure to do so will doom these refugees and others for the foreseeable future.
Foot stomping once again by the Old Gray Lady...I love it.
1
Two years in we are still waiting for the New York Times lead news headline “Trump spends 90mins nonstop lying to American voters.”
Due to fear of appearing “biased against” Donald the public is treated to yet another special editorial as if a deranged President of the United States whipping up bigotry, nationalistic fervor through demonstrable lies is not at all newsworthy. This is the precise lack of accountability that NYT editors & publishers displayed during the campaign that ultimately resulted in Trumps election.
As much as I am interested in how he obtained his wealth via corruption, I am FAR more concerned about a collapse of our Democracy. Freedom of the Press is enshrined in the Constitution precisely because of a time like this.
Publisher cares little for the big picture, but cares volumes for paper sales.
2
Long live POLITICAL CARTOONISTS! Please illustrate this editorial with a blindfolded Lady Justice (LJ) series lampooning trump. For starters...
-A nude LJ trying to cover herself; trump, with her
robes, leering
-LJ shot, wounded, bleeding on 5th Ave.; trump grins
brandishing smoking gun
-Trump with finger on climate change denial balance;
knee deep in flood waters
-Trump wheeling the LJ statue away from "Construction
Site" sign
-Trump turning LJ into a Halloween horror: Groucho
Marx nose, glasses, mustache, witch's hat, etc.
-Kavanaugh sitting on a balance; LJ falling over
-Trump wheeling off LJ, in it's place a grinning Kavanaugh
statue with balance weighted by 1%, guns, GoP, etc.
-LJ & balance weighted heavily towards women and
LGBT rights; trump struggles to equalize with
old white male rule
-LJ balancing Kashoggi suitcas with body parts:
Trump lifts Saudi armaments onto the other balance
-Trump auctioning off LJ to the highest bidder
-LJ with a balance heavily weighted towards $$ bundles
vs. "Presidential Emoluments Law, Justice" on the other
balance.
-"Alternative Facts & Lies" with trump's finger on the
balance outweighing "Truth & Integrity"
-ACA being outweighed on the balance by the grim reaper
with trump looking on approvingly.
And so many more!....
2
I live in California and no anti-immigration riots here. As to “unknown Middle Easterners” the one Middle Easterner the President DOES know arranges to have a death squad go to a foreign country and murder a journalist - something I’m sure Trump is jealous he can’t do - that was critical of him. Then he says that it shouldn’t scuttle the alleged arms deal. This is Making America great again? I don’t remember a time when shrinking from our moral duty to stand up to murderous dictators and tyrants made America great. It makes us cowardly!!!
5
Our president is a liar and a thief. He holds the highest office in the nation and therefore untouchable and unaccountable; a la the new supreme court justice, unless the current pres is a democrat.
He is a drain of 'our' brand.
The media could help by holding him up to the light.
Someone needs to shave the heads of his entire family looking for the sign(s) of the demon. I'd pay half my lottery winnings to be the one to do it.
1
Trump flat out lies and the media just refuses to call him a liar so Trump has every right to call the main stream media fake.
3
@SteveNYC The media should not repeat his lies. Imagine how sweet the silence would be.
1
Once again I resort to Yeats:
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Later in The Second Coming Yeats describes:
... a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight...
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun...
Only in the final lines does Yeats' prescience stumble:
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem [Washington] to be born?
Yeats got it wrong. The beast is already there.
3
@ClayB No. Yeats was right. Stalin and Hitler and Mao stepped into the religious vacuum as predicted and covered the earth with corpses. That is worth studying closely. Where are the calls to violence coming from now? Where is the suppression of speech and freedom coming from now?
1
I'm still paying for the lies: If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
4
@Tony
Where was the lie?
Wasn't it your doctor who left you by declining your insurance?
Wasn't it your insurance that left you by making it impossible for you to afford it or pulling out of your area?
The republican conspiracy top convince you that you cannot govern yourself in concert with your fellow citizens knows no bounds. They will stop at nothing to sabotage anything we try to do to make our lives better.
5
Meanwhile, GM is still alive, and Osama Bin Laden is still dead.
3
@Tony
Obama promised more than he could deliver. But optimal insurance coverage means life time coverage and full coverage. That is the coverage that our country needs for all to have. It costs more in premiums but it costs less overall.
1
And yet the Christians in the Bible belt still want to support this man.
I can't believe they made a deal with the devil for so little in return, and the debasing of what it means to live a Christian life.
9
@galtsgultch Many of them believe that their religious liberty is at stake, that the schools and universities and some of the courts and the government bureaucracy itself are set against them. For them, that is not a small thing. And they take it for granted that political leaders are often drenched in sin. They see it less as a deal with the devil and more as keeping their eyes on what is most important.
1
Like the boy who cried wolf (except to the 10th power), no one really cares about the New York Times' habitual attacks on the veracity of the president. Nor do you get Trump's rhetorical exaggeration. All that matters to election outcomes (including the election in two weeks where the blue waive will be crushed by Trump, despite the same pollsters that predicted he would lose in 2016). Sorry New York Times, CNN, Washington Post and the rest of the resistance. You just don't matter anymore.
1
The thought that comes to mind when I see the bashing of the current POTUS is
"If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor"
Former President Barack Obama
My my how history eludes those whom are so partisan and bitter about the election.
1
It comes to mind because a Republican has only one time Obama said something that wasn’t true; he was wrong because he couldn’t guarantee your insurance company would let you keep your doctor, and he stopped saying it.
Trump doesn’t just lie so often that we can’t call them to mind, he repeats them even as everyone admits that he lied, sometimes for years.
But Obama’s one mistake is the right wing justification for Trump lying about things big and small, daily including Sunday.
2
Post Inaugural Jan/20 the Pres is supposedly for all Americans in other democratically run Nations the leader is supposed to be there for those who backed the candidate opposite to the one elected.Now,more than 1/2 of the Population voted 4 democratic candidate so to say that the Dems engineered the Exodus from Honduras Does that not sound like saying the Dems destabilized that country?.The way to look at this situation is that Honduras's or other developing Nations' regimes have the obligation to make most of their population feel safe in their home country.The regimes may deserve the necessary help in forming a competent Police or other Law Enfo body so that the citizens don't get compelled to flee their country.It is the incompetence of the respective Govs that created the situation where armed Drug peddling Gangs , rapists and other undesirables or criminals go rampant terrorizing the population.It is not prudent to encourage crowds to get up and devise any panacea,to their predicament,impulsively and keep marching across Nations.Of course, this may have helped in making the issue get attention but the viable solution lies in making respective countries a somewhat livable place.Govs, must get policy advice ,pressured into wisely use the necessary resources made available to them,etc.The already uprooted people, since they have shown so much stamina trekking across Nations,mant may b suitable,say,as seasonal workers on Temp permit during harvest period,I don't know.TMD.
1
Trump scares the 'heck' out of me. If the Republicans manage to hold onto Congress (the House and Senate), considering the control Trump has over them, the country is doomed. At no time in my 77 years of life have I seen my country so divided, so many so cruel (following their leader), so much hatred. I want to sit down and cry for the America I grew up in and was proud to be a citizen of.....
5
There is only one fact Americans need to know. Donald Trump is a liar. All other facts and their counterpart lies stem from the Mother-of-All-Facts, that the president of these United States is a liar.
Virtually every aspect of his so-called governance is a lie and the actions taken at his direction are dismantling the very fabric of our democracy. From the disembowelment of our environmental regulations to our fall as denizens of the global moral and ethical high ground, the demise of the US of A is well under way thanks to the fact that Donald Trump is a liar.
The Republican Party forsook the last of its credibility when they wrapped their arms around Trump in the clearly permanent embrace of the Mother of All Lies. As Trump lies, so do they all.
As a group, Americans are proving ourselves as stupid a group of people as history has seen. That some 30 plus percent of the American public believes is inconceivable yet the evidence is as clear as the lies Trump spews forth. The closeness of the upcoming elections is a testament to our collective stupidity. Yet here we are, willing to destroy our very planet for national jingoism and 20 pieces of silver.
I am not sure the rest of us can take save the country from the lies of Donald Trump and his acolytes and followers before climate change buries the world under rising oceans and our political suicide destroys the last hopes for true democracies to flourish.
All courtesy of Donald Trump’s lies.
5
These are scary times and I don't believe people are taking them seriously. It is all fun and games especially in Washington, DC. Playing with peoples' lives. I never thought I would witness such blatant lies and behavior from the President of the USA and Congress in my lifetime! They don't care about anyone but themselves!
4
Trump lies because it works. It is more hyperbole and half truths or double speak and distraction, but then there is the rabbit out of the hat or darker places. When he accuses the democrats of malfeasance I assume it is either GOP policy undermining the welfare state, or Russian propaganda undermining societal trust and compromise. The timing of the "caravan" is suspicious to me. It doesn't help the democrats but it certainly activates "the base". Has there been a social media campaign in South America to create a sudden surge of refugees, or is this just the normal flow of humanity due to intolerable conditions in other parts of the Americas. Those are underlying stories that would interest me.
1
I just read in a reputable source, Harper's Magazine, November 2018 that "National security expert Keith Mines estimates that the United States, over the next ten to fifteen years, a 60 percent chance of CIVIL WAR - some form of large-scale violent political conflict." The lies do not matter anymore. I do think it is what the Republican Party is hoping for. Perhaps we can wake up from this nightmare, but something in the back of my mind, or sitting on my left shoulder tells me to prepare for this. I recently had a newish car receive a hot-oil undercoat to protect it from what may be a miserable winter here in VT. It was a gun shop as well, with two entire walls lined with ammunition and the other two walls lined with guns. It creeped me out.
3
Some people are "terrified" by Trump, but more people apparently align with Trump because of the "hope" he gives them. It doesn't matter if there's any substance behind resolving the hope into real solutions. People are apparently content in voting for the guy who they're convinced can feel their pain, empathize with them, and give them reason to believe it's all going to be ok, despite his utterly complete inability to afford a single remedy to the pain. Hope is the key Trump's popularity, not anything logical, productive, or effective in any of his actions. He preaches smoke-and-mirrors "hope" to the masses while generating real cash for the "citizens united" money bags that keep his standing secure.
Trump sickens us all. The lies, the disgusting lies. The vile and egregious attacks on minorities, women, and immigrants have emboldened his base and reduced our democracy to it's current dysfunctional state. The damage he has done will reverberate for generations to come....And for what?
4
What have we come to when we allow such outrageous behavior into the American White House? It is beyond belief.
3
@Karn Griffen
Yes - the problem is not DJT but those who put him there and those who fail to do their duty to remove him. Indeed, it is beyond belief.
1
Trump’s behavior is so UNAMERICAN, we should ALL, regardless of party leaning be alarmed. He has eliminated any reasonable discussion between us and created hate and disrespect.
He is lying and his party leaders refuse to hold him accountable. That is why we need to get balance back in Congress. We need balance in both houses.
3
@Bill Brown All of us are frightened, just about different issues. So this election really is up for grabs.
Let me tell you how the mob thinks, because, according to Trump: I’m a mob member.
The largest group I belong to is my Monday Mah Jongg—all women and most over 60. We're not all mob members, though—some are Republican, so we avoid discussing politics. We do get rowdy when someone makes a complicated Mah Jongg pattern, but I don’t think we're dangerous, even then, we're too busy thinking.
My mob-thinking makes me wonder why anyone would trust the absurd predictions of a proven serial liar. Likewise, why trust someone who says he is a good judge of people but defends leaders of nations historically hostile to ours and insults and belittles those who have been our allies for decades? Why support someone who fights for the sanctity of “innocent until proven guilty” only in the case of those there is ample reason to suspect and yells "Lock her/him up!" for his opposition? Why believe the hyperbolic, mean-spirited rantings about the victims of oppression as they seek refuge in the nation that offered refuge to our fore-bearers—including his own—in the past? I don’t see monsters . . . I see desperate people fleeing bloviating monsters and risking their lives for the mere hope of something better. I wonder why Americans rally behind a silver-spooner who disrespects and fears those who are different from him: have nothing and want only freedom from fear.
I wonder that people listen to hate-filled rhetoric. This nation that stood for human rights has NOT become great again. No way.
7
Trump's life has been one big lie, one big charade, it's long past time we put him out to pasture and ignored him.
3
DJT learned by experience prevarcation works best when it is said first and as outrageous as possible. Words streamed from DJT's unfettered motor mouth are willingly disseminated by media oulets. Opposition to his words be it editorial or commentary cannot reach an audience as far nor as wide. Republican leadership need only to follow on DJT's queue. Democratic leadership are stunned mute and are reduced to the mumble and grumble of a side ring to DJT's circus. The quiet act of voting in November starts the long and difficult task of silencing DJT.
2
I keep thinking that if this mean old ranting man with all his lies, paranoia, hatred, and rants lived in people's neighborhoods, people would just cross him off as demented and crazy.
Trump doesn't really have power until people give it to him. Why do they want to give power to this guy and cheer him as President of the United States?
We can do a lot better than Trump. Why don't we?
2
I wish many in the media would stop scratching their heads as to why Trump behaves the way he does. He has a personality disorder that is so severe, he simply lacks any insight into what he does. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is real, and he has it. Goggle it. Read articles written by psychiatrists. He has all of its hallmark traits, from lack of empathy to grandiosity. One truth about people with this mental illness is that, even when told they have it, they can’t see it and wouldn’t admit it anyway. They have a tough uncompromising exterior to hide their very fragile insecure real self. He’s trapped in the mirror and things will only get worse until he’s ousted.
2
While counting Trump's prevarications takes literally hundreds of journalists and statisticians, the rate of lies has indeed increased as the midterms approach. My favorite are rioting in California over the sanctuary city designations (seems just fine where I am) and democrats funding the immigrant caravan so they can come and vote. Really? All this smacks of desperation as the reality of democrats controlling the House seems more likely. Gone the cover of my friend Devin, gone the 'nothing to see here' attitude towards my on-going business dealings while in office, gone my emerging Imperial Presidency. This just won't be as much fun. Maybe I will not seek a second term. We can only hope.
2
@Dennis W, I agree with you-- trump is bald-faced lying about riots in CA-- we are all too busy working hard so we can send all our revenue to DC so the MIC can make more bombs and weapons to use against countries like, well, Honduras. I part company with you on Nunes etc. Unless there is a true miracle in democratic voter turn out; and unless elections are monitored in the dishonest districts of the 3 barely trump states from 16-- and both those possibilities are a huge reach-- GOP will be reelected, the house will remain scarlett red, and democracy ends.
If the press and everyone else apparently weren't suborned by all this "America First" hubbub the real story here is;
"Thousand of people flee Honduras due to crime and chaos caused by US interference in their democracy over the last 40 years."
2
Sounds like a standup comedian. Great one liners to get the audience laughing. He's an entertainer and thats what the public wants. They have given up on politics. His rallies and Tweets are to shock and awe and entertain.
3
@RichardHead
Trump's riffs are really funny! He's got some great one liners, which his critics dutifully rush off to fact check. And they wonder why no one is listening to them.
" You cannot give what you don't have", this president has nothing to give other than Demogagory. I am waiting for the Evangelical Christians to do the Christian thing for the Caravan.
2
Make this a front page headline, not an editorial. All the President's Lies in bold capitals across the front page. This is a national emergency- the NYT must do even more to protect our democracy.
2
You left out the worst, craziest, and most baffling part:
Trump's approval ratings and popularity have gone UP!
He's completely been played by KJU, MBS, Xi, and, yet again, Putin. Putin's been wanting out of the nuclear treaty since he took power, but Clinton, Bush, and Obama ALL knew he was cheating but wouldn't withdraw first. Now Trump the Chump has been fooled by Brer Rabbit Putin "Don't throw me in the brier patch!" and thrown him in the brier patch, exactly where he wants to be.
And yet, Trump the Chump's ratings go UP?????
3
Just stop reporting everything he says that bears no definable proff! Please!
3
Trump will probably be dead before the ocean swallows Mar-a-Lago. In other words, it's an issue that doesn't bother him. This fact shows the true character and intelligence of the man. Humanity is now walking next to a cliff with no guardrails.
3
I'm not a religious man, but if there is a God please step up and make sure that Trump loses the House to the Democrats. We need to anesthetize his cancer. The man is a fascist in training. Let's stop the adage that history is a nightmare that repeats itself. Trump is an atheist in jackboots. He's no Christian.
2
Really? Sort of like if you like your healthcare you can keep it? Or if you like your Doctor you can keep him?
1
And yet the media continues to amplify the Trump drumbeat louder and louder, over and over again, as if you all work for him. Where is the voice of Democratic leadership? Every sound bite belongs to Trump and his racist, corrupt cronies. Talk about someone else for God’s sake - raise up the ideals of the other side louder so we can see and hear them!
I would have expected better from outlets like the New York Times and NPR but you have all drunk the Koolaid and he owns you. Anyone with a soul is left sickened by the whole mess.
2
It's kind of cool how we'll all get a major tax cut, but Congress is not in session...until after the election...and they have NO intention of tax cuts, they want your Social Security...HOW STUPID does he think that we are?
1
A Google search on "Trump Claims Without Evidence" returns 361 million hits. "Dems behind migrant caravan", "Google rigged against him", "Kavanaugh protesters paid", "NBC 'fudged' Trump interview", and on and on. Going all the way back to his "birther" stance in 2011 or earlier, he greatly prefers "alternate facts" that serve his ego. Add all these lies (the proper word) to his many personality disorders (narcissism, misogyny, god complex, etc.), and he truly is a "sad, embarrassing wreck of a man". (George Will)
1
Let's not sugarcoat it. Donald Trump is evil.
4
Let's face it, Lying Trump is America's biggest liar, the biggest liar in American history. He started lying as a child. As his body grew, his lies grew. While his emotional development was arrested as a toddler, his body got bigger and his lies got bigger.
Lying Trump is how Lying Trump will forever be known. Everyone knows Lying Trump is a liar. And that brings us to America's biggest problem: Americans who don't care that a president cannot tell the truth; cannot be trusted to tell you the time of day, much less the state of the Union.
People know Lying Trump cannot be trusted, cannot tell the truth, but they don't care. They support Lying Trump because he entertains them with his Reality TV Presidency.
These people are causing America great harm supporting Lying Trump and lying Republicans. If truth does not matter then nothing can be known and nothing matters. Lying Trump and his lying Republicans are driving America low to the level of North Korea where truth doesn't exist, where human rights don't exist
It has taken The Times and other respectable media a long long long time to bluntly say the truth: Trump is a liar; he lies. For the longest time we were fed pablum: Trump fibbed, Trump told a falsehood, Trump distorted, Trump evaded, was deceptive, Trump fabricated....
Words matter and The Times should stop dancing around the greatest threat to our nation since the Civil War. Lying Trump is leading lying Republicans to destroy who we were, are, want to be.
10
actually he (I believe) is lying about passing a tax cut before the election.
but also actually he's not lying about the mob:
- the mob has chased many republicans out of restaurants
- mob just harassed and ruined dinner for many in restaurant where mcconnel was eating
- have you seen the Anitifa mob in Oregon illegally directing traffic and destroying a car that didn't follow. For who knows what reason.
- the mob was unleashed on congress during the SC nomination hearings....screaming and yelling during the hearings
- the mob was unleashed on the SC once again, after the swearing in
- why don't you all at the NYT just admit the truth?
1
Trump is nothing but a ruse. He’s the perfect grifter. He’s a stoolie for the 1%. He’s good at selling fear and anger to the scared white people. And the 1% get richer from this.
3
he is ignorant, needs anger management and discipline. Sending Bolton, Pompeo, and Now Gina to cover for his crimes is ridiculous.
3
This opinion paper is about two years, too late.
1
Maybe it would be helpful for the NYT to stop talking at all about the migrant “caravan”. Let’s call a snake oil salesman a snake oil salesman. More articles like this, please.
3
Trump is a pathological liar, always has been always will be. His base doesn't care in fact they cheer it. So this editorial will not be listened to or believed by the folks that should be listening and learning.
What did you expect with a sociopath as the executive?
By kicking over every hornet's nest in sight trump covers-over his incompetence and expresses his malevolence.
1
Does the Times ignore all the other candidates who are lying too? Lying is an essential part of the game. That and money.
1
Trump has proven that carpet bombing us all with stuff he just made up makes it very difficult to hold him accountable to the facts of any one of these outright lies. He's more slippery than a greased pig, and his angry, adoring mob couldn't care less.
2
We have no idea who these people in the caravan really are. Many criminals could be among them. But Democrats say open the border, no questions asked.
Hate now sells better than big screen TVs in America.
1
So what are the Democrats offering that's a lot better? That's what voters want to hear. Not more accusations of lying by the liberal media. What are the Dems great plans????????
4
@Mr. Slater: In detail: affordable quality education, affordable preferably universal health insurance, social security, fair wages, expansion of the middle class.
In essence: that which is reasonable and decent.
6
@Mr. Slater
Seriously?
Mr Trump has given big business a permanent tax reduction and the rest of us an expiring tax cut that will be gone in a few years.
Then there is the Department of Education headed by Me DeVos who did not know the core mission of the Department she is the head of. At the same time rolling back regulations that made educational institutions prove their claims.
The EPA OSHA and Consumer Protections are being gutted all of which were designed to help most folk.
As far as the Democrats are considered I agree at this point I see no one being able to present a coherent program to benefit most of us and that's really sad.
But perhaps the Democrats should look at NY State and Cory Booker as well as California for some inspiration.
I find the GOP a disappointment I never really believed what they had been saying but I remained hopeful that's been dashed by their antics.
Now the GOP has started in again on Medicare and next will be Social Security as a way to bring down the deficit that they increased to almost or at fifty percent of the U.S. GNP.
What most folk seem to not understand is most pension plans are based on most of us getting Social Security and Medicare.
Something has to change I see no one at this point I feel completely comfortable with, but it seems the Democrats are our best bet.
1
@Mr. Slater
Raise taxes to avoid a trillion dollars indebtness and sky high interest rates, and to fund the replacement of coal fired energy to avert climate catastrophe, and to perpetuate Social Security and Medicare. Preserving one person one vote enfranchisement. Preserving individual liberties with a truly liberal democratic government.
Sadly, Republicans would not get their cherished rule by plutocrats and theocrats, but there are prices to be paid for everything.
1
We have now entered the era of balcony politics---and I must admit, Trump is the master of balcony speeches---and his followers, all that is missing, which may be coming soon is the fascists salute.
3
Please NYT, stop repeating Trump’s lies! Even when you call out the untruth, the fact that you repeat his lies gives the words gravitas and coverage that is not merited and it helps his cause. Cover the issues and bury the lies.
3
He, (and we are), is the laughing stock of the world. People all over the world cannot believe the sheer poppycock this person, at this level of government, spews.
2
All of this is just the usual distractions from trump to get the media and those with weak brains to focus on anything but the issues in this election. It is his very predictable narcissistic manipulation, his con game.
The media needs to stop playing into this and ignore his assinine tweets, his string of lies and his braggadocio. He is an empty suit, treat him as such and focus on the issues facing our country not the antics of this reality TV two bit player.
3
Can’t you just see Donald Trump on Air Force One laughing and jerking his head and hands around saying to his staff “Boy! We sure fooled ‘em tonight! Tell me how great I did tonight! Amazing! Those people will believe anything I tell ‘em, every single word! How’d you like that line I said about making them all as great as me by 2020? They loved it! And all those people we met that said they were praying for me! Can you believe it? Just picture them bowing their heads at the table and making it about me! Even their kids, praising Trump! Beautiful! Ok. Hey, got any burgers ready yet? I’m really hungry after that one!”
And then the troops at home tell the kids how they should pray for President Trump so he can continue making America Great - Again. And the kids kneel down by their beds and pray for President Trump, for he is great. After all, he said so.
1
Neither wealth nor fame has any correlation to:
Integrity
Competence
Common sense
Decency
Intelligence
Good judgment
Management skills
A desire to help others
Yet Trump is President because he was wealthy and famous before he was elected. Like many others today, his “fame” was based on deeds of dubious character.
Poor education and poor priorities have led so many Americans to become boobs who vote for poorly qualified candidates like Trump, McConnell, Nunes, Flake, Corker, and their ilk.
We’d better shore up our educational system in this country before we all slide into the Trumpian ooze.
2
Has anyone seen the FCC?? Anywhere?? Doing Anything??
Do we remember that the FCC was designed to do to protect our society, before Ronald Reagan and then Chairman Birch deregulated the agency in the mid-80s?
In case we've forgotten, here's a little refresher: According to its charter, the FCC was supposed to act "In the interest, convenience and necessity" of the public. The primary function of the FCC was to protect Americans from propagandists opening on our airwaves. Why? The government wanted to protect us from the next Hitler -- the next dictator who could tell us black was white through our vast media network with no one one around to say otherwise.
Without empowering the FCC to do its job, we will continue to be lied to on public airwaves and online. The lies will be accepted as truth by the American people, who will act and react accordingly.
Freedom of the Press is NOT FREE. Our government must defend and protect it -- our very lives depend on it!
5
I almost feel sorry for the New York Times editorial board. It must be absolute torture to watch as the 'blue wave' recedes in the face of the barbarian horde massing at the gates.
At least the NYTimes is calling a lie a lie. To call trump's statements anything less is a cop out.
1
Ah yes, but the Sheep are eating it up, believing every fowl utterance he makes. Amazing how dumb Americans can be.
Imagine if your boss lied to you every day, or your spouse or your kids - would you blindly follow them or repeat their lies to your neighbors, friends and family? Would you support those lies or defend them as if they were facts? This is the white wash that will Make America Great Again. Drink the Kool Aid before mid terms please so we can get back to reality. (1978 Jim Jones reference for the sheep that won't understand where blind subservience leads)
1
When you have nothing of any substance, you lie.
It is all about stroking his own ego.
Truth, facts, mean nothing to Trump.
The sad reality is it works.
1
the president doesn't lie ALL the time. He's only lying when his lips are moving!
2
You hear these ridiculous quotes coming out of Trump's mouth at his rallies and on Twitter and truly, doesn't he sound like a washed-up right-wing comedian stuck in some remote hotel outpost?
4
so glad to see the word "lyin'" in the headline. Stop using "Trump claims" or "Trump tweets" etc etc. Call out this terrifying garbage every time. People with iphones and Apple News only see 6 words of a headline for the entire article in notifications. Give them the "truth" of the "lies" he spews constantly.
1
Since 100% of your editorials and "news" articles are anti-Repubilican and anti-Trump, I cannot believe a word you write because you are not reporting news but attempting to influence elections. Your job is to report news, without bias yet you have degenerated into a scandal sheet because of hatred and refusal to accept the results of an election.
@James Um, do you understand the concept of what an "editorial" is?
1
He's not lyin'. Don't be cute or clever about this. He is lying. With a "g". LYING.
4
The entire Trumpian set proclamations are so repugnant. He feels he has license to say anything and everything, is more than willing to do so, and to hell with our country and indeed the world. It's not MAGA, its MAW...Make America Awful. Good for the NYT calling him out. But the problem for Democrats is that they have no national leader or leadership who can take him on every day, debunk what he says, and who remotely gets the national coverage that Trump gets. And there seems little doubt that this is urgently needed. Otherwise he will continue to run rampage over the truth, frightening people, and of course tap into the fear of terrorism that seems never to go away, even after 17 years. After Peal Harbor in 1941, can you imagine the U.S. still cowering 17 years later in late 1958, fearful of another sneak attack? Did Eisenhower or Adlai Stevenson or later Kennedy ever say such things? But here we are, 17 years later, and still Trump and others can whip up the fear of terrorism. Terrorism? It's an industry. It's the Republican default option. Might it be enough to retain the House?
2
Trump is hoping that "fears and lies" will work again for the 2018 midterm elections (as they did in 2016). I think we need some "checks and balances" in Congress to push back on the most egregious claims (and practices) of the President.
Right now, the GOP in Congress is not willing to stand up and provide that check on the executive branch. Therefore, it's up to independent voters this November.
3
If people actually knew what the spanky crowd is doing from a deregulatory standpoint they would be against that too.
2
Trump made his racist demagoguery clear when he launched his campaign by (among other proto-fascist shtick) flogging birtherism, calling mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers, falsely claiming that he saw “thousands and thousands” of muslims cheering on 911, and by retweeting fabricated race-based homicide stats from a neo-nazi website:
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/23/donald-t...
That a third or so of Americans fell for this was distressing enough; that virtually all the GOP leadership —including the so-called “moderates”— eventually embraced or enabled it unconscionable.
The reclamation begins November 6th.
3
Representative democracy requires a strong majority of citizens to act in their enlightened self interest. It presupposes that the governed are rational, have access to the facts and will vote accordingly to promote the long term welfare of the state.
This election will tell us if there are enough such citizens who also care enough to vote. If not, then the United States will become just another totalitarian state, run by those rich enough and powerful enough to enforce their will.
3
Why don't you reporters just hound him, like when he said about the Central Americans in that caravan that some where terrorists or other of this made up idiocy, why not just keep at it and ask where does that come from? I read where on occasion a reporter gets a chance to ask him and he sort of flips them off. OK, but why not just hound him then? Or ask him why he makes this stuff up? And if he doesn't respond, just ask, "Are you afraid to answer?" Just keep asking, him or his "spokepeople" why they make up facts and don't let them brush it off. They are the ones making assertions. It's not your jobs to run around and find proof. If I say the sun is a blue diamond, it's up to me to prove it. The press has coddled this moronic buffoon long enough.
5
@ronnyc BRAVO!!!!
You have put into words my exact sentiment.....every time reporters are with him, they seem to stop short of asking him over and over to PROVE what he is saying..
OF course, I suppose Trump would just ban them from future pressers.....but they ALL need to step up and keep on the pressure. He can't ban ALL of them, can he?
2
This lying, hateful charlatan has lowered the bar so much that I don’t think we will ever recover. No matter what the next president does, will we say, “ At least he/she is not as bad as Trump.”? It will take the second coming of Lincoln for us to regain our place in the world. With 40% of the country behind this idiot I don’t see how this could ever happen. I fear for my children and grandchildren.
5
Enough with lying and liars. Vote for decency, vote for Beto O'Rourke.
4
It is October, after all, and Halloween is soon upon us. In a typical seasonal fashion, Mr. Trump dredges up the ghouls of MS-13, caravans including Mideast terrorists, Democrats as nascent Maduros and every other thing he can think of in his arsenal of deceit. And he gives his coterie of costumed participants mountains of candy.
Come November, it is likely his followers will wake up with a stomach ache and only cavities to show for all the sugar as his pop-up store closes until the next season to again display his orange hair and black bile.
2
The Times makes light of Trump's appalling lies and fabrications, but here's the disgusting truth: This man is a demagogue, would-be dictator, and toxic American disease.
4
Every time Trump lies, call it out and call it a lie.
A lie.
Not “without evidence,” or “falsehood,” or “contrary to known facts.”
Examples:
—I am going to give the middle class a 10% tax break before the election, Trump lies.
—The caravan is funded by Democrats, Trump lies.
And dispute his verbal clutches that give him an out from his lies so can escape accountability:
—we’ll see
—at some point in time
—I don’t know, you tell me
—a lot of people are saying
—I keep hearing that
—nobody knew that
—my people are looking into it
—if it happens, well it’s good, if not, it’s
good also
5
@Opinioned!
" A lot of people are saying" the First Lady is a Russian spy.
" I keep hearing" the First Lady is a Russian spy.
" Nobody knew that" the First Lady is a Russian spy.
" I don't know, you tell me" if the First Lady is a Russian spy?
" My people are looking into" whether the First Lady is a Russian spy.
" We'll see" if the First Lady is a Russian spy.
" At some point in time" I will reveal whether the First Lady is a Russian spy.
" If it happens, well it's good, if not, it's still good also that the First Lady is a Russian spy.
See...it is easy to make stuff up. By the way, did you hear the First Lady is a Russian spy?
2
"Don't Panic."
We started the conversation however many months ago saying Democrats had a good shot of taking the House but winning the Senate was doubtful. Here we are two weeks from election day. We're still saying Democrats have a good shot of taking the House but winning the Senate is doubtful. The midterms are really just a turnout race now. Hence Trump and his rallies.
We might get a few surprises here and there. However, the overall picture is pretty well baked. Democrats will win the House by an overwhelming majority but knock of 10-15 points for voter suppression and gerrymandering. The margin of victory will undoubtedly appear underwhelming compared to democratic sentiments.
Meanwhile the Senate will split about 50-50 because the Senate is unrepresentative by design. No matter who wins though, the dynamics of Congress won't change much unless Republicans retain control of everything. See the point about gerrymandering and suppression.
The interesting races for me right now are the state elections. A Senate or Governor seat at the state level means they get to decide redistricting after the 2020 census. That's where the real action is going to play out at this point. Let's hope that blue wave takes back some state legislatures too.
Demands that Trump needs to be called out even more for his lies is reminiscent of that 2000 SNL "The Bruce Dickerson" skit, familiarly called "More Cowbell", which poked fun at "Behind the Scenes". The producer keeps calling for "more cowbell", oblivious to its effect on the music.
2
@AACNY
So you admit that he's lying? That is progress . . .
I almost feel sorry for our "progressives" they will not win back they house or senate. Republicans will pick up seats in the Senate. That will set up a Trump win on 2020.
"... the Department of Health and Human Services is leading the charge to establish a legal definition of “sex” based strictly on “immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth,”
At some point a decision about what type of being the new human -- as a beneficiary of a choice that allowed it to breathe, need be made. If at any time, any individual can change gender identity, then back again, and back ... then why not initially define on the best available science? Is it because that science could be wrong for the individual at some point in the future? Then why place so much faith - requesting $ trillions be spent immediately and indefinitely, in climate science? What if that pseudo-science is not right for the identity I want in life? We are being asked to believe in a theoretical projection at some point in the future about what might happen. Yet we are asked to ignore a definitive fact (gender) now, for what some might claim is pseudo for them -- off and on, at any time(s) in the future.
More Progressive mythology; if the science defining gender now is not what any wants at any point tin the future - it be pseudo for them.
I find Mr. Trump and his tabloid presidency scarily fascinating (like a train wreck) and absolutely appalling. And I still don't get how or why he gets away with what he does.
With every outrageous lie and nasty statement, there is now a predictable scenario. Trump says or does something really terrible for a president to do. The GOP looks surprised and uncomfortable, but then kicks into gear as Trump's champion and enablers--maybe uttering a few tut-tut statements for the press about how they were a bit taken aback, but hey, Trump is Trump.
Basically rewarded for his behavior, Trump acts meaner and meaner, ever more obsessed with himself, and ever bolder in his demagoguery. He crossed the Rubicon with his disgusting mockery of Blasey-Ford and got rewarded for it.
His hubris is at the bursting point, and like any good Greek drama, Trump should be headed for a fall.
Trump is so full of himself at this point and is making the mid-term elections about him, hoping to fire up his base.
The best thing that could happen now is for the American people to get to the polls on Nov. 6 in record numbers and vote for Democratic candidates—even if you don't really like them—and send a clear message to Trump and the GOP that they will not be rewarded for their irresponsible and mean lies and the trashing of the American presidency and country.
It really is up to each of us to do our part on Nov. 6 to Make America Sane and Respectable Again
4
"suggested that Democrats will soon be looking to hand out free luxury cars to illegal immigrants. (They won’t.)" -- come on, this is clearly hyperbole to make a point! Don't mix clear-cut Trumpian lies with normal political rhetoric. Keep the focus on the beyond-the-pale lies.
In the face of all evidence we still judge Trump and his supporters by the criteria we have always used to judge US presidents and their supporters. This is why we are constantly aghast at the next outrage. This is more than just an error in judgment. It's being on a slippery slope and not knowing it. It's also backward looking and thus dangerous because it blinds us to where the road logically takes us. No, don't tell yourself "My God this isn't at all what an Obama or even a Bush would do." Tell yourself hey you know at first there were just little hand written 8X11 signs saying in German don't patronize Jewish businesses. Then you won't become indignant, you'd be terrified. That fear is the helpful emotion in this situation.
2
Is someone in charge of logistics to make sure thousands of central American refugees arrive at the US border just before election day? The Mexican government agreed to control their southern border, but changed its mind. Just as Karl Rove invented the "illegal immigrant crisis" in the early 2000's, is someone a managing this march on the border for political ends?
1
In other words, Trump is doing what he does best! Lie about anything and everything because (as you put it) "he enjoys it".
And folks believe in the Ugly American? This is why. Watching too much TV has something to do with it... as a smuggler woman I know said (before she was dead) "the whole world's laughing at us!" That was 30 years ago.
Trump's lies don't even make sense. People are rioting to get out of sanctuary cities? Really? America is a free country; when adults feel the need to move, they move. For folks who claim to value independence and personal responsibility, there's sure a lot of spoon feeding going on at Trump rallies.
2
"all lies and jest.
still a man hears what he wants to hear
and disregards the rest - hmmm."
trouble is, those who might be more truthful, fact-based,
are still desperately looking for strong enough antidotes.
WHY can't the truth get through to fact-fearing believers?
plus now, of all times,
the "caravan" from latin america marches on washington.
and has us, up north, utterly paralyzed?
The non stop lying of Trump has been wildly successful. Right now, his approval rating is high. His base has been put to sleep by the slickest con artist America has ever seen. We know all of this.
Here is the bigger, more important question. Where are our opposition leaders? We've heard a few nice speeches from Obama, some comments from Hillary. Where is Al Gore, John Kerry, Bob Kerry, Gary Hart, etc. etc.? These are people who told us they could lead America, and tried to get the job of president.
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have been loud and active, to their credit. The most articulate Trump attacker is the deeply flawed Michael Avenatti. At least he is trying. We need a lot more activism and we need it now.
It seems quite clear that if the Trump momentum keeps building, we are headed for political violence. It doesn't take too much reading between the lines to see where Trump is taking America.
Just today we see in the news a bomb was planted in George Soros mailbox. When Trump won his election, one of his first calls to a foreign leader was to murderer Duterte in the Philippines.
1
Absolutely the worst, most dangerous chief executive in American history. I can only wonder what the history books will say about this period in our national life.
Republican politics have completely gone off the rails. Is there no one in that party with any power and recognition who will stand up to this charlatan? Where is the conscience of the GOP?
3
In one of his many shouting interviews with reporters, the sound of the helicopter drowning out most of the questions, when asked “where” were the “riots” taking place, the lizard tongue simply moved away, he had no reply!
1
Please stop saying that Republicans are “struggling to keep their grip on Congress.” It looks like it’s in the bag to me.
“The truth unquestionably is, that the only path to a subversion of the republican system of the Country is, by flattering the prejudices of the people, and exciting their jealousies and apprehensions, to throw affairs into confusion, and bring on civil commotion...
When a man unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents....despotic in his ordinary demeanor--known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty--when such a man Is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity--to Join In the cry of danger to liberty--to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government and bringing it under suspicion--to flatter and fall in with all the nonsense of the zealots of the day – it may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.‘”
Alexander Hamilton,
[Objections and Answers Respecting the Administration], [August 18, 1792]
2
This president is a threat to our democracy.
3
@Citizenz The president is just a narcissistic, stupid jerk. It is the millions of people that support him that are the threat to democracy.
1
So Trump says Democrats want to hand out luxury cars to immigrants? Gee, the Republicans said their tax bill would allow you to buy a $4,000 car! Vote Democratic for sure, get a luxury car!
3
Every respectable media report should be clear about what is true and what is a "trump fact".
2
Did adults write this editorial? Maybe, but that means they were intentionally juvenile -- and deceitful. Trump lied because he (clearly) joked about California providing luxury cars to illegal immigrants? Since editorials generally start with their strongest point, you can imagine where it goes from there. As for the Honduras march on the border, how does the credulous NYT imagine how this collective action started? No one was behind it? Trump speculated (not without basis) that people who strongly support an open arms approach to the border helped but this army together. Someone did, and does the NYT editorial board, with all of its (alleged) collective brain power have any thoughts about an alternative explanation?
2
Trump lies. Why is this even worthy of mention anymore?
1
When Trump was asked if he regretted saying that Cruz's father was involved in the JFK assassination, he said no. He didn't regret anything he's said because it worked. He won. Trump made perfectly clear that for him the end justifies the means. He will do anything to win. Anything. Machiavelli said that the truly good man is the weakest of all because he is predictable. He has certain moral beliefs he will not violate. Trump has none of these. This is why he is so dangerous.
3
We need the release of Trump’s tax returns. All the rest is noise.
1
Why do we even report on this junk anymore? It soooo obvious he says whatever he wants to support his position and his brainwashed supporters and Fox “News” will back him.
Pointed out the blatant lies does no good. It only serves to reaffirm what many of us already know or worse provides further fuel to the fake news nonsense.
So to be 100% honest, I can’t think of how this log jam gets fixed. When objective logical truth no longer works, what can you do?
2
We have been listening to this abhorrent man for 2 long years now. He is only getting worse. The more he settles into his position of power the more he uncovers his bigotry, his contempt of people with intellect and his toadyism to people of wealth. I am afraid of him and what he is bringing out in the people of this country. His party members seem to be following him blindly just to keep their positions of power. I know the U.S.A. has had other presidents not worthy of occupying the office, but right now I can't think of another one quite as repugnant as this one.
3
It's why I despise Trump so much, and view his followers with such contempt. He lies constantly, in direct contradiction of obvious facts. And his followers buy into all of it, thrilled to hear the lies he vomits forth. They'd rather believe the lies than think for three seconds about how unlikely they are.
And this is why I am trying not to care what happens to America anymore, because this is the way of the future. There won't be a blue wave this election, Republicans are going to improve their control over all the government, and the nation will get more fascist, all because most Americans can't think clearly and delight in being lied to.
2
There's the lie, the liar and the lied to.
The lies we know, the liar we know even better, but the lied to are a curious lot.
Like oxygen to a flame, those eager to believe lies become the impetus for lying. Their rowdy cheers at rallies thrill Trump like nothing else and his addiction to bogus acclaim compels him to more outrageous lies.
Those who consume Trump's steady diet of whoppers do it as an act of puerile defiance. Like the stage children go through when they signify themselves by being obstinate and contrary. Likewise for his acolytes. Believing his lies is how they claim significance and visibility.
It's as if Trump and his horde speak some obscure patois incomprehensible to normal folks. It's a secret code for a surrogate reality where everyone is white, chants "Lock Her Up", conceal carries, wives cook and clean, children are never heard from (but for"thoughts and prayers" after they're gun statistics), non-whites are loathed or shot through the lung as a courtesy warning. All punctuated with a goofy grin.
For the liar -- Trump -- twisting the truth is akin to a super-power: it enables him to leap tall buildings and launder Putin's soiled rubles with impunity. There's no Kryptonite to buckle his knees.
He lies loudly, blatantly, persistently, promiscuously, repeatedly because what's the point of being king if you can't re-make the world to your liking?
Besides Trump gets a 20% tip for every lie he tells about the Saudi cover-up.
3
Donald Trump is a "REALITY TV POTUS."
All facade, totally fact free, no substance, just like a Potemkin Village.
The Cult of Trump loves it, and they buy all the overpriced, shlock "goodies" that Trump is selling.
2
Trump knows indeed how to "bait his opponents into a partisan rage," and the NYT helps him do it.
1
Lying Donald Trump wouldn't exist if not for the GOP allowing it to happen. The GOP, with it's fake incredulous outrage against all things democratic, has turned into the Group of Phonies. They are no longer deficit hawks, until a Democrate takes office again. They are no longer for free trade until of course, well you see where I'm going?
So please, put this deceit and lying on the the door step of the new GOP.
2
Great editorial. Too bad the Trumpublicans will immediately see the headline, not read the article and then dismiss it as fake news. They’ll just be tuning into Sean Hannity so he can “explain” it to them.
It is scary and it is frustrating to think the US literally has a ruler with his own ministry of propaganda as is the case with Trump and Fox News. I fell sure, too, that this is the reason Trump selected Pence as his 2nd... Pence literally tried to do the same thing when he was governor of Indiana, trying to set up his own state-run news service.
I don’t know how you successfully deal with a liar when that liar has a group who stubbornly wants to believe that liar. As a young man, I had an acquaintance, in truth he was a bully, who seemed to always be in my orbit. I was overwhelmed by his lies, but I also was able to eventually just move away. I don’t think we can do that with Trump.
2
Thinking of what the 2020 race will be like ? I see a MMA style cage match with the loser climbing over the cage to get at the winner when the results are announced. The 2020 campaign will look like nothing we have ever seen before. All of the bluster, the lies ,the hyperbole, the nicknames, the beat downs ,the racial comments, the low energy, the smack downs, more lies, shouting at Trump rallies, the fake news, the dishonest mainstream media, the unhinged, the total lack of any common decency and decorum. Makes me want to sleep walk through 2020.Just to throw out a few candidates i like against Trump: Oprah, Tom Hanks, Chris Rock and Michael Avenatti. How's that for a fearless foursome !!!!
Fear the house flip, that is the basis of his panic. He does not want the dems looking at his stuff. Every day, a new hot button he pushes.
2
I despise Trump but why are the Dems letting him seize this caravan story. What is the Dems position on this type of problem. Or does the media refuse to give the Dems any chance to respond intelligently because Trump draws the ratings and clicks?
4
Democrats know there is no crisis. Border enforcement can handle 7000 people; that’s all in a day’s work.
There’s nothing to say because the so-called crisis is a product of Trump’s fevered imagination.
1
I find it curious that a large group of migrants heads North towards the US border just in time for the elections and just in time for Don the Con to go off on it.
2
So depressing and discouraging that his base really doesn't care about anything at all except making the rest of us as unhappy and scared as evidently they are based on their off the charts ability to believe anything he spouts.
Enact a tax cut in two weeks with Congress not even in session? Caravan of terrorists and criminals? A new arms race? Trade wars with our long time allies? Space force? Climate change a myth? On and on.
Plato's warnings about democracy are coming true about uneducated, easily manipulated people falling prey to amoral candidates who stand for nothing but their own gain.
Never knew there were that many stupid people in this country but that population is growing by the day as we gut education spending and denigrate knowledge. Your children will bear the costs and will wonder how their parents could have been so dumb.
2
Well the question is what will the Democrats do to outsmart Trump? That's why worries me. I have long given up hope that a single decent person with a backbone in the Republican party.
My question to every sane person left on the planet, including the New York Times staff, have you deleted your Facebook account? Because if you haven't, you are enabling the very evil that shall consume us.
If you want to understand how Trump gets away with lying, why it works as well as it does, why are politics are so dystopic, go here and scroll down to the second graph:
https://goo.gl/w2btYa
The median wage hasn’t gone up since 1972.
The GNP has gone up 150%!!!!
The middle class slipped below 50% in 2015.
In 1971 every 2 of 3 people were in the middle class. Now less than 1 in 2 are middle class.
For the 30 years before 1973, wages ACROSS THE BOARD rose in lock step with GNP.
Imagine if that trend had continued. The average American would be making 150% more than they now do, and maybe 3 or 4 out of 5 people would be in the middle class.
Reminder: morality is a middle class characteristic - the rich don’t need it and and the poor can’t afford it.
You want peace, work for economic justice. We haven’t seen it since 1972.
7
@Tim Kane
Your numbers seem accurate. But the end of the post WWII boom was due the end of cheap petroleum. Reagan and the magical economics of the right were an attempt to revive it. Those tactics failed to do so, but like Reagan, the right never gives up on what it wants to be true. We are not going to go back to that time. To achieve what you want is going to require a lot of changes.
In reality, given the USA low unemployment rate and good economy, we need immigrants to work in our fields and industries to become more productive, mane more money, raise the financial and social situation of the middle class that support the rich to become richer - it is a collaborative situation to the benefit of all participants. Why we do not realize this is beyond me. We are in a GLOBAL society and we must deal with this situation for to do otherwise is at our peril. We must minimize our conflicts and disagreements and maximize our working together for a much better future for all concerned. There is hope, but there must be TRUST and Tolerance for others' ideas. Lies are NOT acceptable, only Truth can prevail. DJM
1
Notwithstanding the hyperbole uttered by Trump, here are the facts that we know about the Caravan: it is composed of 5k to 7k migrant, most form Honduras. They are seeking political asylum in the US. The Border Patrol officials have no space to detain this number of applicants and will by court order release most of them via a Notice to Appear.
All Americans should be concerned with the fact that we cannot control our borders under current law. These laws cannot be changed until the Democrats cooperate in improving border security, or the GOP gains sufficient political strength to pass immigration & border security legislation over Democratic opposition.
2
@JAM
A bipartisan majority of 68 in the Senate passed a strong immigration bill in 2013. It provided for security along the boarder as well as the status of undocumented immigrants living in the United States. The then Speaker of the House, John Boehner refused to allow the House to vote on bill.
The Democrats have cooperated. The Republicans have not.
1
You first describe how the 7000 immigrants will be handled under current law. Then you say we can’t control our borders under current law. In what sense is executing current law failing to control our borders?
The supposition seems to be that when the applicant is “released”, he’ll disappear, never to be seen again. But that’s not remotely true. Failing to show up for a hearing almost guarantees denial. Under an Obama pilot program, since cancelled by Trump, a caseworker was assigned to monitor each asylum application. Result? Over 99% attended every appointment and hearing. Cost? Less than 1/3 of detention. Cheap, effective, and humane. Why do that, when you can have brutish and bullying?
You tell me: how much illegal immigration is acceptable? Zero? Because we don’t have zero murders or car crashes. Every law has some permeability; some transgression is always tolerated because perfect enforcement is too expensive and too brutal.
In the real world, even Trump’s ridiculous wall won’t work, if by “work” we mean totally prevent illegal border crossings. Look at the highly militarized Israeli border. It’s not 1/10 as long as ours with Mexico, and they’re constantly finding tunnels under it. Would that be “control” to you?
Also, please remember most of the illegal immigrant population arrived legally by air, and overstayed their visas. What does Trump propose about that? Nada.
Central American migrants represent no threat and no crisis. Let’s manage it and move on.
Maybe you should check your statistics. Informed opinion is that there are at least 12 million illegal immigrants currently in the US. ICE indicates that many of these illegals have overstayed their Notice to Appear and are living in this country in violation of our immigration laws. We need better border security since we have one of the most porous international borders in the world. You are just wrong when you say that 99% of those not detained at the border show up for their hearings,
1
While it is obvious that if there is a country that many Democrats would wish the US is more alike it would be Canada not in Trump's fervid fantasy world Venezuela. It is very clear though that the country Trump would most like us to emulate with a controlled free press and strong man rule is the Russian Federation.
7
Donald Trump is a liar; his sole mission is to promote himself ... in power and in private wealth. Everyone in the world - in the entire world - knows this. What’s strikingly is that this has no substantive effect on his rather remarkably strong level of national support ... except maybe to enhance it. The use of truth is being broadly ridiculed by this. Listen to the laughter at his rallies. Trump though is not neatly the problem that the American disposition about truth, that he exploits, too commonly is. While this editorial does tell the truth, it is deeply troubling to me that it will probably only fuel, if not advance Trump’s agenda. I think we’re finding out, collectively speaking, a lot about ourselves and what we’ve let happen in this land, because of Trump ... and, assuming sincerity is not condemned and blown off, it ain’t good and it ain’t healthy. The midterms would be an opportunity to start turning the tide.
6
@wak, it defies reason, and interviews with his fans, base, Fox viewers reveal a love and enthusiasm verbally one can only describe as cult like, totally swallowing the propaganda and lies spewing out of his mouth! How can we combat this?
2
Can voters in the US be that naive to believe the nonsense that dribbles out of the mouth (and Twitter fingers) of your president. The man is a serial liar. Anyone with half a brain knows that.
The sad part of the American narrative is that you elected him with your foolish Electoral College system when the majority of the citizenry wanted someone else to be president, go figure.
The chaos of American life will only continue to get worse until you either impeach him or un-elect him in 2020.
Your economy is going to slide into the toilet if you allow him to make his screwball economic policies the law. The US was in a position to pay down the national debt until he decided to give away $1.4 Trillion dollars to his rich friends, why? Just because he can.
Your president is clueless about....everything. Public policy is a mystery to him. Health care is for chumps. He drives off anyone with two clues that knows...anything. He has his son-in-law whispering in his ear giving him advice about the Middle East. All the while the Saudis are financing Jared so that he doesn’t have to declare bankruptcy on his bad business decisions.
Trump is way out of his league. Get yourself a real president as fast as you can. Save yourselves from the economic disaster that will engulf the nation like the last hurricanes that washed away parts of the east coast and Florida panhandle. The nation will not be able to borrow its way out of the disaster that Trump is causing.
5
I can’t decide if your comment is haughty or condescending.
If you read the comments here, you know many Americans are as disgusted with Trump and his base as you are. If you read the constitution, you know changing the electoral college system requires a much greater majority than has elected any president in decades. If you read history, you’ll find that despite its flaws, the electoral college has reflected the popular vote 90% of the time. That’s a better record than the popular will has had at selecting good presidents. After all, the electoral college didn’t give us Hoover and Nixon. The American people did.
The next time you’re tempted to lecture us on the stupidity of our politicians, I suggest you remember your last prime minister and mayor of Toronto. And remember the same country that elected Trump elected Obama twice, and voted in the majority for Clinton and Gore. We’re not perfect. That’s why the preamble says the constitution is established to create a more perfect union.
Hmm. Is it my imagination, or has the NY Times been downplaying Trump's announcement he's pulling the US out of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty due to ongoing Russian cheating? Sure it mentions this in the inner pages if you try to look (the NYT does still consider itself an important newspaper after all), but not a single front page headline over something this important? It wouldn't be because just this alone debunks the entire Democratic Party "Trump is Putin's stooge" conspiracy collusion theory it and the NYT has been peddling for over two years now, would it? Can't have the whole conspiracy theory debunked on Page 1 two weeks before the mid-terms now, could we? Since we're on the topic of campaign lying, thought I'd add that in.
2
It is all just cover for the real motives. They are looting the Treasury. The people ( the base) who voted this guy and the "New" Republican party ( they have always been after the money) into office, are really going to need to blame some group other them themselves when Republicans steal our Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. That is when the fascist "scapegoating" will start in earnest.
4
The torrent of lies coming out of Trump's mouth has become such a meaningless stream of nonsensical babble it verges on derangement. "Middle Easterners" in the Honduran convoy. Democrats giving illegal immigrants Rolls Royces. Rioting in California. Democrats destroying Medicare. A 10% tax cut for the middle class in two weeks. The world is not only laughing at Trump, it is mocking all of us for electing this buffoon. And if his "base" continues to believe his rants it should be denied the vote on grounds of mental incapacity.
3
Trump's endless rally speeches to his base of supporters are a bunch of illogical nonsense. It's hard to believe that such a person is the president of the United States and harder to believe that such a large number of Americans mistake such gibberish as the truth.
5
@Clark Landrum
He crams the audience behind them, thus letting them star his reality show. Only the press stand before him, and those who'd rather not be remembered as having been there.
1
Donald Trump used to anger me. Now he just disgusts me. He is a despicable human being. It is not a solution, but, for me, whenever he turns up on a newscast I am watching — which is far too frequently — I just fast forward through the segment. I have no need for the words of anyone who spews such lies and hatred.
7
Well, let's see what his Russian handlers will think up next for him to say.
8
Bad for the country? It's worse. It's demoralizing, divisive, and potentially explosive. The sooner this bloviating windbag is out of office, the better. The Trump vortex is toxic, all for cheap thrills and ego-boosting moments for this incompetent nincompoop and his base, drowning out any real meaningful dialog about our country and its future. We are weary and tired. but not too tired to walk to the polls in two weeks!
3
While all of this is true, it seems that Trump cares not one whit about being a liar.
He does, however, care about being so painfully stupid. A cue is that he never corrects himself for untruths--however bald and made in bad faith. He does correct himself when he misstates something unintentionally. He hates to be appear to be the simpleton that he is.
The Times does well to point out the untruths but would also do well to point out that his bad decisions, as Mr. Gorbachev has about Trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear non proliferation agreement with Russia, are "Not the work of a great mind."
2
What has happened to these sad folks at Trump rallies that has made them so willingly gullible? I’d feel sorry for them except there’s apparently enough of them to keep this dangerous buffoon propped up in our White House.
6
Trump lies with impunity. Why is he getting a pass? And creating the worst esample that will trash generations to come.
4
As I stated in a previous post. Mr. Trump likes to call people names. From now on, when I speak of him, his name will be "Pinocchio"
12
NY Times, please do us a favor and ignore Trump's tweets. I'd rather read your reports on official propaganda coming from the White House. Trump rolled you guys during the campaign for free advertising under the absurd assumption his tweets meant something other that what they are, lies. I'm glad you're calling is lies for what they've always been, lies.
4
Trump and his enablers are an American embarrassment. To think that the man-made laws can change the laws of Nature is a dead give-away of an insufficient education in human embryology. There really is no excuse for willful ignorance.
7
Like I keep saying... "1932 all over again!!!!"
3
Yes, it’s really bad for the country.
But lackadaisical press got us here. When the candidate Trump was running for the nomination of the Republican Party, he lied & lied & lied.
But the Times didn’t dare call him a liar. And that was an immense failure.
8
Whatever comes into his silly, fact addled head.... at any moment. The sad thing about this past few years is how many Americans not only believe his drivel... but support it! And I thought American Democracy was too strong, too enlightened, too smart for likes of a two- bit demogogue!
4
This is not about Trump's lies anymore. His increase in popularity going into the mid-terms is cleary on the American people.They are willing to believe anything the President spews, even if he changes his narrative from one day to the next. From this Canadian's perspective, too large a part of the American population wants to remain cocooned in ignorance bordering on the edge of stupidity.
How can 44 percent of a population embrace misogny, racism. and human rights abuses from their leader? Explain it to the world America because the rest of the western world sure doesn't get it.
8
@John V
And bingo was his name o. We are clearly not as good a country or a people as we have long proclaimed.
Do you have room up North for your more enlightened North American brethren?
1
@Mike N
Ya’ll come on up. The welcome mat is at all border crossings,
Yes the lies, exaggerations, falsehoods and outright fear-mongering are having their desired effect. Look elsewhere on the Times’ front page (or the Post’s) or tune in to your local news. All you will read and hear is about a caravan sneaking its way through Mexico, with Middle Eastern terrorists in the ranks, coming to rape, murder and savage Americans, and it’s all the fault of the Democrats.
My point is that the news media cannot cover this in the same old way of endlessly repeating outright lies. You are playing into Trump’s little hands. And by sequestering factual commentary to the editorial page, you are preventing most Americans from ever catching up to the truth.
News media: you’re being played all over again. Deja vu 2016.
7
Trump must have watching video feed of the marching migrant army of doom heading toward our border and since all people of color look the same to him he saw terrorists within such a crowd! Get out the military and have them aim weapons of mass destruction right at those mothers...and fathers and children. Excellent editorial as usual.
"It is worse still to be ignorant of your ignorance." St. Jerome (Stupid and ignorant is a deadly combination I always say.)
Trump never feels the love and lives in a state of hate but now he feels the hot breath of the elections as well as Mueller breathing on the back of his neck. Way too close for comfort for a man who avoids stress by placing it on everyone else around him.
4
Why the surprise over mr trump's pre-election lies.
He lies all the time. As is ALL the time. About everything.
Why anyone could ever vote for a serial liar is beyond me,
(Hey Base- you been major league conned. Sad. )
PS-speaking of lying- where the heck are those tax returns and why am I the only one still asking. No other POTUS has EVER refused. And that's a fact.
3
subscribe to the NYT because I think it's important to listen to the views if people you disagree with and try to understand why they hold those views. The NYT, especially the editorial page makes that an impossible exercise. The hostility for every aspect of the presidents administration by the "paper of record" which has been evident since the man had the temerity to run against your appointed one is obvious. I understand that your main audience is the echo chamber if NY-LA-CHI liberals, but the occasional objective reporting and editorializing would let me trust you when the president does wrong. A perfect example is your excuse for the Democrats ignoring the migrant crisis and refusing to admit Democrat party politicians are soft on illegal immigration. Could you say that, even once?
Define “crisis”. Define “hard” and “soft” on illegal immigration. Now explain why the Trump administration is making Legal Immigration harder, for example by deporting Texans whose birth certificate of 40 years ago is deemed suspicious, or denying a green card to anyone who ever received a dime of public assistance.
There is no crisis. Illegal immigration is down. Most of it doesn’t involve sneaking across the border. The “giant” caravan in Mexico consists of 7000 people. More than that arrive in a single day on one runway at JFK. It’s just not a problem.
They’re not sneaking in, either, nor coming illegally. They’re seeking asylum. They apply forthrightly, as is their right under our law and international law. Then this administration, after slandering them — as apparently is the new normal — incarcerates them and seeks to deport them as soon as possible, often under false pretenses. This is your country, your tax dollars at work.
Democrats aren’t soft on immigration. We want the laws enforced. We’re just not running around with our hair on fire over a nonexistent crisis. We’ll never have zero illegal border crossings, just as we’ll never have zero murders or zero tax fraud. Or even zero terrorism. We’ll cope. We’ll manage the problem instead of raving about it.
@alfredo
The editorial is about Trump's constant lying. That is a serious problem for the nation, as he is the President of the United States, and the willfully ignorant cult followers who believe him seem impervious to reason and facts. The Democrats are not ignoring the migrant crisis; they aren't lying about it, and therefore nobody is bothering to listen to them because the truth doesn't conform to the conspiracy theories Trump and his followers hold so dear. And the proper term is "Democratic Party."
Doing what he does best . And, his base? Doing what they do best...fearing and hating.
7
Presidential proclamation 4000:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICHARD NIXON, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim that the flag of the United States of America shall hereafter be displayed at the White House at all times during the day and night, except when the weather is inclement.
Presidential proclamation 4311:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July (January) 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.
We might just as well be flying the "Jolly Roger" over the White House.
3
Panic. The President and his allies are in a panic that the Democrats will win control of the House and begin public investigations that are fact based and could lead to indictments.
Fortunately, most people have made up their mind about Trump and a majority realize that he is unfit to govern. The only question is how many of them will show up at the polls in a couple of weeks.
And Trump st al should be in a panic. Justice is coming.
1
Sometimes he is just joking, as in "He also suggested that Democrats will soon be looking to hand out free luxury cars to illegal immigrants. (They won’t.)".
Of course he says so many ridiculous things that it is hard to tell.
1
Republicans are struggling to keep their grip, all right, but they seem to the rest of us to be losing it, bigly.
it's pretty clear what they're after: an America run by and for its moneyed aristocrats and the corporations they own and control, an America in which everyone else is a vassal or merely the help.
pursuing this worldly nirvana, the GOP has gone off the deep end into a realm of fantasy, with something like 35% of voters following like the children dancing behind the Pied Piper.
they have moved from merely gullible to outright delusional.
and a reality tv star shall lead them.
how did we get here and how do we get home? I don't think clicking our heels together three times is going to work this time, Toto.
2
I don’t understand why President Trump can rant and lie about issues before the Midterms while the Mueller Investigation is keeping quiet until after?
2
I only have one question: Are my tax dollars being used to fly him all over the country in Air Force One to tell these lies?
7
"Donald Trump Is Lyin’ Up a Storm"
Dear Editorial Board,
How is this different from any other politician trying to gain or maintain power?
Don't check your portfolio for this quarter, these numbers don't lie and they ain't good.
3
The Trump examples you cite- Democrats wanting to buy new luxury cars for illegal immigrants, to take one- are examples of hyperbole, not lies. Lies are "Like your health plan, you can keep your health plan".
3
@JB
It is not hyperbole it is propaganda because at some level his adherents believe this. I know smart people, people who have better command of English grammar than I, who believe these things about immigration and share the propagandist memes and lies and defend them when questioned or dismiss the question as partisan!
It is not hyperbole it is propaganda. Propaganda is meant to be taken for fact/truth.
@JB
Sell, sell, sell. Is this what all the loud mouth liars are calling themselves now? Hyperbole specialists? I wouldn't try to play Trump's game if you haven't the money to pay a lawyer for your slanders.
Amazing, a president who gets away with lying because it is expected of him. Great way to make America fail again.
@JB
I was able to keep my health plan, so no, it wasn't a lie. Is that all you have?
America is suffering a pervasive illness due to Trump. If the midterms don’t turn this around the US will be on life support. He has spread his poison everywhere.
1
When dems regain power it is my hope we will by impeachment and/or expansion of seats correct the judicial imbalance wrongly foisted by a minority on all Americans.
I guess the long answer is .... yes.
Agree on things and thank you for speaking honestly: Trump = a lying category 5 hurricane
Now - how can explain his base clapping and cheering up for these lies? If they would not cheer, he would stop lying and go back to his fake gold tower.
Trump could be more efficient with his base and tell them the winning combination that the "caravan" is a group of transgender Middle Easterners with pre-existing conditions sent by Nancy Pelosi who will arrive in Texas to vote against Ted Cruz unless ICE stops them.
9
The misrepresentation of the border crisis in the media is a lie. Who is feeding and tending to medical concerns of the caravan? They are getting support from (Soros?) somewhere. In Wisconsin, approx. 6,000 children are separated from their parents annually; do we see a series of stories covering their plight? Statistically, less than 1% of adults consider themselves 'transgender'; if I remember correctly in a democracy the majority rules. So having gender being scientifically documented is not a constitutional crisis. Do we see an uproar in the media about worldwide Christian persecution/murders? Is the me2 movement aware of the brutality ISIS inflicted on women-and girls?
There is so much wrong -- lies -- in your comment, it will be hard to refute them all -- with truth.
1. Soros' involvement is a lie. Folks along the caravan path give food and water.
2. Orphan in Wisconsin are not the same as forcibly taking refugee children away from their parents.
3. That transgender is a small share of the population doesn't remove their rights.
4. In a democracy the majority doesn't harm minorities.
5. Christian persecution abroad is exaggerated, and other religions are harmed in greater numbers.
6. Finally, this last about ISIS is just plain ridiculous.
Nice try Ivan.
2
So what?
Thanks to the votes of 63 million Americans including 58 % of the white voting majority aided and abetted by Julian Assange, James Comey, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin Donald Trump is the one and only Article II executive office President of the United States that we have.
If only we lived in a divided limited power constitutional republic of united states where the people were sovereign we could balance, control and limit his power. But we must live with the lying storm that we elected and they selected. We have sown the wind and will reap the whirlwind,
1
Democrats have yet to trap Trump, at his own game.
Every day, Trump Tweets, and the media resonates for him.
Perhaps, Democrats and Trump critics will soon trap Trump with creative responses to his insanely dictatorial manuvers.
Symbols, such as an inverted, (distress) US flag might help,
after the 2018 elections. Trump ridiculing songs might help.
I think Democrats need open "idea contests" to win elections.
===============================================
2
I don`t understand how our wannabe King Midas can lie and lie and lie and get away with it. If the media is going to be respected they have to call out these lies loudly and repeatedly. he is not an emperor and can not demand that we accept his lies anymore than we would have to put up with him walking around naked, ugh! he may have lied his way into the White House but living there doesn`t make him presidential or make his lies the truth. It is up to the media to stand up for the truth, to call out the lies or publicly abdicate their title as defenders of the truth.
1
There is a subtle but an important distinction.
It isn't merely Donald Trump who is a pathological liar.
The President of the United States is a pathological liar.
His critics need to stay away from "Donald Trump has lied" or "President Trump has lied," and say instead, "Our President has lied."
Trump has normalized his own lying, but he must never normalize our President lying.
2
Trump lives or dies by his lies. He needs them to satisfy his base, but they alienate others.
The only question now is whether his base or the others vote more.
Luckily, increasing voter participation is not rocket science. It's just a lot of work. Let's get to it.
1
It’s working. Lies work for people that refuse to educate themselves beyond what Trump says. And now there’s a Republican playbook of how to lie, we’ve witnessed it coming from the mouths of Republicans running all over the place. “I want to protect your health insurance.” “I believe in clean air and drinking water.” “The president goes too far with his rhetoric.” I’ve heard words to like this from Republicans in debates across the country. Lying lying lying.
Which would be an eye-roll if it weren’t that so many people believe it—want to believe it, because apparently it’s more comfortable? They like their white supremacist president. They like immigrants labeled the “other” — dangerous and not allowed in this country.
If we can’t fight these lies with wins on November 6th by Democrats, I’m not sure what’s to become of this country.
1
Trump lying? I'm Shocked! Of courser he is lying. But 47% approval means People are believing the lies. The media is publishing his lies every day because it sells media content and advertising to both sides. Don't have enough ads in our lives from TV, Facebook, Google to cell phones, signs everywhere and even our clothes.
We have lost our minds. We are poisoned by the constant small lies in advertising and marketing so we are used to being lied to. We live in a reality TV show, we consume stuff we don't need. We are no longer the people that fought against monarchy in our Revolution or won WWII. We were given a world where we believed in the best angels of our American experiment and we are frittering that birthright by not being vigilant. We are all Americans and we believe in honor and honesty, Trump is dividing us using the same techniques businesses use to convince us that Ford is better than Chevy (e.g.).
Trump is a huckster conning you. He is lying and cheating. Why are you falling for it? What are you selling your American birthright for, triumphalism over liberals? a scrap of tax relief, a huddling fear of foreigners? or a fear of losing your privilege? Think carefully about what America means to you before tearing us apart for Trump. If we don't get out of this Reality TV show we better start learning Chinese.
2
It's not so much that Trump is lying, it's that people know they are lies and do nothing about it. It's like if people would not use/ buy drugs, there would not be a drug abuse problem.
Since Trump at the very least appears to be a raving lunatic I tire of hearing his latest set of lies broadcast by the media. We need to smother the contagion that is Trump by our denying him the fuel that he craves, namely our attention.
4
First of all, why doesn´t the times do one of its wonderful human interest stories on some of the migrants? Up close and personal stuff? Second, why doesn't the Times, why don't the Democrats, face and discuss the reasons for the massive economic and social problems in Central America? The American roles in causing them? Why don't you all talk about the need for us to help those countries so their citizens don't feel compelled to leave? And why don't you ask the migrants why they are coming as a group and in such large numbers?
2
I think Acheson using Euripides quote about MacArthur would work for trump: "Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad."
2
Among Trump's falsities is his claim the crowd of (mostly) Hondurans heading north are already breaking United States laws. This is analogous to a Texan who smoked a joint while visiting Colorado being charged, upon returning to Texas, with consuming illegal drugs. Or, if the man had just returned from Nevada, where he availed himself of prostitution in a licensed bordello, arresting him for consorting with prostitutes.
Trump revels in his ignorance of law, flouts it, and has for decades gotten away with breaking it with absolute impunity. It really is a shame there is no God to set things right for eternity.
Trump's mental state and stability seem to be deteriorating. His anger particularly is evident. Masked by the partisan rhetoric and multiplying lies may be something much darker and ominous for the country. A commander in chief who has lost touch with reality, attacks his perceived enemies with escalating venom, and feels threatened is a real and present danger to the United States.
This is not adult day care: it is a denial of a mentally unfit president. He needs a mental exam and a brain scan to determine why his mental health seems to be sliding downhill so quickly.
Republicans in Congress and White House personnel who defend every bizarre claim and cater to every strange whim are enabling an illness of some kind to advance.
This man is truly sick. He needs help.
3
The kye phrase " Americans already exhausted by seemingly endless outrage."
In essence most Americans has had enough of Trump & friends.
1
The true “enemy of the American people” is not the media. The enemy of the American people is anyone who supports or enables this despicable protofascist presidency.
4
Trump, rather than being an aberration, is the apotheosis of America’s basest instincts He resides in the dark spaces, is quite comfortable in those spaces, and beyond knowing those spaces better than any politician in our history, he’s willing to exploit them. And this is his malign genius, a genius from which sane people recoil in horror. Trump is an idiot savant when it comes to the big con. About everything else, he is bordering on functionally illiterate. But it doesn’t matter. When he shows up the crowd – his crowd – goes wild. Meanwhile, those Americans with a modicum of respect for the ongoing task of perfecting our democracy are continuously dismayed.
It saddens me to say, but I can imagine Republican victories in the midterms. Equally horrifying, I can envision Trump winning reelection in 2020. Both outcomes made possible by extreme gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Living in America today is like standing alongside the highway watching a never-ending pile-up. And wondering when and how will it end.
2
Did you really decide not to post my perfectly appropriate comment about Trump's lies and the need to vote? That one now goes on my growing list of comments the Times seems to vet against its own policies, and for reasons of its own which have absolutely nothing to do with fostering dialog of any kind.
1
@MAmom2
Lesson to MAmom2. They always post whiners who claim to be getting shafted. Try including pieces of your argument with such a whine so we can judge if they have good taste.
I'm gonna guess you expect instant satisfaction. Try waiting, it really pays off in the end.
"Is there an election coming up, or something?"
Sorry, I don't see the joke. No excuses for a lying narcissist who embarrasses in front of the world.
3
Thankfully, Donald Trump is not a bad liar, he's a very bad liar. But there's nothing that 100% Democratic voter participation won't cure.
6
Trump plays to his base while the Times plays to rational, thinking folks. Trump's base brays back, echoing his lies with spittle-flecked chants. The Times readers moan about the rise of fascism in America and sink into depression. Political moderates - most Americans - turn off the braying and the moaning and can't wait for November the 6th to come and go. And because fear and hate motivate more strongly than logic and hewing to the facts, our country lurches further to the right.... Or so Trump, his rich supporters and his single-issue fanatics hope.
Until the passions for democracy, freedom of thought and action, the will to help the less fortunate and safeguard the health of the environment rise to the level of the paranoia on the right, progressives and moderates will continue to be mired in depression and saddled with an administration led by a morally and financially corrupt demagogue and served by sycophants.
As much as I hate to admit that Donald Trump does something well. I think he is a skilled and ruthless exploiter of what used to be the most important job in the world before he defiled it.
1
Twitter is as guilty as Trump of speaking lies and treason. They need to be shut down for a week as warning WITH A NEW ADMINISTRATION, because certainly th propaganda arm of the TRUMP CRIMINAL CLAN, will do nothing to stop his broadcast of lies and distortion.
President Liar continues with delusions and fantasy. He doesn't just lie, he promotes physical confrontation. The economy was doing great in Obama's last years, but P Liar may change that with his tariff schemes. His FED chairman may ruin the now fragile economy. Who else will P Liar pay off besides farmers?
Now, Ted Cruz is 'beautiful Ted.'
Is it possible for Trump to lie himself silly? It's truly unbelievable that someone could lie so much - and for so many to eat it all up without question.
1
Lying is what he does best. If you believe Republican promises vs. Republican action's (voting i don't know how many times to kill health care and pre-existing condition's) i have a bridge in Brooklyn that i own and is for sale right now. Vote the lying low life out of office, and let's get back to the good health care and the business of America. Hey LGBT group's, get everyone you know to the poll's, and vote democratic.
The scarier part is that some Americans actually believe Mr. Trump’s lies.
4
I don't think Trump is responsible for what he says. he is president because there are enough stupid Americans to think the way he talks. Americans would be different, Trump would use different arguments.
Trump is president because America is rotten and it ain't gonna change overnight, if ever.
but don't worry, there are millions of people all over the world, in Russia, Europe, China, India, Pakistan, middle East, etc... that are quite happy with the situation. after years of disparaging the United States, seeing America sinking so fast bring them the taste of payback.
Write a story about the 18 years and counting at war in Afghanistan.
@gene which also goes back to the GOP. 9/11 happened under the GOP, the great recession happened under the GOP and now trump!
1
Even his "base" (and what a fine word to describe his supporters) knows that he lies. They don't care. It's a show and they are entertained.
He is telling the truth in one respect, and it's all that matters. He is a racist and represents the wishes of 40% of America to maintain a system of white supremacy, which many of them fear is slipping away. Everything else is a distraction.
Vote on November 6th.
4
George Washington: “I cannot tell a lie”.
Donald Trump: “I cannot tell the Truth”.
Two different roads.
10
@Kay Johnson
If Trump did tel the truth, he'd be in jail.
2
Why is it only the editorial page of the armies that can bring itself to call it for what it is: lying. He lied. He is lying. The president is a lier.
Instead the news side uses euphemism like falsehood because it says the reporter can’t know intent. Well isn’t it the reporters job to investigate and if the evidence points to a strong reason to lie ( like say and election coming up ) that it’s not a neutral falsehood but intentional — an attempt to deceive the public.
Isn’t that news?
4
Trump specializes in demons and disaster.People are not that excited by good news but they can relate to threats to their well being.Everyone is Trump’s enemy until they praise him or make him look good.He serves up to his supporters items that would be featured on the cover of The National Enquirer and they clap and cheer.He is all about getting crowds to react by telling lies and bullying and acting like a know-it-all.He is P.T.Barnum putting on a show.Trump lies so much that if he ever told the truth no one would recognize it.He is in election frenzy mode- nothing but threats and demons and lies.
3
Conjecture? Perhaps. Reality? It is beginning to look prophetic. Calling it lies may be going a bit far but then the Times has a not so rare penchant for hyperbole itself.
Every thing I learned as a child that was wrong.... lying, rudeness, personal attacks and selfishness has now become the norm. Make America civil again.
3
The danger of storms of the Trump kind is that they are sustained by storm troopers.
3
Remember when directly calling the President a liar was a big deal?
9
Say what you want about Trump and his lies, but the democrats have absolutely nothing to counter with. Trump is the champion of those who have felt, in the wake of Democrats arrogant advancement of a social agenda at odds with the majority of Americans, ignored and powerless. They may be too stupid to see the dark side of this, but Americans have long since given up on nuance, on seeing the big picture. Blame the media and the collapse of the educational system for that.
The president is a "stable genius." He's also a pathological liar who cannot distinguish truth from falsehood. I guess that explains the stable genius claim.
So what? What’s new? Trump and the elephants have always lied to ensure they benefit.
The question is when will Dems start marketing the truth? When will they say “Republicans and trump are traitors as they r aligned with Russians “ or “looking at all the efforts at republicans are making at voter suppression their goal is to bring slavery back!” Or “women - if republicans are back please find another country!”
Where is this democrat voice? Democrats are not traitors or encouraging caravans but is trump and republicans exaggerate about this - comeon Dems can do better
1
Ya know, You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find....you get what you NEED!
Wow - - what an article "Donald Trump Is Lyin’ Up a Storm." yes, indeed he is lying and it's getting annoying to read all the lies - it doesn't end. We have a President in The White House who cannot stop lying.
What's more annoying and sometimes very, very frustrating is FOX News swallows Trump's lies - hook, line & sinker.
Then, tens of thousands of Trump voters & supporters soak up Fox News reporting POYUS' lies and believe it.
There isn't any hope wasting one minute of your time for Fox News & Trump's supporters to wake up and smell the coffee.
November 6, 2018 - I'm voting top to bottom the entire Democratic ticket.
7
Nothing more, nothing less than a puppet and pawn of foreign governments and the wealthiest of the wealthy, who coined the phrase 'fake news' then blames his opponents for creating it while spewing its vitriol and lies to those who consider him a savior. A profile in cowardice who taunts from his bully pulpit.
Unfortunately, this juggernaut is likely to go on for another 6 years.
Unless you vote.
".....because he does love a brawl." Yet he never loses a tooth or gets a bloody nose. He has been using his father's money his whole life to keep a phalanx of lawyers on hand to prevent that. I am not promoting violence, unlike Trump, but boy, HE really needs to be body slammed once in his life!
1
Unfortunately his cult believes every word out of his mouth. Why do you think his hate rallies are in places that are rural and deep red? He doesn't want to be president for everyone. He never campaigns in NY, NJ or California.
Why not advise the President, following his first -surprising but apparently promising - with North Korea, that this is the perfect time to take another giant step toward regional peace: Showing his human side, express his condolences to the death of Shirin Aliabadi (very popular with young Iranians), and then propose an urgent face-to-face meeting with both the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani? A multiple strategic coup: getting an additional 70 million Shiites on America's side with the promise of economic development; securing Iranian crude oil by ditching Saudi crude; encircling Russia's expansionism in the south; and taking the first step towards peace between Iran and Israel. All in all, a more impressive proof of brilliant statesmanship than even Nixon's trip to China. Respectfully submitted, Adalbert Lallier
I am glad that the NYT is finally coming around to using the word LIE in describing the unsubstantiated nonsense that comes out of DT's mouth. Yes the press has a responsibility to verify the truth of statements, and most of the free press has bent over backwards to do that in the past two years, while DT just moves on to the next big whopper. But when is his lying going to be the story ? Let's call a spade a spade: DT is a liar, plain and simple.
PolitiFact reports only 16% of what he says is "true' or "mostly true". That leaves 84% in the lyin' zone. When are we going to stop being so polite and simply assume that he tells lies, big and little, almost all the time? And leave it on him to substantiate his claim(s) of the day ?
1
Who are the die-hard partisans on "both" sides of the battle for the midterms? With that little line the esteemed Editorial Board of the New York Times lost me.
Am I a die-hard partisan to argue for universal healthcare akin to all other advanced countries, costing them less than half of what the US spends and with better health outcomes to boot, including longevity, less obesity, less mothers and children dying during child birth, etc, etc., etc.....
Am I a die-hard partisan - and a quite well off one - to argue that the rich and ultra rich and large companies should pay more taxes to not only help the less fortunate among us, but all that ails this nation, including the ailing infrastructure?
Am I a die-hard partisan when I am sure that the Founding Fathers put the 2nd Amendment into the Constitution to only apply to a Well regulated Militia, and not for every Tom, Dick and occasional Harriet to arm themselves to the teeth with private machine gun-like weapons the Founders couldn't even dream off?
Am I a die-hard partisan when I believe that the separation of church and state does not exist anymore, when the state wants to constantly control the bedroom behavior of their citizens, when the hard fought for right of women to control their own body is endangered like never before, and is now wanting to erase the rights of the Ts from LGBT, followed by the LGB?
Please, NYT, spare me the "both side" argument, the one that Trump made after Charlottesville.
688
@Sarah
I so love your comment! It is just perfect. I could not agree more. I hope others reading it are as inspired as I am by it.
3
@Sarah I think you have misinterpreted "die hard partisan". They are those who are totally unreasonable, see only their own highway and want to win even when it destroys our country.
I agree with your points, all in fact, but I am hardly a partisan.
1
@Sarah
Absolutely. This unwise conventional wisdom has been put out by the political right to protect itself from its own excesses, and so so-called "moderates" have bought it hook line and sinker. The very conservative, but not what I would consider far-right, Senator Ben Sasse says he want a civilized politcal discussion, but refers to Rachel Maddow as the far-left equivalent of Sean Hannity. There's not a single commentator or politician as extreme on the left as the far-right neo-fascists that have gained wide acceptance as a normal part of the right.
2
I find it difficult if not impossible to distinguish between how Donald Trump operated his businesses and how he operates as President. From what I can tell, there is little if any difference. Big promises, silver-tongued praise (so he might think) but truly lousy delivery. His capacity to lie and ignore the inevitable blowback is only possible through a triple coating of weapon-grade Teflon with gullible supporters and cynical opportunists applauding his demented claims of societal breakdown - as engineered by evil Democrats.
All his lying, hyperbole and carnival antics are so predictable. Why can’t Democrats figure a rhetorical strategy to counter his predictable and repetitive missives? The key to countering a carnival huckster has been discovered, why not study it and counter effectively and strategically?
1
Why does the main stream media bend over backwards to create false equivalency between his blatant lies and the facts? Not everyone reads the opinion section.
1
Philosophically wrong? Trump IS the reality. It happens to be an evil reality. Call it what it is and say why. Evil harms. Evil hurts. Say that.
2
This morning I saw a picture of Ted Cruz and Donald Trump shaking hands and hugging. If one ever wanted to know what is wrong with American politics, that picture says it all.
VOTE Nov 6th
Take America Back
2
" At campaign rallies and on social media, he’s spewing dark warnings about a Democratic mob clamoring to usher in an era of open borders, rampant crime, social chaos and economic radicalism."
There is an ad running in Austin that says just that about the dems.
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
-Abraham Lincoln
"I love the poorly educated."
-Donald Trump
1
Kavanaugh, Khashoggi, and Karavans.
1
@David
Don’t forget the Kardashians!
2
Thank you for this clear and accurate editorial. The thing is, this isn't a matter only for the editorial pages. The news ought to push back with each and every headline, each and every lede, otherwise, the deceitful becomes common, and all consumers of news inured to the venality and treachery. Please utilize the observations made here in the NYT's "authoritative voice" as the "paper of record" in the most echoed aspects (headlines, first paragraphs) of its news reporting as well. Thank you. Please.
1
Buckle up. It's Round 2 in the transition from True Class (Obama) to Pure Crass (Trump). Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are thrilled by the crass.
2
The idea that I most likely have to endure another two years of this shameless con-man representing my country before the rest of the planet is depressing.
It is vital that reasonable people, people who value truth and intelligent debate, vote against Republicans on November 6, and begin to turn this ship of fools around. Republicans have fallen in line with Trump. They deserve to go down with him.
2
Too bad that the Constitution didn't include "acting like a lunatic" as a justification for removing a President from office.
Historical parallel: I read the Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany had a habit of shooting off his mouth and embarrassing his country, which was the most advanced nation in the world at the time. That did not end well.
2
Trump lies for one reason-ratings.
2
Paging Mr. Mueller. Wouldn’t some indictments this week be huge?
2
Donald Trump has been a lying, cheating, racist, proudly ignorant dunce for several decades. Nothing about his behavior has changed, other than the fact that he now enjoys 24 hour worldwide press coverage, including a major "news" network that lies just as much as Trump. We now have a major political party who enables, defends, and justifies Trump's behavior as appropriate and Presidential. The GOP leadership has abandoned all pretense of serving our nation's citizens or strategic interests. They have used the election of Donald Trump to raid the treasury and bankrupt our nation morally, socially, and financially. 40% of the voting population think all of the above is good, because through Trump's words and actions, they feel like they are somehow dissing the elite----even as their fearless leader chips away at the very foundations of their lives with each passing day. This will not end well.
1
Our main stream media has to call him out on every lie. They can't be afraid of the truth just because it will upset his base. Call him out on every lie he says. Say enough is enough. Our democracy depends on it!
3
45 is doing what he does best. Crying "Fire" in a full theatre to create panic among his base, who sadly, are easily duped by his endless stream of fabrications and fear mongering. Checks and balances are essential to salvage what's left of our democracy and start to rebuild it. Vote on November 6 as if your life depends on it, because very likely, it does.
7
Trump likes his base, not America.
And he is fine with lying to them.
4
Trump’s entire life has “no basis in reality.” From his fabricated story of being a self-made billionaire to his bankruptcy strewn resume, illegitimate Trump University, birther conspiracy and countless daily lies, large and consequential to petty and juvenile, the man is certifiably sociopathic. What is most disturbing and demoralizing to this 68 year old FORMER REPUBLICAN New Yorker is that a majority of my fellow citizens either don’t care or willingly embrace him and the chaos he generates. Now he wants to engage in a new nuclear arms race! Vote like your lives and those of your children and grandchildren depend on it, for indeed they may.
3
That it is now unremarkable that the President of the United States simply makes up lies with no basis in reality on a daily basis is a terrifying aspect of the present moment.
I pray November 6th puts some checks on this pathological liar.
7
"There he goes again."
The phrasing of that minimizes the repeated damage to our country.
When will you write an editorial stating why he needs to be removed from office?
3
@K Hunt
Absolutely! Why are we so complacent with these lies?
I think that legitimate media should be asking, maybe demanding?, his removal from office.
He’s a liar! The President is a liar! He blatantly says whatever nonsense is in his mind.
How have we allowed this to go on for so long?
C’mon NYTimes. Stand up for what is right and demand, along with other credible media outlets, that he either resign or be removed from office.
1
What a shame that a political party that wraps itself in the idea of American exceptionalism, and patriotism, to the illogical point of attacking NFL players who are doing nothing more than peacefully exercising their rights to protest that the flag and the national anthem symbolize, has wholeheartedly and unconditionally embraced an opportunistic, manipulative liar, while claiming monopoly on Christian family values!
2
Again your opinion fails to conclude the way it has needed to for the duration of Trump - "and the Republican congress does nothing." For the past two years all of your reporting seems to have done little because you are opposing the person who continues to say that you are "Fake News". Of course your words have fallen on deaf ears because they only hear and preach one sermon - "Trump is right and those that don't believe are enemies."
But we live in a constitutional democracy and not a monarchy and it is the duty of congress to provide a check and balance on the executive to ensure he doesn't abuse his power. The NYT has needed to bring pressure on members of congress and when Trump lied they should have cornered and either confirm or deny Trump's claim then the Times needed to report that. If the congressman fails to confirm the lie then they should be asked if it isn't their job to do something about the abuse of power. Trump can only be Trump because congress allows it to be. Once congress is shown to be ineffectual and supportive of lies then we can move forward to correcting Trump.
It is possible to get through to more people when it isn't a one side versus the other scenario. The Times has truth and reality on their side and they have believed they could use that to their advantage. But you have failed to acknowledge a decades long project to undermine mainstream media so now it is time to find new tactics. The constitution is their weakness so use it.
The economy is NOT “chugging along”.
Anybody who buys food, gasoline, heating fuel or clothing, or stock, for that matter, knows that we are in the midst of extreme inflation going nowhere, now with the new tax law, into the pockets of the very wealthy.
We’re effectively at full employment, but the jobs are, for the most part, not paying anything near what they should be.
And, as you mentioned - President Trump is back to demagoguery, bigotry, hate, pulling out of peace treaties - with the Vice President about to announce renunciation of one of the most important, the non-militarization of space pacts, keeping our weapons at least within our atmosphere.
Yet the Times has again ceased using the most important phrase: ‘Trump Lied again when he said ...’
Voters, and it seems now, our most important voices against a regime achieving more power daily are somehow finding this creep towards a fractured country led by a man concerned only about himself, who will say anything, and a party increasingly led by people trying to reverse every social liberty won since Brown v Board of Ed and imposing their morality upon every other citizen, are finding this outrageous behavior as acceptable as the Saudi leadership finds murdering columnists, and the Turkish regime finds imprisoning them.
Please, stop this even now when it’s already too late.
Call a lie by its rightful name, and one who cannot tell the truth a LIAR.
3
Dispiriting, exhausting, discouraging, depressing. It is the size of this base that is frightening. How could so many people identify so strongly with so much falsehood and cruelty? I am afraid for us. I am afraid that our media is still not putting enough attention on the rising plutocracy behind it. There is something in the NYT today because Volkner is publishing a book. The media has a problem covering stories that develop slowly over time, like climate change and plutocracies. We don't hear about anything but "breaking news". Usually by then it is too late.
1
There has never been such a shameless liar and fear-monger in the White House. We had little snippets of this kind of behavior with Reagan and Bush, but nothing on this scale. Frankly, it has me worried, because Democrats have been left stunned by the scope of this fear-mongering and mischaracterization of people and groups.
There is almost nothing that can be said to counter Trump, because his "base" doesn't care. They know he is lying, just like the entourages of schoolyard bullies know that their "leader" is lying and engaging in disgusting behavior. The MAGA-heads get some kind of perverse pleasure from hearing Trump attack people--even without cause or any semblance of the truth. He who has the best insults evidently wins.
How can we build a political system on complete lack of truth? Is the voter base so utterly detached from reality that they are willing to base their support on utter hot air and invective? Apparently this is how a lot of voters are basing their ballot decisions. They seem to be unaware that they are mortgaging their financial, health and educational future to people who have pledged to pay for their tax cuts for billionaires by reducing Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Their myopia is utterly incomprehensible.
3
"If I were to run I'd run as a republican. They're the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe everything on Fox News. I could lie and they'd still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific."
Donald Trump - People Magazine interview 1998
Every day I get a zillion requests from various democratic entities asking to contribute $3 right now, to help this or that candidate, to stop the right wing noise machine.
What every one of these entities needs to be doing loudly and with one voice: telling the truth about what trump/republicans have done, and what they will do.
Tax cuts for the already wealthy [which will]...
Increase the debt by 1.5 trillion [which will "force them to"]
Drastically cut Soc. Sec., Medicare & Medicaid [which will
force many into poverty, premature death]
Destroy what's left of the Affordable Care Act [see above]
Destroy the EPA, giving free rein to corporate polluters
Remove regulations on banks/financial advisers, etc.
Gut public schools
Make higher education unaffordable
Remove the right to vote
Make all forms of discrimination legally acceptable
Silence the Free Press
Curtail free speech
Allow religion to be written into law ["there must be some
form of punishment" for abortion]
And 2nd Amendment people, this president might really come for your guns.
The demagogue, preaches facts he knows to be untrue to men he knows will believe him.
Either he's stopped or we become trumpistan. America will cease to exist.
6
Trump is lying up a storm, and you know what, I blame the Republican voters for this behavior. They believe him, in fact their responses to him are such that, they are begging to be lied to. If the lying works, why wouldn't he keep doing it?
We have at the moment not just one Trump, but millions of them. They believe him, I think, in part because they want to believe the alternate reality Trump describes is true. They share the similar world view as Trump; and they are dishonorable and dishonest like Trump. This sounds grim, but how else to explain their love for Trump?
These supporters would not be offended for me saying so, because for them, Trump is a great guy and very smart and strong. It's great to be just like him!
3
The economy is doing well from momentum and good fortune. What is not doing well in this country is the truth as spoken by our corrupt president. He is not concerned with Congress because they have signed off on Trump without reservation. That makes them and Trump expendable. The ignorant rowdies that subscribe to Trump’s immoral blather just do not have an idea of right vs wrong. The worst thing that can happen is people rolling over because of exhaustion with the wrongness of our current government administration. As Churchill famously said years ago, “never give up, never give up, never ever give up.”
2
Well said! "..it is more than a little dispiriting for the millions of Americans already exhausted by seemingly endless outrage. And it is really bad for the country" Trump couldn't care less about making America or anything other than his own ego "great again". He has single-handedly turned the public forum into a zombie parade. The question again: how on earth did this happen? Who are these people at Trump rallies? Why are they spouting nonstop complete nonsense? Why doesn't anyone at one of these rallies stand up and say what a morass of vile and chaotic lies they are groveling around in? "Dispiriting" barely begins to describe it.
2
Trump is the worst president in our history but what concerns me even more is that he seems to foment violence and violence begets violence no matter what one's politics are. It will not be good for our country if he or one of his henchman becomes a victim of his rhetoric. There are probably many unstable people in our country who cannot see through his thoughtless remarks.
2
Who would have thought this celebrity tabloid loudmouth would evolve into one of the most poisonous forces in modern American political history?
Let's all cautiously monitor today's reality television for the next demagogue.
Nothing new about his lying! That said, I am not sure which is worse, a president who constantly lies or a substantial number of people in this country believe him. That being the case, and them showering him with constant applause and chants of "lock her up" for any suitable female politician, it will be hard to stop him from lying until he is no longer in the White House.
Then, it will be a hard fall for him!
2
Most people don't read the NYT. I wish they did. An Actual News station is needed to counteract Fox News.
And yet love him or hate him, Trump has done exactly what he said he'd do during this presidential campaign. And if he hasn't yet delivered on something he promised during his campaign, he's still working openly on doing just that. Micro lies and half-truths underlying meta-honesty. Can't say that for any previous president or politician, including Democratic ones. In fact, Trump is the "George Pompideau Center" of politicians. Instead of hiding the lies under slick speeches that promise to do the opposite, he shows the world the very rot and lies it takes to get a society to move in a positive direction in a world of very limited attention spans and vastly competing interests.
BTW: I wasn't able to keep my doctor, just as a humble example.
trump isn't as he always has been. the office has changed him - it's allowed him to amplify his hate more egregiously. hope the democrats win the house in the midterms; we need some 'checks' on this 'unique' individual.
1
Few opposition parties have a stronger case against a head of state.
He makes an almost daily practice of compulsive mendacity.
He bullies anyone who degrees with his narrow and often delusional version of reality.
He enables racists, sexists, and jingoists with his divisive and spiteful rhetoric.
He denies the the dangers of global warming.
He uses the presidency to increase his family's fortune.
He guts the regulations on pollution and worker safety.
He intends to increase the allowable levels of radiation.
He threatens the healthcare of millions of Americans.
He breaks long-established treaties on a whim.
He insults and degrades our closest allies.
He enables racists, sexists, and jingoists with his divisive and spiteful rhetoric.
His only loyalty is to his ego and his power, not to the interests of our diverse nation
He admires tyrants and petty autocrats.
He is unwilling to condemn the ruthless murder of journalists.
He insults and ridicules American women to their face without qualms.
He celebrates his ignorance
He exhibits key traits of a full-blown sociopath.
3
Blatant lies and race baiting is the new norm. Trump has dragged the previously despised political process to a new low.
1
It's time for some legal eagle to fine a way to restrain the lies and vitriol of Trump. He's creating a public danger in urging his supporters to violence; he encourages them to reject the constitutionally mandated democratic processes; he befouls the good name of every Democrat and anyone else who would vote for a Democrat; he divides America and spreads depression and loss of hope; he endangers our lives by trashing our allies and spurring our enemies. We've had murder in Charlottesville. We've had a White Supremacist wave a samurai sword in New York (had he been black, he'd have been shot in a heartbeat). George Soros has been sent a pipe bomb, and before that, two years ago , a Trump supporter fired a rifle in a DC pizzeria. Trump himself has called on supporters to assault demonstrators; and he has praised the attack on a a journalist by a Congressman who pleaded guilty to assault. This, surely, is not covered by the First Amendment. Enough is enough! I predict that thousands of us would contribute to a legal fund to restrain this monster.
2
Trump has no conscience and he thinks that unintended consequences are overrated and he knows that people react to fears about what they imagine quickly and carelessly rather than hold their feelings in check until they determine the facts. It works for Trump. He repeats a lot of imagination stimulating things that make his audiences respond and which make them feel that he is one of them and will act for them. It’s entertainment in which people suspend disbelief to enjoy, and they do.
Reality is not kind to people who imagine things that contradict with it. Trump is undermining our government and that is real. Most people in government are just people doing their jobs under elected officials from any party but policies and lack thereof eventually effects their work. Trump’s attention is so short term that his policies just do not give direction for others. He ignores the need to prioritize tasks to suit the nation’s needs, always focusing on his own. Global climate change will devastate our way of life if the forecasts by scientists as expressed in the U.N. are true. We may have just ten years to replace 45% of the coal that we use. But instead Trump keeps making up problems to address, instead of a real one that is vexing as well as existential.
Take any action you can to make sure Democrats are successful in the election.
Donate money.
Make phone calls at your local campaign headquarters.
Walk door to door if your district is a close race.
Any little action helps.
Step one - tie Trump's hands by flipping the House.
Step two - continue to oppose his agenda and lies with a better plan for the country and constant rational alternatives to Republican ideas (a majority of Americans disagrees with them on all major issues)
Step three - Trump will inevitably sabatoge himself as 2020 approaches. He is a self-defeating time bomb and there is an unknown situation that will come up which will ruin his meager appeal even further.
It's coming.
In the election of 2020, the number and enthusiasm of voters who will grab the chance to wipe him away and return the country to normal will be staggering.
No one will miss the chance to remove his stain.
Americans want sane and positive.
That's the winning formula.
1
I am terrified of this man.
326
@Dede wilder I am deeply resentful and angered by this man child.
2
@Dede wilder I'm terrified of the millions of his supporters who are just like him. This country is not what we thought it was.
5
@Dede wilder I am as well. Although I may be more terrified and angry at the people who support him.
4
100,000 + people reserved spots for Trump's rally last night. Only 18,000 were able to get into the arena.
prevarication does not matter
How many of those people had AR-15s in the trunks of their cars outside the arena? I bet the number would be astounding.
1
I do not believe 100,000 real people reserved spots, EH. Bots - Russian and republican. It's all part of the BIG lie.
12
WE THE PEOPLE must expect more - much more - of OUR hired/elected leaders.
The Con Don is an embarrassment to the vast majority of Americans and the media/press seem to get some kind of gallows humor from his serial lying.
It's not funny. It's dangerous. He's just manic enough to help start WW3 so he goes down in HIStory as the man responsible for the destruction of American democracy.
Is that the legacy WE want for our children, grandchildren and future generations?
Not me. Not now. Not ever.
6
"There he goes again" is the opening statement in this editorial. The malignant rhetoric, the hate filled falsehoods, the egregious misrepresentations are unnerving and never ending to say the least-- the leader of the US continues to propagate misinformation going unchecked by the branches of government that were put in place to ensure that we don't become a dystopian setting where Orwell meets Kafka. Yet sadly as surreal as this is, it is painfully our new reality.
This unending rhetoric is similar to Chinese water torture, drip drip drip until the victim becomes insane. I fear we are all going a bit crazy trying to make sense of this insanity.
The most important thing we can do stop the Chinese water torture is to vote. Bring along as many friends and neighbors as possible with you to the polls. We need to restore a sense of decency in our republic.
1
The problem for progressives is their unhealthy fixation with Trump's "lies". While they spend all their time griping about his claim that the immigrant mass coming our way includes gang members and terrorists, they miss the fact that a giant mob is actually coming our way and of great concern to Americans.
What will become of our border? Will there be violence? Have progressives given any thought to what a group this size would be like to manage?
No, because they're too busy fixating on Trump's "lies".
1
Surely the financing of the Caravan is coming from Republicans, as they are the only side that can gain from it in the next few weeks -- after which it will disappear.
4
Never forget that the easiest way to figure out what the Republicans are up to is to watch what they are actually saying and doing.
When the President “spews dark warnings about a Democratic mob clamoring to usher in an era of open borders, rampant crime, social chaos and economic radicalism”. That is exactly what Republicans has been doing since they took over Washington.
Republicans reserve for themselves the right to lie, cheat and steal. Here is your enumerated Republican agenda for the foreseeable future.
1. Open borders. Certainly, we will let all your spies and assassination teams enter the USA and murder your enemies.
2. Rampant crime. Starts at the White House with a President with some many daily scandals of graft and white collar crime reserved exclusively for the monied class.
3. Social chaos. Continuation of the policy to conspire on social media with friendly Russians to continue efforts towards achieving a one-party government for the corrupt and by the corrupt.
4. Economic Radicalism. Capitalism gone amuck while taxes are eliminated and paid for with the annihilation of all Great Society programs.
1
Count me among "the millions of Americans already exhausted by seemingly endless outrage." Nov. 6 cannot get here soon enough, and then there is the wearing fear, like a toothache that wakes one in the night, of what will come after the election whatever the outcome.
4
What we are witnessing is the self-destruction of the US piece by piece from within.
What will take its place is anyone’s guess.
I’m done fretting over it all...whatever will be, will be.
@CC Don't fret. Vote and help others to vote.
@Eric
Thanks for the lift. I vote in every election and can trace my roots back to the Mayflower, but Canada looks pretty good right about now.
You assume that Canada will let us in and give USA citizens a chance to import their poison to Canada.
The irony of it all is that USA citizens will become the ‘Mexicans’ of the near future. Just saying....
" And he has been an aggressive deregulator in areas ranging from education to transportation to health care to the environment..."
The way this article puts that Trump has been "an aggressive deregulator" suggests this as actions and acts that are positive and are to be seen as part of his most notable achievements!
Are you kidding?
Deregulation is NOT a positive in ANY way by how Trump and his cohort of minions have taken away and slashed rules, regulations, oversights, Saftey, Inspections and protections that are all mostly ways and means to ultimately protect People, The Enviroment, Health as well as prevent Accidents, Pollution, Damage and Risk, to name just a few.
Most of the aggressive Deregulation has been actioned primarily for just one group of beneficiares and to save them costs that they can easily afford but would rather not, irrespective of the other costs and dangers it may cause and create at the expense of a very many others by the consequences that will affect them much more by so much of this deregulation.
Dirtier Car Emmissions, polluted water supplies and aquifers, more methane and CO2 emmisions, more particulate matter and greater smog, less protected federal areas, less safe oil drilling , lower standards, fewer safety checks...the list is large and all this so called "Deregulation" should not be seen as or called "notable achieveents" especially in a way that suggests these are good things done for most.
THEY AREN'T.
4
First, regarding the tax cuts, Democrats should harp on the recent news that the deficit has ballooned as a result of those cuts, because tax revenues fell as a result of lower corporate taxes. That also means we now have less money to spend on US, which means the Republicans are now talking about cutting Medicare and Social Security.
But even more importantly, I understand that there may be a fine line between censorship and cracking down on lying and fake news, but there must be a way to bring the law to bear on someone like Trump who lies continuously, flagrantly, saying the opposite of what is true--and creating a completely fictional reality--with the naked object of gaining power and wealth for himself. If not, this is a tremendous legal oversight.
1
There must must be someway to invoke the fundamental norms that this country is founded on.
1
@PJM
Like "innocent until proven guilty" and "law and order" (as in "immigration laws should be followed")?
1
This editorial reflects the feelings of a huge swath of Americans; a feeling of helplessness, uselessness and despair. It's an opinion piece, of course, but that opinion amounts to beating a dead horse.
The founders of our country, the framers of our Constitution, were aware that one day a con man, a demagogue, might erupt on the scene and mesmerize a great number of us. They tried, they tried hard, to erect barriers against that possibility. The Electoral system. (Which backfired.) In the extreme, impeachment. (The elite men of Congress would step up... a double error because they're neither elite nor sufficiently courageous.
For those who hope, all that's left is to look beyond. How will we cobble together the remains left behind by the demagogue and his cohorts?
"Dispiriting" is an understatement. The sex-definition memo has provoked panic, but the daily rallies and Twitter harangues give the impression we are living in an Orwellian society. I am thankful that my teenager doesn't read the news - somebody has to keep hope alive.
2
Trump tells so many lies that he cannot keep track of them.When presented with video of him telling a whopper he denies that he said it.For him there is no time better than an election to get his base out and brag and play to their fears and insist that he will do even more for them via a middle cut tax cut coming next week.He did not take an oath to preserve and protect the Constitution- he took his own personal oath to preserve and protect Donald Trump.
2
As far as I have been able to tell, the Mexican police and people have treating the caravan participants courteously.
My only criticism is they have not yet begun to provide them with road maps and police escorts to Mar-a Lago.
4
If this nightmare of an individual was employed by a business that had an ethical culture, valued truth over lies, expected employees to do the job they were hired for, and had clear rules about addressing others in the workplace, he would have been out on his "you know what" and possibly sued for deformation of character.
How is it then, he can spout and rant lies, avoid doing the important and serious job of running our nation and still be in office? Beyond the non- functioning Republican Congress, is there not a mechanism to remove and hold him responsible for the damage he has done to our nation? Impeachment seems to be an unwieldy difficult task. I know we are waiting for Mueller but we seem not to have checks and balances for the most important job of the land.
And really, I am very tired of reading about anything that comes out of his mouth. Media help!!
3
Bad for the country? Ask if trump cares. Ask the Republicans if they care.
Bottom-line, the Republican brotherhood is afraid of mothers 'armed' with babies and children ... in their arms. Imagine our reaction, indeed trump's outrage, if other nations nations criticized America for failure to stop our people from flocking to their countries - like Cancun Mexico, or other expat hangouts overseas.
Before you know it the anti-democratic brotherhood will require IDs with a binary sex identification only permitted to vote, disenfranchising another 1.4 million citizens in an instant.
"his fantasies" exactly right. "He does love a brawl" so much that he's looking to replicate the physical brawls just outside the oval office to the rest of the country and the rest of the world. Indeed, he loves mass violence and covering for tyrannical murderers. How is it acceptable for an American president to side with and shield a foreign murderer of a tax paying resident?
Conservatives who still support trump are fully endorsing and enabling this and cannot pretend otherwise when we all eventually have to account for ourselves. May history judge them as harshly as they deserve to be.
5
@PAN Your last paragraph in particular should be passed on and repeated until those vile enablers are out of office.
1
For nearly three years now, there is a singular chant of "Trump the liar." Wonder whether it occurs to anyone - and I mean anyone in the center and left - that calling out a liar is producing nothing. I.e., all it does is solidify Trump's appeal among ALL republicans and produces disengagement among likely democratic voters.
It is also really silly for the press to refer to Trump's base as a subset of republicans, when his appeal not only covers every republican, but spills over to traditional democratic strongholds (Blacks and Hispanics).
Some issues deserve explication.
First, the notion that minorities voters in the US are not bigoted, is a nonsense notion. Everyone is bigoted to one extent or another; it is not love that exists between Blacks and other minority populations - particularly immigrants. Trump's appeal to bigotry has a wide audience; something to which the democrats are oblivious.
Second, republicans are primarily motivated by an illicit, irrational fear of other races, and by deep seated race-related anxiety. This is not a rational response of thinking people, it is an emotional response of scared people. Lies from Trump appeal to this reality. Telling them Trump is lying evokes only one response: "we don't care." They genuinely don't care; they just want an all-white America (or at least all whites fully in charge) - and have sold their souls to Trump already.
And democrats are whining about lost voter registrations - unfailingly.
64
@Kalidan
What about the lie that Trump tells about sponsoring a "middle-class tax cut" before the November election? At some point, even Trump's supporters have to grow weary of the lies, even if the rest of us don't know where that point is. Pointing out lies is insurance that lying is not normalized; that otherwise good people don't start accepting that lying is just part of the politics of getting elected.
1
@Kalidan. Trump lost the popular vote by 3 to 4 million people. A majority of the voters. The registration issue is a very big deal because Trump’s delicate sensitivities was tweaked by the fact he lost the popular vote and since the election Trump the conman has continually lied about who those people are that did not vote for him. The Dems are correct about the registration issue.
1
@Kalidan There was a truly essential piece on Trump and authoritarianism that was published by Vox in late 2016. Based on research, it looks not only at Trump’s authoritarianism, but how people who are not typically of an authoritarian bent become so when they feel threatened. And this is what Trump does masterfully — if delusionally — every day; he creates enemies to be feared (Muslims, immigrants, Democrats, women who challenge him, our allies) which stokes the authoritarian impulse in many citizens. If you search Trump authoritarianism and Vox you will get a link to the article. Well worth it. It truly explains, and more importantly, helps to predict, Trump, his moves and the response of those who follow him.
1
I remain confused about this. His base is about one third of the country, right? I remember feeling unafraid in 2016 because I knew this base would vote for him, but figured that wasn't enough to win the election. Well, we know how that turned out: more than his base voted for him.
But those in-betweeners, those I-just-hate-Hillary-ers, are they really still giving him a look? After nearly two years of the lying, the embarrassments, the drama, shouldn't I have reason again to hope?
If there's any justice in this world, Donald Trump will be lyin' in a prison cell before too long.
11
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd say the GOP has more to gain from encouraging the so-called caravan than the Democrats do. 45 doesn't willingly part with a buck, but if he did, I'd wonder if he wasn't investing in a little "insurance" for GOP candidates. But I'm not a conspiriacy theorist.
5
> But his most notable achievements do not resonate beyond Mr. Trump’s base.
- Shouldn't the Editorial Board wait until the results of the mid-term elections are in before making this assertion?
1
Why should the U.S. president use Truth and Facts in his rallies when anger, hatred, fear, and lies work so much better to the mob of attendees who prefer short and quick explanations?
Why speak about genuine hope highlighting America's ideals enshrined in the Constitution when the over heated bleating crowd would rather chant "Lock Her Up" which of course was the reason they came to the comedy show to begin with?
Why use your presence on stage to talk about mundane topics that they won't understand like 'preexisting conditions' or 'tax law' or 'infer-structure' when there are more exciting topics to chose from like 'politicians beating up on journalists', or 'fake news perpetrators that are actually in the auditorium right now'?
Why talk about the things that really make America great like leadership, character, honesty, empathy, kindness, civility, and honor when the speaker on the stage (me) is such a great role model, stable genius, and did I say I am fabulously rich?
Why indeed?
8
People like to do what they do best and the best thing that Don does is lie. If a small lie is good a bigger one is better and a few move into the super whopper category. Attention need not be paid since the whole presidency is one great big lie and as the lies expand so does the approval rating. In a nutshell, we love living in the land with few standards and amorphous moral boundaries. Sure nice to not be held accountable for what we do or say.
2
And the GOP loves it. A vote for republicans right now at every level of government threatens the future of truth in our nation because they're 100% on board the Trump Train. Lose truth and you lose democracy. Meanwhile, the democrats are wringing their hands. But the media always covers DJT. One can scarcely make a point on one lie/drama before the narrative changes to the next lie. It's unhealthy and exhausting. VOTE!
5
I can understand that hate mongering and habitual lying can be a source of inspiration for many throughout the world and a stepping stone to power for the few that have the utter audacity to use such tactics. What is puzzling is why are the Christian leaders that have supported the GOP for decades; not now publicly renouncing and denouncing the President for his 'public' behaviors? Are they political or religious leaders first? Really wierd times!
4
Two weeks from today, if Americans vote to seat Trump Republicans in the House and Senate and Governorships, we Americans will all be losers. Hoping and working for the Mid-Term Elections tables to be turned on president Trump. For the mills of justice to put paid to him and his administration. If not, you can bet the farm (and every other valuable, including morality, human rights and American democracy) that Donald Trump will bring civil war or worse to our country. Wake up, folks, smell the coffee, vote, vote, vote!
11
Orwell would be delighted his ideas held so well.
3
From the NYTimes article yesterday:
"The new definition would essentially eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who have opted to recognize themselves — surgically or otherwise — as a gender other than the one they were born into."
This is a convoluted sentence to make a value judgement.
How's this for clarity?
The new definition would essentially end federal recognition of the gender that varies from that which was designated at birth. The 1.4 million Americans who have opted to identify with a such changed gender see this as denying the right to chose their sexual identity.
The Times certainly sets a tone, and the phrase "eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who choose to change their gender" certainly echos the cruel gratuitous tweet of President Trump announcing the ridding of the military of such individuals.
However, this seems like a technical decision, as items on bureaucratic documents must have a limited number of options. Right now, the Wikipedia article on Transsexual, shows a multitude of terminologies that are vying to be included in this parameter.
This is like "race" that is defined by a handful of terms, even though we all know that the graduations are infinite. Trump and company commit enough real travesties. Exaggerating the effect of this one diffuses the effectiveness of combating those that actually do great harm
In reality
3
He’s going to break something that will be hard to fix.
Somebody do something. Soon.
4
It is profoundly ironic that a man with such an incredibly fragile ego will likely be looked upon by historians as America’s grandest ever liar and cheat. Odds are high that subsequent generations of Trumps won’t just be pulling the family name off of the last of their buildings, they are also likely to be changing it on their drivers licenses. Trump’s overwhelming stream of continuous lies will eventually be remembered as a total embarrassment, not as the basis of a brilliant political strategy.
5
I don't understand why McConnell and Co. have not stepped up and called this crazed man out. The lies upon lies that this man tells on a daily basis is dizzying and yet they stay silent. I wish you guys in the press would hammer away about what the gop will do if they stay in power instead of bashing this man on a daily basis. Your paper is preaching to the choir, we don't' have to be reminded of the madness of 45, we get it. Please stick to topics like healthcare and taxes the real meat and potatoes because editorials like this will never and I mean never sway the flock. You are considered fake news to them.
3
There need not be a Trump Library once he leaves office because Trump doesn't read; he tweets.
What sane person would waste their precious time reading his lies on Twitter?
2
Given the fact that the Trump Tax Reform bill has basically "given a Rolls Royce" to the wealthy, why shouldn't immigrants and the average expect the Government to give them a "Rolls Royce"?
His hypocrisy and lies do not even shock me anymore.
I just want Trump to get kicked out of office. Along with Mitch McConnell . McConnell is even a bigger threat to us than Trump . And that takes some doing.
5
Yesterday I thought to myself, this is not my country. For the first time in my life I wished I lived somewhere else. Our nation is being traumatized daily by this administration and this GOP congress. They are all un-American. These are not my values. Shame on them all.
4
The #PLIC's speeches seem to be a string of catchphrases - all of which excite a segment of his base. The other day I caught a clip of him naming Fox personalities, waiting for the cheers for each before he moved on.
There was no content, just names. But, it works to hustle the crowd.
2
"An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people".
Thomas Jefferson
Unfortunately, we have a group of fools, making one of its own its leader.
These people who cannot think for themselves are fed by Fox News and right-wing talk shows.
Sad to say, our democracy is in a death spiral.
7
You claim that Trump is basically merely preaching to the choir...but so are YOU! What good does it do you to state those words within the halls of NYT? Who are you converting, what difference are you making, why should be feel any better reading what we already know?
With both sides firmly nestled into their own opposite corners, how are you facilitating or even TRYING to facilitate a dialog across the aisle that will resonate with those who continue to be swooned by the tens of millions who have trapped themselves into the partisan divide?
How is NYT participating in helping to UNITE America so that it can move forward?
How are your words really GOOD for America?
2
I think you are confusing the role of the media with the role of our civic leaders.
How is the Times fulfilling its role in providing a standard for dialog?
By telling the truth.
That’s what they’re doing.
When one party holds power through spouting lies, the truth is the only answer that we can hope might save us.
I respectfully disagree. The current debate isn't based on facts or truth. It's based partly on fear and mainly on hope. Truth doesn't necessarily convert the masses. Mainstream is often not aligned with the truth. Mainstream is simply the result of mob psychology which is often driven by emotional components more than by logic and the truth. History is replete with examples of that.
While Tump rants about the “caravan” (and Fox News sends out endless images of this seeming sea of people) the Democrats need to respond with images of the gaslighted hordes standing behind Trump at rallies who laugh as he mocks a sexual assault survivor, nod and cheer for his endless lies, fist pump at his praise for politicians who assault the press and mindlessly scream “Lock him/her up” at the mention of anyone opposing him.
Five thousand refugees and immigrants are less difficult to sort out than hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people willing to suspend reality and truth because a greedy narcissist tells them to.
2
Here’s an idea, stop covering what Trump says. Cover what he does. “Trump lies” is no longer newsworthy.
5
As President Bill Clinton said “ Mistakes were made “. It’s now time to Move On.
1
Trump is like the email and telephone scammers. He says the most incredibly outrageous things that are designed to trap only the most gullible people. Do 47% of my fellow citizens really fall for that nonsense?
4
The Times discussed today the Trump bump in the economy which is actually not a real thing. The economy was doing fine because of the previous president and not Trump. Of course speculators drove the stock market up but that is not the economy. So, the economy was doing fine and it will take the GOP and Trump a while to stall it, but they will because their economic policy is loony. Please stop pretending that Trump and the GOP know anything about reality at all for that matter.
What Trump and the GOP have going for them is that the majority of Americans are as dumb as stumps and the media is owned by corporations who pretend that the left is "extreme".
3
As James Carville famously said, "it's the economy, stupid"
So why isn't income inequality, the static (or falling) earnings of the middle- and working-class, healthcare, and crumbling infrastructure (mentioned below but in in a buried paragraph), at the TOP of the article? And the Dems' agenda and election campaigning? Those are the gut issues on which a lot of people will vote on.
"... Meanwhile, the Republicans’ much-ballyhooed tax cut hasn’t proved especially popular. The party failed to repeal and replace Obamacare, as it had been promising for seven years. The president’s big talk about infrastructure investment has devolved into a bad political joke."
1
Has anyone investigated how this caravan of central americans started? Who were the first people that started their northward journey? Any chance they were helped along by the Russians? The timing is just too good to be true for the republican congress and the fool who is at the helm of this country.
2
This "man" is weak and ineffectual. Stop giving him coverage to spews his hatred and lies. He views this country as his own personal reality show and the more people get spun up with the lies he spews the more he enjoys it. He literally doesn't care about telling the truth he just wants to "win" even if that means dividing and ruining our country for decades to come (or forever - our young country may not be able to continue to stand after some of this dust settles).
Stop giving him what he wants.
He's a master of distraction and "we" fall for it every single time he does it. Just stop. If there's no reaction he can't perform. Our freedoms aren't his stage. Just stop.
I can believe the idiocy that comes out of the mouth of that guy with the title "president". Who would actually even remotely believe what he says? He's heading the country right down the path most of his business/scams end up at, bankruptcy. Let's start a new arms race when we haven't been able to afford the current one. Scare us about China being our enemy when they own $7 trillion dollars of our debt? I'm more worried about our future generation in maybe about 5 years when someone will wake up and realize we are spending more than we make. Better still, we are going to have a habitable place to live much longer. Of course, that's only if we don't get a surprise nuke delivered to us in Donald's Teddy Bear Kim Jong-un brings to their slumber party.
2
Trump, who is the master of fake news, gives nothing but damaging lies to his base. And ironically he gets free press and 24/7 cable news coverage at his staged rallies to spread his lies and anti-democrat propaganda across the country. It's despicable that we as tax payers also foot the bill for his security and transportation at these organized events.
3
trump is the enemy of the people, of democracy, of the truth. He is a friend only to those who prostrate themselves before him or to ruthless dictators he tries to emulate. Vote Blue, Vote for Truth. Vote for real elections.
5
Yes, Yes, Yes to all you write. That new plans to have a taxcut before Election Day: Wow.
My first thought was, uh, don't we have a Constitution and didn't he take an oath to "preserve, protect and defend" it? But who will dare to mention the separation of powers, let alone defend it? McConnell? Kavanaugh? Hmmm.
My second thought was, "Hey, middle class voters! If you believe THAT, this guy has a bridge he'd like to sell you." But they may just want the tax cut AND the bridge.
1
Excuse me, but didn't they say thay last huge tax giveaway was largely for the middle-class?
1
Here's some real news. Trump's former lawyer, Ty Cobb, says Mueller is not running a witch hunt...
How tragic, the GOP can't win unless they put on a fascistic assault on the truth.
My heath insurance insurance company overspent the administrative limit, so they have to refund that percentage to policy holders. Now, they are paying my premiums for the rest of the year and just cut me a check for the remainder.
That's no Rolls Royce, that's Obamacare! Thank's Obama, and John McCain.
1
I guess I am part of the "mob" that has gone to vote early. So is my wife of more than 50 years. Donnie better watch out for all us white haired old folks. When our "mob" gets upset, we get even.
November 6 is coming. (I suggest that Halloween be postponed at the White House for 6 days. That is when the witches and goblins will mess with Delusional Donnie's sleep.)
Vote a straight DEMOCRATIC ticket, Federal, state and local, top to bottom. I did.
4
My favorite Trump lie, as pointed out again today by Paul Krugman, is that the imaginary Saudi weapons contracts have ballooned to represent employment for a million Americans. He could have said a gazillion jobs and his cult would have been no less ecstatic as this amazing news.
5
"On Monday, he claimed, based on nothing, that the caravan is awash in “criminals and unknown Middle Easterners.” " If what Trump stated is true, the criminals and Middle Easterners must have been sent by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
3
Trump is winning. Are Democrats willing to reject the refugee caravan or do they first have to receive an electoral beating like European liberals?
Being soft on immigration is electoral suicide. America can’t afford liberals to do this right now.
3
I continually ask why anyone is surprised at the escalating fear mongering and lie machine that is the trump universe. This is how he has always lied, cheated, stolen and told any lie that suited his purpose.
Why get upset? anyone with a brain knows what he is. his supporters love him and if they have their way will make him president for life and render to him the power of Caesar.
there is only one way to change trump's status quo = remove him from office, steam clean the White House and try to elect representatives that actually do their jobs.
trump worries about South American refugees and Middle Easterners coming to America.
I worry about the GOP and republicans doing their morning prayers on trump inspired prayer rugs while facing east towards trump tower.
2
Well said, editors. Yes. It’s very bad for our country. Money line: “he does everything for personal or political gain” (sic). This is the president, the president of our country.
1
American voters apparently care little about the Trump administrations involvement in covering up Saudi participation in the Khashoggi Affair, a stain that will spread.
1
Trump's proposed Middle Class Tax cut is the perfect crime.
He bribed Americans for their votes with the promise of tax cuts, but the effect of getting votes will only have to last a few weeks until after the votes are in and he doesn't pass the tax cuts as people quickly forget his promise like everything else.
It's the perfect crime. No money is given in a tax cut but money is unearned income ultimately. He's a crook.
On the subject of his Migrant ranting and rabble rousing; it's a diversion away from the worldwide rage over the butchering of the Journalist Khashoggi that he may have had prior knowledge of as evidenced by his reactions and actions.
For years, I have written here of my contention that people will believe anything said by those they like. Trump has been following my comments a few years now to let you know. That was just one of many. I'm the one who first proposed returning manufacturing back to our soil. I promoted the phrase "America First".
Trump is a liar and leads a cabal of master deceivers and propaganda experts portraying daily misinformation. Giuliani says; "Truth is not Truth". Need I say more.
And by the way; aren't those "RED"maga hats and shirts reminiscent of swastikas?
2
Of course Trump continues to lie. But we need to understand exactly why he is lying. Trump is laying the foundation to invalidate next month's election results, if the Democrats retake the House. He is painting those who oppose him as "enemies" who are now dangerous "mobs". He also continues to spew his racist lies about the "caravan" from the south, supposedly filled with "unknown Middle Easterners".
All his claims, of course, are patently ridiculous. If anyone is going to resort to violence after the November elections, it will be the millions of rabid Trump supporters who will take to the streets with their semi-automatic weapons, when he tells them that the election was "rigged" and that they should exercise their "Second Amendment solutions".
By continuing with these disgusting lies, he is preparing his own base to rise up when they don't like the outcome of elections that go against their "dear leader".
Understand that it does not require a majority of citizens to keep a dictator in power. A large, rabid minority is all that is needed. And this is exactly what Trump has. The one card he hasn't played yet is his voters. He is signalling to them that it's fine for them to commit acts of violence against their neighbors, should they not like the results of the election next month.
We are now in thrall to this rabid, racist group of people. They now control our country through their weapons, and through their dictator. And they will not go quietly.
4
I thought political rallies were held to rev up the base in a mid-term. But, to he's lying up a storm? Relax. It's not like he told us if we like our doctors we could keep them. Or, I did not have sex...with that woman.
1
Let Don say what he wants to say. Anyone with half of a brain that's not hardcore Republican already knows he is incapable of speaking the truth.
And yes, it does energize his base, but they were already going to vote for his endorsed candidates anyway. And does anyone except his cult go to his rallies anyway?
3
Stroke his base, that's what the apprentice president does the best.
1
It’s insane. It’s like we are all in a crazy world.
Trump is the symptom of a larger problem:hatred.
6
There is an old saying about lying and a tried and true advice for liars: "Admit nothing, deny everything, make counter accusations." This is now the game plan of the entire republican party. The worse part, is that it's working.
6
It is amazing that that no one, no organization has taken this shallow liar to task for the enormous lies he tells.
The lies need to be corrected from the roof tops, but I see no leadership from those who know better.
Just our indignation is not enough.
4
He doesn't care what's bad for the country. He cares about one thing - himself.
1
...”Mr. Trump has repeatedly implied that Democrats are paying Honduran youth to join the caravan.” It already occurred to some of us that the timing of this “caravan” is of great help to Trump. Perhaps, he had Jared pay off this mob feeding his base’s paranoia.
If you want a real revelation of this news spin; watch shots of the immigrants on CNN then go to FOX. Invariably, CNN shows more women and children. On FOX however, it only shows angry, young men.
No, if anyone paid a mob it was Trump. And the timing of their approach could not be more perfect.
4
A lie told "three" times is believed as truth - Panchatantra. Megaphone makes it louder and uttered more often becomes and "established fact". Remember the science of Eugenics? It was used by European colonials and the US presidents to create new immigration laws against the "Mediterrenian Europeans". And the British and French and the Dutch wrote histories of their colonies to justify their ruling them "for the colonies own good" and hde their looting of colonial resources.
What's with the cutesy headline? The editorial board must be embarrassed that the folks over at the news pages are too timid to report on what a liar the president is. Maggie Haberman's latest was "A President Who Believes He is Entitled to His Own Facts." It was very respectful and circumspect about the president's penchants and tendencies and urges. Of course we can't say he's a liar because after decades of reporting on his untruths we still don't know his motivation. Perhaps they think he just struggles with the truth. He can call you up and pretend to be someone else telling glowing stories about the person he's pretending not to be in a thoroughly self-serving manner and it's just "misleading." But that's our Donald. Best thing to happen to circulation since O.J.
I hope we survive this.
1
There he goes again?
There he goes still.
At the end of the day, after everything has been said and done, you cannot get away from the simple, self-evident, incontrovertible and irrefutable fact that this man is a mental case.
7
Maybe the GOP is paying for that caravan. Maybe the women who were so outraged that their names were published in the Heitkamp ad were paid Republican plants. Maybe the ACA hasn't been repealed because the pharmaceutical industry is making too much money from big government handouts. Maybe republicans are so determined to stuff the courts because that's how they legislate from the bench. Democratic politicians: you could play this game by the GOPs new rules, and potentially win elections. Stop with the small, constant outrages and focus on a few big scares. It's not my preferred method of political discourse, but apparently it wins elections.
2
Perhaps, for the better part of a lifelong career and now almost a decade into retirement, all that I have learned about the best attributes of public leadership seems stood on its head. In matters both domestic and foreign, the president represents, without exception, the very antithesis of effective leadership. He is a textbook case.
13
@John lebaron
China had a leader like that and it cemented in their expectations that a leader without benevolence and righteousness is a hot mess. That happened very long ago, but Xi still claims to be benevolent and righteous. Take note of his purging of corrupt persons. So a few critics get caught up in the mix...
Trump is a walking sandwich board for Marx's claim democracy will be flipped on its head by the very forces it was designed to master. We'll see. I bet we can flip that flop right out of the WH.
@Abby. Thanks. I'll place my bet on November 7th.
Regarding the move at HHS to "eliminate" trans people from being recognized, it is so much more than their rights at stake with the former DeVos and Heritage Foundation official in charge of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). I would love to see the Times investigate this person and also publish all the rights that this office oversees, which include many health care/privacy and research protections. This person is after a much broader swath of the citizenry than trans people. That is the big story--how Trump simply does not believe in the government doing anything to protect citizens. Surely even transphobic people will care about that. But, I wonder if they even know. Please write more about it.
3
“Thus, as Mr. Trump moves to make the case for Republicans in the midterms, he has few options beyond revving up his base.”
Actually, his options are limited only by his ability to describe his actual performance in office so far, and by extension the performance of all Republicans. One of the reasons Trump’s base listens to him is that they agree that his performance, by their lights, has been sterling and wildly successful.
Successes that include a strong economy, low unemployment and rising wages; a re-booting of our industrial middle class; foreign affairs that are more attentive to our own legitimate interests and that address cans that have been kicked interminably by others, such as on North Korea, Iran and China; a more secure and controlled southern border; a walking-back of the excessive political correctness that had been developing in our country for a long time and has a strangling effect on our interactions; and a government that works again, after years of frozen politics. His HHC’s memo on trying to make our transgender community simply disappear, while I regard it as politically unnecessary, unwise, wrong and dumb, nevertheless plays to his religious base that sees it as defense of their own sensibilities – and that’s a lot of Americans.
You need to develop an effective “resistance” narrative that addresses that performance directly. Calling him a liar doesn’t gainsay that vindicating performance in the eyes of his supporters.
2
@Richard Luettgen
"Calling him a liar doesn’t gainsay that vindicating performance in the eyes of his supporters."
I agree with you RL! In fact, nothing - certainly not facts - will gainsay Trump in the eyes of his supporters.
Among many others, the Trump presidency has had this corrosive effect: he talks only to his base. His base listens only to him. So it's pointless for his opposition to try to connect with Trump's base...and so they talk only to their own base and any possible persuadables.
What a president needs to do is talk to everyone. But this chump isn't gonna do that, and he's accomplished his mission because at this point I wouldn't listen to him anyway.
3
@Richard Luettgen An economy he inherited and seems hell bent on wrecking with his ill advised trade war. The middle class especially the manufacturing middle class is still losing ground and his foreign policy has the rest of the world both laughing at us and petrified of what stupid thing he might do next.
@Richard Luettgen: So constant lying is acceptable behavior in a President?
" Democratic mob clamoring to usher in an era of open borders"
Has The Board heard any Democrats speak any differently? We have a caravan of thousands of illegal immigrants coming, a perfect time to for Democrats to make a statement, but they're paralyzed while Trump takes action. Punishing Central American countries may not be the best action, but it some action and a position on the lawlessness of this all. Immigration is a loser for Democrats, always has been, always will be.
71
@Scott, yes, the board has heard ALL DEMOCRATS speaking differently, and you would too, if you paid attention. But since Democrats are not a mob, you must have missed it.
115
@Scott Are you positive that past US policies in Central America didn't contribute, adversely, to the situation there now? We pushed the policies that directly led to the situation those people are now, fleeing. It's just History, like it or not.
14
Where is Trump on addressing this issue? Where is his team going to Honduras to see why this is happening?
He is holding Jim Jones rallies not problem solving. This is rabble-rousing not leadership.
12
And he is raising the defense budget, which is a sure sign of a country in decline.
16
@Gary Cohen
Big mistake reducing the size of the force and forcing them into multiple deployments. You want a bigger force if you want to roll a Bonus Army.
Hey, it ain't lying, it's "truthful hyperbole", right?
That's how he's always operated. He needs above all to be seen by others as a winner and a success; whether he actually is one is less important. Reality is irrelevant. When he utters these things (these falsehoods), his faithful followers applaud wildly; so at that moment he can see himself, narcissistically mirrored in their applause, as a winner and a success. He experiences profound gratification. Nothing else matters.
“He lives in the eternal now — no history, no consequences.” (Michael Gerson, former speechwriter for G.W. Bush.)
And now we're all suffering the consequences.
284
@Ellen Valle
Why the fancy word? Falsehoods. Lies, less keystrokes same thing.
4
@Ellen Valle Isn’t it amazing that Trump, obviously a non-believer in having an eternal soul where he answers after his life is over for his actions on Earth, is so supported by the majority of religious organizations in America?
2
@Ellen Valle Hitler's followers screamed their approval too. We know how that turned out.
2
Trump knows the public is getting numb about the constant barrage of nonsense issuing forth from his foul 'administration'
His is a game of wearing us all out and it is working.
7
According to Trump’s echo chamber, nice, polite Republicans don’t stand a chance against the enraged mob of Democrats now dragging illegals across the border to vote in the mid-terms. “Lying” – make that – “Beautiful” Ted Cruz said as much to Sean Hannity on Fox News, so what Trump says must be true.
As many times as facts prove Trump is lying, the right backs him up. Democrats protesting such gaslighting only prove how enraged and dangerous they are. Ask Pat Robinson. Ask Tucker Carlson. Ask the spokespeople for the right who appear on CNN to “balance” discussions. How twisted it has all become.
People must vote their rejection of this madness before it is too late.
11
"Mr. Trump has repeatedly implied that Democrats are paying Honduran youth to join the caravan. "
Decoding Trump-speak (blame your opponent for what you are doing), this means the GOP is paying for the caravan.
14
@Leslie
What makes more "conspiratorial" sense:
1. The Dems and Soros are paying for an immigrant caravan, just in time to threaten their chances to win the House and/or Senate; or
2. The GOPs and the Mercers are paying for an immigrant caravan, just in time for Trump to blame Democrats, stoke the fears and hate of his base, and thwart Democratic gains in the House and/or Senate?
If I have to choose a conspiracy theory, I'm going with #2.
8
@Leslie
More likely Trump's sick strategists suggested they get rolling before the polls open. Either way, I admire the refugees' grit and hope to meet one of them some day right here in the USA.
All this is a sad circus that works for Mr. Trump. There is no way you can counter this by facts. So why not continue this circus by spreading more lies. I think Mr. Trump has paid this crowd and he has probably planted some middle eastern people in the crowd paid for by Saudi Arabia. Mr. Trump will personally pay for the crowd's drivers licenses to prove that it is the government who is behind this. Welcome to new episodes of the Twilight Zone.
9
Although it is alarming that so many people believe the lies that Trump spews -- one after another, day after day-- it is even more alarming that he has a rather sizable (38-40%) base of loyal believers and followers. If he has not transformed the country entirely to his views, one must wonder whether we still live in an America that believes in what the constitution represents. For those who answer with the refrain, "that is not us --that is not what America is all about", I regrettably must say "that is exactly us and what we represent". It is shameful. Make America great again? What America are you talking about?
4
They are disruptors. They set up factories (BRIC economies), file for bankruptcy, again and again, and again... . It's smaller government that David Brooks drew attention to but has an passive aggressive way of evading of stating clearly. And they steal a person's work, claiming it as their own and are oppressive.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612327/europes-quest-for-an-unhackabl...
If nature abhors a vacuum then politics can't tolerate it. When true leadership is missing, into the vacuum will rush in someone to take control. The current migrant caravan is a good example. This was a golden opportunity for Democratic leaders to address an important issue. What did they do? Nothing. Why doesn't someone in the party leadership respond? Trump is responding. He's telling his people that Dems want open borders. Get out and vote or else. Vote for Republicans or you will be overrun. Democrats are angry but Trump voters are scared. Scared beats angry every time. The GOP base will turn out in huge numbers...pretty much guaranteed with this caravan dominating the news every day until we vote. This ongoing drama will motivate not just the conservative base, but fair-minded Independents who are mad that Democrats don't have the guts to address our immigration problems. This will be a turning point in the midterm elections. Migrants on the march are a huge gift for Trump, GOP. This plays perfectly into the FOX News narrative that Democrats are offering illegals free healthcare, welfare, food stamps, drivers licenses, schooling, in-state-tuition, sanctuary, and voter registration forms. The Democrats strategy & tactics to win the election is slowly coming apart. It's been one blunder after another. The messy judicial hearings, calls to impeach, Elizabeth Warren DNA tests, mobs, Hillary & now the Caravan. No matter where you stand on immigration this is alarming.
119
@ Bill Brown
"The GOP base will turn out in huge numbers...pretty much guaranteed with this caravan dominating the news every day until we vote. This ongoing drama will motivate not just the conservative base, but fair-minded".
Yup, the GOP base will turn out in yuuuuge numbers, especially in one of the poorest states of the nation, West Virginia, which is 97% white and were the underpaid worker are afraid of them brownies taking their jobs away.
"No matter where you stand on immigration this is alarming".
Yes, it is alarming that at a time of nearly full employment, manual jobs for which one doesn't need a college degree nor even a high school degree, there will be a lack of workers doing dirty jobs that white Americans won't do.
2
@Bill Brown
I wonder if a Trump-sympathetic entity started the idea of the caravan and spread the word on Facebook to get people to join it with the intention of creating this crisis-of-the-moment to coincide with the election in hopes of energizing the Trump base. Wouldn't be surprised..
I agree that the Democrats appear to have no message or plan of action, making them vulnerable to the ongoing FOX/Trump narrative and making the Caravan a great strategic weapon.
@Bill Brown
Democrats are not responding because they have no megaphone. Trump is on every show, newspaper and twitter feed 24 hours a day. If Democrats say anything, it is like a tree falling in the forest, is there really sound. Do you thing anyone heard you or me?
1
Why should Trump get any credit for a "conservative overhaul" of the judiciary? Anyone who happened to be president since 2016 would have had the same opportunity to nominate judges that Trump has. Any conservative Republican president would probably have made the same choices he has. He did nothing to "overhaul" the judiciary--openings occurred, the Federalist Society, or someone else, told him who to nominate, and he did it. Trump takes credit for all kinds of imaginary successes as it is. We don't need the NYT to join him in these flights of fancy.
3
Please, please up your editorial game. People are suffering, and our democracy is in jeopardy. We don’t need a breezy laundry list of Trump’s lies.
7
How about ignoring him for a few days? Reporting his lies only helps spread the word to his base and feeds his game plan. Ignore his rantings and ravings, do not report on his lies, do not give him any press unless he says or does something that truly is presidential.
7
@Scott
We'll be waiting a long time for him to act presidential.
@Scott
Reporting his lies in the NYT or on CNN does does not help "spread the word to his base" because his base completely ignores any media outlet not consistent with the propaganda presented by Fox News or Rush Limbaugh.
In the free media, you can report the truth about Trump all you want. His base will never see that report, or if they run across it by accident, will not believe it. Trump Uber Alles.
As Trump is known to be crazy to extract money out of hell, breaking all the rules of fair business, he is equally so desperate to win votes and the Congress as to leave no stone unturned to keep the voters always under the grip of fear, be it the caravan of the immigrants or the White race extinction under the demographic change. In the process instead of laying down new rules of engagement in political life, Trump has consistently tried to activate all the social faultlines that have produced the divisive and toxic effects in country's life.
1
Good: Highlighting destructive policies of the Administration, better would have been perhaps mentioning the exploding deficit in a "growing" economy, that consequently will lead to an economic reversal with no room for the government to react.
Bad: Quoting Trump, repeating in part or in whole anything he tweets, repeating his absurdities, this isn't news, its providing the oxygen he and his cult crave and need to sustain their otherwise amoral, demonstrably unconstitutional assault on our democracy, the most vulnerable of our citizens and the environment.
Please stop. Stop repeating his nonsense, put him and his tweets in the fold, not on the front page and do more dissecting and exposing the consequences of this Administration, this Congress and the violent and ugly truth that this tragic turn in our country's history reveals about U.S.
11