Everyone knows the joke about when you know a politician is lying … his lips are moving. Now we have a tell about when Trump, or any of his acolytes, is telling the truth … a statement is labeled “100% false.”
Remember when the president-elect floated the idea of cutting the CIA staff and restructuring the agency? This is how Trump’s then spokesperson, Sean Spicer, described the situation: “There is no truth to this idea of restructuring the intelligence community infrastructure. It is 100% false.”
How about when Trump ally, Roger Stone, said during the Republican primary, reports of turmoil within the Trump campaign were “100% false.”
Then there was that time, at a campaign rally in North Carolina, when Trump described himself as a victim of a smear campaign and accused Hillary Clinton of “character assassination.” Said Trump, “These allegations are 100% false, as everybody knows.”
The key to knowing for sure something is a bald-faced lie is the addition of “100%.”
Today the Associated Press (AP) released a story that the Trump administration is considering mobilizing as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants.
The “leaked” draft memo says participating troops would be authorized “to perform the functions of an immigration officer.”
The White House was quick to respond. While not denying the document is real, Sean Spencer told the press corps Trump never considered implementing such a plan. “It is irresponsible to be saying this,” he said, calling the report “100% not true.”
The “100%” rule also works in reverse.
Donald Trump senior adviser, Stephen Miller, last week weighed in on the controversy surrounding WH press secretary Sean Spicer’s decision to comment on Nordstrom pulling Ivanka’s products from their stores.
“I’m not going make a comment on that,” said Miller. “I don’t have any information on it. I do want to say that Sean Spicer, as always, is 100 percent correct and that what he said is true and important.”
So there you have it. The next time you hear “100%” being bandied about by Trump or his surrogates, you know the opposite of whatever is being claimed is actually the case.
Photo | cnn.com
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