lies

Will Four-Day Republican Lie-Fest Pay Political Dividends?

August 28, 2020 By John DeProspo Leave a Comment

Not very likely.

Sides have been drawn. Minds have been made up. Yes, there are still a number of undecided voters out there but an equal number will be repulsed by what they saw during the Republican “convention” as will be swayed by the avalanche of lies.

If you believe the main Republican talking points, the economy is strong, the coronavirus is behind us and Joe Biden will abolish the suburbs!

No doubt this type of messaging plays well with Trump’s base. Some have suggested the whole purpose of the four-day “misinfomerical” was to shore up those voters already in Trump’s camp.

The problem with that strategy is twofold. First, Trump cannot win reelection just by turning out his base. The numbers don’t add up. They are a minority of the electorate. Most current polling has Trump consistently trailing Biden. Second, the brazen lies Trump has leveled at his opponent only make Democrats more riled up and determined to thrown him out of office.

As many observers believe, in a fair election, Trump, along with those sycophantic Republicans hanging on to his coattails, would lose bigly.

The only path Trump has to reelection is to somehow “fix” the election. The only way he remains in office is to do what he has always done in order to win … cheat.

As Michael Moore put it, “The only way Republicans can win, and this has been true for a few elections, is to cheat, is to somehow game it, rig it, do whatever they need to do.”

Some polls show that nearly 80% of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. They see a virus that is not contained, an economy that is in the tank and a social system that is so racially unjust that not only blacks, but Americans of all backgrounds, are marching in the streets yelling “enough is enough.”

All the lying and “alternative facts” in the world won’t change that.

As an insightful Barack Obama said in 2008, “You can put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.”

What Democrats need to do, and will do, is to vote in such overwhelming numbers as to make Trump’s anticipated cries of voter fraud and rigged election seem both petty and ludicrous.

Photo | wtop.com/AP/Andrew Harnik

Trump-Cohen Tape … What Giuliani Is Engaged In Is Not “Spin”

July 25, 2018 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

Political spin is defined by Encyclopedia Britannia as “the attempt to control or influence communication in order to deliver one’s preferred message” … it refers to “the sophisticated selling of a specific message that is heavily biased in favor of one’s own position and that employs maximum management of the media with the intention of maintaining or exerting control over the situation, often implying deception or manipulation.”

What Trump’s attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, is blasting out over the airwaves is not spin but outright lies.

Now that the Michael Cohen tape of his discussion with Trump, concerning how to deal with paying former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, has gone public, Giuliani is telling anyone who cares to hear his take on the recording that “it’s powerful exculpatory evidence.”

Okay. Good spin, I’ll give him that.

But how Trump wanted to pay McDougal, cash or check, is a whole other issue.

According to Giuliani, in the recording, Trump is saying to his fixer, Cohen, “Don’t pay with cash.”

Yet a careful review of the tape shows that Giuliani has gone beyond spin and into snow job territory.

While the audio is somewhat muffled, Trump can be heard saying to “pay with cash,” and Cohen says, “no, no, no.”

Does this really matter in the big scheme of things? Probably not. Yet it’s another example of team Trump lying to the American people.

Yesterday at a Veterans of Foreign Wars gathering in Kansas City, Trump went completely Orwellian when he told his audience not to believe their own eyes and ears.

“Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening,” said Trump.

For many Trump supporters who are either too lazy or brainwashed to actually listen to the Cohen recording, this is exactly what they’ll believe. Fake news.

Photo | rawstory.com/CNN

State Of The Union?… Broken

January 30, 2018 By John DeProspo 5 Comments

-“All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again”

Tonight, Donald Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address. No doubt we will hear how great the country is doing under his strong leadership. The official theme of Trump’s monologue will be “building a safe, strong, and proud America.”

The address is sure to be filled with many half-truths and outright lies. Trump will unquestionably take credit for a booming economy (stock market) that had its origins under the Obama administration. He will falsely claim this is all due to his tax cuts and deregulatory agenda.

But no matter what fiction Trump is willing to peddle, the majority of Americans won’t be buying the snake oil. They know better. They can see.

They can see a country divided like never before (at least not since the Vietnam War).

They can see hate crimes on the rise.

They can see racism displayed openly.

They can see a dysfunctional healthcare system.

They can see an unrelenting onslaught on immigrants.

They can see the looting of the treasury to benefit millionaires and corporations.

They can see an assault on the Constitution and the rule of law.

They can see a political party defending and supporting an incompetent and, mostly likely, corrupt president.

They can see the open rejection of political norms and institutions.

They can see a steady and continuing attack on the free press.

Many Americans are hoping the midterm elections will put an end to our national nightmare when it is believed Democrats will regain control of the House.

But even if Democrats flip the House and begin impeachment proceedings, it is the Senate that votes to expel a president. The odds that two-thirds of senators will vote for conviction are best described as slim.

One thing is for sure, however. The Trump regime will eventually come to an end. Unfortunately, it will take years, perhaps decades, to undo the damage done by Trump, and his band of enablers, to that great country Reagan once called “ a beacon of hope, a light unto the nations.”

Photo | tvo.org

Donald Trump Doesn’t Tell Lies, But …

November 12, 2017 By John DeProspo 4 Comments

According to fact checkers at the Washington Post, Donald Trump tells 4.9 lies per day.

So, our 45^th president tells almost five whoppers per day, a pace which would amount to more than 1,800 false statements over the span of a calendar year, or more than 7,000 over the course of a full four-year term.

And yet Donald Trump believes he is a very truthful person. He keeps reminding us that the only lies told to the American public are courtesy of the “fake news” media (all news outlets except Fox News, to be exact.)

In his 1987 book, The Art Of The Deal, Trump does admit he sometimes stretches the truth.

“The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration—and a very effective form of promotion.”

In other words Trump is not lying if he is just telling people what they want to hear. And boy how works!

I guess one way to describe Trump’s method of communicating, especially with his base, is that he only tells little “white” lies.

Remember some of these “exaggerations”?

“I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.”

“I’m really really rich!”

“I’m the most militaristic person.”

“I will build a great wall . . . and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me.”

“Hillary Clinton was the worst secretary of state in the history of the United States.”

“I would use the greatest minds. I know the best negotiators.”

“I would hit [ISIS] so hard your head would spin.”

“We’re going to have insurance for everybody… healthcare that is far less expensive and far better.”

“I went to the Wharton School of Business. I’m, like, a really smart person.”

“We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning.”

Photos | businessinsider.com, timeline.com

Will Four-Day Republican Lie-Fest Pay Political Dividends?

Trump-Cohen Tape … What Giuliani Is Engaged In Is Not “Spin”

State Of The Union?… Broken

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