Trump’s lies

A lie is an intentional untruth made with deliberate intent to deceive and/or to convey a false impression.  Meanwhile, an exaggeration is an action wherein the individual makes a statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is.  As practical matter then, when an individual is exaggerating and the gist of what he or she is saying is truthful, the exaggeration may be acceptable, especially when people know the individual tends to exaggerate and/or if most of the people around him or her are doing the same thing.   And in the political arena, clear-thinking individuals understand that exaggeration and hyperbole are a way of life 24/7 – 365 days a year in Washington D.C.

At the same time, there is also what’s known as, “a lie out of whole cloth,” i.e., a statement that’s fabricated from beginning to end and told in order to misinform or trick someone into believing something that’s patently false; and it goes without saying that it’s the lies out of whole cloth that present the greatest danger to the public when they are deliberate attempts to mislead in matters of great consequence.

With the foregoing in mind, let’s take a look at the four most significant ‘lies’ Trump told during the debate according to the media:

1. The lie:“They will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth — you look at the former governor of Virginia, he was willing to do this.  He said, ‘We’ll put the baby aside, and will determine what we do with the baby,’ meaning, ‘We’ll kill the baby.’”

The facts:  Ralph Northam, the former governor of Virginia, gave a hypothetical example of a mother who had not sought an abortion and gave birth to an infant who was nonviable.  “If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen, the infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired.  And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.” 

2. The lie:“On January 6th we had the lowest taxes ever.  We had the lowest regulations ever on January 6th.”

The facts: The current federal income tax was instituted in 1913, and tax rates have fluctuated significantly over the decades.  While tax rates were lower in the 1920s, it’s nevertheless true that Trump did cut taxes during his time in the White House, but the tax rates weren’t the lowest in history.  Secondly, considering that the government had only 3 agencies in 1789, State, Treasury and War (we now have 438) it’s impossible that Trump gave us the fewest number of federal regulations ever.

3. The lie:  “During my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever…we had immaculate air and water.”

The facts:   Trump rolled back some provisions of the Clean Water Act, eased regulations on coal, oil and gas companies and pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord and routinely proposed deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency.  But neither Biden nor Tapper nor the media afterward cited a single metric disproving Trump’s comment about the air and water.

4. The lie: “What he’s done to the Black population is horrible, including the fact that for 10 years he called them ‘super predators.”

The facts:  This oft-repeated claim by Trump dating back to the 2020 campaign is untrue. It was Hillary Clinton, then the first lady, who used the term “super predator” to advocate for the 1994 crime bill that Biden co-authored more than thirty years ago.  However, then Senator Biden did refer to blacks as “predators” in a floor speech in support of his bill.

Now compare Donald Trump’s lies with what the media and the Democrat Party have been telling the nation and the world for three and a half years regarding the president’s cognitive ability.   Ask yourself, who presents the greater threat to democracy and perhaps all of humanity – a presidential candidate with 34 felony convictions that everyone knows will be overturned, or a president who is clearly in a state of mental decline and will be holding the nuclear codes during that proverbial 3:00 AM phone call?

Or we can think of it on a more personal basis.  Image that you and your loved ones are passengers in a vehicle being driven on a dark mountain road on a rainy evening, who would you rather have behind the wheel – Donald Trump or Joe Biden?

Quote of the day:  “When people show you who they are, believe them.” — Maya Angelou