Donald Trump can truthfully call Ted Cruz a liar but there is no question that he is a much bigger liar. The difference is that he gets away with it because he has figured out that when you say something on TV, huge numbers of people hear it and assume it to be true. When fact-checkers later look into your claims and publish the truth, many fewer people (usually just those following politics closely) hear the refutations. So he wins.
Of course, all politicians know this basic fact and try to do it too. The difference with Trump is that he gets so much more coverage of anything he says than others that his ratio of lies heard to truth heard is much larger than that of others.
The Daily Show debunked the brazenly false claims Trump made in his victory speech on Tuesday night. But it will do little good.
(This clip aired on March 9, 2016. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Nightly Show outside the US, please see this earlier post. If the videos autoplay, please see here for a diagnosis and possible solutions.)
I wholeheartedly agree that Trump brands are far less than they appear.
Trump lies his ass off about those things. But so does pretty much every other Republican. Remember how Reagan cut taxes, refused to raise them, and cut both the size and cost of government. If you don’t remember it just ask any GOP supporter. They will go on at length about how it all absolutely happened. Except there is a really good reason you have a hard time remembering it. None of it happened. Reagan raised taxes twice, and drastically increased both the size and cost of government.
Virtually ever article of faith and story line within the GOP dogma is a lie. The GOP core constituency has been so completely deceived and given a false world view that it is no great wonder that Trump can simply make shit up. Their voters have been conditioned to accept the party line without question. Even to the point where the story today directly contradicts the story just a few days ago.
For them swallowing a lie is an act of faith. And the bigger, and more obvious the lie is, the greater the show of faith is when they buy into it.
Does anyone remember Gary Hart?
Salon has a piece written by a Bellarmine professor that examines the parallels between Trump and Mussolini. I urge everyone to read it.
Trump’s not Hitler, he’s Mussolini: How GOP anti-intellectualism created a modern fascist movement in America
Anti-intellectuals are rampant on the left. In fact, you’re too ignorant to understand the movement so you attack it with logical fallacies. Hillary is a pathological liar. She doesn’t stop lying.