The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
Many say fabrications unravel threads of democracy in U.S.
By Ann McFeatters
Published: June 23, 2019, 6:01am
Share:
It is an awful thing to call someone a liar. It breaks the social fabric. We expect that most people we know tell the truth. Saying they don’t — that in essence we don’t trust them — is an insult. Parents punish their children if they lie and warn them not to call anyone a liar.
The other day at Donald Trump’s Florida rally in which he again announced he is running for re-election (he began his re-election campaign during the inauguration), one woman in particular was outraged that so many people believe he routinely lies. That’s just a media fabrication, she stormed.
The Washington Post has a scorecard that has Trump caught lying 10,726 times that can be proved. The Toronto Star also keeps score. The New York Times keeps a record of his false claims and the facts. So does Buzz Feed. So do reporters and fact checkers and governments around the world.
Tony Schwartz, the biographer who wrote Trump’s screed, “The Art of the Deal,” says Trump lies about 80 percent to 90 percent of the time.
On many issues, Trump simply misstates the truth, embellishes it or exaggerates. That is not what we’re talking about or what is so upsetting to people who take unraveling the threads of democracy seriously. Lying is deliberately and knowingly saying something that is not true.
Trump tells lies about things that matter and things that can be proven. Here are just a few.
Trump repeatedly claims the Mueller report said there was no collusion with the Trump campaign and Russia. But the Mueller report did not say that. It said collusion is not a crime and was not investigated. Mueller did say that he was unable to say that Trump did not break the law and obstruct justice. He said there was a lot of evidence for obstruction of justice that Congress should investigate and then decide how to handle it. Proof? Read the report.
Trump rode to current fame not just on reality TV, telling celebrities they were “fired,” but also by claiming Barack Obama was not born in the United States. That is not true and Trump had absolutely no proof that it was anything but a lie. Proof? Obama’s Hawaiian birth certificate has been meticulously verified.
Respect for honesty lost
Trump said that the National Security Agency, the CIA and the FBI told Congress that Russia did not influence the 2016 election. That is not true. U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that Russia did interfere and is trying to meddle in the 2020 election as well. Proof: Read the Mueller report and the agencies’ own statements to Congress.
Trump repeatedly says he got the most Electoral College votes of any president since Ronald Reagan. Trump got 304. George H.W. Bush got 426 in 1988. Bill Clinton got 370 votes in 1992 and 379 in 1996. Obama received 365 in 2008.
Trump claimed that Hillary Clinton received almost 3 million more votes than he did in 2016 because thousands of people voted illegally. He formed a commission to prove widespread fraud. The commission quietly disbanded without proving anything.
Trump has claimed that the rate of violent crime in the U.S. is the highest it’s been in 45 or 47 years. In fact, according to the FBI, violent crime dropped 49 percent between 1993 and 2017.
Late last year, Trump said that because of his administration “big steel is opening and renovating plants all over the country” and “auto companies are pouring into the U.S.” According to industry figures, neither statement is true.
Also, Trump has claimed that tariffs are making America billions of dollars. That is not true. Trump’s tariffs are hurting farmers and costing consumers.
Trump said the tax cut he pushed through Congress with only Republican support was “the biggest in American history.” The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said that is false.
You may still be an enthusiastic Trump supporter but the truth is that telling the truth is not one of his virtues. Where do we go to get back national respect for honesty?
Morning Briefing Newsletter
Get a rundown of the latest local and regional news every Mon-Fri morning.
