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Trump Opens His Mouth - And Spews Lies As Gullible Rightists Cheer!
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Jan 7, 2019, 6:02:51 PM1/7/19
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Trump Opens His Mouth - And Spews Lies
By Michael A. Cohen JUNE 15, 2018
On Friday, President Trump strolled out to the White House lawn to speak to
reporters. What followed was a cavalcade of lies, mischaracterizations, and
breathtakingly inappropriate statements. Here’s just a sampling:
On the release of an FBI Inspector General report on the investigation of
Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server, he said, “I’ve been totally
exonerated” and claimed that the report shows “I did nothing wrong, there
was no collusion, no obstruction.” This proves, Trump said, “that the
Mueller investigation has been totally discredited.” Trump also argued that
the “top people at the FBI” (who he also called “scum”) were plotting
against his election. The report did no such thing. In fact, the report had
nothing to do with the Russia investigation.
.
When asked about Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager, who had his
bail revoked Friday for tampering with witnesses, Trump described him as
someone who “had nothing to do with” his campaign and worked for him for “a
very short period of time.” In fact, Manafort worked for Trump for
approximately five months and ran the Republican National Convention for
Trump.
In regard to Mike Flynn, his former national security adviser, Trump said,
“Maybe he didn’t lie.” Not only did Flynn plead guilty to lying to the FBI,
but the president fired Flynn for the specific reason that Flynn misled
Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russian officials.
On North Korea, Trump said that he had “great chemistry” and a “really
great relationship” with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is
a serial human rights abuser. He also said that when Kim speaks, “his
people “sit up at attention” and he’d like “my people” to do the same. He
added later that the “nuclear problem” with North Korea is “solved.”
Trump bragged about the success of the summit with Kim, which he said has
“solved” the “nuclear problem” with North Korea.
Of course, that’s not true at all. But Trump also said that the deal he
signed with Kim would lead to repatriation of American war dead from the
Korean War, which is something he claimed that the parents of Korean War
veterans had begged him to do. The Korean War ended 64 years ago. Any
parents of those killed in the war have long since passed.
When asked about the his administration’s recently enacted policy of
separating migrant children from their parents at the border,
When asked about the his administration’s recently enacted policy of
separating migrant children from their parents at the border, Trump said it
was a law that had been forced upon him by Democrats. This is an egregious,
bald-faced lie — even for Trump. There is no such law, and a month ago
Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, gave a public speech in which he
boasted about the new separation policy. Trump’s own chief of staff, John
Kelly, has publicly stated that the policy was necessary to deter
immigrants from entering the country illegally.
Trump complained that Russia was expelled from the G-8 because President
Obama “didn’t like” Vladimir Putin. He also accused his predecessor of
having “lost Crimea” and said that he “gave away” the region to Russia.
Unmentioned by the president was that Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.
Finally, Trump told a female reporter who was persistently asking him
questions to be “quiet” and called her “obnoxious.”
Here’s the thing: This impromptu Trump presser, first with “Fox and
Friends” host Steve Doocy, and then with a gaggle of actual reporters, was
both unprecedented and not at all unusual. Granted, it’s rare for a
president simply to wander out on the White House lawn to talk to
reporters. What’s not rare is Trump repeatedly and brazenly lying. It’s
even less rare that Trump praised and defended an authoritarian ruler,
mindlessly attacked the FBI, denied he had much to do with his former
campaign manager, or acted rudely toward a woman.
What’s so striking about Trump’s performance is that in the context of the
last three years of American politics, it’s not striking at all. These
kinds of presidential performances, which once upon a time would have been
stunning and exceptional, are now just routine parts of the news cycle.
It’s simply become impossible for those of us to cover this White House to
capture the daily onslaught of outrage and scandal. Consider, for example,
that 24 hours ago the New York attorney general’s office, after a two-year
investigation, sued the Trump Foundation and the Trump family for a
multitude of campaign finance violations, self-dealing, and unlawful
coordination with a presidential campaign and even went so far as to send
referral letters to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election
Commission.
But it does say everything about the truly insane political moment that we
are living in that this lawsuit — which suggests the president of the
United States broke the law — is at best a one-day story.
I’m not writing this to once again bemoan the extent to which we’ve all
become inured to the lying, law-breaking, corruption, inhumanity,
incompetence, and daily gaslighting of this administration. That train has
clearly left the station. There’s no way not to be inured to this unending
avalanche of bad behavior.
Rather, I’ll ask the questions that I’ve been asking some variation of for
the past three years: When is enough for the Republican Party? When will
Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and the congressional leadership finally do
something to stop the lying narcissistic madman running this country? Will
there ever come a point when they have the courage to say this must end?
And if they don’t — and let’s be honest, the chances that they will are
somewhere between zero and none — can America emerge unscathed from two-
and-a-half more years of this madness? I like to be optimistic, but days
like today — that will likely be forgotten within the next 48-72 hours —
make me seriously wonder and worry about what the future might hold.
Michael A. Cohen’s column appears regularly in the Globe. Follow him on
Twitter
By Michael A. Cohen JUNE 15, 2018
On Friday, President Trump strolled out to the White House lawn to speak to
reporters. What followed was a cavalcade of lies, mischaracterizations, and
breathtakingly inappropriate statements. Here’s just a sampling:
On the release of an FBI Inspector General report on the investigation of
Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server, he said, “I’ve been totally
exonerated” and claimed that the report shows “I did nothing wrong, there
was no collusion, no obstruction.” This proves, Trump said, “that the
Mueller investigation has been totally discredited.” Trump also argued that
the “top people at the FBI” (who he also called “scum”) were plotting
against his election. The report did no such thing. In fact, the report had
nothing to do with the Russia investigation.
.
When asked about Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager, who had his
bail revoked Friday for tampering with witnesses, Trump described him as
someone who “had nothing to do with” his campaign and worked for him for “a
very short period of time.” In fact, Manafort worked for Trump for
approximately five months and ran the Republican National Convention for
Trump.
In regard to Mike Flynn, his former national security adviser, Trump said,
“Maybe he didn’t lie.” Not only did Flynn plead guilty to lying to the FBI,
but the president fired Flynn for the specific reason that Flynn misled
Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russian officials.
On North Korea, Trump said that he had “great chemistry” and a “really
great relationship” with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is
a serial human rights abuser. He also said that when Kim speaks, “his
people “sit up at attention” and he’d like “my people” to do the same. He
added later that the “nuclear problem” with North Korea is “solved.”
Trump bragged about the success of the summit with Kim, which he said has
“solved” the “nuclear problem” with North Korea.
Of course, that’s not true at all. But Trump also said that the deal he
signed with Kim would lead to repatriation of American war dead from the
Korean War, which is something he claimed that the parents of Korean War
veterans had begged him to do. The Korean War ended 64 years ago. Any
parents of those killed in the war have long since passed.
When asked about the his administration’s recently enacted policy of
separating migrant children from their parents at the border,
When asked about the his administration’s recently enacted policy of
separating migrant children from their parents at the border, Trump said it
was a law that had been forced upon him by Democrats. This is an egregious,
bald-faced lie — even for Trump. There is no such law, and a month ago
Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, gave a public speech in which he
boasted about the new separation policy. Trump’s own chief of staff, John
Kelly, has publicly stated that the policy was necessary to deter
immigrants from entering the country illegally.
Trump complained that Russia was expelled from the G-8 because President
Obama “didn’t like” Vladimir Putin. He also accused his predecessor of
having “lost Crimea” and said that he “gave away” the region to Russia.
Unmentioned by the president was that Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.
Finally, Trump told a female reporter who was persistently asking him
questions to be “quiet” and called her “obnoxious.”
Here’s the thing: This impromptu Trump presser, first with “Fox and
Friends” host Steve Doocy, and then with a gaggle of actual reporters, was
both unprecedented and not at all unusual. Granted, it’s rare for a
president simply to wander out on the White House lawn to talk to
reporters. What’s not rare is Trump repeatedly and brazenly lying. It’s
even less rare that Trump praised and defended an authoritarian ruler,
mindlessly attacked the FBI, denied he had much to do with his former
campaign manager, or acted rudely toward a woman.
What’s so striking about Trump’s performance is that in the context of the
last three years of American politics, it’s not striking at all. These
kinds of presidential performances, which once upon a time would have been
stunning and exceptional, are now just routine parts of the news cycle.
It’s simply become impossible for those of us to cover this White House to
capture the daily onslaught of outrage and scandal. Consider, for example,
that 24 hours ago the New York attorney general’s office, after a two-year
investigation, sued the Trump Foundation and the Trump family for a
multitude of campaign finance violations, self-dealing, and unlawful
coordination with a presidential campaign and even went so far as to send
referral letters to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election
Commission.
But it does say everything about the truly insane political moment that we
are living in that this lawsuit — which suggests the president of the
United States broke the law — is at best a one-day story.
I’m not writing this to once again bemoan the extent to which we’ve all
become inured to the lying, law-breaking, corruption, inhumanity,
incompetence, and daily gaslighting of this administration. That train has
clearly left the station. There’s no way not to be inured to this unending
avalanche of bad behavior.
Rather, I’ll ask the questions that I’ve been asking some variation of for
the past three years: When is enough for the Republican Party? When will
Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and the congressional leadership finally do
something to stop the lying narcissistic madman running this country? Will
there ever come a point when they have the courage to say this must end?
And if they don’t — and let’s be honest, the chances that they will are
somewhere between zero and none — can America emerge unscathed from two-
and-a-half more years of this madness? I like to be optimistic, but days
like today — that will likely be forgotten within the next 48-72 hours —
make me seriously wonder and worry about what the future might hold.
Michael A. Cohen’s column appears regularly in the Globe. Follow him on
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