This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write. I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf. The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie. And it is where you want to be on a golf course.
Liar.
Cheater.
Stealer.
Rapist.
Groper.
Just think of those words and ask yourself who in the world they could represent.
Well, the answer is that they describe one of the candidates who is running for another term as U.S. president. Donald Trump.
Incredible? Yes.
Stupid? Yes.
These days, Trump, with a band of sycophants in the background, is spending time in court – or snoozing in court – as his lies catch up with him.
On this, The New York Times performed a public service recently when it carried a story under the headline I used for this blog.
Here is how the story started:
“Since the beginning of his political career, Donald J. Trump has misled, mischaracterized, dissembled, exaggerated and, at times, flatly lied. His flawed statements about the border, the economy, the coronavirus pandemic, and the 2020 election have formed the bedrock of his 2024 campaign.
“Though his penchant for bending, and often breaking, the truth has been well documented, a close study of how he does so reveals a kind of technique to his dishonesty: A set of recurring rhetorical moves with which Trump fuels his popularity among his supporters.”
So, here I reprint most of the Times story by listing in bold face the Times summary of the specific Trump lies, then follow with the Times analysis of those lies.
For me, this doesn’t provide a clear answer about why Trump lies. He does it all the time. It is second nature to him. He probably believes what he is saying no matter what he is saying. Who knows why he does what he does?
The fact is that some voters believe him, too – or, perhaps, they don’t care that he lies incessantly.
That fact is scary for me and others those who believe in our American form of government, which would be directly in a second Trump term as president when he fancies himself as more dictator than president.
So, here is the Times story.
What Trump says: He grossly distorts his opponents’ records and proposals to make them sound unreasonable. “While Joe Biden is pushing the largest tax hike in American history — you know he wants to quadruple your taxes. I will make the Trump tax cuts permanent.“
The fact: President Biden has not proposed quadrupling taxes. In fact, he has consistently vowed not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000.
What Trump says: I mean, what Biden’s doing with energy with an all-electric mandate, where you won’t be able to buy any other form of car in a very short period of time.
The fact: Biden has not implemented an electric car mandate. The Administration has announced rules that would limit tailpipe emissions from cars and light trucks, effectively requiring automakers to sell more electric vehicles and hybrids. It doesn’t ban gas cars.
What Trump says: He exaggerates and twists the facts to make his record sound better than it is. “And think of it, for four years we had no terror problem. I had the terror ban. I had bans on people coming in from areas where there’s going to be problem. You don’t have that anymore. And think of it, for four years we had no terror problem.”
The fact: There were in fact terrorist attacks in the United States during the Trump Administration. In 2017, to name one, a native of Uzbekistan plowed a pickup truck down a bike path in Manhattan, killing eight people. The Justice Department said the driver, Sayfullo Saipov, carried out the terrorist attack in the name of ISIS.
What Trump says: “We had the best economy. We had no inflation.”
The fact: The economy wasn’t the “best” under Trump. Even setting aside Covid, the average growth rate was lower under Trump than under former Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan. And inflation was low, but it wasn’t non-existent.
What Trump says: “We had gasoline at $1.87 per gallon.”
The fact: The national average price of a gallon of gasoline dropped to that price during one week amid the Covid lockdown in 2020, when demand was extraordinarily low. But when Trump left office in January 2021, the national average was $2.42.
What Trump says: He relies on both well-worn and fresh claims of election rigging to suggest he can lose only if his opponents cheat. “Radical left Democrats rigged the presidential election of 2020, and we’re not going to allow them to rig the presidential election of 2024. We’re not going to allow it to happen.”
The fact: The 2020 election was not rigged. Trump has uttered hundreds of inaccurate claims to support the false claim that it was — mischaracterizing voting processes, citing baseless cases of supposed fraud, and sharing conspiracy theories about voting machines.
What Trump says: “As you know, Nikki Haley, in particular, is counting on the Democrats and liberals to infiltrate your Republican primary.”
The fact: Registered Democrats were not able to vote in the New Hampshire Republican primary. The contest was open to registered Republicans and independents. Any Democrats who switched parties or re-registered as independents to vote in the Republican primary — and some did — had to do so before an October 2023 deadline, months before the contest.
What Trump says: “The Republicans went to vote and none of the machines were working. This was not good. But of course, they said, well, this was just the way it goes. You know, thousands of people were not allowed to vote.”
The fact: The claim that “thousands” of voters were blocked from casting their ballots in Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial election — at the expense of Trump’s preferred candidate, Kari Lake — is false. There were some glitches in Maricopa County, but voters were largely able to cast their votes.
What Trump says: He has turned his criminal cases into a rallying cry, baselessly asserting that he is being persecuted by his successor. “Your indictments, and for the people out there that say there’s another shoe that’s going to fall with all of this stuff. I know you say it’s all political. These are all Biden indictments. These aren’t indictments. These are Biden. This is a political opponent. He’s coming after a political opponent.”
The fact: Trump has not offered any evidence for his contention that Biden has orchestrated the criminal charges against him. Two of his four cases were brought at the state level. At the federal level, Trump’s criminal charges — in relation to his effort to remain in power after losing the 2020 election and, separately, over his retention of classified documents after leaving office — are handled by a special counsel and were put before grand juries.
What Trump says: “ I’ve been indicted more than Al Capone.”
The fact: Trump has been indicted four times. Capone was indicted at least six times.
What Trump says: He makes claims about what the world would have been like had he secured a second term. “We wouldn’t have Russia attacking Ukraine. We wouldn’t have inflation. We wouldn’t have the attack on Israel. Kim Jong-un of north Korea wouldn’t be threatening us with the nuclear missiles again.”
The fact: There is no evidence that these events wouldn’t or couldn’t have occurred had the 2020 election outcome been different — and it’s impossible to prove. But experts say the context surrounding those events render his claims highly questionable.
What Trump says: He describes the United States as a nation in ruins. “We are a nation that screens its citizens viciously at all ports. But if you’re an illegal alien, you’re allowed to flow through our country with no check, whatsoever. We are a nation that screens its citizens viciously at all ports. But if you are an illegal alien, you’re allowed to flow through our country with no check whatsoever.”
The fact: Undocumented immigrants caught crossing the border are processed, whether they are returned to other countries or later released into the country awaiting future proceedings.
What Trump says: “And now we are a nation that wants to make our revered and very powerful Army tanks – the best anywhere in the world – all electric.”
The fact: There are no plans to make Army tanks all electric.
What Trump says: “We are a third-world nation.”
The fact: This is, of course, false.
What Trump says: We are no longer energy independent or energy dominant as we were just a few short years ago.
The fact: Energy production — including oil and gas — has boomed under Biden. Under both administrations, the United States has been a net exporter of petroleum and natural gas, but it still relies on imports.
What Trump says: “ I don’t know what it is with Catholics, but the FBI is going after Catholics.”
The fact: Trump’s claim is most likely based on an FBI field office memo that warned of the potential for extremism among adherents of a “radical-traditionalist Catholic” ideology. But the memo was withdrawn and repeatedly condemned by the nation’s top law enforcement officials.
With kudos to the New York Times, there you have it. Lies by Trump. Facts by the Times.
Perspective from the 19th Hole 