More Reports on the Dishonesty of the Trump White House, and Calling a Lie a Lie

Watch out, girl, your face might just freeze like that. . .
Image from source, NYT.

It can't be said often enough. For a candidate and campaign that tried to use "liar" as the main criticism of their opponent, and "truth teller" as a description of their own candidate, Donald Trump and Company continue to show themselves as the gang who can't go a day without lying. It's endless and blatant. They lie about things that don't matter. They lie about hugely important things. They lie about things that are easily and instantly disproven. They even lie about things that have already been admitted to be untrue. That's actually a hallmark of the far right, the resurrection of lies that have been long debunked. It was one of the biggest tools used against Hillary Clinton in the campaign, the Zombie Lie, as Bill Maher has called it.

But this many lies don't come without consequence. I mean just look at Kellyanne Conway's face, if you don't believe the toll it can take. And only a week in, we already have the press being more and more willing to call lies for what they are. Here's a story that goes into how these things are talked about and why. I've got to think that the more heat that Trump puts into demonizing "the media," the more willing they're going to be to say, "screw access," and just start calling his lies lies.

[Excerpt]

In a Swirl of ‘Untruths’ and ‘Falsehoods,’ Calling a Lie a Lie

Words matter.

And from the moment he became president, Donald J. Trump has unleashed so many of consequence that the public has barely had time to parse their full implication. Words about the dishonest media, the end of Obamacare, the construction of that border wall with Mexico — this is an abbreviated list, and he hasn’t even completed his first week in office. . .

Read more at: New York Times

Donald Trump's Lies in His First Week As President

Surreality, thy name is Trump. Image from source, Boston Globe.

Before we get to the meat of this story, I want yo to look at this picture. This is the picture that would accompany a news report in a sci-fi story about time travel gone horribly wrong. Or about a parallel Earth "over there," where things are not quite as they are "over here." It's an image you might expect if a crucial historical figure died (or lived) when they weren't supposed to, causing a ripple-effect in the time stream, resulting in bizarre news reports where the Nazis won World War II or New York City was bombed in the Cuban Missile Crisis. You could even expect it in a self-contained fictional universe, like Marvel's Cinematic Universe, or the DC Comics "Arrowverse." But we somehow ended up here, and I'm frankly still a bit outside myself wondering how.

How indeed. The man is clearly--especially now, having witnessed his first complete week--unfit to be President of the United States. He's still "candidate Trump," still bleating asinine statements on Twitter, still floating ridiculous policy statements and retracting them. Still making enemies of other countries and world leaders. Still lying his ass off on a daily basis. But now, it matters.  It's horrific, it's alarming, and it's basically unsustainable at this rate. I quite simply can't imagine this going on unabated for four years without huge damage to our country and to the world. And we thought Barack Obama had a lot to mop up. Who is going to want to come in after Donnie, and squeegee up the mess?

[Excerpt]

Fact checking Trump’s inaccurate statements

Regular readers know that candidate Donald Trump had difficulty with facts. Now that Trump is president, he continues to make misleading statements, based on incomplete information, inaccurate statistics or flights of fancy. Here’s an accounting of his public statements in the first seven days as president, not counting his error-plagued inauguration speech (which had eight problematic claims). . .


Read more at: Boston Globe

Donald Trump Lies Blatantly about Russia Hacking Report

We know Donald Trump lies, and does so when it is easily debunked. He lies for no good reason, about things people know are untrue. He lies about things he's lied about! His "truth teller" status during the election was and remains baffling, because he's known to be a worse liar than even the most dishonest politician. Hillary Clinton, long tarred with that brush, actually comes out close to the top of the heap of most honest politicians. So, go figure.

But with this Russia thing? He lied about something rather enormous. And still hasn't come clean. What did he know, and when did he know it? This will haunt his entire presidency, however (hopefully) short it is.