The nice American humorist Josh Billings as soon as stated, “There are some folks so hooked on exaggeration that they’ll’t inform the reality with out mendacity.”
That could be charming in a storyteller, however in a president, that’s actually harmful.
To place it bluntly, along with being a serial exaggerator, Donald Trump can be a liar. On the Wikipedia web page for Trump’s false statements, it begins with a scathing indictment:
“Donald Trump has made tens of 1000’s of false or deceptive claims, together with throughout his first and second phrases as president of the US.”
It goes on to notice that fact-checkers at The Washington Publish “documented 30,573 false or deceptive claims throughout his first presidential time period, a median of 21 per day.” And, “Commentators and fact-checkers have described Trump’s lying as unprecedented in American politics, and the consistency of falsehoods as a particular a part of his enterprise and political identities.”
In different phrases, our president’s defining character trait, greater than anything, is mendacity.
That’s unhealthy, in fact. In moments of disaster or calamity, we should always be capable of depend on our elected leaders, together with and particularly the president, to inform us the reality.
However that is exactly when Trump tends to lie essentially the most. He lied about what occurred on Jan. 6, for instance. He continues to lie in regards to the 2020 election. He’s lied about Gaza, Russia, migrants, tariffs, our allies, members of Congress, and a lot extra.
So when Trump says U.S. airstrikes final weekend “fully and completely obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment amenities, it could be nice if we might take him at his phrase.
However we are able to’t.
A bombshell report from CNN revealed that the core elements of Iran’s nuclear program weren’t destroyed, and solely set again the nation’s enrichment by months. That’s based on an early U.S. intelligence evaluation produced by the Protection Intelligence Company, the Pentagon’s intel service.
Two folks aware of the report informed CNN that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed, and one other stated the centrifuges are largely “intact.”
The White Home is looking this report “flat-out mistaken,” and Trump has been on a tear chopping down the “pretend information” media for reporting on his personal Protection Division’s evaluation.
On the NATO summit within the Netherlands this week, Trump insisted the strikes set again Iran’s nuke capabilities “for a few years to come back,” and that the strikes had been “so unhealthy that they ended the battle” between Israel and Iran.
Trump, exaggerating as he’s wont to do, in contrast the strikes on Iran’s nuke websites to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the 2 atomic bombs that leveled complete cities.
Trump is so distrusted that even Republican lawmakers don’t know what to consider.
Sen. Rand Paul was requested on Fox Enterprise whether or not he accepted the president’s declaration that the strikes obliterated Iran’s nuke amenities, and he responded, “I don’t know what to simply accept. I’ve heard the leaks. I’ve additionally heard the press secretary say that prime secret issues shouldn’t be launched, implying that there was truly a report saying this.”
Senate Majority Chief John Thune was additionally unable to verify Trump’s claims, saying, “Nicely, I don’t — I’m unsure I’ve, uh — you would possibly need to hear from Sen. [Tom] Cotton, who chairs the intelligence committee, and reply on the complete extent….”
Sen. Lindsey Graham additionally stated “I don’t know” when requested if this system was destroyed. Roger Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Companies Committee, might solely say, “We’re taking a look at it.”
That is categorically indefensible. That elected lawmakers, of the president’s personal occasion, who in some circumstances head intelligence and navy committees, don’t consider the president, is a complete failure of management and a corruption of the workplace. That Trump is aware of he can lie with relative impunity is a complete failure of Congress to supply mandatory checks and balances on his energy.
So the place does that go away us, the voters? With belief within the media at report lows — thanks largely to Trump’s continuous degrading of the press to assist make his personal lies extra plausible — nobody appears to know what to consider. That, shamefully, makes us not very completely different from Iran, Russia, and North Korea, the place the general public is fed propaganda and lies by their governments and largely saved at nighttime.
It’s a tragic state of affairs. When you could have a president who lies as typically and as simply as Trump does, even one thing as quantifiable as an airstrike turns into slippery and unknowable.
And I don’t should remind you what occurs when unhealthy selections are made based mostly on unhealthy info.
(S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.)
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