There is only one predictable thing about the presidency of Donald Trump. No matter the subject he discusses, he will find some way to tell a ridiculous lie about it in order to make himself look good.
Trump has never spoken to the parents of a Korean War veteran. The vets *themselves* are over 80. That he lies like this and gets no pushback is a shameful indictment of our media. https://t.co/74SYm4nQo5
— Voight-Kampff Salesman (@jimmystagger) June 14, 2018
Some of those lies take little more than a quick Google search to debunk, but some require no fact check at all because his claims are literally impossible and cannot be true. That tendency to lie and lie bigly was on full display in a Fox News interview about Trump’s recent meeting with Kim Jong un of North Korea.
Trump's bizarre story about parents of Korean War vets illustrates just how effortlessly he lies https://t.co/39DBwezj2i pic.twitter.com/6sOPm0XVgi
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) June 14, 2018
One of the concessions Trump politely asked of his new brutal dictator friend was to send the remains of American soldiers killed in the Korean War home to be interred. Trump told an interviewer that this was important to him as part of the negotiations because “thousands and thousands of people” asked him on the campaign trail in 2016 to bring their sons’ remains back to the United States.
https://twitter.com/aravosis/status/1007039765852704768
Trump described asking Kim Jong un to send those remains back home.
‘We have thousands of people who have asked for that, thousands and thousands of people. So many people asked me that on the campaign. I’d say “wait a minute, I don’t have any relationship,” but they said, “when you can, President, we’d love our son to be brought back home.” You know, we were pretty much finished and I said, “Would you do me a favor? The remains of these great fallen heroes, could we do something?” He agreed to it immediately.’
Also: this is my new favorite Trump lie.
(Take 30 seconds to work out the math) https://t.co/iFug5OasER
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 13, 2018
Let’s do the math here. The Korean War began in 1950 and ended in 1953. An 18-year-old soldier in 1950 would be 84 years old today and their parents would be, using a conservative estimate of the average possible age, around 103 years old today and 101 in 2016 when Trump was on the campaign trail. Trump could not have met with “thousands of people” over the age of 103 at his campaign rallies in 2016.
Bringing the remains of soldiers who fought and died for our country in any war is a great thing so that those soldiers can be recognized and interred in cemeteries where their descendants and relatives can honor them. However, if Trumps wants to brag about meeting with the parents of fallen soldiers, he should perhaps stick to the Vietnam War. Those parents of fallen soldiers would be around 80 or more today.
Trump's unbelievable story about the parents of Korean War veterans https://t.co/o0j2CH59M7
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) June 14, 2018
Of course, it’s hard to imagine “thousands and thousands” of 80 year olds at Trump rallies, either, but at least it’s mathematically possible.
This is exactly why it is so impossible to believe what Trump says happened during his meeting with Kim Jong un, part of which was held entirely in private with no written record. His endless lies have destroyed any credibility for his administration and shaken the faith that Americans have in their president.
For the full video of that ridiculous claim, see below:
Featured image via YouTube
