The Washinton Post Fact Checker uses an “extremely fast search engine.” That the only way they can keep on top of Donald Trump’s lies. The way it works is it tells the computer to find a questionable statement he makes. This powerful Fact Checker is beginning to smoke with how many lies POTUS tells., though. It is far worse than we think.
Back in 2017, the president told nearly 1,999 “false or misleading claims.” Then in 2018, he told 5,689 more lies. That totaled 7,688 lies. Yet, even though the year is not quite over, Trump has made over double that number in 2019 — just in one year.
The Fact Checker found that ending on December 10, 2019, the commander-in-chief made 15,413 “false or misleading claims.” Wow. That is about 32 lies every day for the past two months.
It found that this October was ranked second for most lies of the year, and November ranked third. Only October 2018 ranked higher with an average of 40 lies a day. Part of the reason his lies were on the upswing was his desperate attempt to prevent the Democrats from taking over the House. Clearly, that did not work.
Why has the president been on a tear this year? According to the Washington Post:
‘A key reason for this year’s jump: The uproar over Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s president on July 25 — in which he urged an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden, a potential 2020 election rival — and the ensuing House impeachment inquiry. Nearly 600 of the false or misleading claims made by the president in the past two months relate just to the Ukraine investigation.’
What is becoming more apparent is that Trump thinks the best way to get through his impeachment trial is to lie. That must have worked for him as a kid. One reason that his lies swoop past people has been that he has been so open about his intentions. Another reason could be the old frog in the boiling water analogy. As Trump turned up the lies, the less they affected the voters.
So what does the man who occasionally sits in the Oval Office lie about? He lied 60 times about the whistleblower who kicked off his impeachment. Then, he lied about his call to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky 80 times. Of course, he released the summary of that phone call himself.
How does the Fact Checker choose its Bottomless Pinocchios? It takes 20 repeats of a Three- or Four-Pinocchio false claim to get a Bottomless Pinocchio. Thus far, Trump has 30 Bottomless Pinocchios. These were about the whisteblower, claiming Biden forcing a Ukrainian prosecutor’s resignation, and saying that Biden’s son made $1.5 billion in China — riding there with the former vice president on Air Force Two.
By late April, the president had already told 10,000 lies. About 20 percent of these lies were about the economy or jobs. Immigration lies were right up there, too.
But is it working? No. Less than three in 10 Americans believe his most-frequent lies. Trump supporters, about one in six of the adults in the survey, accepted most of his lies, but not even they did not accept all of them.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
