Almost every presidential candidate makes promises on the campaign trail which they cannot keep. It's the nature of campaigning. In the United States, it's even accepted as normal. If we can't admit that, then we are guilty of wishful thinking, or just plain stupid. Looking back over the past 80 years, I cannot find more than two or three campaign promises that any president, Republican or Democrat, has kept. Most recently, President Clinton's promise to balance the budget turned out to be a reality, but mostly through the efforts of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who brought forth balanced budget proposals, and held Clinton to his word. In the end, The United States emerged from the Clinton years with a budget surplus... something few administrations have accomplished.
We must admit that we have become numb to empty campaign promises. We move forward, we make excuses for the president not following through, generally blaming the House or Senate for not going along with the presidents wishes, or perhaps forgiving the president's lack of experience, and praising him for some of the "good works" that he accomplishes.
But once in a while... not often... we somehow elect a president who continues to lie to us, over and over, and though we try to ignore those lies, they eventually pile up to a point where we can't tolerate it anymore. Sometimes enough is enough!
We have reached that point with President Trump. After almost 4 years of service, both the conservative and liberal press have agreed that Trump has told over 20,000 documented lies, either on social media, or on video tape. And let's not deceive ourselves. HE IS NOT JUST JOKING! His intention is not humor. He wants you to believe what he is saying.
Here is a cronology of just a few of Donald Trump's most famous lies. There are obviously more, but you couldn't live long enough for me to iterate the total picture.
Nov. 21, 2015
"I watched in Jersey City where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down" [on 9-11] "It did happen. I saw it.... It was on Television." "There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations."
Donald Trump's Outrageous 911 Claim
Campaign Promise, 2016
"I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I'll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great great wall on our southern border and I'll have Mexico pay for that wall." In January, 2017, Trump signed Executive Order 13767 formally directing the U.S. government to begin attempting wall construction along the Mexican border using existing federal funding. DIDN'T HAPPEN! Trump, in December, 2018, shut down the government for 35 days asking for FEDERAL FUNDING for the wall.
Campaign Promise, 2016
"Real change begins with immediately repealing and replacing the disaster known as Obamacare."
Fact: Currently, there has been no replacement for the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" (P.P.A.C.A.). Instead, funding for it has been cut off, and no replacement has been brought to the Senate. Meanwhile, the cost of health care has again risen at an alarming rate, compared to the 2.3% annual rate during the Obama administration. Medicare out-of-pocket co-pays have gone up 45% over 3 years. Supplemental Plan F now costs 20% more through United Healthcare.
Jan. 21, 2017: Largest Crowd . . . Ever!
"This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration - period - both in person and around the globe." [Sean Spicer, Kellyanne Conway, "alternate facts"]
Donald Trump about Inauguration crowd size
October 5, 2017:
Washington (CNN) Discord between President Donald Trump and his chief diplomat is at an all-time high, spilling into public view in recent days and peaking with a NBC News report Wednesday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a "moron" in a Pentagon meeting.
Trump was aware before Wednesday's report that Tillerson had referred to him as a "moron" at the Pentagon this summer, a source familiar with the conversation told CNN, but it's unclear whether Trump discussed the remark with Tillerson. Trump was not present at the Pentagon meeting. A White House source also confirmed to CNN that Trump knew about the insult prior to Wednesday.
March 13, 2018:
Trump fires Secretary of State Tillerson, and replaces him with Pompeo This follows months of tension between Tillerson and Trump. (near the beginning of the year, Tillerson called Trump "A moron" Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he respected Tillerson's "intellect" and said he "got along well with Rex." "I think Rex will be much happier now," Trump said.
March 18, 2018:
Trump: "Robert Mueller's investigative team has 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans."
Fact: Mueller himself is a Republican, who was appointed by Reagan, both Bushes, and Rod Rosenstein (nominated by Trump).
Pants-on-fire!
Fact checking Trump Claim about Mueller Probe
October, 2018:
"We're building the wall as we speak," (Fox News). "MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL,"
Fact: Pants-on-fire. The human mind isn't THAT low on the intelligence scale.
Nov. 29, 2018:
"Big steel is opening and renovating plants all over the country. Auto companies are pouring into the U.S., including BMW, which just announced a major new plant."
Actually, Ford was laying off workers to grapple with the high cost of dealing with Trump's tariffs.
Trump inflates steel, automaker investment in wake of GM cuts
July, 2018:
"We pulled off an economic turnaround of historic proportions."
Truth: Trump gave the economy a boost with the tax cuts, but damaged it with the trade war. He did not turn around the economy. The market tripled under the Obama administration, while only increasing the national debt by about 2.2%. If Trump continues at the current pace for another term, we could see the national debt double during his administration.
November, 2018: "There was no crime,"
"We've wasted enough time on this witch hunt,"
Truth: The Federal investigation conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller (Republican) had by this date resulted in 33 people being charged with crimes, and seen three senior Trump associates convicted.
Dec. 4, 2018: I am a Tariff Man.
"When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so. It will always be the best way to max out our economic power. We are right now taking in $billions in Tariffs. MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN"
Fact: Americans, not the Chinese, are paying the tariffs. The Farmer now pays a 30% tax on his machinery, while billionaires pay a meager 15% tax on their Wall Street investments.........machinery now costs 30% more, and China buys 30% less of our farm products. Didn't that work out great? And don't forget to check the inside tag on your red "Make America Great Again" hat. It reads, "Made in China"
November, 2019: Trump Administration ends PREDICT
Amid rumors that a serious flu season was eminent, the Trump Administration ended the program known as "PREDICT". This was a $200-million early-warning program to train scientists in China and other countries to detect and respond to pandemic viruses. The project, launched by the U.S. Agency for International Development in 2009, identified 1,200 different viruses that had the potential to erupt into pandemics, including more than 160 novel coronaviruses. PREDICT also trained and supported staff in 60 foreign laboratories - including the Wuhan lab that identified SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Although this does not qualify as a lie, Trump justified ending the program as a cost our nation should not be asked to bear.
January 2, 2020:
Dr. Robert Redfield told the National Security Council that The U.S. government had information about what they believed to be a novel coronavirus. The National Security Council worked around the clock to try to understand the new virus. January went by, and despite urgent memos sent to him by the N.S.C., Trump took no action, and never responded to the messages.
The republican party excused Trump for this blunder by claiming that "he didn't read the memos." [comment by me..."He can't read... He's illeterate!"]
January 22, 2020: [CNBC interview about the CoronaVirus]
"We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine." "And we're prepared, and we're doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away."
(about COVID-19 1 confirmed case, O deaths)
The following are a group of false or misleaging statements issued by Donald Trump around the beginning of our Covid-19 pandemic.
February 9, 2020: "The flu, in our country, kills from 25,000 people to 69,000 people a year,"
Feb. 24, 2020: "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. . Stock Market starting to look very good to me!"
Feb. 27, 2020: "It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear." [News conference]
March 4, 2020: "Some people will have this at a very light level and won't even go to a doctor or hospital, and they'll get better. There are many people like that." [Twitter] New Hampshire rally
March 9, 2020: "The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power ... to inflame the CoronaVirus situation." [Twitter] Confirmed cases - 605, Deaths - 22
March 10, 2020: "We're prepared, and we're doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away." [Meeting with Republican senators] The next day, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The same week the World Health Organization declared covid-19 a pandemic, the situation in the U.S. became more fraught. Stock markets continued to rapidly decline, and the U.S. death count began to double every few days. Cities worldwide asked their residents to quarantine at home and practice social distancing. Amid this backdrop, Trump shifted his tone and tried to paint himself as having taken the virus seriously from the start. By March 14, he had declared a national emergency and backtracked on many of his earlier remarks. But the Lies never stopped.
March 14, 2020:
"We're using the full power of the federal government to defeat the virus, and that's what we've been doing." [News conference] Cases- 2726, Deaths- 54 The market jumps 2000 points on the news of the national emergency declaration
March 15, 2020:
"This is a very contagious virus. It's incredible. But it's something that we have tremendous control over." [News conference]
March 17, 2020:
"I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic." [News conference]
March 18, 2020:
"I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning, including my very early decision to close the 'borders' from China - against the wishes of almost all." [Twitter]
March 19, 2020:
"We took the best economy we've ever had and we said 'Stop. You can't work. You have to stay home.' ... Here's a case we're paying a lot of money to stop things because we don't want people to be together so that this virus doesn't continue onward." [News conference] Meanwhile, C.D.C. data shows young people are a large percentage of coronavirus hospitalizations. 13680 cases, 200 dead.
March 23, 2020: Dow Jones drops to 18592
"America will again, and soon, be open for business - very soon - a lot sooner than three or four months that somebody was suggesting. ... We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself." [News conference] 43667 cases, 552 dead. - Trump has now driven the market lower than when he took office.
March 24, 2020:
"I'd love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter." [Fox News interview]
March 26, 2020:
"I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes they'll have two ventilators, and now all of a sudden they're saying, 'Can we order 30,000 ventilators?'" [Fox News interview] cases-83,836, deaths-1209
March 28, 2020:
"WE WILL WIN THIS WAR. When we achieve this victory, we will emerge stronger and more united than ever before!" [Twitter]
March 29, 2020: cases- 121,478, deaths- 2026
"Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won." [News conference] more cases than any other country.
March 31, 2020:
"This is not the flu. It is vicious,"
Trump's considerable numbers of lies continue concerning the Covid-19 pandemic. But that didn't diminish his ability to make additional false claims.
2/15/2020: Trump vows no cuts to Social Security and Medicare
Trump Tweet"We will not be touching your Social Security and Medicare in Fiscal 2021 Budget."
2/16/2020: Truth--Wall Street Journal: "Trump's $4.8 trillion budget includes steep reductions in social-safety-net programs, including cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security disability programs. The White House proposes to cut spending by $4.4 trillion over a decade. Of that, it targets $2 trillion in savings from mandatory spending programs, including $130 billion from changes to Medicare prescription drug pricing, $292 billion from safety net cuts - such as work requirements for Medicaid and food stamps - and $70 billion from tightening eligibility access to disability benefits."
This is a Trump Pattern. His 2020 budget also cut all three. It's a long-running contradiction for the president. He says he won't touch these entitlement programs, then continues to appoint Republican Party officials who make cutting these programs center to their work. He keeps proposing entitlement cuts, and then denies that he did so. In 2015 and '16, he campaigned on a vow to not cut entitlements with these words: "I'm not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I'm not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid". [The Daily Signal]
Fast-forward to 2020, and Trump is again pushing entitlement cuts. It's whiplash-inducing.
August 10, 2020: Trump threatens Social Security and Medicare and the press yawns.
Donald Trump's announces (on Saturday evening} that he wants to permanently eliminate the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare. To defenders of the social safety net, Trump's call was clearly an act of war. And calling it a tax cut is definitely a lie. It's a benefit cut!. Here is a 'must-read' article that appeared in Press Watchon August 10, 2020.
Trump Threatens S.S. and Medicare
Pants-on-fire!
2/19/2020: Trump Campaign Ad
"We recently completed 100 brand new miles of border wall. A HUGE VICTORY!"
Truth--CN Wire Service Early March: Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf announced in Arizona on Friday that The Trump administration has built 100 miles of new wall along the US-Mexico border - the majority of which is replacing previous construction. The administration falsely touts its achievements ahead of the presidential election. In fact, none of this wall was paid for by Mexico. Pants-on-fire!
May 28, 2020: [Washington Post]
The Trump administration is preparing an executive order to curtail the legal protections that shield social media companies from liability for material on their platforms. The move comes after Twitter angered President Trump by fact-checking his false claims about voting by mail.
Nearly two dozen states, led by California, sued the Trump administration over its reversal of fuel-efficiency standards, arguing that the move was based on erroneous science.
June 26, 2020:
This evening, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal both broke extraordinary news. Months ago, American intelligence officials concluded that during peace talks to end the war in Afghanistan, a Russian military intelligence group offered to Taliban-linked fighters bounties for killing American troops. They paid up, too, although it is unclear which of the twenty U.S. deaths happened under the deal.
July 7 2020:
Mitch McConnell has introduced no new legislation in months to address the Covid-19 crisis, while ignoring a bill the House passed weeks ago that would both invest in public health and provide economic relief for those who need it desperately. Instead, in the middle of a recession, he says he doesn't want to give a "bonus" to people who can't go back to work.
And they just keep rolling in!
September 1, 2020 They never end!
When I started this list, I thought I would be able to document most of Mr. Trump's most grievous lies. The task became too enormous and I took a two month break. That has left over 150 major instances of misinformation committed by our President which should have been included here. But it's now apparent that the White House and the Republican Party has no interest whatsoever in truth and honesty. I conclude my tirade now with a final list of 20 of the many lies put forth in Donald Trump's R.N.C. nomination speech. I will not list them here, I will let Daniel Dale, a professional fact-checker narrate them for you in the video below.
In less than 4 minutes, Daniel Dale breaks down twenty of the many lies in Donald Trump's RNC nomination acceptance speech.
During Trump's entire time in office, I have yet to see him go through one television appearance without blatantly lying about his own accomplishments, demeaning a reporter, and disputing the scientists facts. His stupidity and narcissism have destroyed the Republican Party as we once knew it. If he is re-elected, he will likely destroy the human race as well.