Lies, Fabulous Lies
A few weeks ago, in a different political era and reaching for a glimmer of optimism, I wrote in an essay about the Biden Trump debate:
"I've noted previously that Biden seemed over-prepared for a different debate to unfold. I think he and his campaign staff believed that muting microphones and keeping the crowd away would somehow tame Trump. I was overly optimistic if not delusional. If Trump can imagine almost every legal scholar in the country, not to mention most Democrats and Republicans, cheered and loved the Dobbs decision, how hard would it be for him to conjure images of his MAGA volk cheering themselves into delirium out in TV land. Trump is a fabulist and can draw energy from a mob in his head as easily as from a mob in a stadium."
I thought about that paragraph when I watched Trump's interview with Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld1, in which Trump fabulized being cheered by a crowd that didn't exist during his debate with Joe Biden; the debate at which no audience was present.
Some will argue that it's more evidence that Trump is suffering cognitive loss. Others may argue that Trump was merely conflating events.
I disagree. Trump doesn’t lie because he’s demented (although he does show signs of dementia"). Nor is anyone who has had their ass kicked in a debate on nation-wide TV likely to conflate it with other memories. It's just easier for Trump to lie than to face reality that he has never been the powerful, strong, confident tycoon/world leader he wishes he were. It's easier to play one on TV. Besides, he is too lazy and doesn't want—hasn't ever wanted—to work for anything that he can't con you or me out of instead.
Trump has always lied to make himself look better and feel better. He lied about his wealth. He lied about how he got his wealth. He doesn't--hasn't ever--wanted to work for anything that he can't con you or me out of instead. He lied his way out of the draft. He lied his way into the University of Pennsylvania, where he took some classes at the Wharton school. He led about sexual conquests, posed as his own PR man to claim he slept with the wife of France's president. He lied to his wives about his affairs. He lied to the thousands of people who trusted him with savings they put into worthless Trump University "courses." He lied to hundreds, maybe thousands, of vendors and small businesses whom he stiffed on bills he owed them. He lies about his crowd sizes, or whether there were crowds at all.
During his presidency, fact checkers documented more than 30,500 lies that he told ; or 21 per day. Most of his lies served little purpose other than to bolster his vanity or to demean someone he had a grudge against. One set of lies was particularly lethal; he thought surgical masks made him look weak, so he lied to millions of Americans about the threat from COVID-19, that masks weren’t effective, and experts weren’t to be trusted. Over one million people died from his lies.
Listing Trump’s lies is exhausting and futile. Like listing sand at the beach. What is true about Donald Trump though, is that his imaginings and lies, are our national nightmare.
Sept 18, 2024, go to minute 9:45.
Thanks for sharing the video, which I hadn't seen. I took his audience comment in an entirely different manner. Trump knows there was no audience at either debate. I felt he was referring to the feedback he got about those who watched the Biden debate, which he clearly won (or rather, Biden disqualified himself). Notice how Trump didn't refer to what that same audience thought about the second debate (that he lost), but instead went with more general comments like "I won."
The Washington Post Trump lies database, which I assume was your reference, is so bad as to be humorous. Open it up (the Post provides searchable access) and just read the last five lies of the Trump Presidency.
(1) "the largest tax cut in history" which is of course dependent on how you measure it.
(2) "75 million votes . . .a record for sitting Presidents" but labelled a lie because it was 74 million votes and more people voted (!)
(3) "three hundred federal judges and three Supreme Court justices. . .that's a record number" but which number is Trump referring to?
(4) "our first lady . . . so popular with the people." labelled a lie because the Post cites a poll. Seriously.
(5) "the job numbers have been absolutely incredible" which the Post responds by saying fewer people were employed at the end of his term than at the beginning, without mentioning the pandemic.
You are very right that Trump is a fabulist, and he uses his exaggerations and fables to form a narrative he wants to sell. If we could only stick to that.