“Mr. Trump? Mr. Orwell is on Line 2.”
Tom and I have discussed things. We have decided this thread is approaching the end of its natural lifespan.
It will be closed on the 30th and replaced with a ‘Stretch Run’ thread. It’s our hope that it will be friendlier for new people to jump on board than a thread with such a deep history.
Wouldn’t its natural lifespan run through election day?
Natural lifespan as a message board thread, not natural lifespan as a topic of discussion.
The natural lifespan of this as a topic of discussion is going to run until we’re all dead and gone, if only as an extremal case in political behavior and demographic targeting.
Trump is trying to preemptively nullify attempts by Lester Holt to fact check him:
- "TRUMP: And by the way, Lester is a Democrat.
"O'REILLY: I didn't know that.
"TRUMP: Look, it's a phony system. Lester is a Democrat. I mean, they are all Democrats. Okay? It's a very unfair system."*
The only problem with that is that this claim needs a fact check, because Lester Holt is a registered Republican.
On Morning Joe today, Trump’s mouthpiece was trying to say that this doesn’t count as a lie, because Trump didn’t actually know that Holt was a registered Republican. He comes from the George Costanza school of ethics “It’s not a lie if you believe it.”
I’d agree. It’s not a lie. It is slapdash and careless. And trying to excuse people of being stacked against you like that is very poor sportsmanship (and worse when your claim is ridiculously easily proven to be false).
So what do you call a statement that turns out to be false, which is easily verifiable?
I’m calling it a falsehood. He was constructing a narrative. Facts were irrelevant to his narrative. It smacks of desperation to me. He’s setting up a story for his base in case things don’t go well at the debate(s). Methinks he’s not feeling too confident.
When you don’t know the truth but just blather as if you do that pretty much falls into the definition of bullshitting. Saying that smacks of desperation smacks of desperation. Trump has bullshitted his entire life, desperate or not.
“I’m either too stupid or simply unable to find out what the facts are. So I can say whatever asinine thing pops into my head, and I’m not lying. So there is no problem.”
No offense, Jonathan, but that seems like a rather arbitrary decision. Have the members of the thread been asking for this change?
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And he’s doing this because he KNOWS he’s being it up as he goes along since the start. Problem is, he’s told son many lies he can’t even keep track of what he’s said anymore. Yesterday he said he didn’t criticize John McCain for being captured. His head should be spinning tonight.
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Assuming Trump truly didn’t know that Holt is a Republican, the lie is not “Holt is a Democrat.” The lie is “I know Holt’s party affiliation.”
“And also, Lester Holt is black. That makes him a Democrat, okay? Everyone knows this.”
OR
“He’s not one of MY blacks, so he must be a brainwashed Democrat.”
One of my Facebook “friends”, and I use the term reservedly, posted a Trumpian meme that said:
“So you’re Anti-Trump?” You must be a Liberal, an illegal, or living off the government."
First: Sure, I’m proudly liberal. I’ll own it, and refuse to acknowledge the implied insult.
Second: Which category does John McCain fall into? David Brooks? Meg Whitman?
Or until President Trump shuts down the Internet–whichever comes first.
I thought McCain had endorsed Trump.
You’re right. Scratch McCain, and substitute Bush (any of them), Colin Powell, or Dennis Gates.
Voting for Trump is a way for disaffected whites with a persecution complex to punch their perceived enemies in the teeth. They approach this election the way they approach topics like climate change, evolution, and vaccinations: telling them their wrong just fires them up more, makes them stamp their feet harder, and makes them insist that much more that you’re wrong and they’re right. No fucking logic to it whatsoever. Just a burning desire for vengeance.
This is Sarah Palin’s moment. This is the Tea Party’s moment. This is Paul Deen’s and Phil Robertson’s moment. They’ve been listening to people label them as barking mad and stupid for years and they’ve been waiting to knock the piss out of their opponents, and their time has come. And I think they’re just getting started.