I don’t think they’re afraid of being sued by Trump. They would love it. Truth is a defense, and a fun one to litigate.
They could be afraid of looking partisan.
I could understand their reluctance back when the titian-tinged twerp was purportedly a businessman. Now, however, he is an elected official. Doesn’t that protect what they say about him? It’s not like he’s been taking care to avoid libelling and slandering anyone.
There’s a longstanding practice in journalism of distinguishing between a lie and a falsehood. A falsehood is a statement that is factually not true. A lie is when somebody intentionally says something that they know is not true. The difference is intent. And reporters are training to only report what they objectively observe not what they infer. And obviously what a person is thinking can only be inferred.
So when Donald Trump says something that isn’t true, reporters just report what he said. They don’t try to guess what’s going on inside his head. Trump might be a liar that knows that what he’s saying isn’t true. Or he might be an idiot that believes what he’s saying even though it isn’t true.
With some presidents, it’s easy. When Nixon said something that was false, you knew he was a smart person, so you could assume he was lying. When Reagan said something that was false, you knew he was a decent person, so you could assume he was ignorant. With Trump, it’s impossible to guess; he’s a near equal balance of deceit and stupidity, so when he says something that’s false, you never know where it’s coming from.
Actually in the case of Trump, that’s not *necessarily *the case. A lie means knowing the truth and deliberately attempting to hide or misrepresent it. And, in terms of journalistic integrity, you have to be able to prove nefarious intent before calling porkies.
But Trump is most often engaging in bullshit, which is when you don’t necessarily know or care what the truth is, because it’s entirely unimportant to your point or narrative.
(Guess which is more toxic ?)
So you’re waiting for last Tuesday, next Tuesday, and every Tuesday.
I say, son, I say, I don’t believe he knows the word “eviscerate”, let alone can he spell it.
Son, I say, son, I do believe that someone else wrote that little old speech for him.
The so-called “jobs” President.
Ford Prepares for Mass Layoffs After Losing $1 Billion to Trump’s Trade Tariffs, Report Says
I’ll bet the Chinese are hurting.
Of course his supporters will stil vote Republican and still blame the Chinese for their new-found woes at the hands of trumpian policies.
They’ll blame the Chinese for the loss of their jobs while eagerly awaiting for them to pay for pre-existing conditions like Trump told them.
We’re just starting to feel the effects of the Trump economy. GM and other layoffs are just the warm-up act. Yesterday’s stock slide portends what’s on the horizon. Granted, an 800 drop isn’t what it used to be, not when the index is in the mid to high 20K range, but again, don’t look at the numbers; think about why they’re down. Think about why the interest rates are up. Trump and his moronic supporters can blame the Fed all they want: the Fed has no choice but to raise rates. The bond market is not driven by the fed but by market reaction to risk. Bond buyers know that there’s greater risk and want their investments in the US government to pay greater dividends. We’re looking at trillion dollar deficits every year from here on, and that assumes we don’t have an economic recession, which would curb tax revenues and make the deficit even worse. The market is looking at the Trump / GOP economic formula for what it is: a sham.
They’ll blame the Chinese, the Democrats, Crooked Hillary, Obama, and possibly the Canadians (just for good measure). Everything would have been great if the Dems hadn’t “obstructed him!” Oh yeah, and Christine Ford. Her fault, too.
Looks like even Fox is getting tired of the shtick:
Trump, no longer ratings gold, loses his prime-time spot on Fox News
The rallies are no longer getting better ratings than regular programming.
If true, this is funny as hell.
It’s to funny to be true.
So rather than calling him out on all his lies, he gets to use “the stupidity defense”???
NO.
Well, the piece of shit deserves it.
So treason runs in the family.
It’s cowardice, plain and simple.
I say son, that boy Jeff is about as sharp as a sack of wet mice. That boy’s about as sharp as a bowling ball.
Pay attention to me boy! I’m not just talkin’ to hear my head roar.