# What's the favorite euphemism you've heard used to describe DJT's lying? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 28, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-favorite-euphemism-youve-heard-used-to-describe-djts-lying/800073 "2017-10-28T15:44:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-favorite-euphemism-youve-heard-used-to-describe-djts-lying/800073/21 "2017-11-01T18:19:00Z")
We know he’s lying because his lips are moving. I bet they move when he lies on twitter as well. ---
**Author:** ![kurtisokc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kurtisokc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kurtisokc)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-favorite-euphemism-youve-heard-used-to-describe-djts-lying/800073/22 "2017-11-01T20:20:35Z")
I read an article once (I don’t remember where or who wrote it, so I can’t provide a cite) that I think sums up Trump’s relationship to the truth quite nicely. The point was that Trump is not a liar so much as a bullshitter. The distinction is that a liar knowingly says something which is objectively untrue, whereas a bullshitter simply says whatever serves his or her purpose at the time without even considering the issue of whether it is true or not. I’m not even sure if “truth” is even a meaningful concept for the Donald. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-favorite-euphemism-youve-heard-used-to-describe-djts-lying/800073/23 "2017-11-01T20:31:16Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > We know he’s lying because his lips are moving. I bet they move when he lies on twitter as well. It’s not like he’s reading. But, to the OP, I think that history will find that people who lie constantly and for no good reason (sometimes even counterproductive) will be described as “being trump.” Right now, that’s just trump ‘being trump’. But in the future, even sleezy politicians will take that as a grave insult. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-favorite-euphemism-youve-heard-used-to-describe-djts-lying/800073/24 "2017-11-01T21:03:25Z")
> [@AI\_Proofreader](#): > > My favorite lie about lying has been the official line from his spokespersons, that we “shouldn’t take the President literally, but you should take him seriously.” > > It’s pretty bad when their official position is “Yes, our boss is full of shit, but respect him anyway.” It _is_ bad. Worse, maybe, is how tickled-pink about themselves they seem to be, while spouting the ‘seriously not literally’ nonsense. They appear to be genuinely proud of having this uber-lame “excuse” for their leader’s allergy to truth. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-favorite-euphemism-youve-heard-used-to-describe-djts-lying/800073/25 "2017-11-02T07:34:20Z")
> [@kurtisokc](#): > > I read an article once (I don’t remember where or who wrote it, so I can’t provide a cite) that I think sums up Trump’s relationship to the truth quite nicely. The point was that Trump is not a liar so much as a bullshitter. The distinction is that a liar knowingly says something which is objectively untrue, whereas a bullshitter simply says whatever serves his or her purpose at the time without even considering the issue of whether it is true or not. I’m not even sure if “truth” is even a meaningful concept for the Donald. And a compulsive bullshitter, too. A pragmatic liar or bullshitter can use the truth as well, and chooses his weaponry depending on what will produce best results. A compulsive one wouldn’t recognize the truth if it bit his whole ass off. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-favorite-euphemism-youve-heard-used-to-describe-djts-lying/800073/26 "2017-11-03T22:31:56Z")
> [@kurtisokc](#): > > I read an article once (I don’t remember where or who wrote it, so I can’t provide a cite) that I think sums up Trump’s relationship to the truth quite nicely. The point was that Trump is not a liar so much as a bullshitter. The distinction is that a liar knowingly says something which is objectively untrue, whereas a bullshitter simply says whatever serves his or her purpose at the time without even considering the issue of whether it is true or not. I’m not even sure if “truth” is even a meaningful concept for the Donald. [https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society/200905/bulsshitting-lessons-the-masters](https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society/200905/bulsshitting-lessons-the-masters) Bullshitting: Lessons from the Masters by Stanton Peel 15 May 2009 and it STARTS right off with a picture of tRump. Then it goes on to describe what a bullshitter is. It fits the orange shit faced turd slurper to perfection. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-favorite-euphemism-youve-heard-used-to-describe-djts-lying/800073/27 "2017-11-04T22:18:43Z")
While working with a guy for several years, I realized after a couple of months that he was a compulsive liar. Although his lies were usually self-serving (and often preposterous), I eventually saw that he would sometimes lie for no apparent reason. By the time I parted company with him, I knew that he often believed his own bullshit, but definitely not always. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-favorite-euphemism-youve-heard-used-to-describe-djts-lying/800073/28 "2017-11-04T22:55:23Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > While working with a guy for several years, I realized after a couple of months that he was a compulsive liar. Although his lies were usually self-serving (and often preposterous), I eventually saw that he would sometimes lie for no apparent reason. By the time I parted company with him, I knew that he often believed his own bullshit, but definitely not always. There’s the theory that those who lie constantly see it as proof and prerogative of their power. The same technique is used by a schoolyard bully who says ‘what lunchbox? I don’t see a lunchbox anywhere’ after taking your lunchbox, opening it, and eating out of it right in front of your eyes. The bully is showing you how helpless you are to protest the obvious lie. That analogy is one I heard in an interview with expatriate Russian journalist Masha Gessen. Here’s a bit from one of her books: > [@](#): > > **Lying is the message.** It’s not just that both Putin and Trump lie, it is that they lie in the same way and for the same purpose: blatantly, to assert power over truth itself. … > > Trump has exhibited similar behavior, apparently for the same reason: when he claims that he didn’t make statements that he is on record as making, or when he claims that millions of people voting illegally cost him the popular vote, he is not making easily disprovable factual claims: he is claiming control over reality itself. Those puzzled by Trump’s election-fraud tweets, because they seem like sore-loser behavior on the part of the winner, or by his dismissing out of hand the CIA’s findings about Russian interference—against the views of many leading Republicans—are missing the point: Trump was demonstrating his ability to say whatever he wanted about the election, precisely because he had won it. [The Putin Paradigm | Masha Gessen | The New York Review of Books](http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/12/13/putin-paradigm-how-trump-will-rule/) It doesn’t matter to Trump that what he said yesterday doesn’t match what he said today, nor that this self-contradiction can easily be proven with video of his remarks. Whatever he says now, goes—because he is the Most Powerful Man in the World. Being consistent? Being a man of his word? That’s for _losers_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-favorite-euphemism-youve-heard-used-to-describe-djts-lying/800073.md?page=1)