Reminder: Trump Is Still a Liar
In October, I quoted a news story that noted Trump’s routine pledge to put $100 million into his campaign by election day. At that point he had put in only $56 million. My comment was this:
OK, everybody raise your hand who believes that Donald Trump will put another $44 million into his campaign before election day.
I have bad news for you. If your hand is in the air right now, you are an idiot.
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Trump steered $2.9 million to his family businesses in the waning days of his campaign . . . oh, and also this:
Mr. Trump also gave $10 million to his campaign in the final weeks of the election, bringing his total donations to his campaign to $66 million. While a substantial investment, that figure fell about $34 million shy of the $100 million he had routinely pledged to give.
He knows he can lie about stuff like that because he knows people will shrug off his lie, as almost everyone reading this post assuredly will. And that’s fine. It doesn’t upset me much either. He won. That’s what matters.
It was still a lie, though, and he is still a liar. Forget that at your peril.
he did so good putting all that money into his campaign like that
turns out they didn’t need that extra 34 million to beat that diseased criminal pig
yay America!
happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/9/2016 @ 7:49 amStill with the glass half empty. He brought down the cost of a campaign by 10 fold.
narciso (d1f714) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:02 amAnd Trump is still pissing in flower pots.
Colonel Haiku (9fca6c) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:11 amIn other news truth is whatever the Dutch word for forbidden is.
narciso (d1f714) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:16 amStrictly speaking, would have been a “lie” if he had put in $99,999,999.99.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:25 amCarrier Lies
It’s his business pattern.
DRJ (15874d) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:26 amHe’s following Obama’s blueprint.
DRJ (15874d) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:27 amShould have put in the extra $34 million so we could talk about his wasting the money instead of his lies.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:28 amOOoohh! we could have had the best of both worlds! He could have funded the campaign an extra $34 million, not spent it, refunded it, and we could STILL call him liar.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:30 amToday’s the 9th: ten days until Trump actually becomes President-Elect and then we wait another month for Inauguration Day, at which point Trump will actually be President.
It is going to be a very long six weeks.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:33 amwhen union piggies whine and squeal I just say “alexa volume 7”
happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:34 am@happyfeet: I am shocked, shocked, that you would slur a union spokesman, the profession is lauded far and wide for unimpeachable integrity and absolute objectivity.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:35 ami’m a pooper!
happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:40 am@happyfeet: well, I never joined in the chorus of the regulars to ban you but you have shown yourself with this comment to be no gentleman
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:41 am@happyfeet: you are a brazen cad sir, I bite my thumb at you
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:42 amMr Donald’s choice for head of EPA is wonderful. Our country will start allowing industries to be industries again. Let’s leave the windmills to Don Quixote!
And our new Secretary of Energy will say, “Let’s build pipelines from the redwood forests to the gulf stream waters!”
Thank you for defeating that lying nasty Hillary woman, Mr Donald.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:55 amYes, but he’s a liar with an R after his name, so that’s okay, apparently.
Chuck Bartowski (bba342) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:56 amNo wonder the press hates him. They didn’t get they half the big bucks they expected.
crazy (d3b449) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:59 am@Chuck: Yes, but he’s a liar with an R after his name, so that’s okay, apparently.
We had such an abundance of non-liars to choose from…
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:07 amHe’s more blowhard than liar, though he certainly cannot be taken seriously on most matters. Hillary is more liar than blowhard.
JVW (6e49ce) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:10 amMonica Lewinsky agrees with that.
Chuck Bartowski (bba342) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:27 amNot saying others were invariably truthful, just that many on both sides of the aisle call out bad behavior on the other side, but ignore it on their own. Mote and beam.
Chuck Bartowski (bba342) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:28 amIf there must be a liar in the White House, we prefer a liar who will select this Scott Pruitt fellow to run the EPA rather than that nasty lying Hillary woman who would have chosen some left wing nut who hates cars and factories.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:32 amThe guy won and came in under budget.
I would liken this to getting pre-approved before going house hunting. He was prepared to spend as much as a hundred million but he didn’t need to.
34 million could have easily been spent on recounts and lawyers.
Pinandpuller (7ca3fb) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:47 amthank you thank you for not joining your voice to them ones what want to do banning on me
i really a lot appreciate that
this is a time of healing and conciliation
except for snurly union butt nuggets (yucky people) and some others for example the dirty deceitful propaganda sluts and the creepy fascist dorks what are in charge of failmerica’s colleges and universities
but for real americans this is a time of healing
and conciliation
and it is so good
happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:49 amAnd yes, Patterico’s point is proven. No matter what craven lies Trump tells, his supporters will defend him.
So, what’s the point that many are missing?
He was proclaiming this on the campaign trail (when it seemed he was destined to lose) to convince other people to donate to his campaign. The meaning was, “Look! Give money to me so I can defeat Hillary! I’m so invested in this that I’m spending $100 million of my own money. So, you can trust that I’m not in this to lose.” And yes, some people may have donated to him because he (supposedly) put his own money where his mouth was. But he didn’t. That’s a lie.
If he didn’t need to spend all of that money, that’s another thing. Had he said, I’m ready to spend up to $100 million (and didn’t need to), again, that’s another thing. But Trump proclaimed that the money would be donated with no qualifications. That’s a straight out lie.
I don’t know why so many Trump supporters treat Trump the way Obama supporters worship his light loafers. A mark of maturity is to accept that people have flaws (including themselves) and not sugarcoating or denying the bad.
Not everything coming from the (R) camp is wonderful, and not everything from the (D) camp is horrible and against the Constitution. To criticize Trump is not to praise Hillary.
Heck, if Trump was able to run a campaign on the relative cheap, good for him. However, given his past business practices, I wonder how many vendors are now being shorted for services they provided during this campaign. But yeah, he really cares about small businesses, because he says so.
Virginia SoCon (8eb3c5) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:50 amTo criticize Trump is not to praise Hillary.
ugh i hate Hillary
happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:52 amI haven’t commented here in a while. I strongly disagree with the politics of this blog, but I want to say that I respect that Patterico appears to be maintaining his principles in a consistent fashion. That’s definitely not the case with almost anyone else who identifies as a conservative, even most of the former-Never-Trump people.
Not that you care, but I thought that I’d show some respect where it’s due.
Jonny Scrum-half (8088a2) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:55 am@Virginia SoCon:what’s the point that many are missing?
No one is missing the point, they just don’t think this issue is very important, and that it doesn’t rise to the level of a CRAVEN LIE, and that we’d be hearing some kind of criticism of Trump from the media at this point no matter what it was.
If he’d given the money and spent it, then we’d be hearing he wasted it. If he’d given the money and not spent it and refunded it, then we’d be hearing he might as well not have given it. If he floats he’s a witch and if he drowns he’s an idiot who never learned how to swim.
Tired of the fake outrage over trivial issues.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:01 amHillary’s terrible. She even made a bunch of women start crying yesterday.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:01 amWonder if Virginia SoCon is related to the NC one, or perhaps relocated.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:01 amMr happyfeet, you should never be banned. You were a lone voice in the forest, exclaiming, “Follow me, peeps, the path leads over yonder! I’ve got snacks and a jug of water, too!”
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:06 amFortunately, we made it out of the forest safely on November the 8th in the 2016th year of Our Lord.
And that nasty Hillary woman and all of her followers got lost and they were eaten by wolves!
The End. (LOL)
Johnny Scrum-half:I’d show some respect
“Strange new respect”. Patterico’s getting approving linkage from progressives who appreciate his principled stand. Not a lot yet but we’ll get more.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:08 amLyin’ Trump has the MSM stepping on their ovipositors over Boeing’s 4 plus billion dollar AF1 boondogle.
Now a truly legitimate gripe, imo, would be that he never released his tax returns by election day. Let’s see what happens to his audits when he runs the IRS.
*”Legitimate gripe” sounds a little like a swipe at the host so allow me the alternate “serious pledge” for clarity.
Pinandpuller (7ca3fb) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:10 amyes yes a new chapter is begun
happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:11 amWho isn’t a liar? This is poor commentary about elected officials.
Lyle Smith (d56bd8) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:12 amI have no idea who the NC SoCon is/was. I believe I’ve only ever commented under this handle, and use it at other sites, too (Ace of Spades, The Other McCain).
Is this the most important lie that Trump’s told? No. Would I have bothered to read/write about it if I had my own blog? Probably not. Do I really care how much money Trump spends on his campaign? No.
However, none of this distracts from the fact that Trump lies (or exaggerates, or uses puffery, whatever you wish to call it) as naturally as the Clintons. When he lies, I have no problem with anyone (right-wing or left-wing) to call him out on it.
Similarly, if and when he makes good decisions (such as the OK A/G for EPA head), I will praise him for it.
Any questions?
Virginia SoCon (8eb3c5) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:14 amWhat Trump supporters go around saying Trump doesn’t ever lie? What does supporting or defending Trump have to do with recognizing him to be just a man?
Lyle Smith (d56bd8) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:15 am@VaSoCon:as naturally as the Clintons.
Interesting you bring up the Clintons. They used lies about trivial things to distract from bigger lies.
Denouncing every “lie” regardless of importance empowers Trump to use the same strategy. It’s fueled his rise so far, and the people who have opposed him can’t see to help themselves in continuing fall into his trap over and over.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:17 am@VaSoCon: And of course, as usual with Trump, focusing outrageous outrage on his LIE just gets everyone talking about what he wants talked about.
By calling him a liar for “only” donating $66 million, you’re emphasizing that he spent $66 million on his campaign, which will remind people that he spent a lot of his own money.
This has worked for him too many times to list here. All the disputes, for example, about his LIE that he has $10 billion and the Pecksniffs pointing out that he “only” has maybe $2 billion or whatever it was, it all emphasized what Trump wanted emphasized, that he is really rich.
And that’s how he won the primary and the general, by his opponents thinking that this time they really got him. It’s like Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:22 amAnother example: claiming he would have won the popular vote if it weren’t for illegal voting.
What followed: denunciation of his lie, examination of his sources, publicization of those sources and the information contained therein, and everyone talking about illegal voting.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 10:28 amYou know who else was a craven liar? RONALD REAGAN.
He said “Good morning” on days when it was pouring rain and lighting and wind blowing down trees. Liar liar Reagan.
fred-2 (ce04f3) — 12/9/2016 @ 11:26 amhappyfeet gets it. But then, happyfeet got it a long time ago.
fred-2 (ce04f3) — 12/9/2016 @ 11:30 amGabriel Hanna gets it. (“Tired of the fake outrage over trivial issues.”)
How come Patterico doesn’t get it? Is it going to be carping over trivial issues for the next 4 years?
Should have not promised to do something he wasn’t going to do.
As long as we pretend his only options were to waste money or break his promise, it sounds like he was in a Catch-22 at all times. But at one point he had an option: not to make a promise he was not going to keep.
Patterico (bd44cc) — 12/9/2016 @ 12:31 pmAlso, anyone who read this post as a giant ball of OUTRAGE likes whining about criticism of Trump more than they like honesty. He said, looking at Fred-2, the delicate snowflake who cannot hear any criticism of Mr. The Donald without whining and then whining some more.
Patterico (bd44cc) — 12/9/2016 @ 12:33 pmThis is real basic: people who make promises they do not keep are subject to being criticized for it.
Patterico (bd44cc) — 12/9/2016 @ 12:35 pm“THE SOFT BIGOTRY OF LOW EXPECTATIONS: Obama hails Obama for his anti-terror work.
“He gave himself an A,” reports Andrew Malcolm — well of course he did.”
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/251376/
Colonel Haiku (9fca6c) — 12/9/2016 @ 12:37 pmJonny Scrum-half: thank you for the kind words.
FWIW, I have not noticed any giant new linkage from lefties (or sought it out). I’d be interested in any evidence of this. I do not monitor my referrals much but ever since Instapundit stopped linking my blog I don’t think too many others do either.
Patterico (bd44cc) — 12/9/2016 @ 12:38 pmhe’s the sweetest isn’t he
happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/9/2016 @ 12:40 pmJonny was one of JD’s favorite commenters as I recall.
elissa (daedf7) — 12/9/2016 @ 12:50 pmI have a theory why Trump supporters and other Republicans, like me, seem to be giving Trump a pass. First, Trump isn’t President yet, so we withhold judgment until he actually does things (or doesn’t do things) as President. At that point we can and should hold him accountable and make every effort to influence him to do as he said or as we are hoping he’ll do. Second, after 8 years of Obama where almost everything he did was a move in the wrong direction, Trump looks promising because he at least seems to be pointed in the right direction on most issues. Even if Trump makes errors on some things, it will still be much better than before since he’ll be at least moving in the right general direction.
However, if Trump reneges on repealing Obamacare or on immigration enforcement, I’ll be at the front of the crowd with pitchforks, calling him on his lies. (I was a Cruz supporter)
Ken in Camarillo (c5b86d) — 12/9/2016 @ 12:51 pmIn the lie department no “lie” that Trump can be accused of so far is even close to (or will negatively affect as many citizens or the economy) as “If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan you can keep your plan.” This is the high water mark for blatant, overt presidential lies in my lifetime.
Trump is following a master liar in the White House. We need to keep an eye on him but we also need to keep things in proportion.
elissa (daedf7) — 12/9/2016 @ 1:03 pmnarciso (d1f714) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:02 am
Hillary Clinton was said in something in a nedwspaper this week to have spent a Billion.
But Trump also raised moneyfrom other people, so his campaign cost sometghing more than $66 million
His people just told the press this week that he sold about $40 million worth of stock in June. (and so he didn’t own any Boeing stock) But there won’t be any proof till he swears to it in May 2018, and the New York Times editorial page seems to be abit sskeptical.
Sammy Finkelman (54fd00) — 12/9/2016 @ 1:05 pmIf I get 66% of what Trump promised-or even 33%–I’ll be eons ahead of where I’d be under Marco or Jeb!, not to mention where I’d be if “Her” had been elected.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (5e0a82) — 12/9/2016 @ 1:06 pmShout out to Scrote!
Colonel Haiku (9fca6c) — 12/9/2016 @ 1:34 pm@Patterico: Did Instapundit stop linking for a reason, or just tail off?
I mean, you can’t bust Anthony Weiner or get sued EVERY week, so there might not be a specific reason.
As for the lefty love, that if true would not be your fault, of course.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 1:38 pmStay strong, Patterico! https://youtu.be/5lLtVdZKFNg
Colonel Haiku (9fca6c) — 12/9/2016 @ 1:50 pm“We need to keep an eye on him but we also need to keep things in proportion.”
– elissa
Could you say a little more about that, elissa? I’m not entirely sure I follow re: proportion.
Leviticus (efada1) — 12/9/2016 @ 2:03 pmLOL — I went back and re-read your post from October.
You should fess up to the litany of things you got wrong there.
Because you were wrong in what you wrote, should we deem you to have “lied”??
Trump’s comments were only a “lie” if at the time he made them he had no intention of putting $100 million into his campaign. Where is the evidence of that?
A brief google search revealed that he had loaned his campaign $50 million to get through the primary season, since he wasn’t raising any money at the beginning — with GOP establishment donors all going to establishment candidates. By June, after he was the presumptive nominee, he had spent $43 million of his own money, and $20 million in donor money. He publicly declared he would not pay himself back the loan with money raised from donors. On June 1, he had only $1.3 million in his campaign account.
Where do campaigns spend money in the last 45 days of a campaign — TV ads. Nothing else is remotely closes in terms of campaign expense — not even GOTV efforts. If you’ve ever lived in a battleground state, you know that in the weeks leading up to a Pres. election, every commercial break in TV programming has paid political ads.
Trump broke the mold for how to campaign for Pres. He didn’t do TV advertising — he leveraged free media and social media. He predicted this back in June when he said in an interview:
An analysis by a group called SMG Data estimated that the “value” of Trump’s free media coverage through the primary season was over $2 billion.
And he didn’t have huge campaign staffs in the contested states. Rather than try to build from scratch a GOTV effort, which his campaign was ill-prepared to do either logistically or otherwise — he relied on the RNC and the R Senate candidates in states where there were close races.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 12/9/2016 @ 2:14 pmBo Dietl for Mayor of NYC!
Colonel Haiku (9fca6c) — 12/9/2016 @ 2:53 pm@ Virginia SoCon, #26:
According to (more than) half the vocal commenters around here, it was. Binary choice, you see…whatever hurts him helps her, and all that.
“You must be all in on beating the stinkypig, or else you should shut your filthy cuck mouth.” You know. Real family-friendly content.
Demosthenes (09f714) — 12/9/2016 @ 3:17 pmMr. Trump’s gonna create so many jobs I’m kinda scared
i never seen that many jobs get created
what if i can’t keep up what if it’s too much prosperity for me to even handle
now i lay me down to sleep
happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/9/2016 @ 3:50 pmMr happyfeet, it’s like the movie “A Christmas Story” and Santa’s going to bring America a red ryder gun! (LOL)
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 12/9/2016 @ 4:04 pmi love santa
happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/9/2016 @ 4:08 pmProportion is (for instance) knowing there’s a difference between a 6 year old stealing a warm cookie off the counter for himself and a friend when he’s been told to wait until after dinner—and a six year old sneaking into his mother’s purse and regularly stealing money. They are both “against the law” so to speak but the latter is an event that requires serious discussion and discipline because it involves another human being’s property, while the former deserves a word or two and an eyeroll since he was going to get a cookie later, anyway. For me, proportion is applying a weight of measure to help me gauge the true importance of wrong things that occur in and around my life–both personal and professional– which then helps me know how to respond to them, if at all. This is an important measure to apply when assessing events and personnel in public life as well, IMO.
elissa (daedf7) — 12/9/2016 @ 4:13 pmMr happyfeet, unfortunately, some of our #NeverTrump friends are having a sad that Mr Santa didn’t bring us a Barry Goldwater doll.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 12/9/2016 @ 4:14 pmI’ve tried telling them that a Barry Goldwater doll wasn’t on the list, but some of them don’t listen.
i just remember where we were this time last year
yes Virginia yes yes yes
happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/9/2016 @ 4:18 pmOn time and under budget.
For the sake of all the #NeverTrump folks, hopefully he’ll renege on his pledge to take a salary of $1 and instead takes the full $200K paid for by cutting some orphan and widows program.
steveg (5508fb) — 12/9/2016 @ 4:25 pmIt’s $400k. And I don’t think he’s allowed to not take his salary. What he can do is pay it back into the U.S. Treasury.
“The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.”
nk (dbc370) — 12/9/2016 @ 4:44 pm@nk: Since the White House bills Presidents for their expenses, and the salary doesn’t do much but cover it, Trump would be paying it all into the Treasury one way or another.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 4:53 pmTrump spent 1/2 of what Clinton did per voter and still won.
Why spend more if you don’t have to. Makes no sense.
If you say you are going to spend $75K this year on a new car, but get everything you want for $50K, you aren’t a liar.
I realize that you are in a job where precision with words and statements matter to the utmost, but next to nobody cares if Trump didn’t spend the whole $100M… particularly since he was able to win without it.
Maybe the RNC and others offered to kick whatever difference there was, and nobody besides MSNBC cares about that either… hell, Chris Matthews at MSNBC thinks all this noise is sour grapes… marking the one and only time I have ever agreed with him
The people who advised him to target Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania and then helped make that happen really did one hell of a job and beat the worst liar in the race.
Whatever happened to that chant, how does it go?
Oh
Clinton lied, people died
Don’t forget the Nakoula Nakoula video lie.
Clinton is a bad liar and wasn’t real smart either. She ran a popular vote race in an Electoral College election.
steveg (5508fb) — 12/9/2016 @ 4:55 pm“It’s $400k”
Obama sure cost us more than his salary total of $3.2M
steveg (5508fb) — 12/9/2016 @ 4:57 pmsteveg, the Barack family has incurred $85 million in vacation travel.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 12/9/2016 @ 5:03 pm65… unsolicited help, elissa… proportion is:
Not prosecuting a person for dancing around a sombrero in New Mexico.
Or for carrying a lunchbox down Main Street in Las Cruces, NM.
Or prosecuting a female for appearing unshaven in public in New Mexico.
Or prosecuting a woman for riding on horseback down a public street with a kimono on in New Mexico.
Or prosecuting a female for pumping gas in public in New Mexico.
I could go on, but to what end?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/9/2016 @ 5:32 pmNew Mexico… Land of
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/9/2016 @ 5:34 pmEnchantmentIncarcerationMilo went to Indiana to meet the owners of Memories Pizza. He acted normal and had normal hair and got a good interview with nice people. He proved that the restaurant actually serves gay people. Milo apologized to them on behalf of gays who are not the crazy gay lobby. Milo also said that he thought Memories Pizza was one of those moments when real America said “whoa” this stuff has just gone too far and America got behind them with support and money. He commended them on their decency and compassion. I hope MD in Philly sees this video because he was among the many who were horrified by the attack on Memories.
It is Milo at his best. Watch if you have time.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/12/09/milo-visits-memories-pizza/
elissa (875232) — 12/9/2016 @ 5:40 pmIf any of you are interested in watching Milo at Memories I should mention that his actual arrival at the store and the interview starts at around the 5 minute mark. Before that is mostly just waiting.
elissa (875232) — 12/9/2016 @ 5:56 pmThat was well worth the time, elissa. I’m a Milo fan, outrageous behavior or not… in this case, certainly not. I find him insightful, hilarious, and – most of all – effective.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/9/2016 @ 6:06 pmGlad you thought the video was as worthwhile as I did, Colonel. Those business owners and townspeople sure didn’t look or act like “deplorables” to me.
elissa (875232) — 12/9/2016 @ 6:14 pmAgree wholeheartedly. I hope you would agree that nothing about the tenor of the post would suggest anything different.
Patterico (115b1f) — 12/9/2016 @ 7:21 pmNo. I made no promises in that post. Trump made promises which he did not keep. The two are not the same. Are you implying that being wrong about something is the same as a broken promise?
His entire 70-year history of blatant dishonesty. I do not have time to catalogue it all here, but I have catalogued much of it on this blog in the last several months. You do not get to ignore that history of dishonesty in evaluating the credibility of a statement of his, and have right-thinking people deem your analysis to have any credibility itself.
This is not difficult. It is not the lie of the century, especially when compared to the literally hundreds of other lies that come spilling out of his mouth every time he opens it. It is, nevertheless, a lie — and it is a lie that emerged just today. These days, there is an Era of Good Feelings that causes people to forget Donald Trump’s fundamentally dishonest character. I do not forget it, even as I keep it in perspective.
Patterico (115b1f) — 12/9/2016 @ 7:25 pmIf there is a reason, I don’t know what it is.
What I was curious about was, are you talking about something specific or just guessing that this link love exists?
Patterico (115b1f) — 12/9/2016 @ 7:39 pmI’m not really interested in being combative any more. If I seem that way at times it’s probably just that I think people are misunderstanding me.
Patterico (115b1f) — 12/9/2016 @ 7:40 pmYes mil the gay British Jew of Greek extraction, an idiosyncratic vigure
narciso (d1f714) — 12/9/2016 @ 7:41 pm“If I seem that way at times it’s probably just that I think people are misunderstanding me.”
If you don’t want to be misunderstood, you shouldn’t act in ways that will cause misunderstandings.
Hmm, maybe you should ponder on what Salena Zito said, about “[His opponents] takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.”
Calling him a liar because he donated $66M instead of the $100M he said — and BTW he won so evidently the extra $34M wan’t needed — ….. is kinda like calling him a liar if he says, “Good Morning” when it is thunderstorming.
Take him seriously but not literally.
fred-2 (ce04f3) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:13 pmActually Milo’s a Catholic…
Kishnevi (f358ee) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:20 pmLet your yea be yea and your nay be nay….
Kishnevi (f358ee) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:20 pmI’m just listening to Trump’s Grand Rapids Thank You rally of today.
Everytime he mentions a state, he does this little thing.
“[blah] [blah] Utah — I love Utah — [blah] [blah]”
“[blah] [blah] the Democrats spent like $7M on fireworks for the election — [blah] [blah]”
“[blah] [blah] WHen they cancelled the fireworks 3 days before the election, we offered to buy them for 5 cents on the dollar [blah] [blah]”
“[blah] [blah] Michigan — I love Michigan — [blah] [blah]”
Lies, all lies? Donald Trump lies throughout his speech?
fred-2 (ce04f3) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:46 pmIt’s kinda not
Patterico (115b1f) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:54 pmI.e. don’t actually listen to what he says on account of how much he constantly lies
Patterico (115b1f) — 12/9/2016 @ 8:55 pm@Patterico:What I was curious about was, are you talking about something specific or just guessing that this link love exists?
No, it’s just seeing unfamiliar people, not conservatives, stopping in to praise your criticism. They are hoping to make use of you later, seen it happen before.
Gabriel Hanna (9b1f4a) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:17 pmperhaps the push back is due to an expense estimate being treated as an aspiration.
The mote is in your eye.
papertiger (c8116c) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:23 pm
papertiger (c8116c) — 12/9/2016 @ 9:39 pmThe Miracles –Shop Around
re Carrier: the union leader needs to read some Thomas Sowell books. It would help you too, Patterico.
sd Harms (c7dded) — 12/10/2016 @ 4:40 amI swore early on I would not vote for Trump, I ended up voting for him to help make sure we dodged the Hillary bullet. I am cautiously optimistic now. And the constant refrain from Patterico is getting tiresome. Trump is not perfect — but MG, where would we be now if after 8yrs of disaster, we elected a catastrophe???? I may have to take Patterico out of my favorites. He is becoming a broken record.
sd Harms (c7dded) — 12/10/2016 @ 4:45 amRead this memo sent out by the Trump Transition Team at the Department of Energy (with Willis Eschenbach walkthrough).
This memo, as you might expect, is replete with acronyms. “DOE” is the Department of Energy. Here are the memo questions and my comments.
If I were at DOE, this first question would indeed set MY hair on fire. The easiest way to get rid of something is to show that it was not properly established … boom, it’s gone. As a businessman myself, this question shows me that the incoming people know their business, and that the first order of business is to jettison the useless lumber.
Critical information for an incoming team.
Oh, man, they are going for the jugular. Loan Program Office? If there is any place that the flies would gather, it’s around the honey … it’s good to see that they are looking at loan guarantees for electric vehicles, a $4.5 billion dollar boondoggle that the government should NOT be in. I call that program the “Elon Musk Retirement Fund”.
It just gets better and better the further you read.
It has to warm the cockles of the fence sitter and reluctant Trump voter’s heart.
papertiger (c8116c) — 12/10/2016 @ 5:13 amPaper tiger – reminds me of a case I handled in US Attorneys office when I was in civil division. It was a collection/foreclosure action on a few thousand acres of cattle range land. The rancher had borrowed about $5 million from Dept of AG, and defaulted so Ag wanted to collect by foreclosing on his collateral for the loan. Found out after I got started that the rancher had previously used the same prop as security for a $3 million loan from BOfA, and when that money ran out he borrowed $3 million more from Wells Fargo using same collateral. So Dept of AG was in 3rd position and there was no equity left once two banks were paid.
I asked why DOAg had accepted prop as collateral and they said it was all he had. So I asked why wasn’t loan simply refused, and they said “we have money in a program to lend to farmers and if we didn’t make the loan he would have gone out of business and its against DOAg policy to allow a farmer to go out of business. We are a lender of last resort.”
I told them to figure out another way to collect their loan because I wasn’t going to waste my time getting them an uncollectible judgment, when all I would be doing in reality would be to be the bill collector for the two banks.
That was in the mid 1990s. Imagine how many places that kind of program and attitude exists in the various federal cabinet departments.
Shipwreckedcrew (d1767a) — 12/10/2016 @ 10:44 ampapertiger (c8116c) — 12/10/2016 @ 5:13 am
That is very interesting indeed. Thanks for posting the transition team letter and the Eschenbach observations about each question.
elissa (40e914) — 12/10/2016 @ 11:28 ampapertiger (c8116c) — 12/10/2016 @ 5:13 am
Yes, many thanks from me, as well.
felipe (023cc9) — 12/10/2016 @ 1:34 pmDid you hear the one about the gravy train meeting Trump’s transition team? [YouTube]
papertiger (c8116c) — 12/10/2016 @ 3:00 pmJust to revisit the OP:
NYPost article on campaign spending through election day shows that Trump’s campaign spent approximately $95 million in final 3 weeks, while Clinton spent $132 million in that same period.
BUT, and this is the significant part, Clinton finished with less than $1 million in her account, while Trump’s account still have $7 million.
So, I guess he could have put in another $34 million of his own money, and then he would have had $41 million in the account when the election was over.
But what would have been the point of that??
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 12/11/2016 @ 10:47 am@shipwreckedcrew:But what would have been the point of that??
Forget it SWC, it’s #NeverTrump town. Straining gnats and swallowing camels is the order of the day.
If Trump had put in $99,999,999.99 of his own money it would still be a “lie”.
Gabriel Hanna (14083c) — 12/11/2016 @ 11:07 amPatterico: When you’re right you’re right, but you never say ‘I told you so’.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/11/2016 @ 11:38 amGabriel Hanna: So what am I right about?
Patterico: Well, I’ll tell ya, but first you gotta promise not to say ‘I told you so’.
Gabriel Hanna: I don’t say that and I don’t like people who do.
Patterico: That if Trump had put in $99,999,999.99 of his own money, it would still be “a lie”.
Gabriel Hanna: What convinced you of that?
Patterico: Hitchcock took a powder. We can’t find him. He’s somewhere between Dubuque and Hot Springs, Arkansas. I’m not makin’ any excuses for him, but personally, I think he’s makin’ a list and checkin’ it twice. He knows who’s been naughty and he thinks he knows who ain’t nice. The lousy sonuvagun.
Gabriel Hanna: I told you so.
Patterico: Hahahaha! You got a lip on you!
#103 Colonel, I lost my love somewhere between Dubuque and Hot Springs sounds like part of the chorus for a hit country song that hasn’t yet been written.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 12/11/2016 @ 11:56 amIt’s such a relief to have an incoming president who lies sometimes.
Unlike the one we barely missed having, who seems to never tell the truth. About anything. Ever.
Dan S (e312ac) — 12/11/2016 @ 5:09 pmSome of his lies are…well, they are like someone saying 2+2=5.
Donald Trump was going around claiming he won in one of the biggest electoral college landslides in history.
“We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College. I guess the final numbers are now at 306,”
It is one of the biggest upsets at least if you were surprised, on the scale maybe of Truman’s victory in 1948.
But it’s not one of the biggest victories.
It’s on the scale of Truman in 1948, Kennedy in 1960, Nixon in 1968 and maybe Carter in 1976.
Ronald Reagan’s election victory in 1980 was bigger than this, and also 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996.
George W. Bush’s two victories, in the year 2000 and in 2004, were closer, but Obama won by bigger margins both in 2008 and 2012. And the same thing with Eisenhower.
Sammy Finkelman (8b8667) — 12/12/2016 @ 5:35 pm