Donald Trump...our very own Fabulist-in-Chief!

[iambiguous]

My gut feeling is that barring one or another truly grim crisis [at home or abroad] Trump's second term is not likely to "destroy us".

Besides, what some see as destruction, others see as anything but. And, as often as not, this revolves around moral and political and spiritual prejudices rooted existentially in dasein. And, thus, ever and always subject to change given new experiences, new relationships and access to new sources of information and knowledge.

On the other hand, my own reaction to Trump and his policies is no less fractured and fragmented. Instead, what I despise most about him are his endless fucking lies.

For instance:

"CNN anchors John Berman and Sara Sidner roasted President Donald Trump as fact-checker Daniel Dale went over some of the “13 biggest lies” of his first month in office.

Dale marked Trump’s first month-anniversary of the second term with a list of just the top 13 “lies”:

* The tale of the $50 million – no, make it $100 million – in condoms for Hamas
* Blaming Ukraine for starting the war on Ukraine
* The (non-)uniqueness of birthright citizenship
* More up-is-down reversing of the reality of January 6
* A gusher of deceit about California water policy
* The election lie he refused to let die
* That fable about Olympic boxers, again
* The president’s fictionalized northern neighbor
* Blasting Biden for a program launched under Trump
* Relentless deception about who pays tariffs
* A wild exaggeration of the increase in autism rates
*China’s (non-)operation of the Panama Canal
* Trump’s invented dominance with “the youth vote”

Or, [False or misleading statements by Donald Trump - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_or_ ... nald_Trump)

Or, as Mary McCarthy is said to have once described Lillian Hellman, "every word she writes is a lie, Including 'and' and 'the'".

Or, "how do we know when Donald Trump lies? He opens his mouth and says something."

Only Hellman was not president of the United States tasked with, among other things, carrying the "football" around with her wherever she went.

Now, as we all know, lies are often rationalized by moral and political objectivists. Why? Because their own particular "kingdom of ends" often comes to revolve around "by any means necessary".

Only with Trump the lies seem to revolve far less around ideology and far more around his utterly narcissistic personality.

Someone once said, "may you live in interesting times". It was meant to be ironic as I recall. With Trump though, just how "interesting" will our lives become?

[iambiguous]

More of the same...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/03/us/p ... ction.html
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/l ... nald-trump
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/10/politics ... index.html
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump ... 3d3f4052dc

Or just Google "Trump Lies": https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump ... 3d3f4052dc

[iambiguous]

CNN:

"President Donald Trump keeps lying not only about the 2020 election he lost but the 2024 election he won.

"In a Saturday speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump correctly noted that he earned 77 million votes in 2024 — then falsely said his vote total was “actually much more than that,” since unspecified people 'cheated like hell.'

"There’s no basis for this claim. Trump’s official vote total is his actual vote total, and there is no evidence of unsuccessful cheating by vote counters or by his Democratic foes."

Of course, lies -- hyperbole, exaggeration, hypocrisy -- of this sort are always going to be trickier to pin down. Why? Because no one really knows everything about any particular presidential election.

And lies and politics are, after all, often interchangeable with so much at stake. With Trump however it's the staggering accumulation of truly flagrant lies that boggle the mind.

The Deep State itself [and that includes those like Biden] is starting to pull away from some of his more precipitous EOs.

Come on, the economy is still booming. But if Elon Trump's policies result in, say, explosive inflation and/or general economic turmoil...? I suspect that any number of those on Wall Street are getting jittery. Again, with the economy still performing well and with America involved in no large-scale military conflicts, what if Trump does fuck it all up?

[iambiguous]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/23/us/p ... ality.html

In Trump’s Alternate Reality, Lies and Distortions Drive Change

"The United States sent $50 million in condoms to Hamas. Diversity programs caused a plane crash. China controls the Panama Canal. Ukraine started the war with Russia.

"Except, no. None of that is true. Not that it stops President Trump. In the first month since he returned to power, he has demonstrated once again a brazen willingness to advance distortions, conspiracy theories and outright lies to justify major policy decisions.

"Mr. Trump has long been unfettered by truth when it comes to boasting about his record and tearing down his enemies. But what were dubbed “alternative facts” in his first term have quickly become a whole alternative reality in his second to lay the groundwork for radical change as he moves to aggressively reshape America and the world.

"If the U.S. Agency for International Development is stupid enough to send prophylactics to a Palestinian terrorist group in Gaza, he claims, then it deserves to be dismantled. If recruiting people other than white men to work in the airline sector compromises safety, such programs should be eliminated. If China controls the strategic passage through the continent, the United States should take it back. If Ukraine is the aggressor, it should make concessions to Moscow."

On the other hand, Trump can only get away with this if his "base" is stupid [or ignorant] enough to believe him. Or, perhaps, accept that they are lies but they got him into power. If that's what it takes to bring America back around to the 1950s, so be it.

Just Google "why does Trump's base believe his lies"

https://www4.bing.com/search?q=why%20do ... cc=0&ghpl=

Then take your pick of assessments you believe are the least ridiculous.