Why Trump lies

[Demovictory9]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/06/16/why-trump-lies/

If you are looking for an explanation for why the president says things over and over again that he knows are false, consider this quote that is often attributed to Vladimir Lenin: “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” (The fact that one of Lenin’s most famous quotes may itself be apocryphal only proves the point, in an odd way.)

There are many reasons people lie. They do it to cover up bad behavior, for personal gain or because of some personality disorder. All of these things may be factors with Trump.

But Trump also lies as a strategy — as evidenced by his latest whopper, which he keeps repeating, that Democrats are to blame for the administration’s horrific new policy of ripping children of undocumented immigrants away from their parents.

On Saturday — the beginning, ironically enough, of Father’s Day weekend — he was at it again:


Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change! This is why we need more Republicans elected in November. Democrats are good at only three things, High Taxes, High Crime and Obstruction. Sad!



Why doesn’t Trump act to stop something he created? And why does he keep lying about why this is happening? My colleagues Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey explained it in a front-page story in Saturday’s Post:

President Trump has calculated that he will gain political leverage in congressional negotiations by continuing to enforce a policy he claims to hate — separating immigrant parents from their young children at the southern border, according to White House officials.

[BigmanPigman]

1. And the deplorable idiots in the US

eat it up. The approval rating of the view of Canada has dropped 30 percentage points in two weeks.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. Trump lies because he can.

He's gotten away with it his entire life (I'm sure it goes back to his days in the military academy). It's worked well for him before, so why change now?

Nobody is challenging him to his face, certainly not the GOP, nor the MSM. No one wants to lose their coveted seat in the White House Press Room by pissing off Dotard or SHS. Fear is a powerful motivator.

Every time someone says the "the president misstated" or "mistakenly said" or use any other euphemism for "lie" they are doing their viewers/readers a disservice. That's why I like Lawrence O'Donnell. He was the first person to say, "The president is a liar." He calls him out multiple times every show. Trump threatened to sue O'Donnell for saying that IQ45 was lying about being worth more than $1 billion. He didn't bring the action, even though Lawrence taunted him during every show: "I know his big secret, his biggest secret, and he knows that I know it: Donald Trump cannot afford to sue me."

My hero is the woman during the outdoor press gaggle on Friday (held to divert attention from the Manafort jailing is my guess) who yelled out, "Why are you lying?" Unfortunately, her voice was drowned out by the screaming of the other reporters, who were trying to out shout each other to prove to their bosses that they were doing their job. Sorry, but my degree is in journalism, and I think the public would better be served if only one person asked a question at a time. A spectacle like that allows Trump to pick and choose the questions he wants to answer, and discourages follow up questions. What you learn in J-school is: "Ask the question. See if the subject's response answers the question, and if not, ask the same question again. Repeat the process until you get an answer."

I think that should be the only question repeated whenever someone interviews IQ45 or one of his minions: "Why are you lying? I have a follow up -- Why are you lying?"

[Grammy23]

4. Whenever I see the Daily Press Briefing

and Sarah gives a non-answer answer, I long to see the next person she calls on to repeat the question. And as long as she fails to give a straight, truthful answer, they have a deal among the journalists that they will continue in that fashion until they get an answer that is true. Or she gets mad and leaves in a huff. It is just my pipe dream but I still hope to see that one day. My blood boils when she acts like the journalists are bad children in need of discipline. Or she lectures them on why SHE is tired of repeating herself.

News flash, Sarah: we are tired of you and your lies.

P.S. tRump needs the same treatment but his head would probably explode. I’d like to see him lose it on live TV, so I highly encourage them to adopt this strategy. Must see TV.

[HeiressofBickworth]

3. My bat-shit-crazy mother always said

she lied for two reasons: one, to improve her image and, two, to get someone to do what she wanted. She referred to it as "inoculating" someone.

Trump's pattern of lies convinces me of one thing: Trump is my mother.