Forever in
the pages of presidential history
FIRST UP: Trump
has lied even UNDER OATH SINCE
2007 – and as the following
dramatic article and video shows it carefully outlines
and explains who Donald J. Trump truly is.
That is, he a lying conniving, bullying,
harsh, name-calling, pathetic person who lies out of habit probably his whole life, and now surely a first for any president in our entire
history.
THIS FROM THE EXCELLENT FACT CHECKERS AT THE WASHINGTON
POST:
If President Trump’s torrent of words has seemed
overwhelming of late, there’s a good reason for that.
In the first nine months of
his presidency, Trump made 1,318 false or misleading claims, an average of five
a day. But in the seven weeks leading up the midterm elections, the president
made 1,419 false or misleading claims — an average of 30 a day.
That adds up to a total of
6,420 claims through Oct. 30, the 649th day of his presidency, according to The Fact Checker’s database that
analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the
president.
Here as they say is the “Tale
of tape” (in Trump’s own words no one else’s).
MORE BACKGROUND:
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Trump falsely claimed last week that he had pulled off “an economic
turnaround of historic proportions.” Speaking at the White House after the
government reported that the economy grew at an annual rate of 4.1 percent in
the second quarter, he declared that the gains were sustainable and would only
accelerate.
Few
economists outside the administration agree with that claim.
His economic statement were at events in Iowa and
Illinois: (1) where he falsely
repeated a claim that the U.S. economy is the best “we’ve ever had,” and (2)
incorrectly asserted that Canada’s trade market is “totally closed.”
A closer look:
TRUMP: “We’ve accomplished an economic turnaround of
historic proportions.”
THE FACTS:
Trump didn’t inherit a fixer-upper economy. The U.S. economy just entered its
10th year of growth, a recovery that began under President Barack Obama, who
inherited the Great Recession. The data show that the falling unemployment rate
and gains in home values reflect the duration of the recovery, rather than any
major changes made since 2017 by the Trump administration.
While Trump praised the 4.1
percent annual growth rate in the second quarter, it exceeded that level four
times during the Obama presidency. But quarterly figures are volatile and
strength in one quarter can be reversed in the next. While Obama never achieved
the 3 percent annual growth that Trump hopes to see, he came close.
The economy
grew 2.9 percent in 2015.
The economy faces two
significant structural drags that could keep growth closer to 2 percent than 3
percent: an aging population, which means fewer people are working and more are
retired, and weak productivity growth, which means that those who are working
aren’t increasing their output as quickly as in the past.
Both of those factors are largely beyond
Trump’s control.
=====================================================
TRUMP: “One of the biggest wins in the report, and it is,
indeed a big one, is that the trade deficit — very dear to my heart because
we’ve been ripped off by the world — has dropped.”
THE FACTS:
Trump is correct that a lower trade deficit helped growth in the April-June
quarter, but it’s not necessarily for a positive reason. He has been floating
plans to slap import taxes on hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign goods,
which has led to retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.
His threats of an escalating
trade war led to many companies to increasing their levels of trade before
any tariffs hit, causing the temporary boost in exports being
celebrated by Trump.
*Note: Trump
now offers billions to soybean producers as a “bailout” to pay for his damaging
trade policy on their exports.
Um, I always thought the GOP hated bailouts. Oh,
I see, only when Obama did to save us after the near total economic meltdown in
2007-2008 then under Geo. W’s reign. Oops…!!!
=======================================================
TRUMP: “We’re having the best economy we’ve ever had in the
history of our country.” (Speech remarks in Granite City, IL).
THE FACTS:
Even allowing for Trump’s tendency to exaggerate, this overstates things. The
unemployment rate is near a 40-year low and growth is solid, but by many
measures the current economy trails other periods in U.S. history.
Average hourly pay, before
adjusting for inflation, is rising at about a 2.5 percent annual rate, below
the 4 percent level reached in the late 1990s when the unemployment rate was as
low as it is now. Pay was growing even faster in the late 1960s, when the
jobless rate remained below 4 percent for nearly four years.
Economic growth topped 4 percent for
three full years from 1998 through 2000, an annual rate it hasn’t touched
since.
=======================================================
TRUMP: “The Canadians, you have a totally closed market ...
they have a 375 percent tax on dairy products, other than that it’s wonderful
to deal. And we have a very big deficit with Canada, a trade deficit.” (Speech
remarks in Peosta, IA).
THE FACTS:
No, Canada is not totally closed. Because of NAFTA, Canada’s market is almost
totally open to the United States. Each country has a few products that are
still largely protected, such as dairy in Canada and sugar in the United
States. Trump also repeated that the U.S. had a trade deficit with Canada. That
is for only goods.
When all is included we in fact have a $2.8 billion
surplus with Canada.
My 2 cents simply stated: How can we tolerate this from this president, in fact
this level of lying from any president at this level?
Thanks for stopping by.
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