Trump's alternative facts.

[Elixir]

Sure there are people that believe that. Because Sean Spicer and Donald Trump insist it is true.

Nobody besides suspects themselves.

I bet I can find someone in this small rural town who will agree with Spicer and Trump that Trumps inaugural crowd was the biggest in the history of the world.
For a sufficient sum, I'll offer that it won't take more than a half hour. Believe it or not, there are millions of morons out there who swallow whatever Trump says at face value, and disbelieve any source that contradicts what they are told, including their own eyes and ears.

 

[barbos]

Nobody besides suspects themselves.

I bet I can find someone in this small rural town who will agree with Spicer and Trump that Trumps inaugural crowd was the biggest in the history of the world.
For a sufficient sum, I'll offer that it won't take more than a half hour. Believe it or not, there are millions of morons out there who swallow whatever Trump says at face value, and disbelieve any source that contradicts what they are told, including their own eyes and ears.

OK, nobody with IQ>85

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I bet I can find someone in this small rural town who will agree with Spicer and Trump that Trumps inaugural crowd was the biggest in the history of the world.
For a sufficient sum, I'll offer that it won't take more than a half hour. Believe it or not, there are millions of morons out there who swallow whatever Trump says at face value, and disbelieve any source that contradicts what they are told, including their own eyes and ears.

OK, nobody with IQ>85

You simply don't get it. Trump currently has 30 to 40% approval rating. That means 30 to 40% of the nation supports this idiot and his idiotic claims. They can't all be idiots. Politically idiotic, yes, but idiots that aren't so stupid in other aspects of life.

 

[Elixir]

I bet I can find someone in this small rural town who will agree with Spicer and Trump that Trumps inaugural crowd was the biggest in the history of the world.
For a sufficient sum, I'll offer that it won't take more than a half hour. Believe it or not, there are millions of morons out there who swallow whatever Trump says at face value, and disbelieve any source that contradicts what they are told, including their own eyes and ears.

OK, nobody with IQ>85

From what I can glean, that would encompass about 34% of the population.
That's almost exactly consistent with Trump's approval rating! Coincidence? I think not.

 

[barbos]

OK, nobody with IQ>85

From what I can glean, that would encompass about 34% of the population.
That's almost exactly consistent with Trump's approval rating! Coincidence? I think not.

Actually no, IQ<85 is about 15%

 

[abaddon]

There’s a cynicism that happens to people when liars get their way. I’ve seen it in business, where bait-n-switch scammers overtook a sizable percent of my trade and, with time, the consumer complaints and thus also the media warnings about them have died off because their scam is now normalized into a widespread cynical “oh well, that’s how the people of that trade do things, just pay ‘em and move on”. The lies in their marketing are outrageous lies… but they’re the lies people want to hear, so they believe them because their opinions got in the way of discernment and that's how they got scammed. Then they shrug it off as how things are. Then some even defend the scammers when I try to help a victim realize they're a victim and had paid 3x the market's going-rate on a service. They've been robbed but they choose to believe "Oh, well, he's got to get paid too you know".

Liars here, liars there, liars everywhere. Trump has upped the ugliness about politics in general to the nth degree and is successfully normalizing the increased ugliness and abuses. And the country's got enough idiots in it to make it easy to do. That's a problem that needs noticing, there's no good excuse for saying "oh well, that's politics, they're all liars you know".

 

[migrant]

To me, there is something about Mr Trump's supporters which smacks of religious zeal.
I mean 'religious' in the sense of being without the least scintilla of rational analysis.
Coupled with zeal - that's a powerful combination, shared by fundamentalist religious people East and West.
Is Mr Trump picking up on the global zeitgeist?

 

[funinspace]

So, now what do we do?

We start calling WH press secretary, Sean Spicer, Baghdad Bob.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Saeed_al-Sahhaf

 

[Elixir]

From what I can glean, that would encompass about 34% of the population.
That's almost exactly consistent with Trump's approval rating! Coincidence? I think not.

Actually no, IQ<85 is about 15%

My bad! That 15% is close enough for our purposes (One source says 17%, another 16%... not sure where 15% came from, but it's the same ballpark).
To what do you attribute the apparent non-alt fact that more than twice than many still support the orange buffoon, and seem to believe what he says?

 

[Nice Squirrel]

So, now what do we do?

We start calling WH press secretary, Sean Spicer, Baghdad Bob.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Saeed_al-Sahhaf

Washington Whitey!

 

[jonatha]

From what I can glean, that would encompass about 34% of the population.
That's almost exactly consistent with Trump's approval rating! Coincidence? I think not.

Actually no, IQ<85 is about 15%

In Russia maybe

USA! USA! USA!

 

[Alcoholic Actuary]

Compartmentalize the irrelevancies and approach the subject in an unbiased disinterested way. Whether he's qualified is not at issue. The issue is whether he's lying, and a lie is the utterance of a falsehood with the intent to deceive. He is often dishonest, but not in the form of lying but rather in offering deflective truths. Still, to stay on point, the utterances of falsehoods that I've came across are nothing more than embellishments in the wake of making a broader point--not lies per se.

It wouldn't have mattered if he said there were five million people out there. The point was not to convey that message. The point (although merely an ancillary point) was that there were many more there than being reported. If it takes tea leaves to figure that out, sorry for your luck, but when I catch a 20 lb fish and compare it to your 2 lb fish, most reasonably educated people don't think I'm truly trying to deceive anyone when I talk of the 500 lb fish I caught; ergo, a falsehood without the INTENT to deceive; moreover--not a lie.

What makes this especially egregious is that the statement is taken as if it's being thrust as a primary statement of fact when it's merely an off the cuff comparative comment. The real liars are the ones that intentionally tried to cast the groups size as being a realistic approximation of the count given.

How exactly did you decode what the administration's intent was?

It's not like there isn't an easy way to spin the story: "The weather was shitty, that's why no one showed up"

This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration -- period -- both in person and around the globe.

and even trivial statements like:

This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall.

Those are most certainly lies. Why even say them?

aa

 

[Elixir]

How exactly did you decode what the administration's intent was?

It's not like there isn't an easy way to spin the story: "The weather was shitty, that's why no one showed up"

This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration -- period -- both in person and around the globe.

and even trivial statements like:

This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall.

Those are most certainly lies. Why even say them?

aa

Because that's more honest than telling the truth, as long as you "approach the subject in an unbiased disinterested way."

 

[Alcoholic Actuary]

Would it have been better if US government officials were uttering unprovable falsehoods?

You mean like what's on his tax returns?

I'm sure someone who doubles every reported number before rounding up and publishes outright lies about historic events from yesterday is completely honest about the "unprovable" stuff.

aa

 

[Toni]

How exactly did you decode what the administration's intent was?

It's not like there isn't an easy way to spin the story: "The weather was shitty, that's why no one showed up"

This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration -- period -- both in person and around the globe.

and even trivial statements like:

This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall.

Those are most certainly lies. Why even say them?

aa

Is it a lie if you don't actually know the facts but provide your own data? Or 'data.' That is: best guess fantasy numbers. I'm not sure.

 

[Elixir]

How exactly did you decode what the administration's intent was?

It's not like there isn't an easy way to spin the story: "The weather was shitty, that's why no one showed up"


and even trivial statements like:

This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall.

Those are most certainly lies. Why even say them?

aa

Is it a lie if you don't actually know the facts but provide your own data? Or 'data.' That is: best guess fantasy numbers. I'm not sure.

Nah. Then it's just basic garden-variety BULLSHIT.

 

[southernhybrid]

Is it a lie if you don't actually know the facts but provide your own data? Or 'data.' That is: best guess fantasy numbers. I'm not sure.

Whether we call it a lie or not, many of the things he says aren't true. It's bullshit, or an "alternative fact." If a man is not capable of knowing whether or not something he claims to be true, really is, I'd question whether that man is fit to be the leader of the most powerful nation on earth.

I don't think we currently have a way to impeach a person who is simply unfit due to a mental disturbance, but perhaps we should have put something into the constitution along those lines. We already had one president who was suffering from the symptoms of early stage Alzheimer's during much of his 2nd term. Now we have another president who exhibits more obvious signs of a mental illness. Until we have an overwhelming amount of evidence that he committed treason or a serious crime, we are stuck with this unstable man. I'm sure there are other world leaders who are mentally disturbed, but you usually find them in very autocratic, oppressive governments, not one that at least tries to practice democracy. We're in unchartered territory here.

 

[another1]

We already had one president who was suffering from the symptoms of early stage Alzheimer's during much of his 2nd term

Every childhood punk song I listened to was bitching about Reagan. Come to think, EVERYONE hated his ass. Why do people now look back on tha failed actor and mentally non-present President as some kind of hero? Anyone could have done his job. He had distinguished wrinkles and a good voice. That was all I saw in him, sorry. Trump has some good physical features in his younger footage, which is pouring into Youtube like a billion tons of crude oil. I'm white and my electricity is still on, so no worries, but still... what is the difference when it comes to figureheads

 

[Elixir]

Why do people now look back on tha failed actor and mentally non-present President as some kind of hero?

Kind of a naive question...
Reagan is revered by the billionaire class for inventing the term "Trickle Down Economics", a set of rationale for ripping off the middle class.
The idea is to give the billionaires all the money and maybe they'll let you have a little bit of it.
MAYBE.
Actually, they won't, and that has been proven. But that fact in no way diminishes the value of Trickle-Down-Economics to the people it was designed to benefit.

 

[Toni]

Is it a lie if you don't actually know the facts but provide your own data? Or 'data.' That is: best guess fantasy numbers. I'm not sure.

Whether we call it a lie or not, many of the things he says aren't true. It's bullshit, or an "alternative fact." If a man is not capable of knowing whether or not something he claims to be true, really is, I'd question whether that man is fit to be the leader of the most powerful nation on earth.

I don't think we currently have a way to impeach a person who is simply unfit due to a mental disturbance, but perhaps we should have put something into the constitution along those lines. We already had one president who was suffering from the symptoms of early stage Alzheimer's during much of his 2nd term. Now we have another president who exhibits more obvious signs of a mental illness. Until we have an overwhelming amount of evidence that he committed treason or a serious crime, we are stuck with this unstable man. I'm sure there are other world leaders who are mentally disturbed, but you usually find them in very autocratic, oppressive governments, not one that at least tries to practice democracy. We're in unchartered territory here.

Yes, actually, the vice president can remove the president from power due to gross incompetence or disability which prevents him or her from carrying out the duties of their office.

25th Amendment:

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

I will remind us all that the vice president of the United States is Pence. Trump is crazy all right. Crazy like a fox. Why else keep his daughter and son in law so close?