Ted Snider has an excellent article pointing out in detail 11 lies Trump told about Iran in a recent speech. Actually, he pointed out 11 false statements. A lie means there is an intent to deceive. How do we know that Trump knows that his statements are false? How do we know that he intends to deceive? Here are 11 reasons why we know. Granted, some of these assume that the White House people actually know stuff. They also blunder. They also have hubris. They also act emotionally out of ill-conceived motives. None of these categories are mutually exclusive.
1. Trump says he’s a genius. As genius-in-chief, he knows.
2. Trump has access to all sorts of brainy people. They figure these things out.
3. Trump has access to all sorts of information. His brainy people inform him.
4. Trump has people who can fact-check his remarks.
5. Trump knows what he’s saying. He calculates and schemes.
6. Trump didn’t get where he is by being as ignorant as his false statements suggest.
7. Trump has an agenda regarding Iran and Syria, and his statements paint an overall negative picture of Iran that serves his aims. He has made his agenda known, and it includes no Iranian nuclear bomb ever, no Iranian ballistic missiles, and an Iranian rollback in Lebanon and Syria.
8. Pompeo is telling more lies that complement Trump’s lies, and this supports their agenda. There is a concerted lying campaign going on.
9. The whole speech of Trump is of one pattern or aim, constructed to achieve that aim. The pieces have been twisted out of shape in order to fit the pattern.
10. The individual lies are BIG lies. They are so outrageously false that Trump and Pompeo and Bolton all have to know that they are lies.
11. The Trump et al rhetoric is repeating the same negative phrases about Iran over and over. There is clearly a concerted effort going on.
Those who have examined Trump’s statements for the past few years may say that Trump lies a great deal. That still leaves us with the burden of examining the special case of Iran. My verdict on that: Trump is guilty.
8:51 pm on May 13, 2018
