In a one-minute twenty-five second stint on the ABC political program, “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Donald Trump answered a question with a fifty-second long lie. Trump does not just spread false information, he’s mastered it with long winded, rebuttal squelching nonsense that leaves the questioner winded.
Trump spoke of thousands of New Jersey Arabs (wonder if he ever considers they may be American) who by the thousands were celebrating the falling of the Twin Towers in NYC. Stephanopoulos, attempted to challenge ‘The Donald’ with fact based evidence from the New Jersey and New York police departments. No evidence exist of “thousands” of cheering protagonist of the the attack but for Mr. Trump, if the lie serves his purpose, full steam ahead. A Black Lives Matters protester, who attended a Trump rally over the weekend, dared exercise his right to free speech and peaceful protest and was beaten and cursed by followers of Mr. Trump. Later, Donald Trump stated, his being roughed up was maybe “deserved.” For a man who professes his love of country, which I don’t doubt, and his adherence to the Constitution, a pesky little thing like the First Amendment can be a nuisance.
The more disturbing factor in all of the Trump, phone in, TV interviews and rallies is the demurring reporters who appear overmatched in his presence, like shy children. The louder and more repetitive, like a self-taught parrot, his lies become, the more effectively he cowers the opposition. Since when does a loud, obnoxious, entertaining lie, overcome truth? A prime example, is when asked how he would roundup millions of undocumented immigrants, his answer was good management, and for effect he repeated it. When really pressed for an answer, he goes for the three time repeated non-answer. Stop me if this filibustering bluster sounds familiar, “We have stupid leaders, we have stupid leaders, and our leaders are stupid!” Sometimes repetition is a self-fulfilling prophecy.