NPR has started a new feature called “This Week in Trump’s ‘Alternative Facts’“. It is basically another fact-checking service, but more real time, and focusing on things that Trump and his close aides and advisors say.
This week’s lies include:
Trump’s claims that 3 to 5 million illegal votes were cast in the presidential election (“This is not true, no matter now many times Trump and his surrogates repeat it.”),
Trump’s claim that his election victory was “one of the great victories ever” (it ranked 46th out of 58 presidential elections, close to the bottom),
Trump’s press secretary’s claim that Trump won the most electoral votes of any Republican since Reagan (George H.W. Bush got more in 1988),
Trump’s claim that his speech to the CIA was “one standing ovation, the whole thing.” (“Trump never told the CIA officers to sit at the beginning of his speech, and it is standard protocol without a directive from the president, they wouldn’t have sat down”.),
Trump’s claim that his inauguration crowd had “the largest audience in the history of inaugurations.” (all available evidence shows that it was not even close),
Trump’s claim that it is far easier for a Muslim from Syria to get into the US that for a Christian from Syria (yes, more Muslims than Christians were admitted from Syria, but Christians make up only 5% of the population of that country),
Trump’s claims that during Obama’s recent speech in Chicago, two people were shot and killed in Chicago (completely made up — not only did nobody die from a shooting, nobody was even shot during Obama’s speech),
Trump’s press secretary’s claims that “buy America and hire America is at the core of the president’s plan” (Trump companies — including his daughter Ivanka’s clothing line and pieces sold at his clubs — are made overseas),
Trump’s press secretary’s claim that there has been a “dramatic expansion of the federal workforce in recent years.” (the federal workforce has largely remained steady, and the only thing that could possibly be called a dramatic increase happened in April 2010, when the government hired temporary census workers like it does every 10 years).
My only question is, when is Trump going to sign an executive order abolishing NPR?
On New Year’s Eve Trump tweeted: “Happy new year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don’t know what to do. Love!” Enemies? The only people who admit to having “Enemies” are Donald Trump and 8th grade girls. – James Corden
He yells at his enemies, then ends the tweet with the word “Love!” That’s like getting a letter from your landlord that says, “I’m increasing the cost of your rent! Generosity!” – James Corden
Yesterday Donald Trump tweeted at North Korea after they announced plans to test an intercontinental nuclear weapon. Trump tweeted, “It won’t happen.” I’d like to believe he’s right, but “It won’t happen” is exactly what everyone said about Trump becoming president. – James Corden
I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure you can’t stop a nuclear missile by tweeting at it. – James Corden
Silver’s case is based on two facts. First, that the election changed direction near the end, when James Comey sent his October surprise letter to Congress. Polls respond slowly to changes. Even worse, people, and especially the media, misinterpreted Clinton’s national lead in the popular vote as implying a win in the Electoral College. According to Silver, it wasn’t the polls that were at fault.
Why is this important? Because every time a poll says that people are unhappy with Trump, he is going to claim that the polls are rigged, “just like they were before the election”. He has already done this for polls that said that the majority of people were not happy with the way his transition was going.
Silver points out that polls about the popularity of Trump are easier to get right than polls about whether he would win the election, because (for example) election polls have to take into account who is going to actually show up to vote, which is notoriously difficult to predict.
Wednesday, Trump doubled down, tweeting (in two consecutive tweets):
I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and … even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!
It is very curious that Trump mentioned first “those registered to vote in two states”, because his top advisor Steve Bannon last year registered to vote in three different places (Dade and Sarasota counties in Florida, and Manhattan in New York City) in less than 3 months, and is still registered in both states. In addition, Trump’s daughter Tiffany is registered to vote in two states.
But it gets even crazier. After the presidential election, Trump’s own campaign blocked recount requests by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, saying in a court filing “All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake.”
So which is it? Because if Trump keeps claiming voter fraud, that may well open the door to further investigations into Russian meddling in the election. And unlike Trump’s claims, there is lots of evidence for that.
Sales of the novel 1984 by George Orwell have surged in the last few days, ever since Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway started talking about “Alternative Facts”. 1984 is currently the fifth best-selling book on Amazon.com.
On Sunday, Conway defended the White House’s statements about the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration by referring to it “alternative facts”. What are alternative facts? They are the new phrase used by the Trump administration to explain how White House press secretary Sean Spicer can insist that Trump’s swearing in was “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period” when multiple sources (photos, subway rides, traffic counts) clearly show that it wasn’t even close.
Conway then came up with her own alternative facts, saying “There’s no way to really quantify crowds. We all know that.” Well, if that is true, then why is she insisting that Trump’s was the largest?
Garrison Keillor is searching for a new religion, because he is appaled at all the supposed Christians who voted for Donald Trump.
And so the Boy President heads for Washington to be sworn into office, pumping his fist, mooning the media, giving the stinky finger to whomever irks him, doing his end-zone dance, promising to build the wall, cut taxes, create jobs, provide great health insurance for EVERYONE and send his son-in-law to the Middle East to solve that little problem, and the rest of us will sit in a barn and keep ourselves warm and hide our heads under our wings, poor things. Discouraging.
So I’ve been shopping around for a new religion to see me through the next four years. Too many of my fellow Christians voted for selfishness and for degradation of the beautiful world God created. I guess they figured that by the time the planet was a smoky wasteland, they’d be nice and comfy in heaven, so wotthehell. Anyhow, I’m looking around for other options.
Even the guides didn’t know who she was. Malia received no special treatment, and “performed chores, including cooking, along with her fellow travelers”. The purpose of the trip was to “examine current political trends, social movements and environmental conservation efforts in the mountains and jungles of Bolivia and Peru.”
Then-president Obama personally called the Bolivian president Evo Morales to ensure discretion and security for the trip.
For example, Trump keeps claiming that his inauguration drew the largest crowd in history, which is absolutely false. Not only that, but far more people attended the Women’s Protest the day after his inauguration.
You might not believe it if you listen to conservatives, but the US abortion rate has been declining recently — dropping 14% in the last three years — and now has hit a historic low. The rate is now the lowest it has been since abortion became legal in 1973 (we don’t have a precise idea of the abortion rate before that because, of course, it was illegal).
The obvious question is why. Why are fewer women getting abortions? Is it because some states have passed laws making it more difficult to get abortions? After all, the Texas legislature just introduced a bill that would make receiving or providing an abortion a felony, which if passed (it won’t) would have the added feature of taking away the right to vote from women who get an abortion.
No, that’s not it. The abortion rate has been going down in virtually all states, regardless of whether they have passed anti-abortion laws.
The real reason is because one of the features of Obamacare was that it mandated that health insurance had to cover contraception. It’s simple really: fewer unwanted pregnancies, fewer abortions.
And yet, conservatives hate that mandate, and will almost certainly eliminate it as soon as they can. Which puts conservatives in the hypocritical position of doing something that will dramatically increase the number of abortions in the US.
Some people might say that they aren’t really against abortions, they just want to punish women for having sex. Not men of course, since they just elected a man who brags about sexually assaulting women.
