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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsConclusion after 6mo fact-checking every word out of Trump's mouth: No strategy he's just a liar
Donald Trump said 414 false things in his first six months. Heres what weve learned
Big lies, needless lies, above all else unrelenting lies. With some exceptions, this is not sophisticated deceit.
From the Toronto Star: [link:Full article here|https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/07/20/donald-trump-said-397-false-things-in-six-months-heres-what-weve-learned.html]
U.S. President Donald Trump had just finished making another false statement, ho hum, when he said something especially suspect.
He wasnt exactly sure, he conceded, if this particular inaccurate boast was accurate. And he was worried, he claimed, that a fact-checker was going to give him a Pinocchio.
I dont like those, he said on Monday. I dont like Pinocchios.
Fact check: he really doesnt care about Pinocchios.
The Star has tracked every single word Trump has said, tweeted or issued in his name since he took the oath on Jan. 20. Other than the sheer quantity of lies, whats most striking is their outlandish obviousness.
With some exceptions, this is not sophisticated deceit. Trump is the toddler with purple icing on his face declaring that a fairy must have eaten the last piece of cake.
Weve been victimized, Nyhan said, by a media ecosystem that amplifies statements regardless of whether theyre true, immediately.
Trump opponents worry about a world in which political lying has no consequences. Trump, after all, won the presidency lying all the time, and he has maintained his support base lying some more. When we asked Trump voters in Ohio about Trumps lies, several of them said they like dishonesty that gets elites all agitated.
So the concern is understandable. But the hand-wringing sometimes ignores the dreadfulness of Trumps approval rating, now below 40 per cent. A mere third of the public now thinks he is honest. The exposure of his dishonest claims, especially his dishonest policy pledges, may well be reflected in his historically horrible overall standing.
Trumps persistence has spawned a variety of complex theories about what he is trying to do. Some veteran observers of authoritarian leaders have suggested that he is strategically attempting to obliterate the very idea of an objective reality that differs from what he says it is.
A simpler theory seems more plausible to us.
There is no grand plan. Lying is simply what Donald Trump has always done. Its how his brain works.
He views deception as a more efficient solution than truth-telling. I think throughout much of his life hes been rewarded for defaulting to the lie instead of the truth as most people do, said Steve McCornack, a University of Alabama at Birmingham professor who studies deception. I really think, cognitively, his default discourse-production setting is just to go to the lie.
He wasnt exactly sure, he conceded, if this particular inaccurate boast was accurate. And he was worried, he claimed, that a fact-checker was going to give him a Pinocchio.
I dont like those, he said on Monday. I dont like Pinocchios.
Fact check: he really doesnt care about Pinocchios.
The Star has tracked every single word Trump has said, tweeted or issued in his name since he took the oath on Jan. 20. Other than the sheer quantity of lies, whats most striking is their outlandish obviousness.
With some exceptions, this is not sophisticated deceit. Trump is the toddler with purple icing on his face declaring that a fairy must have eaten the last piece of cake.
Weve been victimized, Nyhan said, by a media ecosystem that amplifies statements regardless of whether theyre true, immediately.
Trump opponents worry about a world in which political lying has no consequences. Trump, after all, won the presidency lying all the time, and he has maintained his support base lying some more. When we asked Trump voters in Ohio about Trumps lies, several of them said they like dishonesty that gets elites all agitated.
So the concern is understandable. But the hand-wringing sometimes ignores the dreadfulness of Trumps approval rating, now below 40 per cent. A mere third of the public now thinks he is honest. The exposure of his dishonest claims, especially his dishonest policy pledges, may well be reflected in his historically horrible overall standing.
Trumps persistence has spawned a variety of complex theories about what he is trying to do. Some veteran observers of authoritarian leaders have suggested that he is strategically attempting to obliterate the very idea of an objective reality that differs from what he says it is.
A simpler theory seems more plausible to us.
There is no grand plan. Lying is simply what Donald Trump has always done. Its how his brain works.
He views deception as a more efficient solution than truth-telling. I think throughout much of his life hes been rewarded for defaulting to the lie instead of the truth as most people do, said Steve McCornack, a University of Alabama at Birmingham professor who studies deception. I really think, cognitively, his default discourse-production setting is just to go to the lie.
Following this, there is a comprehensive list of the lies.
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Conclusion after 6mo fact-checking every word out of Trump's mouth: No strategy he's just a liar (Original Post)
Saviolo
Jul 2017
OP
malaise
(269,067 posts)1. He's not just a fucking LIAR
He knows nothing about everything an dthinks he knows more than everyone in every sphere and field.
CincyDem
(6,365 posts)2. The Dunning-Kruger effect, and the concept of "illusory superiority". That's our DJT.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DunningKruger_effect
He's so stupid about most topics that he doesn't even realize that he's stupid about those topics.
I don't know chit about being a brain surgeon - except I'm smart enough to know I don't know chit about it.
malaise
(269,067 posts)3. Most of us know we don't know a lot
but he is so superior that he has to know more than people certified in their given area.
alittlelark
(18,890 posts)4. That is a very well done and LOOONG list they compiled...