Political reporters should report honestly that Trump's campaign is based on lies | Press Watch
By: Dan Froomkin (Press Watch)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Dan Froomkin - August 9, 2024 11:38 am EDT
Now that the players have been clearly established, it's time for the political media to turn to the issues.
And when writing about those issues, it's imperative that journalists point out the most salient characteristic of the Republican platform: That it's almost entirely based on lies.
This is not hyperbole. Just listen to Trump's semi-coherent news conference on Thursday (transcript parts one, two and three.) It was lie after lie after lie. The fact checks (by the New York Times, the Associated Press, and MSNBC) barely scratched the surface.
As it happens, the Trumpian vision for the future is most effectively summarized in one handy document, the official Republican platform.
It is a litany of lies — about the border, immigration, the economy, energy, our international standing, the military, you name it.
It's one thing when a party makes unlikely campaign promises. That's normal. But it's another when the underlying premises beneath those promises is wildly deceitful.
Political journalists at our most powerful news organizations are strongly averse to taking sides in a partisan dispute. They don't want to be accused of bias. Their bosses tell them to afflict both sides. They consider themselves above the fray.
But when one of the two political parties' entire argument is so obviously deceitful, from start to finish, it's not right for journalists to treat them alike.
While the "fact checks" are well intentioned, they aren't enough. Every article or broadcast segment about where Trump stands on the issues should make it clear that his entire pitch is built on an edifice of lies.
And if those lies are gaining traction in the public sphere, the media has an obligation to correct them. Anything else is dishonest.
This is Not Normal
And let's be clear: This is not normal behavior for a political party, not even for Republicans.
The 2016 Republican platform, like the ones before, was a more-or-less traditional document, stressing age-old Republican values including a reaffirmation of "the Constitution's fundamental principles: limited government, separation of powers, individual liberty, and the rule of law."
There was no platform in 2020; the party literally couldn't find the words to describe Trump's vision of government, so it just didn't.
By contrast, this new Trumpified and truncated 2024 iteration is based on 20 all-caps MAGA talking points from "STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION" to "REBUILD OUR CITIES" to "END THE WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE."
The core argument is here:
America needs determined Republican Leadership at every level of Government to address the core threats to our very survival: Our disastrously Open Border, our weakened Economy, crippling restrictions on American Energy Production, our depleted Military, attacks on the American System of Justice, and much more.
Lie after lie after lie.
Just as with Trump's stump speeches, the platform is centered around lies about immigration and immigrants:
Republicans offer an aggressive plan to stop the open-border policies that have opened the floodgates to a tidal wave of illegal Aliens, deadly drugs, and Migrant Crime.
But the border is not open. It is "more fortified than it's ever been." There were an estimated 57,000 illegal crossings in July, down from their all-time high of 250,000, marking the lowest monthly figure since 2020. There is no wave of migrant crime. And the vast majority of fentanyl is smuggled into the country not across a porous border but through official ports of entry.
Similarly, despite one day of concerning news this week, the economy is not "weak". Inflation has not "crushed the middle class". Indeed, as CNBC reported in June, "Americans have seen their buying power rise for a year amid falling inflation and a strong job market." The U.S. economy is far outpacing its peers.
There are no "crippling restrictions" on American energy production. For better or worse, domestic oil and gas production are at a record high - as are profits for oil companies.
The platform lies about the U.S.'s international standing: "The Biden administration's weak Foreign Policy has made us less safe and a laughingstock all over the World." It's Trump who made the U.S. a literal laughingstock; foreign officials — at least those from allied countries - are freaked out about the possibility of his return.
Our military is hardly "depleted" - the U.S. spends more on its military than the next nine countries combined.
And some of the lies are worse than just lies, they are projection - accusing the Biden administration of doing precisely what Trump himself wants to do going forward. This is most obviously the case in the platform's commitment to "stop the Radical Left Democrats' Weaponization of Government and its Assault on American Liberty." It's Trump who has promised "retribution" should he regain office; his platform vows to "hold accountable those who have misused the power of Government to unjustly prosecute their Political Opponents."
Finally there are the lies of omission. The word "abortion" appeared 35 times in the 2016 platform (h/t CNN). It only appears once this time around, and includes language that at first glance would leave decisions about abortion to the states:
We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights.
But as the 19th News reported, the platform actually "supports states establishing fetal personhood through the Constitution's 14th Amendment," which "would have the practical effect of prohibiting abortion at all stages of pregnancy."
A Campaign of Deception
Trump and the Republican Party aren't so much trying to persuade as they're trying to deceive. These are not disputes about policy. These are deceptive incitements.
Indeed, there is very little in terms of actual, detailed policy proposals in the platform - or in Trump's stump speeches — just broad strokes with no details, based on lies.
And yes, it's all still operative. "I haven't recalibrated strategy at all," Trump said at his news conference on Thursday. "It's the same policies: open borders weak on crime."
(Violent crime is actually near a 50-year low.)
Journalist Joe Conason, author of the new book The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism put the lies in context in a recent interview with the Washington Monthly, saying:
Deception is central to the contemporary right for two reasons. One is that they've discovered, over a long period, that it is highly profitable to mobilize people's fears and resentments around mythical issues. You can pull in vast sums of money from the right-wing base. The second reason is that facts don't work for them. It is very hard, at this point, to make arguments on behalf of their positions that are fact-based. They push lies, conspiracy theories, fantastical inventions that support their ideological positions. To take one example, there is an idea that the minimum wage costs jobs. Not true. It's been debunked. No respectable economist believes it. Or if you cut taxes, you'll generate economic growth. Not true. It's been disproven over again. So, they rely on falsehoods.
That's the message that American political reporters should be conveying to the public. Doing anything short of that is journalist malpractice. It's aiding and abetting liars.
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Can you name one lie, something that Trump or the Republicans said that wasn't true.
Of course not.
Jesus, it would take about a second to find what WAS true. Which is nothing.
Seriously? The seed lists several.
But if that’s not enough, there’s a wiki page devoted to the topic.
False or misleading statements by Donald Trump
The sheer mass of data on his lies is overwhelming. You want one? How about 30,000?
And that’s only while he was president. You can probably double that to get up to today.
I am truly flabbergasted by this 'challenge'. Do you honestly believe that it is difficult to produce not just one but a litany of lies by Trump (and GOP supporters of Trump)???
As you can see, some of those here's only purpose appears to be to tease, for lack of a non-ticket able word/offense, to get a 'rise' out of people, and is apparently their only pleasure in life.
That would be an incredibly long list. But here is an old favorite of mine...
"My heath care plan will be coming out in 2 weeks..." Trump said that one for over 3 years and guess what? There was no health care plan..
Personally I don't want any person, be it a reporter or a member of a group like NT telling me who is lying about anything. I am perfectly capable of deciding what is bullshit on my own. Having someone do it for you is intellectually lazy. For instance I don't need Hannity or Maddow telling me what is the truth. They are a few miles past simple spin. The only people that you would consider telling the truth are the ones that tell you what you want to hear. Let reporters report and people decide for themselves without the press spins and lies of their own.
Translation...
Maybe you should try to understand my comment before you go with a tired and irrelevant meme. Or are you all for someone telling you what to think?
If you don't want to see contradictory opinions don't venture here!
Still struggling with actually responding to a comment I see.
That can't be Trump...
He isn't wearing a diaper.
Was the butt crack the giveaway?
We don't see any intelligent or contradictory opinions, just mindless and moronic memes.
True but they are free and effortless requiring no analysis or thought from the poster.
That is why I never take you seriously. You are not serious...
My memes are topical while your points on me are not.
My points are to keep the main points the main points.
I mean, what is the point? What points you to that point?
Exactly JBB. Self-delusion is a popular way to ‘escape’ from oneself when you feel vulnerable.
It is good you self reflect. An unexamined life is pointless...
I’m sorry that you’re feeling vulnerable again.
Easily triggered it seems. Apparently I've touched a nerve.
Not possible. All you have is projection.
Quite a few of Trump's mountains of lies are not matters of opinion.
I don't need anyone pointing out. what they believe are lies according to them. Tell me what he said and I am capable of deciding for myself. Why would anyone need or want a perfect stranger with their own agenda making the decision for as to accuracy of a statement? Unless they are just lazy.
What about......
Biden's and now Harris's mountains of misinformation, disinformation, and lies?
Post your proof.
You don't have to prove truth.
If Trump's mouth is open, he is lying.
I don't have the time or the inclination to count them all.
All fact checkers agree. Trump is the most compulsive liar ever.
Is that really the kind of person you want for president?
Kind of irrelevant comment to my comment.
Yet again, this is amazing.
You wrote @1.1
Stating that you actually do not believe Trump said something that was not true. (Including, of course, that the 2020 election was rigged and that Biden is not the legitimate PotUS).
Yet when it comes to the Ds you not only recognize lies (and Harris has lied such as claiming Trump intends to cut social security and Medicare) but hyperbolically describe them as " mountains of misinformation, disinformation, and lies ".
You see no lies from Trump ... a pathological liar who lies on almost every point ... yet typical (as in standard political crap used every year) political lies by Harris are voluminous.
The big one for me, and both parties and reporters are guilty of, is claiming that the presidency has a large effect on the economy. Economies are vast and complex organisms that we try to understand but do not fully.
That said, how do you make the distinction between a little lie and a large lie? There are members here who claim that Trump's lies are no worse than any other politician. Biden's "I punched him in the nose" is put on the same level as "There are millions and millions of criminals flowing across our border. They are all rapists and murderers and crazy people." These two statements are not nearly the same, yet the myth persists in some peoples brains that "all lies are lies and therefore, equal."
and the 'millions of criminals flowing across our border' - he starts at millions, '10 million, 20, 30 million, no one knows how many'
and just keeps repeating the same shit over and over again
that's all his 'speeches' are
the official number is in the three to four million range.
Take whatever Trump says and divide it by at least 5 .
That is the only way they can "win" any arguments.
Fact checks have been done to the moon and back. It barely matters. Even his supporters know Trump is full of shit, but they have convinced themselves that it doesn’t matter, or isn’t happening. That’s how cognitive dissonance and our tribal politics work these days.
You can show flat-earthers the spherical Earth and they will just tell themselves - and everyone else - that it’s an optical illusion. That’s the only way Trump support continues. You can’t save people that don’t want the truth.
What truth are you talking about? The reality of what Biden and the progressives are doing to harm our country and diminish our national security. The majority of American citizens don't want the supposed nirvana of a progressive authoritarian government
It does help if you read.
Democrats/leftists have no room to talk swallowing the pure garbage coming from Kamala's campaign.
If they ever tell the truth it will be the first time.
You’re making my point.
I wonder when they will honestly report that the Harris campaign quietly changed the bio of Walz when they realized they could no longer cover for his lies about his retirement rank.
I have incessantly been told by more than one person here that I am making a big to do over nothing or this is not the hill I want to die on, but if I was doing such things, why was the bio changed, proving I was right all along? Seems like the Harris campaign has admitted exactly what I and others have been saying all along.
Maybe consider it? There’s nothing wrong with critically re-examining your perspective or previous conclusions. It can be very healthy. Is this thing you’re worried about really an important deal for the country? Doesn’t sound like it.
Maybe to remove cracks/ambiguities that partisans abuse to generate ridiculously hyperbolic attacks. In today's political world, if a political opponent does not have a genuine attack they will find a way to fabricate one.
I fully expect Trump supporters to continue trying to make up something that sticks. I do not expect this from Harris supporters since Trump had created a plethora of genuine hard-hitting negatives with his many bizarre actions and wrongdoings. That is, Harris supporters have no need to lie, the truth about Trump is more damning than against any other presidential nominee in my lifetime.