Trump lied during his campaign

Trump used wild rhetoric to attract a certain segment of the American society. One might call it the angry segment of our society, blue color workers who lost jobs, those detesting immigrants, those suffering from Islamophobia, alt-right nationalists, even extremists like white supremacists and neo-Nazis. He promised many things to these fringe groups, and now, after riding his popularity among these groups to victory, Trump is now changing his tune. After promising to “drain the Swamp,” he is now embracing the establishment knowing he needs their support to accomplish his goals. His fiery rhetoric was designed strictly to win the election. Now that he is the President-elect, those promises no longer matter to him.

His supporters argue he is being pragmatic. They cheer him for becoming a realist as the day approaches when he will step into the White House as our President. Others call him an outright liar. His outrageous claims were meant to fool the gullible among us. He succeeded.

With respect to his Presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, he said, “If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there has never been so many lies, so much deception. There has never been anything like it, and we're going to have a special prosecutor.” He added she would be in jail if he were President. That was red meat to his supporters. Now he is saying, “I want to move forward, I don't want to move back. And I don't want to hurt the Clintons. I really don't. She went through a lot. And suffered greatly in many different ways. And I am not looking to hurt them at all.” To his followers he lied.

On climate change he said in March interview, “I think there's a change in weather. I am not a great believer in man-made climate change. I'm not a great believer...I'm not a big believer in man-made climate change.” Following that infantile statement, he said that climate change was a Chinese hoax. In May, he said he would "cancel" the Paris climate change accord. Those surreal statements are now forgotten. Now he says, “I have an open mind to it," he told the New York Times on the Paris deal. "We're going to look very carefully. I have a very open mind.” Asked about the scientific consensus on a connection between human activity and climate change, he added: "I think there is some connectivity. There is some, something. It depends on how much. It also depends on how much it's going to cost our companies.” To his followers he lied.

The most striking promise he made to his hard core acolytes was the one he made about Obamacare. He called it a disaster and on the eve of the election he said, “Real change begins with immediately repealing and replacing Obamacare.” That promise is gone, too. “Either Obamacare will be amended, or repealed and replaced," Trump told The Wall Street Journal, while praising several provisions of the law he said he intends to keep, such as coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions and for adults under 26 who would like to stay on their parents' health care plans. "I like those very much," he said of those provisions.” To his followers he lied.

Many of his gung-ho followers were pleased with his views on waterboarding, particularly those afflicted with Islamophobia. On that subject, Trump said, “I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.” A week before the election Trump bemoaned criticism of waterboarding, saying "we have to be pretty vicious." Gen. James Mattis, a leading candidate to become secretary of defense, said “I've never found it to be useful. I've always found, give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and I do better with that than I do with torture.” Trump was very impressed by that answer. He told the Times. "Look, we have people that are chopping off heads and drowning people in steel cages and we're not allowed to waterboard. But I'll tell you what, I was impressed by that answer. It certainly does not -- it's not going to make the kind of a difference that maybe a lot of people think. If it's so important to the American people, I would go for it. I would be guided by that." To his followers he lied.

His followers cheered wildly when he announced repeatedly that he was going to build a southern wall, having Mexico pay for it, and create a deportation force that would deport the twelve million illegal immigrants already living here. Of course, those were incomprehensible promises, but his loyal followers believed him. Now, according to his interview with the New York Times, part of the wall could be a fence, he will deport only illegal immigrant felons, and there is no mention of sending Mexico any bill. To his followers he lied.

Saving the best for last, there is the matter of his business empire. His dealings here could get him impeached. Once again he lied to his faithful when he said in January, “If I become president, I couldn’t care less about my company. It’s peanuts. I want to make America rich again and to make America great again.” Now he is saying, “The law is totally on my side, meaning, the president can't have a conflict of interest." That sounds an awful lot like Nixon when he said, "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal." Well, we all know what happened to Nixon.” To his followers he lied.

Actually, it could become more critical than that for Trump. He is on a collision course with the emoluments clause of the Constitution. Some argue the "emoluments" clause provides no alternative short of impeachment. Here is what the emoluments clause says. "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." An “emolument” refers to compensation for a service or labor, according to the New York Times, which raises the question of whether foreign payments to Trump-owned businesses constitute forbidden emoluments.

Vox stated, "The president-elect rode to office promising to ‘drain the swamp’ and tamp down on corruption in Washington, DC. At least in the eyes of legal scholars, he instead looks poised to begin his presidency by breaking the highest law of the land for private gain."

If the Electoral College decides in his favor, the Trump Presidency will, indeed, be the most volatile and controversial in our 240-year old history as a nation. This could easily become very interesting.

 

And yet, he will still be seen as the ultimate 'truth-teller' because he is 'un-pc'. Its not whether you lie anymore, its about how you lie. You have to lie big, lie loud and lie with bravado to win the hearts and minds of this nation's fools. Most importantly you have to repeat the lie and repeat it again as long as it is useful.

 

So what ! Hillary napped for weeks.

 

Hilary has been labeled a congenital liar yet people are so concerned about boasting during a campaign.

 

And Hillary was the model mentor of truth telling.... send me some of what you are smoking....

 

Trump won because Hillary sucks buttermilk big time.

 

For years Republicans complained about the Republican elite putting up Democrat light candidates that could not win. The Democrats put up a socialist and a political hack dynasty this election. One wonders what will come out of this next election. So far it appears that the DNC wants to go even farther left. After losing so much the last decade or so nationally you would think they would get a clue.

 

the ignorance of your opening paragraph is why Trump won. Liberal tears are delicious.

 

The opening post reminds me of a great Line from the movie CONAN THE BARBARIAN

Conan, What is best in life

Conan: To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women. Well the Hillary hordes have been crushed and driven before us and all that remains now is the lamentations of their women!

- - - Updated - - -

Hillary was the most dislikable POS to ever run on a major party ticket since I have been alive (1959)

 

Assuredly, graduates of Trump U. will not vouch for his honesty, and there are countless verifiable instances of lawbreaking and reproachable offenses attributed directly to him involving his business dealings. In fact, he could possibly become the first American President to perjure himself taking the Oath of Office.

A driving obsession to win apparently made deceit a justifiable compromise. He switched parties in order to get the Republican nomination and pretended to endorse their ideals.

To me, the fact that he is now changing his stance on many issues is comforting, but I am worried about Pence, who I am confident will play a major role in this administration.

 

They live in a msm hall of mirrors where everyone agrees with them and they are given their 'marching orders' by the Democrat party. They live in a different, alternate universe. That is the only explanation as to how gob-smacked they appear to be. They deny that there is any alternate media and are self-selectively ignorant.

 

He was qualifying his position as politician. And after the election went about securing his position as chief snowflake.

 

That's being premature, Sandy. We will be able to judge that better after his first year in office.

Again, we'll see.

I think he meant it when he said it, in the heat of the campaign battle. But when you've won, and you want to move forward and build unity, it can change your perspective. Even my perspective is gradually changing on that which is no small matter. She's old, and she's defeated, and there is much to be done. Trump may receive some carping (mostly from the left, ironically) if he doesn't go after her, but the caterwauling would be deafening if he went after her, and it would overshadow everything else.

"I'm not a great believer" and "I have an open mind" are not mutually exclusive. This is no big deal to me.

Nah. Obamacare is failing. It is a sinking ship. It does have to be repealed and replaced, or amended.

I never gave that statement any credence whatsoever. Waterboarding is out, and it's out for good. I always thought that was a dumb statement from Trump, but I was unconcerned with it because I knew it was out of the question.

I always knew there would be no wall like the Berlin Wall. It's not physically possible, especially in the mountains. I have always thought of "the wall" as border security. Part wall, part fence, part surveillance, and part sheer personnel to patrol and capture violators. And btw, if we take other measures - like deporting criminals and keeping them from returning, we save a ton of money. The fewer we have to incarcerate and deport, the more money we save. Careful, controlled, vetted immigration saves us money, so yes, indirectly, Mexico pays for it.

There is no law that I know of that says a president must give up his business to be the president. I don't think Washington and Jefferson sold the family farms, did they? How about Jimmy Carter's peanut farm? If he makes decisions that are a conflict of interest, the press will be all over that in a heartbeat. I have long been a supporter of the idea of term limits for members of Congress. What I envision is that they leave their businesses to do service in Washington, and then, when their time is up, they return to them.

The Times is wrong then. That's not what the Constitution means. It means that a president may not receive money from a foreign government for some service he renders using his power of office. It does not mean that if people go to his hotel in some foreign country, that he cannot receive compensation for that.

Again, if you can point me to a law that says the POTUS must completely divest himself of any income from his previously owned business, I will admit my mistake.

Yes, it's going to be interesting.

My two cents ...

 

Jimmy Carter turned his peanut farm over to an attorney in Atlanta...

Trump has 500 businesses.

 

this is what i find particularly delicious, the sheer hypocrisy of these whining snowflakes. after over a half-century of watching the political circus i have yet to see a campaign that didn't contain its fair share of exaggerations, mild deceptions and even outright lies. hillary did it, bobo did it, romney did it, bush did it and on and on and on. it's all part of the political game and we've even come to expect it. what is actually so surprising about trump is that he told so few out and out lies. he stretched the truth and exaggerated, but very few true lies of substance. while the media looked to brand nearly every word out of his mouth as a lie, we soon found that most of the time it was the press that was lying to us, carrying the water for the democratic party, the party of deceit. while the drones seek to brand the president-elect as some grand and evil deceiver, they don't seem to mind the constant deception over the last eight years from this administration and their defeated candidate when she was a part of bobo and company.

of course, they have reason to be afraid. for most of the last decade they have cheered as their current messiah has tried to play emperor, by-passing any opposition and throwing hissy fits whenever he didn't get his way. they are scared to death that the precedents bobo has tried to set during his tenure might now be used against their cause. while it would be funny as all hell to see the empire they have tried to create crumble by the very same tactics that were used to institute it, we should probably hope that a president trump will have more respect for the constitution than the outgoing administration had.

 

"Progressives" lost during the campaign.

 

Obviously Trump supporters could care less about the country only that LICE Trump won.

 

Opinions are like (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)s and everybody has one.

 

So you blasted him for running on the issues he was running on, and now that he has back pedaled a bit on things like sending your candidate to jail, you blast him again. Ha ha.

Hey ain't you one of them people they call a blind partisan ideologue? And therefore incapable of being anything but deeply subjective? Your affection really jumps out in your post. Your prejudice showing.

You know trump is gonna made America great again, even if he did change his mind on pushing to get Hillary investigated. Even if he found out there are places on the border that building a wall would be not needed due to the terrain, and the problems with erecting a wall in such terrain. He changed a bit on immigration as his long campaign went on. He put dealing with the non criminals with American born children off, to be looked at deeper and decided at a later time once he got the criminals out and buil the wall. IMO, if he ever gets to the point of dealing with the illegals with aamerican kids, there will be some kind of amnesty. Amnesty will happen sooner or later for it is the only reasonable solution. But the flow has to be stopped so this never happens again.

Trump is going to be a much better president than Hillary. Economically and with foreign policy. He is going to surprise people. I predicted he would win, against the polling, and I also predict his presidency will be a notable one, in a positive way. Change will come from it, and positive change, from bringing simple sanity back.

 

You have to get over it dude.

 

I must admit I have felt like a kid on Christmas ever since the election.

Tuesday night was Glorious...

I care about the future of our Country,

you can call that identity politics if you like.

Right now I am getting a big kick out of messing with

people like you and I know I will never change your

mind regardless of the facts or reality.

We are wired different.

Why waste my time with long drawn out policy arguments when

long drawn out pokes in the eye are a lot more fun right now.

 

Very well said.......

 

Some times you really don't make any sense.

 

'You can fool some of the people some of the time........ " you know where I'm going with this Lincoln quote.

 

It worked splendidly for the messiah of Democrats, their hero .... drum roll, Barack Hussein Obama. Now you get how he won.