1. Item: PBS. During a Monday night segment of her PBS News program, long time progressive hack Judy Woodruff said, “The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the Prime Minister of Israel, urging him not to cut a deal right now, because it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign.” It was a total fabrication. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office immediately denounced Woodruff’s reporting, and Netanyahu’s office released a statement denying an Axios’ report about a phone call between the prime minister and Trump about the Gaza hostage and cease-fire deal that the outlet claimed happened on August 14. Trump also denied both reports.
Woodruff subsequently issued an apology and retraction on Twitter/X, explaining that her false statement was “was not based on” her “original reporting,” and that she was only “referring to reports” she had read in Axios and Reuters. She was apparently lying about that, too. Nobody can locate any items either in Axios or by Reuters that Trump urged Netanyahu not to “cut a deal.” And, as several have pointed out, the Woodruff retraction was on Twitter to the fools who follow Woodruff, a far smaller group than the millions who inexplicably watch PBS news.
Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” are “baseless, you know. The people who are trying to rig this one say so.
2. Item: The Washington Post. The Post’s Factchecker, Glenn Kessler, periodically has to pretend to be non-partisan so he will be believed when he calls Trump and Republicans liars. This time, he grabbed some metaphorical low-hanging fruit, flagging this tweet by the Harris-Walz campaign on Augsut 14, “Fact: Trump announced a budget to cut Social Security and Medicare every single year he was in office,” and Harris’s remarks at a Raleigh, N.C. rally on August 16, in which she said,“Remember he tried to cut Medicare every year he was president, threatening a program that tens of millions of seniors count on.”
I always admire the “remember” ploy when someone is stating something that never happened at all, don’t you? Kessler gave the Harris campaign only three Pinocchios, despite writing,
“Expect to hear some version of these claims throughout the Democratic National Convention and for the rest of the election season. Donald Trump has repeatedly said he will not touch Social Security and Medicare if he is reelected, despite a financial crunch in the coming decade, and this attack line is intended to show that his promise cannot be trusted. Trump has rarely been consistent on policy, so it’s a matter of opinion whether he would keep his promise. But this attack is misleading. His proposed “cuts” to Medicare in the budgets for the fiscal years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 were intended to save money and extend the solvency of the program — and were mostly borrowed from the Obama administration. Trump also did not propose changes to Social Security retirement benefits in those budgets; instead he sought (relatively minor) savings from the Social Security disability program.”
Isn’t it clever how Kessler and his ilk manage to impugn Trump even when they are supposedly defending him? And why just three Pinocchios when he essentially says the Harris claim is an outright lie? That’s because four Pinocchios is reserved for Trump’s lies, of course.
3. Item: The Atlantic. Headline…“The Democrats’ COVID Amnesia: Keeping schools closed for so long was a mistake, and the Democrats shouldn’t pretend Harris is responsible for opening them.” I encounter the “he/she/they shouldn’t have done that” equivocation constantly when talking with immovable Democratic Party zombies and the Trump Deranged.
Them: “You can’t believe Republicans!” Me: So you have no problem with the Democrats covering up Joe Biden’s dementia for years? Them: “They shouldn’t have done that, but…”
Them: “It’s racist to call Harris a DEI Vice-President.” Me: Biden said she was a DEI Vice-President! Them: He shouldn’t have done that, but…”
Them: “Trump does nothing but lie!” Me: Trump? Biden keeps saying that Trump praised white supremacists. He says no servicemen lost their lives in his term. He says he lowered inflation from 2020! He…Them: He shouldn’t say all that, but…
Them: Pronouncing her name wrong is subtle racism! Me: Bill Clinton pronounced it wrong! Them: He shouldn’t have done that, but…
Even when the Axis news media pretends to be objective, it is slanting its commentary toward its ideological allies.
Ethics Alarms 
A relevant aside, I think, about the DNC.
This morning I read a fawning description the fashions worn by the women on stage. It raved about thier frashion forwardness and their attachement to the expensive houses of fashion.
Later in the morning I read that the Taliban in Afghansistan has issued some revised fashion and behavioral norms for the women that the Bdien/Harrisadmisitration abandoned.
Is this cognitive dissonance or just pure hypocrisy?
Do you think any of Trump’s untrue statements about Democrats have had any affect on voting behavior?
Pat “The Curious Courier”
Such as?????
Doesn’t have to be specific, just his falsehoods as a whole. What impact do they have on the voters and how they vote or perceive the Democrats?
Pat “The Curious Courier”
Of course it has to be specific. The “Trump lies” trope flourishes in generalities. Give me a genuine Trunp lie about the Democrats as unquestionably false as the “Trump said there would be a bloodbath if he loses” and “Trump said white supremacists were “very fine people,” which Democrats quote as fact to me and others all the time. Even “Trump led an insurrection” is a lie on its face, and that’s repeated over and over again. In fact, give me three “Trump lies about Democrats.” It should be easy, if you’re not just repeating talking points.
Sorry, are you arguing Trump hasn’t expressed any falsehoods about the Democrats that you can think of? I’ve read your blog and know you’ve covered him extensively.
Are there are no Trump falsehoods about the Democrats that you think are substantial or can think of?
Just trying to understand your argument here.
Pat “The Curious Courier”
Good grief. Don’t play these ridiculous games with the readers here, nor the host. So far, you’ve been neither a “courier” (because you’ve delivered nothing of substance) nor curious (because you seem completely disinterested in engaging in anything but vague generalities).
Do better.
Anyways, your original inquiry is a trick question, because President Trump hasn’t made any untrue statements about Democrats.
Pat. Last chance. I know a “whataboutism” ploy when I see it. The post was about how the biased pro-Harris media enables and minimizes Democrats lies about Trump, et al. You asked, “What about Trump’s lies about Democrats.” I asked, simply, “Name one…Ok, name three. You keep dodging.It’s a fair question. I’ll give you one: the AP flagged Trump’ claim during the debate with the Democratic nominee at the time, what WAS his name? that the Democrats were extreme about abortion, and wanted abortion to be legal 8, 9 “months even after birth.” The AP piously explained that no state allows post birth abortions, but Trump wasn’t taling about law, he was talking about the attitudes of the far left regarding abortion. And regarding situations where abortions fail and a child is born live, Democratic Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam, am MD, very clearly expressed the attitude of “them” in this situation: you let the baby die. Moreover, there is no apreciable difference from aborting a child in the 9th month or 8th month and aborting child after birth.
So 1), what Trump said wasn’t a lie, and 2), nobody inclined to vote for a party that is already radically pro abortion would be dissuaded by Trump’s statement.
Your turn.
Announcement: Pat is banned. Of course he/she/it is. You can read the thread…with this next-to -last comment, Pat again refused to answer a simple request to give an example of what he/she/it was implicitly claiming. Which is pretty damning, I must say—-but typical of the breed.
What a weak trolling attempt!
Remember, don’t respond to banned commenters like this—your own comment gets spammed with it, and Pat has wasted enough f our time.
Oops, I guess I should have scrolled down a few more comments to see that you had already banned Pat.
Never mind. Your reply was well composed and well-earned. I was really surprised that Pat couldn’t confidently raise a single example of what she was purportedly writing about. Talk about having your bluff called!
Long time reader Jack. To me it seems Pat “the curious jerk” was asking what you think what impact Trump’s falsehoods, as a whole, have had on the electorate.
Not any, one specific lie, but all them combined.
BILL
Even so, that leaves it up to me to decide what “lies” she’s talking about. It’s an incompetent question, just like the general “Trump lies all the time is meaningless without specifics. I reviewed the whole alleged Trump lies” database the Post put together. It was less than 20% actual lies, if that. And I gave Pat examples to guide an answer. Nothing. trump said that Joe Biden was a doddering basket case before Democrats admitted that he was, and they called THAT a lie. Trump didn’t know Biden was a basket case for certain, but stated it as fact—lie? Opinion? A mean exaggeration that turned out to be true and reveal a Democrat lie? Come on.
Well yes it’s up to you since he was asking your opinion about what impact Trump’s falsehoods, whatever you believe them to be in number, have had on the opinions on the voters. I’m curious about this too. What say you?
BILL
What I say is “What falsehoods?” Pretty straightforward. I’m not going through this game again. It’s unethical to speak of “lies” by any individual without specifying them—though this has been the Axis mantra against Trump for years. Give me what you think is a) a lie and b) a harmful, substantive lie. Or don’t…and drop the subject.
Examples from other Presidencies: “I did not have sex with that woman.” “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.”
Ah, so you can’t think of any falsehoods Trump has said about the Democrats?
BILL
Jack, the question is what falsehoods do YOU think Trump has said about the Democrats.
Let us start there. Has Trump expressed any falsehoods about the Dems that YOU think would affect voting behavior?
BILL
I’m not your servant, and I am not here so you can set up straw men to knock down. That’s not how it works here, and never has. No lies are necessary regarding the Democrats to justify voting against them. Biden’s term has been a multi-level disaster. RFK’s speech accurately flagged how undemocratic and dangerous the party is. Anyone who votes Democrat at this point will do so because of blind party loyalty, Anti-Trump hysteria, approval of the party’s worst objectives, ignorance, or stupidity. No Trump “lie” could be worse than the known facts.
Alert: Now BILL has been banned, and a good thing too. he wanted to die on the same hill as Pat, despite, again, more attention from me than his bad faith interaction deserved.
As usual, do not respond to any future comments from this ex-commenter, because your comment will be wiped out along with the comment.
In case this need clarifying, I set the agenda here, I ask the questions. Established commenters can open new matters related to a post,but this “What Trump lies have an effect on voters?” junk is, among other things, not an ethics issue. Two straight new commenters have made that their sole topic. When I say, “Nope, not an EA topic,” that’s the end. Or else.
It blows my mind how often I see trolling morons trying to shift the responsibility of supporting their own arguments and claims to other people. I no longer think it’s a coincidence that the morons I see doing this are primarily from the political left. I think the constant exposure to the left’s propaganda narratives and morally bankrupt tactics has eaten their brains. These trolling morons need to be taught how to Take Individual Responsibility For How They Debate.
Pat wrote, “I’ve read your blog…”
…and yet you come here and try to troll your whataboutism with nothing to support it, heck you can’t even come up with one of Trump’s untrue statements about Democrats that you yourself proclaim exists? How do you know these statements exist if you can’t produce even one of them? Maybe you should consider that you’ve swallowed the left’s propaganda hook, line, and sinker like moronic partisan sheeple tend to do?
Jack supported his claims with actual facts, it’s your responsibility to support your claims. Your moronic approach to commenting in this thread is easy to define as trolling.
Pat wrote, “Just trying to understand your argument here.”
Taken in context with your other statements in this thread; if you actually believe that statement then you can’t be self-aware, much like a genuine moron.
Again…
Pat wrote, “I’ve read your blog…”
You stated very clearly that you’ve read this blog but you haven’t shown us that you’ve learned anything, or on the other hand, I suppose if you have learned something it’s only elevated your knowledge base to that of a moron.
If my implications of you being a moron aren’t accurate then I apologize; but honestly Pat, if you’re not a moron then you actually know that you’re intentionally trolling and quite frankly Pat that’s a reflection on your character and much worse.
Life is all about choices Pat.
Have a nice day.
I think the goal is to have you agree with the general statement and thus give his her it’s argument credence that everything Trump says is a lie. This is an Alinsky strategy to co-opt an opponent.
Transparent, and not very well execeuted.
Jack must be having an effect on the Left’s strategy. This is the second person today playing games.
I guessed that we will see more of this. I also started posting the election-related posts to X, and paid for my blue check. My “followers” have tripled since then.
Good. Tracked you down and gave you another follower.
I will note that the section on the right “Follow us on Twitter” Captain Compliance is someone totally different than you,
Where did you see that Captain Compliance link? I can’t find it…
calling Barbara Streisand to the blue courtesy phone. Not one fact from “Pat”, he? Is taking lessons from the entire DNC convention in talking in nothing but generalities and Socratic questions…
in short “Bite me”
Just banned Pat. Not merely an asshole, but an incompetent one. I’ve banned better. I’ve banned better TODAY….
“The political left has shown its pattern of propaganda lies within their narratives so many times since 2016 that it’s beyond me why anyone would blindly accept any narrative that the political left and their lapdog media actively push?” Steve Witherspoon
The shameless political left, their Pravda-USA media, and their blind sheeple supporters keep proving me right. The Democratic Party has removed their false “liberal” facade and fully revealed the illiberal totalitarian, morally bankrupt, and blatant cancel culture liar core of their anti-American party.
Steve, a pretty accurate assessment in just a few words. As a Republican, I know my party is not a “hand-built dynasty, destined to win year after year,” but how 40+% of Americans will automatically pull the lever in support of what the Democratic Party has become blows my mind.