Can Trump Tell the Difference Between Truth and Lies?
Hat tip to Newsweek! Here’s Kurt Eichenwald’s latest.
This is more important than a few executive orders signed by President Donald Trump. It’s more important than his nominations for positions in his administration. It’s even more important than who gets appointed to the Supreme Court, or whether Obamacare gets repealed. Nothing in the headlines these days is more important than this: The President of…
By: dave-dr-gonzo
David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.
* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.
22 responses to Can Trump Tell the Difference Between Truth and Lies?
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Suzanne McFly February 4th, 2017 at 15:24
It seems like this story is saying rump is definitely lying, but there are 2 reasons why. The first is he lies because he figures he can convince us while using his “alternative facts”. The other reason is he lies because he has a mental problem. The first will never happen so I could not care less if that is his end game. The second is insulting to those who actually have mental problems. I think he selects his truths weather or not they are factual and hires the fools around him to back him. He is using those with mental illness for that purpose, those are the ones with the mental illness and rump is the bully who exploits them.
Mike February 4th, 2017 at 15:39
I was fully convinced he was mentally ill years ago when he started the birther movement.
It’s just hard to pity an A1 absolute a$$hole.
Suzanne McFly February 4th, 2017 at 16:24
I have worked with children who have actual diagnosis of a mental disease and they deserve to receive the level of understanding we give them. I would not pay that respect to rump, he seems to have inflicted the disease on himself.
granpa.usthai February 4th, 2017 at 18:25
I tend to agree with your synopsis, only I think his bullying is based mostly on the way he was raised.
How many nannies were FIRED because they disagreed with the lying little spoiled orange blubber?
How many teachers lost their jobs when they reported the lying little piece of orange blubber was a total F’up?
How many times was the government told to F off when they offered to take the worthless piece of lying spoiled blubber under the wings of the US Military Armed Forces and make a F’ing man out of the lying perpetual CRYBABY piece of orange blubber?
burqa February 4th, 2017 at 19:29
Facts don’t matter to megalomaniacs. They just get in the way…
chicagotribunefragments February 4th, 2017 at 23:04
The first may NOT happen to YOU but it happened to 46% of voting Amrricans on Nov. I. And that was enough
Jack E Raynbeau February 4th, 2017 at 15:48
More importantly, are Republicans asking this question among themselves? If not, we’re in more trouble than we realize.
granpa.usthai February 4th, 2017 at 18:45
most republicans come from well to do white upper class stock. they are raised to believe in being in their correct pecking order. few, if any, would be willing to ask themselves any questions about those above them in their pecking order.
actions are usually a tell tell sign of how someone was raised, hence a 70 year old CRYBABY being selected to sit in the oval office – even when losing the popular vote in an election by 3,000,000 votes. More proof? – how about a LOSER who gets rewarded by the government of republican origin with $1,000,000,000.00 of taxpayer funds PLUS 18 years of tax exempt? (not exactly legislation that had the most people in mind) – it’s all a matter of republican pecking order.
their 70 year old CRYBABY pile of orange blubber LOSER cries the loudest, thus he is placed at the head of the line. they must never never ever question what he says or does – hence the litany of executive orders that are completely illegal, unconstitutional, and sole purpose of giving the 70 year old CRYBABY pile of orange blubber complete total and absolute powers over the government.
Robert M. Snyder February 4th, 2017 at 16:37
“The President of the United States is divorced from reality, unable to tell the difference between the truth and what he wants to be true.”
I think this statement applies to a lot of people all across the political spectrum, at all levels of education, in all income brackets, and in every geographical region. Just watch how people get emotional when you question one of the beliefs in which they are heavily invested.
It takes a lot of courage to seriously consider the likelihood of things that you don’t want to be true. Everyone carries in his or her head a model of how the world works. When confronted with evidence that doesn’t fit the model, most people instinctively question the evidence. It takes courage to question the model.
Hirightnow February 4th, 2017 at 16:53
“It takes a lot of courage to seriously consider the likelihood of things that you don’t want to be true.”
Yeah, it does.
granpa.usthai February 4th, 2017 at 18:14
I don ‘t question Melanija that much. I think her primary motive for allowing donald to trap her into marriage was having a financial future she could adjust to.
I don’t think she had planned on the amount of abuse he’s given to her, and more is bound to follow if she doesn’t step up to the plate of life and swing the bat.
Who can say for sure until the bat is swung. The trick is to always keep your eyes on the ball… chances are pretty good the bat is going to go where you’re looking. If you strike out, you strike out, but at least you took the swing!
I -uh, oh, the post is about the orange LYING frog., sorry …
does trump lie?
yes. does he know he’s lying?
yes.
is it a mental problem?
no.
it’s a behavioral problem, the way he was raised, and at his age, there’s hardly time for change. the republican electoral were aware of this when they selected him. losing by 3,000,000 , 30,000,000 or even 300,000,000 popular votes would not have changed a damn thing. republicans wanted to inflict the most damage they could on a Republic that chose a nig-er-ah, Hawaiian Islander over a white mainlander – they have succeeded – this lying pile of orange blubber and all the damage he does – is theirs and theirs alone.
StoneyCurtisll February 4th, 2017 at 18:23
Derp…
And you voted for trump..
I feel sorry for you.
Mike February 5th, 2017 at 07:07
So you believe the president is disconnected from reality but you’re giving him a pass …
C’mon Bob you and I have had a couple conversations. We’ re on opposite ends of the political spectrum yet neither of us used fantasy or alt-facts to support an argument or make a claim about ourselves.
Sorry, I have to take issue with the claim it takes courage to face what we don’t want to believe. It’s called being a rational person, and the vast majority of us do it numerous times daily.
Are you saying because a number of people consciously refuse to accept fact that it can be justified…??
It sounds a lot like you’re making a rational argument for why Trump uses fantasy and alt-facts but failing to see if you applied that ;logic to something you disagree with (maybe homosexuality) it would fall flat.
No Bob, we are not special or unique. We’re actually more like the majority than the minority. We want to know the truth whatever that may be and we don’t lie about ourselves on a daily basis. We both know that 99.9% of the time the truth does better than a lie anyway
Robert M. Snyder February 5th, 2017 at 09:45
I wasn’t intending to justify Trump. I was intending to make the case that he is just an extreme example of us. If any of us had part of our frontal lobes removed, we might behave in ways similar to Trump.
Have you ever noticed how, as people get up into their seventies and beyond, they begin to blurt out thoughts that they used to keep to themselves?
I suspect that Trump’s behavior hasn’t changed much in recent years. So I doubt whether it is age-related. Some people, raised in loving homes, are painfully shy from a very early age and throughout their lives. It seems that their brains are just wired a little differently.
And then there’s Asperger’s Syndrome. I’m not suggesting that Trump has it. I am merely pointing out that things like politeness and good manners can be totally lacking in someone simply because their brain is wired differently.
I am making the case for humility; for recognizing that each of us carries within himself a unique mental model of the world. No two friends agree on everything. And when they disagree, what happens next depends to a large degree on how their brains work. Some people are unable, or unwilling, to reconsider aspects of their mental models. These people tend to have very few close friends. Other people are so flexible that they always seem to go along with whatever crowd they are with. These are two ends of a continuous spectrum. Each of us has the potential to move in either direction along that spectrum.
The person who is totally flexible and always follows the crowd probably lacks the courage to question the beliefs of the crowd. And the person who is always certain that they are right, regardless of what the crowd says, probably lacks the courage to critically examine his own beliefs). Questioning the crowd, and questioning one’s self, makes one’s life more complicated. It takes work. You lose sleep at night because you’re trying to figure things out.
I think that society functions best when people have the courage to stand against the crowd, but also have the courage to critically re-examine their own beliefs. None of us has the energy and the courage to do that continually. Sometimes we are questioning ourselves. Sometimes we are sure of ourselves and questioning the group. And sometimes we are just standing on the sidelines and recuperating. But there is danger in staying on the sidelines too long, because while we’re disengaged from the process, we are neither standing up for our beliefs nor re-examining our beliefs. I think we all have the potential to become apathetic and permanently disengaged from the process. And I think we all have the potential to become rigid in our thinking, with ossified mental models of the world. Avoiding those two conditions takes time, energy, and courage.
Obewon February 5th, 2017 at 11:36
“And then there’s (Downs) Syndrome. I’m not suggesting that Trump has it. I am merely pointing out that things like” Donnie’s 4% Truth rating via nonpartisan Pulitzer Prize winner PolitiFact. http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/ And record low DT45 36% to 40% average Approval. Boom! http://www.pollingreport.com/djt_job.htm
Mike February 5th, 2017 at 14:51
I’m one that tries to get along but I never go along … if that makes any sense.
Tell you what, I’ll give you 2 points on “the case for humility; for recognizing that each of us carries within himself a unique mental model of the world. ” …. However, I’m not sure either of us knows anyone as flawed as Trump in that regard. And that is the essence of the article.
I try hard to stay away from name calling and extreme unsubstantiated claims. But we seem to be at a point where questioning the presidents sanity, ability to know the truth from a lie, or his trading in outright lies (trump’s specialty) is no longer an extreme position. That’s troubling.
StoneyCurtisll February 4th, 2017 at 18:15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOmy1MIXCmM
robert February 4th, 2017 at 18:58
If you can’t tell Donald lies on or about his taxes You had no business voting in November.
Why complain now ? Just count the lies as time goes by
burqa February 4th, 2017 at 19:23
Yeah, he knows the difference, but he just doesn’t care. Making stuff up serves him and his purposes. He creates confusion and chaos and while everyone else is stomping around in high dudgeon, Trump is getting what he wants.
It’s all his style of maneuvering. He tries to get people backing up, thinking they need to mollify the kid throwing a temper tantrum in a store by giving him a piece of candy or something.
I would not want the job of Trump’s press secretary…..
whatthe46 February 4th, 2017 at 19:28
their soul is for sale, yours isn’t.
burqa February 4th, 2017 at 19:31
Yeah, they’re just looking at the immediate payoff and will happily discard any pretensions of having any character.
StoneyCurtisll February 5th, 2017 at 01:45
With the Trump administration, the truth is a lie.