Trump unleashes fusillade of lies,near truths
“The president’s purpose was personal and political. Accordingly, the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust.”
– Sen. Mitt Romney, (R-Utah), Senate floor speech, Feb. 5th, 2020
Last Tuesday night, with his impeachment acquittal a certainty, President Trump reared back, then unleashed a fusillade of lies, and near truths for his third State of the Union speech.
It was a theatrical performance befitting a president who was on the verge of having narrowly escaped political gallows.
He was in rare form.
“Thanks to our bold regulatory reduction campaign, the United States has become No. 1 producer of oil and natural gas in the world, by far,” he told the nation.
What he didn’t say was that this country’s energy independence started around 2013 – during the Obama administration – because of fracking.
It was that kind of night. A campaign speech directed at his chief political opponent – Barack Obama.
Somebody, please tell Trump that Obama isn’t running for president.
He’s already had the job.
Isn’t it a bit odd that Trump seems compelled to mention Obama every chance he gets?
Especially since he tries so hard to appear to have such affection for black people.
He made sure to honor a Tuskegee Airman; to recite the low black unemployment numbers since he’s taken office, and to surprise a young African American girl (and her mother) from Philadelphia with an “opportunity scholarship.”
Yet, he still doesn’t understand that he may court black support with his theatrical gestures, but he earns the wrath of black voters, by repeatedly attacking the nation’s first black president.
And it doesn’t matter if he makes provably false claims about Obama.
“Since the election, we have created seven million new jobs. Five million more than government experts predicted during the previous administration,” he boasted.
That was an applause line.
But it was false.
During the final three years of the Obama administration, the economy created seven million new jobs.
According to Trump “300,000 working age people” left the workforce during Obama’s eight years in office.
Not true.
The workforce grew by 5.4 million during that period.
Trump’s speeches are fact-checkers’ dreams.
Even when he isn’t trying to outdo Obama in some bizarre way, he just tells lies.
He bragged that more than 100 miles of his “long, tall, and very powerful wall” has now been built.
That’s only 99 miles off.
But who’s counting?
Only one mile of wall has been built where there’d been no wall before. The rest is just old barrier being restored.
I could go on and on. We all know Mr. Trump has the gift of boiling down truth until it’s hardly recognizable.
That was Tuesday night.
By Wednesday afternoon, when the outcome of his impeachment trial had long been a foregone conclusion, there was a major surprise.
Mitt Romney, the one-time governor of Massachusetts; one-time Republican presidential candidate, and current U.S. Senator from Utah – offered his public rebuke of Trump in a blistering eight-minute speech.
With the knowledge that his “yes” vote on impeachment (removal) wouldn’t change the overall outcome of Trump’s fate, Romney still said Trump had engaged in “a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security, and our fundamental values.”
Romney had prefaced his remarks with the words, “I am profoundly religious. My faith is at the heart of who I am.”
At that point, he had to gather himself, while fighting back tears.
He was letting anybody who bothered to listen to his words know he had called on his faith to guide him in order to render such a weighty decision.
It’s the kind of open introspection that’s never been part of Trump’s repertoire. He’s a man who frequently blurts before he thinks.
The following morning, during the annual National Prayer Breakfast, Trump proved, once again, that he simply can’t seem to get out of his own way.
“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump proudly said.
He’s even better at revenge than he is at telling lies.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.