warak
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...of-his-ability-to-lie/?utm_term=.6f6dcf323d12
Newly leaked audio has emerged that captures President Trump boasting about his ability to make up information for sport in a private conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. To put it mildly, it is unsettling to reflect on what this tells us about Trump’s approach to important domestic policy issues and international alliances.
The Post obtained audio of a 30-minute speech that Trump delivered to Republican donors in Missouri, in which he recounted his conversation with Trudeau about his tariff plan in the tightly composed phrasing that has become a hallmark of his rhetorical style:
“Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please,’ ” Trump said, mimicking Trudeau, according to audio of the private event in Missouri obtained by The Washington Post. “Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in — ‘Donald, we have no trade deficit.’ He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed.
“… So, he’s proud. I said, ‘Wrong, Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know. … I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid. … And I thought they were smart. I said, ‘You’re wrong, Justin.’ He said, ‘Nope, we have no trade deficit.’ I said, ‘Well, in that case, I feel differently,’ I said, ‘but I don’t believe it.’ ”
We actually have a trade surplus. Now, for all we know, Trump is lying about having boasted about his ability to lie. But still, this provides one of the most unvarnished looks at Trump’s view of his relationship with the truth that we have yet seen.
cont...
Trump plainly views the act of lying, or making things up, or contradicting himself with relentless abandon, as an assertion of power — that is, the power to render reality irrelevant, the power to roll right over constraints normally imposed by expectations of consistency or fealty to basic norms of reasoned, factual inquiry.
As Jacob T. Levy has written, these “demonstrations of power undermine the existence of shared belief in truth and facts.” The whole point of them is to assert the power to say what the truth is, or what the truth should be, even when — or especially when — easily verifiable facts dictate the contrary. The brazenness of Trump’s lying is not a mere byproduct of his desire to mislead. It is absolutely central to the whole project of declaring the power to say what reality is.
etc., etc..
embarrassment to America.
Newly leaked audio has emerged that captures President Trump boasting about his ability to make up information for sport in a private conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. To put it mildly, it is unsettling to reflect on what this tells us about Trump’s approach to important domestic policy issues and international alliances.
The Post obtained audio of a 30-minute speech that Trump delivered to Republican donors in Missouri, in which he recounted his conversation with Trudeau about his tariff plan in the tightly composed phrasing that has become a hallmark of his rhetorical style:
“Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please,’ ” Trump said, mimicking Trudeau, according to audio of the private event in Missouri obtained by The Washington Post. “Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in — ‘Donald, we have no trade deficit.’ He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed.
“… So, he’s proud. I said, ‘Wrong, Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know. … I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid. … And I thought they were smart. I said, ‘You’re wrong, Justin.’ He said, ‘Nope, we have no trade deficit.’ I said, ‘Well, in that case, I feel differently,’ I said, ‘but I don’t believe it.’ ”
We actually have a trade surplus. Now, for all we know, Trump is lying about having boasted about his ability to lie. But still, this provides one of the most unvarnished looks at Trump’s view of his relationship with the truth that we have yet seen.
cont...
Trump plainly views the act of lying, or making things up, or contradicting himself with relentless abandon, as an assertion of power — that is, the power to render reality irrelevant, the power to roll right over constraints normally imposed by expectations of consistency or fealty to basic norms of reasoned, factual inquiry.
As Jacob T. Levy has written, these “demonstrations of power undermine the existence of shared belief in truth and facts.” The whole point of them is to assert the power to say what the truth is, or what the truth should be, even when — or especially when — easily verifiable facts dictate the contrary. The brazenness of Trump’s lying is not a mere byproduct of his desire to mislead. It is absolutely central to the whole project of declaring the power to say what reality is.
etc., etc..
embarrassment to America.