Stories, deceptions and outright lies
When Donald Trump entered the Republican presidential primary in 2016, many saw it as a publicity stunt, a tactic for which he was well-known. Consequently, few bothered to check the accuracy of what he said. But nowadays no one with a computer or access to one has an excuse for not verifying what politicians tell them.
Here are just a few of Trump’s outlandish whoppers that went largely unchallenged:
“Immigrants bring violent crime, murder, rape etc.” The facts: From FBI and state crime statistics, including California’s, the state with the largest non-white immigrant population, reveal the crime rate for immigrants is about half that for nativeborn perpetrators.
“Our crime rate is soaring.” Arrest and prison statistics indicate just the opposite. The U.S. crime rate has been going down for the past quarter century, some crimes by almost half. As they say, “Check it out.”
“There are at least 30 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. It could be even 34 million.” Demographers generally agree the number is between 11 and 12 million, with the 2015 influx at a 40-year low. In 2016 almost as many Mexicans returned home as entered the U.S.
“I watched in Jersey City where thousands of Muslims cheered as the World Trade Center collapsed.” The fact is that there is absolutely no evidence of any kind of this or anything like it having occurred. None.
“We are the highest-taxed nation in the world.” Actually, of the thirty-four leading industrialized nations measured, as a percentage of national income only Mexico and Chile are taxed at a lower rate. Anybody want to move there?
“Our actual unemployment rate may be as high as 42 percent. Fact: Even if we include full-time students, stay-athome parents, job-training candidates, the disabled and certain unemployed seniors, the highest total unemployment rate anyone could come up with was 16.4 percent. The official figure used for government planning and policy decisions is just over 4 percent. Unemployment has been steadily decreasing since Obama’s second term began in 2013.
And finally: “Ted Cruz’s father was with Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination of President Kennedy.” Multiple experts say Trump’s claim is either totally in error, or he is just plain lying.
One might think Trump would slack up on these outrageous claims once he got elected. But his rhetoric, official and otherwise, continues to be a combination of political theater, hyperbolic exaggeration and outright lies.
I’ll say again, Trump’s election says less about him and more about us and what we have become as a people. Today politicians tell us what they think we want to hear, what “pushes our buttons.” And many of us no longer make the effort to think critically or question politicians’ claims. Even more alarming, almost half of us no longer vote. Think this isn’t an unhealthy sign? Think our constitutional provisions guarantee democracy’s survival? Could Brexit in Britain and the rise of right-wing populism and antiimmigrant racism in France, Germany, Poland and the rest of Europe foretell a global populist trend?
Many younger Americans are beginning to express doubts about the democratic process as an effective way of running the country anymore. And some are abandoning their religious faith altogether. To me that’s more than a little scary.
George B. Reed Jr., who lives in Rossville, can be reached by email at reed1600@bellsouth.net.