Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:09 pm
Donald Trump went on Larry King and said he should be able to lie like nobody’s business during the presidential debates.
He said he agreed with Chris Wallace, who told Howard Kurtz the other day on Fox News, “I do not believe it is my job to be a truth squad. It’s up to the other person to catch them on that.” This mandate to facilitate dishonesty is one clearly Matt Lauer supports and subscribes to.
Watch courtesy of Media Matters for America:
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LARRY KING: Chris Wallace of Fox News is going to moderate the final debate. He says he doesn’t believe it’s his job to be the truth squad, that it’s up to the candidates to catch each other. Do you think the moderator should have facts at hands and correct the guest?
DONALD TRUMP: Well, I don’t know. I can tell you, Chris Wallace is a professional. He’s very, very good at what he does. And you know, I can understand him saying that but yeah, I think — I think that the candidates should police themselves.
Chris Wallace is a professional propagandist, not a journalist, as he himself has admitted by saying it’s not his role to fact check when in fact, that is precisely his role.
The role of the Fourth Estate has always been to promote transparency and accountability, which is difficult to do if you just let everyone lie, unchallenged by facts.
Trump’s plan is the same as ever: lie early and often. Wallace’s plan is to let him. But then, if facts are allowed to matter, the Republican Party has no chance at all of winning a presidential election – ever again.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.