Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:50 pm
Donald Trump kept his speech short, but he managed to jam in at least three major lies during his less than twenty-minute inaugural address.
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Lie # 1: Trump is Running An Administration Of The People:
Trump said, “That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This is your celebration. And this, the United States of America, is your country. What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.
January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.”
The Truth: Seventeen members of Trump’s cabinet are worth an estimated $9.5 billion to $14 billion. Trump’s cabinet has more wealth than 1/3 of American households combined. Trump has filled his cabinet with billionaires and special interests. The Koch brothers have infiltrated Trump’s cabinet along with big oil and others. Trump is not running a government of the people. His will be an administration of the billionaires, by the billionaires, for the billionaires.
Lie # 2: Trump Believes that America Is On Welfare:
Trump said, “We will get our people off of welfare and back to work – rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor.”
The Truth: This is a favorite myth of Republicans that is based on the labor participation rate. The labor participation rate has been declining, but it has nothing to with Obama or economic policy. The labor participation rate is dropping because Baby Boomers are retiring. According to Factcheck.org, “A lower percentage of older Americans choose to work than those who are middle-aged. And so as baby boomers approach retirement age, it lowers the labor force participation rate.”
Unless Trump plans on killing Social Security and making retirees get jobs, the labor participation rate will continue to decline.
Lie #3: Trump Promised To Eradicate Fundamental Islamic Terrorism From The Face Of The Earth:
Trump said, “We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones – and unite the civilized world against Radical Islamic Terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.”
The Truth: Terrorism is a tactic or a strategy. It exists in the minds of human beings. Terrorism can’t be wiped off the face of the earth unless every human being on the planet is destroyed. It is impossible to wipe terrorism off of the earth. Trump’s promise to do was the ignorant boast of a man who does not understand what terrorism is.
There will always be terrorism because as the old saying goes, one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter.
As usual with Trump, his entire speech was full of shadings and distortions of the truth, but the three statements above were outright lies that will come back to haunt the new president in the years to come.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
