As Democrats launch massive investigations into Trump, the president has increased his pace of lies to 22 per day.
Trump Is Lying 22 Times Per Day
Powered by his two-hour stemwinder at the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 2 — which featured more than 100 false or misleading claims — President Trump is on pace to exceed his daily quota set during his first two years in office.The president averaged nearly 5.9 false or misleading claims a day in his first year in office. He hit nearly 16.5 a day in his second year. So far in 2019, he’s averaging nearly 22 claims a day. As of the end of March 3, the 773rd day of his term in office, Trump accumulated 9,014 fishy claims, according to The Fact Checker’s database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president.
Why Is Trump Telling So Many Lies
There are three primary reasons why Trump is lying beyond the fact that he as a person appears to be a compulsive liar.
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From a political point of view, Trump is lying because he has to hold his base together. Donald Trump has been a president only for his base. Trump has virtually no support outside of his political base. The 33%-39% of the country that supports him through thick and thin is who he must keep in line in order to win reelection. Trump has no appeal to moderates or Independents. He has his base, and that is all, so he has to convince those people that the allegations of criminal activity and investigations into his business, personal finance, and relationship with Russia are “witch hunts.” As the facts pile up against him, Trump’s only choice is to counter with more lies.
Secondly, Trump is trying to sell a failed presidency has successful. Never has a president had so much going for him when he came into office and accomplished as little as Donald Trump has. Trump had a Republican Congress, and a conservative Supreme Court for his first two years in office, and he has one major piece of legislation enacted. That legislation is the wildly unpopular tax cut for the wealthy. From a policy point of view, Trump has been a total failure, so the president spends his time inflating and making up accomplishments.
Finally, Trump conned his way into the White House with lies. Now that he is the incumbent and under scrutiny, if he wants to remain in power, and avoid a potential criminal indictment, he has to pull off an epic fraud and sell the country an empty and corrupt presidency for another four years. The more facts that are revealed about the president’s various scandal, the more he has to lie to counterprogram against reality.
The Michael Cohen testimony was devastating, and more damage is coming soon. By 2020, Trump could be telling 30-40 lies a day, because his only chance of winning reelection might be to throw the country into a state of turmoil and haze that will make the 2016 election feel like a relaxing Sunday in the park.
The truth is gaining on him, which is why Trump’s lie pace is accelerating.
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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
