In his novel "1984", George Orwell created the concept of "doublethink" - the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, especially in a political context.
In his train wreck of a press conference today, President Trump gave a perfect example of doublethink when he said that the leaks about Mike Flynn were real but the reports about the leaks were "fake news". It's one or the other, Mr. President - it can't be both.
He also, yet again, talked about the election results, claiming that his 306 electoral vote total (it was actually 304 - two electors didn't cast their vote for him) was the largest since Ronald Reagan. An MSNBC reporter did a live fact check and challenged him, pointing out that both Obama and Bush received higher totals. In typical Trump fashion, he blamed it on someone else by saying, "well, that's what I was told." Why is he still talking about the election?? It's over, he won.
He also repeated the lie that the 9th Circuit is the worst, with 80% of their decisions being overturned. As I pointed out in another post, that figure is based only on the decisions that were reviewed by SCOTUS over a 10 year period, a number that represents a very small fraction of the 9th District's decisions over that time. The suggestion that 80% of ALL of their decisions have been reversed is just BS. Further, that same study showed that there were two other Circuits with a higher reversal rate, so saying the 9th was worst is just more BS.
The WH under Trump is now a fact-free zone - the truth is whatever he thinks it is, and any reporting that criticizes or questions him is automatically labeled as fake news. All the problems he's facing are someone else's fault, never his. He actually said today that his administration is running like a well-tuned machine. Really? So that loud knocking noise you're hearing in the engine doesn't concern you? |
