Stage 4: Trump's "Couched" Lies
This is an opinion piece I found on RealClearPolitics.com but was originally posted from the New York Times on October 19th about President Trump's tendency to stretch the truth https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/opinion/. It was written by Charles M. Blow, who has been covering Trump's candidacy and Presidency in his opinion column since he had begun running and it seems safe to say that he has done his research. His intended audience is most likely both left and right wing Americans with his message about the completely failed comparison of Hitler to Trump geared towards Democrats and his message about Trump's inclination to lie and then shield himself from the lie, more directed at Republicans he hoped would take notice.
Blow's main claim in this editorial is that President Trump has had a continued history of making bold claims on twitter or to the news but using phrases like "I was told", "lots of people saying", or "people think" to couch his claims, knowing they could be proven untrue. This gives the President the ability to deny the claim or state he was given the wrong information and when you see a phrase like that it's a good indication that there is some falsehood in the claim. Blow's evidence for this claim is ample because almost all of the Presidents out-there and patently false statements are on his twitter feed for anyone and everyone to read. Blow warns that though he may not be the horrible monster Hitler was, they do share the use of mass-manipulation to their own gain.
Trump knows that the majority of his followers will believe any claim he makes, especially with the credibility of the Office of the President behind him and he is using that benefit of the doubt to spread some wild claims. Blow closes his argument by posing a question that essentially asks if the American people are discerning enough to decipher what is true from what is considered by the White House as "alternative facts".
Blow's main claim in this editorial is that President Trump has had a continued history of making bold claims on twitter or to the news but using phrases like "I was told", "lots of people saying", or "people think" to couch his claims, knowing they could be proven untrue. This gives the President the ability to deny the claim or state he was given the wrong information and when you see a phrase like that it's a good indication that there is some falsehood in the claim. Blow's evidence for this claim is ample because almost all of the Presidents out-there and patently false statements are on his twitter feed for anyone and everyone to read. Blow warns that though he may not be the horrible monster Hitler was, they do share the use of mass-manipulation to their own gain.
Trump knows that the majority of his followers will believe any claim he makes, especially with the credibility of the Office of the President behind him and he is using that benefit of the doubt to spread some wild claims. Blow closes his argument by posing a question that essentially asks if the American people are discerning enough to decipher what is true from what is considered by the White House as "alternative facts".
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