No One Left to Lie To
I borrow the title of this post from Christopher Hitchens’ book about Bill Clinton, which seems fitting, since, as I have argued more than once, Donald Trump — this era’s universal liar — has borrowed the governing style of the best president of his lifetime (according to him): Say whatever suits today’s audience, and play Confuse-a-Cat by stealing popular issues from your opponents.
Yesterday, Trump said — repeatedly — that he sees no reason to respect due process when it comes to confiscating weapons from “dangerous” people without criminal records. Today, after Trump’s “great” meeting with the NRA, Chris Cox tweeted:
I had a great meeting tonight with @realDonaldTrump & @VP. We all want safe schools, mental health reform and to keep guns away from dangerous people. POTUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don’t want gun control. #NRA #MAGA
— Chris Cox (@ChrisCoxNRA) March 2, 2018
That’s not exactly Trump himself reversing course, but it’s close enough — close enough, that is, to prove, once again, that Trump is the lyingest liar this side of Liesville, and that his sycophants will say absolutely anything to justify and rationalize his complete stupidity, lack of principle, and disdain for the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution.
No, this isn’t chess. This isn’t keeping his opponents guessing. This isn’t playing the media.
This is complete and utter incompetence and ignorance, sugar-coated with heaps of amorality.
By the way, I for one just can’t wait to see what Donald Trump (!?) and the National Rifle Association (!!??) have to contribute to a discussion of “mental health reform.” For that matter, what in the world does “mental health reform” even mean? Reclassifying narcissism as confidence, vanity as alpha maleness, and terminal insecurity as strategic genius, perhaps?
