FROM: David Brock, Founder, Correct The Record
TO: Members of the Press
DATE: September 26, 2016
CORRECT THE RECORD’S GUIDE TO SPOTTING DONALD TRUMP’S DEBATE LIES
TRUMP IS A SERIAL LIAR. DON’T LET HIM GET AWAY WITH IT.
Donald Trump Is A Serial Liar
Tonight, Donald Trump will take his campaign of lies to its biggest stage yet: the presidential debate.
Reporters can’t let him get away with it.
Over the past fifteen months, Trump has waged a one-man war on the truth. For Trump, lying is not just about simply spouting inaccuracies. It is literally who he is. His businesses, his biography, his policy proposals, his campaign rhetoric—they are all based on lies. Trump’s entire public persona for the past five decades is a carefully woven fiction.
This pattern of deception goes far beyond simply saying inaccurate statements. It is an all-out assault on the fact-based politics that have been the cornerstone of modern American politics. Trump’s lies are literally off the charts. PolitiFact has rated 70 percent of Trump’s statements that they fact checked lies. The previous Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, received a 42 percent false rating—a 28 percent difference. Last week alone, Trump told at least 83 lies.
This level of mendacity is unprecedented in American politics and poses a unique challenge to political journalists covering the first presidential debate. Already, the Republican nominee is spreading lies in an attempt to influence and neutralize any fact checking by the debate moderators. Trump has falsely attacked moderator Lester Holt as a Democrat (Holt has been a registered Republican since 2003) and insisted Holt should not “succumb to pressure” to fact-check during the debate.
Even without this pressure from the Trump campaign, the volume, breadth and ubiquity of Trump’s falsehoods demands a historic commitment to fact checking from media outlets. Trump’s unprecedented lying must be met with an unparalleled effort from reporters to debunk Trump’s many falsehoods. The current standard—where fact checkers and reporters will simply check the most obvious and egregious lies—leaves many of Trump’s more bizarre lies unexamined. As New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has written Trump’s “lies are constant, coming in steady torrent, and are never acknowledged, simply repeated […] keep[ing] the news media flummoxed, unable to believe, or at least say openly, that the candidate of a major party lies that much.”
It’s time to acknowledge that Trump does lie “that much”—and hold him accountable for it.
How to Identify Trump’s Lies
There are five broad categories that help demonstrate how Trump lies and what he commonly lies about. First, Trump constantly lies about his own biography. Second, he deflects criticism by criticizing his opponents of doing the same thing, only worse. Third, Trump has a penchant for inventing imaginary characters and conversations that validate his beliefs. Fourth, Trump uses easily identifiable rhetorical “tells” whenever he lies. Finally, Trump insists on making outlandish and bizarre claims without evidence or supporting information—he cannot answer, “How?”
Myths
Trump is a master mythmaker. For decades, Trump has built a specific image of himself as a 21st Century Daddy Warbucks who conquered Manhattan real estate yet remains a champion of middle class Americans. The truth? Trump depended on millions from his father to launch his business and is likely worth billions of dollars less than he claims—a subject he’s especially sensitive about. Trump has even lied about the height of Trump Tower. We usually trust politicians to tell the broad outlines of their own personal narrative—but in this case, reporters should be on the lookout for Trump’s fictitious mythmaking.
I Know You Are, But What Am I?
With little facts or specific proposals to rely on, projection is one of Trump’s go-to rhetorical strategies. Trump has a tendency to respond to every serious criticism with ‘I know you are, but what am I?’ After Hillary Clinton delivered her speech on the alt-right, Trump accused her of being a “bigot.” During the rollout of his widely-panned maternity leave plan, Trump said that Hillary Clinton had no child care plan—an outright falsehood. Projection is a clear sign that Trump is both lying and desperately looking for a way to muddy the waters.
Imaginary Friends
Decades ago, Trump invented his own spokesman “John Barron” and then impersonated him for years. Old habits die hard. Throughout his presidential bid, Trump has created a whole coterie of characters who supposedly provide him with information, shower him with compliments and give him updates about subjects as diverse as the California drought and ISIS.
One of the most troubling examples of Trump’s wayward imagination occurred earlier this year when Trump invented an ISIS advisor. On January 21, Trump claimed that a “very good soldier” told him that ISIS’ equipment was superior to the United States. On February 1, he told the same story, but this time the story featured his friend’s son who had served two tours. Other times, he notes that doesn’t know if the soldier is injured—while in some stories, he’s still in the Middle East.
Tells
Trump also has a few very simple “tells” when he lies. Trump often makes claims that are so outrageous and disingenuous that he’ll literally ask his audience to suspend their disbelief or bear with him. “Believe me,” “that I can tell you” and “everybody is saying” are all tell-tale signs that what’s coming next—or what immediately preceded—is a complete falsehood.
How?
In Trump’s world, he is not only the smartest—he has a superhuman ability to single-handedly make Mexico build the wall, defeat ISIS, deport 11 million people, implement racial profiling and fix the economy. Trump has taken credit for popularizing the word “rigged,” identifying the California drought as a hoax and making polling a major factor in presidential campaigns. Trump doesn’t offer any real explanations of his past achievements or future plans, he just asks us to “believe” him. Tonight, it’s critical to remember that despite his bluster, Trump doesn’t have superhuman powers—and simply repeating the same falsehoods will never make any of his claims true. By simply asking “how?” Trump’s biggest boasts fall apart.
Conclusion
As The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold has shown in his dogged reporting on the Trump Foundation, Trump’s most basic claims often fall apart under scrutiny. Tonight, reporters must look at the stories Trump tells about himself very skeptically. Since launching his presidential campaign (and before) Trump has literally lied about his own biography, made up campaign validators and said that as president, he can do the impossible. Trump tells a dizzying number of lies and displays a disturbing pattern of deceit and deception. Instead of letting Trump get away with it, tonight journalists must counter Trump’s falsehoods with the most powerful tool they have: the truth.
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