This weekend, four of the country’s major newspapers are out with in-depth looks at the depth and breadth of Donald Trump’s lying. The pieces go beyond just mere fact checks and reveal how lying is a central part of Trump’s public persona. After examining a week of Trump’s false claims, The New York Times noted that “falsehoods directly bolstered” Trump’s pitch to voters. The Washington Post found that Trump not only relied “heavily on thinly sourced or entirely unsubstantiated claims but also uses them to paint a strikingly bleak portrait of an impoverished America.”
Politico dug deep, finding that when in public this week, Trump lied nearly every three minutes and 15 seconds. At Correct The Record, our own analysis (see TrumpLies.com) shows that he has told hundreds and hundreds of lies since June. This is unprecedented in modern American politics. Trump will take the debate stage tomorrow night with the dubious honor bestowed upon him by The Los Angeles Times, which noted in their piece, “Never in modern presidential politics has a major candidate made false statements as routinely as Trump has.”
Los Angeles Times: Scope of Trump’s falsehoods unprecedented for a modern presidential candidate
Never in modern presidential politics has a major candidate made false statements as routinely as Trump has. Over and over, independent researchers have examined what the Republican nominee says and concluded it was not the truth — but ‘pants on fire’ (PolitiFact) or ‘four Pinocchios’ (Washington Post Fact Checker).
Politico: Donald Trump’s Week of Misrepresentations, Exaggerations and Half-Truths
We subjected every statement made by both the Republican and Democratic candidates – in speeches, in interviews and on Twitter – to our magazine’s rigorous fact-checking process. The conclusion is inescapable: Trump’s mishandling of facts and propensity for exaggeration so greatly exceed Clinton’s as to make the comparison almost ludicrous.
New York Times: A Week of Whoppers From Donald Trump
Virtually all of Mr. Trump’s falsehoods directly bolstered a powerful and self-aggrandizing narrative depicting him as a heroic savior for a nation menaced from every direction. Mike Murphy, a Republican strategist, described the practice as creating ‘an unreality bubble that he surrounds himself with.’
New York Times: Opinion How to Cover a Charlatan Like Trump
WITH presidential debates approaching, we in journalism are locked in a fierce dispute: How should we report on a duplicitous demagogue?
Washington Post: Trump’s week reveals bleak view, dubious statements in ‘alternative universe’
An examination by The Washington Post of one week of Trump’s speeches, tweets and interviews show a candidate who not only continues to rely heavily on thinly sourced or entirely unsubstantiated claims but also uses them to paint a strikingly bleak portrait of an impoverished America, overrun by illegal immigrants, criminals and terrorists — all designed to set up his theme that he is specially suited to ‘make America great again.’