As of February 17, after 759 days in office, President Trump has been caught in 8,718 false or misleading claims, according to The Fact Checker by the Washington Post, and no doubt that tally is well over 9,000 by now -- especially given the Twitter-in-Chief's latest barrage of tweets in recent days.
How can democracy survive when we cannot believe the statements and assertions made by our president? The impact on our lives is direct and impactful. Here's a listing of many of Trump's lies since his election.
Then, when those untruths are mixed in with claims and assertions that can only be considered racist and dangerous, they become even more serious. Consider the deadly actions of white supremacists who committed the most extremist killings in 2017, and you must wonder how Trump's words of denial and racism may have played a part.
In the most recent example, at the New Zealand massacre at a mosque where Muslims were worshipping, the white supremacist shooter wrote in a lengthy manifesto that Trump is “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” He also appeared to echo some of Trump's hard-line rhetoric on immigration, describing immigrants as “invaders within our lands.”
Of course, the White House attempted to minimize that, as Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said on the Sunday talk shows that Trump is "not a white supremacist" and that it's ridiculous to connect anything he says to such actions. As far as I'm concerned, the fact that such a conversation -- such a denial -- would even need to be uttered on national television from the White House is shocking on its own.
So don't tell me that what the president of the United States says doesn't matter, doesn't influence events that affect our daily lives. In fact, he would be the first to claim that what he says does, in fact, make a difference. Like claiming that because of him auto companies have changed their mind about moving their operations to Mexico, or that because of his great friendship with Kim Jong Un South Korea is no longer building nuclear bombs. Right.
At any rate, all of this is why I designed to shirts in the pic above. They and other similar "message" shirts are available from the Not Fake News store, if you're interested. Jackie and I wore those shirts today, quite by accident.