During his recent testimony to Congress, newly minted Attorney General Bill Barr stated, without any substantive proof, that there was evidence of spying on Donald Trump during the 2016 elections. When asked to clarify his remarks, he sputtered and stammered, but again repeated that he “believed” there was spying on the Trump campaign.
Sadly, while we can be shocked by this, it should come as no surprise. This administration has a long history of spouting falsehoods, innuendo and distortions of the facts. The latest whopper only feeds into the extended narrative that is this administration.
The hypocrisy in this is the demand from the right for concrete, irrefutable evidence of the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia.
The Trump Tower meeting, and even Junior’s response, wasn’t enough. Michael Flynn’s attempt to set up a back-channel to Russia prior to the inauguration wasn’t enough. George Papadopolous’s drunken confession wasn’t enough. Paul Manafort’s meeting with Russian operatives wasn’t enough. Trump’s very public statements about inviting the Russians to hack Hillary’s e-mail or the reason behind the firing of James Comey weren’t enough. Even the convictions or guilty pleas in several trials were not enough.
There have been so many lies told by members of this administration that it should be criminal, but to them it’s just another day at the office. While there were many lies told during the campaign, it’s easier, if that can be said, to focus only on those told after the inauguration.
It began with former Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s assertion about the size of the inauguration crowd. Despite physical evidence to the contrary, he continued to make this claim which had no basis in fact, and really had no relevance other than to stoke the ego of his boss.
Soon afterwards, we were introduced to the term “Alternative Facts” by Kellyanne “I will lie for him” Conway. She attempted to spin the narrative by claiming that her “facts” were to be believed over the actual ones. The #AlternativeFacts memes exploded on social media.
And then there is the Liar in Chief. His claims of voter fraud attempted to substantiate his lie that he lost the popular vote due to millions of illegal votes by Democrats served to rile his base, who are the only Americans he cares about. It doesn’t matter that there is no proof. He is resurrecting this falsehood in preparation for the 2020 campaign.
The lies are so numerous that a CNN anchor has chosen to visually demonstrate them with jars of gum balls. He has gone from a tabletop demonstration to a full-blown display, and it keeps on growing.
When will it end? When will it be too much? No one knows, but until it does, we must continue to call them out on their lies. We must continue to take a stand.