Trump's administration is deeply dishonest and it's foolish to trust them

[babylonsister]

Trump’s administration is deeply dishonest and it’s foolish to trust them
Don’t trust liars — especially about matters of war and peace.
By Matthew Yglesias@[e-mail] Jan 3, 2020, 11:50am EST


Every international crisis generates more than its fair share of insta-experts, charlatans, and Wikipedia summarizers, so it’s probably best for political pundits to try to stick to subjects we’re genuinely knowledgeable about.

For example: President Donald Trump is a deeply dishonest person.

Since long before he was a politician, he’s lied frequently and even written in multiple books about his profound belief in the value of lying as a means to get ahead. And he’s good at it. After his Atlantic City casinos went bust, he successfully duped a bunch of mom-and-pop equity investors out of their money to get out of debt and had them pay him a salary for the privilege. He then got himself elected president and immediately started bullshitting about everything from the size of his inaugural crowds to the way NATO works to Chinese currency manipulation.

When someone has proven over and over again that they are not trustworthy, you can, and in important situations should, stop trusting them.

Unfortunately, in the escalating crisis with Iran, many people seem to have forgotten this basic principle.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went on CNN earlier this morning to explain that the Trump administration killed a top Iranian general to forestall an “imminent threat” and that the decision to do so “saved American lives.” Those remarks are simply echoed uncritically in the Washington Post’s main write-up of the story, along with the observation that Pompeo “stressed that Washington is committed to de-escalation” — a fairly dubious assertion given the current cycle of escalating hostilities dates to Trump’s unprovoked decision to pull out of the Iranian nuclear deal. An ABC News write-up of the story stresses the risks of Iranian retaliation, but simply takes Pompeo’s claim of an imminent threat at face value.

It’s obviously possible that this is true. But it’s somewhat at odds with the Department of Defense’s statement Thursday night saying merely that Suleimani was “actively developing plans” for attacks and that the American bombing was “aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans” rather than disrupting an ongoing one. And indeed, David Sanger’s news analysis piece in the New York Times takes the Pentagon’s deterrence account at face value without noting that the secretary of state actually claims the attack was about something else.

Beyond the contradictions, telling the truth about something would be a strange, new departure for the Trump administration, and it seems unwise to assume that’s something they would do.


more...

https://www.vox.com/2020/1/3/21048079/trump-pompeo-iran-lies

[onecaliberal]

1. The republicans cannot he trusted for anything. NOTHING. They lie about ALL things large and small

There are NO good republicans. Not even one.

[BuffaloJackalope]

2. W's administration was deeply dishonest and it was foolish to trust them.

Poppy's administration was deeply dishonest and it was foolish to trust them.

Reagan's administration was deeply dishonest and it was foolish to trust them.

Nixon's administration was deeply dishonest and it was foolish to trust them.

Same as it ever was...

[enough]

3. Does anyone trust them? NT

[erronis]

4. (R)epuglicons.

I don't care anymore if one or more decent people are wearing that (R) label. They have been tainted forever.

Sad state of affairs. In my 70+ years I have never disliked any group - making an exception for any (r) or rumper.