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Robert Reich: "This is by no means a comprehensive list..."
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Robert Reich
54 mins ·
Trump lies like most people breathe, and today was no exception. His speech this morning addressing Iran’s missile attacks on two American army bases in Iraq was riddled with misleading statements, inflammatory rhetoric, and outright lies. Among the most outrageous of Trump’s tall tales:
— He claimed the Iranian people chanted “Death to America” on the day the nuclear deal was signed. In reality, thousands of Iranians took to the streets to celebrate the signing of the nuclear deal, elate that a diplomatic channel between Iran and the United States had finally been opened after years of tensions. Public dancing, while normally banned, was even permitted as Iran’s citizens banded together in a joyous display of national unity.
— He repeated a wild claim that the U.S. gave Iran "$150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash" after signing the deal. This is patently untrue: after the deal was signed, Iran regained access to $150 billion of its own assets, which had been frozen abroad. The $1.8 billion in cash was from a 1970s-era deal in which Iran paid the U.S. $400 million for military equipment that never ended up getting delivered due to the revolution, which disintegrated diplomatic relations. After the deal was signed in 2015, the U.S. agreed to pay Iran the original $400 million in addition to $1.3 billion in interest.
— He again claimed that he had destroyed "100 percent of ISIS and its territorial caliphate". While its territorial caliphate is no longer, ISIS is very much alive and well. In fact, ISIS is poised on the edge of resurgence thanks to Trump’s brash foreign policy decisions, including his abandonment of our Kurdish allies in Syria last October and last week’s strike against General Soleimani.
This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the lies Trump spouted this morning. At a time when world peace hangs precipitously in the balance, it is unconscionable that the American people cannot rely on the president to tell us the basic truth.
— He claimed the Iranian people chanted “Death to America” on the day the nuclear deal was signed. In reality, thousands of Iranians took to the streets to celebrate the signing of the nuclear deal, elate that a diplomatic channel between Iran and the United States had finally been opened after years of tensions. Public dancing, while normally banned, was even permitted as Iran’s citizens banded together in a joyous display of national unity.
— He repeated a wild claim that the U.S. gave Iran "$150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash" after signing the deal. This is patently untrue: after the deal was signed, Iran regained access to $150 billion of its own assets, which had been frozen abroad. The $1.8 billion in cash was from a 1970s-era deal in which Iran paid the U.S. $400 million for military equipment that never ended up getting delivered due to the revolution, which disintegrated diplomatic relations. After the deal was signed in 2015, the U.S. agreed to pay Iran the original $400 million in addition to $1.3 billion in interest.
— He again claimed that he had destroyed "100 percent of ISIS and its territorial caliphate". While its territorial caliphate is no longer, ISIS is very much alive and well. In fact, ISIS is poised on the edge of resurgence thanks to Trump’s brash foreign policy decisions, including his abandonment of our Kurdish allies in Syria last October and last week’s strike against General Soleimani.
This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the lies Trump spouted this morning. At a time when world peace hangs precipitously in the balance, it is unconscionable that the American people cannot rely on the president to tell us the basic truth.
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