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MaddowBlog-Why Trump's State of the Union address was built on a foundation of lies
The problem is not simply that the president lied throughout his address. The bigger problem is that he seemed compelled to lie.
Link to tweet
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-state-of-the-union-2026-throne-of-lies
Although a variety of congressional lawmakers issued written statements ahead of Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, one of them, a press release from Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, included a notable prediction. “The president will lie tonight — he cannot help himself,” the senator said......
But over the course of 107 tedious minutes, the president threw caution to the wind and bombarded his audience with an avalanche of demonstrably false claims.
Trump said, “When I last spoke in this chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis with a stagnant economy [and] inflation at record levels.” That wasn’t even close to being true.
Trump said, “In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe.” It would certainly be nice if that were true, but according to the Republican administration’s own tallies, it was not.....
Trump said, “The cheating is rampant in our elections. It’s rampant.” The reason the White House has never been able to produce any evidence in support of this claim is because it’s plainly false.
Trump said, “My first 10 months I ended 8 wars.” In a piece for MS NOW, Glenn Kessler described this boast as “poppycock,” which is as good a label as any.
This isn’t even close to being a comprehensive list. Rather, it’s just a modest sampling to highlight the more outrageous and obvious deceptions.
But stepping back, the problem is not just that Trump lied repeatedly throughout his remarks. Those lies were made worse by the apparent fact that he thought he had to lie, likely aware of the unavoidable truth about his record and his vision: It simply isn’t good enough to stand on its own.
But over the course of 107 tedious minutes, the president threw caution to the wind and bombarded his audience with an avalanche of demonstrably false claims.
Trump said, “When I last spoke in this chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis with a stagnant economy [and] inflation at record levels.” That wasn’t even close to being true.
Trump said, “In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe.” It would certainly be nice if that were true, but according to the Republican administration’s own tallies, it was not.....
Trump said, “The cheating is rampant in our elections. It’s rampant.” The reason the White House has never been able to produce any evidence in support of this claim is because it’s plainly false.
Trump said, “My first 10 months I ended 8 wars.” In a piece for MS NOW, Glenn Kessler described this boast as “poppycock,” which is as good a label as any.
This isn’t even close to being a comprehensive list. Rather, it’s just a modest sampling to highlight the more outrageous and obvious deceptions.
But stepping back, the problem is not just that Trump lied repeatedly throughout his remarks. Those lies were made worse by the apparent fact that he thought he had to lie, likely aware of the unavoidable truth about his record and his vision: It simply isn’t good enough to stand on its own.