Liar in Chief

There is a reason why he is called “Liar in Chief.”

President Trump was asked directly today why he lied to the American people about the coronavirus pandemic.

The beginning of Trump's response: "I didn't lie."

That itself is a lie.

Trump admitted to journalist Bob Woodward in a March interview, for Woodward's new book Rage, that he had played down the severity of the situation to try to avoid a public panic. And he told Woodward in a February interview that the coronavirus was deadlier than even "strenuous flus" -- then went out weeks later and falsely told the public that the coronavirus "is a flu" and "like a flu."

Trump said again today that he had just wanted to keep Americans "calm." Regardless of how benign or malign his intentions were, however, deliberately giving people inaccurate information is a lie.

Rather than calming, Trump incites his supporters with panicky proclamations:
- A "caravan" of immigrants is moving menacingly towards the U.S.
- Trump suggested shooting migrants in the legs to slow them down.
- Mexicans are bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.
- He tweets: Liberate Michigan! Liberate Minnesota! Liberate Virginia! [all states with Democratic governors]
- And the list goes on.