The list of lies they tell us keeps growing. From Bill Clinton's assertion that he never had sex with Monica Lewinsky, to Obama's claim that if Americans liked their health care plans and doctors they could keep them under Obamacare, to Hillary Clinton stating that she never knowingly sent or received classified information over unauthorized electronic devices, to Joe Biden's seemingly-endless lies, exaggerations, and plagiarizing. In the latter case it got so bad that Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post quit counting.

The Left loves to point out Donald Trump's many inaccurate and untruthful statements, and it's important to take note of them as well. One thing I've noticed is that when someone corrects a statement made by Trump it's often for an exaggeration or some minor detail that affects no one. Not all the time of course, but often enough to form a pattern. Trump frequently uses phrases such as, "It was the best ever" and "No one's seen anything like that before." Do those count as lies or simple exaggerations?

Compare those to other fallacious statements such as "We'll only shut down for two weeks to slow the spread of COVID" that have caused people physical, emotional, or financial loss. Included here are slanderous or libelous comments made to damage a person's reputation, and these become particularly heinous when they potentially lead to arrest, trial, conviction and incarceration. Even if the person is found not guilty, the damage to their reputation may never be fully repaired.

This played out right in front of us with the Russian Collusion Hoax. The Clinton campaign paid Fusion GPS to gather opposition research against Donald Trump. Operatives assembled the so-called "Steele Dossier" and fed it to the FBI, who subsequently leaked it to the press. The FBI then used those press reports to convince a FISA judge to approve warrants to surveil the Trump campaign.

Millions of dollars and countless hours of investigations and testimony produced no evidence of any crime committed by Donald Trump, but lots of nefarious behavior on the part of journalists, law enforcement officials, bureaucrats, and political insiders. And again, people formed opinions about Donald Trump based on illusory information that was maliciously spread. To my knowledge no one has ever apologized or been held accountable for those lies.

Tulsi Gabbard is experiencing this herself. She alienated the Clintons after she endorsed Bernie Sanders rather than Hillary. Then, after she singlehandedly destroyed Kamala Harris' campaign during the debates she went on to question other Democrat policies. She subsequently left the Democrat party, joined the Republicans and endorsed Donald Trump.

Suddenly allegations arise that Tulsi is a Russian asset. The next thing you know, she's put on a TSA watch list, ostensibly because her foreign contacts "triggered an algorithm." People who get their information from what's laughingly referred to as the "mainstream media" will hear the initial story but may never hear the correction.

No matter. The damage is done.

David Frum is credited as saying, “People need to understand that in Washington, the process is the punishment.” Lies are fabricated, told to the press who spread them everywhere, people form their opinions and the liars reap the benefits. Whether the plan works as intended or not is irrelevant. Affecting public opinion and having the adversary waste money and time to defend himself is enough.

Nancy Pelosi calls this "The Wrap-Up Smear." In this video Nancy Pelosi was accusing Republicans of engaging in this tactic, yet it sounds exactly like what triggered the Russian Collusion episode endured by Pres. Trump and the TSA restriction Ms. Gabbard is currently undergoing. I'm surprised that Pelosi actually said those things out loud. Of course, she has demonstrated similar tone-deafness in the past. For example, that episode in front of her commercial-sized freezers where she extolled the pleasures of luxury ice creams to viewers who were suffering through COVID lockdowns, school and business closures, and financial hardships.

Fortunately, people have noticed and it looks like we’ve all had enough. Americans don’t like being lied to. Our trust in our own government and the media have been declining for years and we’re increasingly turning to independent sources. MSNBC and CNN have reportedly lost a large portion of their viewership, and rumors abound that Elon Musk may even purchase the former.

Would he call it “MXNBC”?

Image: Pixabay