By Michael Woyton
Anyone who was really listening to the “press conference” that former president Donald Trump held Thursday in his Mar-a-Lago country club could tell that many things coming out of the convicted felon’s mouth at the very least didn’t ring true.
Since then a few news outlets have fact-checked some of the more egregious misrepresentations, including the infamous — and false — Willie Brown emergency helicopter landing story.
But NPR on Sunday published its massive undertaking: outlining “162 misstatements, exaggerations and outright lies” uttered during the 64 minute presser.
“That’s more than two a minute,” NPR reported. “It’s a stunning number for anyone — and even more problematic for a person running to lead the free world.”
NPR said that, yes, politicians spin, fib and misspeak, but there is an expectation that any errors will be acknowledged and corrected.
“But what former President Trump did this past Thursday went well beyond the bounds of what most politicians would do,” the news outlet said.
SEE ALSO: O’Donnell Calls Press to Task over Trump ‘Press Conference’
The NPR article is quite a read, and it is important to keep in mind that none of the reporters pushed back on anything that Trump said.
I think my favorite checked facts concerned the process by which Vice President Kamala Harris was elevated from President Joe Biden’s running mate to leading her own ticket.
Fact Check Nos. 32-34 had Trump saying, “And I’m no Biden fan, but I’ll tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint you’re looking at, they took the presidency away. … And they took it away.”
NPR responded,” There’s nothing in the U.S. Constitution about picking presidential candidates. This is a party process, and everything has been done within party rules. And, again, the presidency wasn’t taken away: Biden is still president.”
It’s pretty well documented that Trump plays fast and loose with the truth. The Washington Post said that in the first 100 days of his presidency there were 492 “suspect claims,” with more than 30,000 over the four years.
The real questions that remain are, Does Trump believe it’s OK to continuously lie, or does he have no grasp on reality?
On Second Thought 