The difference between Donald Trump and others who have come before him is this: Trump is an expert in the blustery, utterly false statement department. There is no one who pulls this off better than Donald Trump. He appeals to the feelings in people, bypassing any remaining logic centers they may have left.
Via Raw Story, this doozy.
We begin with the Step One, the False Association.
Trump used the opportunity to point out that “Sen. Cruz is the one that pushed” for President George W. Bush to appoint Chief Justice John Roberts.
That's just a guilt-by-association reference right there. By the time John Roberts was nominated to the Supreme Court, Ted Cruz was safely back in Texas, serving as Solicitor General of that state, nowhere near Washington, D.C. and Supreme Court nominations.
Step Two, the Terrible Thing That Guy Did:
“And Justice Roberts was a terrible, terrible situation because he approved Obamacare when everybody said it was going to be terminated,” the billionaire candidate opined. “Then he had a second time at it, which would have also killed it, and he passed it then too.”
Clever, there, Donald. Supreme Court Justices pass nothing. They simply decide whether the law is constitutional. Democrats passed that law, as we're all reminded every time Republicans decide they're going to vote to repeal the ACA again and again.
Step Three, Emphasize The Lie:
“The one that pushed him harder than anybody was Sen. Cruz. So, Sen. Cruz gave us Obamacare in a true sense,” Trump insisted, drawing laughs from the audience at Regent Univ. “It’s true! It’s true!”
Step Four, Remind Everyone That The Lie Is Killing Them (when it's not):
“No matter what he does, he’s been a disastrous judge because Obamacare is killing everybody,” he added. “It’s killing everybody.”
No, it's not killing everybody. It's saving lives every single day. Many people I know as well as my own family and me are alive and well and sleep better knowing we're not going to lose everything we've worked for to a medical bankruptcy.
Let me tell you a story -- all true but with some details changed to protect identity. There is a person I know who opted out of coverage because they'd been convinced by right-wing radio and Fox News that they'd be better off paying the tax penalty than getting insurance.
That person -- a fairly young person at that -- came down with a septic infection that quite nearly killed him. It required a week in the Intensive Care Unit and intensive care by specialists to bring him back from near-death.
Now, of course, those bills are stacking up, and it's horrible. My heart breaks for him. There isn't anything to be done about it, of course, but do you think if we didn't have idiots like Trump out there blasting stupid things like this every day for the past six years things might have been different?
I do. And it makes me furious every time I think about it.
Trump is going to be the Republican nominee. The question is, will we get ourselves together enough to defeat him?
