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"All politicians lie, though."
That's the banal platitude you will invariably hear from any Trumpanzees you may have the misfortune of having in your presence if you happen to bring up the demonstrable, undeniable fact that Donald Trump is an irredeemable pathological liar.
And, to a great extent, it's actually true. I mean, the literal answer to the question "Do all politicians lie?" is probably "no," but it really feels like it should be way closer to "yes," doesn't it? Even now, today, fact checkers fact check statements from Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, hell, even Barack Obama, and they sometimes find them lacking in pure honesty. I'm not trying to claim that "my" politicians are as pure as the driven snow, because they're not. (Still, compare it to Donald Trump. [And even then, I think Politifact is grossly erring on the side of giving Trump way the fuck too much credit.])
But here's the thing. (And you knew there was "the thing" that "is" "here," otherwise I wouldn't be making this post.)
In the Precambrian era, back before Donald Trump entered the political scene, untold eons ago, most of the lies from politicians seemed to be of the "of omission" type, or the "exaggeration" type, or the "little white" type, or the "fudging the numbers a bit" type, and such. You know, lies that at least could be plausibly believed by sane people, unless they did a bare minimum of fact checking on the matter. Lies that have the ring of "truthiness" to them. Back in ye olden times, before the uncountable millennia of Trumpism, it was rather rare for a politician to just tell a straight up whopper. And by "whopper," I mean a lie so far away from reality that the light of any star, let alone just the sun, has yet to reach it. A lie so divorced from reality that reality has sole custody of the children as well as a restraining order against the lie. A lie that could not possibly be believed by anyone with a functioning brain cell or two. A lie that doesn't require intense fact checking before it becomes clear that it's a fucking lie. Politicians who told actual whoppers, back in the golden age, would usually be resoundingly castigated by everyone, forever driven from politics on pain of being beaten with sticks (or worse) if they tried to return.
But then...
Along toddled Donald Trump.
Donald Trump entered the chat.
Here came Donny Boob Boob.
Donald Trump took that ill-fated escalator ride. (To be fair and accurate, that wasn't the first time that Trump stuck his malignant toe into the waters of presidential politics, but it was the first time that mattered at all. The first time that he actually managed to infect said waters with whatever disgusting toe fungus he obviously has, metaphorically speaking. Especially since, you know, he actually won that time. Somehow. With obvious help. To the detriment of us all.)
And now...
Now, there is an entire political party that doesn't even blush at telling whopper after whopper after whopper. Whoppers like "Haitian immigrants are eating pets," or like "pedophiles are running a child-trafficking ring out of the basement of a pizza parlor (which doesn't even have a basement)," or like "Democrats want to murder babies after they're born," or like "kids can go to school and come home with a transgender operation," or like the en-fucking-tirety of QAnon, or like "Trump won in 2020." They don't give the slightest shit. And as much as the rest of us would probably sorely love to drive them away from politics forever, with the threat of being stick-beaten if they ever try to return, it hasn't happened yet, sadly and frustratingly.
And there is an entire, gun-toting base of that political party who willingly, militantly, hatefully "believes" those ludicrous lies. It's not necessarily because they think that the lies are actually true, per se. It's that they simply want to believe the lies, actual truth of the matter be damned. They believe the lies because to believe the lies "pwns the libs." They believe the lies because that's what gets their vile asshole politicians voted into office. Or, maybe, they believe the lies simply because they really are that fucking gullible and stupid and ignorant, and they actually do think the lies are literally true. *shrug*
And, of course, there are all the middlemen out there, perpetually stirring the fucking pot.
My point is that, yes, all politicians (probably) do lie. However, it is not the case that all politicians lie equally. One side (i.e. the side that doesn't include Donald Trump) is still telling the "of omission," "exaggeration," "little white," "fudging the numbers" type of plausible lies. The other side (i.e. the side that includes Donald Trump and all of his Trumpanzee lickspittles) has put in a permanent change-of-address to Bizarro World. And even Bizarro World doesn't want them.
Is this the doctrine of relative filth trap fallacy? Maybe. Yes, "my" politicians (e.g. Biden, Harris, Obama, etc.) are dirty, and I don't think they shouldn't be taken to task when they fuck up, intentionally or unintentionally. No, I don't think "my" politicians are even remotely as dirty as those in the Trump camp. Just because "my" politicians probably deserve at least a paddling (with one of those scary paddles with the holes drilled in it for aerodynamic purposes), though, that doesn't mean that Trump and the Trumpublicans (still a terrible band name) don't deserve, at the very least, a full on sustained assault via baseball bat, preferably with rusty nails driven through it. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
That's the banal platitude you will invariably hear from any Trumpanzees you may have the misfortune of having in your presence if you happen to bring up the demonstrable, undeniable fact that Donald Trump is an irredeemable pathological liar.
And, to a great extent, it's actually true. I mean, the literal answer to the question "Do all politicians lie?" is probably "no," but it really feels like it should be way closer to "yes," doesn't it? Even now, today, fact checkers fact check statements from Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, hell, even Barack Obama, and they sometimes find them lacking in pure honesty. I'm not trying to claim that "my" politicians are as pure as the driven snow, because they're not. (Still, compare it to Donald Trump. [And even then, I think Politifact is grossly erring on the side of giving Trump way the fuck too much credit.])
But here's the thing. (And you knew there was "the thing" that "is" "here," otherwise I wouldn't be making this post.)
In the Precambrian era, back before Donald Trump entered the political scene, untold eons ago, most of the lies from politicians seemed to be of the "of omission" type, or the "exaggeration" type, or the "little white" type, or the "fudging the numbers a bit" type, and such. You know, lies that at least could be plausibly believed by sane people, unless they did a bare minimum of fact checking on the matter. Lies that have the ring of "truthiness" to them. Back in ye olden times, before the uncountable millennia of Trumpism, it was rather rare for a politician to just tell a straight up whopper. And by "whopper," I mean a lie so far away from reality that the light of any star, let alone just the sun, has yet to reach it. A lie so divorced from reality that reality has sole custody of the children as well as a restraining order against the lie. A lie that could not possibly be believed by anyone with a functioning brain cell or two. A lie that doesn't require intense fact checking before it becomes clear that it's a fucking lie. Politicians who told actual whoppers, back in the golden age, would usually be resoundingly castigated by everyone, forever driven from politics on pain of being beaten with sticks (or worse) if they tried to return.
But then...
Along toddled Donald Trump.
Donald Trump entered the chat.
Here came Donny Boob Boob.
Donald Trump took that ill-fated escalator ride. (To be fair and accurate, that wasn't the first time that Trump stuck his malignant toe into the waters of presidential politics, but it was the first time that mattered at all. The first time that he actually managed to infect said waters with whatever disgusting toe fungus he obviously has, metaphorically speaking. Especially since, you know, he actually won that time. Somehow. With obvious help. To the detriment of us all.)
And now...
Now, there is an entire political party that doesn't even blush at telling whopper after whopper after whopper. Whoppers like "Haitian immigrants are eating pets," or like "pedophiles are running a child-trafficking ring out of the basement of a pizza parlor (which doesn't even have a basement)," or like "Democrats want to murder babies after they're born," or like "kids can go to school and come home with a transgender operation," or like the en-fucking-tirety of QAnon, or like "Trump won in 2020." They don't give the slightest shit. And as much as the rest of us would probably sorely love to drive them away from politics forever, with the threat of being stick-beaten if they ever try to return, it hasn't happened yet, sadly and frustratingly.
And there is an entire, gun-toting base of that political party who willingly, militantly, hatefully "believes" those ludicrous lies. It's not necessarily because they think that the lies are actually true, per se. It's that they simply want to believe the lies, actual truth of the matter be damned. They believe the lies because to believe the lies "pwns the libs." They believe the lies because that's what gets their vile asshole politicians voted into office. Or, maybe, they believe the lies simply because they really are that fucking gullible and stupid and ignorant, and they actually do think the lies are literally true. *shrug*
And, of course, there are all the middlemen out there, perpetually stirring the fucking pot.
My point is that, yes, all politicians (probably) do lie. However, it is not the case that all politicians lie equally. One side (i.e. the side that doesn't include Donald Trump) is still telling the "of omission," "exaggeration," "little white," "fudging the numbers" type of plausible lies. The other side (i.e. the side that includes Donald Trump and all of his Trumpanzee lickspittles) has put in a permanent change-of-address to Bizarro World. And even Bizarro World doesn't want them.
Is this the doctrine of relative filth trap fallacy? Maybe. Yes, "my" politicians (e.g. Biden, Harris, Obama, etc.) are dirty, and I don't think they shouldn't be taken to task when they fuck up, intentionally or unintentionally. No, I don't think "my" politicians are even remotely as dirty as those in the Trump camp. Just because "my" politicians probably deserve at least a paddling (with one of those scary paddles with the holes drilled in it for aerodynamic purposes), though, that doesn't mean that Trump and the Trumpublicans (still a terrible band name) don't deserve, at the very least, a full on sustained assault via baseball bat, preferably with rusty nails driven through it. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
