Donald Trump’s ‘truths’ often fail the test
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump this week foreshadowed — with his baseless accusation of widespread voter fraud in the presidential election — that he could bring his well-documented habit of telling whoppers into the Oval Office.
Trump, who in 52 days will assume the most powerful office in the land, is taking the country into uncharted territory, a Twitter-age president-elect who historians say is on track to alter expectations of trustworthiness and factual integrity in government.
“One would assume that when Trump got the nomination and won the election, that he would upgrade his act,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian and professor at Rice University. “But I don’t know if he has the ability to stop himself.”
The fact-checking news site PolitiFact has reviewed 335 statements that Trump has made since his campaign started, and found only 15 percent were rated true or mostly true — a far lower record than President Obama. More than half of Trump’s statements were deemed false by PolitiFact or, given the most untruthful rating, “pants on fire.” Of the four statements reviewed since his Nov. 8 election as president, one was “pants on fire,” two were false, and one was “half true.”
Now it’s not just the candidate’s credibility at stake. The reputation of the United States will be on the line. Any statement from the White House carries the potential to influence global financial markets and world diplomacy.
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