120 Comments
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Gregory Koch's avatar

Remember, Trump is not just a President, he is also a former President. Are we sure he wasn’t looking at himself in the mirror and talking to himself about how he wished he had bombed Iran during his first term?

Henry Cohen's avatar

Clever, but the problem with that is that it would mean that a former president had in fact told him that he'd wished he'd bombed Iran, which would mean that Trump wasn't lying. But it's impossible for him not to have been lying.

Steve Newman's avatar

But did he say a former US President? Maybe he meant the President of his fan club. (Not that it matters. The man told the truth once in his life and decided to never do that again.)

John E Simpson's avatar

Or the president of some other country.

Rosemary George's avatar

You beat me to it. 47 obviously spoke to 45 ("a guy he likes".)

Henry Cohen's avatar

There is no one Trump hates more than himself.

Sasquatch's avatar

That would require self-awareness, which I doubt he has, and introspection, which I doubt he has ever done.

Henry Cohen's avatar

Of course, he doesn't know that he hates himself, but he does so because deep down he knows that he is a worthless and despicable person.

AAM's avatar

Please, no compassion!

Kitchen Cynic's avatar

Trump isn't smart enough to have reasoned that out. As far as he's concerned, he's been president continuously since January 20, 2017. Because he won the 2020 election, don't ya know.

Jennifer Elsea's avatar

Except for that period during 2020 when Biden was apparently in charge of the FBI and used it to instigate the insurrection at the Capitol, or whatever it is that is supposed to have happened.

Henry Cohen's avatar

Let’s call it an attempt to overthrow the government. I wish that Kamala Harris had called it that, repeatedly.

John E Simpson's avatar

I've wondered about that. If he actually won, then he should already have been term-limited to the curb by 2024.

Kitchen Cynic's avatar

When has Trump ever been constrained by presidential precedent?

Jennifer Elsea's avatar

Trump doesn’t seem to be all that clear on who has been president, or even who is now. He’s referred to Hillary as a President, among many others.

WolfBite🐺's avatar

He called Gavin Newsome The President *while frothing at the mouth about how stupid Gavin Newsome is.*

Lairbo's avatar

Frederick Douglass, maybe?

Mary Roeser's avatar

Maybe. But also maybe Hannibal Lecter.

mja's avatar

Gene gave this away with his uncharacteristic misuse of punctuation:

(“No, Trump,” said.)

Leslie Franson's avatar

without the comma or the following verb, that is my stance on life now.

COL Mustard's avatar

That’s the only logical explanation for what he said. I’m pretty sure that neither Obama nor Biden would have talked to him about anything at all, and neither would W. Ergo, he talked to his 45 self and thought no one would be the wiser.

COL Mustard's avatar

Also, Gene, that dog video was the best thing I've seen all day. Thank you for posting it!

Suzanne S Barnhill's avatar

That was the thought that first occurred to me as well. But if he had had that idea, why didn't he do it during his first term?

Henry Cohen's avatar

There were adults in the room during his first term.

Dale of Green Gables's avatar

Tough when you have no reflection.

Janelle Hartman's avatar

My thought exactly!

Christy Kelly's avatar

That makes sense!

Pecos Slim's avatar

"It was a big, burly former president... and he was crying because I had just given him a new pair of Florsheim shoes. I know more about shoes than anyone who ever lived because my uncle was a shoe physicist at MIT. This is where the new fabulous ballroom is going to be. It'll be bigger than Rhode Island! And then he said, only you would be great enough to bomb Iran."

Helena Handbasket's avatar

"It'll be bigger than Rhode Island! "

As a Rhode Islander I declare: "Over your dead body!"

John E Simpson's avatar

I believe the new ballroom (and other construction projects) is being sized using the same logic as when he sized his Cabinet's shoes. "Maybe they're too big now, but we can grow to fill them!"

Dale of Green Gables's avatar

Newer synonyms/terms for lying:

+ Trumplicate: to lie without moving your lips

+ Cut an orange one: any verbal or written emission (see: Olid)

+ Vance: to couch a falsehood while moving your lips

WolfBite🐺's avatar

"to couch a falsehood"😂

David Hartman's avatar

Re Trump claim: President of what?

Tracey Griffith's avatar

BTW, loved the dog video. Dog is a better problem solver than Trump. Dog had a plan!

Larry Yungk's avatar

While I voted for prevaricate, I believe Trump may be the index case for a new type of lying. I would call it "pseudo-confabulation." Pseudo because by definition confabulation is unintentional lying without intent to deceive. Trump's lying, however, is not wholly unintentional nor is it always intentional. It seems to fall in-between. His lying appears to be a reflexive deceit, that always protects his fragile hyper-inflated ego. In fact, pseudo-confabulation may be a symptom of his unrivaled malignant narcissism, now exacerbated by his escalating senility.

Jerry Slaff's avatar

James Buchanan came to him in a dream, with tears in his eyes, and said "Sir, I should have bombed Iran even though there was no such country when I was president!"

Mary Roeser's avatar

James Buchanan thinks Agolf Shitler is his hero. No longer is Buchanan the worst president in history. As far as Buchanan is concerned it's "Thank God for Shitler".

Audrey Liebross's avatar

Your non-existent Easter brunch menu sounds delicious, except for the capers. I HATE capers. When I was a kid, I don’t recall that lox and bagels were served with capers. Capers are, IMO, a highly unwelcome addition to my favorite deli menu item. BTW, lox and bagels are a suspect dish for an Easter brunch, unless the Easter bunny is Jewish. They are a suspect dish for a Jewish brunch on Easter, as well, because Easter often falls during Passover, as it does this year. If you want to combine Christian and Jewish traditions, how about ham and cheese on matzah? Ugh! Seriously, may you and Rachel be happy and healthy for your celebrations, whatever they are.

Tracey Griffith's avatar

For me, capers are essential. You must have been listening to my Grandma. She stuck capers on her deviled eggs and told us they were dead flies.

Sasquatch's avatar

Seems like Grandma was a real piece of work. I mean that in a good way.

Tracey Griffith's avatar

She did have a wicked sense of humor.

COL Mustard's avatar

I love capers. Can't have lox without them, and sliced onions. If you don't have bad breath after that, you aren't doing it right.

wiredog's avatar

The Last Supper was a Passover Seder.

Audrey Liebross's avatar

But I’ll bet they didn’t serve lox and bagels.

AAM's avatar

Would you please post that at foxnews.com? Thanks.

David Smith's avatar

Oh, Audrey, you're always cutting capers.

(Also: I agree with you)

John E Simpson's avatar

In the remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" -- the one starring Donald Sutherland -- he plays an inspector with the local health department. He visits a restaurant kitchen and, with a pair of long tweezers, pulls out this small, ovoid, greenish-brown object from a stew pot. "That's a caper," says the restaurateur; "That's not a caper -- that's a rat turd!" says Sutherland. That exchange has influenced my thinking on capers ever since I first saw the film.

(Aside: I may be wrong on the details of the scene, but am pretty sure that's how the dialog was.)

Pecos Slim's avatar

Trump's so stupid he failed the Turing test.

Linda Spiegler's avatar

Trump is full of malevolent BS and just pours it out, either aware or not that we know it's BS.

His narcissism prevents him from seeing it or caring that he's caught in the lies. So I'd have listed the word BULLSHIT" along with the other choices.

Jack Mccombs's avatar

Why can’t the news media just use the word “LIE,” when discussing Trump’s statements? Instead, they use terms such as “misspoke,” “misstated,” etc. They’re still LIES. Let’s just use the simplest, most direct word for his lies. That being said I see a lot of reactions to Trump’s lies, stating in essence “Now we got him - there’s no way he can get out of this.” But he always does because he’s above the law, since he’s essentially recreated the law to give him a free pass on just about everything. I may be a pessimist (I hope so), but I don’t see that Trump will ever have to do penance for any of his misdeeds, either in or out of office. Please, world, prove me wrong.

Larry Lawrence's avatar

Journalists on MS and CNN often say, "(What X said) raises a lot of questions..." when they might correctly say, "This seems to be a lie."

AustinAngel's avatar

His first lie was saying he’d spoken to a former president. We know he’d never consult any of the living four for anything, and we know they’d never have reason to contact him. Such a pathetic fool.

Hvvfagn's avatar

Belly lox for an Easter brunch? Is that even a thing? That would be like buying a canned ham for a seder.

Audrey Liebross's avatar

I had the same thought. See my comment below.

Michael P Stein's avatar

Yes, but did anyone ask any of the dead presidents that Trump might have spoken to by Ouija board? George Washington is a good bet - as we all know (because Trump told us so), he took over the British airports during the Revolutionary War, so George could have used them to bomb Iran if only he had had the guts like Trump.

On the second poll, I don't want to raise nitpicking objections, but "cavil" means to raise nitpicking objections. It is at best a very narrow form of deception, not applicable to deception generally.

David Smith's avatar

I thought that was true of all the options -- it seems like none of them apply to a direct lie.

David Smith's avatar

Or even a Lie Direct.

Gary E Masters's avatar

To lie or not to lie? And a lie is a lie is a lie and no substitute word will do. He lies. Others die. Battlefields stink. So we must call a spade a spade.

Kitchen Cynic's avatar

Truman would have treated Trump with utter contempt. Beyond the way he (Truman) responded to Paul Hume, the WaPo music critic, who wrote that Margaret Truman’s singing was less than professional.

Michael P Stein's avatar

The greatest response to a critic I have ever read was by the German post-Romantic composer Max Reger. Translated from the German:

"Dear Sir: I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. Your review is before me. Soon it will be behind me."

Siobhan Dugan's avatar

Excellent reference!