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Brian Beutler Profile picture
@brianbeutler
Sep 4, 2020 • 33 tweets • 10 min read • Read on X
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A perfect opportunity to test some of the ideas I wrote about here. It shouldn’t be a total non-story that literally everything Trump says in trying to appeal to voters is an egregious lie. us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=8855a23519a…
See, I think it’s an extremely important point, part and parcel of the larger story, which is that Trump’s appeal to military families is a lie and and he in fact disdains them.
More generally, I think it’s completely insane that Trump tells these demonstrably false lies about literally everything and it’s just treated as background noise, rather than treated with the alarm it deserves.
If in 2012 Obama had abruptly started telling seniors he was responsible for creating Medicare Part D, it would’ve been astonishing.

If he was in court trying to conceal years of tax returns from prosecutors, the “what is he hiding???” drumbeat would’ve been relentless.
I know, and have written over and over again, that Democrats feed this imbalance by not beating the drums themselves, the way Republicans would, but we as journalists don’t need permission from one of the parties to be astonished and fixed on something.
Set aside everything in Goldberg’s piece, for instance, and think of this: Trump is trying to attract votes from military veterans by telling them he signed a bill that created a benefit for them that a different president actually signed. What the hell?! That is ludicrous.
It says ~something~ about national political journalism that Trump told that one lie dozens and dozens of times before a reporter on the White House beat asked him about it (and he walked away).
In a report leading with Trump’s non-credible denial, the Times asserts that Trump has made “veterans care [a] pillar[] of his campaign,” without even a passing note that the main appeal on this score (that he “signed veterans‘ choice) is an outright lie. nytimes.com/2020/09/04/us/… Image
This is a really welcome challenge to the press from Biden, along the lines of this week’s newsletter, but hopefully just a start. Trump is a fraud, his whole campaign is built on defrauding the public.
Seems like there should be some accounting in the press for the fact that the incumbent president's re-election pitch is false in every particular.
Yes, this is false, but what’s truly remarkable is that every part of Trump’s pitch to voters is based on a lie about himself or Biden or both.
Every appeal to voters, across all facets of policy and culture, is a straight up lie.
The first part happens before the election, the second part happens after, because Trump is completely committed to the defrauding voters bit.
This, at least, is a long-standing, all-of-party Republican lie, not unique to Trump. But the pattern is unmistakable.
There’s one wrinkle to Trump’s budget lying. Smart bet is GOP leaders just let him steal money for 4 more years then try to extort a future Dem POTUS to gut Medicare, but if Trump wasn’t lying about this, he’d just be reviving his other false promise to leave entitlements alone.
Fauci gets it. Everything is a lie because the only thing that he cares about is re-election, and he has a dismal record and nothing to offer that’s both constructive and real. Image
Every single appeal to voters is a fabrication. Frequently the government manipulates evidence to make these lies seem true. cnn.com/2020/09/09/pol…
When Trump says something meant to convince people to vote for him, at least 99 times out of 100 it is a lie. latimes.com/politics/story…
Occasionally he’ll say something about, like, judges that isn’t totally fictional, but that’s about it.
A government-wide conspiracy to abet Russian interference in the election on Trump’s behalf, and deceive the public into thinking other governments are the real culprits, and working to help Biden. Lies all the way down.
It’s this ethic—say whatever you think you have to say to prevail or get out of a jam—applied to a national referendum on his presidency. That’s why every facet of the re-election message is dishonest.
Sounds like there may be documentary evidence here, too.
Another plea to voters, another straight up lie. How ‘bout that! Almost like there’s a pattern here...
It’s as though everything he tells voters about why they should return him to office is a lie.
The government, converted into a pro-MAGA propaganda syndicate, so Trump can lie to people as they make their voting decisions.
What Trump does when he’s trawling for votes is he lies.
More.
Not a single major Trump appeal to voters is truthful. All lies.
Everything Trump says in pursuit of votes is a lie.
Everything the incumbent president says in the hope of winning votes is a lie. Good to correct the individual lies, but that overarching seems like a big story on its own.
It should, again, be a bigger part of the NaRrAtIvE that everything Trump says in his quest for votes is a lie.
Apparently nobody cares, but to me, it is important not just to correct the outpouring of lies as they come but to reckon with the thematic point that nothing the incumbent president says when he’s appealing to the public for votes is true. apnews.com/ec85b88102464c… ImageImage
A more productive way to cover this kind of thing would be as part of a larger CaMpAiGn NaRrAtIvE about how no part of Trump’s appeal to voters is true. I mean, as I understand it from my time in the biz, “the news” loves a good CaMpAiGn NaRrAtIvE.

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More from @brianbeutler

Brian Beutler Profile picture
Sep 23, 2024
New: Trump is in the midst of a desperate play to turn out young male voters. Here's why I think it won't work for him in the short run OR the GOP in the long run. 🧵 Image
First, speaking as a recently young man, we don't tend to have our shit together. Women turn out at higher rates than men and oldsters at higher rates than youth. Trump might ask Dems how much success they've had mobilizing the youth with policy pandering. offmessage.net/p/trump-pander…
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Second, the pandering itself is super ham-fisted. It's marked as much by grift as by political potential. Is he really interested in the future of crypto? Or is he scamming supporters to enrich himself with both crypto AND silver commemorative coins AND... offmessage.net/p/trump-pander…
Read 5 tweets
Brian Beutler Profile picture
Jun 11, 2024
Recent reporting suggests Biden world understands that his abysmal approval is rooted in a rotten info environment more than material reality. That’s the good news. The bad news is they’ve developed a defeatist mentality, instead of trying more things. offmessage.net/p/joe-biden-im…
The short version is Biden turned the page on Trump too quickly, allowing Trump to revise the history of his presidency AND pin blame for everything post-Jan 20, 2021 on Biden. Three-plus years later, that’s not an easy problem to fix without time travel. offmessage.net/p/joe-biden-im…
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But I think there’s a way: conceptualize the universe of people who might be persuaded that the CW about the economy is wrong, and speak to them in a different register than Dems typically use. offmessage.net/p/joe-biden-im…

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Read 4 tweets
Brian Beutler Profile picture
Jun 10, 2024
New: Republicans hope to intimidate Democrats out of abandoning their advantages with aggressive posturing, but they’re really just leading with their chins. offmessage.net/p/republicans-…
The bad news: this has clearly worked on some Dems (cf @PaulBegala). The good news is, once you spot the con, it’s easy to detect in later instances. h/t @joshtpm offmessage.net/p/republicans-…
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When @EWErickson and @JDVance1 insist they’re mad about Joe Biden campaigning on democracy and attacking Trump’s contempt for veterans, it’s not because they think Biden did anything wrong. It’s because they know Biden hit his target. offmessage.net/p/republicans-…
Read 4 tweets
Brian Beutler Profile picture
May 31, 2024
1. @GregTSargent is obviously right that “A guilty verdict is powerful new information,” and that, “We should hold institutional Democrats responsible if they don’t use it, and use it ruthlessly and effectively.” newrepublic.com/article/182111…
2. But I think we’ve already reached that point.
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3. Call it the eruption of a political supervolcano! Devastating, shameful, humiliating news for the GOP, which has lashed itself to a felon—the biggest crook in US political history by a mile. What’ll make this a nothingburger is Democrats’ apparent determination to make it one.
Read 4 tweets
Brian Beutler Profile picture
May 29, 2024
New today: Business leaders cozying back up to Trump don’t just offer up laughable excuses. They also evince terrible critical thinking skills. The logic is there, it just reflects poor logical reasoning and reckless risk tolerance. offmessage.net/p/why-are-thes…

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One thing people like Stephen Schwarzman might consider is: What would’ve happened if Trump’s coup attempt had been even just a bit more successful: No certification on Jan 6, a scramble to transfer power after January 20, more street violence. offmessage.net/p/why-are-thes…
But even stipulating that a second Trump term will be relatively “normal”—no crises or coups, just familiar erraticism and partial success implementing his agenda—why do any of these guys think they’ll be better off than just continuing the Biden era? offmessage.net/p/why-are-thes…

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Read 4 tweets
Brian Beutler Profile picture
May 22, 2024
As it happens, before Durbin’s most recent preemptive surrender this week, I wrote about specific ways he *could* use his power now. To wit: unearth Alito’s unlogged votes and unstated reasoning wherever the Court has done quiet favors for Trump. offmessage.net/p/expose-the-s…
Biden, who has also been inert here, could do his part by lifting his embargo on exploiting Trump’s criminal exposure, making it easier for Senate Dems to hold Alito, Thomas, Cannon, et al accountable. offmessage.net/p/lacking-camp…
Then on Politix, we discussed the institutional asymmetries between Dems and Republicans that makes it necessary to apply pressure in this way, where Republicans would just know to react aggressively. politix.fm/p/big-alito-li…
Read 4 tweets

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