LIES AND THE LYING LIARS THAT TELL THEM
Americans Outraged After Trump Pens USA Today Op-Ed Filled With Lies and Dangerous Rhetoric Attacking Democrats
USA Today on Wednesday ran an op-ed penned by President Donald Trump, and many Americans are furious.
Ordinarily, any reputable news outlet that runs an op-ed will fact check it and have the author make changes if its contents is contains inaccuracies.
Apparently, USA Today does not abide by that standard.
President Trump’s op-ed, titled “Democrats ‘Medicare for All’ plan will demolish promises to seniors,” starts with that lie and keeps them coming.
“The Democrats want to outlaw private health care plans, taking away freedom to choose plans while letting anyone cross our border. We must win this,” is the subtitle.
It gets worse.
“The truth is that the centrist Democratic Party is dead. The new Democrats are radical socialists who want to model America’s economy after Venezuela,” Trump writes.
Again, many reputable news outlet would never have allowed that lie to be published.
Trump also falsely talks about “Democrats’ absolute commitment to end enforcement of our immigration laws by abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That means millions more would cross our borders illegally and take advantage of health care paid for by American taxpayers.”
And he makes this astonishingly false claim:
“As a candidate, I promised that we would protect coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions and create new health care insurance options that would lower premiums. I have kept that promise, and we are now seeing health insurance premiums coming down.”
Trump currently is backing legislation and a court battle to remove the ObamaCare requirement that bans insurance companies from refusing to cover or charging more for coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. And health insurance premiums are going up, in large part directly asa result of Trump’s intentional acts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
Trump also makes this false claim:
“In practice, the Democratic Party’s so-called Medicare for All would really be Medicare for None. Under the Democrats’ plan, today’s Medicare would be forced to die.”
The Washington Post’s Fact Checker offered this response:
How can @usatoday allow Trump tp publish an article with documented falsehoods? https://t.co/akDAGCWoRN via @usatoday
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) October 10, 2018
As the Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale notes, USA Today, which has 3.66 million followers, is also blasting out tweets like this, not even making clear that these are lies:
.@usatodayopinion: Democrats want to outlaw private health care plans, taking away freedom to choose plans while letting anyone cross our border. We must win this. https://t.co/aVqE7oxDj3
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) October 10, 2018
Here’s how some others are responding on Twitter:
Any serious outlet running an op-ed from a serial liar like Trump, as is, without any fact check, should be ashamed of themselves. @USATODAY, this is embarrassing and a dereliction of duty. Holy crap.https://t.co/BziaGmAWN0
— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) October 10, 2018
Trump’s USA Today piece works a lot better if you say, “Blow me” out loud after every sentence you read. https://t.co/1v3g5BEtt6
— The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit) October 10, 2018
USA Today not only published a White House press release disguised as an “op-ed by Donald Trump,” it is using its Twitter account to blast out the article’s lies to 3.6 million followers. https://t.co/5qpjfDOWHh
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 10, 2018
Call me naive, but I remain shocked that a U.S. President would write something so absurdly dishonest & preposterous >> “The new Democrats are radical socialists who want to model America’s economy after Venezuela”
(Also shocked USAToday publishes such BS)https://t.co/yqziz8f141— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) October 10, 2018
Looking forward to your complete fact check on this massive ball of shit-covered lies…
— Jerry Burke (@aqualad08) October 10, 2018
This is not an op-ed. If you are going to simply publish any propaganda sent your way, perhaps you could point out the lies.
— My Moon Day🌙🌊 (@mymoonday) October 10, 2018
This is wholly inappropriate. @USATODAY why are you publishing state propaganda?
— Southern Highlander (@nikwasi) October 10, 2018
And just like that @USATODAY lost all credibility as a legitimate news source.
— Stevie Valle (@_stevienotnicks) October 10, 2018
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license
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