Donald Trump’s “big lie” about the hurricane response is dangerous – and it’s also hurting him
For a generation or more, the Republican Party policy has been to lie about everything they think they can get away with lying about. But there are some things the Republicans don’t bother to lie about, because there’s simply too big of a chance of it blowing up in their faces.
For instance, most Republican politicians know that if they were to claim that the federal government’s hurricane response was inept when it was actually very effective, the mainstream media would feel compelled to challenge such a lie, for fear the lie could get people killed. But then there’s Donald Trump, who seems to be rapidly forgetting what little he did know about political strategy. Instead of lying strategically, Trump just lies all the time now.
Trump is out there insisting that the federal government’s hurricane response has been disastrous, and sure enough, the media is pushing back on it. Not only that, Trump’s stupid lie is forcing Republican officials in these states to face questions about Trump’s lie about the response. And because these other Republicans know better than to get caught up in this, they’re being forced to push back against Trump’s lie.
So now we have not only the media but also other Republican officials publicly pushing back against Donald Trump over his lies about the hurricane response. That just makes Trump look like a lying idiot in the eyes of persuadable voters in the middle. If anything Trump is hurting himself by lying about the hurricane response.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report