The Washington Post added up all the lies — all 30,573 of them. That’s right, 30, 573.
You’ll notice the massive spike at the end of the year. His Big Lie was not only the worst lie he told, he told it a lot. But the most repeated lie is also a very important one:
“We also built the greatest economy in the history of the world…Powered by these policies, we built the greatest economy in the history of the world.”
FACT CHECK:
This is Trump’s favorite false claim, so there should be no surprise he said it twice in his farewell address. (In this database, we only count a falsehood once per venue.) By just about any key measure in the modern era, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson and Bill Clinton presided over stronger economic growth than Trump. The gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in 2019, slipping from 2.9 percent in 2018 and 2.4 percent in 2017. But in 1997, 1998 and 1999, GDP grew 4.5 percent, 4.5 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively. Yet even that period paled in comparison with the postwar boom in the 1950s or the 1960s. Growth between 1962 and 1966 ranged from 4.4 percent to 6.6 percent. In 1950 and 1951, it was 8.7 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate reached a low of 3.5 percent under Trump, but it dipped as low as 2.5 percent in 1953. (After the novel coronavirus tanked the economy, Trump jacked up his claim even more, falsely saying it had been the greatest economy in the history of the world.) This marks the 493rd time that Trump used a variation of this line, meaning he said it on average every other day.
Republicans all repeated that bullshit lie as well and point to it as the greatest example of his great legacy. It is a lie. It should not be allowed to stand.
And then there are the insults. This New York Times list is just the twitter insults so it’s hardly comprehensive. He was insulting almost every time he spoke in public. Nonetheless, it’s quite a list and it goes on forever. Here are a couple of Republicans who came in for his nastiness:
Bob Corker FORMER U.S. SENATOR
“Liddle’ Bob,” “totally unelectable,” “Little Bob Corker,” “poll numbers TANKED when I wouldn’t endorse him,” “responsible for giving us the horrible Iran Nuclear Deal,” “Bob wanted to run and asked for my endorsement. I said NO and the game was over,” “had zero chance of being elected,” “Now act so hurt & wounded!” “helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal,” “couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee,” “dropped out of the race in Tennesse when I refused to endorse him,” “now is only negative on anything Trump,” “sad,” “lightweight,” “incompetent,” “doesn’t have a clue,” “liddle’ Bob Corker,” “set the U.S. way back,” “Liddle’ Bob,” “Was made to sound a fool,” “‘begged’ me to endorse him for re-election,” “I said ‘NO‘ and he dropped out,” “largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!” “a negative voice,” “in the way of our great agenda,” “Didn’t have the guts to run!” “gave us the Iran Deal, & that’s about it,” “Strange,” “constantly asking me whether or not he should run again in ’18”
John Bolton FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER
“one of the dumbest people in Washington,” “so stupid,” “one of the dumbest people in government,” “A sullen, dull and quiet guy,” “added nothing to National Security except, ‘Gee, let’s go to war’,” “illegally released much Classified Information,” “A real dope!”“Wacko,” “such a jerk!” “dumb warmonger,” “one of the dumbest people I’ve met in government and sadly, I’ve met plenty,” “with the exception of Hillary, by far the worst offender of them all!” “lowlife dummy,” “a war mongering fool,”“really dumb,” “Washed up Creepster,” “a lowlife who should be in jail,” “Crooked Hillary,” “was incapable of being Senate confirmed because he was considered a wacko,”“was not liked,” “turned out to be grossly incompetent,” “a liar,”“Wacko,” “was all washed up until I brought him back and gave him a chance,” “He likes dropping bombs on people, and killing them. Now he will have bombs dropped on him!”“Wacko,” “A disgruntled boring fool who only wanted to go to war,”“Never had a clue,” “was ostracized & happily dumped,” “What a dope!”“incompetent!” “Just trying to get even for firing him like the sick puppy he is!” “Wacko,” “stupid,” “dumb,”“set us back very badly with North Korea,” “was very publicly terminated,” “He said, not that it matters, NOTHING!” “couldn’t get approved for the Ambassador to the U.N. years ago, couldn’t get approved for anything since,” ““begged” me for a non Senate approved job,” “many more mistakes of judgement, gets fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now,” “He was holding me back!”
What a leader, eh? I don’t have space to print all the insults he gave to Democrats. They are legion.
Having Trump off of twitter is a breath of fresh air. But this list makes it clear how much better off this country and the world would have been if he had never been on twitter at all.