Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, received Trump’s unhinged letter. According to Trump, this letter will be a historical part of the impeachment of the President. It certainly will. But not in the way Trump thinks people will see his letter.
Trump has a history of dishonesty. He is prone to fabricate nearly any topic he discusses. The Pelosi letter is simply another example of his dishonesty.
It is a hate-filled letter, with misrepresentations and lies about what happened to cause the House Intelligence Committee and the House Judiciary to launch an impeachment process into the actions of Donald Trump. Trump’s letter is filled with misleading statements, exaggerations, and lies. Many of these statement are the talking points that Republicans use to “defend” Trump.
The New York Times and The Washington Post fact checked Trump’s letter. The Times called the letter a “rambling and angry letter to Speaker Pelosi. The Post referred to the letter as a written tirade to Nancy Pelosi.
In the Times’ letter, 17 statements were analyzed as being misleading , exaggerated, or false as follows:
- Misleading – 7
- Exaggerated – 5
- False – 5
Misleading Statements
One of Trump’s Twitter and public persona is to mislead the American public with his written and and public statements. For instance, near the beginning of the letter, Trump says “Fortunately, there was a transcript of the conversation taken, and you know from the transcript (which was immediately made available).” This is a misleading. The “transcript” was reconstructed and released only after the House announced an impeachment inquiry.
Trump made misleading statements about Biden, especially claiming that Biden used $1 billion to coerce Ukraine to investigate a company paying his son. He failed to explain that it was a Republican position to do this, not Biden’s.
The president selectively quotes people associated with the inquiry.
Exaggerated Statements
Trump has no bounds on his boastfulness and exaggerated statements. For example, in the letter he says to Speaker Pelosi, “After three years of unfair and unwarranted investigations, 45 million dollars spent, 18 angry Democrat prosecutors13, the entire force of the FBI, headed by leadership now proven to be totally incompetent and corrupt, you have found NOTHING!”
In this case, Trump is blaming Pelosi for the Mueller Report. The facts are that the Mueller investigation cost $32 million, with $16 million in direct expenditures.
False Statements
Trump’s false statements in the letter are repeats of many of previous lies. For example, he still lies about the 2016 election. He said this to Pelosi: Your chosen candidate lost the election in 2016, in an Electoral College landslide (306-227). His election was Not a landslide. The vote was actually 304 – 227. It ranks below most presidential election. And he lost the popular vote by more than 3 million votes.
There are other lies in the letter.
Shameful Display
After reading this letter, and checking the historical record, there is no doubt in my mind that Trump should be impeached, and removed from office. This letter is simply another shameful display by the current president.
Photo Credit: Letter in a Bottle Image by Antonios Ntoumas from Pixabay
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