McDonald: Trump lies insult to intelligence

Take a deep breath, I tell myself, it’s only campaign hyperbole. We’ve witnessed election-year spin over and over through the years.

But last week’s remarks by Donald Trump are breathtaking in their intended deception. It turns out, Trump declared after years of fanning the flames

Tom McDonald

of the “birther controversy,” that President Barack Obama was born in the U.S. after all.

That in itself is a noteworthy reversal, but it wasn’t what got my blood boiling. That came when Trump added that the whole issue was Hillary Clinton’s fault to begin with, that she and her campaign started it all back in 2008.

There is no record or reason to believe that — Clinton’s never questioned Obama’s citizenship — but Trump laid the matter at her feet anyway.

The only thing more incredible than Trump’s mistruths is that some people actually believe what he says.

The man has no respect for the truth and yet people believe him anyway.

“Crooked Hillary,” he calls her, but when it comes to truth bending, she pales in comparison. His words are an insult to the intelligence of people who actually pay attention to the facts. The birther issue was always baseless, but the accusation that it was Clinton’s creation is beyond spin, it’s a bold-faced lie.

Yes, Hillary’s taken liberties with the truth, too, especially when it comes to the thousands of emails she sent and received as secretary of state. But Trump’s latest sidestep exposes him as compulsive and calculating in his revisions. How can anyone believe anything he says about Clinton after last week’s fabrication?

If this latest Big Lie doesn’t make his more reasonable supporters think twice about his legitimacy as a presidential contender, I don’t know what will.

Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at:

[email protected]