"It’s True: Trump Is Lying More, and He’s Doing It on Purpose."
By Susan B. Glasser
"n Thursday, the Washington Post published a remarkable story on its front page revealing a recent spike in the number of “false and misleading claims” made by President Trump. In his first year as President, Trump made 2,140 false claims, according to the Post. In just the last six months, he has nearly doubled that total to 4,229. In June and July, he averaged sixteen false claims a day. On July 5th, the Post found what appears to be Trump’s most untruthful day yet: seventy-six per cent of the ninety-eight factual assertions he made in a campaign-style rally in Great Falls, Montana, were “false, misleading or unsupported by evidence.” Trump’s rallies have become the signature events of his Presidency, and it is there that the President most often plays fast and loose with the facts, in service to his political priorities and to telling his fervent supporters what they want and expect to hear from him. At another rally this week, in Tampa, Trump made thirty-five false and misleading claims, on subjects ranging from trade with China to the size of his tax cut."
The divisiveness of Trump is finally causing a breakup of support for him among his "Fifth Avenue Republicans."
"Charles Koch Takes On Trump. Trump Takes On Charles Koch."
By Jeremy W. Peters July 31, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/us/politics/trump-koch-brothers.html
"WASHINGTON — President Trump has given Republicans good reason to tolerate his unruly leadership style. His tax cuts, deregulation push and nomination of conservative judges amount to the most orthodox Republican agenda any president has pursued since Ronald Reagan.
Few had better reason to appreciate Mr. Trump’s results than Charles G. Koch, a billionaire industrialist who is one of the Republican Party’s biggest donors.
Yet Mr. Koch’s simmering frustrations with the president over trade and immigration have now spilled over into an ugly public feud with Mr. Trump and candidates who side with him. By calling Mr. Trump’s trade policies “detrimental” and denouncing divisive leadership, Mr. Koch is making a provocative political move that — be it hardball strategy or more of a ploy — threatens to complicate Republican efforts to hold on to their slim congressional majorities in the November midterm elections."
"In a new tweetstorm, Trump gives his voters the middle finger"
by Greg Sargent July 31, 2018
"In his Twitter broadside, Trump claimed:
'The globalist Koch Brothers, who have become a total joke in real Republican circles, are against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade. I never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas. They love my Tax & Regulation Cuts, Judicial picks & more. I made them richer. … They want to protect their companies outside the U.S. from being taxed, I’m for America First & the American Worker — a puppet for no one.'
People see through what Tweety tweets, his lies and his loyalties to Putin and Russia are obvious.
". . . why is Trump sticking with the trade war? One interpretation is that he wants to honor at least one of his economic promises, having sold out on all the others: The tariffs are the only surviving piece of his agenda of economic nationalism. That may be, but there is another way to understand this: Trump is sticking to it because it is a key feature of his agenda of xenophobic nationalism, which is, at bottom, the only nationalism he really cares about."
"‘A total joke’: Trump lashes out at Koch brothers after political network slams White House"
by Michelle Ye Hee Lee and John Wagner July 31, 2018
"President Trump lashed out at the Koch brothers Tuesday, saying their conservative political funding and policy network has “become a total joke in real Republican circles” and is “highly overrated.”"
