The first and continuing casualty of Donald Trump's election

The truth.  That was the first casualty of the election of Donald J. Trump in November of 2016.  In point of fact, the truth was already under attack by both candidates during the general election, but no one has mounted a fiercer assault on the truth than Mr. Trump.

“The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration—and a very effective form of promotion.”

That is taken from Trump's book "The Art of the Deal" and it is a different way of disguising a lie than to call a false statement an "alternative fact."  Adolph Hitler wrote the following in "Mein Kampf" which was published in 1925.

"All this was inspired by the principle—which is quite true within itself—that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.

It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying."

Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels gave this concept a different spin:

"The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous."

These quotes are not offered to compare Trump to Hitler or Goebbels in overall terms, but to point out that there is a consistency in their belief that lying to the people works.  Trump is proving the concept still works.

There are so many fact-checks done of anything he says, I won't bore you with a complete examination of his State of the Union speech.  But there are a few quotes that bear scrutiny; while also showing how both sides are spinning things to fit their narrative.

Trump - "Since the election, we have created 2.4 million new jobs, including 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing alone. Tremendous number. After years and years of wage stagnation, we are finally seeing rising wages."

It is true that 2.37 million new jobs were created after the election, but he didn't take office the day after the election.  The actual number of jobs created since he was sworn in is 1.84 million and job growth slowed during his first 11 months by 12% over the previous 11 month period.  Did he tell an outright lie?  He misused a statistic to make himself look better, which he would label as truthful hyperbole.

Trump - "And something I am very proud of, African American unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever recorded. And Hispanic American unemployment has also reached the lowest levels in history."

They are.  But again, those rates had been declining steadily before he was elected, and the rate of decline has slowed since he took office.  You could restate his factoid in different words by saying "while I've been in office, the continuing growth of employment among African Americans and Hispanics has slowed significantly."  Which is the more truthful/accurate recitation?

Trump - “...we enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history.”

That's an outright lie he's been spewing forth for weeks now.  Multiple sources have made it clear that the Trump Tax Plan was not the biggest tax cut in history.  By either adjusting for inflation, or as a percentage of GDP, his tax cut is in the top ten but nowhere near the largest.

* * *

We can argue about whether a glass is half full or half empty.  We can accurately state that the glass is filled to exactly 50% of its capacity.  You can find a way to twist almost any statistic to fit your narrative.  But we've never had someone in the Oval Office who prevaricates so prodigiously. 

The fact that he believes himself doesn't make it true.

But the fact that he's able to convince such a large segment of our population that he's being honest is truly frightening.