Trump used a live address to the nation to stage a political rally built on disputed economic claims and media spectacle.
As one of his conservative fans noted, whether you love or loathe Donald Trump, the man is a master media manipulator.
And he underlined that this week by suckering virtually all major outlets into covering his address to the nation, live.
Expecting the mercurial US president to declare war on Venezuela after weeks of a tense build-up, they were blindsided by an address which was nothing less than a political rally – for himself.
Trump’s speech was built on a series of falsehoods – as confirmed later by even some die-hard supporters – including that inflation was better than under his predecessor Joe Biden, that wages were rising and, most important of all, that prices were falling.
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Inflation hasn’t gone lower since Trump took office at the beginning of this year and prices have increased, thanks mainly to his tariffs on imports… which he claimed were the source of the miracle cure for the economy.
Not all Americans are buying his brown stuff – as they might say in Texas – because his popular rating for handling of the economy has been going down steadily.
It is quite astounding, though, that he can peddle this with a straight face.
Perhaps lies are the new black…
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