First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC
Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why
they matter.
Donald Trump — the post-truth 2016 candidate
We've been around the political block long
enough to know that almost all presidential candidates exaggerate,
dissemble, take statements out of context and, yes, lie. But from the
start of Donald Trump's presidential campaign (remember Mexican
rapists?), he has taken this to a level we haven't seen before in
American politics. Consider just these two examples from the weekend.
First, Trump said on Saturday in Alabama: "I watched when the World
Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City New
Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering." In fact,
as the New York Times writes,
"No news reports exist of people cheering in the streets, and both
police officials and the mayor of Jersey City have said that it did not
happen. An Internet rumor about people cheering in the streets, which
said it was in Paterson, not Jersey City, has been denied numerous times
by city and police officials." But when ABC pressed Trump on his
statement, he stood his ground. "It did happen. I saw it... It was on
television. I saw it." Second, Trump retweeted
a graphic claiming -- falsely -- that African Americans are responsible
for the killing of most blacks and whites in America. "That is not
true, the Washington Post notes.
"According to data from the FBI, most whites are killed by whites, as
most blacks are killed by blacks. There's an obvious reason for that:
Most people are killed by someone they know."
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