Trump Lies, Threatens Retribution, And Sells Influence

Former President Donald Trump lies, threatens retribution, and sells influence.

Not exactly a role model for children – or anyone.

For four years, Trump has been lying that he won the 2020 presidential election. He continues lying at his rallies, in interviews, on podcasts, and whenever the opportunity arises.

He also lies about his accomplishments, he lies about his opponents, he lies about the size of his rallies. Not surprising, he’s been lying for months about fraud in this election.

Trump repeats his lies so incessantly that his supporters come to believe them, even in the face of facts and evidence to the contrary.

In a single news conference back in August, National Public Radio counted at least 162 misstatements, exaggerations, and outright lies that Trump made. In just 64 minutes.

In 2015, Trump entered the presidential race, proclaiming, “I don’t need anybody’s money. I’m using my own money. I’m not using the lobbyists. I’m not using donors.”

That proved to be false. Trump has used relatively little of his own wealth to pay for his presidential runs, instead getting the Super Rich and powerful interest groups to fund his campaigns. It turns out that billionaire Trump is just plain cheap.

Trump also constantly threatens retribution for his adversaries, opponents, and perceived enemies, lying about their motives and actions to stir up anger among his supporters.

Trump has threatened President Joe Biden and his family, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Representative Liz Cheney and the other members of the House Jan. 6 Committee, and the prosecutors and judges in his criminal trials.

Trump has threatened Mark Milley, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and retired four-star General, with execution.

Trump claims the “enemy from within” – including, for example, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Adam Schiff – are more dangerous to the United States than our foreign adversaries, like Russia and China. He has suggested using the military against American citizens.

Trump’s bluster, bullying, and threats can intimidate powerful people or back them down. This appears to be what happened when two multibillionaires, Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, and Patrick Soon-Shiong, who owns the Los Angeles Times, killed editorials in their respective papers that would have endorsed Vice President Harris.

Both papers have a long history of endorsing in presidential elections, and in recent weeks the papers had already endorsed candidates in congressional races. Both papers endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020.

Donald Trump “would be a catastrophe,” the Los Angeles Times wrote in their 2016 endorsement of Clinton.

Donald Trump is “the worst President of modern times,” The Washington Post wrote in their 2020 endorsement of Biden.

So, what happened? Bezos, who also owns Amazon and the aerospace company Blue Origin, and Soon-Shiong, who has made billions in the medical and pharmaceutical industries, have major financial interests that could be affected if Trump wins.

Perhaps this is yet another example of bending the knee to Trump to protect against his retribution.

Trump is a transactional, pay-to-play person.

Last April, Trump called on a group of oil executives to raise $1 billion for his campaign. In return, Trump said, if elected he would reverse dozens of Biden environmental rules and policies, prevent the enactment of new ones, and protect the oil industry against taxes and regulations.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, has spent more than $130 million to elect Trump and Trump allies, and has been a fixture on the campaign trail. Musk’s America PAC has engaged in Trump get-out-the-vote activities, particularly in critical Pennsylvania. (The Super PAC’s activities have been in headlines in recent weeks for questionable voter registration and canvassing activities.)

Trump has said he will put Musk in charge of a Government Efficiency Commission, providing Musk in essence with a charge to rewrite and slash government regulations. In the process, Musk would immediately face multiple conflicts of interest as the decisions made by the Commission could have enormous financial benefits to companies he owns.

According to Politico, any formal government role “would give greater influence to the billionaire owner of Tesla, Space X, satellite company Starlink, and the social media platform X –  signature ventures that have benefited from federal contracts, tax credits, and government incentives.”

Trump has made his plans for America clear if he is elected again.

He has vowed to be a dictator for one day – observers question whether he really would limit it to just a single day. He has called for the termination of parts of the Constitution. He has promised a reign of retribution, including the use of the Justice Department to prosecute his political opponents.

On Tuesday, America’s voters will decide if he gets the chance.

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