c***n
发帖数: 1034 | 1 by Bernie Sanders
https://medium.com/senator-bernie-sanders/what-should-we-do-if-the-president
-is-a-liar-2e2a27953e8f#.4ro7kd6sn
We face a very serious political problem in this country, and that problem
is manifested in a post written yesterday by Amber Phillips of The
Washington Post. In her piece, Phillips criticizes me for lowering the state
of our political discourse, because I accused the president of being a “
liar.”
What should a United States senator, or any citizen, do if the president is
a liar? Does ignoring this reality benefit the American people? Do we make a
bad situation worse by disrespecting the president of the United States? Or
do we have an obligation to say that he is a liar to protect America’s
standing in the world and people’s trust in our institutions?
I happen to strongly believe in civil political discourse. The vast majority
of people in Congress who hold views different than mine are not liars. It
is critical we have strong, fact-based debates on the important issues
facing our country and that we respect people who come to different
conclusions. In a democracy people will always have honestly held different
points of view.
But how does one respond to a president who has complete disregard for
reality and who makes assertions heard by billions of people around the
world that have no basis in fact?
In her post, Phillips reprints five tweets that I sent out yesterday as
examples of “the sorry state of political discourse right now.”
Here they are:
One of my great concerns is that there undoubtedly will be major crises
facing the United States and the global community during Trump’s tenure as
president. If Trump lies over and over again what kind of credibility will
he, or the United States, have when we need to bring countries around the
world together to respond to those crises? How many people in our country
and other countries will think that Trump is just lying one more time?
Trump said three to five million people voted illegally in the last election
. This is a preposterous and dangerous allegation which intentionally opens
the floodgates for an increase in voter suppression efforts. Amber Phillips
herself previously wrote, “There is just no evidence of voter fraud. Why
launch an investigation into something that nearly everyone in U.S. politics
— save one notable exception — doesn’t believe
warrants an investigation?”
Trump claimed that his victory “was the biggest electoral college win since
Ronald Reagan.” Anyone with access to Google could see that this is
factually incorrect. George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama all had
bigger electoral margins of victory than Trump.
And then there are the trivial lies. Trump stated “it looked like a million
and a half people” at his inauguration. Who cares? But none of the people
who are trained to estimate crowd size believe that one and a half million
people attended his inauguration.
More importantly, Trump helped lead a baseless and dangerous attack against
the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s presidency by suggesting over and over
again that Obama was not born in the United States and therefore not
eligible to become president. This was not a disagreement with Obama over
policy. It was a deliberate and dishonest effort to appeal to racist
sentiment in this country and deny the right of our first African-American
president to serve.
Lastly, my tweet which states that the United States will not be respected
or taken seriously around the world if Trump continues to shamelessly lie is
self-evident. We are the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth. If we
have a president who is not taken seriously by people throughout the world
because of his continuous lies, our international standing will clearly
suffer.
I find it interesting that Ms. Phillips did not take issue with my facts.
Her complaint appears to be that it is improper for a United States senator
to state the obvious. And that is that we have a president who either lies
intentionally or, even more frighteningly, does not know the difference
between lies and truth.
What do you think?
It is easy to know how we respond to a president with whom we disagree on
many, many issues. I disagree with Trump’s support for repealing the
Affordable Care Act. I disagree with Trump’s plan to give huge tax breaks
to billionaires. I disagree with Trump’s appointment of an anti-
environmental EPA administrator. I disagree with Trump’s appointments of
major Wall Street executives to key economic positions and his plans to
loosen regulations on Wall Street designed to protect consumers. And on and
on and on! These strong policy disagreements are a normal part of the
political process. He has his views. I have mine.
But how do we deal with a president who makes statements that reverberate
around our country and the world that are not based on fact or evidence?
What is the appropriate way to respond to that? And if the media and
political leaders fail to call lies what they are, are they then guilty of
misleading the public? | n**1
发帖数: 318 | | R*****g
发帖数: 1649 | 3 LOL, 三德子江真让人失望。
奥大马桶水门二号本来是他建党的最大契机。
这老小子是既没有激情也没有卵蛋的怂货。
president
state
is
a
【在 c***n 的大作中提到】
: by Bernie Sanders
: https://medium.com/senator-bernie-sanders/what-should-we-do-if-the-president
: -is-a-liar-2e2a27953e8f#.4ro7kd6sn
: We face a very serious political problem in this country, and that problem
: is manifested in a post written yesterday by Amber Phillips of The
: Washington Post. In her piece, Phillips criticizes me for lowering the state
: of our political discourse, because I accused the president of being a “
: liar.”
: What should a United States senator, or any citizen, do if the president is
: a liar? Does ignoring this reality benefit the American people? Do we make a
| j**********r
发帖数: 3798 | 4 Cry me a river and I couldn't care less. | e*****e
发帖数: 2791 | 5 An impeachment, or even a coup d'etat, is that what you're suggesting?
president
state
is
a
【在 c***n 的大作中提到】
: by Bernie Sanders
: https://medium.com/senator-bernie-sanders/what-should-we-do-if-the-president
: -is-a-liar-2e2a27953e8f#.4ro7kd6sn
: We face a very serious political problem in this country, and that problem
: is manifested in a post written yesterday by Amber Phillips of The
: Washington Post. In her piece, Phillips criticizes me for lowering the state
: of our political discourse, because I accused the president of being a “
: liar.”
: What should a United States senator, or any citizen, do if the president is
: a liar? Does ignoring this reality benefit the American people? Do we make a
|
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