Big Lies Drown Out Truth-Telling

By Stephen Lendman
Source

All politicians lie, some more than others. The Clintons, Bush/Cheney, and Obama were egregious serial liars.

Since entering office, Trump dissembling, rage, duplicity, hubris, and arrogance exceeded the worst of his predecessors. Virtually nothing he says on important issues is credible.

He never lets facts interfere with his deplorable domestic and geopolitical agenda only despots and robber barons could love.

His lying is so consistent, compulsive and extreme, he may be unable to distinguish between truth and fiction, especially for relying on rubbish fed him by hardline neocon advisors and Fox News disinformation, his favorite TV channel.

He’s an embarrassment to the office he holds, a geopolitical know-nothing, the latest in a long line of anti-populist warrior presidents – serving the nation’s military, industrial, security complex, including Wall Street and other monied interests exclusively at the expense of the vast majority of people everywhere.

His support for Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) flies in the face of his responsibility for ordering Jamal Kashoggi’s murder, his genocidal war in Yemen (partnered with US-led NATO and Israel), the kingdom’s horrendous human rights abuses, its support for ISIS and other terrorists (along with the US, NATO and Israel), and the CIA’s conclusion about MBS’ responsibility for Khashoggi’s assassination.

His hyperbolic claims about Saudi arms purchases from US companies and jobs created are grossly inflated.

According to ABC News, slumlord DLT son-in-law Jared Kushner pushed the Pentagon and State Department to go along with Trump’s fake numbers, according to three former White House officials.

One source quoted Kushner saying “(w)e need to sell them as much as possible” during a national security council meeting ahead of DLT’s Riyadh visit last May.

Touting an alleged $115 billion deal agreed on, along with hundreds of billions more over the next decade, around $15 billion alone has been discussed.

The so-called Memorandum of Intent signed at the May meeting is unrelated to what the Saudis may actually buy – a whole lot less than Trump touts.

According to ABC News, since the touted deal was signed in Riyadh, “there has been minimal activity toward purchasing the defense equipment and arms laid out in the arms agreements and signed,” adding: 

“According to the Department of Defense, of the original $110 billion, Saudi Arabia has signed Letters of Offer and Acceptance valued at around $14.5 billion for equipment, including helicopters, tanks, ships, weapons and training.” 

Much of what the Saudis agreed to buy from the US was negotiated by Obama regime officials.

“Many of the details about the quantity and types of defense weapons to be purchased are not listed and are slated to be delivered after 2022 or have a ‘to be determined’ delivery dates and quantities.”

Trump’s claim about record US arms sales to the Saudis, “creat(ing) hundreds of thousands of jobs, tremendous economic development, and much additional wealth for the United States” is pure deception, adding:

“Of the $450 billion, $110 billion will be spent on the purchase of military equipment from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and many other great US defense contractors.”

The dollar amount of alleged deals and numbers of jobs created are figments of his imagination and habitual dissembling. His hyperbole bears no relation to reality.

A US/Saudi document seen by ABC News says what Riyadh agreed on with Trump officials “does not create any authority to perform any work, award any contract, ‘issue articles from stock,’ transfer funds, or otherwise obligate or create a binding commitment in any way either for the United States or the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

In other words, it’s a Trump regime no-deal/deal – nothing firm or contractually binding, nothing approaching Trump’s touted $110 billion figure and $450 billion amount.

They’re fantasy numbers, not real ones. So-called “record amount of money” in US arms sales to the kingdom and “hundreds of thousands of jobs” created, perhaps a million he said, is “record” bunkum.

It’s more proof that all Trump claims are fabricated. Nothing he says is credible. He plays fast and loose with reality, pretending fiction is fact.

Trump exposed: Once a liar, always one, never to be believed on anything.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   

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