By now, I get it. Truly, I get it. Donald Trump says so many outlandish things that it’s impossible to hold him to any singular statement. Or, Donald Trump speaks his mind, so if sometimes that comes off as bombastic, well, it’s just passion. Or, look, he’s just real. Real guy, real from-the-heart statements. So cut him some slack.
Again, I get it.
I get it.
I get it.
I get it.
But here’s what I don’t get: In a speech not all that long ago, Donald Trump told a crowd that, in the days after the 9.11 terrorist attacks, he was at Ground Zero, helping search for survivors. Really, here’s the link. To quote Trump: “Everyone who helped clear the rubble—and I was there, and I watched, and I helped a little bit. But I wanna tell you—those people were amazing. Clearing the rubbing, trying to find additional lives. You didn’t know what was gonna come down on all of us.”
This is, factually, untrue. Trump wasn’t at Ground Zero in the days after 9.11. He certainly wasn’t helping dig through the rubble. In another clip, right after the nightmare, Trump said he had hundreds of people helping with the relief effort—also untrue. Like, a lie. He also said this to an NBC reporter …
Again—not true. In typical Trump speak, it was all very vague and lacking in specifics. Years later Richard Alles, a retired deputy chief with the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), confirmed that Trump had no one helping out; that it was utter nonsense.
Last one: At a 2015 campaign rally Trump told people he was watching from a window in his Trump Tower apartment as people leapt from the Trade Center. Um, this would be visually impossible.
I suppose I get political exaggerations.
I don’t get this.
Why this is OK.
