Trump v. Clinton: Battle of Liars

Michael Bloomberg won’t run for president. Which means we may be stuck with the worst “leader of the Free World” choice since 1972, when it was either Richard Nixon or George McGovern. Depression.  

1. Trump Lies.

Former Reagan-Bush 41 speechwriter Peggy Noonan teaches us (2/25/16) “the five stages of Trump, based on the Kübler-Ross stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.” Noonan guesses GOP professionals are still in the “depression” stage, not yet at “acceptance.”

I agree with Noonan’s take on why Trump is winning:

There are the protected and the unprotected. The protected make public policy. The unprotected live in it. The unprotected are starting to push back, powerfully.

Noonan adds, “I want to call [the protected] the elite.” But of course, she stops short because she too is elite, and “elite” isn’t where her folks want to be right now.

In truth, the American elite has failed its working class. So Trump is right on the biggest issue of all. For years on this blog, I have been warning the national elite was on its “last legs.” Now Trump is cashing in.

But overthrowing our national elite was never going to be easy, and it especially won’t be easy for the Trump side in 2016.

Conservative Jonah Goldberg tells us why. Trump lies. It’s a fact, though amazingly so far, Trump has gotten away with it.

Goldberg is shocked at “the double standard Trump benefits from.” Writes Goldberg:

Trump knows little to nothing and he lies the way most of us breathe. But that’s him. And, bizarrely, many people like him (and many commentators have been seduced by his popularity). So he’s allowed to be Trump. No one else is allowed to be Trump-like because when we see Trumpism in others, we recognize its ugliness and vacuity for what it is.

So Trump also gets away with lying, because certainly

2. Clinton Lies.

When Michael Mukasey, ex-attorney general, was asked if the Clinton email issue will be resolved before July's Democratic convention, he replied “yes,” because FBI Director Jim Comey, who doesn’t use words casually, said the FBI would be handling Clinton’s case “promptly.” Mukasey guesses Comey won’t waste time on a grand jury. If the FBI has enough to indict Clinton, she will be presented the evidence, and offered a chance to plea--”promptly.”

But earlier, when Fox News Anchor Bret Baier interviewed Attorney General Loretta Lynch about the Clinton case, Lynch used a different word for the ongoing investigation into Clinton’s potential crimes. Lynch’s word for the probe was “thorough.”

Let me suggest that the Obama administration’s investigation of ally Clinton will indeed be “thorough;” thorough enough to prevent anything happening to Clinton before the election. Exhaust lower-level sources. Broaden the search. Above all else, be “thorough.”

And leave our nation to a sordid battle between two epic liars.