Apologies to René Descartes for the aberration of his famous proof of existence “I think, therefore I am.” Descartes was a 17th Century philosopher and mathematician whose writings dealt with reality.
Then there’s comedian Robin Williams who proclaimed, “Reality, what a concept.”
The concept of reality has completely eluded Donald Trump and his cohorts in the White House either by ignorance or malfeasance. I believe the latter because they are basically not stupid. Incompetent maybe, but not stupid.
By now you are probably all too familiar with the term “alternative facts” uttered by Kellyanne Conway in her defense of Sean Spicer.
In the very first press briefing given by the new administration of Donald Trump, Sean Spicer said,
“this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period.”
FALSE!
In his first ever press conference on February 16, 2017, Donald Trump lied about winning the most Electoral College votes since Ronald Reagan.
“We got 306 because people came out and voted like they’ve never seen before so that’s the way it goes. I guess it was the biggest Electoral College win since Ronald Reagan.”
FALSE!
Trump actually won 304 electoral votes, because two electors refused to cast their vote for him when the Electoral College met.
Several former presidents have also received more electoral votes than Trump. George H. W. Bush won with 426 electoral votes in 1988. Bill Clinton won 370 votes in 1992 and 379 in 1996, and Barack Obama won with 365 votes in 2008.
When a reporter at the news conference called Trump out for spreading false information, the president said,
“Well, I was just given that information. I don’t know. I was just given…We had a very big margin.”
Nice try Donald, we’re not buying it.
But this is old news.
The latest attack on reality happened last Wednesday. Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a speech in Las Vegas on sanctuary cities and local law enforcement. He announced,
“According to a recent study from the University of California, Riverside, cities with these policies have more violent crime on average than those that don’t.”
ABSOLUTELY FALSE!
The study was published by Loren Collingwood, an assistant professor of political science at University of California, Riverside and Benjamin Gonzalez-O’Brien, professor of political science at Highline College.
Their study concluded that some cities saw an increase in crime, but others saw decreases or no change. Gonzalez-O’Brien said,
“…overall, the research suggests no relationship between violent crime and sanctuary policies. It’s right there in the headline: ‘Sanctuary cities do not experience an increase in crime.'”
-The Huffington Post
Both authors of the study have come out and said that Sessions is flat out wrong.
So why would AG Sessions even make a false claim?
Because Trump had made his threat against sanctuary cities a keystone promise of his presidential campaign. And his threat of withholding federal funds is his way of punishing the opposition. Sessions is just toeing the company line.
Recently a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration cannot withhold federal funds from jurisdictions that limit their cooperation with immigration authorities.
Here’s more about our illustrious AG:
“Minutes after he was sworn in as attorney general, Jeff Sessions said he believed the recent uptick in crime in America was a “dangerous permanent trend”. But criminologists said he had “no evidence” to support this contention.
“Jeff Sessions is the first person who suggested this is a permanent trend,” said Jerry Ratcliffe, a member of the justice department’s Science Advisory Board and the director of Temple University’s Center for Security and Crime Science. “I don’t think anyone from a data perspective would agree with it.”
The Trump administration’s willingness to exaggerate real crime problems far past the limits of the available data or evidence raises troubling questions about what role the justice department will play in addressing violence in cities across the country.”
-The Guardian
So you can add Jeff Sessions’ name (no surprise here) to the list of reality deniers.
Oh gee whiz, I forgot that EPA Chief Scott Pruit is in there with Trump as climate change deniers. Remember Trump called it a “hoax.”