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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump keeps describing phone calls that apparently never happened
Posted with permission.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-keeps-describing-phone-calls-apparently-never-happened
Trump keeps describing phone calls that apparently never happened
08/02/17 04:04 PMUpdated 08/02/17 04:17 PM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump, apparently desperate for some kind of accomplishment, described a recent conversation on Monday with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
As you know, the border was a tremendous problem and theyre close to 80 percent stoppage, the American president boasted. Even the president of Mexico called me they said their southern border, very few people are coming because they know theyre not going to get through our border, which is the ultimate compliment.
There is, of course, one dramatic problem with this anecdote: that phone call doesnt appear to have happened in reality. The Associated Press reported this afternoon that the Mexican government insists that the conversation Trump described did not occur.
An American official confirmed that no telephone conversation recently occurred between Trump and Pena Nieto.
The issue sparked some controversy in Mexico because Pena Nietos domestic critics seized on Trumps comments to suggest the two leaders had a secret call in which the Mexican president praised the American president, who is not popular south of the border.
And while the two reportedly did have a conversation about deportations during the G20 summit in early July, it seems the call Trump described didnt happen, and when the two spoke in person in Germany, the conversation is not quite how Trump described it. The figures the American president cited, for example, are not in line with what Pena Nieto said.
Whats more, if this sounds a little familiar, its because its the second time in 24 hours in which weve learned about a phone call that reportedly exists only in the Republicans imagination.
As we discussed this morning, Trump also claimed the other day to have received a call from the head of the Boy Scouts who, in the presidents version of events, told him his speech to the National Scout Jamboree was the greatest speech that was ever made to the organization.
According to the Boy Scouts, no one from the groups senior leadership called Trump.
Under the circumstances, when the president says he had a phone call with anyone about an issue of any significance, Id recommend quite a bit skepticism. Whats true and what Trump pretends to be true are often very different.
Update: At todays White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders seemed to concede that the calls Trump described didnt occur, but she argued that he did speak with the Mexican president and some officials in the Boy Scouts in person. In effect, she suggested that Trumps claims may not have been technically true, but since they were sort of related to the truth, no one should mind.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)RDANGELO
(3,435 posts)He is constantly saying or doing things that make you question his mental wellness. His economic policies support expanding the economic divide that the corporate owners of the MSM support.
Gabi Hayes
(28,795 posts)Those chickenshits are over a year late
It takes less than 5 minutes to realize the guy is a sociopath
world wide wally
(21,755 posts)Brother Buzz
(36,466 posts)oxbow
(2,034 posts)sounds like a marked loss of memory AND reality. Those who have relatives suffering from dementia probably recognize this pattern of making up things.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Always has been, always will be.
Danascot
(4,694 posts)we do now.
GopherGal
(2,010 posts)...though I think his is gilded.
[link:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009I95RW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_dp_T2_N68GzbEXT22T8|
Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)I LOVED that thing!
I had no idea they still made them. This is a great day.
Solly Mack
(90,787 posts)That sum total of who Trump is.