Shock of a lifetime the President-elect is a compulsive liar. And a very important fact not mentioned on Last Word last night is that the Carrier Union was NOT invited to the table when Trump's imaginary "save jobs" deal was hashed out with Governor/Vice President Mike Pence spending Indiana State Taxpayer funds to bribe the company. No information has been discussed on air about what happens to the laid-off workers (who grow in actual numbers each day) and their health insurance and pensions.
Lawrence O'Donnell reported last night:
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: I want to go to this Carrier announcement today by the union, saying they've finally done the math. They've figured out exactly what's at stake here and what the jobs are, and it turns out it's a much smaller number that's being held, I don't know if you want to say "saved", but "held" in Indiana. Chuck Jones, the Carrier Union President, said "He got up there and for whatever reason he lied his a** off." And that, that little quote, he lied his a** off, will now, will try to chase last week's giant story in which Donald Trump was given all this huge credit for what now turns out to be, according to the people involved, a lie.
JOHN HEILEMANN: There's a reasonable chance that that quote could be the epitaph for
Trump when he dies. It could be on his tombstone.
He has lied throughout, from the beginning of his candidacy, all through the candidacy and now. He lies, some say pathologically. He lies all the time.... Everybody spins. Trump lies. Just, just, he can't control himself.
I'm really happy for the 730 jobs that are saved. That's great. But I think we're going to see a ton of this thing where small victories are blown up into gigantic, he's going to portray them in gigantic proportions and it's the beginning of something that I think we're going to see for years to come.
O'DONNELL: I remember saying last week when we thought it was 800 jobs and Donald trump stood up there saying 1,000, 1100. He's just dissatisfied. He's got to round it off to 1,000. And then it turns out, it's 730. But it seems to now in future coverage of Trumpian moments like that, if he says 1,000, it's likely to be close to 700.
KURT ANDERSEN: That's a conservative discount. Because he says he's worth $8 billion or $10 billion, and we seem to think it's $4 billion. So let's say 60% or 80%. It will be interesting to see as President, and he's only President-elect remember. I think the press and -- >>
O'DONNELL: He throws that around about everybody.
ANDERSEN: But I think the world and the media and the press will, I don't think that the pathologically lying Donald Trump will be able to get away with quite the degree of ah, "Trump, of course he exaggerated." I don't think it's going to be as easy for him as President.
O'DONNELL: There will be a time when the White House press corps will react to numbers that way. When they hear the thousand, they'll just assume it's something else and presumably push the White House press secretary around a lot.
JOHN HEILEMANN: The question is whether we'll get the Trump discount, discount by 30% or whether people will make a big deal out of it, and if they make a big deal out of it whether it will matter. The fact is, he was fact checked for 15 months. The "New York Times" at one point did a story on the dozens and dozens of lies he told over the course of a week or two. No one cared, or at least his supporters didn't care.
ANDERSEN: That's the question, does the post-fact, post-truth end at the President of the United States, does it end at the line of President-elect, President?
O'DONNELL: Some of these statements will be made to Congress, and Congress will, they will notice.
