Republicans Try to Sell a "Parallel Universe" to Trump Voters With a "Parade of Dishonesty"

The Los Angeles Times summed up the first night of the Republican National Convention quite well with their description, "Welcome to a parallel universe,” and CNN's fact-checkers had their hands full keeping up with the lies and misrepresentations.

CNN: “The Republican National Convention started off with a parade of dishonesty, in stark contrast with last week’s Democratic convention.”

Various speakers including Donald Trump Jr.accused Joe Biden of plotting to abolish suburbs, do away with private health care insurance, take away everyone's guns, and lock up pastors. It was a cornucopia of falsehoods and conspiracy theories that Trump's supporters will repeat endlessly until November 3rd.

Even worse, however, were the lies about Trump's handling of the coronavirus crisis. His son and others attempted to paint the President as a strong leader during the pandemic. However, that particular falsehood might be a tough sell.

New York Times: "At times, the speakers and prerecorded videos appeared to be describing an alternate reality: one in which the nation was not nearing 180,000 deaths from the coronavirus; in which Mr. Trump had not consistently ignored serious warnings about the disease...."

The President made an appearance at the Convention earlier in the day to attack vote-by-mail initiatives as a Democratic plot, and, at one point, CNN had to cut away from the speech because of the sheer number of inaccurate claims Trump was making about voting. Trump also repeated his conspiracy theories about President Obama spying on him, and, of course, he is still trying to convince Americans that Joe Biden is a closet socialist. Generally, it was a sad, disjointed performance that only a true Trump acolyte could stomach.

And, right on cue, Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney and fixer captured the whole mess with a paid video spot that will be airing all week during the convention.

Cohen, CNN: "For more than a decade, I was President Trump's right-hand man, fixer and confidant. I was complicit in helping conceal the real Donald Trump. In essence, I was part of creating an illusion," Cohen says in the roughly 90-second long video recorded for the group that will be cut down into shorter ads. "Later this week, he's going to stand up at the White House and blatantly lie to you."

"Cohen adds: "I'm here to tell you he can't be trusted -- and you shouldn't believe a word he utters. So, when you watch the President this week, remember this: If he says something is huge, it's probably small. If he says something will work, it probably won't. And if he says he cares about you and your family, he certainly does not."

Republicans have a very difficult job ahead of them this week; convincing America that the incompetent, narcissistic, buffoon that we see each day actually deserves another four years in the White House.

#2020election #Trump

By: Don Lam & Curated Content