I’ve been consuming a lot of political content on both sides lately, but there’s one thing that seems to be common among the Republicans. They always point out Kamala’s shortcomings as a way to justify Trump’s right to be president. They constantly bring up Kamala’s wavering stances on fracking, the fact she hasn’t been to the border, and a lot of other stuff. And i just think to myself “okay, so what? She’s lied. So has Trump though”. Why are republicans making it sound like Trump hasn’t lied even moreso than Kamala?
Maybe the things Kamala lies about are so terrible? I really don’t know. Maybe I’m just too biased. Am i missing something?
I’m trying to summon my inner Ben Shapiro here. This isn’t my opinion but my understanding of what he has said on the subject.
While Trump lies a lot, he’s fundamentally a bullshitter, which is different. A liar knows the truth but chooses to deceive, whereas a bullshitter doesn’t care about truth in the same way. When Trump says something like, “We’re going to withdraw from NATO,” he’s often expressing a sentiment or creating leverage rather than making a literal commitment. He treats politics like business deals, where you start with an extreme offer, then meet somewhere in the middle. He has argued that in the case of NATO, for example, this approach worked: other member states did increase their defense spending (though the war in Ukraine played a role too).
So, the point is that Trump’s statements should often be taken as rhetorical posturing - ways to push for certain outcomes - rather than literal promises. From a Republican perspective, his actions during his first term ultimately aligned with their goals, which explains their relative tolerance of his exaggerations. In contrast, they see Kamala Harris (and Biden) as engaging in misrepresentation that has led to policies Republicans find harmful, so there’s a greater focus on what they see as her inconsistency between words and actions.
That is a lot of mental gymnastics even for Shapiro.
When Trump says he is going to withdraw from NATO it isn’t 4d chess he is playing. He is not a mastermind of anything. Rather he says and does what he is told to by his handlers.
He is not a businessman in any respect unless you mean a failed businessman whose image was rehabilitated by a reality TV show called the Apprentice.
If he had never touched his daddies money and just left it invested he would be several times wealthier than he is now.
He is perhaps the perfect person to destroy the presidency though which he has done a decent job at. You must understand the real goal of the conservatives is to prove our government is failing by making it fail.
This is a perspective i have never seen before. While his methods still seem underhanded. It at least provides some logical basis as to why people still support Trump in spite of his lies
It’s a stretch to assume they’ve thought it through to this degree.