The following commentary by Cynthia Tucker was posted on the UExpress.com website August 30, 2018:
President Donald J. Trump has earned special notice among independent fact-checkers — people employed by respected news media organizations and universities to ferret out false claims. In their view, the president is among the most prolific liars in political history.
Trump did not have a bigger inauguration crowd than Barack Obama. He did not lose the popular vote to Hillary Clinton because of massive voter fraud. He does not have the highest approval ratings of any Republican president in history. And the independent investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, having already yielded several incidental guilty pleas and convictions, is not a witch hunt.
Those are just a few among his whoppers. Last month, The Washington Post published a remarkable story reporting that the president — already an accomplished liar — was working hard to ensure that no one could ever break his record. “In his first year as president, Trump made 2,140 false or misleading claims. Now, just six months later, he has almost doubled that total,” the Post reported.