Trump Lied to Justin Trudeau For No Reason Then Bragged About It In a Speech
PoliticsDonald Trump, the congealed bacon fat coating a McDonald’s griddle, openly admitted to lying to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about our trade relations. Very good.
The Washington Post reports that, during a fundraising speech in St. Louis on Wednesday, Trump recalled insisting to Trudeau that the U.S. runs a trade deficit with Canada. In reality, Trump had no fucking clue:
“Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please,’ ” Trump said, mimicking Trudeau, according to audio of the private event in Missouri obtained by The Washington Post. “Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in — ‘Donald, we have no trade deficit.’ He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed.
“ … So, he’s proud. I said, ‘Wrong, Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know. … I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid. … And I thought they were smart. I said, ‘You’re wrong, Justin.’ He said, ‘Nope, we have no trade deficit.’ I said, ‘Well, in that case, I feel differently,’ I said, ‘but I don’t believe it.’ I sent one of our guys out, his guy, my guy, they went out, I said, ‘Check, because I can’t believe it.’
Trudeau was, of course, correct. The Associated Press reports that, according to a representative at the Office of the United States Trade, the U.S. runs a trade surplus with Canada. “It reports that in 2016, the U.S. exported $12.5 billion more in goods and services than it imported from Canada, leading to a trade surplus, not a deficit,” according to the AP.
There is no lie too great—or too small, or too transparent, or too dumb—for Trump, who has made more than 2,000 false or misleading claims as president. His lying is so out of control that his lawyers apparently fear he will perjure himself in the Russia investigation.
Trump thinks this tactic makes him a strong negotiator with foreign leaders, but it makes him look like a dumbass who could probably start a war on Twitter. (Which, of course, he is.)