Donald Trump makes false claims at a rate that staggers all historians. His supporters dismiss it as “Trump being Trump” but you really have to wonder the signal all this lying is sending to America’s youth.
The latest example happened last night, when Trump falsely claimed that the New York Stock Exchange reopened the day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to justify going ahead with a campaign rally just hours after 11 people were shot dead in a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Here is what the President of the United States said:
“With what happened earlier today, with that horrible, horrible attack in Pittsburgh, I was saying maybe I should cancel both this and that,” said Trump. “And then I said to myself, I remembered Dick Russell, a friend of mine, great guy, he headed up the New York Stock Exchange on September 11th, and the New York Stock Exchange was open the following day. He said – and what they had to do to open it you wouldn’t believe, we won’t even talk to you about it. But he got that exchange open.”
Now let’s check the “facts.”
- Trump said he had contemplated cancelling the political event but said that the head of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) had opened up the day after the 11 September 2001 attacks.
That’s false.
The NYSE and the Nasdaq exchange were in fact closed until September 17 following the attacks which brought down the World Trade Center – the longest shutdown since 1933.
- Trump also recalled that “Dick Russell” was head of the New York Stock Exchange at the time.
That’s false.
Dick Grasso was chief executive of the NYSE in 2001.
So Trump, off the top of his head, made up a story to justify his decision to attend a partisan political rally just hours after 11 people were gunned down by a far-right extremist.
He just doesn’t care. And his supporters don’t seem to care either.
Trump has a history of making things up about 9/11.
- Trump applied for and received $150,000 in state funds intended to help small businesses affected by the 9/11 attacks, despite the fact that his business was not affected.
The fund was supposed to cover uninsured losses for small businesses, but Trump somehow received $150,000 in taxpayer money; his application cited “rent loss,” “cleanup” and “repair.” Yet none of Trump’s properties were actually damaged in the attack.
- Trump claimed he watched from his office window as people jumped after the World Trade Center was hit.
Trump Tower is four miles from the site of the World Trade Center. He could not possibly have seen people jump from the buildings during the attacks.
- Trump claimed that he “lost hundreds of friends” at the World Trade Center.
When journalists inquired about it, they were unable to produce even a single name of a friend Trump lost.
- Trump repeatedly told a vicious, racist lie about Muslim Americans celebrating the attacks — even after it was debunked.
There is no video anywhere of such a thing happening.
But through it all his supporters still just love him and seemingly don’t care about all the lying.
The reality TV presidency era continues.