Trump's followers believe his every lie. But if he was a real alpha-male, he'd lie BIGGER.
Anyone who believes in facts knows Donald Trump spouts lies like a high-pressure sprinkler squirts water. But watching him lately, and given the way his supporters believe every dishonest word, I have to ask: Why isn’t this unrelenting dissembler telling bigger and bigger lies? Why isn’t he raising the stakes above their already shocking height?
He was on the Jersey Shore this weekend, spitting falsities with ferocity, wholly untethered from objective reality, having the gall to claim he draws crowds like those of New Jersey icon Bruce Springsteen.
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee and current criminal defendant asked his supporters: “We have a much bigger crowd than Bruce Springsteen. Right?”
Wrong. There were a lot of people at Trump’s Saturday rally in Wildwood. The mayor said the space could fit about 40,000. But it was no Springsteen crowd, as The Boss’ fans on social media were quick to point out.
With Trump, it's lie, then lie, then lie some more - it never stops
Trump also lied: “These liberal singers, they actually vote for me. You know, like Bruce Springsteen.”
Springsteen hates Trump, has called him “a threat to our democracy” and has been a vocal backer of President Joe Biden.
So that is, to quote an expletive Trump used at his rally, bull****.
Trump wants his followers to not believe what's right in front of them
Of course the former president wasn't done making stuff up. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a large number of people left Trump’s rally early. Apparently seeing the people filing out as he was speaking, Trump twisted reality: “I haven't noticed anybody leaving. Nobody's leaving. They never leave.”
Lie. Lie. Lie. Repeat. And his throngs of cult-ish supporters eat it up and barf it back out as fact.
Trump's election lies are huge and damaging, but surely he can do worse
It’s remarkable, really. By denying his loss in the 2020 presidential election, Trump has lied so hard and with such relentless fervor he has brainwashed a swath of the American population and an entire political party into accepting the lie as truth, even though not a lick of evidence exists. It’s like convincing the masses to believe in Big Foot through sheer force of will.
And while the Springsteen nonsense and the “don't believe your eyes, those aren’t actual people leaving my rally” bit are Grade-A falsehoods, Trump could certainly go bigger.
Why, for example, has he not taken credit for the Grand Canyon and said it was his idea? He could easily take a verbal detour at a rally and say: “And you know, while I was president, we got the Grand Canyon built. Nobody before me could get it done, but I took office and said: ‘Do it.’ And we built the most beautiful canyon. Some even call it grand. A grand canyon, they say.”
The crowd would nod along, or start chanting “USA! USA!” What remains of their brains would swiftly erase all knowledge of the Grand Canyon and any understanding of how rivers erode rock.
Trump can always count on Republicans to say his lies are the truth
Within a day, Republican Sen. J.D. Vance, a potential Trump vice-presidential pick, would be on CNN saying: “Look, I certainly never saw the Grand Canyon before President Trump came along, so if he says he built it, I absolutely believe him. He definitely built the Grand Canyon, and Americans should thank him for that.”
And thus it would become MAGA gospel.
And why stop there?
Trump should say he sculpted the Statue of Liberty, regale his masses with a claim he bested Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1974 Mr. Olympia competition and take credit for inventing cheese.
No lie is too small for Trump, so none should be too big either
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham would trot out to the nearest Fox News television camera eating a cheese sandwich and say, “My goodness, thank the lord Mr. Olympia President Trump created the cheese all true patriotic Americans love!”
Trump’s presidential campaign would start selling “Fried Trump Cheese” at his rallies and claim they raised $25 trillion in one weekend.
When your audience will believe anything, why limit yourself to just lying about an iconic rock star or one of the foundational elements of our democracy?
Let there be light, Trump said, or so he claims
At his next rally, Trump should say: “In the beginning of my presidency, I created heaven and the earth. And many were saying the earth was without form, and, you know, kind of void. I had this big, tough guy come up to me, tears in his eyes and he said, ‘Sir, darkness is upon the face of the deep.’ That really happened. And I said, ‘Let there be light: and there was light.’ It’s true, ask anyone. I saw the light, and I was like, ‘That’s good. Let’s call the light day, and the darkness night.’ Those are good names, right? I came up with those. Nobody talks about that. Especially not the fake news media.”
Within hours, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene would be on a right-wing podcast saying, “Everyone knows that’s all true. I read it in the Bible President Trump is selling for $59.99.”
And all the believers would believe. Because, under the ceaseless deluge of Trumpian lies, they know not what they do.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump lied about Springsteen during a rally. He needs bigger lies.
