“Facts you wish were true. The news.” That line was uttered by a comedian, don’t ask me the name because I rarely recall anything about comics other than their genders, but it smacks of graveyard humor. And that is true of much of the humor heard by laugh-seeking audiences today because stand-up comedians long ago learned standard joke telling (“A priest, a rabbi and a pastor walk into a bar …”) fails when it comes to topical issues, and today’s topical issue is Republican acceptance of lies. Let’s look at one issue that supports the facts vs. the news issue and then consider why people laughed at today’s opening line.
If we simply take any piece of information imparted to us that we were prior to unaware of, no matter if the source is a certified expert or our next-door neighbor, then it is news to us. Gossip in the local coffee shop falls far below national network news when it comes to accuracy; or at least did after legislations demanded equality from journalists. Those legislations have been negated (research FCC Acts for reference) to the point where Rupert Murdock’s Fox News is widely watched by millions even though they know it is categorized as an entertainment show with only 17% accuracy rating. If you look up Mr. Murdock’s explanation of why he started Fox News, he will verify that it is not real news.
Here is an example of how inaccuracies get voiced and ultimately believed by many even though the speaker knows what she is saying is utterly false but also knows once said it is out there; like a judge instructing a jury to “disregard the words of …,” knowing humans are incapable of, on command, disregarding something they heard. The setting was a nationally broadcast discussion, the speaker was Katie Miller, wife of Stephen Miller, the far-right, anti-immigration, white supremacist White House deputy chief of staff and homeland security advisor to Mr. Trump. She holds a master of public policy from George Washington University; so, she can understand policy and government statistics. Ms. Miller stated that 85% of those deported in 2025 were on ICE convictions list; meaning they had been found guilty of crimes while undocumented. False. Here’s how to check that lie:
Go to ice.gov/detain/detention-management and scroll down to FY 2025 ICE REPORT, click on that and download the spread sheet then navigate to FOOTNOTES page and you will find the following threat level categories. Level 1 is for major crimes convicted, Level 2 and Level 3 are for lesser convicted crimes; a descending threat level breakdown. The final level is NO THREAT LEVEL. The report shows only Jan.-Sept. 2025 detained and detention numbers and lists the number at 47,551 with 6.6% at Level 1, 3.37% at Level 2 and 5.01% at Level 3. The no threat level is 87.69%. So, when Republicans tout the great number of convicted criminals removed from circulation, they are repeating a lie told for no other reason than to deceive the ignorant; and if you spend any time on social media, you know this tactic works very well.
Let’s look at this Donald J. Trump mouthful of gibberish: On Jan. 21 at the World Economic Forum, he said, “China is smart. They make windmills, sell ’em for a fortune, and sell them to the stupid people that buy them! Windmills all over Europe, all over the place, they are losers. One thing I’ve learned: the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses. China makes almost all the windmills, and yet I haven’t been able to find any wind farms in China.” On Jan. 9 at a meeting trying to convince oil companies to invest in captured Venezuela, he stated, “Just about all the windmills are made in China — the structures. All you must do is say to China: ‘How many windmill areas do you have in China?’ So far, they cannot find any.” If Republicans want to know the truth, a doubtful proposition at best, all they must do is the research.
Look at statistics cited by the Global Wind Energy Council and Our World in Data and you will find that one of the largest windmill farms in the world is at Gansu, visible from space with over 7,000 windmills; and it is only half constructed. In 2024, China generated 997 terra-watt hours from wind; more than double the United States in second place. Windmill installations in China made up over 70% of the global total with a cumulative electricity capacity of 520 gigawatts. That’s almost 50% of the total global wind power capacity.
So, even if Mr. Trump cannot find any wind farms in China, the rest of the world, sans Republican sycophants, knows they are there and are very successful money makers. And because oil executives are not as ill-informed, or ignorant, as the average Republican, they are not lining up for Venezuelan oil contracts. For more insight on the present administration’s handling of the world oil and gas situation, see Mr. Global, Matt Randolph, online.
So, those are just two instances where our president outright lies to the American public and the world confident his Republican listeners will gobble up anything that spews from his mouth. Here is an instance of when the truth should be believed, but once again isn’t by Republicans. These words are about as true as they get: “I have met some very bad people, none as bad as Trump. Not one decent cell in his body.” Those are the sentiments conveyed to former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers by a man who knew Mr. Trump well. You can read these words written by Jeffrey Epstein in 2017 in the documents released by the Department of Justice.
So, the question remains, when will Republicans admit they have been lied to by a master manipulator and give up on the man? The world waits anxiously for that day.
Take care. Peace.
