Trump's Fake News Becomes Strategy

U.S. President Donald Trump is increasingly claiming phony news is being posted about him and his administration.

In fact, critics, including many respected leaders, say Trump lies consistently, almost daily.

TV show host Rachel Maddow is so tired of the falsehoods she said: “I don’t necessarily want to hear from the White House on almost anything.”

Another strategy that he developed years before ran for president was to say one thing and later, sometimes within a week, say the opposite.

Maddow and others say lying is a strategy for Trump to divert attention every time he or his staff is caught in a failure to conform to the law. And growing evidence that Russia had helped his campaign increased the pressure.

Usually, the lies were outrageous, such as that former President Obama had “wiretapped” him.

Within the past week Trump was forced to actually go to war – bombing Syria. Even his own staff was admitting Russia helped him defeat Hillary Clinton. The FBI and CIA had already reported this before Trump staff members admitted it was true.

There is “no question” that Russia interfered in the presidential election, according to the Trump’s UN ambassador, Nikki Haley.

“Well, certainly, I think Russia was involved in the election,” she told ABC News' Martha Raddatz. “There's no question about that. And I think when they finish with all of this process, yes, they need to address Russia, they need to act, and they need to make sure they're loud about it.

“We don't want any country involved in our elections ever.”
Independent

Now the New York Times reports the CIA warned the FBI last summer that Russia was meddling. Instead of taking action the FBI focused its investigations on Clinton. Only after the election did it concede Russia was intervening.

“… briefings indicate that intelligence officials had evidence of Russia’s intentions to help Mr. Trump much earlier in the presidential campaign than previously thought. The briefings also reveal a critical split last summer between the C.I.A. and counterparts at the F.B.I., where a number of senior officials continued to believe through last fall that Russia’s cyberattacks were aimed primarily at disrupting America’s political system, and not at getting Mr. Trump elected, according to interviews.”

New York Times

Despite Russia’s claim of anger about the Syria attacks it is not clear it was not a deal between Trump and Putin. There have been reports they set up back channels.

Some military experts say the cruise missile bombings distracted attention from Trump-Putin reports. There have even been claims that the latest war crimes in Syria may have included Russia involvement. With Syria winning the war against rebels why would it want to draw more attention for its atrocities.