PAWhether you’re living in a right-wing social media vacuum of pro-Trump opinion or not, you’ve got to admit President Donald Trump has a bad rep for telling little white lies.
…And when I say little white lies, I mean bare-faced, blatant, unabashed bullshit.
Now, any political spin doctor could turn this little personality quirk on its head and use it for good to argue, for example, the 45th was lying when he said he grabbed a woman by the pussy or he actually doesn’t want to build a wall and it was all just a fib and he actually does believe in climate change despite repeatedly denying its existence.
In this climate of alternative facts, false flags, and sharing news via memes, who knows what is possible?
Something we do know, however – an indisputable truth – is the following: Donald Trump’s dad, Fred, was born in New York City.
But The Donald on Tuesday said his father was born in ‘a very wonderful place in Germany’.
Trump just said "my father is German, was German. Born in a very wonderful place in Germany." Fred Trump was born in New York. pic.twitter.com/U6eWYPzjrJ
— Tommy MMXIXtopher (@tommyxtopher) April 2, 2019
He said this while meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, an actual European-born man, from Norway, specifically.
Aside from this, in context, coming across a bit like half an exchange on a school playground between a baby white nationalist and his flabbergasted classmate (‘My daddy is more from the Fatherland than your daddy’), it’s just not true anyway.
Frederick Christ Trump was born in October 1905 in the Bronx and grew up to be the millionaire real estate developer in New York City from whom The Donald inherited.
So, you’d think the president would have a better idea of where that small fortune originated, being the illustrious businessman and master of the Art of the Deal.
To be fair, there was a period of my childhood when I couldn’t have told you exactly what part of England my dad is from, but I grew out of that pretty quickly.
And it’s true that Trump’s mother, Mary MacLeod, was born in Scotland. It’s also true that Trump’s grandfather Friedrich Trump was born in the German village of Kallstadt.
The president was hosting Stoltenberg at the White House on Tuesday ahead of the NATO chief’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
It comes amid Trump facing criticism for often mischaracterising the purpose of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries, set up to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means.
If he struggles with where his dad is born, it’s frankly no surprise he’s unsure about the purpose of a complex diplomatic alliance.
Someone write the man a memo.
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A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.