Author Trump: "I Call It Truthful Hyperbole"

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"Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace."

- Zechariah 8:16 (ERV)

In his best-selling 1987 memoir, "The Art of the Deal", Donald Trump describes some of his communication style thus:

"People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That's why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It's an innocent form of exaggeration--and a very effective form of promotion".

Now we know. Not that other politicians aren't guilty of the same, but Mr. Trump takes this kind of playing fast and loose with truth to a new level.

The Pulitzer Prize news service PolitiFact has been documenting Trump’s rhetoric on its Truth-O-Meter, and they have rated 76 percent of his "facts" as Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire, out of 77 statements checked. 

Here are are a few of his more well-publicized claims they consider not only as representing hyperbole but as being Pants on Fire inaccurate:

• "I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering."

• "The Mexican government ... they send the bad ones over."

• "Whites killed by whites — 16%. Whites killed by blacks — 81%." 

• "If you're from Syria and you're a Christian, you cannot come into this country, and they're the ones that are being decimated. If you are Islamic ... it's hard to believe, you can come in so easily. In fact, it's one of our main groups of people that are coming in."

• "Look, we’re the most highly taxed nation in the world." 

For more details, check this link:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/dec/21/2015-lie-year-donald-trump-campaign-misstatements/