CNN Anchor Brianna Keilar notes inconsistencies in Trump’s claims (YouTube screengrab)
Fact-checking President Donald Trump is now not only common practice — it’s essential to news reporting.
On Tuesday, for example, CNN anchor Brianna Keilar did not even blink before pronouncing Trump a liar.
“[H]e blamed Ukraine for high diesel prices,” said Keilar, citing a press conference that Trump apparently fibbed his way thought earlier on Tuesday. “Of course, we do know that those high diesel prices of late, those high gas prices of late have been from Iran.”
But viewers would not have known the link between exorbitant diesel prices and Trump’s entirely voluntary war on Iran, listening to Trump today. Trump instead laid entire blame for prices on the invaded nation of Ukraine, which is fighting for its life. And he called on Ukrainian leaders to surrender territory that Russia invaded and stole in the last few years.
“… Ukraine has to want to settle this war. Zelensky has to want to settle this war. And if he doesn't, I think it's going to be a very bad thing,” Trump told reporters. “Look, we have given tremendous amounts to Ukraine. We've got nothing back other than high diesel. We have given probably possibly more money to Ukraine than almost anybody over the years, hundreds of billions of dollars. We've gotten nothing back. And the American taxpayers are tired of it.”
Keilar’s quick debunk was effortless, particularly because the news is choked with proof that global and U.S. high diesel prices are due to a bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz and other choke points throughout the Middle East — all resulting from Trump’s war.
Trump is apparently aware of what those high prices are doing to his voter approval. On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced an $8 billion bailout for farms struggling under the fast-rising diesel prices caused by President Donald Trump’s war with Iran. But experts are quick to point out that basic math reveals that Trump’s “bribe” of angry farmers in the run-up to the midterms will do little to alleviate their plight.
But Fox News reports, the diesel situation has forced a wave of transportation companies into bankruptcy, while farmers in red states have increasingly turned on Trump. One Kansas cattle rancher speaking with the Washington Examiner, appears to know Trump’s hand in high costs, saying Trump “changed the whole dynamics of everything.”
“You know, people can’t afford to give as much for the cattle now because they’re trying to afford the trucking to get them to their final destinations,” the farmer said.
But when Trump isn’t trying to blame Ukraine for his problem, he’s trying to blame Democrats. But now 67 percent of Americans are very aware of the source of their problem, and it has everything to do with the White House.