Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has shown his propensity to manufacture alternate realities in his head, and then convince himself that these alternates are in fact true.
He has convinced himself that he saw Muslims celebrating in New Jersey when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. He has convinced himself that President Obama was not born in the United States. He has convinced himself that fellow Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s father is connected to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
With the ability to create, and then believe such outlandish lies, it should come as no surprise that now Trump is citing a complaint letter he received from the NFL regarding the presidential debate schedule; a letter the NFL says does not exist.
The issue was raised this weekend when Trump, as is his proclivity, took to Twitter to complain about the schedule.
In the same tweet, he managed to incorrectly blame Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party for the dates, suggesting they all somehow conspired against him to pick dates that conflict with NFL games:
As usual, Hillary & the Dems are trying to rig the debates so 2 are up against major NFL games. Same as last time w/ Bernie. Unacceptable!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016
Keep in mind, the Commission on Presidential Debates is comprised of members from both political parties. Also keep in mind that he debate schedule has been public knowledge since September, 2015.
Many saw this tweet as Trump beginning to lay the groundwork for bailing out on the debates. When asked about the debate schedule on ABC News, Trump said:
“Well I tell you what I don’t like, it’s against two NFL games. I got a letter from the NFL saying ‘this is ridiculous why are the debates against’ cause the NFL doesn’t want to go against the debates, cause the debates are going to be pretty massive from what I understand, OK, uh and I don’t think we should be against the NFL, I don’t know how the dates were picked, I don’t know why those particular dates.”
In the same interview, George Stephanopoulos asked Trump directly whether or not he liked the current debate schedule. This was his rambling, sometimes incoherent response:
“Well I don’t like dates against you know. Hillary Clinton wants to be against the NFL she doesn’t maybe like she did against Bernie Sanders where they were on Saturday nights when nobody’s home.”
Yes, it makes my head hurt to read it too, but let’s go back to Trump’s claim that he received a letter from the NFL complaining to him that they did not like the dates.
CNN’s Brian Stelter spoke with the NFL who had this to say:
“While we’d obviously wish the debate commission could find another night, we did not send a letter to Trump.”
While one could argue that this latest bit of fiction from Trump doesn’t rise to the standard of some of his previously cited irrational doozies, it does show that his relationship with the truth is virtually nonexistent.
His campaign could happily prove us wrong on this and produce the NFL letter, but until such time as that happens, Trump has been whistled for yet another 15 yard “conspiratorial thinking” penalty.
Watch Trump ironically call Hillary Clinton dishonest and then brag about his excellent temperament on ABC News:
Featured Image: Screenshot Via YouTube Video.
