Never Wager on Trump to Do What is Right & Just: You Will Lose Your Bet and Shirt

President Donald J. Trump’s Daily Guide

(SOP for him)

Interesting this catchy introduction to Trump’s address to the nation about his wall funding issues here from MarketWatch – Trump’s lose grip on the truth cost one gambling site dearly:

Before his president’s address on border security Bookmaker.eu put the over/under on the number of lies he’d spew at 3.5. For bettors, it was a no-brainer, as hundreds of thousands of dollars loaded up on the over.

In fact, Bookmaker odds consultant John Lester told MarketWatch that the site has never seen such a lopsided response from its customers adding:  “Never in our 30-year history have we been this one-sided (9 to 1) on a wager. You would have to go back to the early Mike Tyson fights (pre-Buster Douglas) to find a wager with comparable one-sided demand.”

Lester explained that no matter how much he adjusted the odds, hardly anybody seemed interested in taking the under. Smart move since the Washington Post found that there were at least six false statements during the address.

The post for today:

Trump called on Congress to provide $5.7 billion for a border wall to address what he called a “crisis on the border.” He in typical Trump fashion made both false statements, misleading claims, and many his “facts” had no context:

·         Despite Trump’s claims of a “crisis,” the number of apprehensions at the Southwest border remains historically low.

(See the chart below provided by U.S. Border Patrol – And, please note the Obama years (2009-2016) that Trump always rails about being the worst years ever – typically he is just flat out wrong).

Official Trump Administration Stats

(Yet Trump denies the facts)

·         Trump made the misleading claim that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents “encounter thousands of illegal immigrants every day trying to enter the U.S.” Note: The average number of apprehensions at the border is less than 2,000 a day. 

·         Trump suggested that 20,000 children were illegally brought into the country last month by “vicious coyotes and ruthless gangs.” There is absolutely no evidence of that in any statistics.

·         Trump falsely claimed “the border wall would very quickly pay for itself by stopping the flow of illegal drugs.” Note: The majority of illicit drugs smuggled into the country enter through legal ports of entry in cars, tractor-trailers, etc., and would not be stopped by any wall. 

·         Trump again claimed that Mexico would pay for the border wall “indirectly through a new international trade agreement.” Economic experts say the new trade pact (USMCA) won’t generate enough additional federal revenues to pay for his border wall. 

Specifics overstated by Trump:

1.  Re: The economic cost of illegal drugs. In a 2017 report, the White House Council of Economic Advisers estimated “the economic cost of the opioid crisis was $504.0 billion” in 2015 — but it is not all “illegal drugs,” as Trump said. That figure “includes individuals who abuse Rx painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin, or individuals who abuse heroin or other illicit opioids.” The CDC says Rx drugs were involved in more than 35% of all opioid overdose deaths in 2017 alone (Also more here from the CDC on the “Opioid Epidemic”).

Trump falsely claimed that the wall would pay for itself by stopping the flow of illegal drugs. As reported more than once, the majority of illicit drugs is smuggled through legal ports of entry.  In its most recent National Drug Threat Assessment, the DEA said the SW border “remains the primary entry point for heroin into the US and the majority of the flow enters through private vehicles and tractor-trailers at legal ports of entry.”

2. Trump then suggested that 20,000 children were illegally brought into the country last month by “vicious coyotes and ruthless gangs.” There is zero evidence of that claim in statistics anywhere. The data from CBP does show that 25,172 “family units” were apprehended by them in November 2017. But, “family units” are individuals, including parents with their own children or children with a legal guardian who were caught – not the 20,000 children brought here illegally by “vicious coyotes and ruthless gangs” that Trump professes.

3.  Trump continued to claim that he is staying true to his campaign pledge that Mexico would pay for the border wall. He insisted that Mexico will pay “indirectly” through a new international trade agreement. His spin: “The wall will also be paid for, indirectly, by the great new trade deal we have made with Mexico.”

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was signed on November 30, 2018 by the leaders of all three countries, but it still must be ratified by the Senate.

Note: There is nothing in the USMCA certifying that Mexico will pay for any border wall.

My 2 cents: What a pitiful 8-minutes spewed by Trump in that address to the nation. 

As I’ve said from day-one, how much longer can we tolerate this man staying in office? Never in the total span of American history and indeed in world history, have we seen and heard such a liar in power like Trump. 

The worst part that should concern us all is the fact that so many people despite his trail of lies stand by him, work for him, and continue to believe and trust him. 

Thanks for stopping by.