Hollywood often is accused of taking too much “artistic license” while portraying historical events.
We all get that.
Can a politician, therefore, be accused of uttering statements with more than just a tad “rhetorical license”? Do they say things for effect? Well, sure they do.
But then you get Donald J. Trump saying things that are utterly astonishing in the extreme.
Such as when he said yesterday that President Barack H. Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton are the “founder” and “co-founder,” respectively, of the Islamic State.
I’ve just recently reassembled my noggin after it exploded when I heard that ridiculous assertion.
If the GOP nominee had been watching “the shows” to study up on foreign policy — which he has said he has done — he would have known what the rest of us know. It is that we are killing ISIS soldiers daily; we are targeting and killing ISIS leaders; we are in the midst of destroying the monstrous terrorist organization.
Gosh, why do you suppose the “founder” of ISIS would want to kill his very creation?
I understand fully that we can expect more of this from Trump. We’re going to hear some rhetorical flourishes as well from Clinton — and perhaps even from the president himself — as this campaign lurches toward Election Day on Nov. 8.
It’s just important to understand that just as filmmakers occasionally stretch the truth to make an artistic truth, politicians are known to much the same the thing.
Only in Trump’s case, his lying has dangerous consequences.
