Friday, November 18, 2016

Trump Loves Living in a Post-Truth World (He Practically Invented It).

The Oxford Dictionaries named "post-truth" the word of the year. Holy crap, are they right.

I didn't tell the truth during the campaign. Why start now?

Ford said months ago it was shifting the production of one model to Mexico to lower costs. It also said that it wasn't closing any plants or cutting any jobs because of the move, since it would simply increase production of another model. Sounds good.

Now Ford has decided not to make the move. Again, no change in the number of plants or jobs.

Trump tweets that it was his idea, that he pressured Ford to stay (remember, they were never leaving, but...).

So, not true, but some news outlets just published stories about it as if it were. Here's the real story from Josh Marshall:
“Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky - no Mexico,” Trump tweeted. “I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me!”
Not so: Ford Motor Company operates two plants in the state, neither of which had planned on moving to Mexico. On Thursday night, Ford announced that one of its plants in the Bluegrass State, the Louisville Assembly Plant, would continue manufacturing the Lincoln MKC, the production of which they had previously considered moving to Mexico.
Even if production of that one model had moved to Mexico, the Louisville plant would not have lost any jobs, according to a statement from the company last November. Employees at the Louisville plant would have simply shifted to producing more Ford Escapes.
Many news outlets reprinted Trump’s claim Thursday night, and some continued to propagate it Friday morning.
Post-truth, what a concept. What a reality.


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