On This Day In 2017
Trump reveals everything you need to know about him...in 15 seconds
His Administration told a world-famous lie that day. One of the first things Trump did as president was force his poor spokesman Sean Spicer to go out and tell reporters the lie that the crowds watching Trump’s inauguration were perhaps the biggest ever. And Trump ripped the National Park Service for publishing comparative pictures which proved that Trump’s in-person turnout was considerably smaller than Obama’s.
But that wasn’t the important thing that happened OTDI 2017.
The new President of the U.S. said about his inauguration the previous day: “It was almost raining, the rain should have scared (spectators) away, but God looked down and he said, 'We’re not going to let it rain on your speech.’
“In fact, when I first started, I said, oh, no….But the truth is that it stopped immediately. It was amazing. And then it became really sunny. And then I walked off and it poured right after I left.”
So how did that one phrase reveal so much about the man? What was wrong with it?
It was a lie. In fact, the rain started as soon as he began talking; it continued for awhile, and the sun did not come out during his “American Carnage” speech.
It was an easily disproved lie. Millions of people watching on TV know better. But he still thought perhaps he could get away with it because he’s Donald J. Trump.
He proclaimed divine intervention, which he continued to do throughout his four years.
It's a lie that he himself might have actually believed, thanks to his unmatched narcissism.
Once the world laughed at his obvious lie, he refused to retract it.
It was about rain...and he lied several other times about rain throughout his term. (As we’ll see in the OTDIs for 9/1, 9/4, and 11/10, among others.)
Most importantly, it showed his horrific lack of judgment. He delivered that lie at CIA headquarters, in front of the sacred wall that honors CIA servicemembers killed in the line of duty. That is no place for a campaign-style rally.
By disparaging those who fought for our nation, he continued his long tradition of scorning and dismissing our heroic warriors. There would be much of that still to come in his Administration.
After Trump's speech, Franklin Graham praised him: "Rain is a sign of God's blessing." That's one way to look at it.
Trump's lie this day just set the stage for four more years of lying without any shame.
Time covered it all: https://time.com/4641165/donald-trump-inauguration-rain/
Cosmopolitan has some tweets and their assessment: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a8620992/rain-president-donald-trump-inauguration-speech/
CBS News has the CIA speech transcript, complete with his self-congratulations and campaign-style buffoonery: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-cia-speech-transcript/
