All US candidates like Donald Trump are liars: American pundit

All US presidential candidates like Donald Trump are liars who “twist reality to suit their political purpose,” an American political pundit says.

Dennis Etler, a professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday, after Trump refused to back down from his controversial claim that “thousands of” Arab Muslim in New Jersey cheered as the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001.

Professor Etler said “Trump, known for his flamboyance and loose tongue, has doubled down on his recent claim that ‘thousands of people’ in Arab communities in New Jersey were cheering on 9/11.”

“Although Trump says he saw video footage of the alleged ‘tail-gating’ parties where the celebrating occurred, no such evidence has yet materialized and the claims, like many Internet memes are based on hearsay, without any material evidence,” he added.

“Americans are inured to a wide variety of conspiracy theories, false narratives and disinformation as they are fed a daily diet of it from the day they are born. Unverifiable claims are a staple of commercial advertising and political rhetoric, so it becomes impossible for the average citizen to distinguish truth from fiction.

“One famous US comedian, Steven Colbert, made fun of this lack of substance in American discourse by coming up with a neologism, truthiness, the quality of seeming or being felt to be true, even if not.

“This lack of objectivity serves the US ruling class and its minions in the media well as it allows them to spread lies and falsehoods with impunity to an audience that is more than willing to accept what they are told. Be it on the political left or right if a story supports partisan preconceptions it's accepted without question as it reinforces their prejudices.

“Even though there is a cottage industry of ‘fact finders’ and ‘truth seekers’ they have little impact on what is accepted by ‘true believers’ on either side of the political aisle. There are even certain supposed ‘truths’ that are accepted by one and all, such as the myth of ‘American exceptionalism’ and ‘indispensability.’

“To question the foundations of US democracy and its role in the world is beyond the pale and casts whoever challenges the status quo as an apologist for purported enemies of the state.

“Even a leftist and self-proclaimed socialist such as Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders does not dare question the fundamentals of US democratic institutions that serve the interests of the moneyed elites or US foreign policy which serves the same interests.

“All that is ever challenged is how wealth is distributed, not how it is created, and how foreign policy is implemented not its underlying premises.

“Even though US capitalism has careened from one disaster to another and US imperialism continues to wreak havoc throughout the world, they continue unabated no matter which party rules. All that changes are the political players while both economic and foreign policy differs little no matter which party is in power.

“Thus it makes little difference if what Trump says is true or false. All the candidates lie through their teeth and twist reality to suit their political purpose. Truth is the first casualty of both war and politics.”

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