The Note: Under Trump, 'fake news' takes on new meaning
— -- The TAKE with Rick Klein
It looks as if a new entry might be developing, just in time for awards season.
The day that President Donald Trump has promised to present his “Fake News Awards” provides a clear and stark example of how the concept has evolved over the past year.
“Fake news” has gone from useful dodge and easy applause line to a license to create entirely new realities. “Alternative facts” seems quaint compared to the weaponization of misinformation that’s occurred under the president’s leadership.
In that vein, it’s remarkable that two U.S. senators are claiming on the record that the president did not use a profanity – and a Cabinet secretary even under oath that she “did not hear" it — a profanity that multiple other people in the room – members of both political parties - assert flat out that he used.
Accounts have evolved to match the White House’s claims. The officials who back up the president would happen to be ones that share Trump’s policy goals – or, at least, the goals he has as of now.
Maybe they’re telling what they believe to be the truth. But they won’t even get trophies for their recollections, or for what they’re forgetting.
The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks
Democrats may have backed themselves into a corner.
If they sign a short-term spending bill now, they run the risk of looking like they caved.
Sen. Cory Booker yesterday referred to the Dreamers — those roughly 800,000 immigrants who came to the U.S. undocumented as children — as “our fellow Americans.”
In an impassioned speech about the reality and dangers of racism and immigration, he did in plain terms what the president often does in veiled terms. He, too, defined who counts as “American.” For Booker, a clear 2020 prospect for the Democratic Party, being American is not contingent simply on citizenship or paperwork.
If you assume that frame of mind and following that logic to its conclusion, how could Democrats not fight to the bitter end to protect Dreamers?
While the far right will call any deal that provides a path to citizenship for these people mass amnesty, the far left will just as quickly call any deal that doesn’t a green light to mass deportation.
There's no evidence, yet, that Democrats are regretting their position. Rep. Jacky Rosen, a star recruit in Nevada running against Republican Sen. Dean Heller, whose seat the party sees as one of its best chances for a pickup next year, yesterday introduced a bill to permanently protect "Dreamers."
The TIP with Benjamin Siegel
Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, the daughter of Haitian immigrants who has denounced Trump's comments to senators at the White House last week, met with him Tuesday for 30 minutes to discuss immigration reform.
In a statement, Love says the meeting was "substantive and productive." There's no comment in the statement about Trump's remarks and whether he apologized.
“I believe Congress can solve the vast majority of the immigration issues the nation faces. There is already agreement on many important aspects. We need to fight against those who have a vested interest in keeping immigration a wedge issue. This has gone unaddressed for far too long. Let’s have a real conversation, so Congress can finish the important work we were elected to do,” the statement reads.
On CNN on Sunday, Love called Trump's comments racist, and said the White House had reached out to her about a meeting.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I told the president if he'd had a better diet over the last 20 years he could have lived to 200 years old. The answer is he has incredibly good genes, it's just the way God made him,” — Dr. Ronny Jackson, the president’s physician, said in response to a question about how to reconcile the president’s appetite for McDonald’s and Diet Cokes with his “excellent” health.
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The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the key political moments of the day ahead. Please check back tomorrow for the latest.
