Lawrence O’Donnell Says Trump Uses This ‘Strange’ Phrase When He Is Lying
What To Know
- Lawrence O’Donnell claims President Trump often uses the phrase “if you want to know the truth” immediately after telling a lie.
- O’Donnell argues that such phrases are reflexive for Trump and typically signal dishonesty.
- He highlights a recent example where Trump contradicted his own statements about negotiating with Iran.
MS NOW anchor Lawrence O’Donnell believes that President Donald Trump has a specific and unusual go-to phrase he often uses when he’s lying
On Tuesday’s (June 9) edition of The Last Word, O’Donnell touched on Trump’s latest comments about the ongoing war with Iran. Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One on Monday night (June 8), the president said a deal with Iran could be reached in “two or three days.”
When a reporter repeated Trump’s words back to him to clarify if a deal would be signed within two or three days, he responded, “No, no, we have a good chance of doing it. We should be able to do it in one hour, if you want to know the truth.”
“Here’s a phrase I’ve never used,” O’Donnell said. “‘If you want to know the truth.’ I’ve also never said ‘to tell you the truth,’ a very common phrase; it’s actually a reflex a lot of people use. I just never have.”
The longtime reporter said “If you want to know the truth” is a “stranger” phrase because “who wouldn’t [want to know the truth]?” O’Donnell said, “They are reflexive phrases for Donald Trump; he doesn’t think about them, he doesn’t think about what they mean.”
O’Donnell noted that in his own experience, “People who say ‘to tell the truth’ or the weirder version, ‘if you want to know the truth,’ are frequently optional employers of the truth.” He added that the phrase implies that “the person saying that doesn’t always tell the truth.”
“It’s one of Donald Trump’s tics,” he continued. “And every single time I have ever heard that man use that phrase, he’s said it after a lie.”
O’Donnell pointed out that Trump’s claims that a deal could be reached within one hour contradicted his own statements to Meet the Press over the weekend. “He said this kind of negotiation takes years! That was Trump’s defense for not having already negotiated a peace agreement.”
“And so, yes, we want to know the truth,” O’Donnell said. “And we all know it’s impossible to get that from Donald Trump about anything… That’s what we’re dealing with in the presidency during wartime. That’s the clown on the other side of the negotiations that Iran might or might not be engaging in with the United States.”
The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell, Weeknights, 10/9c, MS NOW
Conversation4 Comments
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This exact comment keeps coming out after different stories. Probably a bot. It doesn’t deal with his lies at all. Are you saying it’s ok that he lies? It’s really not a defense or denial of Trump’s lies to say that someone else is also accused of lying. It’s a wasted comment.
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How dare an adult single guy sext messages to adult single women.
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Trump lies so much I think there’s lots of phrases that routinely follow his lies. Mostly everything out of his mouth is a lie or a reaction to a lie. A coverup for it. These are just facts about the man. What the public does about these lies—ignore them, defend them, attack the left instead of dealing with the fact that he lies so much…says more about the individual than it even does about Trump.
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Liberal Leftists don’t use any strange phrases, they just flat out Lie !
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