But U.S. Sen. JD Vance, the Republican from Ohio now running to be Trump's next vice president , stretched the truth well beyond the breaking point twice this month while introducing the former one-term president at rallies.
Vance, in both speeches, echoed the conspiracy theories that cropped up right after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania last month.
"They" are the new villain in Trump world, as in "they tried to kill him." But who are "they"? The speeches provide plenty of clues, even as the Trump campaign dodged my attempt to get clarification on who Vance was talking about.
'They' tried to kill him? Guess who.
Vance, while introducing Trump at a rally in North Carolina last week, cast his would-be boss in Trump's favorite role: as a victim. See if you can count up the lies and distortions with me.
"He traded everything for an unjust persecution, for slander, for scorn, so that we could save the United States of America. Now they couldn't beat him at the ballot box, so they tried to bankrupt him. They failed at that, so they tried to impeach him. They failed at that. So they tried to put him in prison, and they even tried to kill him."
Spoiler alert: If you hadn't guessed by now, "they" are the Democratic Party. I tallied five lies in all that, with "they" being the newest and most insidious deception:
One person tried to kill Trump. His name was Thomas Matthew Crooks , a 20-year-old registered Republican who worked at a nursing home and lived with his parents. He took his father's rifle to the July 13 Trump rally and was killed by a Secret Service sniper after firing rounds that wounded Trump and others in the audience and killed one man.
The FBI on Wednesday said that Crooks saw Trump's rally as "a target of opportunity" after "extensive attack planning" that included searches for Biden campaign events.
Not all crimes make sense. But they can be exploited for political gains, if politicians don't mind misleading the people they're courting for support.
GOP leaders are united on the big 'they' conspiracy
Vance's introduction rhetoric was road-tested almost immediately after the assassination attempt by a coterie of Trump allies.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott posted this just minutes later on the social media site formerly known as Twitter: "They try to jail him. They try to kill him. It will not work. He is indomitable."
U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, a Florida Republican and combat veteran , said this in a Fox Business interview five days after the shooting while calling for an investigation: “I just want to look at this from a completely open perspective. I don’t take anything off the table. But, you know, they tried to silence him. They tried to imprison him. And now they tried to kill him.”
Did you catch that? Mills wants an "open perspective" but also immediately assigns guilt to "they."
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U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson didn't name Mills and Crane to the bipartisan committee investigating the events of July 13, whose members toured the rally site in Butler County, Pennsylvania, on Monday. On the same day, Mills and Crane, irritated at being passed over, held their own "forum" on the topic at the hard-right Heritage Foundation's headquarters back in Washington.
Mills predicted a finding that "criminal gross negligence and purposeful intent will be indistinguishable" while promising more events for his shadow investigation. Again, Mills starts with a conclusion and then gets going with his investigation.
Vance is the perfect politician to deliver this lie
Expect more of this.
Ben Carson, who served in Trump's administration, made the same complaints about Democrats trying to ruin Trump during his speech at the Republican National Convention last month before proclaiming, "And then last weekend they tried to kill him!"
This is the Trump campaign mainstreaming a conspiracy theory, ignoring requests for proof or clarification, just spouting the prevarication over and over, hoping it catches on with voters. No investigation will be sufficient if it doesn't begin with the conclusion desired by the candidate.
The bogus narrative has been refined to a speech loaded onto a teleprompter. Vance, who reviled Trump before flip-flopping into his biggest fan , is the perfect politician to deliver that lie.
Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan
By they, does Vance mean republicans!!? Because it was over 1500 republicans who testified under oath and provided over 200,000 pages of documents, records, phone calls, text messages and emails against trump, leading to his impeachments, 5 indictments, 88 felony charges and 34 felony convictions, plus it was a registered republican who attempted to kill him...so Vance must be blaming republicans!!!
Rodger Chung
09-02
First off Jack off Vance... they didn't try to impeach trump, he was impeached... they haven't tried to put him in jail because his sentence date isn't until September 18th, and the republican who attempted to assassinate him didn't do it because he was a bad shot! No one except your 42% Maga base is buying the bullshit you and trump are selling, you fuckin awkward ass weird-o! You might want to clean up the recently released video of you once again disrespecting women...What was once secret is now public...as is your Project 2025 fascist autocratic authoritarian dictator blueprint!!!
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