The Lies of Obama are more consequential than those of Trump

Thanks Realist2016- Please note, the notion of forgiveness ought not to be misconstrued as a reframing of the debate or tangential to question of consequentiaity. Rather, I am addressing Pro"s use of the comparative "big" (i.e. Trump"s the bigger liar) which is inclusive of consequence but not congruent. The relative forgivability of a transgression is a relevant metric for evaluating the size of the lie- big, bigger, biggest. I addressed harm & impact primarily but there"s more to Pro"s use of the word "big" to describe lying than consequence alone. National Security Obama"s 2007 speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center specifically targeted the 4th amendment violations of Bush"s warrantless wiretapping: "This Administration also puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we provide. I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom. That means no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens; no more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime; no more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war; no more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are. And it's not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists. The FISA court works." [1] There are no falsehoods here. Obama promised to end warrantless surveillance but Bush fixed it before Obama could. In 2013, Obama introduced further FISA reforms and improved accountability [2]. We might fault Obama for not making more reforms but we can't accurately claim that Obama ever promised to end mass surveillance altogether. On the other hand, Trump appointed Michael Flynn to the National Security Advisor post in the full knowledge that Flynn was an active secret foreign agent on behalf of dictators hostile to US foreign interests. As journalists unmasked the truth over the past year, Trump lied and continues to lie about his deliberate breach of National security. Obama advised Trump of Flynn"s Russian connections on Nov. 10th. [3] Flynn himself told Trump he was under investigation in Jan.4th. [4] On Jan. 24th, acting Attorney General Sally Yates presented evidence to Trump"s counsel that Flynn had lied about the contents of his Dec. conversation with Russia"s top spy recruiter, Sergey Kislyak. [5] Yates was fired 3 days later, ostensibly for refusing to enforce Trump"s travel ban. On Feb 8th, Flynn flatly denied discussing the removal of sanctions Kislyak. [6] Trump, with full knowledge he was lying, defended Flynn"s full access to the US"s most secure state secrets for 5 more days. On Feb 10th, confronted by reporters on Flynn"s lies, Trump replied, "I don"t know about that. I haven"t seen it," [7] Even though Flynn admitted to working as a foreign agent on Mar. 8th, [8] Trump has never apologized for or even acknowledged his conscious exposure of state secrets to hostile foreign interests. Trump himself met with Kislyak on April 14th, 2016 but later claimed, "[I] don't speak to people from Russia." [9]. Trump invited Russia"s top spy into the Oval Office on May 10th, carefully omitting his name from the guest list and his face from pictures of the event. There we know at least that he shared code-word level secrets from Israeli intelligence. [10] When FBI Director James Comey refused to back off from the investigation into Flynn"s deception, Trump fired him too and lied about his reasons. [11] At present, we know of 14 Trump insiders with business connections to Putin"s regime, 5 of whom have been caught lying about private meetings with Russian agents- Sessions, Flynn, Manafort, Trump Jr, and Kushner. All 5 failed to disclose their Russian contacts in their security clearance applications. Trump used to brag about his relationship with Putin but he denies all that now. [12]. It may be a long time before we understand the true nature of Russia"s influence over Trump, mostly because he lies to conceal his associations, even to the point of compromising our national security. RE: campaign financing Not a lie. As Pro"s own link confirms, McCain withdrew first and was already spending private funds on the general before Obama"s nomination. The campaigns did meet but since McCain wouldn't address 527"s or prior spending no agreement was possible. [13] RE: TPP You can't bluff in poker if all the cards are on the table. All trade negotiations (not just TPP) are conducted with as much secrecy as possible to preserve US negotiating positions. The TPP was not unusually secretive and Obama would have compromised US interests by increased openness. [14]. That"s also why Trump is renegotiating NAFTA in as much secrecy as possible. [15]. Obama was not less transparent on trade than other admins. Out of space. I'll post links in the comments section. I'll reply on healthcare & address the big picture in the final round.