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pinocchio
Actor Mark Hamill has made no secret of his distaste for President Donald Trump and those who support him.
Hamill has made a habit of trolling Trump on Twitter and his latest jab made use of a classic children's story on the importance of telling the truth to make his point.
That fable was the story of Pinocchio.
Pinocchio's nose grew to twice its length whenever he told a lie, eventually growing so long that it got in the way.
TheWashington Post recently revealed that the President has made more than 12,000 false or misleading remarks over the course of his presidency.
12,019 untruths and partial truths over the course of only 928 days, as of August 5th. That averages out to almost 13 per day (12.95/day), according to Washington Post's Fact Checker Database, which has been tasked with following up on every suspect statement made by the President.
Hamill's tweet simply wondered exactly how long Pinocchio's nose would be by now if he had told more than 12,000 lies.
The responses on Twitter did not disappoint:
Some pointed out that Pinocchio, at least, learned from his mistakes and changed his behavior.
Trump's most often repeated claim?
That his grand border wall is currently under construction. The reality is that Congress would not approve funding for the giant wall of concrete, so bollard fencing where fences already existed and repairs to other existing structure are all that are currently being built.
He also makes frequent claims about the economy, trade with other nations, and Russian interference into the 2016 election.
He often refers to the investigation into Russian interference as a "witch hunt" and claims that the Mueller Report absolved him of any wrongdoing.
In reality, the information contained in the Mueller Report does not absolve Trump of anything, and Mueller explicitly stated:
"...while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."
The necessity of a database like Washington Post's Fact Checker, and the findings of that database, shows just how far Trump strays from the truth. Never before has a sitting US President been caught telling so many lies, many repeatedly.
Whether it's an intentional misinformation campaign, or the result of the President's need to boast, the reality is that our President makes a lot of misleading or outright false statements.
It's no wonder people feel the need to make fun of him for it on the internet.
Sometimes mocking something absurd and vaguely terrifying is the only way to deal with it.
In 1976 a live-action Pinocchio was created starring Sandy Duncan and Danny Kaye. You can get that celebrated classic here.
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