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Channel 4 will be marking Donald Trump’s visit to the UK with what it describes as “the longest uninterrupted reel of untruths, falsehoods and distortions ever broadcast on television”. It will play more than 100 of Trump’s lies or misleading statements in a segment called Trump v The Truth. All his greatest hits, from false claims about the price of eggs to disgusting lies about the US spending millions on condoms for Hamas, packaged together.
Obviously we’ve got to be fair and balanced here, though, haven’t we? Gotta show both sides. So I think it’s only right that Channel 4 also broadcast a 10-second segment covering all of the truthful and astute things the president has said. It’s not just lies, lies, lies: occasionally the man can be surprisingly wise. Only this week, for example, a video circulated online of Trump telling attendees of a gala at one of his golf clubs: “Smart people don’t like me, you know?” He added: “And they don’t like what we talk about.” No lies detected there.
And then there are Trump’s thoughts on the fate of his immortal soul. Last month, early on a Tuesday morning, the president dialled into Fox & Friends and said he is trying to stop the war in Ukraine so that God can save him a spot in paradise. “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” he explained. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole.” While it’s impossible to fact-check exactly where Trump is on God’s waiting list, I suspect he has made a correct assessment of the situation. And I think all the dead children in Gaza, which Trump has said he wants the US to take over and turn into a luxury resort, might agree.
Trump has also been blunter about the political process than some of his predecessors. While running for president in 2015, he matter-of-factly said that he had used his money to influence politicians. “I gave to many people before this,” he said during a Republican candidates’ debate. “And you know what, when I need something from them two years later … I call them. They are there for me. That’s a broken system.” Truer words have never been spoken; certainly not by Trump.
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
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