'That's your stink': Fox News' Neil Cavuto sweetly savages Trump for his pattern of falsehoods

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Fox News)

published 4 May 2018

President Trump's new admission that he paid for the Stormy Daniels hush agreement after all was apparently a bridge too far for Fox News host Neil Cavuto, who spent about 4 minutes on Thursday evening going back and chronicling Trump's history of presidential misstatements, falsehoods, and other euphemisms for lies. In between, he used a brutal more-in-sorrow-than-anger tone to reprimand Trump.

"Let me be clear, Mr. President: How can you 'drain the swamp' if you're the one who keeps muddying the waters?" Cavuto asked, launching into the first of several recaps of Trump's misstatements. "Now, I'm not saying you're a liar — you're president, you're busy — I'm just having a devil of a time figuring out which news is 'fake.' Let's just say your own words on lots of stuff give me, shall I say, lots of pause," he said before another barrage. "None of this makes me a never-Trumper, just always confused," Cavuto said, pointing out that Trump's tax plan will actually make him richer and his poll numbers are significantly lower than any of his predecessors. "That can change, but what's weird is this pattern does not."

"Now, none of this makes you evil, but I'm sure you can understand why even your friends say these inconsistencies don't make you look good or do anything to advance your policies, many of which are very good," Cavuto said. He listed some more "exaggerations and omissions and misstatements," adding: "But it's not what you are omitting, Mr. President, it is what you keep stating and never correcting." He ended with some interesting swamp metaphors: "None of this makes what you say fake, just calling out the press for being so, a bit of a stretch. ... I guess you're too busy draining the swamp to ever stop and smell the stink you're creating. That's your doing. That's your stink. Mr. President, that's your swamp." Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.