"The great election-eve middle-class tax cut began not as a factual proposal, but as a false promise," say Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker in The Washington Post. "Yet Washington's bureaucratic machinery whirred into action nonetheless — working to produce a policy that could be seen as supporting Trump's whim."
But "the mystery tax cut is only the latest instance of the federal government scrambling to reverse-engineer policies to meet Trump's sudden public promises — or to search for evidence buttressing his conspiracy theories and falsehoods," the Post adds. "Just this week, Vice President Pence, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House all rushed to try to back up Trump's unsupported claim that 'unknown Middle Easterners' were part of a migrant caravan in Central America — only to have the president admit late Tuesday that there was no proof at all."
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Los Angeles Times: "Trump tries to spur Republicans to vote with false claims and dystopian warnings of Democratic 'mob' rule"
The Washington Post: "'In the service of whim': Officials scramble to make Trump's false assertions real"
The Associated Press: "'Boogeyman' Trump stokes fears in election closing arguments"
The Daily Beast: "Trump's own team knows his caravan claims are bulls--t"
The New York Times: "Trump and GOP candidates escalate race and fear as election ploys"
Politico: "Trump's mystery tax cut puzzles Washington"
The Wall Street Journal: "GOP latches onto vague Trump tax statement as campaign nears end"
Repetition can distort reality, Daniel Effron, an expert on the psychology of lies at London Business School, tells the Post. "When falsehoods feel familiar, one concern is you don't actually know what's true and what's false." But the truth is out there.
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Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
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Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
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Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
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Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
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Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
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NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
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Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
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Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
