Poll: Trump's wiretap claims have hurt his credibility
President Trump’s boasting and tendency to believe conspiracy theories have led to a deficit of credibility.
“In this journey, I will never lie to you,” Mr. Trump said on the campaign trail.
Since the campaign, Mr. Trump has presented himself as the last honest man in Washington.
But a new Quinnipiac poll shows that his unsubstantiated wiretapping claims have been damaging.
Sixty percent of voters do not believe that he is honest and 39 percent of Republicans do not believe his allegation that former President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower.
It’s a claim that the FBI, NSA and House intelligence committee chair Rep. Devin Nunes, a Republican, have said is false.
“That did not happen,” Nunes said on Wednesday.
The president has made other allegations without evidence, such as claiming widespread voter fraud and a historically high murder rate. The claims led the conservative-leaning editorial page of the Wall Street Journal to warn Mr. Trump is causing damage “to his presidency with his seemingly endless stream of exaggerations, evidence-free accusations, implausible denials and other falsehoods.”
In his signature book “The Art of the Deal,” published 30 years ago, Mr. Trump referred to his style as “truthful hyperbole,” an “innocent form of exaggeration-and a very effective form of promotion.” But that style may not be effective in the White House.
“When you have the highest official in the land, the president of the United States, accusing his predecessor of illegal activity with no evidence, that hurts our democracy,” said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
In an interview with Time magazine published Thursday, Mr. Trump dismissed concerns about his truthfulness, telling the reporter “I can’t be doing so badly, because I’m president, and you’re not.”