President Donald Trump’s detractors have many common traits, from authoritarian sensibilities to an undisguised hatred of ordinary Americans.
Above all, however, they lie. The craftier among them spread falsehoods by omitting crucial context. But in most cases, they simply tell the opposite of the truth.
In a pre-Super Bowl interview on Sunday with Fox News’s Bret Baier, President Donald Trump responded to a premature question about the 2028 presidential election by calling it “too early” to say whether or not he would endorse Vice President J.D. Vance as the Republican nominee, prompting establishment media outlets and anti-Trump commentators to declare — via crafty omission and outright lies — that Trump had refused to endorse his vice president.
“Do you view Vice President JD Vance as your successor?” Baier asked in a clip posted to the social media platform X.
“No, but he’s very capable,” Trump replied.
Had the president stopped there, then the “refused to endorse” narrative would have had some legitimacy.
Of course, the president did not stop there. He responded, in fact, the only way he possibly could in February 2025.
“I think you have a lot of very capable people,” Trump added. “So far I think he’s doing a fantastic job. It’s too early. We’re just starting.”
Baier then suggested that by the 2026 midterm elections, Vance would seek the president’s endorsement.
Would Vance make a good successor to Trump?
Tellingly, Trump ignored the interviewer’s attempt to bait him on the endorsement question and instead shifted the focus of the conversation to the breakneck pace at which his administration has operated since Inauguration Day.
Bret Baier: Do you view VP JD Vance as your successor, the Republican nominee in 2028?
Trump: No. But he’s very capable. I think you have a lot of very capable people. So far I think he’s doing a fantastic job. It’s too early, we are just starting. pic.twitter.com/XJI16qC8Bj
— Mr Producer (@RichSementa) February 10, 2025
Any reasonable person would conclude that Trump essentially deflected Baier’s premature question about 2028. The president did not “refuse” to endorse. He simply called it “too early” to identify his preferred successor.
As one would expect, however, the establishment media and other anti-Trump voices spun their usual array of falsehoods.
The news aggregator NewsWire, for instance, chose to deceive through omission.
“TRUMP ASKED IF HE SEES JD VANCE AS SUCCESSOR: NO,” NewsWire tweeted on Monday.
TRUMP ASKED IF HE SEES JD VANCE AS SUCCESSOR: NO
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) February 10, 2025
Trump, of course, did say “no,” but he explained shortly thereafter that he regarded the timing as “too early.” And “too early” conveys a very different meaning than “no.” Thus, the establishment news aggregator disingenuously chose to highlight the president’s negative response rather than his subsequent explanation.
NewsWire, however, looked like a beacon of truth compared to self-described “progressive pundit” Shea Jordan Smith.
“Not only is he saying that he doesn’t see JD Vance as a successor, what’s even worse is that Donald Trump is saying that he’s not planning on giving up the presidency in 2028,” Smith tweeted.
Not only is he’s saying that he doesn’t see JD Vance as a successor, what’s even worse is that Donald Trump is saying that he’s not planning on giving up the presidency in 2028. pic.twitter.com/rZDD9wqCRz https://t.co/Sbae7nSTwP
— Shea Jordan Smith (@shea_jordan) February 10, 2025
Trump, of course, said nothing of the kind.
How, therefore, does one make the leap from “it’s too early” to “Trump is saying that he’s not planning on giving up the presidency in 2028”?
One hopes that future historians and psychologists will explain what made Trump’s detractors behave the way they have.
Either way, that explanation must begin by acknowledging those detractors’ intense aversion to truth.
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