--- title: Donald Trump Is BS, Says Expert in BS Harry Frankfurt description: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump: Is he lying or is it something else? canonical: https://time.com/4321036/donald-trump-bs/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-12T14:40:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:38.455Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Donald Trump Is BS, Says Expert in BS og:description: And that makes him even more dangerous og:url: https://time.com/4321036/donald-trump-bs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d64d3330557613c/6988923dab6d77701e6a9961/donald-trump6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6000 og:image:height: 3375 og:image:alt: Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during his rally at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, W. V., on May 5, 2016. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Is BS, Says Expert in BS twitter:description: And that makes him even more dangerous twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d64d3330557613c/6988923dab6d77701e6a9961/donald-trump6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Is BS, Says Expert in BS > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: A More "Presidentially Correct" Trump? [Watch (HLS stream): A More "Presidentially Correct" Trump?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Jq72wMzX.m3u8) (1:38)  _Published 2016-05-05. We're tracking Trump statements with Time's Presidential-o-Meter to see how "Presidentially Correct" he can sound._ by [Harry G. Frankfurt](https://time.com/author/harry-g-frankfurt/) ## Harry G. Frankfurt May 12, 2016 2:40 PM UTC  Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during his rally at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, W. V., on May 5, 2016. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during his rally at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, W. V., on May 5, 2016.Mark Lyons—Getty Images by [Harry G. Frankfurt](https://time.com/author/harry-g-frankfurt/) ## Harry G. Frankfurt May 12, 2016 2:40 PM UTC Donald Trump provides a robust example of someone who is, with respect to matters particularly relevant to the exercise of high political authority, neither well-informed nor especially intelligent. Moreover, even apart from these rather egregious cognitive deficiencies, much of what Trump has said during his presidential campaign has been—to put it mildly—quite unconvincing. This goes not only for his sometimes boorishly insulting characterizations of the personalities, behaviors and even the physical features of others, but also for his bizarrely self-congratulatory claims concerning his own capacities, plans and intentions. It is generally easy to identify which of Trump’s assertions are, in one way or another, unworthy of belief. What is somewhat more difficult to establish is whether his unmistakably dubious statements are deliberate lies or whether they are just bullshit. The distinction between lying and bullshitting is fairly clear. The liar asserts something which he himself believes to be false. He deliberately misrepresents what he takes to be the truth. The bullshitter, on the other hand, is not constrained by any consideration of what may or may not be true. In making his assertion, he is indifferent to whether what he is says is true or false. His goal is not to report facts. It is, rather, to shape the beliefs and attitudes of his listeners in a certain way. When Trump said that he observed thousands of people in Jersey City [celebrating](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/11/22/donald-trumps-outrageous-claim-that-thousands-of-new-jersey-muslims-celebrated-the-911-attacks/) the destruction of the twin towers by dancing in the streets, it is clear enough that he was lying. After all, there was a great deal of reliable testimony that no such thing had happened. Also, records of Trump’s earlier statements make it abundantly [clear](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/mar/02/donald-trump/trumps-absurd-claim-he-knows-nothing-about-former-/) that he lied when he recently said that he knew nothing about David Duke or about the Ku Klux Klan. Further, in discussing U.S. medical costs since Barack Obama became president, Trump [said](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/25/donald-trump/trump-obamacare-health-care-premiums-going-35-45-5/) that “we have lousy health-care, where it’s going up 35, 45, 55 percent.”The truth is that, as readily available public records show, medical premiums rose by an average of 5.8% a year since Obama took office, compared to 13.2% in the nine years prior. However, it is often uncertain whether Trump actually cares about the truth of what he says. This makes it unclear whether his assertion is a lie or merely bullshit. Since a person does not lie unless he makes an assertion that he himself takes to be false, we cannot properly say that he is lying if he actually believes what he says. For example, on May 5, 2016, Trump [tweeted](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/728297587418247168): “The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics!” This could hardly be anything other than bullshit. Does he have any real evidence about where the best tacos are, or was he just making it up? Does he really love Hispanic people? Both assertions come across—at least to me—as little more than hot air. Consider, also, his pronouncement that millions of illegal immigrants will be [deported](http://time.com/3977763/donald-trump-immigration-policy/) when he becomes president. This is probably also an instance of bullshit: surely, given the uncertainty of whether he would have both the authority and the means to do so, it’s likely (a) that Trump doesn’t actually have any settled intention to deport those millions and (b) that he doesn’t really care whether or not what he says is true. He most likely made that pronouncement merely in order to create certain expectations and impressions in the minds of his listeners. He wanted people to think of him as a person who would settle upon and carry out intentions like the one he declared to be his. On the one hand, Trump makes false assertions, which he surely knows, or knows he could easily ascertain, to be false. On the other hand, he makes statements of whose truth he is uncertain—and he is indifferent to the fact that he doesn’t actually regard them as true. In the first case, he is telling a lie. In the second case, it’s bullshit. Trump freely offers extravagant claims about his own talents and accomplishments. He maintains, for example, that he has the greatest [memory in the world](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/amid-latest-controversy-trump-claims-worlds-greatest-memory-n468621). This is farcically unalloyed bullshit. He has also made deceptive claims concerning his business experience. Some of these probably include ingredients both of bullshit and of lies. But his characterization of himself as an extraordinarily successful busi­nessman is, in any event, open to question. Thus, his biographer, Michael d’Antonio, makes the following [comment](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/29/the-myth-and-the-reality-of-donald-trumps-business-empire/): “He tried to run an airline and failed at that. He tried to run casinos and failed four times. That’s not evidence of brilliance when it comes to operating a complex business.” It is disturbing to find an important political figure who indulges freely both in lies and in bullshit. What is perhaps even more deeply disturbing is to discover an important segment of our population responding to so incorrigibly dishonest a person with such pervasively enthusiastic acceptance. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4321036/donald-trump-bs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4321036/donald-trump-bs/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Is BS, Says Expert in BS","datePublished":"2016-05-12T14:40:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:38.455Z","description":"And that makes him even more dangerous","url":"https://time.com/4321036/donald-trump-bs/","keywords":["politics","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d64d3330557613c/6988923dab6d77701e6a9961/donald-trump6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Harry G. 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