Lie Of The Day (June 9, 2018)

"I would say." Donald Trump contended at his news conference following the G7 summit, "that the level of relationship is a 10. We have a great relationship. Angela and Emmanuel and Justin. I would say the relationship is a 10."

Following meetings at the White House in late April

President Trump and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany made no attempt on Friday to hide their disagreements over the future of the Iran nuclear deal and trade relations between the United States and Europe after a day of White House meetings that appeared to have produced no breakthroughs on major disputes.

Mr. Trump and Ms. Merkel, who have had a chilly relationship from the start, steered away from the kind of awkward confrontations that have characterized past meetings, going out of their way to compliment each other and accentuate areas of agreement. But Mr. Trump pressed his complaint that the trade relationship between the United States and Europe was “unfair,” and Ms. Merkel made clear that the president had not made the commitment she was seeking — permanently exempting the European Union from the steel and aluminum tariffs he imposed in March.

Mr. Trump congratulated Ms. Merkel for her recent election victory and praised her leadership in helping pressure North Korea to come to the table for talks on dismantling its nuclear program, but he also blasted what he called an unfair trade disparity between the United States and Germany — making particular mention of a $50 billion trade deficit in automobile parts — and dwelled once more on his frequent complaint that Germany does not contribute enough financially to NATO.

In the run-up to the G7 conference in Canada, things got worse. The President said he would impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and the European Union and they have vowed to retaliate.Trump  recommended that Russia be admitted to the G7 because "we have a world to run," a reminder to the allies that Trump has far less regard for them than he has for Moscow. He interrupted a breakfast meeting of the conference's gender equality advisory council by showing up late, at which time "fellow G7 leaders stared at Trump as he slowly made his way to his seat, which was across the table from Trudeau and next to International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde."

In the very same response in which he gave a rating of 10 to relations between the USA and those allies, Trump charged

the European Union is brutal to the United States. They don’t — and they understand that. They know it. When I’m telling them, they’re smiling at me. You know, it’s like the gig is up. It’s like the gig is up. They’re not trying to — there’s nothing they can say. They can’t believe they got away with it.

If Donald Trump believes that adds up to a "10," he is an even worse mathematician than he is an historian. But rest assured that he realizes the relationship is closer to a 1 than to a 10, which provided a great opportunity for yet another brazen lie by the President of the United States of America.

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