Tape Delay

   "I did not make, and I do not have, any such recordings." -- President Trump, giving himself dispensation for spreading the idea that his talk with former FBI Director James Comey had been tape recorded during an Oval Office meeting.

   So why wait six weeks before saying so, unless you wanted to extend the threat for maximum effect?
   Conclusion: You were milking a lie. There never were any recordings and you knew it all along. Just as you knew there was no evidence to support your claims that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. and therefore was not eligible to be president.
   Perhaps even this latest pronouncement is a prevarication. It could well be that you, personally, did not make any recordings, and that you, personally, do not have recordings. That does not mean they don't exist. The conversation may have been taped by others, and these others may still have the recordings. Or they did exist but have been destroyed so you could "honestly" say you don't have them.

   This episode is yet another in a long series of claims, assertions, suggestions, hints and accusations that you have made over the years, only to deny you ever made them or to blame what you call the "fake media" for printing exactly what you said.
   Advice from a longtime editor: If you don't want to see it in print, don't say it.
   Conversely, perhaps you do want to see it in print, broadcast news and social media, because it's part of your strategy to attract attention to yourself and distract the public from other issues.
   Warning: Cable news channels work 24/7 and have plenty of time to show every side of major issues, both your assertions, the background and the truth. Moreover, the news business has changed so that print media carry far more detail than ever, even as TV and social media provide brief headlines.

   Or as our resident cynic Pug Mahoney often says, "How dumb do they think we are?" And his own immediate answer is, "Very."
   And in this, as with so many other things, you would be wrong. The American people are not dumb. Their representatives in journalism are not dumb. Moreover, they resent being treated as if they are.