What Zakaria didn’t do was apologize, and instead went back to the well for more examples from Trump’s history, using “bullshit” four more times in addition to calling the nominee out for “BS” another six times.
“I was asked by CNN to make one more case where Donald Trump had said something demonstrably false and then explained it away with a caustic tweet and an indignant interview,” Zakaria said. “I replied that there was a pattern here and there is a term for a person who did this kind of thing — a bullshit artist. I was not using that label casually, and in case you have sensitive ears, I’m going to use it a few more times.”And with that he was off, but not before explaining the popular meaning of the word “bullshit” by referring to Harry Frankfurt’s classic essay: “On Bullshit.”
Zakaira noted Trump’s assertion that he had never meant Russian leader Vladimir Putin, only to show clips of Trump talking about knowing him — which Zakaria labeled as “bullshit.”
Among other examples, the CNN host also took Trump to task for saying he will win solidly Democratic states this election but without revealing how exactly he would do it.
“That’s a head-scratcher,” Zakaria said. “Won’t we notice when he campaigns in those states? Or will it be so secret that even the voters won’t be told? Of course, it’s really just BS.”
“Harry Frankfurt concluded that liars and truth-tellers are acutely aware of facts and truth,” he continued. “The BS artist, however, has lost all connection with reality. ‘By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.'”
