All politicians stretch the truth.

Trump lies. The Washington Post kept track of his lies and put it at just over 30,000 in his four years in office. One has to be fairly proficient in math to average the lie-per-day number.

But some lies matter more than others and they rarely have anything to do with budgets or accomplishments. Today, Trump lied in a self-serving manner – normal- but while doing so, needlessly lied about a phone call that hurt a grieving family tremendously.

Trump gave a speech in front of law enforcement officers in Michigan on Tuesday, an activity in which active-duty police officers shouldn’t participate. Law enforcement enforces laws – they don’t take political positions.

During the speech, Trump stated that he called Ruby Garcia’s family.

Ruby Garcia was killed by a friend who happened to be a migrant. (Someone should count how many Americans are killed by American-born citizens). Trump went on to describe the call, saying that the family said that Ruby had contagious laughter and could light up a room.

There was a problem with the heart-wrenching story. According to Ruby’s sister Mavi Garcia, not only did Trump not call any family members but no member of Trump’s campaign called to hear antidotes to humanize Ruby beyond just a name.

As reported by our friends at Meidas Touch, the family, through Mavi, also said that she was upset that Trump would use “migrants” to increase a dangerous stigma.

So why lie?

Well, yes, immigration is an important topic in the election. There is that. Additionally, as we have often said, with Trump – cruelty is often the point, and an accusation specifically directed at migrants is dangerously cruel – just ask the people in El Paso who were at Walmart that day.

But there is also the near-unforgivable fact that Trump lied while speaking to members of law enforcement, who may be less susceptible to stereotypes than most but are human whose emotions can be played upon. But when law enforcement has their emotions fired up to an even greater degree, bad things happen.  Again, why lie?

Because it’s Donald Trump, that’s why. Oh, and it’s what some people want to hear.

Watch Trump lie, then watch Ruby’s sister call Trump out for his bald-faced lie:

Here is Trump claiming in a speech today that he spoke to the family of Ruby Garcia and what they supposedly told him. Then Ruby Garcia’s sister who says Trump is lying about this entire thing and never spoke to a single family member. pic.twitter.com/kPVZ3HuGMH

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 3, 2024

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Jason Miciak can be contacted at [email protected] and on “X” at @JasonMiciak.