To all of you decrying the "fake news" and false reporting.

[homersapien 11,357]

How can you criticize the press when it's Trump who is doing the lying?

It's gotten to the point where he's starting to be ignored.

Trump shock factor fading in Washington

Lawmakers are learning to shrug off President Donald Trump’s penchant for embracing and repeating incorrect information — and not apologizing for it — even as his comments rattle the rest of the world.

In Washington, where politicians and their spokespeople often stonewall and mislead, Trump's unconventional information flow once unnerved Capitol Hill leadership, rank-and-file legislators, and even some of the most jaundiced watchers of his campaign. He has repeatedly talked about millions of fraudulent votes and shared questionable tales of voter fraud. He and his aides have made false statements about his inauguration crowd size. He has incorrectly stated the size of his Electoral College victory, and the nation's murder rate, among others, with the presidential seal backing him up.

Now, when Trump makes public declarations that aren't true or clash with what his Cabinet secretaries say, Republicans barely look up, aides and members say. Even some Democrats are now trying to assess if pointing out a misstatement will get any traction.

"The president is in danger of people on Capitol Hill simply tuning him out because of the flood of misinformation that comes out of the White House," said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat.

Trent Lott, the Republican former majority leader of the Senate who keeps in close contact with members, said people are "learning to disregard more of the things he says and tweets."

His comments still send shockwaves across the globe. For example, Swedish officials rushed to correct the record when Trump suggested during a Florida rally last weekend that an immigrant-related terrorist attack had happened in Sweden the night before. Days later, officials including Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven were still fixated on the comment, with Lofven mocking Trump’s loose grasp on statistics.

Trump also appeared to muck up a trip his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, and his homeland security secretary, John Kelly, took to Mexico to try to repair relations by calling the U.S. deportation plans a “military operation.” Kelly, standing by Mexican officials later in the day, emphatically stated “No — repeat — no use of military force in immigration operations. None.”

But in Washington, most everyone shrugged. GOP aides on Capitol Hill shook their heads at the "military operation" and Sweden comments, with their bosses privately ranging from laughing it off to nonchalant bemusement to frustration over another statement of questionable origin, according to several of them. "What are you supposed to say? Nothing happened in Sweden," one senior GOP aide said.

Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, said past administrations have been quite careful to present a consistent message because they know the president's words greatly matter. "This is not that presidency,” Rozell said. “Now, we wonder: ‘Who do we take seriously? Who speaks for the administration?’ We just have to ask those questions every time now."

But GOP lawmakers are starting to get desensitized, even if they don't like his misstatements. Last week, after saying he was not a fan of the "daily tweets" and the president's off-message fights, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he didn't expect Trump to listen. At an overseas conference last week, Sen. John McCain helpfully encouraged foreign officials to simply follow the president's actions because he said Trump often contradicts himself.

Republicans now prepare for questions with non-answers to deflect and move on. They back-channel with top Trump aides who they trust. For example, they were assuaged soon after his conflicting comments on the timing of repealing the Affordable Care Act that the administration's plan of getting it done this year hasn't changed. After some of his Twitter posts, they have been reassured that it would die down -- or that it didn't matter. White House aides have even shrugged off some of his comments to them, several GOP Capitol Hill sources say.

"He says some crazy s*** sometimes," one senior GOP aide said. "We are getting used to handling it."........

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-shock-factor-fading-washington-235370