Luke Zimmermann
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Donald Trump says Urban Meyer 'said such nice things about him', but there's no evidence he did
Luke Zimmermann via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
The presidential candidate cites praise from the Ohio State football coach, but there's no record he said anything publicly to that effect.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made an appearance in Central Ohio Tuesday morning, hours before Super Tuesday results begin rolling in nationwide.
"Well, you know, I love Ohio. I have a long history with Ohio. Because you probably read, I worked in Ohio when I was young. On a job. And it was really my first successful job," Trump began his appearance at Port Columbus International Airport with his trademark bravado.
In a surprise to no one that's been following his campaign, Trump shortly there after shifted the topic to the Ohio State football team.
"First of all. You have a great coach. How about Urban Meyer? How about Urban Meyer? And a great football team and you're going to have a great season. So you're going to have a good time," Trump began in his usual cadence.
"And he's somebody that said such nice things about me. And I don't know if he endorsed me or not but he said awfully nice things about me. I'm going to have to meet him, I think. Right? But he's an amazing guy," Trump added.
"When you think you come from one school and you have such success and then you come to Ohio State and you have some success. You just don't see that. That's called talent. That's what we need in our country. We need talent."
The thing is, there's no real evidence Meyer's ever said anything positive about Trump. At least not publicly.
When asked about his role in campaign season by The Toledo Blade's Dave Briggs, Meyer played it close to the vest.
"No, my job description is very clear and that’s to coach Ohio State football and the focus is on 17 to 18 to 22-year-olds," Meyer told Briggs. "I have strong beliefs, but I’m not going to share that with you guys. I don’t think that’s appropriate."
Trump has a history of claiming events happened that upon further inspection didn't have a lot of substance to them.
The website Politifact rated 76 percent of Trump's statements as varying degrees of false.
In 2013, Trump took a shot at former "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart tweeting the following:
If Jon Stewart is so above it all & legit, why did he change his name from Jonathan Leibowitz? He should be proud of his heritage!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2013
Two years later, Trump denied having tweeted the former despite it having not been deleted:
All the haters and losers must admit that, unlike others, I never attacked dopey Jon Stewart for his phony last name. Would never do that!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2015
According to the comedian John Oliver, Trump repeatedly claimed having turned down an invitation to appear on his program "Last Week Tonight", but Oliver was unable to turn up any evidence that any of his employees or intermediaries had ever been in contact with Trump about a possible appearance on the late night program.
A request for comment from the Trump campaign was not returned at the time of this article's publication.
Regardless of whether Trump's anecdote about the Ohio State football was accurate or not, it seems unlikely that Meyer will be endorsing he, Ohio governor John Kasich, or any presidential candidate now or any time in the future.
Continue reading...
Luke Zimmermann via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here

The presidential candidate cites praise from the Ohio State football coach, but there's no record he said anything publicly to that effect.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made an appearance in Central Ohio Tuesday morning, hours before Super Tuesday results begin rolling in nationwide.
"Well, you know, I love Ohio. I have a long history with Ohio. Because you probably read, I worked in Ohio when I was young. On a job. And it was really my first successful job," Trump began his appearance at Port Columbus International Airport with his trademark bravado.
In a surprise to no one that's been following his campaign, Trump shortly there after shifted the topic to the Ohio State football team.
"First of all. You have a great coach. How about Urban Meyer? How about Urban Meyer? And a great football team and you're going to have a great season. So you're going to have a good time," Trump began in his usual cadence.
"And he's somebody that said such nice things about me. And I don't know if he endorsed me or not but he said awfully nice things about me. I'm going to have to meet him, I think. Right? But he's an amazing guy," Trump added.
"When you think you come from one school and you have such success and then you come to Ohio State and you have some success. You just don't see that. That's called talent. That's what we need in our country. We need talent."
The thing is, there's no real evidence Meyer's ever said anything positive about Trump. At least not publicly.
When asked about his role in campaign season by The Toledo Blade's Dave Briggs, Meyer played it close to the vest.
"No, my job description is very clear and that’s to coach Ohio State football and the focus is on 17 to 18 to 22-year-olds," Meyer told Briggs. "I have strong beliefs, but I’m not going to share that with you guys. I don’t think that’s appropriate."
Trump has a history of claiming events happened that upon further inspection didn't have a lot of substance to them.
The website Politifact rated 76 percent of Trump's statements as varying degrees of false.
In 2013, Trump took a shot at former "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart tweeting the following:
If Jon Stewart is so above it all & legit, why did he change his name from Jonathan Leibowitz? He should be proud of his heritage!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2013
Two years later, Trump denied having tweeted the former despite it having not been deleted:
All the haters and losers must admit that, unlike others, I never attacked dopey Jon Stewart for his phony last name. Would never do that!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2015
According to the comedian John Oliver, Trump repeatedly claimed having turned down an invitation to appear on his program "Last Week Tonight", but Oliver was unable to turn up any evidence that any of his employees or intermediaries had ever been in contact with Trump about a possible appearance on the late night program.
A request for comment from the Trump campaign was not returned at the time of this article's publication.
Regardless of whether Trump's anecdote about the Ohio State football was accurate or not, it seems unlikely that Meyer will be endorsing he, Ohio governor John Kasich, or any presidential candidate now or any time in the future.
Continue reading...