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Notes -
That would be a lie because he didn't say that he has beaten his wife. It would not be a lie if it was "I have beaten my wife (in a video game)". But yeah, I would agree that at this level of "obscuration of the truth" there is little difference in the consequences between simply lying and being grossly misleading. Though we should not completely disregard the possibility that Joe actually thinks that Trump meant a real bloodbath (cf. dog whistling).
Here is an excerpt of what he said:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/joe-scarborough-spots-trump-line-115751035.html
This actually sounds like pretty genuine TDS. This is another thing I find amusing. The only people who seem to hear "dog whistles" are the ones who aren't supposed to her them.
The people who aren't supposed to hear dog whistles, according to the dog whistle theory, are the moderates who vote for the dog whistler. The opponents don't factor in, they weren't about to vote for you anyway.
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