A Trump Administration claim that the president's press secretary merely gave "alternative facts" in ripping the media's claim that Friday's inauguration crowd was smaller than President Barack Obama's was "a piece of Orwellian newspeak," former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson says.
"Most people believe there is truth and there are lies. 'Alternative facts' are lies," Abramson wrote in a column published Monday in London's Guardian newspaper.
"When you've spent your career being scrupulous about facts, it's hard to adjust to life in Trump's post-truth America."
Abramson also hit out at Trump's claims in his inaugural speech that he will put a stop to the "American carnage" occurring throughout the nation.
"The 'American carnage' President Trump described doesn't comport with the American reality. We do not live in a country that is economically shattered and crime-infested. Crime rates are historically low and there has been record job growth over the last eight years," she said.
"His cry of 'America First' evokes Charles Lindbergh's isolationist and anti-Semitic poison, not the inclusive and empathetic beliefs shared by most Americans."
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