End-of-life counseling finally finds coverage

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., talks during a 2014 subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill. Six years ago, Blumenauer's proposal for Medicare to cover end-of-life counseling touched off a political uproar.

(Cliff Owen/Associated Press)

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) is known more for his bow tie than for a fiery Twitter presence. But on Monday, the Portland representative took to Twitter to share his thoughts about President Donald Trump's first few days in office.

"In first 24 hrs @POTUS makes clear ego, not #facts or #honesty, will be guiding principle for him & his administration," wrote Blumenauer, using the hashtag "LiarInChief."

Blumenauer's 35 tweets were a response to the false claims by Trump and his press secretary, Sean Spicer, about the size of the crowds that attended Trump's inauguration. Trump estimated that there were 1 or 1.5 million people in the crowd, while Spicer said the crowd was "the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration."

Photographs of the event and numbers from the local agencies showed neither of these things were true.

In first 24 hrs @POTUS makes clear ego, not #facts or #honesty, will be guiding principle for him & his administration. #LiarInChief (1/35) — Earl Blumenauer (@repblumenauer) January 23, 2017

"Clearly, @POTUS @realdonaldtrump has problem with the truth," wrote Blumenauer. "In fact, he lies."

"This is NOT normal & all of us especially media need to continue to call these #alternativefacts what they are... LIES!" he continued.

"Alternative facts" is a phrase Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway used during Sunday's "Meet the Press" when describing what Spicer said during his press conference the day before.

Blumenauer went on to debunk several other claims Trump has made in his first few days in office.

"@POTUS aka #LiarInChief says it stopped raining when he started speaking. FALSE," wrote Blumenauer. "TRUTH: Cameras showed it began raining right when he started speaking."

Blumenauer ended his thread with a series of quotes from George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., Virginia Woolf, Michael Jackson and Adrienne Rich and others about the importance of honesty.

Abraham Lincoln: “No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.” (35/35) — Earl Blumenauer (@repblumenauer) January 23, 2017

-- Lizzy Acker

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lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker