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Traditionally, a nominee's convention speech is the most important moment of a politician's career. It captures hearts and imaginations, as well as an enormous viewing audience.
So what should voters expect from America's biggest mouth on Thursday evening?
Nothing is certain in life but death and taxes. And in Donald Trump's case, lies.
Pam Meyer is the author of "Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception."
Pam Meyer is the author of "Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception."
(handout)
Pamela Meyer is the author of "Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception."
Is it unfair to call the Republican presidential nominee a liar before he even opens his mouth on the Cleveland stage?
Perhaps.
But consider the findings from The Washington Post's in-house fact-checker Glenn Kessler, who closely scrutinizes candidates for accuracy.
After a year of investigating Trump's claims, Kessler wrote that "there's never been a presidential candidate like Donald Trump — someone so cavalier about the facts and so unwilling to ever admit error, even in the face of overwhelming evidence."
Likewise, Politifact said that they'd fact-checked Trump 160 times.
They rated a whopping 76% of Trump's statements mostly false, false or "pants on fire," a grade for the most egregious of lies.
If voters can spot his lies, maybe they can save the country from his tyranny.
(Scott Olson/Getty Images)
So if you don't have a professional fact-checker on hand for his big speech, how can you tell when Trump's pulling the wool over your eyes?
Everyone has a tell.
Here are four tricks of the trade that Trump uses to con millions of voting Americans.
Viewers can count on Donald Trump repeating his words so they sound like they have more merit in his speech at the Republican National Convention.
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
1. Repetition
Tell the lie over and over and over. It's an art that Trump understands well. There's no better evidence than his absolutely false claim that he opposed the Iraq War in 2002.
Despite an audio recording of Trump endorsing the Iraq invasion that year, he said in a major foreign policy address he was "totally against the war in Iraq, very proudly, saying for many years that it would destabilize the Middle East."
Despite evidence that has him dead to rights supporting the war, Trump repeated the lie over and over on “Morning Joe,” on MSNBC, and on “NBC Nightly News.” The media finally gave up and moved on. Trump walked whistling out of the jail cell.
Trump is also known for covering lies with even bolder lies.
(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
2. Escalation
A surefire way to cover a lie is with an even bolder lie.
For example, when Trump says something weird like "we have the highest taxes in the world," discerning Americans are likely to scratch their heads and say, "Well, that can't be right."
But before voters, or the media, have time to process his claim, Trump's already moved on to link Ted Cruz's father to the Kennedy assassination or George W. Bush's hidden hand in the 9/11 attacks.
The billionaire is also a master obfuscator.
(Scott Olson/Getty Images)
3. Obfuscation
Trump is a master obfuscator.
Like an octopus escaping a predator, he releases a cloud of ink when called to the carpet on one of his many lies. His strategy? Obfuscate, then reference others.
"Millions agree,” “everyone knows,” “many have done it."
His strategy? Obfuscate, then reference others. "Millions agree,” “everyone knows,” “many have done it."
(George Frey/Getty Images)
When pressed on his multiple bankruptcies, Trump's defense to “ABC News Tonight” was textbook obfuscation and third-party referencing: “What I've done is I've used, brilliantly, the laws of the country. And not personally, just corporate. And if you look at people like myself that are at the highest levels of business, they use — many of them have done it, many times.”
In this case, his obfuscation is so on target, he's been able to cleverly dupe millions into believing bankruptcies are a sign of business acumen.
Donald Trump is guilty of body language incongruence.
(Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
4. Body Language Incongruence
Watch his body language betray his words. His most common giveaways?
Duping delight: the unconscious delight in getting away with a big one — a fake smile for example when claiming on 9/11 he saw thousands of Muslims cheering as the trade center collapsed.
Rapid blinking when challenged: In an interview with Bill O'Reilly, Trump was challenged about the racist and xenophobic comments that have become a feature of his campaign.
Trump's response, "I am probably the least racist person on earth," was followed up by prolonged, rapid blinking.
Trump is known for smiling while making false statements.
(Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Maybe the camera lights were too bright. Maybe Trump isn't a racist in private. But he's sure acting like one in public.
And his body language is corroborating the evidence.
Tentative shoulder shrugs while feigning certainty:
In another interview with O'Reilly, Trump is asked about his indisputably poor polling numbers among women. Rather than address the issue, Trump proceeds to insist that he is actually "doing great with women." Notice how he subtly shrugs throughout his entire response to O'Reilly's question.
In the face of such overwhelming numbers, it seems as if even Trump is having a hard time buying his own lies.
The Anglican preacher Fredrick William Robertson wrote that there are three things that deserve no mercy: hypocrisy, fraud and tyranny.
Trump's fraud and hypocrisies are easy to spot. If voters clue in to them, it may save the country from tyranny.
Meyer is the author of "Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception." Her TED Talk ranks in the top 20 of all time.