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Here’s 520 Hours of Trump Interviews So You Can Fact-Check the President

A blusterous archive.
Donald Trump in 2009. Screengrab: The Internet Archive

Donald Trump is about to be President of the United States, and he says a lot of things every day. He says them on TV, and he says them on Twitter, and some of them are true and some are lies. Some things that he says contradict other things that he's said, but that doesn't seem to bother him much. And it's going to go on like this for at least four years.

I feel stressed out just writing that.

Of course reporters and other media types have a job to do and will (hopefully) relentlessly chase the facts, if only to keep their own view of things firmly grounded. But for everybody else, I think we also have a responsibility to pay attention now so that we can explain the Trump era to future kids in a way that's meaningful to them.

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And so, to help with that, the good folks at the Internet Archive have created a growing repository of more than 520 hours of Donald Trump TV interviews and appearances, from 2009 to now. The archive of video is searchable, and comes with a video editor for making supercuts. Go nuts.

Read More: The Entire Internet Will Be Archived In Canada to Protect It From Trump

The purpose of the Trump trove, according to a press release sent via email, is "to provide assistance for those tracking Trump's evolving statements on public policy issues." This is probably going to be very helpful as every indication shows that Donald Trump has no problem saying one thing on TV, and then saying something completely contradictory, also on TV, but at a later date.

But it's also an interesting collection for another reason. Donald Trump has spent the last few decades crafting his persona in full view of the public. Documentarian Errol Morris described his behaviour as being like "masturbating in public," which is neither here nor there, but one gets the sense that Trump is auditioning for the role of himself every time he's on camera. The man with no centre made himself into a person on television.

And now you can watch it all.

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