“No legacy is as rich as honesty.” – William Shakespeare
“His physical health and stamina are extraordinary.”- Donald Trump on Donald Trump
The United States isn’t. It’s a divided nation and it’s wreaking havoc on the body politic, friendships and family relationships.
This division isn’t between Republicans and Democrats or liberals and conservatives. It’s between Trump supporters and everyone else. This is one of those rare times in American politics where party and ideology are completely subservient to personality.
Even the most basic values can’t be taken for granted with this president. Take, for example, truth. Yes, it still matters; it’s so important that it’s a felony to lie under oath. Without truth there is no trust.
And yet 35-38 percent of the electorate choose to brush aside this truth – that the president is a chronic pathological liar. Pathological lying, according to the Psychology Dictionary, is a “continued, compulsive propensity to tell lies out of proportion to any obvious benefit, other than an internal need to be seen in a positive light.” In Donald’s case, he lies to boost himself and denigrate anyone he views as a competitor or who disagrees with him.
Above all else, he must be seen as a winner. And for him, it’s a zero sum game. His competitors must be losers while he must be seen as the best.
He had to have the biggest crowds (in Arizona he claimed that 15,000 attended a recent event at a venue that, according to the Phoenix fire department held 4,200). He had to attend the best school (it isn’t) and graduate at the top of his class (he didn’t). He has to know the best words (only when compared to a third-grader). He had to win with the biggest landslide since the 80s (he didn’t). Voter fraud cost him the popular vote (nope). The tax cut had to be the biggest in U.S. history (it wasn’t). The new tax law would cost him a fortune (he’ll make a bundle).
According to fact checkers, his State of the Union speech to Congress and the American people contained 55 lies.
That his lies are easily documented, using video, independent sources and his own words, doesn’t matter. His life is based on feeding his ego and if that requires lying, so be it. A pundit put it this way: “Trump is the guy who visits you in the hospital to tell you what a bad day he’s having.” Whether the matter is important or inconsequential, it must always be about him.
His lying is so blatant, his demand for attention so constant, that it’s impossible for his supporters to ignore. And they don’t. Instead, they rationalize and make a conscience decision to suspend judgment. When pollsters ask how they feel about his lying, the response back is they don’t care. While they wish he wouldn’t tweet, talk, bloviate or “exaggerate” so much, they say “it doesn’t matter because he’s getting things done.”
But lying does matter. These same people wouldn’t tolerate it with their spouse, kids, business associates, friends or politicians from the other party. True, while no policy consequences result from lying about things like crowd size, policies that are built on lies are highly impactful and damaging.
Trump’s campaign was built on the lie that immigrants are dangerous; they’re murderers and rapists and “present a significant threat to national security and public safety.” He would have been more truthful had he said, “watch out for those native-born Americans” since, according to the conservative Cato Institute, they have much higher crime rates per capita than immigrants, legal or not. Money, billions of dollars worth, would be better spent solving Flint’s water problem and helping Puerto Rico recover from Irma rather than building the wall.
Since the election, there has been a 20 percent increase in hate crimes against immigrants nationwide. In some locales, the incidence is much higher. If that’s not an intended consequence, it’s certainly a predictable one.
Trump stated that our southwest border was “wide open,” allowing illegals to flow freely into the country. That’s a lie. The Department of Homeland Security stated that illegal immigration was lower in 2016 than at the end of the recession and had been steadily declining before Trump was elected. So what’s the purpose? It’s to frighten; to give voters a boogieman, someone to blame for their problems which, as he said, only he can solve.
Lies have consequences. No one is perfect but when the president of the United States purposely lies, repeats the lies, never apologizes or admits he’s wrong, and calls out news organizations and journalists presenting different documented information as “fake news” and “enemies of the people,” we’re in trouble.
And so is he. Aside from the fact that he cannot win reelection with 35-38% of the vote (assuming he lasts that long), the remaining percentage believe Trump is dishonest and lies routinely (poll by USA Today). People don’t trust liars and won’t vote for them. He has his base, but that’s all he has.
Sooner or later, Trump’s pathological lying will be his undoing.
The bad news is that we have a president of the United States who’s completely indifferent to the truth.
The good news is that the majority of Americans are not.
Marsha Shearer is a Villager and a frequent contributor to Villages-News.com.
