The LA Times continues it’s brutal four part take-down of the Mango Misogynist under the lede — “ Why Trump lies”.
The Times begins with a frank acknowledgement that people, politicians and, yes, nations lie at times in pursuit of the desires that motivate them, but….
“In the United States, born and periodically reborn out of the repeated recognition and rejection of the age-old lie that some people are meant to take dominion over others, truth is as vital a part of the civic, social and intellectual culture as justice and liberty. Our civilization is premised on the conviction that such a thing as truth exists, that it is knowable, that it is verifiable, that it exists independently of authority or popularity and that at some point — and preferably sooner rather than later — it will prevail.”
While most Politicians will lie when backed into a corner, the Times point out that lies are a potent weapon of choice for Dear Leader, used not only in defense of his fragile sense of self, or to further his abhorrent agenda, but rather a cudgel with which to bash his opponents or as a childish deflection to evade responsibility for the lies he has been caught in.
And, if lies are the coin of Drumpf’s realm, he is buying as well as proffering.
“He has made himself the stooge, the mark, for every crazy blogger, political quack, racial theorist, foreign leader or nutcase peddling a story that he might repackage to his benefit as a tweet, an appointment, an executive order or a policy. He is a stranger to the concept of verification, the insistence on evidence and the standards of proof that apply in a courtroom or a medical lab — and that ought to prevail in the White House.”
The Times points out that the volume and snowballing concretion of Drump’s lies produce a troubling mass in the body politic, a stone with which the healthy pursuits of Democracy and Diplomacy cannot co-exist.
And they offer a cure.
“Investigate. Read. Write. Listen. Speak. Think. Be wary of those who disparage the investigators, the readers, the writers, the listeners, the speakers and the thinkers. Be suspicious of those who confuse reality with reality TV, and those who repeat falsehoods while insisting, against all evidence, that they are true. To defend freedom, demand fact.”