Donald Trump has been the President of the U.S. for less than 18 months, but his behavior and public statements already have an adverse impact on one important aspact of the American government and society.\u00a0 His frequent outright lies, on almost every subject under the sun, have desensitized people, other government leaders, and the media so that such outright lies are no longer that important as an assessment of whether a political leader should be criticized, or should even remain in office.\u00a0 It is as though they have been vaccinated against being affected by these lies.\u00a0 This article discusses some examples and implications.
\n
\nEssentially on a daily basis on every topic, ranging from personal to national to international issues, Trump has repeatedly lied, even on purely factual issues not subject to any interpretation.\u00a0 Furthermore, his lies have often been immediately pointed out by various fact checkers.\u00a0 Yet, negative consequences for him have been drastically less than comparable actions for other political leaders in the past.<\/p>\n
Samples of Trump’s Lies:\u00a0 <\/strong>Trump’s lies are too numerous to be listed in this article.\u00a0 Here are two references:<\/p>\n We illustrate with some examples:<\/p>\n Assessment and Implications:\u00a0 <\/strong>Trump has lied publicly probably more than the sum of lies of all the previous 45 presidents.\u00a0 Furthermore, on many lies, he kept repeating the same lies on several subsequent occasions even though various fact checkers had already pointed out his lies.\u00a0 And many of his lies are on pure facts, and not subject to any interpretation.\u00a0 So it seems that speaking the truth is of no importance to Trump.\u00a0 He lies to try to cover his own bad behaviors, including potentially illegal behaviors, to gain a financial advantage or a political advantage, to try to change history, especially the part of history related to him.\u00a0 He has exhibited complete contempt for civil behavior or the rule of law.\u00a0 He is not concerned about the welfare of other people, except himself, his family, and his empire.<\/p>\n Normally, such behavior would lose the respects of others, and the political support for a politician.\u00a0 However, unfortunately, there are still a very large number of people in the U.S., especially Republicans and Evangelical Christians, who continue to voice strong support for him.\u00a0 This raises the serious concern about the type of country and society that the U.S. has become.<\/p>\n Take for example, infidelity.\u00a0 More than half a century ago, we had many presidents who had extra-marital affairs, including Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson.\u00a0 The morality in those times was to accept those deeds and let those deeds lied buried.\u00a0 However, starting in the late 1960s and 1970s with the Vietnam War movement, Watergate, and women’s liberation movement that led to the first resignation of a sitting president, an awakening of morality, and feminism, our society was no longer so forgiven for a politician engaging in extra-marital affairs.\u00a0 This became clear in 1987 with the downfall of Gary Hart, who was way ahead in the polls within both the Democratic Party and in competition with the Republican Party.\u00a0 He was projected to win easily the Democratic presidential primary over Walter Mondale and other nominees, and to win easily the presidential election over the Republican presidential nominee George H. W. Bush.\u00a0 But that was before his affair with Donna Rice on the yacht Monkey Business became public. [1]\u00a0 In 1987, the public was no longer so forgiven for a man running for the office of the president of the U.S. to engage in an open extra-marital affair.<\/p>\n During the last 30 years, that kind of mentality has remained dominant in the American conscience and in the American political arena.\u00a0 That is why so many political candidates have dropped to the wayside once frequent lyings and infidelity became public.\u00a0 Unfortunately, that may be changing with Donald Trump.\u00a0 He has lied so frequently and behaved so badly that the American public has become desensitized, so that such behavior doesn’t seem to turn people away from supporting him.\u00a0 In other words, the American standard for assessing political leaders has changed for the worst.\u00a0 This may be the most important and dangerous legacy of Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n