Oh, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive. -- Sir Walter Scott
A successful liar needs a good memory. -- Pug Mahoney
The barrage of news reports documenting the questionable, if not unethical or illegal doings of many appointees to the new government administration in Washington can be depressing on any given day.
But on the good side, it's reassuring to know that the watchdog press is on the job, raking through the muck and bringing to light the perpetrators of the political pillaging of what is at root a democratic society.
The trick now is to avoid the distracting tactics of the mucker in chief and stay focused on the underlying really bad stuff even as they report the superficial semi-bad stuff meant to distract attention and pass blame onto to someone else.
A bigger danger, of course, would be if the mucker in chief tries to muzzle the media or otherwise control it. This is what demagogues and incipient dictators do as they push for full control of everything.
History is full of examples of this kind of strategy. Even now, there are reports of this and other actions happening in other countries. Argentina, for example, has just seen its legislature dismantled by that nation's highest court.
Meanwhile, America's chief executive is embracing the president of Egypt, praising him for his governing tactics in suppressing dissent. The Whine House is also building closer relationships with China. And there are continuing reports of his buddy-buddy talk about the president of Russia.
We know all this because of a free press, which exposes, documents and reports the details of threats to the American way of life.
Who, then, should we believe? An individual person who believes that when you're a celebrity you can do anything, and has a long record of using half-truths, misleading comments and downright lies to achieve an objective, or a multitude of independent journalists who take pride in their responsibility to speak truth to power?
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