Monday, September 4, 2017

Litany of Lies

   What can this president do to regain the trust of the American people?
   For starters, he can get off his high horse and stop lying. As part of that, he can stop acting like he's a king.
   If he thinks or expects everyone in Congress to kneel, kiss his ring and be grateful for the privilege of doing it, he's got another think coming.
   Saying things like, "Because I'm the president and you're not," is no way to build confidence from the people, nor to inspire a belief in his competence to lead the nation as trouble looms, both economically and internationally.
   This is America, where nobody can walk all over you unless you lie down and let 'em.
   Increasingly, truth monitors throughout America and around the world are documenting this president's litany of lies. But rather than admit a mistake or correct an error, this guy only doubles down in his attacks on those who call him out.
   But why are we surprised? This has been a pattern in his behavior for decades.
   In his previous lives as a real estate developer, casino mogul and marketer of an artificially famous name, his manipulation of truth, weaseling out of contracts and serial bankruptcies -- after stuffing his own wallet before a project goes belly up -- have all been noted by bemused observers who were not directly affected by the many business failures.
   To be clear, he has never declared personal bankruptcy, though he has come close as various firms with his name on them have gone under, along with many subcontractors who were not paid for work done -- most on the excuse that they did not do a good enough job. That's the same excuse he used for firing FBI Director James Comey, and it demonstrated an arbitrary decision, at best.
   Such behavior may have been watched with bemusement by others in the business world, and perhaps with a bit of jealousy that he was getting away with such shenanigans while others suffered legal and financial injury.
   But while such behavior may have been, and often is, tolerated in the private sector, government policy decisions that involve the entire nation is a different matter.
   This president, however, remains locked in to a private sector world mindset of his own, which treats government and the public as adjuncts, subsidiary to the wishes of a self-designated Supreme Leader who demands absolute obsequious loyalty to he Who Must Be Obeyed, the Master of All he Surveys (or so he thinks).
   Any who disagree or point to contradictory evidence are by his arbitrary definition weak, failing, fake and any other negative adjective that comes to mind at the moment of defensive denial and detraction.
   And that too is in itself a set of lies.
   All of which makes it easy to collect and document the pace of prevarification, which has averaged nearly six lies every day since Inauguration Day, last January 20.
   Yet the beatdown goes on.
   There are no so blind as those who will not see, and none so deaf as those who will not hear.
   Worse, there are none so self-centered as those who will not acknowledge the pain and suffering of those left hungry, hurt and homeless by a catastrophic storm like Hurricane Harvey.
   It took several days of reminders before the current occupant of the Oval Office made a second trip to Texas and met directly with families in hard-hit areas, rather than a brief contact with local, state and federal officials far from the most severely flooded region.
   Meanwhile, be not surprised if he relegates storm relief to a secondary position behind his other demands for tax cuts for the wealthy, approval of a poorly written health care reform plan, delay in a federal debt limit increase until a budget is submitted, and until Mexico agrees to pay for a Grande Wall, after he cancels a program that helps undocumented youths gain legal residency, and punishes allies for doing business with American consumers.
   
   What's that? You want logical behavior from this guy? In his native Brooklyn vernacular, Fuhgeddabowdit.

No comments:

Post a Comment