By Don C. Reed
Although raised in a Republican household, I could never vote for Donald Trump. This is for a variety of reasons, but today I want to touch on only one:
I consider Trump an habitual liar, who will say whatever suits his needs of the moment.
Of course, everyone tells a fib or exaggeration occasionally. But Trump lies so frequently that the New York Times set up a board of reporters to keep track of them. They found Trump lied about twenty-one times a day while in office. (1)
Some say, “Oh, that’s just Trump being Trump!” But that is no excuse—we cannot overlook his constant lies.
The first time I realized I could not trust Donald Trump was when he implied Barack Obama was not an American citizen. (2). If true, (and of course it was not) that would have disqualified Obama for the Presidency.
This was no mere slip of the tongue, to be set right by an apology, but a deliberate falsehood, repeated often, over a period of five years. When it seemed he had squeezed out all the political benefits from that particular lie, he reversed his statement– trading one lie for another, saying Hillary Clinton was the author of that falsehood. (3)
Trump appears to have no shame about these frequent fabrications. Former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham recalled a moment when Trump told her, “As long as you keep repeating something, it doesn’t matter what you say.” (4)
Is that not the Nazis’ “Big Lie” technique, to just choose a falsehood and say it over and over again, until people begin to believe it?
And what is Trump’s biggest lie?
Trump pretends Biden did not win the 2020 election, though every count and re-count says he did. In the popular vote, Biden won by seven million votes. And in the electoral count? Biden’s score–306 votes, Trump– 232. (5)
Sometimes Trump uses what I what I call “lawyer lies” where the words are not in themselves false, but their impact is damaging. These can be evil. Like when he smiled and says “Where’s Paul?” (Pelosi) while knowing perfectly well that the husband of Nancy Pelosi had been attacked by a man with a hammer, who literally pounded a hole in the top of Frank’s skull. And when Trump smiled, his followers in the room began to laugh, as if he had given them permission to mock the attempted murder of a man. (6)
Trump even blamed Speaker Emerita Pelosi for the January 6 insurrection!
“I think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi,” Trump said.
“Facts First: This claim is complete fiction – an abject lie. Pelosi did not cause a mob of pro-Trump supporters… to storm the Capitol.
So many lies… Here’s one where Trump tries to steal credit for someone else’s work. “We took care of the vets….91% approval rating…”—that figure was in fact achieved by President Barack Obama…” (7)
What a contrast between him and another Republican President, Abraham Lincoln.
“Lincoln earned a reputation for honesty while working as a lawyer… “The nickname ‘honest Abe’ was not the fabrication of party publicists but a mark of the universal respect in which he was held as a lawyer of scrupulous honesty.”
Lincoln was regarded as “the very soul of integrity”. (8)
When was the last time you heard Donald Trump referred to as “Honest Don”—in anything but a joking way?
This matters; we must be able to trust our nation’s leader. If trouble comes, and the President needs our support, will we have to ask– is he telling the truth this time?
And as for President Biden? That’s easy; I know he will be straight with us: plain and blunt, honest as a man can be. We may not always agree, (can any two people agree on everything?) but he will say what he honestly believes, clear, understandable, and you can count on it.
And back to Trump?
I believe he sees us (the audience) as a manipulable object. When he speaks, he wants something from us —perhaps a contribution to his ever-mounting legal fees—and he will say whatever he thinks we want to hear.
For example, how many times has he changed his stance on abortion? The Washington Post shows him voicing five different opinions on that subject—in three days. (9)
I do not trust Donald Trump, and that’s a fact.
If he told me what time it was, I would look at my watch.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_or_misleading_statements_by_Donald_Trump
2. https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/politics/donald-trump-birther/index.html
5. https://apnews.com/article/trump-2020-election-lies-debunked-4fc26546b07962fdbf9d66e739fbb50d
6. https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/politics/fact-check-trump-january-6/index.html
7. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/?itid=lk_inline_manual_11
8. Fact check: Joe Biden legally won presidential election, despite persistent contrary claims