Dear America,
Why does Donald Trump lie? Does he know he is lying? Doesn't he realize that everything he says is fact checked over and over again? And if the answer to either of those last two questions is no, do we have something to fear in that he is out of touch with reality?
This president lying, usually about something trivial but involving his ego, has happened over and over again since at least the inauguration when he claimed that he had had the largest crowd for an inauguration ever while photographs comparing his inauguration and that of his immediate predecessor demonstrated that he barely had half the turnout that Barrack Obama had. You may recall that when Chuck Todd of NBC asked Kelly Ann Conway, who is Trump's political advisor, to explain the disparity between the president's claim and the photographic evidence, she made reference to "alternative facts," which Todd promptly pointed out was nonsense...that if it's a fact, there is no alternative to it. But there have been many other presidential claims of fact that have been discredited, the most recent being his self-congratulatory assertion that his presidency has been the most legislatively productive ever, that even his loyal staff have been unable to vindicate. For example, it turns out that he has signed 96 bills into law (not merely the 88 he claimed in the moment), but his claim of productivity superior to that of the former number one, Harry Truman, is a bald-faced, self-serving lie. Truman signed more than twice the number of bills that Trump did in the same length of incumbency, and in fact, Trump has signed fewer bills into law than any of his recent predecessors back to at least to the Eisenhower administration. In fact, he is not first among lessers as he continually claims himself to be, he is next to last ahead only of George W. Bush, whose presidency may well go down in history as one of the worst of all time in many ways, that being one of them. And when the office of the White House press secretary's office was asked to comment on this particular divergence from reality, it made no response...at least not to NPR, which made the inquiry, but no doubt there will be some kind of claim of "fake news" or stinting coverage of Trump's accomplishments intended to vindicate the liar-in-chief.
And it was easy enough to confirm all of this on the internet through multiple sources. It didn't even require a creative question; I just googled it, the point being that Trump's boast was virtually certain to be discredited almost instantly by a host of critics because everyone knows he lies. There was no way for him to get away with this lie, just as there almost never is. So why does he keep doing it? What does he think he gains, and more importantly, is he delusional in thinking so? Do we have a delusional president? Is he not just dumb, but dangerous as well?
The President is going to Walter Reed for a physical soon, and the doctor who administers it won't be some shill who is beholden to Trump for expansive fees paid in the past. It will be a military doctor, and I'm wondering if psychological balance will be a part of the evaluation. Presumably, the doctor will talk to Trump, and his delusions of grandeur are apparent in almost everything he says. Will the doctor hear some claim from Trump that he won't be able to help googling like I did...like millions of others did no doubt. And if he does and he discovers that The President is so far removed from reality that he actually believes these outlandish things he says...the outlandish thing he says to the medical doctor from Walter Reed, will that doctor feel compelled to report to whomever the report goes that Donald Trump is an unhinged real estate baron from New York and should never be near "the button" that could destroy us all.
Honestly, I hate to think about a President "Goody three shoes" taking power. Mike Pence may not be a liar, but he is the next thing to a holy roller, and he thinks we should all be letting God be in charge. The problem is that Pence thinks he knows what God wants us to do, and thus there are no limits to the regression that he might inflict. Still, he's not likely to go Stragelove on us. Trump? I'm not so sure.
Your friend,
Mike
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