We all agree that honesty is an admirable quality in an individual. Unfortunately, power often trumps the truth, and dictators are made by persistent suppression of the truth.
President Donald Trump told his first lie as president when he claimed the number of people at his inauguration surpassed all others. The falsehood was later explained by Kellyanne Conway’s incredible oxymoron as “alternative facts.”
The White House has been utilizing them ever since. And who can forget Rudy Giuliani’s, “truth isn’t truth,” statement when defending why Trump shouldn’t testify.
That little phrase perfectly captured Trump’s ideology.
I believe truth eventually prevails, but if excessively prolonged, a dictator is born in the interim.
According to the Fact Checkers database, Trump has made false or misleading claims 20,000 times as of July 2020. That’s an average of 23 lies a day to the American public.
Now that’s extreme audacity and what it takes to be a dictator.
Daily, I’m amazed at how so many Oklahomans are not alarmed by this and even find ways to defend the president.
The defense usually is “that’s fake news,” or even worse, admitting to the falsehoods, but stating, “He’s good for the economy.”
Or putting it another way, “I don’t care if he’s a liar, as long as he puts money in my pocket.”
Perhaps now the question is not whether people know about Trump’s character, but do they care.
Kenneth Calabrese, Tulsa
Letters to the editor are encouraged. Send letters to letters@tulsaworld.com.
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.