Anyone with even the faintest knowledge of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and his newly assembled administration can conceive the absurd level of controversy provoked by the new world leader. From outright remarks of racism, sexism, islamophobia, xenophobia, and homophobia without even a hint of subtlety, countless people across the world are appalled at the revolting actions put in place by the Trump administration.
In fact, Trump is “the only President to hold a net-negative rating this early in his tenure.” With his rate of disapproval at a shocking 53% only two weeks into his presidency, one might wonder (apart from the thousands of painfully obvious reasons) why it is so difficult to respect a Trump presidency. One of these reasons is, ironically enough, what Trump continuously deplored his former opponent Hillary Clinton for– incessant lies upon lies upon lies.
From White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s ridiculous white lie stating that Trump’s inauguration audience “was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration—period—both in person and around the globe,” to Donald Trump lying about preparing his own inaugural address and even going as far as staging a picture, to more serious lies regarding the impending future of foreign policy– the amount of dishonesty emanating from a so-called leader of the American people seems to have the adverse effect on the vulnerable American populous.
Some of the more detrimental lies include the debunked claim that Syrian Christian refugees have an enormously more difficult time coming to the United States, the debunked claim that Donald Trump “never claimed” the newly proposed immigration ban targeted muslims, the debunked claim that the muslim ban applied to countries that have produced U.S. attacking terrorists in the past, the debunked claim that three to five million unauthorized immigrants voted for Clinton and resulted in her winning the popular vote, the debunked claim that the canceled meeting between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto was a mutual agreement, amongst countless others.
Another case, the most recent, regards Kellyanne Conway defending Trump’s immigration ban by discussing a brutal terrorist attack in Bowling Green, Kentucky. One of which, that has been confirmed to have never taken place. There has never been any documented terrorist attack in Bowling Green, Kentucky, by any muslim immigrants or any other demographic. Conway fabricated an instance of terrorism in order to bolster Trump’s dangerous political agenda without even a small sense of remorse, and apparently without even a small sense of concern for the inevitable fact-checking.
Well, one might easily argue that this behavior is common in politics and that it is no issue to be overly-concerned about. However, this is (like much of what Trump has said throughout his presidency) entirely untrue. Donald Trump attained the title of U.S. President at a time of incredibly high political tension. He wove his web of lies in order to capture all those particularly vulnerable– including the white working class. Donald Trump put up a facade to appeal to this demographic in coal country and the industrial Mid-West by promising grandeur economic success for those who have suffered the decline of coal jobs and factory jobs due to a market for natural gases and automation. This, while simultaneously declaring the media as lie-ridden and filled with partisan-bias, was a move that could only be deemed as utterly manipulative.
“Trump’s candidacy was premised on upending a dishonest establishment that has rigged American political and economic life, so many of his loyalists are willing to overlook his lies, as long as he rankles the powerful. It gives him not only license, but incentive to spin fantasy, because no one expects him to tell the truth. They believe they’re getting lied to constantly, so if their hero tells lies in order to strike back, they don’t care,” said Republican strategist Rob Stutzman.
For those that for some reason cannot find another reason to detest the handling of the Trump administration, consider this: a president that is willing to lie about issues ranging from crowd sizes to terrorist attacks and the nature of his own immigration policies is not in the least bit concerned about the well-being of the American people.
A president that, while only being two weeks into his appointment, has proved time and time again to have abused the trust of an entire nation he has sworn to represent is not putting the best interest of the people at heart. A figure that symbolizes the representation of everyone, has come to represent no one.
