By Mark McGrath
Donald Trump has two walls. One is to keep Mexicans and Guatemalans out. The other wall is to keep people in. It is a corral.
The first rails of Trump’s corral were constructed with lies: simple and obvious: “I won the popular vote” and “I had a larger inaugural crowd than Obama.” Trump’s lies weren’t told to convince people of his delusional fantasies. They were a test to ensure that no one in his party would ever contradict him. It would have been easy for any of the 250 Republicans in Congress to step over this low rail by saying something like this: “I agree with the certified popular vote.” None did. Instead they gave excuses to the effect of this: “It’s a silly question” or “We have more important issues to discuss.”
The foundational rails of Trump’s corral were firmly in place. Trump now owned the corral occupants. He could tell more frequent and more consequential lies.
The concept of truth has no meaning for Trump. Truth is whatever people will not challenge. If he tells a lie and nobody in his base disputes it, it becomes a truth that can be repeated many times. If CNN or the New York Times are the ones to dispute his story, it doesn’t count. They are vilified as fake news and labeled an “enemy of the people.” The roar from his base at rallies confirms to him the truths: “John McCain was not a war hero” and “Elijah Cummings was a racist.”
Trump’s second set of rails were serious lies. “Climate change is a hoax.” It’s not, and our kids will suffer. “Tax cuts were for everybody.” No, the rich got most of them. Trump believes Putin was not involved in hacking the 2016 election. Of course, he was. Those are just three of his lies. There are 15,000 more, according to the Washington Post’s tally.
Trump’s third set of rails are the current democracy-destroying impeachment lies: no corruption, no collusion, no quid pro quo and a perfect call to Ukrainian President Zelenskiy. The sheer volume and vindictiveness of the current batch is a serious concern and an indication that Trump and everyone in his congressional corral will not be changing their ways. His corral is strong. The occupants are weak.
Trump’s fourth set of corral rails are the lies to come: war and violence. Voltaire (1694-1778) described our current corral situation. “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” Until Jan. 3, Trump’s lies had been just words, although many had specific references to violence and war. At his current rate of over 30 lies per day, Trump has not earned the right to be believed by the American people on any issue. His current, ever-changing statements about the drone strike that killed the Iranian general in Iraq: “unanimous approval from his staff”, “an imminent danger”, “we are a safer world” and “I had Soleimani killed to prevent a war” are absurdities and lies that put us on the brink of a nightmare scenario.
Legendary journalist Bill Moyers, in a recent CNN interview, stated he “fears for the country for the first time in his long life, because a society, a democracy, can die of too many lies. And we’re getting close to that terminal moment.”
Although Trump has millions of Americans in his various corrals, there is hope. The nation is far too polarized to think that change will come from Trump and his base. It will come from the majority of Americans who finally say: “Enough, we are a better people than this.” Every American must make their voice heard. As Edmund Burke said: “The way for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing.”
Published by Cape Cod Times, 01.22.2020, under the terms of a Creative Commons license.