When a politician lies one or two or three times, you might be startled. Then, if he keeps lying, you shrug. You’re accustomed to a “new normal.” Yeah, that’s what he does.
Even Hillary supporters will concede that she has trouble with the truth. They’ll “take it as read,” as the British say. Yeah, yeah, we know, but what about abortion, okay? A woman’s right to choose! That sort of thing.
And DJT? No one expresses outrage or even irritation anymore at Trump’s lies — because they are simply taken as read. Trump says that Cruz’s dad was in on the Kennedy assassination? Ho hum. That’s just Donald being Donald.
In an interview yesterday, Trump talked about the location of the Republican convention. “I wanted it to be here. And they had lots of choices. I wanted it to be in Ohio. I recommended Ohio.”
The Republicans’ decision to hold their convention in Cleveland was announced in July 2014. Did Trump determine or influence the decision?
Listen: In 2000, Republicans marveled at the Democratic nominee, Al Gore. They (we) marveled that Gore would lie about big things and small, about uncheckable things and checkable, about the political and the apolitical. He lied when he “had” to and when he didn’t.
The way Candidate Bush put it was, “He has a weakness for exaggeration.”
Some on the right say, “No fair pointing out Trump’s weaknesses! If he lies, he lies. C’est la vie. C’est la Trump. Jump on the #TrumpTrain! Gotta flatten Hillary! Either jump on or get run over!”
It’s okay to keep thinking. It’s okay to be an individual. And when Trump suggests that he selected Cleveland — you’re entitled to say, “Really? Is this a politician who is truthful? One you can trust?”
Of course, the choice this year — the “binary,” as people call it — is lousy.
Trump, Truth, and Trust