June 24, 2023
Analysis: Donald Trump’s war on truth confronts another test with voters
WASHINGTON (AP) — The cherry tree folklore is too good to be true, but it’s no lie that George Washington had a thing for the truth. “I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy,” he wrote in his farewell address.
A few decades later, another future president’s reputation for veracity earned him a well known nickname: Honest Abe Lincoln.
Then there’s Donald Trump, who during his presidency faced questions about business dealings in Moscow. “I have nothing to do with Russia,” he said in 2016. He switched stories when the facts of his decades-long effort to build a luxury tower there emerged. “Everybody” had always known about the project, according to Trump, who suggested only a sucker would drop such a proposal just because they wanted to serve their country as president.
“Why should I lose lots of opportunities?” Trump said.
America has had prevaricators in the Oval Office before, but never one who has been at war with the truth as regularly, on so many different subjects. As a candidate and as president, Trump demonstrated a keen ability to use broadcast and social media to amplify his distortions, and found remarkable success in convincing large chunks of the American public.
As Trump seeks a second term while fighting federal and state charges, the nation faces the prospect of another campaign riddled with falsehoods and misinformation, and the possibility that he could be returned to the White House by an electorate that either believes his falsehoods, or doesn’t care. …
https://apnews.com/article/trump-misinformation-jan6-coronavirus-twitter-2024-election-c9cbbb9363e907257d54a6c20e2aa29d