Your Opinion: Trump's repeated lies

Dear Editor:

Does it matter that President Trump repeatedly lies and uses what one of his aides, Kellyanne Conway, brushes off as "alternative facts?" Of course it does. How can we have a democratic government if voters don't know what's true and what isn't?

Google "Trump's lies" and you will get lots of results including those at PolitiFact, a Pulitzer Prize-winning, fact-checking website. They have four pages of Trump lies each fully substantiated and explained, and each rated "Pants on Fire," their most serious rating. Here are a few:

  • Before the campaign "I didn't know Steve (Bannon)." False
  • There was "serious voter fraud" in Virginia. False
  • There was "serious voter fraud" in California. False
  • "The Obama Administration was actively supporting Al Qaeda in Iraq." False
  • "Crime is rising." False
  • Ted Cruz's father "was with Lee Harvey Oswald" before the assassination. False
  • The unemployment rate may be as high as "42 percent." False
  • "The last quarter our gross domestic product was below zero. Who ever heard of this? It's never below zero." False (unless 42 times equals zero!)

There are many, many more instances occurring both before and after the election. He's lied about the size of his inauguration crowd, the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S., allegedly being wiretapped by President Obama, the nature of the Paris Accord, and Chinese currency manipulation. When an interviewer asked President Trump if he regretted making so many false claims during the campaign his answer was "No. I won." That is, the ends justify the means. If he wins that's all the validation he needs.

Yes, Hillary Clinton lied, too. But she's not president. What we've got is President Trump, and he has an incredible disregard for the truth. Such a post-truth presidency is not yet a danger to our democratic system, but it's a terribly bad precedent.

Issue-oriented letters to [email protected] are welcome. All letters should be limited to 400 words in length; longer letters may be edited to conform to the specified length. The author's name must appear with the letter, and the name, address and phone number provided for verification. Letters that cannot be verified by telephone will not be published.