| Tober said: I believe the stance of trumps political adversaries has always been he's the 'Liar in Chief', it's been over the campaign and beyond for years. A good example though where all of a sudden his word is taken seriously is when in his first term he claimed he would leave NATO. This caused quite the ruckus. He'd obviously never do it, because NATO is a big customer for US military equipment, but since he was painted as "a Madman that is capable of anything", it was taken seriously and several countries upped their defense budget. We see something similar now. He claims to shut down USAID. Everyone takes his word for it, but if you notice the pattern, then he always claims big to get something moving and in the end something else happens. USAID as with every other foreign aid program of any country (including my own), is a great vehicle to bribe other foreign officials. Trump knows that and won't give that up. At most he will fold it in the the Department of State. |
Lying all the time doesn't give you immunity from criticism when you say something stupid...
A bit of a tangent, but I've been thinking recently about how this tactic that Republicans love to build up is kind of inherently anti-Democratic. The whole "Trump is just lying as a negotiation tactic" thing. Republicans love to paint Trump as someone who plays 5D chess and his lies are all part of an elaborate plot, but I think they fail to realize that lying in this manner also means lying to Americans. Democracies are built on information. People make political decisions based on public comment. Manipulations in the public sphere also serve as manipulations of the American people. Even if we are to assume that this perspective is accurate, I don't think it is compatible with American democracy. Now, it is valid to argue that all politicians lie and yes, this is a huge problem with democracy, but I do think to some extent, Trump is unique in how he uses lies and bluster, and I do think it is doing a lot of damage, even if some people are willing to allow the ends to justify the means...
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