Thursday, April 04, 2019
Pathological
Journalists are trying to understand why President Trump lies so much and seems to get away with it. He even fibbed this week on the birthplace of his father. The reasons are not comforting. One is that his supporters know he lies but accept it in favor of other qualities they value more. A second is that supporters say all politicians lie so what is different about Trump? A third blames the media, which many of Trump's supporters don't trust and dismiss. None of these reasons are strong enough to overcome what is a pathological problem with the President. He either doesn't know the facts and makes them up or he has become so used to lying, he can no longer distinguish between truth and falsehood. From a PR perspective, either answer is devastating. We expect leaders to have a moral center, even if they shade the truth once in a while. Trump is amoral. He seems to have no guideposts internally other than what is good for me right now. It's no wonder that his staff makes no effort to explain away all of his lies. There are too many and the embarrassment would harm his already diminished reelection chances.
Comments:
Post a Comment