Truth & Consequences

No, not the TV game show with Bob Barker as host, the real world where truth and non-truths exist. Each truth has consequences. So do the non-truths.

Yet, in today’s American world, so much is said and shared it is difficult to know what is true and what is not. Used to be when a president said something, we relied on it as true, factual, and historical. Not anymore. Mr. Trump has built a reputation of postulating, claiming and declaring a lot of things. Most of the time they are lies, errors, deliberate misspeaks, and manipulation.

Trump’s communication methods are the core of his con man personality. He misleads deliberately to create room to baffle others to accept a smidgen of his utterances as true. This makes it difficult to know when he is lying and manipulating. Actions flow from that misrepresentation of reality. A lot of nonsense can and does result. That’s the point of it all; confuse, addle and mislead to retain control of others.

We are now in a time and space wherein nothing from the Trump White House can be trusted as true. You and I as well as leaders throughout the globe cannot trust what he says. Only actions count. As we have seen, even actions are circumspect. Trump changes actions quickly without warning. The rest of us stagger with the results.

A con man knows these things and plays the odds. He makes gains in power and wealth from such manipulation. In Trump’s case, we can trust that statement as truth. Even when it is in error, he has made a real error with the same results. Intentional or stupid, the consequences are similar.

One way out of this mess is impeachment, a trial in the Senate, and removal from office. A similar impeachment process should be engineered for the Vice President. A temporary replacement to both offices would be the Speaker of the House. This is not a good solution, but a workable one.

Meanwhile, leaders in social services, industry and labor institutions need to collaborate and forge a way forward until the election machinery is re-employed to find honest people to reside in our top leadership positions.

A follow up action is a new resolve to never assume the body politic understands completely their present circumstances. Education and open reporting will help make this happen. These are important foundations of our social order and our governance culture. It begins and ends with truth, honor and fact. Those who do not abide by these tenets ought not apply for leadership positions.

That is a consequence well learned and implemented.

April 18, 2025

 

 

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