It was documented that the Felon-in-Chief told more than 30,000 lies during his first term in office. And during his current term, it seems he lies as often as he breathes. What’s worse is the fact that he has extended his assault on the truth to include the entire government, along with educational institutions, law firms, and media.
Since taking office, he has blocked research funding for universities he considers too liberal under the guise that they have failed to control antisemitism. (For the record, it’s not antisemitic to demonstrate against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.) He and his thuggish White Christian Nationalist followers continue to ban books from public schools and libraries. They have tried to erase any reference to the LBTQ community. And they continue to rewrite African American history and the long-lasting impact of slavery and Jim Crow.
They have criminalized brown and black immigrants, leading to what can only be described as kidnapping by anonymous masked men. The immigrants are then confined to concentration camps with deplorable conditions before being deported – often to countries thousands of miles from their homes.
The regime has denied law firms access to government property and information for representing clients the Dear Leader doesn’t like. It has also denied access to reporters and news organizations for reporting stories he dislikes, no matter how truthful they are. And, increasingly, the Felon-in-Chief has filed multibillion dollar lawsuits against media he feels have wronged him.
For example, he sued the Des Moines Register because he was angry that it published a poll that was unfavorable to Trump before the election. And he sued CNN after it repeatedly used “the big lie” to describe Trump’s repeated false statements that the 2020 election was stolen.
Trump sued ABC after George Stephanopoulos stated that Trump was convicted of rape. (He wasn’t. He was actually convicted of sexual assault and defamation. But the federal judge in the case stated that E. J. Carroll’s claim of rape was “substantially true.”) Although the case against ABC was frivolous, the network eventually capitulated and agreed to a $15 million settlement before trial.
Trump also sued CBS and 60 Minutes over what he believed was an edited response by Kamala Harris during an interview. Never mind that media routinely edit statements for clarity and brevity. But Paramount Global, the owner of CBS, also capitulated to the sum of $16 million over fear that its sale to Skydance Media would be blocked by the Republican-dominated FCC. The network even cancelled Late Night with Stephen Colbert, one of Trump’s most effective and humorous critics.
Trump even blocked the Associated Press from the White House Press Room because it ran a story referring to the Gulf of Mexico, instead of Trump’s preferred moniker: the Gulf of America. His cronies have also taken press credentials away from traditional news gathering organizations and handed them, instead, to more compliant bloggers and new (not news) media.
In the most glaring attack on independent news media, Trump and his MAGA congressional minions defunded PBS and NPR. And most recently, Trump has even sued the conservative-leaning Wall Street Journal over its reporting of Trump’s friendship with a rival sexual predator – Jeffrey Epstein.
All of this seems a calculated attempt to intimidate and blind the media and, in turn, voters.
Not only is Trump completely divorced from the truth. So, too, are most of his appointees and cabinet members. Loyalty is prized above truthfulness and competency. And those who do not follow his lying lead are often quickly dispatched. The latest example is his firing of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he didn’t like the jobs numbers the agency reported.
The Felon-in-Chief and his underlings have removed Inspectors General, Whistleblowers and truth tellers from throughout the government. Even the Smithsonian Institution has succumbed to darkness after it was apparently forced to remove all references to Trump’s two impeachments. (The exhibit now lists only Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.)
If, as the Washington Post says, democracy dies in darkness, Lady Liberty’s torch is becoming very, very dim.
And Trump is as divorced from his oath to uphold and defend the Constitution as he is from the truth. Thus far, he has governed in direct violation of the 1st, 4th, 6th, 8th and 14th Amendments. In addition, he has talked about violating the 20th. He and his MAGA party have also violated the clause governing the separation of church and state. And he is clearly and continually operating in violation of the emoluments clause, which prohibits any federal officeholder from receiving gifts from foreign states or individuals and specifically bars the president from receiving gifts from the government or states.
In addition to gifts, Trump and his family have received the benefits of billions in investments from foreign governments. This year, he accepted a $40 million aircraft from Qatar and is spending an estimated $1 billion more of taxpayer money to convert it into Air Force One before he leaves office (if he leaves) and donates it to his presidential library.
He has also received tens of millions in personal donations from his MAGA supporters and billionaires. He spent $151.5 million of taxpayer money on golf trips to his own resorts during his first term. And, in his first six months of this term, he has already spent $50 million more. And that doesn’t include the estimated $10 million for his recent trip to Scotland to promote his new golf resort! If he continues to squander our money at this rate, he’ll approach nearly half a billion dollars by the end of the term. This from the man who complained that Obama golfed too much.
Of course, Trump justifies his golf habit by saying he needs time away from the stress of the office. (Apparently, destroying democracy is particularly stressful business.)