A big takeaway of the 2016 election is that facts are no longer relevant in American politics.
Thanks to social media, FOX news, talk radio, “reality” television, and the fact that Joseph Goebbels knew what he was talking about – “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it” – a large portion of Americans either cannot discern truth from fiction or don’t care whether what they’ve been led to believe is actually true.
According to the nonpartisan fact check organization Politifact, only 16% of what Trump claimed in the campaign was true or mostly true. Hillary Clinton at least reached the 50% mark in those categories, with another 25% of statements at least half true. Among fact checkers, she’s in the top tier of honest politicians, yet polls showed Americans by large margins believe her more dishonest and corrupt than Trump.
Back in the 1990s, Clinton claimed she was the target of “a vast right-wing conspiracy.” She was correct. It started when she tried to fix our broken healthcare system and continued through the 2016 election, where it was Trumped up several notches and aided by the FBI, WikiLeaks and, likely, Putin. Yet with the all the accusations and hundreds of millions spent on investigations, “Corrupt Hillary” has never been charged with a crime, and most of the accusations turned out to be just made up mud. For 25 years we’ve been told she’s corrupt, she’s a murderess, she’s the Devil, and those lies have become well ingrained in the populace, across the political spectrum.
The election is over, the American people were duped and we’ve no choice but to move on. So let’s get past the lies of the campaign and look at how a few of Trump’s lies will impact us now that he’s won:
Climate change is a hoax – In the scientific world, climate change – the havoc it will wreak, and that human activity is the cause – is accepted fact. Trump vows to tear up the Paris Agreement, which is mankind’s last chance (if not already too little, too late) to extract more coal and oil and kill clean energy initiatives. The effects of reversing course will be catastrophic.
Business is over regulated – Deregulation will only result in more corporate corruption, more pollution, more workplace injuries, and more stealing from the middle class – homes, retirement plans, savings, et al.
“No one respects women more than me. I’m the least racist person.” – Based on ample evidence, these are blatant lies. How they play out remains to be seen, but Trump choosing notorious white nationalist Steve Bannon as his chief advisor does not bode well for minorities.
“I’m going to bring back the jobs” – The jobs he’s talking about went away because it’s cheaper to manufacture in less developed nations, or because of automation or changing times and culture. Offshore jobs will only come back if Americans are willing to pay a lot more for goods or if American workers are willing to work for a lot less money. Since Trump is against a federal minimum wage, maybe the latter is his plan. That, or a disastrous trade war.
We can cut taxes, build up the military, pay down the national debt, rebuild our infrastructure and inner cities, take care of our vets, and do ever so much more, without increasing the deficit – Voodoo economics on steroids will not make America great again.
Abortion doctors rip babies from the mother – Lies such as this fire up social conservatives who keep the pressure on for the appointment and confirmation of conservative judges. The rightward swing on the Supreme Court, which Trump has promised will result in Roe v. Wade being overturned, and a return to dangerous back-alley abortions.
There’s more to Goebbels’ infamous quote: “The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Only time will tell how long until the political, economic or military (or environmental) consequences of Trump’s many lies catch up to us, and to what measures he will go to repress dissent (and free speech and press) to maintain control. He was the “law and order” candidate, after all.
On a more optimistic note, maybe the extreme views expressed in the campaign were just more lies, and once in power he will revert to his more moderate, pre-politician, though always “braggadocious” and egomaniacal, self.
Or, another plausible scenario: the thrill of the contest wears off, he’s won and that’s what matters, and he decides the day-to-day running of a superpower is too hard, and hands it over to Mike Pence. Which would be a whole other catastrophe.