A Presidency Fueled By Lies Finishes With the Worse Lie Yet

After lying throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump's first days in office saw claims about the size of the inauguration crowd that were patently false and obviously untrue to anyone who wasn't blind.  It should have been a warning for what the next almost four years would bring: endless lies which likely total 25,000 by now. No lie was too big and no issue was to serious to eliminate deliberate lies focused on helping Trump politically - at least with his ignorance embracing base -  despite the deadly consequences in the case of the coronavirus pandemic or the damage being done to the nation's governing institutions.  True, Trump wasn't the only liar.  Congressional Republicans gladly joined in, especially Mitch McConnell, on everything from the economic impact of the massive tax break to the super wealthy to the fitness of the utterly unqualified justice just added to the U.S. Supreme Court. Now, with likely defeat staring him in the face, Trump has resorted to lying which is destroying the nation's electoral process and the basis for democracy itself.  Assuming Biden wins, it will take Americans time to become once more to normalcy and truthfulness flowing from the White House (it will be akin to an abused spouse recovering after fleeing their abuser).  A column in the Washington Post reminds of the magnitude and damaging nature of Trump's endless lies.  Here are excerpts:

It’s somehow fitting. A presidency launched with lies, and fueled by them ever since, was destined to finish with the worst of them all.

Donald Trump’s presidency began on Jan. 20, 2017, with what he asserted was “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period,” a claim whose absurdity was evident to anyone with eyes. From his first week in office, the president lied about an election that everyone agreed he had won. He claimed that “VOTER FRAUD,” by “millions” of noncitizens, cadavers and “people registered in two states,” had deprived him of a popular-vote majority in 2016.

He lied about health care, the economy, immigration and trade — repeatedly. He even claimed that, under his proposed tax plan, he’d “probably pay more than I’m paying right now,” which might, unlike the rest of his claims, have been literally true, because, as we now know, he was barely paying taxes at all.

But all that was just the beginning. Trump has told lies about virtually everything ever since, lies big and small, meaningful and meaningless, saying anything to put himself in the best position or the best light. He lied about paying off a porn star. He lied, despite photographic evidence, about having never met a woman who accused him of rape. . . . . And on and on and on.

By the end of August, when he accepted his nomination for reelection, he’d told more than 22,000 falsehoods in office, barrelling ahead at a clip of more than 50 a day, meaning that he’s probably over 25,000 by now.

The newer lies are the most serious — for individual citizens and for our democracy. Without hesitation, Trump has said anything about the pandemic he has thought politically helpful, whether it was true or made sense. We know the litany by heart: The coronavirus affects virtually no one. We’ve rounded the corner. A vaccine is almost here. Herd immunity will save us.

On Nov. 4, the country recorded a record 104,004 new infections. The death toll has surpassed 233,000. We’ll be counting cases and deaths long after we finish counting votes.

As for our democracy, Trump unceasingly and maliciously maligned the electoral process, just as he did when he took office. Facing an uphill reelection fight, he made every false claim he could to delegitimize, or set the stage for challenging, the result — truth, logic and consistency be damned, even at the price of undermining the democratic system he swore an oath to protect.

Mail-in voting begets fraud, Trump said, except when conducted by people or in places supporting him. Democratic governors were sending mail-in ballots to dogs. Ballots were being “dumped in rivers.” Votes were being faked, votes were being discarded — take your pick.

He said he could lose only if the election were “rigged.”

In effect, Trump announced long ago precisely what he would be doing now: spuriously assert victory, and mendaciously claim thievery, “a fraud on the American public,” before all the votes were counted, and without the slightest evidence of fraud.

Claim “plenty of proof” of “Voter Fraud and State Election Fraud” — without an ounce of it. And wherever it matters, bring meritless lawsuits. Argue to “STOP THE COUNT!” — or not — depending not on the facts, or the law, or simple fairness, but upon what he believes at any moment might help him.

Trump’s conduct illustrates, as well as anything else over the past four years, his unfitness for office. Trump may lose his lawsuits and the election, but he will never give up on his claims of fraud.

In the end, his deranged claims of fraud will have accomplished only one thing: He will have squandered his last and best chance to show he could admit the truth and, for once, do something right by the country instead of himself.

Sadly, he cares only about himself.  No one and nothing else matters to him. Always the malignant narcissist.