From the beginning Donald Trump lied by instinct. He learned from his father, Fred Trump, how to inflate his holdings to obtain loans and then deflate their value to pay taxes. He is currently on trial for fraud for precisely that lie.
Before the 2016 election he predicted that, if he was defeated, it would only be by fraud. No one thought that was extraordinary, because no one took his election seriously. When he did win, to everyone’s surprise, he became obsessed with the evidence that he had lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. He commissioned a committee to investigate that humiliation, but after a year of investigation, no evidence of fraud was uncovered, so the committee disbanded. This began a pattern of claiming fraud for every election he lost. Isn’t that someone we call a sore loser? Fraud is also a lie.
Trump lied his way through two impeachments and managed to convince his supporters these prosecutions were a “witch hunt,” a phrase he would use for all of his four current prosecutions. It could all be reckoned as a “witch hunt,” associated with witch trials of seventeenth century Salem, which history regards as a miscarriage of justice.
The Washington Post counted 3573 lies during the four years of Trump’s Presidency. They might have exaggerated. Maybe only 3,000.
Trump predicted fraud for the 2020 Presidential election, and by 11 pm. of Election Day, predicted he would be fraudulently defeated by Joseph Biden, the Democratic candidate. By now a recognizable strategy. He tried to manipulate the vote in Georgia on a recorded phone call with Georgia’s Secretary of State, asking him to “find” 11,780 votes, enough to win him the electoral count in Georgia. A fleet of attorneys tried to validate the fraud claims, three of whom have now pleaded guilty in a sweeping fraud investigation in Georgia: Kenneth Chesboro, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis quickly accepted the verdict of fraud. More lies.
While he was struggling to uncover fraud in Georgia, Trump’s lawyers nationally prosecuted 62 cases of election fraud, of which one was found to support allegations. There was no substantial evidence uncovered. This campaign came to be known as the “Big Lie,” because it has been sustained to the present day. Currently Congressional representatives are being vetted for Speaker of the House by their vote in favor of, or against, the Elector balloting on January 6. The Speaker nominee must have participated in the “Big Lie” to qualify. Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota) tried to change his position on the lie in order to get the nomination. Ultimately the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, accepted the ex-President’s false contention that the Election of 2020 had been stolen. The lie had gained power.
What is truly alarming is that 43% of potential voters give Trump a “favorable” rating (56% unfavorable) as of October 19, 2023. This suggests that almost half the voting public have accepted the “Big Lie” as truth, as well as a 147 of House Republicans, who voted to de-certify the Electoral College vote for President. Fortifying of “the Big Lie.”
A lie is as strong as the number of people who participate in it. It is believed that most of Congress disbelieves the Big Lie, but most Republicans participate in it, because they believe their political status depends upon it. The 43% of American voters have accepted the lie that Trump is innocent of the four prosecutions he is facing. They presumably accept the “witch hunt” lie that the former President has used to defend himself. It is appalling that democracy now edges toward the brink of electing a chronic liar for President.
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44, New International Version).
Jesus referred to the devil as the “father of lies.” Donald Trump is probably not the devil, but he behaves like him. When he lies he speaks according to his own nature, for he is liar and the father of lies, said Jesus accusing the Pharisees, a religious power in their day. Pretty harsh language coming from the Messiah, but Jesus knew he was up against a juggernaut. He had to take a stand against it, unlike the bulk of the Republican Party, which has given in to it.
Lies are gripping the voting public to the extent that every legal claim against Donald Trump is discounted as a “witch hunt.” Hitler made similar claims against his opponents, as did Mussolini. They were chosen to assume power, Germany by a democratic election and Italy by appointment by the king (with American approval), all of which carried them into a world war. Lies have extraordinary power when a mass of people agree on them.
You can blame Donald Trump for our national predicament, but isn’t it the voters and their representatives who have participated in the lies? Aren’t we responsible for not indicting a lie as a lie? Some have called the called out the lies, but too many are complicit. We have unleashed its power. And that power will lead us into hell, if we do not heed the warning of the Christ: You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires.
Lies have immense power, when the mass of a democratic people participate in them.