Write down the cardinal offenses of Donald Trump, but do it with pith, with epitaphs. There’s nothing trivial or inconsequential about the words of a sitting U.S. president, who is capable of doing nearly unlimited good or harm to countless, nameless individuals. His lies,[1] exaggerations,[2] political blunders,[3] self-serving decisions,[4] megalomania,[5] bullying and name calling,[6] blaming and scapegoating,[7] and crudeness[8] remind me of a quote from Hamlet: “examples gross as earth exhort me” to write it down.
Often, I coin epitaphs for my mortal self, the latest being something like He was born with mettle and died with metal—referring to a recent neck surgery. Earlier, one went He seldom lied, though here he lies day and night. I am by no means singling Donald Trump out as the only mortal who will be remembered one way or another through epitaphs.
Epitaphs on the Death of Democracy
Footnotes
[1] For a recent example, President Trump falsely claimed that his uncle, who taught at MIT, had Ted Kuczynski as a student (although Kuczynski didn’t attend MIT and wasn’t a notorious figure until 11 years after the uncle died [transcript; CNN fact-check]).
The lies are well documented. According to the Wikipedia article, “Fact-checkers at The Washington Post documented 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first presidential term, an average of 21 per day.” Even if this number is reduced by 90%, it is an astounding amount of lies for anyone, let alone a president of U.S.A.
The Internet supplies more lists of Trump lies than one would wish to read, including these 13 biggest of his first month back in office.
However, there’s a more nuanced way to understand the train of factual abuse. In “The Lies of Donald Trump: A Taxonomy,” James P. Pfiffner does two notable things: (a) he surveys the lies of other presidents, noting that Eisenhower was the last president to be anguished publicly when caught in a lie; (b) categorizes Trump’s lies: (1) trivial lies, (2) exaggerations and self aggrandizing lies; (3) lies to deceive the public; and (4) egregious lies).
Pfiffner claims that the egregious lies—ones that blatantly contradict known facts—are the worst. These, I think, generate cognitive dissonance most readily. While Pfiffner focuses on the older lies, such as the birther lies, more recent lies also fit the case. Egregious lies disorient his followers, with the result that they are genuinely confused about historical truth. The lies about Ukraine fit this category. Those who lack either the leisure or the tools for knowing the historical landscape are vulnerable not only to forgetting what’s true but to forgetting the importance of truth itself. If one wanted to garner power at all costs, one would gladly dispense with the truth, and in countless cases, Donald Trump has, and is, doing so.
[2] For example, “Unauthorized immigrants are criminals [said 575+ times], snakes that bite [35+ times], eating pets, coming from jails and mental institutions [560+ times], causing crime in sanctuary cities [185+ times], and a group of isolated, tragic cases prove they are killing Americans en masse [235+ times]” (The Marshall Project).
[3] For example, justifying his tariffs on China by saying, “Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls . . . .” (WSJ News on YouTube)
[4] For example, in order to maintain good relations with Elon Musk, who donated millions to the Trump campaign, Donald Trump turned the White House lawn into a showroom for Teslas.
[5] For example, his claim that “I alone can fix it [the U.S. political system]” (Politico).
[6] “‘[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], look, I think she’s very nice, but she’s very low IQ, and we really don’t need low IQ,’ Trump said, smiling as cameras rolled” (Fox News).
[7] Trump vilifies immigrants repeatedly, each slur reinforcing the credibility of his gross over-generalizations. According to the Marshall Project, these slurs include, ‘“Migrant criminals.” “Illegal monster.” “Killers.” “Gang members.” “Poisoning our country.” “Taking your jobs.” “The largest invasion in the history of our country.”’ (Trump Often Repeats These False, Misleading Immigration Claims)
Few can forget his unfounded claim that “In Springfield, they are eating the … pets of the people that live there” (“Trump repeats baseless claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets”).
[8] If this point requires evidence, listen to Trump describing Arnold Palmer (YouTube: “Trump says Arnold Palmer was ‘all man'”).