The truth hurts

One of the cardinal rules of growing up in our family home pertained to honesty. We kids could get away with some things but lying was never among them. So whatever the infraction, we’d have been better off fessing up than weaving a deceitful story. It’s a lesson we learned in early childhood. You don’t lie unless there’s an important reason not to tell the truth, like sparing someone’s feelings.

My parents rest easily in their Herzliya graves knowing that they trained us well, at least in that area. Undoubtedly many other aspects of their parenting were less successful but we, my sister and I, tell the truth. It may explain why both of us are so intolerant of our president who doesn’t. Counting his lies is a full-time job.

Some lies are less subtle than others. We all know, for instance, that he lost the 2020 election. Yet he still maintains that it was stolen from him, despite the endless proof that that’s a lie. Over and over we’ve heard the recorded phone conversation with Brad Raffensperger, secretary of state of Georgia, with the Don asking him to just find the 11,780 additional votes that he needed to win that state. He denies a fact to which we are all witnesses. Is there possibly anyone who believes this fabrication, this lie?

And how about the overt guilt of the perps who attacked the Capitol on January 6? By now is there anyone who hasn’t heard him urging his followers to show up, provoking them, and then resisting pleas to intervene when the attack became deadly, by trying to stop what he had started? Then, when once again in power, he issues pardons to them, a band of criminals, attesting to their false heroism and patriotism. He denies a fact to which we are all witnesses. These were not heroes or patriots. These were, indeed, a violent mob, with no indication of altruism in their hearts or souls. Some have already gone on to commit other lawless acts.

Perhaps, more subtly, are his actions against major American institutions like the Smithsonian, long a source of pride in America and an important educational and cultural attraction for visitors to Washington. His orders are to reframe American history to make it look more perfect, to remove divisive or partisan narratives. His goal is to create a different story, to eliminate references to how evil slavery was and to create exhibits that are not divisive or partisan. He has ordered the museum to remove mentions of his own impeachments, and to replace his portrait with one of his own choosing. His moves are to present lies in lieu of truth, fables to replace facts.

When it comes to us, the Jews, he claims to love us, but when his virulently antisemitic guest lists are scrutinized and he claims not to know of their outspoken hatred of our people, what are we to think? Duke. Fuentes. Ye. Carlson. And when he refers to bankers as Shylocks, what then are we to think? It’s in his nature to then deny, deny, deny. He didn’t know these individuals or words were antisemitic.

Often, little things attest to his lack of honesty. He is willing to accept a Nobel prize from Maria Machado in Venezuela. It was granted to her but he has indicated if she wishes to share it with him he will accept it. This is beyond borderline lunacy! She won the prize. If he found it on the sidewalk and picked it up, would he then be the winner? You simply cannot make these things up!

Then there’s the Kennedy Center, of which he is a single minded destruction agent, a dishonest force implying that he is a culture maven. He is simply not a cultured person at all and anyone who hears him speak extemporaneously can attest to that. Moreover, the written words put into his mouth by his shameful backers and hackers, like, very sadly, Stephen Miller, are vicious, troubling, and often seditious. Putting his name above Kennedy’s is not only illegal but it is the symbol of a man whose ego is simply out of control. All honors, kol ha kevod, to those many artists who now refuse to perform there and to those patrons who prefer to miss their favorite performances in order to show their contempt for the new naming.

What can we say about his disdain and dishonesty relating to many of the Democratic presidents who came before him, especially the most recent, Joe Biden? Trump’s crass and demeaning invective is a vile indication of how low he will seek to go, and the lies he is willing to spout.

There’s only one thing I’ve learned from this president, and that is never to believe a word he says. That’s the truth.

Rosanne Skopp of West Orange is a wife, mother of four, grandmother of 14, and great-grandmother of nine. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. She is a lifelong blogger, writing blogs before anyone knew what a blog was! She welcomes email at rosanne.skopp@gmail.com

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