Does Lying Matter? If So, How Much?

[Dill]

(02-01-2017, 09:35 AM)xxlt Wrote: “[No man has the] right to mislead others, who have less access to history, and less leisure to study it. . . . Thus substituting falsehood and deception for truthful evidence and fair argument.”

— Abraham Lincoln, “Cooper Union Address,” 1860

So, is Sam right? Should Trump's lying be ignored? If so why? Should it be minimized? If so, why? Or should everyone focus in it like a laser beam? If so, why?

I don't think H.W's "read my lips" was a lie. I think he meant it when he said it. Then months later he saw the country would have bigger problems if he didn't raise taxes, so he did what he thought was best for the country. Angry fanatics of his own party will call that a lie, of course.

Clinton's lie about Monica was a lie. But I put it in a different category than lying about what special ops may actually be doing overseas or why voter ID laws are "necessary."

Trump's lies are very serious but altogether different from anything we have seen before in a president.  He appears to be "gaslighting" much of the time.

As during the election, he now lies so frequently no one can keep up with him. Barely has one lie been vetted than another is out there sending Snopes and the NYT fact checkers into a frenzy.

This is tremendously damaging to US politics and national security (and eventually, the economy), but the critical focus should not be primarily upon Trump. The lies only work for a segment of the population, and especially for members of one party.

Remember that if you are even considering the question of Trump's lying, you are not in that segment. When Trump claimed thousands of New Jersey Muslims cheered as the twin towers went down, you didn't "remember" that along with him.  When the P--grabbing video came out, you did not argue that Trump's actions were not sexual assault. When he claimed that over three million illegals voted in the last election, you did not buy in. When he calls the press "lying scum" who purvey "fake news," your attention is not deflected from the Fabricator-in-Chief.

For me, the real question is where did that segment of voters come from, those who can be counted on to "buy in" to Trump's narrative? What produced them? What sustains their attraction to authoritarianism? That is really the source of the problem. It is they who floated the Trump presidency and will defend him for at least a few more months. (People who are now covered by the ACA but voted for Trump to get rid of Obamacare will eventually catch on--but not right away.)