Liar, Liar!

Several years ago, before the last presidential election, I was sitting with Luis at a restaurant table debating Trump’s candidacy. Luis has been a friend more than 30 years, a highly successful businessman and a living American Dream. He came to the States as a young man, found work, invested, and now owns several companies in the DC/Virginia area. He is a generous man who treats his employees well, sponsors little league teams, and gives to charitable organizations. He is also an ardent Trumpite.
I have no other friends or acquaintances who are Trump followers. They have discarded me, and I have discarded them, so that among the limited number of people I hang out with, Trump is rarely a subject of conversation. We are bored, disgusted, repulsed. I could add a few more terms illustrating our general state of nausea provoked by the man, but it’s not necessary. We know where we stand.
Luis is the exception. I genuinely like the man. I know how deep the love he has for this country runs. He once told me his proudest day was when U.S. citizenship was conferred upon him. Amazingly, he and I share the same citizenship date…
Flashback to that long ago day in 2019. We are eating pizza. I ask him, “Luis, how can you like this man! He lies all the time!”
Luis forks a small wedge of pizza into his mouth, chews, swallows, says, “He never lied to me.”
And there you have it. Five words that to my mind define Trump’s popularity. The stream of falsehoods that pours from his lamprey-like mouth is of no importance. He has not lied to his followers, not directly. His untruths do not affect their lives. Nothing Trump has said has impacted Luis in a negative manner. Indeed, Luis benefitted heavily from the Employee Retention Credit, the refundable tax credit against an employer's payroll taxes. You might recall this was established as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), signed into law by President Donald Trump, to help employers during the pandemic.
Does the average voter care whether Trump cheats at golf or on his wives? Do his fans truly listen to the verbiage spewing forth? Do they believe babies are aborted after birth, as Trump claimed three different times during the recent debate? Most don’t; a few might, unquestioningly, and the statement, though an outright fabrication, will fuel the fires of their beliefs. Personally, I’m not sure how you abort an already born child, and I doubt that the folks who might find such a practice reprehensible have given it much thought.
My point is that Trump begins lying as soon as his lips move. Facts do not matter. I remember him saying his inauguration crowd was bigger than Obama’s when thousands of photos proved the opposite. His allegations affected no one, though they made him a laughingstock. Is he really 6’3” and a svelte 215 pounds. Of course not. A “stable genius”? Nope, not that either. A God-fearing man? Oh pulleeze. Do any of the above allegations matter? No.
Men lie more than women, according to research. Men lie six times a day; women, three. Lying is part of the culture, the politics, the very atmosphere. All advertising is lying, as is most entertainment. We are conditioned to ignore what doesn’t affect us, and that includes 99 percent of politicians’ words and actions.
Talk is cheap. Perhaps we could gather crowds at the next Republican rally, simply show up at the Capitol and, in a very orderly manner, sing out, “Liar, liar, pants on fire. Your tongue is as long as a telephone wire!” This used to be children's way of telling others they didn't believe what they said. It’s as catchy as Make America Great Again and would look good on a Trump tee-shirt.