Preserving American Values

In his campaigns and in his presidency, Donald Trump has conquered by labeling things that present the truth as “fake,” whereas in fact he himself and what he presents as “truth” to his supporters is fake.  He has created his own Alice in Wonderland world, where everything is flipped on its head, where things are the opposite of what they in fact are.  What follows is just a small sampling of his manipulation of facts.

1.  He Won the 2020 Election:  Probably the most serious of his lies is his claim that he in fact won the 2020 election and that the numbers showed he lost because of fraud and various irregularities.  I say the most serious because his lie presents a serious challenge to the foundation of our democracy—free and fair elections.

What are the facts?  After losing,Trump and his allies filed a record 62 suits contesting election processes, vote counting, and the vote certification process in 9 states.  He lost each and every case that he brought to challenge the election results.

He and his allies also asked for recounts or audits in five states—a total of 8 requests.  In each instance, the election results were confirmed.  That is to say, there was no fraud.

When these efforts did not succeed, Trump tried to have fake electors in seven states certify that he had won their state’s election and have those certificates passed on to V.P. Mike Pence, as chair of the certification process in Congress.  However on January 5, Pence made clear he did not think he had the discretion to reject electoral college certifications and so he could not participate in this scheme.

Then in a last effort to retain the presidency, on January 6, Trump urged his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol, where the certification of the election results was to take place that day, and thus disrupt the process.

Trump still does not concede that he lost in 2020 and claims fraud. And his MAGA allies and supporters, as believers, share that belief. This is perhaps the central “fact” that drives his support.  Why have Democrats never made the public and his supporters aware of these facts?

2.  Our Large “Democratic” Cities Are Out of Control: Starting with the District of Columbia, and then Los Angeles, Chicago, Memphis, and New York, Trump has claimed these cities are dangerous because of out-of-control gang and other criminal activity. He then either called up the state’s National Guard over the objection of state and local Democratic officials or sent in the Marines.

The facts are that violent crime has actually decreased in our major cities over the past 6 years.  Yes, it is true that crime in the poor sections of these cities is a serious factor affecting residents’ lives and that local police have not been able to make much headway in making these areas safer.  But as a whole, these cities are quite safe. 

Further, when Trump has sent in the National Guard or military personnel, they have not been stationed in these poor areas to stop crime, they have been stationed where tourists go. The result is that serious crime in these cities has not decreased; the ghettos have not been made safer.

This whole project has been a ruse, creating a reason for Trump’s showing his power and punishing his Democratic enemies.

3.  Illegal Immigrants Are Criminals: Murderers and Rapists: Trump has for years been railing against illegal immigrants as being serious criminals and causing an increase of crime in American cities.

That is fake news.  The truth is that U.S. Customs and Border Protection data show that only a small number of illegal immigrants have committed crimes, other than illegal entry and DUI. Data from the Texas Dept. of Public Safety further show that undocumented immigrants have substantially lower crime rates than US-born citizens.

4.  He Is the Best Friend Jews Ever Had: Trump claims that no president has fought antisemitism as much as he has.

That is fake news.  The truth is that Trump has not fought antisemitism at all. He has fought what he calls the antisemitism of student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. But as I explained in an article, “Are the Anti-Gaza War Protests an Example of Anti-Semitism?”, being anti-Netanyahu or even anti-Israel is not necessarily being antisemitic.

Instead of fighting real antisemitism (see the above article for a discussion of what is real antisemitism), here is a man who as President has cozied up to white supremacists who are known to be antisemites, as well as Blacks such as Kanye West.  While he did speak out against the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, he has said nothing about the antisemitic vitriol that comes from people like white supremacists and Kanye West that support him.

5.  He Ended the War in Gaza: Trump sees himself as an international peace maker.  After the cease fire and hostage deal was announced, Trump said, “At long last, we have peace in the Middle East.”  “The war is over.”

That is fake news.  This was just the first and easiest stage of the larger peace deal, to which neither Hamas nor Israel have committed themselves.  There have been cease fires and hostage deals before.  Considering the unrelenting enmity of the two forces, it is highly likely that the peace deal will never be agreed to.  The war is far from being over.

6.  He Has Fought For the American Working Man and Farmer: Trump’s rise to power was based largely on his support among working men and women and rural Americans, both of whom have been having a rough time economically for decades. Why did they support him? In his speeches, he gave voice to their grievances against the government.

But that posturing was all fake.  In reality, Trump has done nothing that has helped either the working man or the family farmer.  What he has done is help the rich.

He has, however, done much that has actually hurt his supporters, mainly through his tariffs.  His tariffs have raised prices considerably for many products, thus raising the cost of living that workers complained about. 

The tariffs imposed on China have caused China to completely cease buying soybeans and other products from American farmers, causing huge losses. Trump is readying a relief plan for farmers, but farmers want to work and earn their money, not just get a bail-out from the government,  

The truth is that Trump lies so frequently, and for the purpose of rousing his supporters and justifying his actions, that one should not believe him … ever.  Unfortunately, he has a near God status to his supporters—he can do no wrong and he speaks the truth—so that anything his opponents say to prove otherwise is not listened to.  Even the clear suffering of farmers because of his actions has not affected their support of him, even as they complain.

What should Democrats do in this situation?  Present the public with the truth on these issues and show why your vision and policies are based on our founding principles and will help all Americans.  Do it incessantly.  Resist bashing Trump because he is very popular with the people you want to convince to vote for you this time.  Run a positive campaign.