He'll beat the half black turf before him.The fish rots from the head and the stench of this administration starts at the very top
History will judge theorangething and his buddies, and it will not be kind.
Although scandals have been part of previous administrations, the shamelessness of this administration, the dishonesty, the total indifference to facts, is something never seen before — at least not this blatant. It’s demoralized people and made them even more cynical about politics.
And it’s showing. For a president in the first year of his term to have never achieved 50 percent approval rating is something of a political disaster.
This political system depends upon something like a consensus, something like majority rule. But now you have a president who outright lies about ... everything. He lies about the number of votes he received, about the size of his inauguration crowd, about his own achievements, about Muslims cheering in the streets after 9/11, and so on. He lies about basic observable facts.
The cumulative effect of all this lying is to make people deeply cynical about the entire system, and that’s very corrupting.
The additional absurdity and what many find so bizarre about theorangething’s lying is how pointless it often is. Usually there is some utility behind a politician’s lie — they’re trying to cover something up, for instance. But the idiot lies when he doesn’t have to lie, and he does it with an alacrity never seen before. This is a guy who will look right into the camera and lie without any hesitation at all. It’s hard to overstate what kind of tone that sets in an administration; it makes everyone more comfortable when they lie, when they deceive, when they cover things up.
You are fortunate to have an outspoken opposition party and a powerful media opposition that does not bend a knee to the administration, that continues to ask hard questions and to report whatever the truth seems to be. This is a strength in the country, and ultimately the judicial system will also support the rule of law. Hopefully the country will turn back in a more constructive direction in the next round in your presidential politics.