Trump's Lies Are Toxic

"By now, most Americans are used to Trump and his administration's daily blizzard of lies. They aren't simply exaggerations or mistakes. They are part of a sustained attack on the major pillars of American democracy-the courts, the media, the schools and universities, museums and cultural institutions, even sports-to intimidate people into submission so he can rule without guardrails, constitutional protections, checks and balances-or the truth."

"Trump emerged on the public stage in 1973 when he lied about a federal government report documenting that he discriminated against Blacks in his apartment buildings. It was well-known among New York gossip columnists and reporters that Trump lied about his wealth, his sexual affairs, and his business activities. From 2011 to 2016, Trump was a leading proponent of the discredited "birther" conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States."

"He began his first presidential campaign with a lie that undocumented immigrants were responsible for a disproportionate share of violent crime-a claim he's repeated often. "We looked at homicides, sexual assaults, violent crimes, property crimes, traffic and drug violations," Michael Light, a University of Wisconsin sociologist, told USA Today. "And what we find across the board is that the undocumented tend to have lower rates of crimes with all of these types of offenses.""

Trump and his administration issue a steady stream of deliberate falsehoods that go beyond mistakes or exaggerations. The lies target courts, the media, schools and universities, museums and cultural institutions, and even sports to intimidate people and weaken democratic constraints. Steve Bannon described confronting the press by saying "the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit," while critics and reporters are labeled "fake news." The record includes lies about housing discrimination, personal wealth, sexual affairs, business activities, and the "birther" claim about Barack Obama's birthplace. Evidence cited shows undocumented immigrants have lower rates of many crimes than native-born populations.

Read at The Nation