MAY 1 ― George W started it with his insistence on the WMDs in Iraq. No mea culpas, no apologies, nothing.
But within the overall arc of his presidency or even Barack Obama’s, there was always moral certitude about US actions and arguments were largely within the context of objective, accepted facts.
Donald Trump has upended all that spectacularly. Much more interesting to the world than his election on the back of resurgent American nationalism has been his success in making notions of truth entirely irrelevant to executive action.
He is proving that one can lie endlessly, every day, as long as those lies are in the service of what his voters want to hear.
In fact, the faster you lie, the easier it is to move on and not have to face any consequences for the lies told earlier.
The only real stumbling block has been the pesky media which insists on pointing out the lies and contradictions every day, ruining his self-image of a man who can do no wrong.
He probably would love to be in the position of other autocrats and despots around the world who can simply muzzle or shut down any media outlets with outdated notions of freedom of the press. Instead, he has to rely on “alternative facts.”
But “fake news” and the “failing New York Times” are refusing to back down, especially since the NYT added 276,000 new subscribers in the last quarter of 2016 after Trump started his war with them.
A long history of a free media and an independent judiciary in the US are proving difficult for Trump to subvert or coopt.
100 days into his presidency, a lot of bombast, promises and lies have led to almost nothing getting done. Judges insist on holding Trump to his public utterances, as does the media.
Worst of all his strategy of moving on with daily tweets is beginning to suffer from fatigue. His tweets no longer make daily headlines, and apart from political junkies, the rest of the world seems to be moving on. The circus is no longer as entertaining as it was just a few short months ago.
But while he may be suffering from buyer’s fatigue, what about the damage done to truth? Has the certainty of belief trumped the objectivity of science, reason and logic?
If there is no payback for lying, what does it do to global morality and justice? If everything is a mere opinion, what happens to right and wrong?
As always, politicians are the first to pounce on the opportunity this provides. Back home, we are faced with the curious spectacle of the launch of a government-owned portal dedicated to the noble cause of exposing fake news which Malaysians are exposed to from non-government controlled news media online.
And the authorities even plan to crack down on WhatsApp group admins who allow fake news to be spread on their groups.
Of course, what is fake and what is real is entirely dependent on the opinion of the authorities. While the government cannot be blamed for trying to exploit a political opportunity, how much do ordinary people really care about the truth?
In the world outside our homes, fatigue is certainly a key factor to reckon with. As issues get more complex and the blame game continues, the tendency is to move on.
But in our personal lives, the importance of the truth cannot be overestimated.
Parents marching for science are really marching to restore certainty to facts underpinning all human progress so their kids can get a real education.
Parents using religious teachings to show kids the difference between right and wrong and the importance of telling the truth are really trying to raise them to better the societies they live in.
Truth is right and lying is wrong is a fundamental organising principle of all human societies, which is not going to be abandoned because a few people are able to tap into popular anger with false rhetoric to win short term victories.
We may ignore or acquiesce with leaders who lie about the important stuff, but will never use them as role models for our kids. Trump and Duterte are the aberrations, not Obama and Mandela.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
