Most Americans agree that President Donald Trump lies a lot, and the president knows that they think hes dishonest.
Still, hes betting he can again paint his opponents as even less trustworthy than he is.
The strategy has worked before. In 2016, he smeared his Republican primary opponents, the media, Democrat Hillary Clinton and assorted critics, including a family who lost a son fighting in Iraq and a beauty pageant winner.
Since becoming president, he also has targeted the CIA, FBI and federal courts, claiming they are corrupt and cant be trusted.
Trump has made more than 12,000 inaccurate claims while in office, according to the Washington Post. If youre a Trump supporter, you probably reject that figure, preferring to believe instead the presidents anti-journalist tirades.
Fake news. Totally dishonest. Bad for our country.
Its a daily barrage. His aim is not to get you to trust the president, but to hate and distrust everyone who raises issues about Trumps honesty.
Working in journalism, I occasionally ran into sketchy businessmen and politicians who behaved in much the same way. When caught in a lie or unethical situation, they used intimidation and threats, and then insisted they were the victim. They focused not on their own behavior, but on creating doubts about those who exposed their dishonesty or crime. In psychology, they call it projecting. In practice, it means they want us to believe everyone is as unethical as they are.
MANY OF THE presidents current troubles are inevitable consequences of a man who unethically mixes his personal political ambitions with government service, and his private business with both.
From his vantage point, all of us would do the same if we could. He makes that clear as he hammers journalists daily, calling them corrupt.
He twists and exaggerates any questionable move an opponent. That includes Joe Bidens sons deal with a Ukrainian gas company, which was legal but absolutely unethical.
He feigns outrage at lies others tell such as the dishonest remarks of Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, about his early knowledge regarding a whistleblower complaint filed about Trump.
His message is that he may be bad, but that those who expose his faults are even worse.
Even if that were true, it would not excuse the presidents misconduct.
