The Corrosion of Truth and Decency in our Democratic Discourse

President Trump came into office amidst disenchantment in the heartland of America, people looking for an outsider who can “drain the swamp” in Washington, lack of experience and temperament to assume the most powerful office in the world notwithstanding.

 He portrayed an image of himself as a disruptor of the political elites, based on a fiery brand of populism, identity politics and a brazen attitude of defiance – “I am your voice. I alone can fix it.”  He successfully tapped into an undercurrent of disenfranchisement based on a  “deep sense that the country is being taken away and betrayed” by the establishment.  

President Trump has also successfully coopted the Republican Party into his brand of a populist frenzy, creating a toxic combination of a cult personality, coupled with a subservient GOP that is acquiescing in an Imperial Presidency, for their own posterity and political survival, rather than fidelity to the Constitution.   

Just consider the two most recent Trump rallies. In Kentucky, Senator Rand Paul had the audacity to undermine one of the most fundamental tenets of our democracy by imploring the media to reveal the identity of the whistle-blower - "do your job and print his name” – an obvious expression of adulation for and exaltation of President Trump.  Then, even more pernicious, at another Trump rally Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana referred to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s support of the impeachment inquiry as  “one must suck to be that dumb."  

These Senators, along with the entire GOP,  once champions of the rule of law and  guardians of the role of Congress as an equal co-branch of the Republic are prepared to repudiate the fundamental foundational cornerstone of American exceptionalism and substitute it for propagating and trafficking in President Trump’s brand of self-serving politics of deception and corruption. 

In this toxic political climate truth and facts are ridiculed and characterized as attempts by the so-called “deep state” to delegitimize President Trump who, during an address boldly declared that "I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president."  He alone is the arbiter of facts and purveyor of truth. 

Unchallenged, President Trump’s 10,111 falsehoods since he came to office coupled with his blatant corruption are accepted and endorsed by the GOP as the new normal. The consequences of such acquiescence according to a Rand Corporation study titled “The Truth Decay “has far-reaching implications: It erodes civil discourse; weakens key institutions; and imposes economic, diplomatic, and cultural costs. Uncertainty and disagreement about facts create increasing difficulties in agreeing on the terms of the debate, and they prevent compromise. Lack of trust in government strengthens the position of interest groups that can further interfere with government decision making. Political paralysis results in delays in political appointments, lapses in oversight and investigative tasks, and an inability to make fiscal decisions.”

And here we are, fundamental policies are not only ignored but repudiated by the President based on what Michiko Kakutani in her recent book, The Death of Truth describes as a “denial of objective reality.”  For example, there is nothing more of an existentialist threat than climate change. Rather than galvanizing the nation to action President Trump, in order to appease his base and special interests that prop him up, withdraws from the Paris Accord on the basis that the treaty “will undermine (the U.S.) economy and "puts (the U.S.) at a permanent disadvantage."  The objective reality is precisely the opposite. In the absence of bold policies, the US National Security and Economic Interests may be at risk, and the very survival of humanity may become a potentially irreversible catastrophic event with untold human suffering:

 “Trump’s ridiculousness, his narcissistic ability to make everything about himself, the outrageousness of his lies, and the profundity of his ignorance can easily distract attention from the more lasting implications of his story: how easily Republicans in Congress enabled him, undermining the whole concept of checks and balances set in place by the founders; how a third of the country passively accepted his assaults on the Constitution.”

Its time to wake up before its too late. More than ever the 2020 election cycle is about reclaiming truth, decency and integrity in our political discourse.  Our leaders are not only asleep at the wheel but are openly enabling this President without an intestinal fortitude to do what is their constitutional duty to call out abuses of power.  The framers of the Constitution were painfully aware of the dangers of absolute power: “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” 

I am reminded of the words of one of the most iconic Canadian poet and musician Joni Mitchell “Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.”