Below is a quote from Hannah Arendt. She was a keen observer of the tyrants of the 20th century. Their rise to power was fueled by the lies they told and the anger and hatred those lies gave birth to. They told lies about Jews and non aryans in Germany, supposed communists in Italy and Spain, non communists in Russia, all of whom were enemies who they declared threatened their dreams for their countries. Their lies led to epic disasters for the world, but especially for Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, the countries the tyrant felt they owned. They did have accomplices, like Goebbles. But most of all they had their lies and they spread those lies relentlessly. We may not be headed for such epic disasters now, but the diet of lies we are being fed and the current accomplices of the liar in chief, is the seed bed for nothing good. Hannah Arendt captures the grave risks of such lying:
“If everybody lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer...And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can do what you please.”
What Donald Trump is up to, is not just to forward a racist, xenophobic, angry agenda, but to use the lies that underly that agenda to erase the value of the truth. And then, …”with such a people you can do what you please.”