In my last blog, I described how in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States the Trump administration has ordered National Park employees to review pictures and plaques in the historic district of Philadelphia (Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the Constitution Center, and an outline of the first White House.) The order instructs employees to look for information that ‘inappropriately disparages Americans past or living.” There are over a dozen such items that have come under question because they talk about how many of the founding fathers were slave holders, including the first president, George Washington. The day I published this blog, the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, spoke out against the President’s order, writing “Protecting our history is about telling the truth, even when it is uncomfortable…. Because if we don’t reckon with the reality of our past, we can’t learn from it and move forward.” The next day, over one hundred people showed up at this historic area protesting the president’s executive order for same reasons Governor Shapiro stressed. This order applies not only to Philadelphia historical sites but national parks across the country, so that groups across the US are resisting the changing of our history. We can resist by writing our Congresspersons to push back on Trump’s order.
Dr. Timothy Snyder in his book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, makes the same point in his tenth lesson: “Believe in truth.” He explains,” To abandon facts is to abandon freedom… You submit to tyranny when you renounce the difference between what you want to hear and what is actually the case.” This disregard for truth was further illustrated when President Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The reason for her firing was because she and her commission reported data showing a significant decrease in the number of people hired for new jobs in July as compared to May and June. Trump accused her of manipulating the data to make his efforts at reviving the economy look troubling. Trump only likes the truth when it makes him look good, and if the numbers do not do that, he rejects them, as he did in this case.
The extent of President Trump’s disdain for the truth not only focuses on current events but also the past. He denies that there was Russian interference in the 2016 election, which he won. He denies that the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was an attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, which he lost. Almost every time he speaks in public; he lies. Trump reminds me of a line spoken by Jack Nicholson in the 1992 film A Few Good Men when he shouts in the courtroom, “You Can’t Handle the Truth!” Whether he talks about his failed efforts to bring peace to various conflicts around the world, or the devastating impact of his tariffs on foreign countries, or the non-constitutionality of the process by which undocumented migrants are deported without due process, he operates in an ongoing campaign of lies.
This is why Timothy Snyder, the author of On Tyranny, says we must seek and preserve the truth, despite the social and economic pressure to deny it. If we do not, the truth will die. Snyder explains that tyrants like Trump kill efforts to speak the truth through the use of four tactics. First, there is “open hostility to verifiable reality.” Like with Erika McEntarfer’s disappointing jobs report, Trump responded by blaming and rage, rather than considering what could be done to improve the job loss. Second, when faced with the truth, a tyrant blames the messenger. Trump has repeatedly berated Ms. McEntarfer for a report that economists consider to be true and valid. In a similar way, he blames President Obama for the report that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. He repeatedly blames the less-than-stellar economic numbers on “Sleepy Joe” Biden rather than his poor decision-making. He constantly blames others rather than accepting the facts, and his part in them.
Third, when challenging the truth, tyrants claim that their actions are just magically going to turn out right. We see this with Trump’s praise of tariffs. He thinks he is winning but all of us who are consumers know better when we shop for groceries, fill up our cars with the higher-priced gas, or try to run businesses when needed materials are far more expensive than before.
Finally, denying the truth is calling for “misplaced faith” in the tyrant’s knowledge and power. During his campaign for the presidency, Trump made bold claims about bringing peace to Ukraine and Gaza, promised a rebounding economy, pledged to make the Epstein files public, and said he would root out corruption in government. He wants us to trust his power and political savvy, even though our standing in the world has decreased because of his abrasive negotiating style, and peace in those war-torn places is further from being realized. Now, this is not to say some of Trump’s efforts have had a positive effect, but when they have not, he simply cannot accept the truth of his fallibility.
Many of Trump’s supporters and followers remain quiet in the face of his lying, mishandling issues, and the ongoing bluster coming from the White House. Congresspersons on both sides of the political aisle (with a few exceptions) are way too quiet, afraid of becoming a target of Trump’s wrath. But, people of faith, integrity, principle, and a commitment to the truth must not give into The Big Lie coming out of Washington. Whether its insisting on a true depiction of US history at national parks, or challenging policies increasingly polluting our environment, or just standing up and speaking out against the raw abuse of power, we must insist on a government operating in reality and truth and not the false bravado and lies of a misguided tyrant. We need to march, contact our representatives, write editorials in our local paper, and just speak out when given the chance. If we believe in Truth, we must express it consistently.