To the Editor,
In the United States in 2020, and for much of the past three years, “performance art” has taken the main stage and dominated our political lives and much of our daily lives as well. The impresario, the “star” of this “theater of the absurd,” is none other than our president, Donald Trump. He is simply a master at pulling the strings and making us, the American people, the entire Republican party — and the media — his puppets. No matter how absurd, how ridiculous, and how false his narrative is, people listen, and the media reports it. His core thesis seems to be that he alone is the source of all truth, and, sadly, far too many of us buy into that notion. Of course, the media pushes back, but Trump counters that by branding them “fake news” and “enemy of the people,” diminishing their credibility and their effectiveness.
Long ago, even before his ascendancy to the presidency, Trump absorbed and constantly used the idea articulated by Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, who said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will come to believe it.” It becomes virtually indistinguishable from the truth. No one has mastered this better than Donald J. Trump.
The real test of the power and influence of Trump’s incessant lying will come with the election in November. The critical question is, can we collectively break free from Trump’s “mind control” in time to regain our senses, or will we remain duped and re-elect him to another four-year term? It may not be hyperbolic to say that the future of our democratic institutions and the viability of our great Republic “lie” in the balance.
Ken Derow
Swarthmore
