No Mercy For Trump’s Enablers

A lie is a lie. It’s not an “alternative fact,” as Kellyanne Conway (Trump’s “advisor”) once so infamously described in those on-camera interviews. It’s not an opinion. It’s not another point of view, either. A lie is a deliberate attempt to hide or distort reality.

Don’t take me “at my word.” Look up “lie” in any dictionary or just Google it. You’ll find that not telling the truth is more harmful, even more destructive, than you could have imagined. My source defines it this way:

“A false statement or piece of information deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood.”
“Anything meant to deceive or give a wrong impression.”

As Donald Trump himself might say, a lie is “a bad thing, a really, really bad thing.” He should know. He’s told so many lies — both before AND after Inauguration Day — that he makes Pinocchio look like the Truth Fairy.

In fact, on Sunday, June 25, 2017, “The New York Times” devoted an entire newspaper page to a report entitled “Trump’s Lies”. David Leonhardt and Stuart A. Thompson did a serious study of the fabrications and falsehoods made by our new President. Sources like The Toronto Star, Factcheck.org, Politifact, and The Washington Post FactChecker were also used to ensure the credibility and reliability of their claims. The results of their investigation?

The Donald is a real stranger to truthiness.

When it came to simply making false statements, they found that “Trump told a public lie on at least 20 of his first 40 days as president.” WHOA! When it comes to perpetrating misinformation, however, Trump is fast approaching historic sui generis status.

Leonhardt and Thompson found that when they included misleading statements, falsehoods, and epic exaggerations in their research, Trump became a real Hall-of-Famer Fibber. As they put it, “Trump achieved something remarkable: He said something untrue, in public, every day for the first 40 days of his presidency. The streak didn’t end until March 1.”

“Since then, he has said something untrue on at least 74 of 113 days…”

That’s both revolting AND remarkable — in a kind of amazingly twisted, unethical way. But it pales in comparison to the record number of seemingly law-abiding Republicans who lie for Trump on a daily basis. Next to loyalty, this willingness — no, eagerness — to lie, lie, lie for POTUS # 45 has gotten to be the most important qualification ever for working at his White House.

His minions not only must do a good job, they must also enable Trump’s inaccurate alternative reality to exist — or seem to exist. Allegiance to America and our Constitution, begone. If employees want to keep their jobs on The White House Staff, they must now take part in this public Fib-o-rama on a daily basis.

Enter Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the latest name in what will surely be a long series of White House Press Secretaries. Weeks earlier, she was but a mere Assistant White House Press Secretary. Then Sean Spicer “resigned.” Then she got promoted. Now that she’s in charge and calling the shots, however, her tone has become a lot more defensive — and snarkier, — than it used to be. Maybe even more belligerent than Spicer’s used to be.

When directly asked about Trump’s lying at a recent press conference, she went into speed denial. “I wouldn’t say it’s a lie,” she immediately answered. No, that word lie is really bold, she continued. These conversations did take place, they just didn’t happen in the way he described… Uh-huh. Sounds like a lie to me. Sounds like she knows it was a lie, too. And yet, she’s determined to take an indignant tone as she shovels out the B.S. to protect her fearless leader… Why?

Am I the only American who’s wondering why so many GOP leamings want to star in this dysfunctional diorama of disingenuousness? And who’s worrying about the questionable acceptance of such unprofessionalism from the Huckster? So far, I’ve heard nothing but misplaced excuses and misguided praise for her. Washington insiders and pundits alike keep saying, “She’s a lovely, young woman.” As though that’s going to distract us from her job performance. As though we’ve never seen anyone lovelier or younger. (NEWSFLASH: We have, we really have.)

The strangest comment about her that keeps coming up, though, is how sorry everyone feels for her. As though she’s a shy little Brownie trapped in a heartless Girl Scout Troop? Come on. She’s a grown woman who ditched her personal integrity for a job with a high profile, big bucks , and big lies. She knew what she was doing. If her own little children lied the way her boss does, she’d probably either smack them or give them a time-out. And yet, when the Press questions the lies of her employer she defends him in an almost vicious manner, deriding her questioners as purveyors of fake news. It’s a pathetic and ridiculous response…and she’s pathetic and ridiculous for putting herself in such a no-win situation — just for money and so-called prestige.

A lying president is bad enough. But it takes a special kind of arrogant stupidity to publicly lie, lie, lie for the Liar-in-Chief. She knows better, so please don’t tell me she doesn’t.

As Leonhardt and Thompson astutely observed, “…Not every falsehood is deliberate on Trump’s part. But it would be the height of naivete to imagine he is merely making honest mistakes. He is lying.”

So is Sarah Huckabee Sanders. By working for a liar and lying for him, she is dishonoring herself. She is willingly playing the fool for him and setting herself up to be a laughingstock. She is willingly becoming an object of ridicule — not just for the public at large, but for talented comics like Fortune Feimster.

If you haven’t seen Ms. Feimster’s dead-on impersonation of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, you’ve missed an incredible moment in comedy. Go online and watch her on Chelsea Handler’s talk show, courtesy of Netflix. Fortune Feimster's portrayal of the Huckster ranks up there with Tina Fey’s impersonation of Sarah Palin, no question about it.

BUT STOP FEELING SORRY FOR THE HUCKSTER!

Don’t cry for White House Enabler Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Just pray she’ll come to her senses and quit her job before she gets a subpoena from The Grand Jury…