Trump’s culture of dishonesty

In the seven months since Donald Trump was sworn in as the successor of the ever-popular Barack Obama, he has compiled a record of dishonesty ranging from casual misstatements to downright lies. Equally disheartening is his team’s willingness to share in his mendacity. Let us take as an example Russian involvement in last year’s presidential election.

At a critical juncture in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign last year, his son Donald Trump Jr had a meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer who promised him to share political dirt on Hillary Clinton. This meeting obviously raised the interest of the US Justice Department investigating the Trump’s team potential involvement in Russia’s efforts to influence the US presidential election in favour of Donald Trump.

However, when confronted with this story, citing authorative sources that the Russian lawyer had promised damaging material on Mrs Clinton, Donald Trump Jr said that the information she (the Russian lawyer) supplied was meaningless!

Just a few weeks ago, before Donald Trump Jr acknowledged that it was true that there was a Clinton-related aspect to this meeting, the White House chief of staff suggested that this episode with the Russian lawyer was ‘no big deal... nothing important’. Meanwhile, the deputy press secretary blew more smoke. She was quoted as saying: “the only thing I see inappropriate about this meeting is that it was leaked to the press!”

If a culture of dishonesty takes root in an administration, as it did in Malta, how can people believe anything its officials say?

Jos Edmond Zarb Birkirkara