With the re-initiation of the Progressive Assault blog I want to present again something that I posted before. It is an explanation for why Donald Trump lies so much.
I pick up the original post from the point where I announced what the Progressive Assault blog is dedicated to doing (with a few adjustments made for the passage of time):
This blog is dedicated to the belief that the ideas, policies and legislation of progressives (the democratic party and liberals) is superior to that of conservatives. And please note the name: it is not, Progressive Suggestions, it is not Progressive Reflections, and it is not Progressive Discussion of Subtle Nuances of National Issues. The blog is meant to be a full scale assault on the ideas, policies and laws of the reactionary, racist right - which means, by and large, most(but not all) of the Republican party.
And here we come to facing Donald Trump, three years into his presidency.
One of the most astonishing characteristics of our president is that even after he has been caught doing it, and even been embarrassed for doing it, he continues to lie. Indeed, he lies as much now as ever. He lies, he lies a lot, and he lies blatantly, even stupidly. Sometimes it seems that he lies just to keep his jaw in shape.
The question is why does he do it?
People have speculated that Trump is trying to create his own reality with his lies, others say that he is a pathological liar and can’t help telling untruths. Still other will explain away stupid and obvious lies as a way to distract attention from other matters. And of course, there is the lie that conservatives love to tell themselves about Trump’s lying: it’s just to own the libs and play the media.
But there is a better and simpler explanation: Donald Trump lies because he has always been spoiled and protected.
Trump is now that he has always been: a big pampered, spoiled rich boy. He has always been rich (since even before he was born), and always had the use of his rich daddy’s money. With his father’s gifts, loans, birthday present money and his own gigantic inheritance (now estimated at about $450 million dollars), Trump has always been able to pay to surround himself with toadies, sycophants, lawyers, and people who would agree with him just to get some of his daddy’s money. Among these people, the inner circle of his life, even if Trump says something obviously untrue, these people are not going to correct him. Even if the lie is blatant, stupid, demeaning, outrageous or obviously wrong, none of the his hired help is going to contradict him. There’s no profit in it. It is always, “Yes Mr. Trump, just as you say, Mr. Trump.”
Even worse, having great inherited wealth has allowed Trump to insulate himself from the direct consequences of his lies (and other bad actions). Daddy’s money hires lawyer to intimidate people who have been hurt by his mendacity (Michael Cohen); Daddy’s money hires the publicist (news flaks and publicist) to spin the news and explain away the lies'; Daddy’s money buys the lawyers and fixers (Roy Cohn and Michael Cohen) to capture the truth about his actions; and Daddy’s money pays to have victims silenced and the facts of their mistreatment bought up and buried (David J. Packard, of the National Enquirer). In short, why not lie? Seventy-one years of using Daddy’s money to lie and be protected from its consequences creates a habit that Trump cannot and will not break. It also creates the kind of life so insulated from reality that lying becomes normal, routine and expected. You live this kind of life long enough and you lose touch with reality (and honesty).
This “spoiled rich boy” theory also explains something else notable about Trump: he exclaims, but never explains.
Trump is constantly on twitter attacking people and trying to defend himself. he exclaims, “No collusion, no collusion!” or “No quid pro quo!” or “The Dems just want to defend illegal immigrants!”, or “Obama tapped my wires!”, or “It’s the deep state!”.
Trump makes his startling and hyperbolic statements without any explanation as to what he means. Unlike Mr Obama, who clearly explained his reasoning and why he came to the stated conclusion, Trump merely asserts something to be true, and leaves it at that. There is no explanation for why the remark is true or why the assertion is relevant to the discussion at hand. Trump merely exclaims it is thus and so and ends the pronouncement with a barrage of exclamation marks. This is probably why his preferred method of communication is Twitter.
Again, rich, spoiled and pampered. When you are the big man you exclaim, you state, you make your pronouncements. You do not bother to explain. Having to explain yourself is a bit of humiliation reserved for those under you - for those who must give an account of themselves when they have done something that displeases you!!!!
The abuses and terrible effects of great and inherited wealth is a topic that we will be exploring in future blog posts. The history of the United states until recently has been one of antipathy to great wealth being passed from generation to generation. The founding fathers in particular hated the idea of great inherited wealth as they saw it as a big reason for imperial British oppression and arrogance.
Do not expect Donald Trump to stop lying, or even to explain himself - between the insulation that great inherited wealth can buy, and the unwillingness of supports to criticize the man who is punching liberals and making all their supreme court nomination dreams come true, Trump will continue to live as he has lied, and lie as he has lived!