En tu idioma / In your own language

Eduardo del Buey
Foto: Ap
La Jornada Maya

Martes 24 de enero, 2017


In his biography of Charles de Gaulle, Jean Lacouture reported that, during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, President Kennedy sent the former Secretary of State to Paris to meet with President de Gaulle and rally France to the US’s concern about Soviet missiles in Cuba. During the discussions, he offered to show de Gaulle the photos of the Russian missile installations, to which de Gaulle replied, “No, no, no. The word of the President of the United States is good enough for me”.

There is no chance of anyone saying this about the Trump presidency.

As a former spokesperson for a number of major international agencies, I learned that credibility is the key tool that a spokesperson has to create a sense of trust with audiences. And lying to the media and the public is the surest way to put an end to any spokesperson’s career or, at least, credibility.

Trump and his spokespersons have turned this truth on its head, and the fact that his followers forgive him and forget his lies is shocking.

On day one, Trump went to the CIA to claim he had not criticized the intelligence community. A bald-faced lie.

He stood in front of the wall honoring those CIA agents who have given their lives for the United States and went on with another lie, about how he had had more people attend his inauguration that Obama had. Photos demonstrate a different reality.

He sent out his spokesperson, Sean Spicer, to not only lie about the numbers who had attended, but to scold the media for daring to contradict Trump.

Then on the Sunday morning television program “Meet the Press” Trump’s closest advisor Kellyanne Conway told host Chuck Todd that Sean Spicer gave “alternative facts”! Conway follows a clear strategy: deflect, divert, distract.

Welcome to George Orwell’s brave new 1984.

This has been the Trump way since day one.

He lied as a businessman, claiming for eight years that former President Obama was a Muslim born in Kenya, only to be proven wrong time and again. Yet his followers believed him, and still do.

He ripped off contractors and suppliers with strategic bankruptcies, and his followers continue to believe in his business acumen.

He a lied as a candidate, and yet his followers believed him.

He refused to publish his tax returns, and said he would release them after the audit was completed. On January 22 Conway said Trump will not release his tax returns because the American public doesn’t care. I think the public does, and that this reversal will come back to haunt him.

He is now a mendacious president, lying on his first day and sending others out to lie for him.

His need to lie is overwhelming.

His followers’ need to believe him at any cost is shocking.

In my classes and consultancy, I always emphasize the fact that honesty is everything in dealing with the media and the public. A spokesperson who lies boldfaced in the presence of actual proof to the contrary is no longer a viable spokesperson.

How many rational people, those who deal in real rather than alternative facts, will ever believe Spicer again?

Why do his spokespersons do this? Are they seduced by power at any cost? Are they afraid of going against Trump? Are they delusional?

Probably a combination of all three.

Trump’s other problem, however, is the fact that many of his cabinet picks contradicted his campaign promises during their Senate confirmation hearings.

Will they soon bend to Trump’s will, or will they try to bring a dose of reality to the administration?

Many of them are good and decent people, competent and well grounded.

How long will they withstand the pressure to adapt to a new and ever changing alternative universe?

Mendacity has long been the hallmark of many political leaders who seek to mold the public’s perceptions to their vision.

But no US administration has ever been based on such a high level of lying.

As Weekly Standard editor-at-large and right wing pundit Bill Kristol tweeted after Spicer’s briefing, “The point of a silly lie like Spicer's isn't to convince people of its truth. It's to demonstrate the powerlessness of the truth.”

A lie is a lie, and should be called by its name.

A sad start to a mandate.

[i]Mérida, Yucatán[/i]
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