Trump is not like normal people. His statements about the world are not aimed at being true or false, but rather useful in advancing his interests, or not useful.
In recent decades a cornerstone of world peace has been the globally accepted proposition that there is one China, not two. This is accepted by almost all governments, and indeed is a part of Taiwan’s constitution. The issue was completely settled, until now:
In his remarks on Sunday, however, Mr Trump suggested the One China policy could in fact be treated as a bargaining chip, rather than as the bedrock of relations between the world’s two largest economies. “I don’t know why we have to be bound by the One China policy unless we make a deal with China on other things,” the president-elect said.
Interestingly, my commenters often wrongly accuse Richard Rorty as having this sort of relationship with the truth. But Trump really does seem to think truth is whatever he wants it to be. His statement increases the probability of war between the mainland and Taiwan (albeit in absolute terms the probability is still quite low.) It also puts to rest any ideas that Trump would stop being a reckless buffoon after being elected, and would “get serious”. Sorry Trumpistas, Trump acted like an idiot during the campaign and he’ll act like an idiot as president.
Just recently, Trump ridiculed CIA claims that the Russians tried to influence the election with leaks aimed at Hillary:
President-elect Donald Trump trashed the reported assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency that Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election in an effort to help him win the White House, calling it “just another excuse” pushed by the Democrats to undercut his stunning victory.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” Trump told Chris Wallace in interview that aired on “Fox News Sunday,” his first Sunday show sit-down since winning the election. “I don’t believe it.”
Sure, it’s possible that the CIA is wrong, but Trump offers no evidence. And he says not just wrong, but “ridiculous”. Is Trump really that naive? Fortunately, he is not. All that matters to Trump is how this report affects perceptions of his victory. So the guy that will have his finger on the nuclear trigger has no regard for truth, other than whether it’s convenient for his personal interests. In the same article, he lies by claiming that he won a “landslide” victory in the Electoral College. Again, if that were true it would be convenient for Trump, but in fact he won a narrow victory. Electoral college landslides require at least 400 EC votes. A 306-232 margin is not a landslide. Kennedy beat Nixon by 303-219 in 1960; have you ever seen that election called a landslide? (And Kennedy actually won the popular vote.) More Trump lies.
A few days ago Trump admitted that he was lying when he told Carrier workers during the campaign that he’d save their jobs:
One of the best explanations of the Donald Trump 2016 phenomenon is this, via Salena Zito: “The press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.”
But apparently some supporters took him both seriously and literally. And Trump, rather amazingly, is surprised by this.
. . .
Trump went on: “And they played my statement. I said, ‘Carrier will never leave.’ But that was a euphemism. I was talking about Carrier, like all other companies from here on in. Because they made the decision a year and a half ago. But he believed that that was — and I could understand it.”
So “Carrier will never leave” doesn’t mean, “Carrier will never leave”. And what does “One China” mean? Is that also a euphemism? This is what I mean when I say Trump’s turning America into a Duterte-style banana republic. What did Orwell tell us about how corrupt governments use language? Hopefully there is a backlash from voters and our next president is more in the Jimmy Carter mold, just as Carter followed Nixon. Until then, we have a president that puts his personal self-interest ahead of the truth. Don’t think there won’t be consequences–as there were for Nixon.
If I were religious, I’d be praying for a President Pence, ASAP.