The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Terry Bracy
Prevarication and politics are not, by dictionary standards, related words.
And yet an exhaustive study by Pew Research revealed that in debate Members of Congress speak truthfully only twenty-five percent of the time. By this standard, the statistics on President Trump become believable when in his first-term fact checkers caught him dissembling on 30,573 occasions. That would make him, according to the distinguished journalist Thomas B. Edsall, “the most prodigious liar in the history of the Presidency.”
Americans expect more of their Presidents than modest competence. They are seen as a reflection of our country as a whole; the best of them demonstrate moral leadership and, like John F. Kennedy, lift the sights of future generations. Trump is not the first to disappoint in that regard, but he is arguably the most destructive. No longer is the call to ask what you can do for your country — it is to ask what you can do for yourself. This is the message our children hear.
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It is not merely what children hear but also what they see and in too many cases experience. If unlucky enough to be part of a targeted migrant family, kids might well be pulled out of school by big, masked men with guns, resembling the thugs their families escaped. Many are separated from relatives and placed in detention facilities.
The more fortunate American children watch in astonishment as friends suddenly disappear in numbers great enough as to be the accepted norm. Immigrant fathers are arrested, wrestled to submission in front of their families, and thrown in one of many rat-infested ICE facilities without regard to legal rights. Soon they are shipped to dangerous prisons in El Salvador or Venezuela where, according to credible reports, they are subjected to torture including sexual abuse.
Where possible, courts step in, but the plan written at the White House depends on lightning speed to outrun the slow-moving judicial system. Human rights are a fantasy for those caught in the system.
Cruelty is an intentional strategy used not only against immigrants but also against hard-working civil servants who were condemned by MAGA conspiracists as enemies of the nation they serve.
Many were essential experts in medicine, nuclear weapons, treasury management, climate science, and disaster relief. Summon the picture of Elon Musk, buzzsaw in hand, dancing in celebration of his firing of thousands of government workers almost overnight and without a single nod towards the legal protections they were supposed to have. To help with this stupid and damaging mission, Musk employed arrogant workers of intern age and ability to manage the firings. Imagine the insult when a mid-career diplomat is ordered by a 20-year-old know-nothing to clean out his or her desk.
Lying and meanness are tactics put in full view because they divide and frighten the public into a position of reluctant acceptance of Trump’s angry governance.
As the old saying goes, the truth hurts — and that is why we rarely hear it from the administration. The tip off of what was to come happened at Trump’s first Inaugural when he claimed to have had a larger crowd than did Barack Obama. When overhead photos proved that the claim was factually wrong, Trump sent an aide out to claim they had “alternative facts.” Truth no longer mattered. That is all the children of the last decade have witnessed.
Perhaps the most cynical and damaging impact of the MAGA Movement is that it is wrapped in the pretense of patriotism and religion. Many Trump acolytes reject the Founders' central belief in the separation of church and state and instead preach a pernicious doctrine of a white-only Christian nation, and they aggressively pursue followers, including the young. Several of the most powerful figures in the Trump Administration are dedicated practitioners.
Meanwhile, in the face of inhumane policies, most evangelical churches have given the President a pass.
Finally, it has come to Pope Leo XIV to speak for the powerless. While acknowledging that all nations have a right to control their borders, the Pope condemned the “extremely disrespectful” treatment of immigrants under Trump’s policies. He called for treating all people with dignity. Days later, the Catholic Bishops reiterated Leo’s message by condemning the violence of ICE and opposing the mass deportation of people.
When America awakens from this chimera of hate and cruelty, we all must face one crucial question: What did we tell our children?
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Terry Bracy has served as a political adviser, campaign manager, congressional aide, sub-Cabinet official, board member and as an adviser to presidents.
