At the end of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth finally realizes that he has been totally conned by the three witches, the “Weird Sisters,” who lie “like truth.” Today in America we have our own potential tragedy in the making with the weird Republican candidates Donald Trump and JD Vance who also “lie like truth.”
Witness Trump’s hysterical insistence during the debate that, in Springfield, Ohio, Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating pets. “They’re eating the dogs!” “I saw it on television!” The white nationalist and Neo-Nazi groups who started this false rumor were “thrilled.” A woman who claimed her cat was stolen found the cat in her basement, safe and sound. And Springfield, which has a history of welcoming the oppressed dating back to its days as a stop on the Underground Railroad, and which has by and large welcomed the Haitians as neighbors and productive employees, was thrown into turmoil. Even the Ohio governor, Republican and Trump supporter Mike DeWine, criticized Trump for his reckless lies.
Lest we scratch our heads at Trump’s rattled, addled claims, we need look no further than JD Vance’s doubling down on this story (that has been repeatedly debunked by authorities). Vance weirdly, openly admitted, “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.” Vance will lie like truth to call attention to a situation that does not exist, loudly and repeatedly, to con us into voting for him and for Trump.
There is a cynicism at play here in this weird MAGA campaign that is so shamelessly, blatantly unencumbered by evidence or facts. It is a campaign that believes that we are all marks, just gullible targets easily brainwashed by their repetition and amplification of lies until they become our “truth.” We are smarter than that. We deserve better than that. Their disdain for us is clear in their brazen mendacity; they will say anything, no matter how outlandish, to get or to steal our vote.
During his debate with Harris, in little more than an hour, Trump made some 64 false claims. As President, Trump told some 30,000 lies. He’s been telling lies ever since, the most sinister of which are aimed at eroding the integrity of our elections.
When asked if he would accept the results of the 2024 election, Trump equivocated, saying he would accept the result only if it is a “fair and legal and good” election. The operative (and mutable) word here being “good.” We cannot let ourselves be fooled by this con man and his ableist assistant. They are telegraphing that they will do anything, sink to any low to commandeer this election at the cost of our democracy.
They lie. That’s the truth.