Sunday, February 19, 2017

True | making sense of too much, too fast

When I feel overwhelmed by what ocassionally seem like too many words, too fast, from the 45th president of the United States, I find it helpful to recall several things we know:

1. In public, the 45th president of the United States has demonstrated no preference for truth over lies - and in some instances has demonstrated a preference for lies (e.g. birtherism, or any number of claims about political opponents).

2. When checked on obvious lies, the 45th president routinely makes excuses by shifting blame to unnamed sources (e.g. characterizing the 2016 Electoral College margin as the largest since Ronald Reagan, then saying he'd been told that).

3. The 45th president apparently expects to be held to a different sourcing standard than he holds for media outlets whom he has insisted are fake news if they choose to protect vulnerable sources.
Note: The above is not to be construed as cover for single-source, rumor-has-it, people-say reports from journalists, any more than from the White House.
4. POTUS45 has no history of self-correcting or retracting faulty, misleading, or provably false statements.

5. POTUS45 could begin turning this problem around at any time - not a rapid fix, in my opinion, but he's only 70, so maybe there's time.

Conclusion: Unless there is a verifiable change in these pattern, wisdom recommends quarantining statements from the 45th president of the United States and individuals and agencies who speak for him until such time as they are properly sourced.