On July 25, 2018,
Judy Woodruff hosted a conversation on the PBS News Hour entitled “What’s
happened to the truth under President Trump?” One of her guests was
conservative Republican Peter Wehner, who served on the White House Staffs of
Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. Ms Woodruff asked
“Peter Wehner, the fact that we’re even having this conversation tells us that
something different is going on. As we said, you worked in the Bush White House
41, 43, you worked for President Reagan. What is different?”
Wehner replied “Well, what’s
different is that we don’t have a run-of-the-mill liar in the White House. We
have a pathological liar. This is a man who lies on personal matters, political
matters, domestic, international…We have never had a president who…lies so
pathologically, and lies needlessly often. That’s one.
The other thing is the number of
people in this country who believe in the lies, who have accepted them. This
has tremendous damaging effects on the political and civic culture of the
country. A self-governing nation can’t run if you can’t have a common set of
facts, if you can’t agree on common realities.
What you have got is a man in the
White House who is engaged in not just an assault on truth, but an effort to
annihilate truth.”
When Judy Woodruff responded “annihilate truth…that’s an
incredible statement,” Wehner said “It’s true. It’s not just the lies. It’s
that he’s trying to destroy the categories of truth and falsity.
And that’s really why he goes after
the media, right, because the media has always been the institution in American
life that has kept presidents accountable when it comes to what’s true and
what’s not. And he knew from the outset of his presidency that he had to
de-legitimize the media, so he could get away with this kind of thing. And this
has an enormous seepage effect in the life of a country.”
Judy went on to two other
participants in the conversation, but returned to ask: “Pete Wehner, as we look back over the last year-and-a-half of the
president in office, are there moments where something wasn’t borne out by
evidence that you think in particular stand out?
Wehner replied “Yes, there are several. I mean, there’s so many, it’s hard to —
I would say the Charlottesville event was very important, when he said that
there were good people on both sides.
I think the attacks on the Mueller
investigation are extremely important, because this is an investigation trying
to discern truth, and he’s trying to destroy it. The one where he said that
Hillary Clinton won [the majority of votes] because three million illegal votes
were cast.
I will tell you one that might strike
people as trivial, but I think, in retrospect, was extremely important, that
was the original lie at the dawn of the presidency of Donald Trump. And that
was the crowd size, when he insisted and sent his press secretary out to insist
it was larger than Barack Obama’s.
In one sense, people will say this is
a trivial matter. What is it? Who cares?
The reason it mattered is that this
was right out of the box, not just a lie, but it was an assault on empirical,
demonstrable facts. There were pictures that showed the difference.
And that was the tell, as they say,
in poker. That said that this guy was something different. He was going to go
after truth in a way. And it’s been a sustained, relentless assault on
truth."
The closing statement of this Reagan
and Bush advisor was important as well. When asked “What does this mean for our
democracy? People talk about a democracy is built on a foundation of accepted
truths, reality. What is this doing?” He replied:
“It is hurting democracy. It’s
weakening the foundations.
And that’s why people have to stand
up and speak out. Democracy is about persuasion, right, not coercion. And you
can’t persuade people if you can’t agree on facts, you can’t even agree on
common problems.
Beyond that, when you enter this
realm, it deepens polarization, it deepens the sense of political tribalism.
All of the anger, all of the divisions are made worse.
But I would say a couple of things.
Viruses create their own antibodies. And the public can do something about
this. You can do it in your individual lives. People can do it in social media.
They can make a commitment not to put party loyalties ahead of the truth when
they’re in conflict.”
He went on to say “I think you are
starting to get a reaction. I’m sure you’re getting a reaction against it,
because people understand both the disorienting effect of this — that’s one
thing.
But there’s
something else going on as well, which is everybody knows in your individual
life you can’t live if you don’t have a common understanding of truth. And
that’s true in a national life as well. I think Donald Trump, the effect
of all of this is exhausting on the public. I think they’re embarrassed, as was
said earlier. And I think they’re ashamed of what’s happening. And I think
there will be in 2020 and maybe in 2018 a reaction against. This is not as
if America has a terminal disease and nothing can be done. Individual lives
matter. If one person does something, it may not, but if a lot of people act
together, you can change the political and civic culture. That’s happened
before, and it can happen again.”
The reason that I am quoting this
man at length is that he deserves a great deal of credit for dedicating himself
to factual reality. His statements, in the present climate of the Republican
Party, where Donald Trump has an 88% approval rating, will virtually disqualify
him from serving another GOP candidate. But beyond his personal bravery, there
is his desire for a bi-partisan communication and understanding of the
empirical evidence. While we may not always have common interpretations based
upon that evidence, at least we can agree to a rational, honest conversation
about the facts. This is how our nation will reach across the
political/cultural divide that has left us paralyzed in so many ways. If we can
agree on the facts, instead of making them up, we can act in concert around
areas of agreement and common national interest. Even as progressives on the
opposite end of the political spectrum, we can admire this conservative's
integrity around political honesty and work together with moderates and conservatives
willing to oppose Trump’s attempt to "annihilate truth." On this
issue, I am willing to reach across the national divide to shake Mr Wehner's
hand.