Politics: America, 2018

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

The excuse I hear, and have heard ever since Donald Trump came on the scene, is that "all politicians lie," and/or "politicians always lie."

Like all generalizations, there's a bit of truth in those statements.

Even the best politicians stretch the truth a bit, or bend it slightly (or greatly) to their advantage.  They always have.

But the attitude of those generalizations, that politics today is the same as it's always been, is hugely false.  Maybe Donald Trump's continual blatant falsehoods are the traditional New York real-estate developer standard, and all the denizens of that sub-culture know everyone's lying, and expects everyone to lie, and thinks lying is no big deal.  That is not the traditional standard of American politics.

Nobody has to think back very far to realize that.  Republicans lambasted Bill Clinton for lying about his relations with Monica Lewinsky: it served their political purposes.  Democrats lambasted George Bush for lying about "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq: it served their political purposes.

Before Donald Trump, both parties recognized the standard of truth, and believed that truth mattered to voters.  Both parties believed they could fatally harm their opponents with voters by catching their opponents in a lie...if they could avoid being caught in their own.

Richard Nixon was tripped up by his lies.  Even Ronald Reagan had to publically crawfish that he was kept in the dark by underlings like Oliver North, and didn't intentionally lie to Americans about his administration's dirty tricks.

So it's absolute self-deception to believe our politics are the same as they've always been, and Trump is just another lying politician of the kind we're used to.

He's not.  Trump recognizes no standard of truth.  His own counter-factual pronouncements are all he believes: and he himself doesn't really believe them.  He admitted (or bragged) that he "made up" trade-figures when he was arguing with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, so he clearly understands there's a difference between his own bullshit and truth.

But most of all, it's not the same old politics because many Americans voters no longer care that they are being lied to.  Very many are willing to obstinately argue that Trump's manifest, hourly lies aren't really untrue...and even if they are, so what ?  By them, Trump is "making America great again."

Where in our newly-amoral politics are Christians...followers of The One Who said "I AM...The Truth"... ?  Very often, Christians are among those most obstinately arguing for, and making excuses for, Trump's lies.

There are consequences: God judges those who lie, and those who love lies.  He harshly judges those who love lies while claiming they love Jesus.