President Donald Trump repeatedly demonstrates his incapacity - or unwillingness - to speak the truth. He makes statements that are inconsistent with evidence and then doubles down when challenged. He insisted, for example, that the crowds at his inauguration were larger than those at President Barack Obama's inauguration, despite clear photographic evidence to the contrary. He insists that he "won" or "would have won" the popular vote "in a massive landslide," despite the facts that he lost the popular vote by almost 2.9 million votes. He finished with only 46.1 percent of the votes cast. He insisted, without a shred of evidence, that between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes were cast. And he ignores and disparages established science.
Simply stated, President Trump has a problem with the truth.
But what if President Trump isn't lying? A liar misrepresents truth in order to deceive. Perhaps the only truths President Trump recognizes are the ideas that support his worldview, and he actually believes the "alternative facts" that he insists upon supporting.
If so, we have a president who cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality.
Fantasy is something produced by the imagination; whereas reality is something that exists independently from the mind. The inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality is a serious problem; it's one of the symptoms of schizophrenia. For the president, who serves as commander in chief of our armed forces, the inability to tell fantasy from reality is truly ominous.
ADVERTISEMENT
If Trump cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality, he shouldn't continue to serve as president. If he relies on his own "alternative facts" in formulating and implementing national policy, then social, economic, environmental, diplomatic and military disasters will follow.
Impeachment will be our only recourse. The survival of the nation may hang in the balance.
Charles Gessert
Duluth
