Times have changed since I was a little kid. If I told lies like Donald J. Trump does almost every day my Mother would have burned my butt with a belt. Today we elect people who lie, cheat, harass, demean, and threaten people and companies with dire things.

            Millions of Americans have come to believe half truths and lies as being factual. The constant barrage of these non-facts and lies has caused the majority of Americans to believe we have been screwed by all other countries, that climate change isn’t happening in spite of what we can see, and vaccinations are dangerous among other fictions.

            A few decades ago Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan made a statement which applies in today’s culture of lies. He said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts”. Today anyone with any sense can tell the President lies to cover the lies he has already said. He has built a fantasy world which is getting farther from reality every day. Bad things happen to anyone who goes against his reality.

            Trump has not just changed today’s reality he has ordered Federal, State and Local Museums and organizations to change history to suit his views. Slavery gave poor people good jobs and other rubbish. Of course, all reference to his losing an election or any of his crimes and lies about trying to overthrow the election must be removed or be closed.

            I saw a cabinet meeting where Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “You’ll like these numbers Mr. President! The tariffs have produced over 300 million dollars on the way to your planned 500 million.” The next week the Customs Agency said they had collected 72 million. So where is the other 218 million?

            One other thing this administration has in common with other authoritarian governments is control of the news media. Putin, Xi, Erdogan, Un, and a few others mostly or completely control all media so lies and other misinformation can be dispensed. Putin killed or locked up reporters who didn’t follow his line. Trump threatens to stop mergers or pull licenses if they continue to print or televise the truth about him or ridicule him. A bad precedent was when ABC gave ten million to an entity under his control. Since then Trump has sued for billions to try to keep newspapers, magazines, and authors from dispensing the truth.

                An old saying is “The Truth is out there.” Unfortunately the truth is way out there and I fear it may not come back in my lifetime.