On Mother’s Day, I thought about a lesson my mother taught me. And it seems so relevant for our times. My mother was strict but loving. When I was very young, she taught me a lesson I will never forget. I told a lie. Don’t remember what it was, or whether it was a big or small. But it was a lie. She locked the door to our apartment and I was left outside in the hall. I cried and cried. Rang the door bell. Knocked on the door. At the time it seemed like an eternity but it was probably a very short time. When my mother opened the door, she wrapped her arms around me and wiped away my tears, told me she loved me and explained why it was so important not to lie. If I lied, she could not trust me.
And I also thought about it when reading The Wall Street Journal, whose editorial page usually makes an effort to defend Donald Trump. “Mr. Trump is compiling a record that increases the likelihood that few will believe him during a genuine crisis — say, a dispute over speaking with special counsel Robert Mueller or a nuclear showdown with Kim Jong Un.”
Trump’s lies are a daily occurrence and as a result some just tend to ignore them or say “Donald is just being Donald.” But Donald is our president. He is the leader of the Free World. He has access to the black box which can blow up the world. But on a more personal note, what do we tell our children and grandchildren? If it’s OK for him to lie, what about everyone else? Is it OK to lie to the police? To the FBI? To your parents? To your boss? To your colleagues?
As Hannah Arendt wrote:
“If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end you get not only one lie …. you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows. And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.”
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One person who does not lie and is willing to face the consequences is James Comey, former FBI director. When he was first appointed to the job, he appeared on 60 Minutes and I remember being very impressed that he was a straight shooter, a grown-up Boy Scout, who was just the right person to head such an organization. Now I am reading his book, “A Higher Loyalty, Truth, Lies, and Leadership.” I am amazed at his history and how he handled himself at critical times.
He was involved in the Martha Stewart case when he was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan.. It was an unpopular move to put her in jail for lying, but he did. In 2004, when he was acting attorney general because John Ashcroft was seriously ill, he rushed to his hospital bed when Ashcroft was close to death to prevent agents of President George W. Bush from forcing the ailing attorney general to sign papers reauthorizing illegal torture procedures. Ashcroft rose up from his bed when the Bush team entered and told them to leave because Comey was the acting attorney general and he was in charge. And Comey went after Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s right hand, for lying about leaking a CIA’s agent’s identity (Trump has just pardoned Libby).
This part about Trump comes at the end, page 211 out of 277 pages. Their first meeting was when Comey was chosen to be the one to tell Trump about the urinating prostitutes rumor and Trump’s possible vulnerability to blackmail. Their further encounters are chilling to read about. Comey recently appeared on CBS Morning News and impressed all with his forthright answers. He is coming to the Bay Area to participate in the Peninsula speaker series at San Mateo High School and at Foothill College. Both of these series sold out immediately when announced. We can’t let a McCarthy era smear campaign destroy the reputation of a brave and truthful American.
Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
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