The Washington Post tally of President Donald Trump lies for 2017 will top 2,000. Trump claimed 61 times that the Affordable Care Act was dying or dead. He also lied 61 times about his role in promoting business and jobs. Fact check showed that investments and job announcements Trump claimed for himself took place before he took office. He also lied prodigiously about his tax cut and the corporate tax rate. (The Washington Post, January 2, 2017, by Glenn Kessler, Meg Kelly and Nicole Lewis)
With public trust in government at all time lows, Trump’s record with truth-telling does not inspire trust. A recent poll showed that 62 percent of voters don’t think Trump is honest. (Time, January 2, 2018, by Ryan Teague Beckwith)
In Salon, November 18, 2017, Lucian K. Truscott IV argued that Trump did not lie reflexively or routinely but rather to exercise power. He said that Trump’s lies were similar to those of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Lies are the way authoritarians exercise power,” wrote Truscott. “If you are governed by a set of rules and laws, and then tell lies that enable you to break those rules and laws, the lies give you power.”