A Mount Shasta of Lies

“United States presidents have long lied about the pretexts for, and the nature of, their murderous and criminal foreign policy actions. Remember George W. Bush and Dick Cheney’s fraudulent claims that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq government possessed vast stocks of “weapons of mass destruction” that threatened the world and that Iraq had participated in the September 11, 2001 jetliner attacks?” Paul Street, Counterpunch

The rulers of the American government think the people (that’s us, you and me, our friends and family) they rule are stupid. They think we can be persuaded to believe whatever pronouncements or justifications they cough up and spit out. They give us word salads that mean nothing. And of course, they lie to us all the time -- about war, the economy, the cost of medical care, prescription drugs, housing, and the state of the ecosystem. 

They give us slogans and patriotic spectacle. They give us simplistic solutions to complex problems. They give us crumbs when we need the whole loaf. They give us chicken broth while they gorge themselves on filet mignon. They give us Flint River water while they drink Dom Perignon. They give us wars we don’t want against countries who haven’t threatened our safety or survival; they start them, we fight them with our bodies and pay for them with our blood and taxes. 

What a gallery of rogues, what a pathetic collection of criminals, grifters, Christian dogma warriors, ideologues, warmongers, and dimwits. No honor. No morality. No heart. Trump, Pence, Barr, Pompeo, Mulvaney, Kavanaugh, McConnell, Nunes, Pelosi, Schumer, Hoyer, Biden, W. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice. This is only a partial list of the first string team. There are many, many more, including current and former military commanders such as the detestable David Petraeus.  

Is it any wonder that  we’re divided, distracted, disengaged and demoralized? All governments lie, as the indefatigable journalist I.F. Stone once said. It’s like death and taxes, something we can count on, no matter what else is happening. When the corporate news media describes government lying it uses words like, “officials failed to tell the truth.” No, they flat out lied, deliberately, by design. Would you accept “I failed to tell the truth” from your young son or daughter? 

How many justifications has the Trump junta issued about the assassination of General Suleimani? Did the General pose an intimate threat to American personnel? Was Suleimani responsible for the killing of thousands of Americans? Was he planning to blow up the US Embassy? Did Trump order the strike to placate hawkish Senators who will soon act as jurors for Trump’s impeachment trial? Which is it? No evidence is offered for our consideration or analysis. We are asked to take the White House at its word, as if that is even possible three years into the most mendacious administration in American history.  The Trump presidency is a Mount Shasta of lies. The only reason it doesn’t crumble to dust is because all available GOP hands are straining to hold retaining barriers.  

The wound on America’s soul is full of pus. As at Antietam in 1862, there is nothing to be done but take a bone saw and cut deep into the rot, then offer feeble prayers that God is unlikely to hear.