Many people wonder why Donald Trump lies about things that are easily fact-checked and refutable, and moreover, why he lies about things he doesn't need to lie about?
I have come to the conclusion that he lies - sometimes (maybe even most times) on purpose, and sometimes not knowing or caring if it's true or not - to assert power and domination.
Think about it.
Every time he tells a lie, he is telling the listener that whether it is true or not, what HE says is the reality that will follow.
It is a message to both his die-hard supporters and his 'enemies' - anyone who does not bow down to his greatness.
It is an expression of his power and his ability to remake reality.
To his followers, the message is one of support and safety - if you follow someone so powerful, that power is yours also.
To his enemies, it is a statement of aggression and dominance. He can lie with impunity and not suffer any consequences from it, so therefore his enemies have no recourse against him. He cannot be stopped no matter what he does or says - not even by the truth.
If the sky is blue and Trump says it's green, you are forced to make a choice. Not only that, you are forced into deciding between two 'realities', which automatically puts the lie on a par with the truth - two ideas that must be chosen from. So right there he has put himself in a position of strength. He has elevated his lie to the same level as your truth. This simultaneously boosts his lie and diminishes your truth. This works - but only if he NEVER concedes or retracts his lie.
Then when presented with the overwhelming evidence that he lied, he either lies again and says he never said it, or you took it the wrong way, or he moves the goalposts, or he doubles down and dares you to do something about it.
And the more blatant and obvious the lie, the more powerful the differential. Your truth has lost its power by being compared on the same level as his outrageous lie, and the bigger the difference between the lie and the truth, the more power is ceded to him.
He claims additional power by constantly calling others liars (he is so powerful that he can lie, but no one else can) and by demanding apologies from everyone else (when he has never apologized to anyone ever.) He is different, better and stronger than you - you have to follow the rules but he doesn't. This is another display of dominance and aggression.
Simply put, there is much more power (for him) in lying and getting away with it than there is in telling the truth.
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