There are so many things that disturb me about what Donald Trump has brought into our lives, but I think the most distressing is his dishonesty. Politicians have always been less than truthful, spinning and shading things to fit their purposes, but Trump has taken this to a brand-new level, creating a completely false reality upon which he and his allies justify their decisions and actions.

We face some very real and serious challenges — the cost of living, health care, climate change, immigration, hunger, wealth inequality, affordable housing — but there is no way we can effectively solve these difficult problems if half of us are lying about what the essential problems are.

Most immigrants are not mentally ill criminals. Climate change is real. The cost of living is increasingly beyond the financial means of too many people. Health care costs are increasingly unaffordable for too many. Nearly 50 million of us are food insecure, and wealth inequality has increased dramatically over the past few decades as the top few percent accumulate more wealth and power at the expense of the rest of us.

If we can’t agree that these issues are real and true, and instead half of us live in the fantasy world that Trump is spinning, how is it even remotely possible to have the necessary conversations to address these incredibly challenging issues? Without truth there cannot be wisdom, and without wisdom we can’t possibly make good and effective choices. 

Doug Zlatin
Falmouth