The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, recently admitted in a court filing what many suspected — the National Mall Reflecting Pool damage was caused by a contractor who did a shoddy, rushed job at the behest of President Donald Trump.
That job was undertaken in a hurried no-bid process benefiting a company favored by the president but with no experience in this kind of work. Moreover, Trump took a motorcade out into the empty reflecting pool while the paint job was underway, possibly damaging it. As a consequence, the pool paint job had to be redone and the initial $16 million was a waste of taxpayer money. Trump had asserted the damage had nothing to do with the contractor’s job but was caused by vandals who wanted to destroy his latest renovation project. Pirro told a judge none of what Trump said was true.
But a larger issue is what this incident tells us about Trump and who believes him. Repeatedly, those who support Trump on the “right” have accused those who oppose him on the “left” of suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome — a made-up malady caused by imagining bad things about him and disbelieving what the president says. However, the Reflecting Pool incident is the latest in a string of occurrences where Trump said one thing and the truth existed somewhere else, but his supporters believed him nonetheless.
The first such example is the birther movement that claimed that Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen. Trump was a leading spokesperson for this conspiracy theory and gave it legitimacy. Subsequently, Obama produced his Hawaii birth certificate and the furor died down. Trump was wrong, although he never admitted it.
Another example was his response to the COVID-19 epidemic. Trump urged Americans to use hydroxychloroquine, a supposed COVID cure drug pushed by anti-vaccine advocates that they asserted would treat the disease. Medical experts warned people not to listen to such advice because there was no evidence the drug was effective. Yet, many people assumed Trump was telling them the truth.
In fact, Utah government officials bought large quantities of the drug during the pandemic to distribute to citizens. Subsequently, a study found that the drug caused the deaths of 17,000 people.
More recently, Trump promised he would reduce inflation on day one, lower gas prices and avoid any foreign wars. None of that has happened. And, of course, the Ukraine-Russia war was going to be over within 24 hours. As well, the Iran war, according to Trump, was going to be won by March and, again according to the president, a deal with Iran still is only a day or two away.
Why does Trump lie, exaggerate or make things up? And why do his supporters believe him, even though contrary evidence is in many cases plain to see? Unfortunately, the sad truth is that Trump’s time in the political spotlight for the past 15 years or so has been characterized by repeated claims that turned out to be exaggerations, manufactured theories, or outright lies.
Trump takes no responsibility for these untruths. He never apologizes or admits he was wrong. Rather, he simply does it again and essentially dares his followers to believe him once again. And, unfortunately, too many have.
When Trump was a private citizen, this tendency to prevaricate was sad, but largely harmless. But as president, he can cause real damage — not only costing taxpayers money, but also even endangering other people’s lives. Perhaps the latest example of the manufactured cause of the Reflecting Pool damage will give his supporters pause. Perhaps they will realize they have been conned repeatedly by someone who twists the truth to spread conspiracy theories, falsely malign his opponents, and cover up for his own mistakes. It may be time for them, finally, to stop believing what Donald Trump says.