"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" is a phrase describing the persuasive power of lies and numbers, particularly the use of statistics, to bolster weak arguments. The phrase was popularized in America by Mark Twain.
It's a practice used increasingly enthusiastically by President Donald Trump, who, according to the Washington Post’s Fact Checker, has upped his daily average of lies from just over five a day in his first quarter in office to over 15 in the latest quarter. Whether it's attendance at his inauguration, job creation numbers or his own popularity, the man apparently just can't tell the truth — nor let his Cabinet do so, either.
What's even more worrying is that his behavior is accepted — even enthusiastically supported — by his base and members of Congress. Have evangelicals forgotten the Ninth Commandment? And the Seventh? Or the Second (Trump towers, golf courses and even steaks)? If the commandments no longer matter in the Trumpian world, will organized religion in the USA wither as it has in Italy, England and many other countries around the world? Is the U.S. headed for the strongman model of government, à la Stalin, Hitler or Putin?
Frank Fish, Park City