I cannot tell a lie; it's Trump's that drive this column

By Tom Burke

Herald columnist

Last week I wrote about Donald Trump. Again. I was chided about it, challenged to write about something other than Trump (if I could), told I was being “vitriolic” and, as he was my president, to just “get over it.” (For the record, I had more “atta-boys” than criticisms.)

Those suggestions, that I simply accept his behavior, his policies and his governance without question, got me thinking.

So here’s what I’m thinking:

I’m thinking I can write about other stuff. (Actually, I have. A lot.) I spent most of my career successfully writing about other stuff; whether advertising copy; speeches for three Maryland governors; the Chesapeake Bay restoration; news for community newspapers; or columns here about topics as diverse as Neah Bay, phony companion animals, and gun violence.

I’m thinking “getting over it” is a surrender of my rights as a citizen and my responsibility as a journalist. I can no more get over Trump than I got over Bill Clinton’s immorality, Hillary Clinton’s arrogance; or George W. Bush’s lies about WMDs.

I’m thinking that what shakes me to the core, and drives my focus on Trump, is his lying. Over 9,000 times since he took the Oath of Office.

And as his lying doesn’t seem to bother Trump’s supporters, I’d like to ask them some questions about it:

If your doctor said, “You have cancer,” and you didn’t; or he told you, “You’re cancer free” and you had that terrible disease; how would you react to your doctor’s lie?

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