Re: "When Fiction is a Fact of Life"

3.18.18

 To the Editor:

 ‘When fiction is a fact of life’ (NYT, 3.18.18) highlights President Trump’s ignorance about basic details of trade with Canada, his knowingly lying to Prime Minister Trudeau and his boasting to Republican donors that he lied.  I thank the Times for deeming this newsworthy and protecting us from what Robert Jay Lifton has called malignant normalization. This must never be normalized.  What parent hearing of her child behaving like this would not be deeply concerned?  What psychiatrist or psychoanalyst would deem this behavior non-pathological?

What White House press secretary would be complicit with this dangerous behavior? Sarah Huckabee Sanders is astonishing in her straight-faced effort to normalize President Trump’s behavior. As reported, she acknowledges that President Trump fabricated a story about the Japanese dropping bowling balls on American made cars to curtail imports and then asserts how this false story illustrates ‘creative ways some countries’ block U.S. imports.  In other words, President Trump’s lie becomes truth telling.

We should be troubled by the lack of outrage, the deafening silence of those in elected office who turn a blind eye and embrace denial putting their self-interest before country.  Moderate Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for their complicity and moral abdication of responsibility.

It is crucial that citizens do not become numb or see our current reality as the 'new normal.'  We must insist that our elected officials do the right thing.  If not, we will do the right thing at the ballot box next November.

Respectfully submitted

Larry S. Sandberg