I wear a purple jersey as far as politics is concerned. I refuse to fit neatly in a box on the complex issues we all face. As a voter, I can tolerate an occasional stretch of the truth to make a political point.
However, let’s face it: No one really likes a liar or likes being lied to. So why do Americans excuse the lies of someone running for president?
I refer to lying that drags others deep into a dark morass of turmoil. That crosses my red line. As my mother often said, “There but by the goodness of God, go I.” Translation: Have compassion for others because something similar could happen to you.
Where is your red line on lying?
I ask this now out of pure empathy for the family of Ruby Garcia, the 25-year-old West Michigan woman who was murdered on March 22. Consider the pain the Garcia family feels over the death of their daughter, sister, and cousin. I can imagine, in their time of loss, they couldn’t fathom feeling any worse.
Enter Donald Trump, who has made the Garcia family’s grief worse. While at a recent rally in Grand Rapids, Mr. Trump said, “She lit up that room, and I’ve heard that from so many people.” He said: “I spoke to some of her family.”
A beautiful remembrance if true, but it turns out to be a lie.
Trump says a lot every day. What he didn’t say was anything to the Garcia family. He made up those remarks, and now the Garcias feel obliged to comment to the media in their time of mourning.
Sister Mavi Garcia, calling Trump’s comments “shocking,” said, “He did not speak with any of us, so it was kind of shocking seeing that he had said that he had spoke with us, and misinforming people on live TV,” she told Grand Rapids TV Station WWTV.
The abject falsehood uttered by Trump angers me. Grief is powerful and private. No one deserves their grief to be violated by someone hoping to score a political point.
Trump’s words were an attempt to highlight illegal immigration. The man who allegedly killed Garcia was an immigrant. So some may say, “Oh, Trump was just trying to make a point.”
I don’t see it that way. There doesn’t seem to be any adequate reason to lie and offer a fictitious conversation with the family of a dead young woman.
If we could have more human concern for others, we could reduce the temperature of the nastiness between people in this nation. This has to start somewhere. How about with Ruby Garcia? Why should she become a victim twice, once in death and then once again as the subject of a cruel and very public lie?
Where is your red line on lying?
I have established mine, and I am not afraid to ask others to join me in disgust over this cruel and deliberate falsehood. We can – and should – expect more from our politicians.
Ultimately, we can ask them to retire by not voting for them when they lie purposefully – and carelessly hurt others.