I exhale. Again, another person saying how we live in a post-truth world, as if truth has ever mattered more than trust. Trust is the issue and nobody seems to be talking about it.
I reflect on 2016 and the public discourse seemed to revolve around whether something was true or not, instead of whether people were being truthful or not. Well, not everyone was talking about this. Donald Trump was vilifying his opponents with terms such as “Lyin’ Ted”, “Crooked Hillary” and the “rigged” media, election process, and maybe anybody else who attacked him.
And in the process, he lied a lot. The media was very quick to point out how what he was saying wasn’t true. That he contradicted himself time and time and time again, even in the same talk. And yet he still got elected.
Maybe Trump supporters didn’t believe that they could trust Hillary. Maybe they felt suspicious of her. Maybe they felt suspicious of immigrants, Goldman Sachs, and anybody else where the arrow of suspicion got pointed. Maybe they just felt suspicious. Afraid. Sad. Hurt. Hopeless. Lost.
I think we feel emotions and then attach them to whomever is around. I haven’t slept well and haven’t eaten and then of course the guy who bumps into me at the supermarket is an asshole. I lose my job and feel devastated and of course a free trade agreement from 10 years ago is the reason. I feel ashamed of my weak body and of course people with strong bodies are to blame.
I think many people feel hurt and they want to trust someone to take care of them. I think many people didn’t trust Hillary and yet I wonder, do they trust Trump? The US is a representative democracy where we decide who will represent us to make decisions. For me, the most important part in that process is choosing someone I trust to make decisions on behalf of me and all the other Americans. For that, I want someone to be truthful with me.