On connaissait le roman Crimes et Châtiments, le film Cris et chuchotements d’Ingmar Bergman, voici Mensonges et revirements, lorsque la réalité dépasse la fiction.
Donald Trump est connu pour avoir un lien très souple avec la vérité. Tous les présidents ont régulièrement tronqué, dénaturé, arrangé les faits mais rarement un président n’a autant excellé dans ce que l’on pourrait presque considéré comme un art. Le New York Times tient une liste qui actualise régulièrement des mensonges du président. Une liste plutôt longue qui s’allonge chaque jour. Ci-dessous du 21 juin au 21 juillet.
June 21 “Last week a brand-new coal mine just opened in the state of Pennsylvania, first time in decades, decades.” (Another coal mine opened in 2014.) June 22 “Former Homeland Security Advisor Jeh Johnson is latest top intelligence official to state there was no grand scheme between Trump & Russia.” (Johnson, who had a different title, didn’t say that.) June 23 “We are 5 and 0 … in these special elections.” (Republicans have won four special elections this year, while a Democrat won one.) June 27 “Ratings way down!” (CNN’s ratings were at a five-year high at the time.) June 28 “Democrats purposely misstated Medicaid under new Senate bill — actually goes up.” (Senate bill would have cut the program deeply.) June 29 “General Kelly and his whole group — they’ve gotten rid of 6,000 so far.” (The real number of MS-13 gang members who have been deported is smaller.) July 6 “As a result of this insistence, billions of dollars more have begun to pour into NATO.” (NATO countries agreed to meet defense spending requirements in 2014.) July 17 “We’ve signed more bills — and I’m talking about through the legislature — than any president, ever.” (Clinton, Carter, Truman, and F.D.R. had signed more at the same point.) July 19 “Um, the Russian investigation — it’s not an investigation, it’s not on me — you know, they’re looking at a lot of things.” (It is.) July 19 “I heard that Harry Truman was first, and then we beat him. These are approved by Congress. These are not just executive orders.” (Presidents Clinton, Carter, Truman, and F.D.R. each had signed more legislation than Trump at the same point in their terms.) July 19 “But the F.B.I. person really reports directly to the president of the United States, which is interesting.” (He reports directly to the attorney general.)
Changer d’avis n’est pas nécessairement un mal en soi lorsque de nouveaux faits enrichissent la réalité. Mais il faut garder malgré tout quelques principes. Donald Trump n’a apparemment aucune position de principe qu’il garde durablement. Sur tant de sujets, il a dit une chose et son exact contraire. La seule raison étant que le nouvel énoncé soit adapté aux intérêts du moment. Ci-dessous un petit échantillon significatif.