Trump may save truth for us yet

what i’m about to
say may seem naive;
hopeful, at least;
and it’s certainly so
that it’s nothing new;
so i’m also going to
keep it neat and clean,
concise and pointed

here it is:

though so far the
“reality” show that is
Trump –
from his pre-politics life
and celebrity/star status,
to his candidacy
and presidency –
has been marked by
an extreme atruthiness
(a distinct disdain for truth,
a purposeful distortion of it for gain),
Trump may save truth for us yet

why/ how?

because:
by flaunting his atruthiness so,
by virtue of it becoming
so uniformly known,
so undeniably alarming,
truth itself is becoming
the topic of the day
in a unique and new way

and –
so hopes naive me –
maybe, hopefully,
this state of affairs
can’t help but
benefit, increase,
somehow vindicate truth,
no matter how
counterintuitive, how
unexpected it may seem

here’s another way
to think about this:
we’re all familiar with
Orwell and “doublespeak;”
we’ve always known that
politicians lie…….

but this new,
nearly unbelievable
“post-truth” world of “alternative facts”
so clearly calls truth itself
and caring about what’s true
into question
(see, e.g. “How Trump Is Trying to Govern America Like an Internet Troll”
where Katherine Cross quips,
“All of a sudden, one is a patsy for caring, a fool for believing in the power of truth telling.”),
that maybe,
maybe,
we’ll come out the other side,
ironically,
less jaded, less cynical,
more truth lovers and seekers

here’s another way
to think about this:
we’re all familiar with
the tactic of distraction
as a means to
mask the truth –
the “razzle dazzle”
sung about in the musical Chicago
that keeps people from hearing
“the truth above the roar” –
and how the mass media
helps mediate this method;
how it can itself become
just a tool in the hand
of a deceitful man……

but in Trump’s America,
the “opposition party” media,
the “fake news,”
insofar as they
have been positioned
as enemies of the state
precisely on this point,
have a real opportunity
to participate in,
to restore value to,
to help save
truth telling and truth itself

finally,
here’s another way
to think about this:
we’re (some of us)
familiar with the idea of
postmodernism –
that old-by-now position
that so smugly sees
truth as passe –
and maybe (some of us)
have considered
this president or that one
to be a “postmodern president”
(a quick Googling, in fact,
finds this term applied to, at least,
Clinton, Bush, Obama
and (of course) Trump himself
(see, e.g., the excellent “Trump is the ultimate postmodern presidential candidate – and he’s been a long time coming”))……..

but i submit that
Trump, truly,
is the end of postmodernism
in the sense that:
if one calls truth itself into question
for so long,
so casually,
allowing it to be replaced
with the muddy waters
of relativism and celebrityism
and meism (even nationalism,
conservatism, liberalism)
or any other kind of ism
except truthism –
that old-school, ancient,
passe version of truth;
you know:
objective, “capital-T Truth;”
that Bibley kind of truth even,
where when the question
“What is truth?” is posed,
there are actually answers
(see, e.g., John 14:6) –
what else could one expect,
but the ultimate ascension of
this person, this thing,
capital-T Trump:
the incarnation of,
the walking embodiment of,
the end of
this chosen path?

it’s like:
we asked for it
and now we’ve got it.
happy?

i’m saying:
maybe not.

maybe we’re not happy.

maybe, just maybe,
because this current
atruthiness is so atruthy,
maybe not

maybe, just maybe,
because this current
disdain for the truth is
such disdain,
maybe not

maybe, just maybe,
because truth’s distortion
is currently so distorted for gain,
perhaps,
perhaps,
maybe, just maybe –
so hopes naive me –
Trump may save truth for us yet