Letter: Compare consequences of leaders' lies

Mr. Koller's Jan. 28 letter to the editor was about the lies told by such Democratic politicians as Elizabeth Warren, Clinton, Obama and President Biden. He makes the case that their lies are similar if not worse than those told by Republican politicians.

Most remarkable of all is that he begins his letter by called President Biden the "supreme leader of lying." He apparently is unaware of former President Trump's record of deceit, telling over 30,000 lies during his four years in office.

However, the real story is not if politicians lie, but rather why they lie. In an interview with Leslie Stahl in 2018, Trump told us clearly that he lies and misrepresents the truth to demean and discredit reporters so that no one will believe any negative stories about him. Some commentators have suggested that the sheer volume of his lies is purposeful to exhaust everyone so that his lying becomes a norm that makes fact checking meaningless.

Trump often told people that what they see on the news is not what is happening and that he will let them know what is happening. So, what are his followers to do - believe their "lying eyes" or what Trump tells them? We now know that a significant portion of the 2020 electorate chose to believe his lies rather than their own eyes.

For the most part the untruthful statements of the Democrats cited by Mr. Koller are inconsequential compared to Trump's "Stop the Steal" campaign that culminated in the most significant attack on our capitol since the British sacked Washington, D.C. in 1814. The Trump-inspired insurrection was directed at stopping the most important process at the heart of American Democracy - the peaceful transfer of power.

The consequences of political lies are often more important than the lies themselves.

Lynn Jensen

Arlington Heights