It's easy to get overwhelmed with all of the problems in Trump's presidency, but his most pervasive and long-lasting effect on the title of Commander-in-Chief will be his dissociated sense of reality.
We have it in our heads that Trump is just something to be trifled with, some unfortunate byproduct of a quick but short-lived revitalized racism epidemic, that around 2020 we'll finally be cured of. What once lurked under the surface of peoples day to day biases is emerging like an ugly boil. But this idea that it'll all go away isn't based in any truth. If anything, messes like these tend to snowball. Hell, we may have Trump for another 4 years. My theory on this is a little politically nihilistic, but I don't think it matters who wins, the political gap widens either way. In all likelihood, the next president will be one of three things, both of which a reaction to the current presidency; 1) a market-tested Democratic candidate, 2) a far leaning liberal who is so far left he's borderline socialist, 3) Trump for another term, followed by a worse Trump/Hillary-esque candidate. Whatever way it swings, in the age of rampant "whataboutism", the next president now has the executive power of mistruth. A precedent has been set, and the bar has been lowered once again.
Here's the problem. No matter who it is, they now have the new ability to lie under oath, and still be taken seriously by the next day's news cycle. That's the message that's being sent, and that's a line that can't be uncrossed. We now live in a world where people on a world stage don't have to be held accountable for what they say and do. Chalk it up to a rapidly updating news cycle, ignorance or a short national attention span, but its dangerous and it's a mindset that doesn't have anything stopping it from flourishing.
Our president lies to us SIX TIMES on a daily basis (on average, as if it mattered). He is intentionally feeding us mistruths which can almost immediately be proven false, on a regular basis. It doesn't matter whether it's pertinent information or not, this bleeds into all aspects of our life. This divorce from truth has allowed both sides of the aisle to use denial of basic facts to spew the narrative that suits them; often having vastly different takes on the same subject. Lies are told, miscommunication and resentment obviously result, and nothing productive gets done. At least nothing in our interest.
In a political climate as contentious as this, it's important that people are able to understand the decisions their government is making. Or are at least told the truth about what those choices are. Complacency got us to the point that we have a compulsive liar in a seat of real power, and it'll only get worse if we don't unequivocally demand a higher standard from him.
