Donald J. Trump is prone to lying. He began his presidency unable to accept that the crowd at his inauguration was not nearly as large as that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. Trump’s first pronouncement of his administration was the lie boldly pronounced by his press secretary Sean Spicer that the crowd at his inauguration was the largest ever. The lie was a window into what we have come to witness out of this president over the course of his term in office. Donald Trump is no pedestrian liar. He is a prolific and pathological liar who exhibits no boundaries or shame. He is not the first person to occupy the Oval Office that has not been truthful with the American public. There have been half-truths, deception and outright lies from those who have been elected to lead this nation. By far, Donald Trump has exceeded all his predecessors in the aplomb and arrogance he displays when lying.

At no time has this been more evident than during the last several weeks when the nation has been waiting for a plan and clear directions from the White House to confront the Covid-19, or coronavirus, pandemic. Trump’s first response was to deem the virus, already responsible for deaths overseas, a ‘hoax’ and part of a Democratic conspiracy. That lie was fueled by the irresponsible yellow journalism of the Fox News Channel and its hoard of whoremongering on-air personalities. Trump then compounded his lie by telling the American public the virus would simply go away and disappear. Neither of these claims – that the virus was a ‘hoax’ and that it would simply go away – were true and put Americans lives at risk. By engaging in such reckless rhetoric, Trump wasted valuable time in getting the nation’s health care apparatus mobilized and citizens prepared to take precautions against Covid-19. Weeks equate to lives lost in responding to a pandemic, and this president will be responsible for many deaths and hospitalizations.

Trump further engaged in shameless lying when in response to a journalist’s question regarding the disbanding of the White House pandemic task force, the liar-in-chief resorted to calling the question ‘nasty.’ Trump denied any knowledge of his own actions and again resorted to ridiculing a Black woman. It was classic Trump deflection and misdirection. He then had the audacity to claim that he always knew Covid-19 would result in a pandemic when there is sufficient evidence that this Imposter-in-Chief took every opportunity to downplay the seriousness of this public health crisis.

He lies, denies and then tweets a false narrative that he spins as a counter to ‘fake news.’ We have witnessed this time and again over the last four years. Whether it is the size of a crowd at a rally, his association with individuals who were suspected of illegal and/or unethical activity, or conversations he has had that were germane to investigations conducted by the Office of the Special Counsel.

To make matters worse, the press has been unwilling to call Trump out on his lies for fear of violating antiquated rules of decorum or coming under attack from the orange menace. This lapse has allowed Trump to normalize his lying and supplied his supporters with a stream of misinformation that is then used to defend that which should be indefensible. Trump’s behavior has fueled a climate of ignorance that threatens the very foundation of our democracy. By demonizing the press and using the presidential podium as a liar’s platform, Donald Trump has undermined truth to the point that even those he endangers are blinded to the risk to their welfare that he poses.

When a president lies our military is put in harms way. When a president lies, children go hungry and families suffer homelessness. The lies of a president place the health and safety of citizens at risk. A president who lies undermines the nation’s economic security. Our standing in the world community suffers when the person occupying the Oval Office builds his presidency on a stack of lies. Above all, when the president is a liar it causes a loss of confidence in the very institutions upon which this Republic is built and depends upon to preserve civil society. Trump, like no president before him and hopefully none that will follow, has caused grave institutional damage to the government of the United States.

For the sake of our nation, the electorate must reject this liar. We cannot wait until November. We must begin now and call Trump out every time he opens his mouth and spouts a lie. We must bombard his Twitter account and use every social media vehicle to challenge his lies. Donald Trump is a threat to the very existence of the United States of America. He is the virus, a contagion that is a threat to all of us. We must do everything legally possible to rid the nation of this plague.