【美國日記】21.02.03 不管什麼王，都是“撒謊王”！_風聞

“精美”和“美分”等“吃狗屎的蒼蠅（港獨蒼蠅哥）”在抹黑中國時，常用美國人信上帝因此什麼都是好的/對的。美國總統作為美國的領袖和楷模，也是美國的代表，難道是上帝教導他們撒謊？還是他們根本不信上帝？

非常有名的美媒《大西洋月刊》發表了以下的觀點。

所以蓬佩奧的名言不是首創，只是註解。

所有總統都撒謊。即便如此，特朗普政府在還是將不誠實武器化到驚人的程度。

唐納德·特朗普不僅撒謊誇大自己的成就，或者抹黑對手。對於特朗普和共和黨來説，説謊是對忠誠度的考驗。拒絕特朗普的謊言或誇張，即使它們與現任總統先前的主張相牴觸，也是要表達不忠，這是特朗普時代唯一的被他的信徒無法寬恕的罪惡。這使總統能夠為支持者塑造不容質疑的替代現實，例如他對選民欺詐的虛假指控。

當然，那不是後果的唯一謊言。總統從左翼製造了恐怖主義威脅，並隱瞞來自右翼的警告。他懲處了適當進行監督的政府官員，並獎勵了那些按他的意願誤導公眾的人。最具有破壞性的是，他對一場大流行的範圍和危險撒了謊，這場大流行正在殺死近50萬美國人。。

拜登時代預示着將重新回到典型的總統不誠實，而沒有定義特朗普時代的個性崇拜。但是總統的謊言在特朗普出現之前很長一段時間就具有破壞性，因此新聞界和公眾應該抵制這種誘惑，認為拜登政府將永遠處於平等地位，或者可以容忍其不誠實，因為拜登的前任曾因為這種放棄而虛假。有時候，公共利益會與白宮的政治利益發生衝突，在某些時候，總統會撒謊。

總統出於各種原因撒謊。林登·約翰遜（Lyndon B. Johnson）和理查德·尼克松（Richard Nixon）都對越南戰爭撒謊。比爾·克林頓（Bill Clinton）謊稱與莫妮卡·萊温斯基（Monica Lewinsky）的關係，羅納德·里根（Ronald Reagan）謊稱向伊朗出售武器，以資助尼加拉瓜的右翼武裝分子。喬治·W·布什（George H. W. Bush）謊稱要提高税收；他的兒子喬治·W·布什（George W. Bush）撒謊以便利他推動伊拉克戰爭。巴拉克•奧巴馬（Barack Obama）對《平價醫療法案》（Affordable Care Act）將如何影響先前存在的健康保險計劃撒謊。成為總統之前，拜登以誇口和誇張而著稱，其中最令人難忘的謊言是，他在探視被監禁的納爾遜·曼德拉時被捕。這些是欺騙，而不僅僅是凡人所犯的事實錯誤。

***有時總統會撒謊是因為他們的行為政治不便。有時他們説謊是因為他們認為事實會損害國家安全。有時他們撒謊掩蓋自己的不當行為。有時，他們撒謊掩飾自己與政治盟友甚至政治對手之間的摩擦。有時他們只是在虛張聲勢。有時它們會因疏忽，誤導或輕描淡寫而説謊。***我們不太可能看到諂媚的內閣成員公開舔拜登靴子的場面，但這並不是判斷總統的標準。

拜登已經試圖通過設定專家認為過於温和的疫苗接種預期來誤導公眾，這將使總統在目標超標時宣佈自己的方法取得巨大成功。拜登週四堅持認為，在100天之內接種1億疫苗是一個雄心勃勃的目標，新聞界宣稱這是不可能的。

我覺得這很有趣-昨天，媒體問了一個問題：一億夠了嗎？一週前，他們説：“拜登，你瘋了嗎？你不可能在100天之內做到一億。”好吧，我們願意，上帝願意，不僅要做一億，我們還將做的更多。但這是-我們必須這樣做。我們必須行動。

事實上，這是錯誤的。儘管對流行病本身和疫苗供應都處理不當，但到拜登上任時，特朗普政府已接近這一步伐。疫苗科學家彼得·霍特茲（Peter Hotez）在接受《華盛頓郵報》採訪時説：“如果要在六個月內阻止病毒傳播，每天要進行100萬次疫苗接種還遠遠不夠。”拜登政府此後宣稱1億劑疫苗的目標是“下限，而不是上限”。週一，拜登宣佈了一個新的目標，即在未來的100天之內生產1.5億種疫苗，這是在默默地承認最初的目標並不像他所聲稱的那樣雄心勃勃。

拜登的言論遠不及特朗普堅持認為病毒會“消失”的可怕程度，但特朗普式的謊言不該成為上下限。標準應該是一個純粹的事實，即使拜登政府有時會不可避免地不符合該標準。拜登將説謊。所有總統都這樣做。

*********************************************************************************************

“真探”的翻譯不是最好的，有興趣的朋友請看以下原文：

All presidents lie. Even so, the Trump administration weaponized dishonesty to a remarkable degree.

Donald Trump did not merely lie to exaggerate his accomplishments, or smear his opponents. For Trump and the Republican Party, lies were a loyalty test. To reject Trump’s lies or exaggerations, even if they contradicted prior assertions by the now-ex-president, was to express disloyalty, the only Trump-era sin that was unforgivable by his faithful. This allowed the president to fashion for his supporters alternate realities whose tenets could not be questioned, such as his false allegations of voter fraud.

That was not the only lie of consequence, of course. The president manufactured terrorism threats from the left, and suppressed warnings about those on the right. He punished government officials who properly engaged in oversight and rewarded those who misled the public as he wanted. Most damaging, he lied about the scope and danger of a pandemic that is on course to kill half a million Americans. Listing his lies would require more time than I can offer here.

The Biden era presages a return to typical presidential dishonesty, without the cult of personality that defined the Trump era. But presidential lies were destructive long before Trump appeared, so the press and the public should resist the temptation to assume that the Biden administration will always be on the level, or that its dishonesties can be forgiven because Biden’s predecessor wielded falsehood with such abandon. There will be moments when the public interest conflicts with the political interest of the White House, and during some of these moments, the president will lie.

Presidents lie for all sorts of reasons. Lyndon B. Johnson lied about the Vietnam War, as did Richard Nixon. Bill Clinton lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, Ronald Reagan lied about selling weapons to Iran to fund right-wing militants in Nicaragua. George H. W. Bush lied about raising taxes; his son George W. Bush lied to facilitate his push for war in Iraq. Barack Obama lied about how the Affordable Care Act would affect preexisting health-insurance plans. Prior to becoming president, Biden was known for bluster and exaggerations, including most memorably the falsehood that he was arrested while trying to visit an imprisoned Nelson Mandela. These are deceptions, not mere errors of fact, which all mortals make.

Sometimes presidents lie because the politics of their actions are inconvenient. Sometimes they lie because they believe the facts would harm national security. Sometimes they lie to cover up their own misdeeds. Sometimes they lie to conceal friction between themselves and their political allies, or even their political adversaries. Sometimes they are simply bluffing; other times they will lie by omission, misdirection, or understatement. We are unlikely to be treated to the spectacle of obsequious Cabinet members publicly licking Biden’s boots on camera, but that is not the standard upon which presidents should be judged.

Already, Biden has sought to mislead the public by setting expectations for vaccinations that experts have said are too modest—which will allow the president to declare his approach a great success if the goal is exceeded. On Thursday, Biden insisted that 100 million vaccinations in 100 days was an ambitious goal that the press had declared impossible.

I found it fascinating—yesterday the press asked the question: Is, you know, 100 million enough? A week before, they were saying, “Biden, are you crazy? You can’t do 100 million in 100 days.” Well, we’re going to, God willing, not only do 100 million, we’re going to do more than that. But this is—we have to do this. We have to move.

This was, in fact, false—the Trump administration had nearly reached that pace by the time Biden took office, despite its mishandling of both the pandemic itself and vaccine supply. Speaking to The Washington Post, the vaccine scientist Peter Hotez said that “1 million vaccinations per day is not nearly enough if the aim is to halt virus transmission in six months.” The Biden administration has since claimed that the 100 million target was “a floor, not a ceiling.” On Monday Biden announced a new target of 150 million vaccines over the next hundred days, a tacit acknowledgment that the original goal was not as ambitious as he had claimed.

Biden’s remarks are nowhere near as egregious as Trump’s insistence that the virus would “disappear,” but Trumpian lies should be neither floor nor ceiling. The standard should be the plain truth, even though the Biden administration will, at times, inevitably fail to meet it. Biden will lie. All presidents do.