Jan. 25 — To the Editor:

Trump’s lies about the size of crowds or margin of victory are entertaining but unimportant because they do not affect policy. Now that he is president and has power, however, he will be enacting policies based on the many lies of his campaign.

Unfortunately, the lies of people in power can have terrible consequences. LBJ’s lie about the Gulf of Tonkin incident started the escalation in the Vietnam War, Nixon’s 1968 election lie that he had “a secret plan to end the war” (he didn’t) and his 1972 election lie that “peace is at hand” (he was actively planning a massive bombing attack) duped the American people about the Vietnam War, and caused 55,000 American deaths and 1.4 million Asian deaths. Bush’s war against Iraq started with the lies that Iraq was involved in 9/11, they had weapons of mass destruction, and it would be easy to do, resulting in thousands of U.S. deaths and wounded warriors, 500,000 Iraqi deaths, trillions of dollars, and continued chaos in the region. Lies by Wall Street, bankers, and politicians caused the worst economic downturn since 1929.

Trump’s lies about the economy, health care, civil rights, immigration, and trade will harm immigrants, the elderly, the poor, the sick, minorities, and the working class. In the short run, the rich and powerful will benefit.

Over time his lies will be unmasked. Because there is one thing about truth that Trump does not understand. No matter how hard he tries to ignore, distort or lie about the truth, there is one thing he cannot do to it. It’s what makes the truth the most powerful thing in the world. No one can change the truth, no matter how hard they try. Not even Trump.

Ted Drummond

Rye