A critical question for the United States is the extent to which lying and mistrust have already permeated the entire culture. Alas, we don’t have accurate, current data yet. But the World Values Survey includes a question that asks, “Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you need to be careful in dealing with people?” In the latest survey, done from 2010 through 2014, the United States ranked in the top 20 percent of countries on trust.

Researchers have found that attitudes toward trust can linger for generations. Differences among people in the United States are often substantially explained by the attitudes that prevail in the countries of their ancestors. This accords with the view that long-term differences in economic success can be attributed to cultural attributes that may be embedded in relatively stable family values.

Nonetheless, lying erodes trust, and this process can be accelerated when publicity is given to lies. Young people in the United States who are just getting interested in politics and the news have seen only this period of rampant lying, and that might affect them for the rest of their lives.

The problem is complex. Trust isn’t an all-or-nothing thing. People have prejudices. They may trust those belonging to one group, or in one kind of circumstance, and not others. Together, they may be spreading viral narratives praising honest entrepreneurs even as they spread narratives about a dishonest president. We have to hope loss of trust remains contained, though it is not clear it will be.