Donald Trump squanders credibility in family separation drama Now when Trump's presidency faces crises not of his making and lives are at stake, America won't be able to trust the word of the White House: Our view

The Editorial Board, USA TODAY | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Thousands join 'Families Belong Together' rallies across the nation Around the country tens of thousands of people are participating in the “Families Belong Together” rallies, protesting President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that has left more than 2,000 children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. For more on the story here is Zachary Devita.

Sometime in the not-too-distant future, the United States could face simultaneous crises, and the word of the White House would be crucial.

Imagine, for example, that special counsel Robert Mueller produces a report for Congress containing evidence alleging that President Donald Trump obstructed justice or laundered money.

At the same time, a critical foreign policy situation arises — say that the administration claims it has irrefutable proof that Iran has relaunched its nuclear program, and Trump threatens a military response. Could the White House be believed? Or would the threat of war be a "wag the dog" distraction aimed at overwhelming talk of impeachment?

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI: Democrats have the real credibility problem

If the past few weeks are an indication, Americans couldn't be sure.

In the still smoldering fiasco created by Trump's decision to separate families crossing the border, double-talk from the White House abounded, and not just from the president himself.

Initially, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short all described a policy aimed at deterring families from illegally entering the United States.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway, meanwhile, denied such policy existed.

Trump insisted that only Congress could stop the separations, and that he couldn't simply end the practice by executive order, only to do exactly that days later as public anger boiled over. A story by The Washington Post counted 14 times the Trump administration changing its story on the separations scandal.

Confusion continues to reign since Trump backed down. At one point, the Border Patrol said prosecutions of adults illegally crossing the border with children have been suspended, while the Justice Department said no such thing had happened.

Most Americans have come to recognize Trump's long and sordid abuse of facts. In recent weeks, his falsehoods have come even faster and with greater vigor. The Post tracked 3,251 false or misleading claims by Trump in his first 500 days in office.

The Toronto Star reported that Trump recently hit a record pace of 15 lies per day.

Over the weekend alone, reports suggested that North Korea is ramping up and looking for ways to conceal its nuclear program, giving the lie to Trump's assertion two weeks ago: “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.” And Trump denied he had ever pushed House Republicans to pass a certain immigration bill — three days after urging them to do just that, in ALL CAPS, no less.

Sadly, this mendacity now seems to have infected Cabinet officials who counsel and carry out policy, as well as those who speak for Trump.

That's bad enough during a self-inflicted crisis such as the decision to remove small children from their parents and house them behind chain link fence. But history suggests that the time will almost certainly come when the White House is plunged into a national or international crisis not of its own making, where lives are stake. When that happens and the public is desperate for straight talk, will there be anything left of Oval Office credibility?

It's hard to be confident that there will. And that, in itself, is a crisis.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.

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