By John W. Sigle

At a fundraiser in Missouri last week, President Donald Trump revealed, with just a few statements, why he remains uniquely unfit for office.

John W. Sigle (PennLive file)

Before a crowd of supporters, he admitted that he just made up his own facts to dispute what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said about the balance of trade between his country and the United States.

"Trudeau came to see me. He's a good guy, Justin. He said, 'No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please,'. Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in -- 'Donald, we have no trade deficit.' He's very proud because everybody else, you know, we're getting killed."

"... So, he's proud. I said, 'Wrong, Justin, you do.' I didn't even know. ... I had no idea. I just said, 'You're wrong.' "



There are several major problems here.

First, the President is lying, and admits he is lying, to a close ally.

Second, he doesn't know what the balance of trade really is, although he has been making claims about it for years.

On .@realDonaldTrump's false claim that the U.S. has a trade deficit with Canada. Here is what Consul General Phyllis Yaffe, whose territory includes Pennsylvania, told me in an interview last month. .@AaronBlake, .@jameshohmann pic.twitter.com/ZOfYbMm3FM — ByJohnLMicek (@ByJohnLMicek) March 15, 2018

This is something he definitely should know the facts about before he sits down with the Prime Minister to discuss, well, anything. This is the kind of thing that US Presidents would already know or would be briefed on before such meetings.



Third, he just makes stuff up. He has no respect for the truth. He invents his own facts to suit what he wants to be true or to press his case. Trump supporters like to say that he is a straight talker, that he tells it like it is.

He doesn't. He makes stuff up. This is more than ironic, it is hypocritical and deceitful when he constantly accuses the main stream media of being fake news.



Fourth, he brags about this behavior. This indicates that he still believes that the bullying, braggadocio and mendacious style of negotiation that sometimes made him successful in his business career is the way to negotiate on the international stage.



It isn't.

World leaders now recognize that they can't trust what the President of the United States says, and they can't trust that what he says today will be what he says tomorrow. They can't trust that he will do what he says he will do.



The same holds for his fellow Americans.

Trump says he will stand up to the NRA, then he doesn't. He says he wants to help the DACA recipients, but he doesn't. The list of false claims and flip-flops is long. That combined with his erratic actions and his chaotic administration, means that only his true believers still have faith in him.



Trump finally admits Trudeau is correct. 'Well, sir, you're actually right. We have no deficit, but that doesn't include energy and timber. ... And when you do, we lose $17 billion a year.' It's incredible."

But it does include energy and timber.

It includes everything.

Perhaps what Trump meant was that there is a deficit if you include only energy and timber (or all tangible goods but not services). His incredible lack of precision of language in another major problem.

However, the next day he reverts to the lie again with a tweet-

"We do have a Trade Deficit with Canada, as we do with almost all countries (some of them massive). P.M. Justin Trudeau of Canada, a very good guy, doesn't like saying that Canada has a Surplus vs. the U.S.(negotiating), but they do...they almost all do...and that's how I know!"

"He's just different, and he's not a politician." That's the trope that is repeatedly used to excuse the wild and sometimes ugly rhetoric of President Trump.

But different doesn't necessarily mean good. A President that has such low regard for the truth is a danger in both our domestic and international affairs.

And in Trump's case, not being a politician means that he doesn't know much about how government works, and what doesn't work. It means that he doesn't understand geopolitics and it means that he doesn't know how to use the large and experienced administrative apparatus that does understand geopolitics.



And with his oversized ego, he is quite confident that he has all the answers and that what he says should be accepted as truth, even when it doesn't match reality. It's like we are still watching The Apprentice.

"What have you got to lose?" was one of Trump's campaign lines. We now know the answer - loss of respect from much of the world, and a serious and frightening challenge to our democratic principles and institutions, as well as to our national integrity.