When presidents lie, diplomacy dies: The global cost of post-truth under Trump

Lying is as much a part of statecraft as it is of human nature. History is littered with deceptions—some confessed, others concealed—employed by politicians for everything from survival to conquest. In the fragile balance of war and peace, a well-timed lie has often been dismissed as a ‘necessary evil’ meant to de-escalate tensions or provide a face-saving exit from the brink of conflict. In our hyper-connected era, a political lie’s shelf-life has plummeted. With facts weaponized in real-time, leaders find it increasingly impossible to build sustainable agendas on foundations of falsehood. Donald Trump appears to be the exception to this rule of political gravity—not once, but more times than one can recall. By appearing to believe his own fabrications, he […]