In April of 1966, TIME magazine asked, “Is God Dead?” That progressive article sent shockwaves through an America where 97% believed in God. It must have done its intended job because as of 2014, only 63% of Americans answered with certainty that God is real. Now, TIME wants to tear apart truth, or at least, tell us what truth is and isn’t according to its wise employees.
TIME’s managing editor Nancy Gibbs explains the latest cover story in her article, “When a President Can’t Be Taken at His Word:”
Half a century later, I suspect that about as many [97%] would say they believe in Truth, and yet we find ourselves having an intense debate over its role and power in the face of a President who treats it like a toy. The old adage that "a lie gets halfway around the world before Truth has a chance to get its pants on" was true even before the invention of Twitter. But it has been given new relevance by an early-rising Chief Executive and his smartphone.
Like many newsrooms, we at TIME have wrestled with when to say someone is lying. We can point out, as we often do, when a President gets his facts wrong. We can measure distortions, read between lines, ask the follow-up question. But there's a limit to what we can deduce about motive or intent, the interior wiring of the whopper, as opposed to its explosive impact. Even the nature of coverage becomes complicated: social scientists have shown that repetition of a false statement, even in the course of disputing it, often increases the number of people who believe it.
Donald Trump baffles Gibbs who wonders, “What does he actually believe? Does it count as lying if he believes what he says?… Where is the line between lie, spin and delusion?”
Gibbs points to PolitiFact’s review of Trump during the campaign noting it found 70% of Trump’s statements to be false, while 4% were completely true, and 11% were mostly true. She used these stats from an organization that claimed Hillary Clinton only lied 26% of the time to make her case that Trump isn’t trustworthy:
Now that he is the President, however, he speaks on behalf of the country, and his words have a vastly different weight. The prospect of a hastily tweeted insult provoking a nuclear-armed rival gives new urgency to the helpful suggestion "Delete your account."
Trust is a transaction between leaders and those they lead. Throughout our history, the deeply held beliefs of various Presidents have taken the nation into war, delayed the pursuit of peace, alienated allies, appeased enemies. At other times, presidential beliefs have conquered the continent, freed the slaves, taken us to the moon because the President firmly believed we could get there. As citizens, it is vital that we be able to believe our President; it is also vital that we know what he believes, and why. This President has made both a severe challenge.
Also in this edition is an interview with President Trump by TIME’s Washington bureau chief Michael Scherer who drilled the president hard on how he handles “truth and falsehood.” It makes one wonder, did they ever do this with Barack Obama? (Answer below:)
