Trump’s credibility gap is hurting America
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Trump’s credibility gap is hurting America
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by A. Scott Bolden, opinion contributor - 05/17/26 12:00 PM ET
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by A. Scott Bolden, opinion contributor - 05/17/26 12:00 PM ET
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President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, May 15, 2026, in Washington, on return from Beijing where he met with China’s President Xi Jinping. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Lyndon Johnson’s lies about the Vietnam War created what came to be called a “credibility gap” when millions of people stopped believing him. Today, a credibility gap plagues President Trump because of his whoppers about the war with Iran and much more.
Trump’s credibility gap endangers our national security. His hyperbolic rants are so absurd — and his policy flip-flops so extreme — that our foreign allies and adversaries don’t believe much of what he says and no longer take him seriously. It’s as if the proverbial boy who cried wolf moved into the Oval Office.
Trump has alienated our allies with his lies, insults, temper tantrums, tariffs, aid cuts to Ukraine and other nations, and threats to withdraw from NATO and annex Canada and Greenland. Our adversaries don’t fear his threats because he often fails to carry them out. This has generated the insult of TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out).
Growing numbers of people now view Trump’s absurd claims as calculated lies at best — or the delusions of a 79-year-old man with declining mental health at worst.
A poll for the Washington Post and ABC News published May 3 found an extraordinary 59 percent of Americans believe Trump doesn’t have the mental sharpness to serve effectively as president. A total of 71 percent believe he isn’t honest and trustworthy, and only 37 percent approve of how he is handling his job.
Trump posted on Truth Social, the social media site he owns, to denounce in all caps the Washington Post survey (and a similar one published by The New York Times) as “FAKE POLLS FROM FAKE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS.” In fact, Trump is one of America’s most prolific purveyors of fake news.
Trump’s lies and frequent policy changes have made it hard for business executives and farmers to plan for the future. For example, Trump’s tariffs have raised costs for U.S. factories, retailers and farms that import finished products, parts and raw materials, and “have done significant damage to the economy” and slowed job growth, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
Court decisions have overturned many of Trump’s tariffs, prompting the Justice Department to file appeals and Trump to impose other tariffs that were recently struck down in court.
The president’s overblown threats to other nations sometimes make him sound like a cartoon villain. This occurred when he threatened Iran on April 7 on Truth Social, writing: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
The only way the U.S. could wipe out Iran’s civilization in one night would be with a massive nuclear strike, killing millions of civilians. This might prompt other nuclear powers to use such weapons of mass destruction in conflicts. Thankfully, Trump later said he would not use nuclear weapons against Iran. Let us hope our mercurial president doesn’t change his mind.
Trump has also claimed many times that Iranian leaders have agreed to make major concessions to the U.S. — such as surrendering their highly enriched uranium to American forces — only to have the Iranian regime deny it.
On top of this, Trump has created a credibility gap on many other issues. CNN published a list of 100 of his false claims in the first 100 days of his second term.
As a candidate, Trump falsely promised he would end Russia’s war against Ukraine, lower grocery prices and “end inflation” on the first day of his second term. He is well into his second year of the term, but hasn’t done these things.
The president falsely claimed he needed to launch a mass deportation program for unauthorized immigrants to stop an “invasion” of violent criminals. He lied when he said DEI programs illegally discriminate against white men and award jobs and college admissions to unqualified people of color and women.
Trump has also told numerous lies to attack his enemies and weaponized the Justice Department to launch baseless investigations and prosecutions of some of them.
One of the president’s most damaging lies has been his claim that he was reelected in 2020, but robbed of victory by Democrats who rigged the election. State and federal courts have rejected this claim in more than 60 cases.
Trump’s election lie mot