Distrust, don’t verify

St. Ronnie quoted the Russian proverb doveryai, no proveryai (доверяй, но проверяй) meaning 'trust, but verify' in connection with a nuclear arms treaty with the Soviet Union. Reagan was referring to the posture towards a political adversary.

In principle, our government should be an ally, not an adversary. We ought to be able to trust our police, our physicians, our food inspectors, our FDA, the Federal Reserve, etc. 

Trump just fired the commissioner of labor statistics. Why? Not for dereliction of duty.

Look, everyone including Trump knows that firing the messenger doesn’t change facts. What it does is sow distrust. And that’s the goal.

Distrust of our military allies in our defense commitments. Distrust in our trade allies of our trade policies. Distrust in drug, vaccine and food safety. Distrust in our election system. Distrust in our justice system.

In short, the goal here is to make Americans doubt experts, institutions and neighbors, and leave Trump as the sole arbiter of truth and reality. How can you verify if you can’t trust evidence?

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