The lie they embrace

As president, Donald Trump wields the greatest political authority in the world. His predeccessor, Joe Biden, merely wields an oversized, wooden oatmeal spoon.

Does that comment strike you as mean?

If so, do you have the same reaction when our president's attackers call him pedophile?

Pedophilia is thoroughly despicable. And remember, here in the real world, Trump has never been arrested for it, charged with it, tried on the charge, nor so convicted. 

But those inconvenient facts don't give pause to self-sainted partisans happily free of principle.

All of this points up the degree to which some are eager to shove through windows even the most rudimentary of honesty and fairness standards when they do not serve grubby political prejudices.

In an 1819 letter to Congressman Nathaniel Macon, Thomas Jefferson (by then having already served as America's 3rd president) wrote "honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." He expressed hope that future citizens would understand the importance of truthfulness.

America, Jefferson, and integrity raise gloves in one corner. Trump's conscienceless decriers scowl across canvas from the opposite one.

In whose corner are you?