From my Quora feed: 'Is Trump lying really okay because he isn’t under oath?'

Is Trump lying really okay because he isn’t under oath?

I’m not sure if this question is on the level; it doesn’t look like it is, but I’ll try to control my skepticism and answer it anyway.

Frankly, I do not think that is all right for President Donald J. Trump to lie as constantly as he does about everything even if he’s not, as you say, under oath.

Seriously, dude. Think of the logical implications of your question. What kind of a society would we devolve into if the President of the United States - or anybody else, for that matter, is allowed to lie except in the rare occasion that he is under oath?

How would you like it if your wife or girlfriend cheated on you, but was given a pass to lie about it unless someone in authority made her swear an oath to “tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you, God?”

Trust is a very fragile commodity, and while we go through life with the knowledge that most public officials often prevaricate or make promises they can’t keep, we often believe (or want to believe) what our elected officials tell us.

I had hoped that once Donald Trump swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States on January 20, 2017. he would act like a head of state and be on the level with all of us, rather than grandstand for his base of supporters. That did not go the way I had hoped; in January of 2019, we will have had two years’ worth of the Trump Administration and he has not stopped his lying or his empty boasting.