30 January 2026

Matthew Syed was reporting on a recent visit to Florida where there is huge support for President Trump. He met a fifty-year-old woman called Jeanette who has voted consistently for Donald Trump in his bids to become President.

Syed found himself pushing back against her admiration for the President. ‘But what about his lying?’ he said. ‘What about his serial deceit?’ A smile crossed her face at what she took to be his naivety and then she let the cat out of the bag, ‘Who cares about truth anymore?’

Clearly, Trump doesn’t care about the truth. Talking about British troops in Afghanistan, he caused outrage by saying that ‘they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines’. No less than 457 British soldiers were killed on the front line and many more injured and disabled for life.

It was moving to hear the testimony of mothers of injured and dead soldiers and to see the fortitude of soldiers walking with prosthetic limbs and making something positive out of their lives. Such sacrifice was not made on the back benches but on the front lines. This was true.

Like any other bully, when challenged Trump backs down. He  has to square his love of self with his desire to be loved. He wields enormous power and other world leaders fear his ability to diminish them on the world’s very conspicuous stage.

‘Who cares about truth anymore?’ This was first articulated by Pilate. ‘What is truth?’ he asked. It cannot be self-referenced. It needs to be independently validated. A man who puts on a dress cannot become a woman even if he declares it. A President who tries to  rob a soldier of his sacrifice cannot succeed. The sacrifice has already been made!