By ROGER CALDWELL

As Americans, we would like to believe that truth reigns supreme, and our leaders operate with integrity and honesty.

But in 2017, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, things are different, and truth has been replaced with perjury and lies.

Lawyers, politicians, and sales people are a unique group of individuals because they are known to talk from both sides of their mouths. They are comfortable massaging the truth to influence clients to spend money, and hope their candidate gets the vote. Many times the individual will not tell the truth in legal matters, thereby committing perjury.

According to Wikipedia, “perjury is considered a serious offense as it can be used to usurp the power of the courts resulting in miscarriages of justice. It is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding. Federal law classifies perjury as a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to five years.”

It is time in America to tell the story straight and truthful, but it seems easier to lie and protect the president. The Trump administration is endangering our Democratic system, and when the president and his entire administration can’t be trusted who can you trust?

When the White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly called Rep. Frederica Wilson “an empty barrel,” and attacked her about a FBI ceremony, and he had the story all wrong; there is something fundamentally flawed within our leadership.

When the president spoke to the mother of gold star Sgt. La David T. Johnson who recently died in Africa, and said to her “the fallen solider must have known what he signed up for” is cold and callous. The mother felt disrespected and hurt, but instead of offering her an apology, his administration started a war of words and accused the mother of lying.

When the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders tells 65 lies in 20 minutes at a press briefing, you must ask the question, “does she have a soul?”

Robert Mueller’s investigation resulted in George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign advisor, to plead guilty to lying to the FBI. Americans are now wondering what other members in the Trump administration are also committing perjury.

It appears Trump’s press secretary Huckabee-Sanders finds it easy to massage the truth, but reporters know that her fabrications are not truthful. She is rude, disrespectful, and at some point, her lies will be exposed for what they really are.

Since Trump has not had any major legislative victories, he and his administration will try to push through his tax reform bill. This tax reform bill is essentially a two trillion dollar tax cut to the large international conglomerates starting with Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo has been fined billions of dollars for cheating its customers, and now they are being rewarded with a tax gift.

United States Senator, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), released the following statement: “The new Republican tax plan is the same warmed-over, trickle-down plan they’ve been pushing for decades.

It delivers massive tax cuts to millionaires and giant corporations and kicks working families to the curb. While the plan slashes the income tax rate for the highest earners, it actually increases the income tax rate that applies to many working families.”

The major reason Trump and the Republicans have had no major legislative victories is because their ideas and policies are wrong and dangerous for America. Taking money out of hard working families’ incomes, and then lying about it is deranged and sick.

At this point in America, Trump and his team cannot be trusted, and change must start with the impeachment of Trump; because he should not be entrusted with the life and death powers given to the president.