In the Penguin Book of Modern Speeches, there is a speech given by Donald Trump in 2017 to Congress, after his first tumultuous 5 weeks in office.  In this speech entitled: A New Chapter of American Greatness is Beginning,” his speech is convincing as a statesman:  
“Each American generation passes the torch of truth, liberty and justice in an unbroken chain all the way down to the present.”

Over the last three years there have been many accusations by Donald Trump on twitter, some of them claiming false news is being said about him. He has led the social media and swayed the public. Donald Trump appears to be a man low on integrity and big on winning, but people often just want a winner as their leader and forgive the lack of integrity.   Film and sound can be altered, and the software people who do it,  regard themselves as good at their jobs.  Last weekend a manipulated video was put on twitter, claiming Joe Biden has dementia and it was viewed over a million times before it was taken down. 

When I read Roosevelt’s speech from the same book, entitled: “The Men with the Muck-Rakes” made in 1906 it echoed the present situation in the USA and the UK.  Here is a quote:

“The liar is no whit better than the thief and if his mendacity takes the form of slander, he may be worse than most thieves.  it puts a premium upon knavery untruthfully to attack an honest man or even with hysterical exaggeration to assail a bad man with untruth.  An epidemic of indiscriminate assault upon character does not good, but very great harm. The soul of every scoundrel is gladdened whenever an honest man is assailed or when even a scoundrel is untruthfully assailed.”

The Penguin Book of Modern Speeches is edited by Brian MacArthur