To the editor:

It’s hard to ignore the entertainment value. Donald Trump stands awash in the sounds of thousands cheering, while behind him faces of hundreds smile, laughing and applauding. He’s just told a lie, a whopper, and goes on with more helpings of the same.

Look, I know I’ve just turned off 25 percent of those reading who label me a hater, or worse, a liberal. To them it makes no difference that without any factual support, Trump says the immigrant caravan is infested with Muslim terrorists. They don’t question when he claims that Republican leadership wants to keep Obamacare’s protection of people with pre-existing conditions. That these lies are obvious just doesn’t matter. Google Trump’s litany of falsehood and within minutes you’ll find dozens more, hundreds of lies, but his fans keep roaring, even refusing his offer to “tone it down.”

I suspect his lies won’t matter so long as he tells them what they want to hear, so long as he entertains. It’s impossible to not be impressed by the obvious enjoyment the crowd takes in the man, in Trump himself. Every sound, every move meets with a delight that can’t be missed.

Obviously, I’m not among the entertained. To me it seems that words coming from the mouth of a president should at least be believable, if not certainly true. Words are the currency of democracy; if they can be so commonly counterfeited, the bank of communal trust will surely break. We’ve reached a moment beyond entertainment, one of necessary seriousness.

William Skepnek,

Lawrence