photo by: Creators Syndicate

Keith Raffel

In the 1933 movie farce “Duck Soup,” Chico Marx famously asks Margaret Dumont, “Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”

Trump and members of his team are implicitly asking that same question over and over. They demand to be believed, no matter what Americans themselves see.

Here’s the latest instance. Danielle Sassoon, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Manhattan office, resigned rather than dismiss bribery and fraud charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams. She explained in a Feb. 12 letter that such a step would be an agreement where Adams made an “offer of immigration enforcement assistance” to federal authorities “in exchange for a dismissal of his case.” Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove responded to Sassoon that it was “false” to suggest there was any agreement for such a quid pro quo.

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan appeared on Fox News with Adams on Feb. 13 and declared that if the mayor “doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City, and we won’t be sitting on a couch. I’ll be up his butt saying where’s the agreement we agreed to.” Later that day, Adams announced he would sign an executive order giving federal immigration agents access to the city’s jail on Riker’s Island.

I watched the video of Homan on Fox News. I read a copy of the letter signed by Sassoon, a former law clerk to the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. As to whether there’s an agreement, I’ll believe my own eyes, thank you very much.

From his first day in office, Trump has told Americans what to believe in the face of evidence to the contrary. He claimed on Jan. 20, 2017, that “The overall audience was, I think, the biggest ever to watch an inauguration address, which was a great thing.” He had his press secretary Sean Spicer support the claim and accuse the press of manipulation. Only one problem: There were photos showing Trump’s inauguration crowd was only about one-third the size of Barack Obama’s. (By the way, Spicer later said he “absolutely” regretted what he’d said.)

Unsurprisingly, the claims by acting Deputy AG Bove and press secretary Spicer were right out of their boss’ playbook. Trump has called Jan. 6, 2021, “a day of love.” On that day, I myself watched live video of marauders beating police with flag poles and spraying them with chemicals. I heard them chant “Hang Mike Pence,” the then-vice president, and saw the gallows they’d erected to show the threat was not an empty one.

Were those charged or convicted for their actions “peaceful hostages” as Trump said or members of a violent murderous mob? Who am I going to believe: the president or my own eyes?

More Americans seem to be coming around to Trump’s assertions, though. A December 2021 poll indicated 54% of Americans believed the protesters who entered the U.S. Capitol that day were mostly violent. In another poll taken three years later, 46% of Americans believed Jan. 6 was a violent insurrection. The Department of Justice has removed the Jan. 6 page from its website that listed those convicted for their actions that day. “It’s been erased,” said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. “Winners write history and Trump won. And his version is that it was a peaceful gathering.”

The eminent 20th century historian William L. Langer, who taught history to John F. Kennedy in college, wrote a wartime profile of Hitler that cited one of the German dictator’s primary rules: “People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.” In a video, Trump’s former press secretary Stephanie Grisham recalled that Trump used to tell her, “As long as you keep repeating something, it doesn’t matter what you say.”

I write novels, works of fiction. That means I sometimes find myself in the same business as Trump — trying to make people suspend their disbelief while they’re immersed in our made-up stories. But what about when it’s time to put the stories aside? How, then, to make certain you’re living in the real world and not in Trump’s made-up one?

Here’s what I try to do. Check what Trump says against trusted sources. Examine credible video, audio and documentary evidence. And most importantly, believe my own eyes and ears, not those of Donald Trump — or Chico Marx.

— Keith Raffel is a syndicated columnist with Creators.