Questions of trust

Did the president's top adviser really leak information about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's hidden private emails to the press in an attempt to "get back" at the Clintons for past deeds against her boss?

Did the president send "his" people to Israel recently -- on the taxpayers' dime -- to undermine this week's national elections there?

Did the president authorize providing somewhere around 100,000 green cards to illegal immigrants in direct defiance of a court order?

Did the president seek through international law a deal with Iran over nuclear weapons to bypass Congress, which clearly opposes any such deal?

Too many scandals. Too little time.

The current administration -- like all those before it -- should be built on trust. You can disagree with policy but as long as there is some level of mutual trust, you can simply agree to disagree.

But when trust evaporates, as it clearly has with the current regime in Washington, D.C., then all bets are off.

The president's core constituents -- who, sadly, include the vast majority of the major mass media -- will always side with this administration regardless of the facts or circumstances.

Minority unemployment can hit record numbers yet that constituency will still support the president overwhelmingly. Same goes for most of the academic world, the union bosses and the ever-popular "green" movement folk.

But for those great unwashed in the middle -- and I can only assume that's most of us -- we rely on trust above all else to guide our thoughts and actions.

Much of the problem today is that our limited attention span cannot simply grasp this many scandals in such short order.

With zero help from the mass media in sorting through these issues, it's far too easy to dismiss most as "normal" for the federal government.

But it's not normal. Nor is it right.

Why can't we have honesty or at the very least some semblance of honesty?

Did the president's adviser sound the alarm on Hillary? Yes or no.

Did the president send a team to undermine the Israeli elections? Yes or no.

How about the "green" cards and the Iranian deal?

And just to be a tad bit more specific, these are just the tip of the scandal iceberg, and everyone recognizes that.

For every scandal, there is an equal and opposite investigation. Select committees are formed, threats are made, witnesses are called and ... crickets!

Like many of you, perhaps, I don't dislike this president. I just don't trust him.

And absent trust, you look at all issues large and small for that small lie that you know is there.