What unites Greenland, Venezuela and Ukraine? Trump's immoral lies and Europe's chronic weakness | Simon Tisdall

<p>The president’s inability to tell right from wrong fuels his increasingly dictatorial, illegal and erratic behaviour </p><p>Donald Trump made 30,573 “false or misleading” claims during his first term, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/">calculations</a> published in 2021 by the Washington Post. That’s roughly 21 fibs a day. Second time around, he’s still hard at it, lying to Americans and the world on a daily basis. Trump’s disregard for truth and honesty in public life – seen again in his despicable response to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/08/minneapolis-school-class-canceled-ice-killed-woman">fatal shooting in Minneapolis</a> – is dangerously immoral.</p><p>Trump <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/08/trump-administration-news-latest-updates-today">declared last week</a> that the only constraint on his power is “my own morality, my own mind”. That explains a lot. His idea of right and wrong is wholly subjective. He is his own ethical and legal adviser, his own priest and confessor. He is a church of one. Trump lies to himself as well as everyone else. And the resulting damage is pernicious. It costs lives, harms democracy and destroys trust between nations.</p><p>Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/11/greenland-venezuela-ukraine-donald-trump-lies-europe">Continue reading...</a>