Words and deeds

September 28, 2026

I think Seneca the Younger’s words are relevant here: “The highest duty and the highest proof of wisdom – that deed and word should be in accord.” With Trump that is a categorical impossibility. Trump is constitutionally incapable of speaking the truth, let alone recognising it. Even the briefest examination of the correlation between what he says from one day to the next reveals a constant litany of lies, distortions, fabrications, mendacities, falsities, hypocrisies, deceit and deception. Churchill’s famous observation in the House of Commons when describing a lie as a ’terminological inexactitude’ undoubtedly applies to every utterance from the lips of the Orange loon!

Even if the Chinese intend to follow the principles set out in the statements issued after the visit, the one certainty, based on all previous experience with Trump, is that he won’t!