President Donald Trump's Cabinet members and nominees have had to pass a loyalty test and often debase themselves publicly to keep their jobs — it's what an analyst has dubbed "the Costanza presidency."
In a Substack post published Friday, Tom Schaller, professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, detailed just how far Trump's allies have been willing to take their lies, even refusing to deny Trump lost the 2020 election. This "favorite lie" is something Trump has come to expect from his faithful followers and people within his inner circle, he wrote.
"Like their boss, Donald Trump’s lackeys lie about pretty much everything: the state of the economy, the cost and need for the White House ballroom project, the security of shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz," Schaller wrote. "Their bald-faced deceptions are designed to convince you that up is down, day is night."
Schaller referenced Trump Cabinet member Kevin Hassett's most recent falsehood this month, bragging that credit card spending was "through the roof" as Americans navigate rising gas prices.
"Top White House economics adviser Kevin Hassett is a veritable Zen master of what might be called the 'don’t believe your lying eyes' falsehood," Schaller explained. "With a giant grin, he routinely appears on television to convince viewers that high and rising prices for housing, food, or gas are lower than they are and declining, or that increased credit card spending is proof Americans are thriving amid Trumpflation."
But the reality is far from that, despite what Hassett and other Trump insiders say to the public, the writer argued, referencing a character from the television hit "Seinfeld."
"With unmitigated confidence, Hassett passes the fabled George Costanza Test: 'It’s not a lie,' Costanza famously told Jerry Seinfeld, 'if you believe it.'
"But do people like Hassett and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt actually believe their own lies? When they parrot Trump’s lies verbatim, especially in cases where the president’s lies are demonstrably false or numerically impossible, Trump’s lackeys must know in their hearts that they’re abasing themselves," Schaller added.