There’s a saying that truth is the first casualty of war. And for sure, the war that the Trump administration is waging against people it calls the “enemy within” is grounded in shamelessly repeated lies.

President Trump’s public life is one long war against the truth. He lies relentlessly and blatantly. He uses political intimidation and legal extortion to suppress critical media coverage, while rewarding outlets that are willing to promote official propaganda.

The truth is dangerous to tyrants. That’s why they suppress the media and squelch freedom of speech.

And let’s remember one very important truth: Even though Trump is willing to abuse his access to immense power, he does not have the power to suppress the truth, so long as there are people willing to bear witness.

As civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. said, borrowing from a poet writing a century earlier: “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.” Let’s remember, too, the impact that images of southern segregationists’ brutality had on America’s conscience and on our history.

Mamie Till insisted on an open casket funeral for her tortured and murdered son, insisting, “Let the people see.” Television coverage of unjustifiable police violence against peaceful protesters on........

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