Typically, in my book, Blame Game, How to Win It, I examine excuses in the context of face saving. I suppose that is the most common cause for excuse-making. However, liars have an additional reason to make excuses: hide lies. In such cases, the excuse implicitly creates the pretense that there was no underlying lie.
Photo by Quinten de Graaf on Unsplash
A typical illustration is the illegal border crossing
"invasion" occurring in the U.S. The cause is that Central Americans
know that if they can get across the border, most of them will be allowed to
stay. All the signals from the U.S government are that illegals are now welcome.
We stopped the construction of the wall, we "catch and release"
immigrants, we provide free food, medical care, and housing, at least for a
time, and we transport them to various sanctuary cities in the U.S. All of this is the new immigration policy
created by President Biden (not Congress).
In the May 1, 2021 issue of the New
York Post, the editorial board quoted Biden as blaming former President
Trump. Many former immigration officials had quit (which is typical when a new
administration arrives to put its own people in charge. Biden failed to point
out that Trump had actually expanded the border control staff. Biden failed to
point out the illegal immigration had slowed to a trickle because of Trump
policies (border wall, agreements with Mexico and Central America governments
to halt the inflow, deportation instead of catch and release. On day 1 of his
Presidency, Biden stopped wall construction and deportations, plus soon providing
implicit incentives for more illegal immigration.
So, the lies and deception are clear. Despite the fact that
only 15% of the public believe Biden's lies about immigration, he persists. Politicians
have learned that repeating lies again and again gradually increases the number
of people who believe the lies. The blaming of Trump is a way for Biden to
avoid taking responsibility, while at the same time creating the pretense that
Biden's new welcome invitation to illegals is not a fact. It also allows Biden
to continue his goal of changing the voting demographics in the U.S. to give
more advantage to Democrats.
