In God we trust, in government we don’t

By Tom Quiner

Despite all the talk about hope and change, despite pledges of fidelity to the people, trust in government has plunged to all-time lows under Barack Obama.

Pew Research Center lays it all out on the graph above. Data is taken from a survey last month.

This blog has discussed the countless integrity lapses in the current administration, which helps to explain why the public has lost hope in Mr. Obama’s type of change.

The latest breach in the public’s trust for government involves manipulation of intelligence reports regarding ISIS. Apparently, the White House has cooked the books on what the public hears about ISIS to downplay their threat to the U.S.

Fox News shared this report with info provided by intelligence officials:

“Analysts at U.S. Central Command were pressured to ease off negative assessments about the Islamic State threat and were even told in an email to “cut it out,” Fox News has learned – as an investigation expands into whether intelligence reports were altered to present a more positive picture. Fox News is told by a source close to the CENTCOM analysts that the pressure on them included at least two emails saying they needed to “cut it out” and “toe the line.”  Separately, a former Pentagon official told Fox News there apparently was an attempt to destroy the communications.”

Public trust has also taken a hit thanks to Hillary Clinton.

She famously spread the lie that the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi were due to an anti Muslim film made by an American. Subsequent records pried from Ms. Clinton by the FBI revealed that she instantly knew the whole affair was a planned terrorist attack. She chose to lie in the name of politics.

Democrats aren’t the only ones who have tarnished the public’s trust in government. But they are especially in the crosshairs since they have controlled the White House since 2009.

On the Republican side, Donald Trump is taking advantage of public distrust in government at the same time that he soils his own integrity.

In September, he famously signed a pledge vowing to support the Republican candidate for president, whoever he or she might be. Even more, he pledged not to mount a third-party campaign should his Republican candidacy sputter.

Now he’s sounding downright Clintonesque as he hedged his bets on ABC news over the weekend:

“I’m going to have to see what happens. I will see what happens. I have to be treated fairly. When I did this, I said I have to be treated fairly. If I’m treated fairly, I’m fine. All I want to do is [have] a level playing field.”

In other words, his integrity is contingent on the actions of others.

I suspect that neither a Clinton nor a Trump presidency would stem the collapse of public trust in our government so exacerbated by the Obama White House.