Lying to save lives is a virtue blessed by God. Think of the two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who lied to the Pharaoh.
When the Pharaoh implemented an edict to kill all boys born to the Hebrews, the midwives instead sheltered and saved them. When questioned, they lied: “Hebrew women, unlike Egyptians, are vigorous, giving birth before midwives arrive” (Exodus 1:19).
And how did God respond to their lie? “God was kind to the midwives” (Exodus 1:20).
Approaching an action stuck in a rigid dichotomy of good versus evil, right versus wrong, can lead to greater injustices while shielding the perpetrator of culpability. Lying, at times, is ethically justified as a means of preserving the lives of the most vulnerable who are facing overwhelming odds against their survival.
Putting aside the categorical impediment embraced by Eurocentric rational thought, one can argue there are times when lying is ethical, specifically as a survival praxis, preventing the continuous decimation of the disenfranchised. And there is a time when it is wrong, when employed by the powerful to increase their power, privilege and profits.
I recently argued that remaining silent in the face of deception is a denial of God when employed by this current administration— that is, by the right. Today, I argue it is just as wrong to lie when done by the left to advance their own power, privilege and profits.
In an age of AI-generated fake images, both the right and left are lying to achieve political goals through deception, not to save the lives of the vulnerable. And even if they convince themselves that they are lying on behalf of the vulnerable, then they are guilty of paternalism.
The decision to lie as a survival tactic rests solely with those who will be impacted. Lying is a communal—seldom an individual—decision made by the disenfranchised, not the implementors of policies benefiting the dominant culture.
Case in point: Several photos have been circulating on social media. One is a photo of Donald Trump dancing with a teenage girl, and another shows him with his hand on a girl’s leg while she sits on Jeffrey Epstein’s lap. Both photos are AI-generated.
To be clear, no verifiable photo currently exists depicting Trump behaving inappropriately with a teenage girl. I say this not as a defense of Trump, but as a defense of truth.
What does exist are multiple verifiable photos from the 1990s of him socializing and partying with Epstein. In one video, he is shown leering at a woman’s backside while mouthing, “She’s hot.”
This is not to say Trump may not be complicit in Epstein’s guilt. After all, we know Trump was aware of Epstein’s proclivity for children. In New York Magazine, he did boast, “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
We know Trump is creepy. During a 2005 Howard Stern interview he bragged, “I’ll go backstage before a show and everyone’s getting dressed . . . and I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant . . . they’re standing there with no clothes . . . and so I sort of get away with things like that.”
And while Trump was referring to the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, not that it makes it any more acceptable, there are allegations that he also burst into the dressing room of teenagers who were 15 to 18 years old during the Miss Teen USA pageant. At least four teenage girls made the accusation, stating he shrugged off the intrusion with the comment, “Don’t worry, ladies, I’ve seen it all before.”
We also know that he was convicted of sexual abuse, even though judge Kaplan qualified the verdict by stating: “The jury [found] that Mr. Trump ‘sexually abused’ Ms. Carroll . . . in other words, that Mr. Trump in fact did ‘rape’ Ms. Carroll as that term commonly is used and understood in contexts outside of the New York penal law.”
That Trump is a convicted sexual predator has been proven in court. That he is pedophilic is an accusation that has yet to be proven or disproven, although allegations do exist.
For this reason, the Epstein files require immediate release. But while we wait for the file’s disclosure, the fake images of Trump and teenage girls being distributed remain highly problematic.
First, if the left is generating and distributing these images, it will backfire.
If the files are released and it is then revealed that no credible evidence demonstrating Trump’s inappropriate behavior with children exists, the right will then possess powerful ammunition to undergird their narrative of fake news. If these photos are fake, then Trump’s followers can argue that all accusations against the president, regardless of how true or verifiable they might be, are also fake.
If foreign powers generated and are distributing these fake photos (I’m looking at you, Vladimir Putin.), then once again, foreign entities are interfering and influencing our elections, just as they did in 2016. Both the right and left must denounce, in unison, such electoral interference for the sake of maintaining and sustaining our sovereignty.
And suppose the photos are being generated by Trump followers who suspect or know Trump is not on any Epstein list. In that case, they can appear as holding Trump accountable by demanding the release of the files.
So that if no evidence is revealed, they can argue that their submission to Trump’s will is fake news. They can say they do have a backbone and stood up to Trump when it mattered.
Of course, there is a fourth scenario: the Epstein files do implicate Trump, and thus all will be done to prevent their release or to destroy them, thereby once again shielding the president from any accountability. Hence, pressure demanding the release of the files must be intensified.
Here is the bottom line: Stop reposting fake images. You are doing more damage than good. When you encounter fake images online, call them out for what they are.
Instead, post the actual illegal, irresponsible and immature things—and there are plenty—that Trump is actually doing. Let us not only speak truth to the powerless but also debunk the lies they are being told.
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Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, and a contributing correspondent at Good Faith Media.
