Feb. 2025
Most ARs, whatever their political persuasion, would probably agree that veracity is not a trait for which either President Donald Trump or former President Joe Biden will be remembered by future historians. While space does not permit listing all of the egregious falsehoods uttered by either Trump or Biden, it’s worth noting one topic on which both of them told major whoppers: the purportedly unsavory eating habits of some people of color.
As most ARs will recall, Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance repeatedly said that illegal immigrants from Haiti were eating the beloved pets of American-born residents of Springfield, Ohio. Not true. Mike DeWine, the Republican governor of Ohio, conclusively debunked these charges, pointing out that the Haitians in Springfield were in The United States legally; and there was no evidence that any of them had ever eaten anyone’s pet.
Before dropping out of the presidential race Biden said on at least two occasions that his uncle Ambrose Finnegan, a pilot in the Army Air Corps in World War II, had been shot down while flying a single engine plane over Papua New Guinea and had probably been devoured by cannibals. Not surprisingly, James Marape, the current prime minister of Papua New Guinea, took umbrage at this slur against his nation, a staunch ally of the United States.
The truth is that Biden’s uncle was a passenger on a transport plane on which both engines failed, causing it to crash into the ocean. It was not a single engine plane. Biden’s uncle was not the pilot. And the plane was not shot down. Most important, Lieutenant Finnegan’s remains were at the bottom of the ocean and could not possibly have been eaten by cannibals unless these figments of Biden’s imagination happened to be scuba divers.
Told the truth and owned a brewery.
One infamous falsehood frequently attributed to Vice President Dan Quayle is apocryphal (like George Washington’s saying he could not tell a lie) but is worth repeating anyway. Most ARs over 50 probably remember reports of Quayle saying, “I regret I didn’t study Latin harder in school, so I could converse with people in Latin America.”
While Latin has never in fact been the language of Latin America, it has long been the language of academia. As some ARs probably know, the motto of Harvard University, the oldest university in The United States, is Veritas, the Latin word for truth. The motto of Yale University, Harvard’s traditional rival, is Lux et Veritas, which means light and truth in Latin.
The conclusion is obvious. While telling the truth may not be a priority for some contemporary politicians; and for that matter may no longer be a priority for social media, now that Meta has discontinued its fact-checking program on Facebook, Threads and Instagram; the quest for truth remains the longstanding stated foundation of intellectual inquiry at some of the world’s premier universities.
ARs who studied Latin in school, or who simply have a high regard for the truth, may be familiar with the Roman author Pliny the Elder, who wrote the immortal words, In vino veritas, which can be loosely translated to mean that people tend to tell the truth while drinking wine.
Both Biden and Trump, it’s worth recalling, are known not only for their mendacity but also for their abstention from alcohol. By contrast, Honest Abe Lincoln owned a saloon and was in the whiskey business before going into politics. As president he led champagne toasts at state dinners. George Washington, who reportedly could not tell a lie, operated both a distillery and a brewery at Mount Vernon.
What better way to celebrate Presidents’ Day than drinking a toast with Schlafly Beer to integrity, honesty and the presidency. As Pliny the Elder may have said, In cerevisia quoque veritas. People also tell the truth when drinking beer.
Tom Schlafly
Chairman
Schlafly | The Saint Louis Brewery
