Government,
Constitutional Law
Nov. 6, 2025
President Trump, prevaricator-in-chief
James Madison warned that a functioning republic depends on an informed citizenry, yet President Trump's unprecedented pattern of habitual, high-volume lying has eroded public trust, polarized the electorate and posed a profound challenge to the foundations of American democracy.
William Rothbard
Email: Rothbard@FTCAdLaw.com
William Rothbard also represents clients in federal and state deceptive advertising investigations and enforcement actions as well as consumer class actions and has litigated and settled scores of matters. He provides advertising-related transactional services, including contracts, trademarks, sweepstakes and contests. Bill writes and speaks often on advertising and marketing law topics. He has served as the Editor of Competition, an antitrust and trade regulation journal published by the California State Bar Antitrust and Trade Regulation Section, and is the author of the legal blog, FTCAdLaw Alert, which can be found on his firm website. He has served as an advertising law expert in FTC-related cases and serves as an expert within his field in the global expert consulting network of the Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG). Prior to entering private practice, Bill was an attorney with the FTC, holding positions as an advertising enforcement attorney, Deputy Assistant Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and Attorney-Advisor to the FTC Chairman. He also served as Counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Monopolies and Business Rights. He is a graduate of UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings College of Law) and The University of Michigan. In his civic life, Bill is a past Chair of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, past President of Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, former Board Member of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, and a former candidate for the California Assembly.
James Madison said that "a popular Government without popular
information is but a prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or perhaps both.'"
Translated to modern English, what he meant was that a republic, to function,
requires the informed consent and trust of the public, which can be earned only
by "popular" (truthful) information coming forth from the government.
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