"He tells it like it is" – or "like we would like it to be"

Back in 2015 and early 2016, Americans supporting Donald Trump as a candidate for the presidency often said, "He tells it like it is." Yet much of what he said wasn't true: for example, there was no immigration crisis as he described it, and immigrants – documented or not – are responsible on a percentage basis for less crime than citizens. So "he tells it like it is" meant "he it tells it like we would like it to be." Yet Trump's description of the world is so bleak – the "American carnage" of his inaugural address is still how he sees the country. Is that how his supporters would like it to be? (Andrew Shields, #111words, 22 October)