Trump doesn't just lie because he's trying to promote some agenda, or for personal gain. He lies even when he doesn't have to, when it is easy to verify the falsehood of his lies, or in this case, when no checking is even necessary, when the truth is self-evident. He's a pathological liar, a habit he's gotten into because of his business. It projects confidence and self-assuredness, the very tone reassures his victims. He lies because he knows most people will not bother to check what he's just said, its just a place-holder for him, something that will allow him to pause and think what lie he's going to say next. Used car salesmen lie like that, real estate people, carnival hucksters. "Oh, that's not a bug, it's a feature." "Oh, distressed drywall is becoming fashionable now." "Oh, rips and holes in your Levis are what's fashionable now." It just goes with that type of personality.

The fact he is ready to lie for no good reason is not what's distressing here. What's really scary is how his followers are so eager to let him get away with it, to cover up for those lies. If Trump were to disappear tomorrow those followers would still remain, making excuses for him, making a martyr out of him. And whoever replaces Trump will pander to those same followers with the same lies. Nixon, Stalin and Hitler still have their followers, don't they?

We shouldn't spend too much time pointing out Trump's contradictions and inconsistencies, RL, the real problem is that about a quarter of the voting population will never admit to themselves he's lying, and another quarter know he is but don't care because they make money directly from those lies. They are too busy profiting from his deregulation and tax and labor and immigration policies.

Thirty pieces of silver.