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Sometimes Barack Obama lied. Sometimes his aides dissembled and spun. They were imperfect and self-interested. Bush and Clinton too and presidents since time immemorial. But never has the White House dealt exclusively in lies and paranoid fantasies.
It has gotten so statements become lies upon lies upon lies upon lies upon lies (there is a caravan, we need a wall, we have part of it built, we will build more of it, it will help). It is not Orwellian. It is much much worse. We live in a dystopia.
It is made worse because leaders of venerable institutions support the lies to advance their self-interest. The president and his band of thugs have bullied the GOP into supporting their total war on truth. Alarms have been sounded and ignored.
But there is an antidote: a fact for every lie. But beyond fact-checking the president must be challenged every time he spins a crisis out of nothing, a success out of failure. That is not just the work of fact-checkers. It must be the work of people with public platforms.
In debates every time he lies a journalist or a candidate must challenge him. "That's not true, sir. Here is the fact. Look it up. I'll post it on my website." Every time. If we do not, the lie takes root. It Is validated. This is demanding. It is tedious.
But it is essential. Or we will continue the drift from our moorings, sink into the dark void of lies that is the only place this president's corruption is virtue, his betrayals are triumphs, his abuses are charity, his thefts are gifts, his failures are successes.
