These lies can be annoying or amusing, but they are surmountable. They collapse in the face of facts. Truth is an effective defense against these lies because they exist along the same set of coordinates as the truth. The Trumpian lie is different. It is the power lie, or the bully lie. It is the lie of the bigger kid who took your hat and is wearing it—while denying that he took it. There is no defense against this lie because the point of the lie is to assert power, to show “I can say what I want when I want to.” The power lie conjures a different reality and demands that you choose between
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