A few days after Donald Trump’s first term ended and the Republican grudgingly left the White House, The Washington Post published a memorable report on the number of false or misleading claims he’d made during his first term. The total was incredible: “By the end of his term,” the report explained, “Trump had accumulated 30,573 untruths during his presidency — averaging about 21 erroneous claims a day.”
The report was striking, but it was not altogether surprising. To know anything about this president is to know that he effectively has an allergy to the truth. This was true during his 2016 candidacy; it was true throughout his first four years in the White House; it was true in the wake of his 2020 defeat; it was true during his 2024 candidacy.
