I never thought I would have to write about something that should be completely obvious, but, well, [gestures wildly at everything]. And this isn’t in response to a given Trump or Trump administration utterance because the lying is constant. But somehow there must be costs to lying, including lying to Congress and other forms of bearing false witness. A society can’t function over the long term if liars are able to prosper. I don’t think there’s One Neat Trick to Fix This, but there are some things that could be done such as media outlets must stop interviewing known liars live (Tape it and, if they lie, make the liar’s lie the story).

As citizens, we must stop giving known liars the benefit of the doubt. Oddly enough, this might actually be working in our favor against Trump: he’s really not being given the benefit of the doubt–correctly–regarding the Epstein files. Maybe being an adjucated sexual predator with a long history of saying obscene things about teenage girls and who constantly lies is somewhat harmful in making his case of innocence? (one can hope).

Regardless, this simply isn’t a tenable state of affairs. At some point, as occurred in the Soviet Union, the lies will become so systemic that basic functions like industrial and food production fail. Something has to give here, but it reamins to be seen if it will be the body or the lash.