And he likely would have, were it not for the Blue Wave of 2018.

From Karen J. Greenberg:

or Trump, lying is but the tip of the iceberg and in this he reflects far more than his own predilections. He reflects as well our moment, our age. George Orwell, that prescient 20th-century observer, warned in his classic essay “Politics and the English Language” about one key aspect of such a lying mindset: the way “lack of precision” in language can pose a danger to society and to political stability.

When it comes to imprecision today, the dangers couldn’t be more real. In fact, the strategies employed in Washington to confuse and mislead the public have subtly eaten away at the country’s collective mindset, creating fertile ground for Trumpian-style lying to successfully take root. In many ways, the focus on Donald Trump’s blatant and persistent lying only serves to obfuscate other no less destructive methods of deceiving the public that preceded him into the White House and helped create the conditions that make the president’s lies so destabilizing.



ETA: Almost forgot to mention the role of the “free press,” or Corporate McPravda as I prefer: The for-profit media operate for that. The Big Five care not one wit for comforting the afflicted compared to what they roll out for comforting the comfortable. A+ treatment, all the way.