Do Lies Matter?

 There's a reflex among Americans to dismiss all politicians as liars. I think that was wrong, although Trump has upped the ante.

There are basically three "lies" that politicians tell.

The first is overpromising. If you think Harris is going to restore Roe, but she doesn't have the votes in the Congress and can't do that...is that a lie? I don't think it is, though we would prefer to think a politician lied to us that acknowledge that we don't really understand how Congress works.

The second is spin. This is the more traditional form of "lying". When craft an argument or a campaign pitch, candidates will pick only the most flattering aspects of their biography or platform. It's lying by omission or by accented certain things more than they should be. It's the sort of half-lying that Bill Clinton in particular was famous for.

The third is the current default of the Republican Party: just brazen, provable falsehoods. The current mendacity over the Helene disaster response is just appalling and could get people killed. National Republicans are spreading lies whereas the Republican governors of those states are saying that FEMA and the national government are incredibly engaged.

This is, of course, a direct manifestation of Donald Trump's hold on the GOP. As I've argued here before, Trump is less a liar than a bullshitter. He doesn't violate the truth, he simply doesn't care what it is. As he gets more addle-minded and panicky, he simply pushes more ridiculous lies and the institutional GOP has collapsed in their ability to check those lies. 

JD Vance is the poster boy for this collapse, as he arose as a Trump critic and now helps spread his most blatant lies. The rot, however, goes all the way down. If Trump loses next month, who can bring that party back to a nodding acquaintance with reality?