President Trump's bombardment of baloney

Thankfully, there is no masterplan behind President Trump's chaos and lies

A bombardment from the president.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Donald Trump, it is said, thrives on chaos. He sets his employees against one another in the hopes that competition will elicit better performance, he says crazy things to get attention, he prefers gut instinct to careful planning, he keeps everybody confused and uncertain and therefore (supposedly) on their toes. But as president, Trump is creating a whole new situation: informational chaos, where everyone is constantly trying to figure out what to believe and arguing about what the truth is — and the White House can't seem to get even the simplest message out without stepping all over its own toes.

We've had administrations that were overly secret, and we've had presidents who lied on occasion. But we've never experienced anything quite like this, where the president lies so often and so haphazardly that even his own aides can't figure out how to deal with it.

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Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.