So Trump wants to exclude from press briefings those news organizations that tend to tell the truth about him, and, I suppose will admit only reporters who have been vetted by the Party. Anytime news embarrassing to Trump is reported or any opinion critical of him is expressed, Trump and his flying squadron of liars accuse the media of lying. This is Trumpism’s BIG LIE. Trump is the most mendacious President by far to hold high office in recent years. Compared to him, Nixon was a model of candor and Cheney an honest man. I do not know whether Trump simply cannot see the difference between truth and fantasy (he is a big fan of professional wrestling) or is a compulsive liar. Whatever impels him, he has surrounded himself with a staff who will lie strenuously for anyone who pays them to do it. So I think there should be a working assumption in all spheres of American life that anything emanating from the Trump Administration is false unless proven true.

Steve Bannon, Trump’s spiritual director, has taken another approach, and has denounced the media as “corporatist” and “globalist.” His choice of words is unfortunate, for some of the attendees at CPAC may not know what corporatism and globalism mean. That does not matter. The hardcore Trumpites must have something to hate, and they are all the more enthusiastic when hating something they do not understand.