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Donald Trump keeps talking about not passing Obamacare because a senator is in the hospital. There is no senator in the hospital.

It started Wednesday on—of course—Twitter. Trump later explained that he was talking about Thad Cochran, who is at home recuperating from surgery. But Cochran isn’t hospitalized. And he said he’d show up for a vote if needed.

Then Trump repeated the claim on Thursday. And then again.

To recap: Cochran isn’t in the hospital. He’s available to vote. And it wouldn’t matter anyway, since even with Cochran, Republicans don’t have 50 votes.

Then there was this, when asked why Sudan was removed from the latest version of the travel ban:

TRUMP: Well, the people – yeah, the people allowed – certain countries – but we can add countries very easily and we can take countries away. REPORTER: What did Sudan do right? TRUMP: And as far as the travel ban is concerned, whatever it is, I want the toughest travel ban you can have. So I’ll see you in Indiana.

Is Trump lying? Or is he showing signs of senility? It’s possible that we’re all missing the big story here by shrugging off all his peculiar lies as merely standard Trumpian bluster and misdirection.

BY THE WAY: Kudos to Cork Airport for providing the free, high-quality WiFi that made this post possible.