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It is a rare thing in the hyper-partisan cacophony of the current Trumpian moment that a comprehensible and honest American accounting presents itself that makes some clear sense of the cultural pathologies that have led directly to the dystopian abyss where the world’s liberal democracies are now perilously teetering.

That’s what’s on offer from Michiko Kakutani, after more than 30 years as The New York Times’ chief book critic, in her just-published book, The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump. Its value is in its lucidity, its persuasiveness, and its courage to lay out a patient elucidation of the slovenly habits of mind most closely associated with the American academic “left” that effectively cleared the field for President Donald Trump’s lies in the first place.

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It should be uncontroversial by now that Trump — whose bloody-mindedness and cynicism would be catastrophic enough were he merely the vulgar and dangerous demagogue any sensible person will understand him to be — is also a pathological liar of amazing profligacy.