After getting caught repeating the bogus claim that nearly 4,000 terrorists were apprehended at the southern border in 2017, White House aides are reportedly "stressing the importance" of fact-checking Donald Trump's prime-time speech before he actually gives it.

"In preparation for Tuesday’s speech inside the West Wing," the Wall Street Journal writes, "White House officials were underscoring the importance of internally fact-checking any numbers and statistics."

And here's the kicker: “It’s really important we get this right,” one senior White House official said.

Wow. Trump's aides are suddenly invested in truth-telling. Seriously, is this a joke? They just thought of this now?

Well, yeah, apparently they did—because Trump has been lying relentlessly, prodigiously, shamelessly since Day One of his administration, and not only did no one do a damn thing to stop it, they helped him. No one apologized or corrected the record or made some effort to repair the damage with the public. Instead, they marched out and assured the American people—with a straight face and despite damning visual evidence—that Trump’s inaugural crowds were bigger than President Obama’s. And now they've had this ingenious revelation about fact-checking the lies before they are told.

I mean, c'mon, just quit it. First, they just thought of this now? Second, like they have a chance in hell of stopping Old Man Bluster from exhaling without unleashing a cloud of deceit on the public? Just stop.

It's as preposterous as the news networks pretending Trump's address is "newsworthy." It's not, it never was, and the only way for Trump to pretend there is actually a “crisis” is to lie about it—full stop.