Trump’s unprecedented degree of out-and-out lying to the American people about things large (a conspiracy to cover up terrorist attacks) and small (crowd size) — especially stated in the presence of the intelligence community (as he did at CIA headquarters the day after his disappointing inauguration turnout) and the military — raises the legitimate concern that we cannot rely on the president’s words or assume his perceptions are accurate. The military and intelligence officers listening to his rants know he babbles nonsense. They surely are entitled to doubt the mental stability and trustworthiness of the commander in chief.

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Consider what else Trump might think is true: Our borders are open. Mexico will pay us back for the wall. Tariffs will hurt China, not the American consumer. The Russian government is no worse than the United States when it comes to human rights and international conduct. In other words, much of Trump’s world view — we’re losing, our allies are stealing us blind — and the policies he pursues are based on nothing but his imagination and urban myths fanned by right-wing talk radio. Far too many Republicans have played along, reticent to call out his reverence for Russian President Vladimir Putin, silent when his plan for a wall on our Southern border started a war of words with Mexico and utterly unwilling to confront him on the noxious travel ban.

Unfortunately, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), once seen as the successor to foreign policy leaders such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), plays to the base, repudiating a values-based foreign policy. In a speech Monday, Cotton declined to address Trump’s odious comparison of the United States to Russia and instead showed solidarity with those who “don’t think our job is to make the world safe for democracy, but rather to make the world safe for American democracy.” He seems as confused as Trump insofar as he imagines our democracy can survive without others. This is precisely the sort of enabling and normalizing of Trump that perpetuates the president’s conduct.

There are some signs, however, that Trump’s erratic and unhinged behavior has alarmed fellow Republicans. The Hill reports, “Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a bipartisan resolution on Monday reaffirming a strong commitment to the United States-Australia alliance relationship.'” Multiple Republicans rebuked Trump’s suggestion that our government has “killers” just like Russia does. Grudgingly at first, Republicans have taken up the investigation into the Trump campaign ties to Russia.