Donald Trump is the president of the United States, which, to Donald, is great because it’s like being the star of a show that everyone has to watch, because they’re terrified of what he might do next. Trump has embraced that breezy you-never-know-and-I’ve-got-nukes vibe and, you’ll notice, really settled into himself on the stump as president, even though the stump is a place that most presidents avoid for much of their first term, in order to actually do the job of being president. Not Donald. Early on, he recognized the positive feedback loop of saying unthinkably dumb things out loud. Doing so set off a frenzied chain reaction of analysis, reporting, and speculation about what was meant by whatever came out of his mouth that didn’t make any sense at all.

Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ??? Enjoy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017

BREAKING: President Trump claims he misspoke while discussing election meddling during news conference with Putin: "In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't.' ... The sentence should've been: 'I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia'" pic.twitter.com/2bA9EionD1 — NBC News (@NBCNews) July 17, 2018

So away he went, burrowing further and further into his own fevered reality, erecting a Ponzi scheme of truth in the West Wing that has been broadcast into American homes and psyches for nearly two years now. When the president comes up for air, forced to improvise, it feels like watching the wheels visibly turn in a 6-year-old’s mind, biting his bottom lip trying to come up with a whopper, a sick burn, whatever really.

....I say of course they’re low - because for the first time in 50 years I am making them pay a big price for doing business with America. Why should they like me? — But I still like them! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2018

And it’s not that Trump is dumb himself that irks, although he very much is; it’s how baldly dumb the things he says are, all the time.

Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy. Must change laws! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2018

The lying grates, but how poorly crafted and executed the lies are, how telegraphed they are in his own interest, and how unmoored from any semblance of reality they are, makes them particularly crushing. Replace “Middle Easterners” with “Stormtroopers.” It’s that absurd; it wouldn’t make a difference. Maybe there are Stormtroopers deployed by Darth Vader from the Death Star embedded with “the Caravan,” who knows? Where’s the proof they aren’t?

By the end of a full day spent reading and hearing practically everything he says, where do you start? You can’t. The explanations are too elementary to literally start at the beginning each time, over and over again.

He doesn’t know anything. It’s not just that he’s lying; he’s not even trying.