On the same day news leaked that special prosecutor Robert Mueller had convened a grand jury to help get to the bottom of allegations of collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign, the man himself lashed out at an event in West Virginia, calling them a “total fabrication” and “made up” by Democrats still sulking over their losses.

That would be bad. People in Washington, people with power, are not meant to make stuff up. Those responsible for smearing Trump would have some explaining to do, because regardless of how this all turns out, so much damage to his presidency will already have been done.

But will he deserve an apology? Maybe not. Because fabrication and spinning fables is his favourite form of communication. He is himself intimately acquainted with mendacity. The country sees this. A new Quinnipiac poll says 62 per cent of Americans think that Trump is “not honest”.

These bad habits have been festering inside him for years. Recall his musings about the usefulness of embellishment in his 1987 book, The Art of the Deal.

“People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular,” he wrote. “I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration – and a very effective form of promotion.”

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. 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Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. 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The area in Beirut suffered extensive damage from the explosion at the seaport AP World news in pictures 5 August 2020 Damage at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon Reuters World news in pictures 4 August 2020 A large explosion in the Lebanese capital Beirut. The blast, which rattled entire buildings and broke glass, was felt in several parts of the city AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 August 2020 A general view shows the new road bridge in Genoa, Italy ahead of its official inauguration, after it was rebuilt following its collapse on August 14, 2018 which killed 43 people Reuters World news in pictures 2 August 2020 Empty stall spaces are seen hours before a citywide curfew is introduced in Melbourne, Australia EPA World news in pictures 1 August 2020 People take part in a demonstration by the initiative "Querdenken-711" with the slogan "the end of the pandemic - the day of freedom" to protest against the current measurements to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Berlin, Germany AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 July 2020 Pilgrims circumambulating around the Kaaba, the holiest shrine in the Grand mosque in Mecca. Muslim pilgrims converged today on Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat for the climax of this year's hajj, the smallest in modern times and a sharp contrast to the massive crowds of previous years Saudi Ministry of Media/AFP World news in pictures 30 July 2020 The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission lifts off at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The mission is part of the USA's largest moon to Mars exploration. Nasa will attempt to establish a sustained human presence on and around the moon by 2028 through their Artemis programme EPA World news in pictures 29 July 2020 A woman refreshes herself in a outdoor pool in summer temperatures in Ehingen, Germany dpa via AP World news in pictures 28 July 2020 Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak speaks to the media after he was found guilty in his corruption trial in Kuala Lumpur AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 July 2020 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un poses for a photograph after conferring commemorative pistols to leading commanding officers of the armed forces on the 67th anniversary of the "Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War". Which marks the signing of the Korean War armistice KCNA via Reuters

This helps explain that first very big – if not very consequential – lie of the administration, perpetrated by the now-binned Sean Spicer. That’s the one about more people being on the National Mall to witness the inauguration than for any president in history. Any rabbit nibbling the wildernesses of empty lawn that day could have called BS on that.

Last week was a jewel box of fresh little fibs tumbling into the light. On Monday, Trump said he’d received a phone call from President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico congratulating him on improved immigration interdiction.

“Even the president of Mexico called me,” he told his own cabinet. “They said their southern border – very few people are coming because they know they’re not going to get through our border, which is the ultimate compliment.”

He similarly claimed in an off-the-record interview with the The Wall Street Journal that his widely panned speech to the Boy Scouts Jamboree had been a great hit with Scout leaders, because they too had phoned him to tell him so.

Neither claim was true, as the new press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was forced to admit. But you know, he was sort of telling the truth. He had spoken to Peña Nieto about borders in Germany at the G20. The Scout leaders had spoken to him at the jamboree itself. There were never any phone calls, that’s all.

“I wouldn’t say it was a lie. That’s a pretty bold accusation,” Sanders struggled under quizzing by reporters about her and Trump’s record of veracity. “The conversations took place; they just simply didn’t take place over a phone call.” Sanders, whose father Mike Huckabee was a Christian minister before a presidential candidate, went on: “I don't think it's appropriate to lie from the podium or any other place ... my job is to communicate the president's agenda.”

He did speak by phone, shortly after the inauguration, with Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian leader. At the time he raged at the media for suggesting it hadn’t gone well, calling it “fake news”. Now we have the transcript and, well, it was a car crash of a call. Even Fox News called him out.

“The media did not lie. We reported the truth,” top anchor Shepherd Smith told viewers. “Then President Trump misrepresented the truth, and not for the first time.”

A busy president can get confused. But what about that other bombshell last week from The Washington Post, that the statement released by Donald Jr after revelations of his meeting with a Russian lawyer had been dictated by pops – a statement that later turned out to be misleading?

It was left to Sanders to push back, but hardly effectively. “There's no inaccuracy in the statement,” she attempted, before adding: “The President weighed in as any father would, based on the limited information he had; this is all discussion of frankly no consequence.”

I wanted to see how that would play out to the rest of America on the main network evening news bulletins, as opposed to the endless of loop of bloviation on cable channels like CNN. The approach taken by CBS was especially harsh. First, viewers saw a clip of Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow flatly stating last month that the prez “didn't sign off on anything” and “wasn't involved” in the drafting of Junior’s statement.

Then the clip of Sanders saying that, well, yes, he had been involved. That was followed by a still picture of an especially gruff-looking Mueller, and the supposition that he would find the day’s developments most interesting.

Trump’s rise to political favour in the first place was fuelled by the most offensive fable of all – that President Barack Obama was hiding a birth certificate that proved he wasn’t an American. Meanwhile, his campaign was powered in part by assertions that Clinton hadn’t been careless but had knowingly committed a crime using her personal email server for government business – his supporters were still crying “lock her up” in West Virginia – and that she was personally culpable for the sacking of an American consular complex in Libya that left four Americans dead.

Trump has since tacked every which way on Clinton, depending on what suits the moment. Going after his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, recently Trump used his alleged failure to reopen an investigation into Clinton as a pretext for eventually firing him. Yet upon his election last November, he played grand magnanimity. “I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t,” Trump told The New York Times. “She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways, and I am not looking to hurt them at all. The campaign was vicious.”

After all this time, including months of investigation by the FBI, no evidence has come to light to warrant criminal prosecution of Clinton. And maybe nothing will come of Mueller’s Russia probe either, and Trump will turn out to have been a victim of “total fabrications” and “made-up” canards as he contends.