That seemed highly unlikely, so another reporter followed up:

Trump: Well, it has been something that they’ve done for a long period of time. I mean, you know, there aren’t that many ways you’re going to get people to schools. So this is something that’s been done. In some cases, it’s been done with a hammer instead of velvet glove. And, you know, that’s part of it … It is certainly a primary method of getting people to schools. Reporter: And is it—does it relate to the policy that you’re going to unveil that you just floated? Trump: It relates to everything we’re doing. And you’ll be hearing about it in—over the next couple of months.

Two things are clear: First, Trump has no idea what he is talking about. Second, Trump will not have a plan for busing, whether in four weeks or in two months. It’s not that he didn’t watch the debate, and for a moment, the president seemed to come close to grasping the conflict over school integration (“In some cases, it’s been done with a hammer instead of velvet glove”), but for the most part, he betrays no grasp of the complicated issue of busing. If he did, he wouldn’t be promising a plan, because it’s almost impossible to imagine any federal plan that would be in keeping with this political ideology.

Read: ‘If you want, I’ll go on’: Trump’s rambling news conference

Another similar moment occurred at the end of the press conference, when a reporter asked Trump about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s judgment that “Western-style liberalism” is obsolete. Putin was, of course, referring to the idea of republican governance developed in Europe and America. This is language that would be familiar to Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon. Trump, however, apparently believed it referred to governments on the West Coast of the United States:

Well, again, he may feel that way. I mean, he sees what’s going on. And I guess, if you look at what’s happening in Los Angeles, where it’s so sad to look; and what’s happening in San Francisco and a couple of other cities which are run by an extraordinary group of liberal people—I don’t know what they’re thinking.

It is not merely that Trump is ignorant of issues about which one expects the president of the United States to be at least somewhat literate—though that is clearly the case. By promising a plan in four weeks, or baiting Bay Area liberals, Trump is attempting to hide his ignorance in the face of questions he does not understand.

The bigger problem is that Trump’s answer is obviously false, Trump knows that it’s obviously false, and he doesn’t care. (“It relates to everything we’re doing,” is one of Trump’s tells, a claim that is both so grandiose and so lazy as to reveal what’s actually happening.) This is what makes it “bullshit,” in Frankfurt’s sense, rather than simply lying. He is just making things up to suit his purpose. The proof is that he does this repeatedly.