On Tuesday, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake announced that he would not run for re-election, delivering a blistering speech on the Senate floor that implicitly condemned Donald Trump. “We must stop pretending that the degradation of our politics and the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal. They are not normal,” he said, adding how, “Reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as telling it like it is when it is actually just reckless, outrageous, and undignified.”

The president, who told reporters Wednesday during an impromptu press scrum on the South Lawn that “When somebody says something about you that’s false, I think it’s always O.K. to counterpunch or to fight back,“ made a valiant attempt to brush off Flake’s remarks, claiming the senator left office because he was afraid of losing the upcoming Arizona G.O.P. primary against populist-nationalist candidate Kelli Ward. “His poll numbers in Arizona are so low that he couldn’t win,“ Trump said of Flake. “I don’t blame him for leaving, I think he did the right thing for himself . . . this way he can get out somewhat gracefully.“ (Flake’s polling numbers are, in fact, quite low.)

Trump then launched into a full-tilt falsehood, claiming that Flake had written a book denouncing him before he entered the presidential campaign. “Long before he ever knew me, during the campaign, even before the campaign, he came out with his horrible book. And I said, ‘Who is this guy?’” Trump said, referring to Conscience of a Conservative, which Flake published in August of 2017.

Trump also seemed to forget—moments after claiming to have “one of the greatest memories of all time”—that he and Flake had met as early as July 2016, when the senator publicly questioned the then-candidate in front of the Senate Republicans. (Trump’s response to Flake during that meeting—“You’ve been very critical of me”—betrayed that he had at least heard of the Arizona senator.) Glossing over the facts, Trump barreled ahead, dealing Flake the ultimate blow: “The first time I saw him on television, I said, ‘I assume he’s a Democrat.’”

Perhaps anticipating that his impromptu remarks would, as always, be mocked by the media, Trump attempted to head off criticism by boasting about his I.Q. “You know, people don’t understand. I went to an Ivy League college,” Trump insisted. “I was a nice student. I did very well. I’m a very intelligent person. You know, the fact is, I think, I really believe, I think the press creates a different image of Donald Trump than the real person.”