This column is being republished with permission from its original home on Substack. For more from Michael Ian Black, subscribe here.

This is how dumb I am: I don’t understand how public officials can consistently go in front of the American people and lie. I legitimately don’t understand. This week, Republicans far and wide have been (loudly) spouting unsupported claims of vote rigging in this week’s California elections. This week, the president lied to Kristen Welker about his campaign promise not to start any new wars. This week, Marco Rubio lied about Cuba’s energy crisis, blaming Cubans for the fact that their island is without power (rather than the fact that the Americans are blockading the island from receiving fuel shipments). This week, Markwayne Mullin lied, under oath, to Senator Patty Murray that he was “heavily involved” in negotiating new DHS reforms. Murray countered that he was not—she knew this, she said, because she was there, and Mullin “was not.”

Lies, lies, damnable lies. Of course, it’s not just Republicans who do so—but they seem to do so more often and more blatantly. When not actively lying, they also evade the truth. Has a single Trump nominee acknowledged that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election? Not to knowledge. Not a single one is willing to........

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