Trump, truth, and lies

NY Times

Kevin Drum:

In this case, Trump said that between three million and five million illegal immigrants voted for Hillary Clinton, and he would have won the popular vote if not for that. Why was that judged a lie? Presumably because Trump has said it before, and it's been widely exposed as flatly untrue. Trump surely knows this, which means he's telling a knowing falsehood, aka a lie...

Rob's comment:
This interpretation is too simplistic. Anyone who's had any experience with someone anything like Trump---yes, he's a unique individual, but neurotic behavior is boringly familiar---understands that he believes his own bullshit while he's saying it, because his fragile self-image requires that it be true.

Consider also that Trump knows that his followers will think it's true, since they won't believe a bunch of elitist, smarty-pants fact-checkers at the NY Times.

Trump apparently thinks he can bullshit and bully his way through the presidency like he did successfully during the campaign. He's clearly way in over his head, even more than most US presidents. 

And he has a stupid streak that undermines what little credibility he has. Why pick unnecessary fights with the intelligence community and the media before you even take office? The answer: because he can't help showing us who he really is.

Which is really scary.