On lying politicians and bullshitting scientists | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
I disagree with Sargent’s statement that “The reason Trump regularly tells lies that are very easy to debunk . . . is to assert the power to say what truth is.” I think it’s simpler than that. People like to say things that make them look better, and this is easier to do if you’ re not constrained by the truth. The big question is not so much why someone who has lied a lot in the past keeps lying — people typically keep doing with what’s worked for them before — but rather why so many of his supporters
