The Philosophy of Political Lies

Since 2016, the Washington Post has maintained a database of “false or misleading claims” — less euphemistically called lies — that President Trump has made during his presidency.  As of July 9 — apparently the Post’s fact-checkers have lost count since then — the paper reports Trump has uttered 20,055 falsehoods in 1,267 days, for a pace of 15 lies a day.  “But all Presidents lie,” say Trump supporters, “it’s just that the liberal media has it in for Trump and so you hear more about his lies.”  It may be true that all Presidents lie, but are all lies created equal?  Michael Blake is a professor of Philosophy, Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington, and he has studied the theory and practice of lying.