Sen. Flake speaks truth to Trump’s falsehoods

Does President Donald Trump create his own version of reality, one that is separate from the actual facts? Wait ... let’s revise that.

We know that Trump has expressed belief in some easily debunked conspiracies, but is it even worse than that? Are the president’s fantasies creating a dangerous reality?

A number of politicians, including Sen. Jeff Flake, believe so.

An article in the New York Times speaks to the president’s conversation with a sitting senator in which he suggests that his lurid “Access Hollywood” tape is fake. It’s a follow-up to a story about Trump’s deluded support of alleged pedophile Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race.

In the “Access Hollywood” tape we hear Trump clearly talking about grabbing women by the “p---y.” An ugly, boastful statement for which there was an actual witness and actual sound technicians recording his actual voice. Statements that Trump admitted making, dismissing it as casual locker-room chatter.

And there’s more.

Trump is still apparently obsessed with President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. And he believes it was a conspiracy that led to his losing the popular vote in the last election. He’s even still pushing the kooky, easily disproved (just compare photos) suggestion that his inauguration crowd was bigger than Obama’s.

It’s one thing to exaggerate.

It’s one thing to have strong beliefs. But to ignore reality?

It’s almost a daily occurrence with Trump.

Last week, he retweeted three dubious anti-Muslim videos posted by a right-wing bigot in Great Britain named Jayda Fransen, a woman convicted of aggravated harassment for her abuse of a Muslim woman and her children. Children.

Sen. Flake told the Times, “It’s dangerous to democracy; you’ve got to have shared facts. And on so many of these, there’s empirical evidence that says no: You didn’t win the popular vote, there weren’t more people at your inauguration than ever, that was your voice on that tape, you admitted it before.”

Flake told the Times that he’s planning a series of speeches for the Senate floor describing his concerns about Trump, beginning with Trump’s indifference, or outright disdain, for the truth. For facts.

A president who doesn’t recognize truth and facts is dangerous for democracy, Flake said.

What’s even more dangerous, of course, are voters who ignore facts about such a political candidate and elect the guy anyway.