The good, the bad, and the really ugly

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Leavenworth, Wash., listening to a replay of Trump's delivery of serial lies from the Oval Office.

Not one reporter questioned any of his statements. Example: Trump, "Europe is ripping us off. We can't sell cars in Europe." Took me five seconds to google "Does the US sell cars in Europe?" Answer, "Yes."

We knew that. No real need to google it, save for cautious corroboration. My point being, at least one "journalist" in the Oval Office should have known the truth. If not, any one of them could have googled it in seconds, then pointed out to the autocratic fictionmonger that he just "misled" the American public.

Not that you're unaware of this, but the larger point is that we're in even bigger trouble with a Fourth Estate that's too bloody frightened of a self-declared dictator to correct him — a dictator, I should add, with no power to retaliate except for that of cutting off access. But access to what? Another series of pathological mendacity?

On a pleasant note, here's a view from the road leaving Missoula, Montana today.