Trump Talks “Trophy Wives” But Biden’s Autopen Is the New “Her Emails”

It’s the simplest lesson for America of the Trump years: Lying works. And I don’t mean lying in private. You lie to your spouse or child or sibling or friend, you’re probably going to get caught; and because you have a conscience, you will fess up, and you will be humiliated and will have to perform penance to win back the person’s trust.

But public lying? That works reliably in this country—and with this political press—as long as you stick to it, never give an inch, and then turn around and call your accusers liars. That helps, too. It’s called DARVO—Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender—and it’s Trump’s one neat trick for political survival.

Comer, in his odd way, is proof of this. He’s bumbled his way through these investigations telling lie after lie and blooper after blooper. But by cracky, he’s still the chairman of the powerful House Oversight Committee. He still directs the spending of taxpayer money on these mad chases, he still has subpoena power, and we all still have to take him seriously, even though he flouts his unseriousness on the national stage every single day.