We’re living in a post-truth world. We really haven’t begun to process what that actually means. The president is so confident in his abilities to lie to and propagandize his base, that he feels he can invent entire cease fire agreements from whole cloth. Just claim that an agreement has been reached. Then, when Iran proceeds to ignore the imaginary agreement, accuse them of breaking the cease fire, and use that to justify further attacks against Iran.

It really is striking how different the lie campaign is with Iran vs the lead up to Iraq. With Iraq, the traditional media was still powerful and legitimate enough that the Bush administration felt an elaborate prewar propaganda campaign was needed. They held numerous hearings in front of Congress, speeches in front of the UN, etc. It took months of propaganda before the Bush admin thought they were ready to launch the war. It was all ultimately a lie campaign, but the fact that they felt the need to do it is telling.

Now? No such campaign needed. Just launch a war, lie through your teeth, and rely on individual social media bubbles to convince the rubes. The effectiveness of propaganda has increased manyfold over the last two decades. They don’t even feel the need to concoct convincing lies anymore.