Fair enough. My "all politicians lie" was a lazy argument.

I think what you're missing is the appeal, to some people, of the person who lies all the time and just admits it, even makes a joke of it. We all deal with people in our lives who lie very cunningly and who still do very well in their professions and in the culture, and sometimes that is frustrating because nobody else seems to notice the lying/hypocrisy in many of our institutions and their participants.

That weird appeal--he's an asshole and we all know it and I'd rather KNOW he's a lying salesman all the time rather than having to try and figure out WHERE he is lying and why--is part of what I was trying to describe.

I never said any of it was smart, or good for the country.