Rex Huppke at the Chicago Tribune also called Trump a liar.

On Sunday, the man who will soon lead this country tweeted a lie — a big, fiery one. It read: “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”

That statement is based on nothing. Actually, it’s based on less than nothing. Its origin is, roughly, this: A nobody Republican with zero credibility or evidence tweeted that 3 million people voted illegally; a conspiracy theory website reported on that tweet, taking it as fact; the president-elect, in need of a distraction, tweeted that information as fact with no citation, not that a citation would have made it any less false.

Let’s pause for a moment and consider the staggering level of irresponsibility Trump showed in tweeting that lie. It’s akin to: My crazy uncle told me the world is flat; I reported that on my blog; the president of the United States then declared the world flat and banned boats so nobody would sail off the edge of the Earth.

And the staggeringly irresponsible liar is the next president.

Huppke says it’s a distraction, though, and that we should ignore it. Lots of people say that about Twitter-Trump, but I think they’re wrong – I think we need to pay attention to what a horrifying reckless monster the next president is on Twitter, because that is who he is. We should also of course pay attention to all the other horrors, and that’s hard to do because they’re so copious, but I don’t think Trump’s narcissistic public displays are a distraction or side show.

There is reason to be irritated — and maybe even terrified — by the soon-to-be president of the most powerful country in the world sharing false information that draws the legitimacy of our electoral process into question. But, sadly, that’s the least of our concerns.

It’s just a fire lit to hypnotize us, set by an arsonist who knows how to burn a narrative to the ground.

No, sorry, we have to do it all.

H/t Freemage