The Atlantic

How Can You Tell If Donald Trump Is Serious?

The White House is making a habit of labeling outrageous claims “jokes” after the fact.
Source: Gretchen Ertl / Reuters

The Trump administration has been at the center of a few wild claims in recent weeks, but there’s an explanation. To put it in the native patois of Trump’s signature form, Twitter:

lol jk!

For two straight days, Press Secretary Sean Spicer has played off comments made by President Trump and members of his team as simple jokes. Monday saw Kellyanne Conway , a New Jersey newspaper, saying,  “What I can say is there are many ways to surveil each other. You can surveil someone through their phones, certainly through their television sets—any number of

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