Trump characteristically told the country we would fight to “win” in Afghanistan on Monday night. Yesterday, Rex Tillerson indicated that the point of the troop increase and the supposedly new strategy was actually to create breathing space and a stalemate which could ultimately lead to successful negotiations with the Taliban. Tillerson’s comments were, of course, much more realistic; their significance is that they point out just how little faith we can put in anything his boss says.
On a related note, Trump apparently complained during his Phoenix rally that the media pay too much attention to his tweets. After you stop snickering, consider what he really meant by that: there is a whole category of presidential speech is that mostly intended to fire up his base, is not intended to be viewed as objectively true by the public, and should not be judged as such.
In other words, the most powerful man in the world feels entitled to lie any time he wants if it serves his purposes. No wonder he complains that the media treat him differently than any other president; he is different than any other politician in my memory.