The conspiracy artist President strikes again.

After spending Monday, his first full weekday as President, blaming 3-5 illegal immigrants for losing the popular vote, President Donald Trump asserted Wednesday morning that he would be asking for a major investigation into voter fraud, including those who are illegal, and depending on the results he will “strengthen up voting procedures!”

On Tuesday, reacting to Trump’s Monday inaccurate claims of widespread voter fraud, the New York Times came out with a “lie” title, “Trump Won’t Back Down From His Voting Fraud Lie. Here Are the Facts.”

Trump’s problems with facts are so egregious that we are not even a week in and the NYT has resorted to using the word “lie” in their title. Not a word they like to use.

Trump has claimed serious voter fraud in numerous states that Hillary Clinton won, which Politifact called out as “Pants on Fire” – meaning a “statement that is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim.”

California, New Hampshire, and Virginia are the specific states Trump has called out in the past with no evidence.

Focusing on California, where Trump and his supporters aim most of their ire, PolitiFact called it again as “Pants on Fire”.

In the same PolitiFact, they quote Trump as saying he would have won the popular vote if not for “the millions of people who voted illegally.”

There is no evidence that this happened (although Steve Bannon, of Breitbart and now the Trump administration, was accused of being registered to vote in a swing state in a house in which he doesn’t live), nor would the data leading up to the election support this conclusion or even be a lingering smell of smoke. Trump’s allegations have been repeatedly called unfounded. Not only unfounded but there is strong evidence that it did not happen.

Trump offers no proof or evidence for his claims. Pressed to present the evidence for Trump’s belief, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (who lied to the press during his first briefing) said Trump “believed” it was true, and then when pushed harder cited a widely debunked study from 2008.

“Elections officials and nonpartisan observers in California said there were no widespread reports of voter fraud. The state has some of the most stringent voter verification laws in the country. Allegations of fraud are so rare that Los Angeles County, the state’s largest county, does not track them,” PolitiFact noted.

“Trump’s claim about California voter fraud is equally reckless and without substantiation. We rate it Pants on Fire,” the fact-checking site concluded.

Additionally, PolitiFact New Hampshire rated Trump’s claim of voter fraud in their state as “reckless claim with zero evidence,” and rated it Pants On Fire.

Trump’s willingness to believe any far-fetched notion that confirms his ego is troubling.

If Trump or the Republicans really believed that there was wide spread voter fraud, they would have challenged the vote but they didn’t. There’s no way Trump wouldn’t go to the ends of the earth to prove he won the popular vote if he really thought he could. According to numerous recent reports based on interviews with Trump insiders, the President is obsessed with the fact that he lost the popular vote.

Trump is using a “ridiculous,” “inaccurate” claim to justify an investigation into nothing in order to justify his goal to “strengthen up voting procedures!”, that is to say, to make it even harder for likely Democrats to vote. While it’s despicable to continue trying to make it harder for citizens to exercise their right to vote, it’s also indicative of Trump’s desperate need to feel loved.

Like an abuser, Trump will just kill the right to vote for the people who don’t love him. That will make him feel better, and that’s all that matters.

The Trump war on reality wages on.

  Donald Trump, investigation into imaginary voter fraud