In the wee hours of Friday morning, Donald Trump became the poster child for the disease he has so recklessly spread. Then, seemingly within minutes, the lying began. No surprise there. Lying is what those people do. Which is a shame, because we’ve now reached the point when transparency is more vital than ever.

Early Friday, former Trump doctor Ronny Jackson told Fox News that “Trump has no co-morbidities…I bet you he does not develop symptoms and he moves on.” Um, hello? Trump’s co-morbidities include obesity, stress, bad diet, and zero exercise. But lest we forgot, Jackson is the ex-White House physician who famously praised Trump’s superman body (“He has incredibly good genes, and it’s just the way God made him”).

Or maybe the lying began when Scott Atlas, a Trump coronavirus adviser, said this on Friday morning: “I anticipate a complete and full and rapid recovery back to normal after his necessary confinement period. I anticipate he’ll be back on the road and in full swing. (I’ve) never seen anyone with more energy and more vigor, at any age.”

That predictable flunky-talk was brought to you by a guy who’s not even an infectious disease expert, and has no training in that specialty. And we now know that while Atlas was gaslighting the viewers of Fox News, Trump was suffering all kinds of symptoms and would soon be given supplemental oxygen and an experimental therapy.

But my favorite Friday lie came from someone at the White House who put out the word that Trump was comfortably “in good spirits.” For me, that was the tell. When has that font of rage, who’s reputedly terrified of illness, ever been in good spirits?

Turn your bullshit detector to maximum frequency, because in the days and weeks ahead we’re going to be conned the way Soviet leaders kept their citizens in the dark during the early ’80s illnesses of Leonid Brezhnev and Yuri Andropov. You shouldn’t trust a single word emanating Team Trump, because the pathological liar himself is calling the shots and what he abhors more than anything else is being perceived as “weak.”

Yesterday was a master class of misdirection – a forerunner of what’s to come – when Trump’s personal physician, Dr. Sean Conley, gave the upbeat spin that Trump is “doing very well” at Walter Reed, only to be trumped, minutes later, by chief of staff Mark Meadows, who told the press (supposedly off the record) that Trump’s vitals “over the last 24 hours were concerning, and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care.”

Conley performed just as we would’ve expected. He acknowledged that Trump had a fever before he was flown to Walter Reed, but refused to say how bad (or benign) it was. He refused to say whether Trump had needed supplemental oxygen to breathe. And after initially signaling that Trump had tested positive on Wednesday – before Trump mingled with fans in Minnesota and New Jersey – he quickly realized the error of his ways and “clarified” that Trump was (supposedly) first diagnosed on Thursday night.

Conley tried again this afternoon. He said he was trying to be upbeat, because he didn’t want to say anything “that might steer the course of illness in another direction.” Huh? The disease inside Trump’s body will ease up if Conley gives the public happy talk? On the one hand, meanwhile, the official word is that Trump could be back at the White House tomorrow; on the other hand, we learned today that he’s on an experimental therapy, as well, as a steroid, that’s usually given to oxygen-deprived patients in serious condition.

Why should we believe anyone who speaks for the guy whose entire political career was built on lies, starting with the birther bilge about Barack Obama? This regime has been lying literally since Day One, when press flak Sean Spicer hailed the record-high Inauguration turnout that never happened, and Trump’s relentless disinformation about Covid has killed many Americans who should be alive today.

Granted, presidents have often lied about their health – witness Woodrow Wilson’s secret strokes, Grover Cleveland’s secret cancer surgery on a yacht, FDR’s inability to walk (concealed with the complicity of press photographers), and JFK’s use of steroids to fight his secret adrenal deficiency. But the current stakes are far higher, because of the nature of Trump’s illness, the looming election, and the responsibility he bears for imperiling the health of his entire inner circle and a growing roster of toadying Republicans.

Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian, says that “Americans deserve daily updates on Trump’s health. The president may not welcome the idea of sharing information that does not seem to promise a full and quick recovery, but any attempt to spin the truth now will only increase the likelihood that good news about the president’s recovery won’t be believed later…Allies and adversaries also require clear signals…The country can ill afford reticence now.”

But alas, liars lie because that’s their default. Late yesterday, the White House released photos of Trump purportedly on the job in his Walter Reed suite. He appeared, at first glance, to be signing documents; on closer inspection, it was clear he was writing his name on blank paper.

Yup, that’s our boy.

But for those of you who prefer to believe Trump’s health cons and dismiss the truths ferreted out by the free and independent press, he has famously offered this handy advice: “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”