What did Donald Trump do today?

He tried to make himself a hero for pardoning a white-collar criminal who got caught trying to cheat pollution rules.

Shortly after concluding a full week following a hospital visit in which he did not appear in front of cameras, Trump gave what amounted to a rally speech today in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Uncharacteristically, he remained sitting the whole time, leading to some speculation that he wasn't able to stand for that long. 

During the speech, Trump made reference to a man he had supposedly pardoned from a seven-year prison sentence for the crime of "fixing his car." 

There is legitimate debate over the so-called "right to repair" issue. As consumer goods, and especially vehicles, become more complex and computerized, manufacturers are more likely to use software or intellectual property protections to force third-party repair shops to pay a licensing fee for access. This can drive up repair costs and limit what consumers can do with their own property. That appears to be the spotlight that Trump was trying to jump in front of today.

In reality, the man Trump was apparently referring to, Troy Lake, was not in prison for  "seven years" and certainly not for "fixing his car." Lake, the owner of a large truck repair company, was convicted for his role in an interstate conspiracy to disable emissions monitoring on hundreds of heavy-duty commercial trucks so that they'd pass inspections. That gave Lake's co-conspirators, who owned the trucks that Lake disabled monitors for, a huge financial advantage over competitors who followed the law and kept their trucks in compliance with emissions standards. As the Department of Justice noted at the time:

Emissions controls on vehicles are critical to maintaining air quality, and when these controls are disabled, the increase in excess tailpipe pollution is significant. A study of the effects of tampering with these 344 trucks showed that the conspirators in this case collectively caused an illegal increase in pollutants of at least 1,300 tons of excess nitrogen oxides, 30 tons of excess non-methane hydrocarbons, 600 tons of excess carbon monoxide, and 30 tons of excess particulate matter. The World Health Organization has found that diesel exhaust is a carcinogen and causes lung cancer. Diesel exhaust is also associated with asthma and an increased risk of mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory disease. These impacts disproportionately affect low-income communities that tend to be located near highways and other high-traffic areas. 

Lake's actual sentence was for one year, not seven. Trump also seemed confused about other details: he claimed that he'd pardoned Lake one or two weeks ago, but it happened last December. He also blamed the conviction on "the Democrats" but the investigation into Lake and his criminal co-conspirators began in 2018, when Trump was president.

Why does this matter?

• If Trump had pardoned someone people would actually have sympathized with, he wouldn't have needed to lie about what the criminal had done.
  
  
• Past a certain point, lies get so obvious that they're just another way of telling your audience you think they're stupid.