This weekend, while speaking (four years prematurely) at a campaign event, the president said “You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden.” Of course, nothing of note had happened in Sweden. The Bowling Green Massacre. The millions of illegal voters. The largest inauguration audience. Misstatements. Errors. Lies.

The inaccuracy of these assertions is brazen and obvious. His opponents repeat them with contempt and ridicule, but they have no good way to counter them. How do you fact check something that is obviously false? If he says the sky is green or the Earth is flat, countering that with a link to the New York Times or Wikipedia is pointless. Two people cannot debate or discuss solutions when they have fundamentally different understandings of the facts. It’s like having a debate about the best way to regulate domestic airlines with someone who believes that human flight is impossible. The cascade of falsity has already overwhelmed some of his opponents. Since opposition seems pointless, they close ranks with like-minded friends and avoid engaging with anyone operating under “alternative facts.”

With every successive untruth, the president and his spokespersons offer their supporters a choice between a world where there was no Bowling Green Massacre and one where the president they chose is both honest and credible. Most of these supporters dig in their heels. They come up with explanations and excuses and share them broadly. Some even choose to accept and believe the lies. Like hard liquor, every time you accept or rationalize a lie, the next one becomes easier to swallow, and you end up just as drunk.

Human beings naturally gather ourselves into groups. And, we are inclined to support, defend, and think well of those who are in our group and think badly of those who oppose our group. You see this illustrated when Red Sox fans decry the Yankees for their outlandish spending on free agents, but defend Boston taking the same actions. We don’t want to think that someone in our group is lying to us, whether our family or political party. It’s painful, so we act in a way to minimize that pain, by rationalizing, by making excuses, and by choosing to believe the lie. Cognitive dissonance is a hell of a drug.

I’m not saying it’s part of his evil plan, but it is very effective at driving a deeper wedge between Americans, and a deeply divided people is easier to control and to set against one another.