Vladimir Putin may not be President Trump’s favorite Russian after all. Or even his favorite Vladimir.

If you are looking for an explanation for why the president says things over and over again that he knows are false, consider this quote that is often attributed to Vladimir Lenin: “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” (The fact that one of Lenin’s most famous quotes may itself be apocryphal only proves the point, in an odd way.)

There are many reasons people lie. They do it to cover up bad behavior, for personal gain or because of some personality disorder. All of these things may be factors with Trump.

But Trump also lies as a strategy — as evidenced by his latest whopper, which he keeps repeating, that Democrats are to blame for the administration’s horrific new policy of ripping children of undocumented immigrants away from their parents.