SacredWeapon

The narrative that MbS has used throughout this story is so unbelievably dishonest and comparable to the concept of "trickle-truth" (in which someone only admits to what has been proven to have happened) that I have begun wondering what his motive for lying about it in the first place was.

Do you believe his denials were to mitigate potential damage, or more comparable to the obvious lies told by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which mainly serve to highlight how there is no consequence to them for lying?

If the latter, was there a system of consequences for the leadership prior to his seizure of power? If so, what has he dismantled?

Federal reserve QT removes ~50B/mo of liqudity from financial markets by introducing new treasuries for trade as an alternative buying option. Technical analysts are calling it catastrophic; certainly QE was a driver of post-2008 rallies.

How significant is that liquidity removal really, in context of total monthly volume on major indices like the S&P500?

Here is a useful summation of some of them, although it is by no means complete.

The nature of the damage is primarily this:

Because people such as yourself are eager to stand with your political leadership (which is not an inherently bad thing FWIW), his lies teach you to lie to yourself for him, with any effort by people such as myself to correct you actually reinforcing your belief in his lies. As you read this post, that is likely happening right now. Link to study showing that this happens, which will make you think you're too smart for that to be happening to you.

In short, his exploitation of your trust lets him turn you and millions of people like you into less-well informed citizens.

But I brought him up in context of how his lies were obvious, rather than their impact on our society. MbS' lie was also obvious, and that was the nature of the original inquiry: was he making a power play by denying something so obvious, to then show there was no consequence for doing so? Most of Trump's lies are power plays.

Roula suggests that MbS has something to fear and reasons to lie beyond showing power.

To what degree do your tics interfere with activities you're already concentrating on doing?

Your vote for "a republican alternative" can easily be overriden by congress. Why do you not instead vote for Hillary Clinton, so as to potentially give a candidate that isn't Trump 270 votes and ensure this is impossible?

Do you believe that 268 other republican electors will also vote for your chosen alternative?

Or do you view your resistance as symbolic, rather than practical?