If the “Big Lie” purported by Donald Trump referred to his verifiable loss of the 2020 election, fact-checkers to his continuing series of reckless lies (“alternate realities,” as one of his first-termers called them) have counted hundreds — possibly thousands — of other lies … especially since he was elected to a second term.

But, perhaps, his election is an even a bigger lie?

“Donald Trump filled his first 100 days back in office with the same relentless lying and inaccuracy that was a hallmark of his first presidency and his 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns,” stated CNN’s Daniel Dane, who listed 100 separate false claims from Trump since his inauguration on January 20, fact-checked concisely with hyperlinks to more information.

During his first term as the 45th President (2017–2021), The Washington Post’s Fact Checker team documented 30,573 false or misleading claims over four years, averaging about 21 per day. This number increased over time: roughly 6 claims per day in his first year, 16 in the second, 22 in the third, and 39 in the fourth, especially spiking around the 2020 election.

For his second term as the 47th President (starting January 20, 2025), CNN’s fact-check of Trump’s first 100 days (through April 2025) noted “relentless dishonesty” with at least 100 specific false claims identified, though they didn’t provide a daily average. NPR’s analysis of a single August 2024 news conference found 162 misstatements, exaggerations, or lies in 64 minutes, over 2 per minute. These snapshots suggest the pattern of frequent false claims has continued, though comprehensive data for the second term is still emerging.

PolitiFact, fact-checking Trump since 2011, reviewed 1,078 claims as of March 2025, rating about 77% as Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire (their term for egregious falsehoods).

Trump’s falsehoods are unprecedented in scale and impact.

Critics note his repetition of false claims, like those about the 2020 election, exploits the “illusory truth effect,” where repeated exposure makes falsehoods seem believable, especially among supporters. Nonetheless, they’re still lies.

“During and between his terms as President of the United States, Donald Trump has made tens of thousands of false or misleading claims,” begins Wikipedia. “Fact-checkers at The Washington Post documented 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first presidential term, an average of 21 per day. The Toronto Star tallied 5,276 false claims from January 2017 to June 2019, an average of six per day. Commentators and fact-checkers have described Trump’s lying as unprecedented in American politics, and the consistency of falsehoods as a distinctive part of his business and political identities. Scholarly analysis of Trump’s X posts found significant evidence of an intent to deceive.”

So, it should come as no big shock that Trump is lying about his contribution to Jeffrey Epstein’s so-called Birthday Book. “Fake!” screamed Trump. And many of his Republican supporters on the Hill supported him, quibbling over the veracity of his signature.

They’ve got to be kidding!

This is no smoking gun. Rather, it’s not unlike Bill Clinton’s blue dress scandal. In November 1997, Monica Lewinsky told her confidant and supposed friend, Linda Tripp, that she had in her possession a blue Gap dress that still bore the semen stain that resulted from her administering oral sex to President Clinton in February of that year. In late July, 1998, Lewinsky turned the dress over to Kenneth Starr’s investigators after signing an immunity agreement. A blood sample was taken from Clinton on August 3, and on August 17, the FBI reported its conclusion that Clinton was the source of the semen on the dress “to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty.”

When news of the the existence of the dress surfaced in published reports in early August, politicians and commentators alike agreed that the blue dress proved Clinton lied when he denied a sexual relationship with Lewinsky. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) called the evidence “very critical.” Senator Arlen Spector (R-Pa) agreed that it would be “the most powerful kind of corroboration” of an affair. A George Washington law professor, Jonathan Turley, appearing on “Meet the Press” said of the semen stain: “No one will be able to spin him out of that.”

A US congressional panel has released a redacted copy of an alleged “birthday book” given to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 celebrating his fiftieth birthday. The 238-page book contains messages and photos sent by many of Epstein’s friends, including a letter carrying a signature resembling US President Donald TrumpThe alleged entry from Trump contains a signed note outlined by a sketch of a woman’s body. The final line reads: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump denied ever writing the birthday note.

As for his doodles and signature in the book, he’s lying when claiming that they’re not his, as doubters and forensic experts already have expressed. The Wall Street Journal reports that the signature is consistent with Trump’s autographs in the past.

If not Trump’s, whose are they?

Why would someone — over 20 years ago — insert a fraudulent, forged greeting that echoed a younger Trump’s bawdy behavior and his clearly documented friendship with pal Epstein? What could be a possible motive? By whom? To what end?

It makes no sense whatsoever.

Except that Trump, once again, is lying.

Rather than a red herring, he’s been caught red-handed in a really big lie that may well cost him voters, even among his base.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee also released a photo from the book showing Epstein holding a novelty check selling a “fully depreciated” woman to Trump for $22,500.

Ironically, Jeffrey Epstein reportedly had an oil painting of Bill Clinton conspicuously displayed in his Manhattan townhouse. The artwork by Petrina Ryan-Kleid shows the former US president draped over a chair in the Oval Office, dressed in a blue dress and red heels recalling his tryst with Monica Lewinsky.

In December 1998, the House impeached Clinton for obstruction of justice and perjury after Starr and his team brought forth documents showing, among other allegations, that the commander in chief had lied under oath about a relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Maybe this page from Epstein’s birthday book will turn out to be Trump’s semen-stained blue dress?