As 2017 draws to a close, President Donald Trump and his amen corner are bragging about his "year of solid policy accomplishments." Despite approval ratings only slightly higher than the Ebola virus, Trump took to Twitter to soak up praise from Maria Bartiromo, who gushed that "Year One has been excellent from an economic standpoint." Echoing Byron York of the Washington Examiner, former Sarah Palin bath water drinker Rich Lowry proclaimed, "Trump's first year is starting to look like a big win." While Lowry rejoiced in "the welcome ascension of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court" and that "Trump's deregulation has been in full gear," the occupant of the Oval Office boasted in all caps, "DOW RISES 5000 POINTS ON THE YEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER - MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" With Congressional Republicans on the verge of passing the massive $1.5 trillion tax cut windfall for the wealthy, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders crowed on Dec. 17, "Amazing how much safer & more prosperous America is after only one year of President @realDonaldTrump." Ignoring the 800-pound bear in the room, Sanders asked:

Which is the more underreported story of @POTUS Year One?
-Defeat of ISIS
-Booming Trump economy

— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) December 17, 2017

Of course, that Donald Trump would try to appropriate the credit for whatever went well during his first year was entirely predictable. As it turns out, many of us predicted the very things--like the strong economy and the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria--for which Trump would claim paternity. But that's not all. His successes, his failures, the promises he kept and, more importantly, the promises he broke pretty much went according to script. There's no mystery as to why. Candidate Trump's narcissism, braggadocio, and pathological lying weren't going to end when he planted himself in the Oval Office.
Take, for example, the claims of the supposed conqueror of the Islamic State.
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