What did Donald Trump do today?

He made up imaginary riots.

Before leaving for still yet another campaign rally today, Trump had this exchange with reporters:

Q: You said Californians were rioting over the sanctuary cities. Where?

TRUMP: You shouldn't have -- take a look. They want to get out of sanctuary cities. Many places in California want to get out of sanctuary cities.

Q: But that's not rioting, sir, right?

Q: Where are the riots, sir? 

TRUMP: Yes, it is rioting in some cases. 

There have been no riots over sanctuary city policies, in California or anywhere else.

No American city has any control over immigration policy, and no American city can or does prevent the federal government from deporting or detaining non-citizens for immigration violations. A "sanctuary city" is one that doesn't use its own law enforcement resources to detain people on behalf of the federal government for suspected immigration violations.

By some counts, Trump has told about 5,000 distinct lies in his public statements to date. But with the midterms looming and Trump having all but abandoned the White House for the campaign trail, his lies are taking on a sort of fantastic quality even by his standards. At his Texas rally tonight, Trump claimed that the (United States) Democratic Party had somehow organized a caravan of Honduran migrants (they didn't), that he'd appointed a higher percentage of federal judges than any president since Washington (not even close), that he had eliminated the estate tax (it's still on the books), and that he is "one of the most popular presidents in this country" (he's 11th out of 13 at this point in his presidency since polling began).

Why should I care about this?

• Even if the president isn't personally capable of controlling the impulse to lie, it still hurts the country to have him do it this much.