A number of commentators have suggested this week that it is now safest to assume that every word that comes out of the White House is a lie. That includes the President, his official spokespeople, his family, and various talking heads sent out to talk with the media. They have a tenuous relationship with the truth that goes far beyond the norm for politics, where we already tend to assume that most politicians have trouble on that front. I and many others have suggested that Donald Trump simply doesn’t view the truth the way the rest of us do – his egotism and narcissism, now combined with an actual position of incredible power, have contributed to him living in a very different reality than the rest of us. This may or may not be at the level of a serious psychological problem. But that’s not the point here.

The question today is, if we assume that we can’t trust anything that the White House says, then what should we (Americans, the press, the rest of the world) do about it? Please note two things: 1) this is NOT an academic exercise. I’m being completely serious. If the most powerful human being in the world and his spokespeople lie to us all the time, this is a HUGE problem that should not be ignored, and 2) this post is in now way trying to convince anyone that Trump is a liar. If you don’t see it that way already, I’m not going to change your mind in a few hundred words, and possibly not in your lifetime.

I think the answer is unfortunately simple: we need to ignore Trump’s words, and the words of anyone associated with him. We need to ignore all public statements. The only thing we should focus on are his actions, and the actions of those around him. Executive orders have power. Laws have power. Changes in regulations have power. Trump making a statement, changing it 10 hours later, contradicting it two days later, and then lather/rinse/repeat, should NOT have any power. And we are the one’s who choose to empower him.

The press needs to play ball here though, and I’m not in any way hopeful. I have ideals, but I’m not an idealist, especially not on this one. What COULD the press do? They could stop covering any words that come out of the White House. Report on the actions, not the words. If this is really lies and/or insanity, it is only empowered when we talk about it – and the press leads the way there. Blacked out press conferences are a perfect example: why is the press complicit in letting this happen? DON’T SHOW UP. Stop reporting the ridiculous things that the White House and their spokespeople say.

We need to know what the White House, the executive branch, Congress and the Courts are DOING. And in anything resembling normal times, what they say is also relevant, as it gives some idea about what they are doing, what they are thinking, or what they might do. In the Trump era though, that last sentence simply isn’t true. We can’t know what is truth and what is not (if truth even exists anymore in the White House). We have a post-Truthiness presidency going on. And we need to treat it differently than we have in the past.

What’s the worst thing we can do to Trump? Ignore him. And this is probably the best thing for most of us too.