This isn't quite North Korea-level deception, but it's in the same ballpark.
Congress and the White House seem resigned to passing a basic funding measure to keep the government running and avoid a shutdown on October 1st, but the Washington Post reports that Trump needed some convincing.
According to the Post, Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell more or less tricked Trump in accepting a funding bill that doesn't include money for his fantasy border wall by telling him the wall is already under construction.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) showed the president glossy photos of a wall under construction along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) brought an article from the Washington Examiner that described Trump as brilliantly handling the current budget process, and portrayed the GOP as unified and breaking through years of dysfunction. [...]
The visual aids were a subtle but deft attempt to win over a president known to prefer visual imagery over wonky typed handouts, and eager to absorb flattery at a time when the White House is enveloped in chaos.
Folks, the Trump regime is dumber than anything I could have ever imagined. You can't make this shit up. It's virtually impossible to embellish or exaggerate anything when writing about Trump because the truth is dumber than anything you can think of.
Trump's border wall isn't being built. I presume Ryan showed Trump images of a replacement barrier that's being built where border fencing and barriers already exist. This isn't a new wall.
Whatever Ryan showed him photos of -- they could have been straight up fake for all we know -- it clearly worked.
Schrodinger's Wall aside, the idea that Trump is "brilliantly handling the current budget process" is hilarious in its own right, because there is no budget process. Republicans haven't completed the budget process a single time since they took control of Congress and they aren't going to this year either.
Mitch McConnell knows they haven't completed the process and he knows they're never going to, but he also knows Trump is a moron.
You don't have to take it from me. Ryan and McConnell's actions speak for themselves. These are the actions of men who know their boss is an idiot.