To celebrate the first 100 days of his second term, Donald Trump held a rally in Michigan, where the president boasted that “everyone is saying” that he’s had “the best” 100-day start in American history.

It was difficult to know whether to laugh or weep. While some presidents had extraordinary and historic 100-day starts, the idea that “everyone is saying” Trump tops them all is plainly absurd. In fact, by most credible measures, the first 100 days of his second term have been among the very worst the country has ever seen.

The claim, however, was part of a larger pattern. At the 100-day benchmark, The New York Times noted the degree to which the Republican is “turning to falsehoods to justify his agenda.”

Underlying [the president’s] efforts is a nonstop distortion of basic facts as Mr. Trump has sought to reconfigure the global economy, reshape the federal government and restrict immigration. To justify his executive actions and policies, Mr. Trump has relied on false, misleading and hyperbolic claims, deflecting blame for catastrophes, boasting about purported achievements and trying to seek leverage with Ukraine in negotiating a peace deal with Russia.

To be sure, the start of Trump’s second term has been, among other things, utterly exhausting. It’s been 100 days of incompetence and corruption. Failures and lies. Broken promises and shattered alliances. Lawlessness and threats. Power grabs and executive orders. Chaos and imperialism.

But as important as Trump’s shambolic fiascos have been, it’s important not to lose sight of the degree to which the president prefers to play make-believe, pretending he hasn’t failed at all, while trying to gaslight the public into playing along with his alternate reality.

There was a striking moment at a White House event last week, as a reporter reminded Trump of fresh data pointing to discouraging news in the housing market: Sales of previously owned homes in March fell at a pace unseen in 16 years.

Asked for his reaction, the president replied, “No, they had very good numbers on housing today.”

It was a head-spinning exchange, but it was also familiar: Trump, presented with unpleasant news, simply turned reality on its head and declared that bad news was good news — not because of the evidence, but because he said so.

This has effectively become a daily occurrence. Presented with the evidence that foreign visitors are traveling to the United States in far fewer numbers, Trump falsely said, “Tourism is way up.” Presented with evidence that egg prices have gone up, Trump falsely said egg prices have gone down. Presented with evidence that grocery prices have gone up, Trump falsely said grocery prices have gone down.

Presented with evidence that he’s shredded the United States’ alliances and partnerships around the globe, Trump falsely said, “I think maybe one of the things I’ve been most successful with is foreign relations.”

For the White House, the truth is painful and a constant reminder of failure. And so, the president has rejected it and replaced it with a series of achievements and victories that exist only in his imagination.

In theory, the president could look back at the months since his Inauguration Day and tell the public, “The last several weeks have been tumultuous for many, but I’m asking for your patience and faith — because while conditions have been difficult, brighter days lay ahead.”

That wouldn’t be altogether persuasive, in part because he promised voters that we’d all live in an American paradise staring on “Day One” of his second term, and in part because there’s literally no reason to believe the president has a vision for long-term prosperity. But he could at least try to acknowledge the pain he’s caused while offering assurances about the future.

But Trump isn’t doing anything of the kind, choosing instead to engage in a war on the recent past, gaslighting in ways that are as brazen as they are transparent.

None of this should come as a surprise to the public — Trump has earned a reputation as the most prolific liar in modern American history — but there are practical considerations to all of this.

The president won’t course-correct if he embraces an alternate reality in which he’s already on the right track. Similarly, he won’t take steps to solve problems if he pretends the problems don’t exist.