I'm not entirely convinced that it's altogether fair or accurate to characterize what Trump does as "lying".
A lie is a purposeful falsehood; saying something that you know isn't true.
A young boy can say things like "I'm the strongest kid in the world!" or "I'm the smartest kid in the world!", and do with sincerity because he simply doesn't comprehend the world around him. He essentially talks himself, on the spot, into believing simplistic and naive hyperbole.
I think it's possible, literally, that this is what we have here.
.
I don't agree. It's not just ignorance, not naive hyperbole. It's a shrewd attempt to neuter the ability of a free press to criticize them. You'll notice that it's Trumps most preposterous claims that he chooses to amplify. By goading critics into fixating on such trivia, he undermine's their credibility. It's pretty easy to dismiss the press when they are freaking out about petty boasts of crowd size or plagiarism in perfunctory speeches. Which makers it easier to dismiss future critiques from the same sources.
This is evil shit. It's not harmless.
You're giving him a lot of credit, and sure, you may be right.
The thing is, what you propose would take more calculation and strategic depth than I believe he possesses. I think whatever success he had as a developer was achieved by simply mauling people through the sheer force and volume of his will, not strategic depth.
I dunno.
.