The French have this phrase, "raison d'état." It means "official reason," more or less; literally, it's "the reason of the state." It can also be translated as "national interest." A leader using raison d'état seems to justify a political move, even sounds diplomatic. But it's really about a cover story. Raison d'état? Everyone knows it's a lie, but it keeps up appearances, gives a little plausible deniability.
For a commonly cited example, W went into Iraq with the raison d'état of quelling terrorism. It was apparent to many (especially foreigners, at first) that the invasion was tangled up in oil with an extra dressing of finishing up for pops. Retaliating for terrorism was opportunistic: any semi-credible excuse would have done just fine. There was a national interest: resources. There was a sheen of diplomacy: keeping the free world free.
When Trump says that he always knew this was a pandemic and very serious, that's his raison d'état for suddenly ramping up coronavirus testing and emergency stimulus measures very late. The real reason is that he was deluded and spent weeks in flat denial of the situation, trying to confidence his way through it. Today, there's a dire need to scramble for lost time. Rather than saying oops I was wrong, I guess this was 'ugely serious after all, which would sound weak to people he can fool, he instead says he always knew it was a pandemic and very serious. Of course of course, he's gotta ratchet ratchet ratchet things up. He always knew it was serious because it was serious. Plausible deniability! See? That's raison d'état.
Maybe his followers are more permissive or accepting of raison d'état than I and people in my filter bubble are.
I see the lie. It insults the intelligence of too many people. And the horrifying fact is his mistake will lead to thousands of deaths.
