And that is to play the game his way. Don't worry about the truth or objective reality. Just lie. If you get called on it, lie some more. Keep it rolling. Inertia is your enemy; whilst your opponent is busy disproving your last lie, you've moved on. So never stop. Trump isn't actually very good at lying, but he makes up for it with volume. A good liar will destroy him.

It works. It is the state of political discourse today.

If the democrats attempt old-school fact-based politics, they're going to get done the same way they got done in 2016. Yeah yeah electoral college, popular vote, etc.

Now there's a question.

Here's what it looks like to me. There are a number of possibilities here. I am very unwilling to bet anything more than a single pint on any of them. The situation is febrile, to say the least.

No Deal
Johnson avoids/ignores a VONC and thus no GE takes place, and we exit on the 31st of October, without a deal. This will be bad. We will instantly be trading on WTO rules with Europe, and that means significant tariffs on a number of important goods. What happens at this point with the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland is difficult to predict. If we institute no checks on that border, then any WTO member is able to demand no checks on other borders. Also, the US has stated unequivocally that any outcome that places the GFA at risk will be a dealbreaker or at least a hard blocker for a UK/US trade deal. Note that the EU has stood down its Brexit negotiation team, and at present is standing firm on the WA being the only deal in town. Any talk from Johnson about a deal that isn't the WA is unicorns.

The Withdrawal Agreement
This is the only actual deal on the table. It has been agreed with the EU. It's a shit sandwich, but it's less shitty than No Deal. Really, discussion of any form of Brexit is just talking about how much glitter you're willing to roll the turd in. The problem with this deal (note: the only actual deal on the table) is that Parliament has voted it down three times. I can't foresee it going through on a fourth attempt. We're back to No Deal.

The GNU Alternative
Jeremy Corbyn, as leader of the Labour Party and hence leader of HMO, has proposed a Government of National Unity, with him as the leader. This would not accept a No Deal brexit. UNfortunately, Corbyn's "Jobs First" brexit is made entirely out of unicorns (e.g. there's to be a customs union, but the EU has made clear that such requires freedom of movement for people and goods, and FoM is a red line for Corbyn; the whole thing is basically a bunch of stuff that the EU won't accept on terms that the UK will.

The Turd Vol-au-Vent
So we're heading towards Brexit Day, and the EU rolls its eyes and goes "oh, all right then. Here's another deal." It includes a bunch of stuff that the UK wants, and a bunch of stuff that we definitely don't, but the EU will simply say "that's it. Take it or No Deal."

It's not a shit sandwich, after all...

The Right Thing That's Also The Wrong Thing
The UK revokes article 50 and stays in the EU, with plans for another referendum. This is the Right Thing to do because it doesn't drive a coach and horses through the economy. This is the Wrong Thing to do because, thanks to the utter fuckwits at the head of the two main parties and their insistence that the advisory referendum wouldn't actually be advisory, it'd be a constitutional nightmare.

Any second referendum would have to have two and only two options:

1. Remain
2. Brexit on these specific terms (x, y, z) and on this timetable (yadda)

It would also need to be at least a supermajority. I have commented in another forum that if you're going to ask a question that divides a country in two, you'd better be fucking sure that the split is 90/10 or greater, otherwise hilarity will ensue.