Sen. Harry Reid isn’t beyond telling a deliberate lie for political gain. The way Reid tells it, Sen. David Perdue, a Republican from Georgia, told attendees at the Faith and Freedom Coalition last week to pray for the death of Barack Obama. Reid’s spokeswoman Kristen Orthman complained, “If Republicans are still wondering why Donald Trump is their nominee, look no further than today’s Faith and Freedom conference where a sitting Republican senator left the impression he was praying for the death of President Obama and then the Republican leader followed him on stage and did not condemn him.”

But this is not what Perdue said. In fact, Reid is deliberately twisting facts. “We’re called to pray for our country, for our leaders, and yes, even our president,” Perdue actually said. “In his role as president, I think we should pray for Barack Obama. But I think we need to be very specific about how we pray. We should pray like Psalms 109:8 says. It says, ‘Let his days be few, and let another have his office.’” At this point, the audience laughed. “In all seriousness,” Perdue continued, “I believe America is at a moment of crisis.”

The audience’s reaction and Perdue’s own words do not support Reid’s slanderous charge that Republicans were somehow a vast cult using the dark arts to hex political enemies. Reid has been unconcerned with spouting off untruths before if it advances his agenda. When a reporter asked the Democrat about his repeated lie that Mitt Romney didn’t pay taxes, Reid replied “Romney didn’t win, did he?”