Lying politicians with morphing political positions are nothing new.

Yet usually there is an art to political lying; when done properly it leaves most Americans irritated, but not insulted and outraged. Unfortunately for former Vice President Joe Biden, the lie witnessed at the second and final presidential debate was not that kind.

Late in the debate during a discussion about climate change, President Trump asked former Vice President Biden, “What about fracking?”

Biden forcefully responded, “I have never said I oppose fracking.”

“You said it on tape!” Trump quickly retorted. 

The former vice president barked back, “Show the tape! Put it on your website! Put it on the website. The fact of the matter is he is flat lying.” 

Debate moderator Kristen Welker followed up with former Vice President Biden asking, “Would you rule out banning fracking?”

“I do rule out banning fracking,” Biden responded, “because the answer, we need, we need other industries to transition to get to ultimately a complete zero emissions by 2025.”

Here’s the video of the exchange:

Anybody paying attention to the election campaign would know that there are numerous compilation videos of Biden in 2020 promising to ban fracking.

Of course, President Trump was more than happy to make good on the former vice president’s request to “show the tape”:

Biden went so far as to say that he would close down the oil industry, a move which The Washington Post claimed “was potentially serious enough for him to try to clarify his remarks to reporters later at the airport.” But while such a statement is serious for Biden’s campaign, the former vice president’s statement on fracking seems far more egregious and damaging simply because he boldly lied to the American people. Here it is again:

It’s a hard thing to swallow that the potential future president of the United States would stoop to such a low. We are a high-trust society – everything around us depends on trust between American citizens and their leaders. When that trust has been broken, we have entered into a perilous time.