The phrase “alternative facts,” the unofficial motto of the Trump administration, has almost come to seem quaint in the 18 months since it was coined by Kellyanne Conway in an ill-fated attempt to bolster Donald Trump’s claim to the largest inauguration crowd in history. Since January, the White House has appeared to be conducting a longitudinal study on just how far it can stretch this concept—how thoroughly it can obliterate the objective version of the truth, and replace it with something a little more flattering. Trump himself has taken the lead in this effort, labeling the “fake news media” to be the “enemy of the state” and instructing his supporters not to trust any negative stories about his administration. At an event for veterans on Tuesday, he offered an alarmingly Orwellian distillation of this political philosophy: “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

While Trump’s outbursts work to sway public trust in the media, the White House has also sharpened its efforts to promote its alternative facts. Whereas before Sean Spicer was forced to hide in the bushes, his successor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has found it easier to skip press briefings entirely, or cut them short. The West Wing now has begun eliminating words from official transcripts, and recently banned a reporter from Trump’s Rose Garden briefing for asking “inappropriate” questions. On Thursday morning, the war on reality reached a new extreme when the White House press team, facing a horde of reporters full of questions about a recording of Trump discussing hush-money payments with his onetime fixer, Michael Cohen, abruptly told the press that Trump would not be able to take questions as he crossed the South Lawn to his helicopter.

It is a White House tradition that the president engages with the press on his way to Marine One—one that Trump, despite his clashes with the media, is usually happy to oblige. On this day, however, Trump’s aides were at pains to keep him away from reporters. And so, as NBC News’s Hallie Hackson reports, the White House made a “bad weather” call and announced that the president would have to take a car to Joint Base Andrews. The weather, of course, was perfectly clear:

When the pool reporter inquired as to why the president’s plans had changed, given the idyllic weather, they were told, “there is fog.”

According to NBC Washington’s Storm Team 4, D.C. is experiencing a “break” of dry weather after several days of storms, and “Thursday will be mostly dry, with sunshine and temperatures in the upper 80s.” In theory, this is perfect weather for flying, not to mention an ideal clime in which to stand outside on a lawn and answer simple questions such as, What is your response to Cohen releasing said tapes?

Attempting to convince a group of trained journalists that the sun is not actually in the sky seems a bold move. But in fact, this effort is fairly junior-league compared to the more artful ways in which the White House press shop has systematically attempted to warp the truth. Public visitor logs have been made private. The president won’t stop ripping up documents, forcing staffers to meticulously tape them back together to avoid violating the Presidential Records Act. The White House will no longer publicize Trump’s calls with foreign leaders, nor will it release summaries of what was discussed. White House stenographers, who are tasked with recording what the president says, have found their access restricted. Trump recently claimed that an aide who gave an official White House briefing does not actually exist. And when Sanders does face off with the press pool, she does things like publicly argue with reporters over the meaning of the word “no.”

The evasiveness is not limited to the executive branch: according to Politico, the Department of Defense has simply stopped interacting with the media altogether: Secretary James Mattis has not briefed reporters on-camera since April, his press secretary has not done so since July, and Pentagon reporters have observed that they can no longer informally talk to Pentagon sources—a stunning change, considering the once-open channels of communication between the military and the media. “This idea that a four-star general is only going to speak on the topics that he wants to talk about, absolutely not,” one reporter told Politico. “You are sending other people’s children into harm’s way. You have to answer for that.” At least the Pentagon hasn’t stooped to peddling alternative forecasts.