Photo: AP

Donald Trump, who thinks ‘irony’ has something to do with what his doctor said about eating too much red meat, is now claiming that he was “being sarcastic” when he invited Russian spy agencies to commit cyber espionage against Hillary Clinton.

“Of course I’m being sarcastic. And they don’t even know frankly if it’s Russia,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. “They have no idea if it’s Russia, if it’s China, if it’s somebody else. Who knows who it is?” (We do.)

In a separate appearance, Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said...something to somewhat similar effect. “Well it wasn’t really a joke, per se,” Pierson said, lucidly. “It was more tongue-in-cheek, like we’ve been saying simply because that is the issue.”

Maybe! Although it did not sound like a joke, or tongue-in-cheek, or sarcastic, when he repeated the invitation several times in the moment, despite being given multiple opportunities to clarify (instead telling a reporter to “be quiet”), and then reiterated it after the fact in a written—well, tweeted—statement.

Comedy is hard.