The Mexican opposition operates under self-delusion. The opposing forces see Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s overwhelming 2018 electoral victory as a fluke. Rather than try to understand why they were trounced and correct course, they’ve engaged in a campaign of distortion and outright lies against the president.

The latest attack has come in the form of a “investigative” report insinuating that the president is running a corrupt administration. This report lacks any journalistic merit, not surprisingly given its origins: Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad — a USAID-funded outfit founded by Claudio X. González, a businessman who has dedicated himself to uniting Mexico’s traditional parties in an effort to reclaim political power — along with Latinus, an outlet tied to numerous opposition figures and led by Carlos Loret de Mola, an entertainer known for participating in various journalistic hoaxes.

The report claims that Baker Hughes, an oil-field supplier with contracts with the state-owned PEMEX oil firm, had received preferential status. The “proof?” An executive from the oil firm had once rented a house to José Ramón López Beltrán, the president’s son. The facts: López Beltrán does not live in Mexico, does not have a political post in the country, and the executive in question said he was not aware that his tenant happened to be AMLO’s son, since he had publicly marketed his home through a licensed broker.

These facts didn’t stop private media outlets and opposition politicians from spreading the story far and wide. Their goal? To discredit AMLO. That scheme became clear when media outlets like Reforma and the Economist ran pieces suggesting the alleged scandal could harm AMLO politically, the latter calling it “potentially game-changing,” since voters chose AMLO in part thanks to his pledge to combat corruption. The story, by suggesting AMLO rates as just as corrupt as his predecessors, could hardly be more obviously hoping to undermine his public support.

This effort doesn’t figure to succeed — AMLO consistently enjoys approval ratings above 60 percent — but don’t expect the lies against him to stop. US politicians such as Senator Ted Cruz are already jumping into the debate, disingenuously tying AMLO’s criticism of Loret with the very real issue of violence against journalists in Mexico.

Rightists will no doubt continue to use false information to destabilize the Mexican government. As one leading opposition strategist recently confessed: “This campaign is won with propaganda, the more lies about MORENA, the better for you.”