My dad had a Masters in math. Took a lot of statistics.
He always said there are three types of lies:
Lies
Damned lies
And statistics
One important reason the government can lie so easily and get away with it is because most people (90%+) are completely math illiterate. I’d estimate fewer than 1% of the population understands statistics. Most people’s eyes just glaze over when anything math-related comes up.