Is there any way to tell when a politician is not lying?
Yes. If they are six feet under, they are not lying.
The ONLY way to tell when a politician is NOT lying is when they are DEAD, BURIED or CREAMATED!
Even then verify it to your own satisfaction!
One clue that gives me some encouragement that a person is honest is when they fully acknowledge responsibility for their mistakes.
They don’t blame anybody else.
They don’t make excuses.
They don’t call other people names.
They explain how they figured out they made the mistake and what they plan to do to reduce the chances of repeating that type of error.