I mentioned in passing yesterday that Donald Trump’s tweets aren’t meant for the press or for Congress or for people like you and me. They’re meant for his fans. Today brings a pretty good example of this:
With all of the jobs I am bringing back into the U.S. (even before taking office), with all of the new auto plants coming back into our…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2017
country and with the massive cost reductions I have negotiated on military purchases and more, I believe the people are seeing “big stuff.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2017
This is obviously laughable. Even if you take Trump at face value, he’s been responsible for no more than a tiny handful of jobs, and he hasn’t negotiated a lower price on anything yet, let alone “massive” cost reductions on military purchases. So why bother tweeting something that makes him look ridiculous?
Because he needs his supporters to continue thinking he’s a miracle worker. To them, this tweet is a simple progress report. Even if anyone bothers fact checking it, they’ll never see it. All they see is Trump keeping them apprised of the tremendous progress he’s making in draining the swamp and bending Washington to his will.
But surely he can’t keep this up for multiple years, can he? At some point, after all, even people who don’t pay much attention to the news will eventually realize there’s a disconnect between reality and Trump’s big talk. Then they’ll start to see Trump for the empty hustler he is. Right?
This is the $64,000 question. I wish I knew the answer. For now, I’ll just say that I’m not sure. A lot of it depends on events, of course, and a lot of it depends on how successful Trump is at blaming other people for everything that goes wrong. Depending on circumstances, it’s possible that the true believers will stay on board forever, even if he shoots someone on Fifth Avenue.
