The voracious ego of Donald Trump continues to run roughshod over our nation. He seems unfazed by the latest reports of 1.1 million Americans infected by the coronavirus, and more than 67,000 dead. And he’s equally unmoved by the news that more than 30 millions Americans have lost their jobs. Trump posted 19 tweets on Sunday morning and hardly mentioned pandemic or it’s consequences at all. So what did he mention?
It’s all too apparent what is consuming the thoughts of our “president” these days. He makes his priorities known by expressing them unabashedly on Twitter. And on this Sunday morn he revealed that his primary interest is – as usual – himself. The most frequent subject of his tweets was his approval rate polling, with four addressing that one fetish:
The Fake News doesn’t show real polls. Lamestream Media is totally CORRUPT, the Enemy of the People! https://t.co/Agwb3u5QFd
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2020
Thank you! https://t.co/s3aLt9qTVZ
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2020
96% Approval Rating in the Republican Party. Thank you! Also, just out, highest ever Approval Rating overall in the new Gallup Poll, and shows “Trump beating Sleepy Joe Biden.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2020
Going well despite the Fake News! https://t.co/WXqcomjahx
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2020
It needs to be said that what Trump is bragging about repeatedly is a Gallup poll that is a conspicuous outlier. Most other polls put Trump in the low forties. It is also notable that Trump is excited about this being the highest number Gallup has posted for him, even though it is still below 50% which he has never achieved.
For some reason Trump tempers his giddiness over this poll with a swipe at the “Fake News,” “Lamestream” media that he refers to in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” But whining that the press “doesn’t show real polls” while celebrating a Gallup poll that the press always shows is a strange way to boast about his alleged popularity. He’s tearing it down even as he’s using it to lift himself up.
Additionally, Trump twice makes reference to a “96% Approval Rating in the Republican Party” that he fails to back up with a link or even a name for the pollster. The fact is, that poll doesn’t exist. Nor does Trump offer a source for his assertion that he’s beating Joe Biden. Which is likewise not supported by reality. Biden is shown ahead of Trump both nationally and in critical swing states.
For contrast, the rest of Trump’s morning tweetstorm was littered with tributes to himself and bizarre divergences from the matters that are of interest to most Americans. For instance:
- Whining that George Bush didn’t speak out against his impeachment.
- Some guy who wrapped his boat in a Trump ad.
- How much he misses his cult rallies.
- Two propaganda videos (here and here)
- Mike Tyson (?)
- An old propaganda video attacking Democrats.
- A shout out to his Turnberry golf course in Scotland.
And then there’s whatever the heck this is:
….And then came a Plague, a great and powerful Plague, and the World was never to be the same again! But America rose from this death and destruction, always remembering its many lost souls, and the lost souls all over the World, and became greater than ever before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2020
So rest assured that Trump is on the case, working to ensure that the American people don’t suffer from any deficiency in impotent Trump exaltations and syrupy propaganda. This is how a reality TV game show president thinks governing is done. When he isn’t neck deep in mounds of his own PR manure, he’s maligning the free press or the political foes that he is so transparently afraid of. and naturally, he’s always upselling, such as with these Trump-branded coronavirus face masks. This would all make an entertaining social satire if it weren’t for the corpses that are piling up due to Trump’s negligence and incompetence.
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.