LOOK ON MY WORKS, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Donald Trump is a liar.  His problem is that he’s turned into a bad liar.  From his inauguration to his tweet du jour, he makes claims that are not only demonstrably false, but patently ludicrous as well. 

Here are two examples from just last month.  Trump told the New York Times that after his speech in Poland, “Enemies of mine are saying it was the greatest speech ever made on foreign soil by a president."  He claimed that after his rant at the Boy Scout Jamboree, “I got a call from the head of the Boy Scouts saying it was the greatest speech that was ever made to them, and they were very thankful.”   

I doubt that, at any point in his life, Donald Trump was ever a modest person.  But now, in his 70s, he insists that everything he does is the greatest ever, and that it must be acknowledged as such.  And it’s not enough that the praise he so richly deserves comes from his supporters.  Even his enemies must acknowledge his greatness.  And if they won’t do it, Trump will do it for them:  “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Andrew Sullivan believes that this is part of a strategy.  “The point of Trump’s otherwise super-stupid tweets is clear” he wrote in New York Magazine.  “To signal the new party line — which his internet underlings and media flacks then repeat. This can, of course, require them to contradict themselves in no time at all, as Trump’s moods shift. But the ‘willingness to say black is white when party discipline requires this,’ as Orwell noted, is key to authoritarian success.”

Personally, I think it’s more complicated than that.  I don’t believe that Trump’s tweets and off the cuff remarks to the press are calculated at all.  I think they simply reflect what passes for reality in the mind of a guy who is showing unmistakable signs of dementia. 

The Orwellian element is added when his followers immediately fall in line and parrot his latest delusion.  And I think that deep down, many of them are happy to do it.  I think that a substantial portion of hard core Trump supporters have been looking all their lives for Big Brother – an authority figure who shares their prejudices and will protect them from their enemies in return for unquestioning obedience. 

But in addition to Orwell (and Percy Bysshe Shelley), I wonder if there’s also an element of Lewis Carroll in this whole charade.  If the Queen of Hearts wants red roses, the lower cards will paint the roses red.  Is it possible that people close to Trump – Jared and Ivanka, for instance – feed his ego by making up stories about the praise he’s receiving?  “Hey, Dad, we heard from a Boy Scout official who said it was the greatest speech ever,” or Mr. President, “one of your press critics admitted that the speech in Poland was fantastic.” 

Trump's a guy who enjoys his flattery, and in his current mental state, he may well be unable to distinguish the plausible from the risible.