Donald Trump spoke to a group of small business owners in Washington this morning.
It was a safe group for #PresidentSnowflake. We know that because the only groups to which he speaks are those that he knows will give him a fawning, groveling display of allegiance. There isn’t a chance that Trump will show up in front of a group that won’t predictably humiliate itself in an outsized display of praise & thanksgiving for the #EmperorWannabe. Given his recent private conversations with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, who once had a general executed for not applauding with “sufficient vigor,” they might be hesitant not to.
This group did not disappoint, giving him a standing ovation as he entered with hands outstretched and palms turned upward as if he were either (1) Pope Francis giving the crowd a blessing or (2) a comedian comically asking the crowd to keep ramping up its applause. Basking in the moment, Trump then went #BizarroWorld on us—walking over to an American flag hanging limply from a small flagpole on the stage and literally wrapping himself in it. He embraced the flag and its supporting pole as he might have embraced Melania before she began telling him to get his tiny hands off of her. For just a moment, I thought he was going to give the flag a big, wet kiss.
Trump didn’t spend much time talking about issues related to small businesses—surprise, surprise—choosing instead to take the room with him on an extended visit to the other side of the looking glass where he could, with no dissenting opinions, lie with impunity about his “many great achievements” during his first 18 months in office. Because, of course, it’s never about the concerns of those to whom he’s speaking. It’s always about propping up what must be the most fragile ego on the planet.
To wit…
Trump trumpeted that, under his watch, 3.4 million jobs had been created during the 18 months since his election. And, to be fair, that’s not bad. One just wishes he would stop trying to make it seem better than it is by repeating the false narrative that, relative to the economy, he “inherited a mess” from President Obama. That’s a lie—or, “alternative fact”—that both he and Kellyanne Conway seem obsessed with perpetuating.
The truth? President Obama “inherited a mess” when he took over the reins of the economy during the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Trump’s economy is built on the shoulders of an economy that Obama rescued from real peril and gave stability to.
More truth? While Trump bragged about “inheriting a mess” and still creating 3.4 million jobs in the 19 months since his election, the fact of the matter is that the Obama administration had created 3.7 million jobs in the 18 months before that. Which puts the lie to Trump’s claim that “nobody would have believed in November, 2016” that he could have put up such numbers—it would have been expected that, given a strengthening economy, he could put up at least such numbers. It also puts the lie to Trump’s insinuation that his jobs numbers represent some kind of turnaround in the jobs market—they don’t. And, finally, it puts the lie to his and Kellyanne’s claim that he “inherited a mess”—he obviously didn’t.
I once thought that the towers of Manhattan cast the biggest shadow over The Grifter from Queens. I’ve changed my mind. It is the towering figure of Barack Obama that casts the biggest shadow over Donald Trump. Though, quite honestly, I don’t believe he’ll ever get out from under either of them.