OP-ED: Trump lives in reality he’s created in his mind
Early in Donald Trump’s first term, Kellyanne Conway asserted that while people accuse Trump of lying, he’s really just dealing with “alternative facts.”
In his first term, Trump initially staffed his administration with more traditional Republicans who frequently restrained his actions. Many people remember his first term as relatively normal (with the exception of COVID-19 in 2020); it would have been very different had his staff catered to his whims, such as his desire to shoot demonstrators. Trump learned his lesson; this time, there are no traditionalists to restrain him.
Trump is living the Republican philosophy of the G.W. Bush administration: “We create our own reality.” Trump is governing not as the president of the United States, who would depend upon Congress to pass laws that he could sign, but rather as an authoritarian leader, whose word is law. Even while controlling both houses of Congress, Trump signed only five public laws in his first 100 days, the fewest of any president since Dwight Eisenhower (Trump signed 30 during that period of his first term). Instead, Trump is governing by executive order (he has signed far more than any other president in the first 100 days – 139 through April 29).
Trump claims a mandate, but he won less than 50% of the popular vote and his 1.5% margin was the second closest in 60 years. Falsely claiming a mandate leads to overreach; because Trump thinks he has popular support, he feels free to do what he wants. This has led to him making some very unpopular moves (pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters, imposing high tariffs, cutting popular programs such as Head Start, PBS and Meals on Wheels, e.g.).
In Trump’s mind, he can do no wrong. When the stock market was doing well in the fall before he took office, Trump claimed it was “his” stock market, but during the recent market declines Trump posted, “This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s.”
Trying to clear up the discrepancy, in an interview, journalist Kristen Welker asked him which part of the economy was his, and he replied, “I think the good parts are the ‘Trump economy’ and the bad parts are the ‘Biden economy’ because he’s done a terrible job.”
President Lincoln’s Cabinet was famously a “team of rivals,” strong members who thought independently because he thought that would give him the best advice. Trump has a Cabinet of sycophants who engage in North Korean levels of praising their leader. Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump that his strong actions on the border captured 22 million fentanyl pills, and saved “258 million lives,” which got no pushback. For that to be true, more than 10 people would have to share each pill (all of which were lethal), and 75% of the U.S. population would have to be taking fentanyl. But that passes for “evidence” in the Trump Cabinet.
Trump fires competency to ensure loyalty. When a lawyer for the Trump Administration admitted Abrego Garcia had been wrongly sent to El Salvador due to an “administrative error,” Trump fired the lawyer and doubled down on why Garcia should not return to the U.S.
When the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that Trump had to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller assured Trump that he won 9-0, not lost. No one can correct Trump because he’s never wrong.
Congress has the authority to set tariffs, not the president. But Trump has claimed the trade deficit to be an economic emergency in order to give him the authority to enact tariffs on his own, even though we’ve had a trade deficit since the 1970s. Most recently, he has claimed movies made overseas are a threat to national security and has proposed putting a tariff on them. Trump is making up emergencies to claim power he wouldn’t otherwise have.
Trump has claimed that the Tren de Aragua gang is part of a Venezuelan invasion of the U.S., which under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act gives him the authority to expel them from the country without due process (the Supreme Court disagreed and has paused this effort). Previously that law was used to intern people from Japan (and Americans of Japanese descent) during WWII. Does anybody believe that we are at war with Venezuela?
On day one, Trump declared a “national energy emergency” which allows him to fast track permits for fossil fuel projects, and at the same time he is canceling funding for wind projects. Why would you cancel energy projects when there is an energy emergency? How can there be an “energy emergency” when the U.S. is producing more oil and natural gas than any nation ever in the history of the world? Is it only coincidence that the fossil fuel industry donated $175 million to Trump and the Republicans in the last election cycle?
Trump thinks that by imposing tariffs, he’s getting revenue that previous presidents were too stupid (or weak) to collect, and no one tells him that tariffs are paid by Americans, not foreigners. Instead, his economic advisers end up twisting themselves into pretzels explaining why levying tariffs was brilliant but lifting them almost immediately was even more brilliant. In the meantime, the rest of the world sees erratic leadership and instability, making investors (and potential allies) wary.
If Trump were only a private businessman, his bubble would only endanger his businesses, with bankruptcies forcing him to face reality. As president, since he demands loyalty over competence, his staff is unable to get him to face reality, which is damaging the nation.
Kent James, of East Washington, has a doctorate in history and policy from Carnegie Mellon University.