With international crises in Venezuela, North Korea, Iran, and the rest of the Middle East, an ongoing trade war with China, and a myriad of domestic issues to attend to, President Trump spent his morning browsing on Twitter for posts that support him and his policies and embarked on a spree of retweeting that surely marked a personal best for the president in terms of the sheer rate of retweets per hour.
Trump is tweeting while the world burns.
Clocking in a remarkable 60 reposts in a 45 minute period, Trump seems to somehow think that by pouring an overwhelming volume of positive messages about himself into the cyber-sphere, he may be able to drown out the growing realization among the American public that the Mueller report — rather than being the complete exoneration that the president claims that it is — instead implicates him in numerous clearly outlined instances of obstruction of justice and that the report’s national security implications have been hidden behind redactions that Trump is insisting on hiding from Congress.
The contents of Trump’s retweets provide clues to the president’s current obsessions as well as his propaganda strategy leading up to the 2020 elections that many optimistic observers are wondering whether he will remain in office long enough to participate in.
The overarching theme of the president’s cornucopia of retweets is Trump’s own victimhood in the face of what he considers unwarranted attacks by partisan forces.
While the sheer number of posts he forwarded precludes the inclusion of all of them here, the material he forwarded to his eagerly drooling base slams Democrats and the intelligence community for instigating what he is positioning as an illegal investigation into his campaign’s clear links to Russia.
FBI's Steele story falls apart: False intel and media contacts were flagged before FISA | @jsolomonReports https://t.co/oJdHqZmg5S
— Devin Nunes (@DevinNunes) May 9, 2019
His retweets also foment conspiracy theories about the repression of right-wing extremists on social media and deny the findings of the unredacted Mueller report that he’s trying to prevent Congress from seeing while simultaneously holding it up as evidence of his innocence.
Today Twitter crossed the line & Suspended the Conservative run @WeSupport45 account without explanation. Who will be next? Come join @Politi_Chatter & join the #TWEXIT at https://t.co/debsISG7jJ
Please #RETWEET if you are Fed Up with Censorship#FridayFeeling#FridayMotivation pic.twitter.com/y5Jm9ULc3z— PolitiChatter.com (@Politi_Chatter) May 10, 2019
Retweeting posts from Republican senators and representatives, right-wing media personalities, conservative columnists, his media attack-dog attorney, and his son, Trump also waged war against Democratic efforts to fulfill their constitutional duty to oversee the activities of the executive branch — in particular the subpoena of his oldest son, Don Jr., who is facing accusations of perjury in his earlier testimony in front of Congress.
I agree with Leader McConnell: this case is closed. The Mueller Report cleared @DonaldJTrumpJr and he’s already spent 27 hours testifying before Congress. Dems have made it clear this is all about politics. It’s time to move on & start focusing on issues that matter to Americans. https://t.co/11THs9LE0j
— Senator Thom Tillis (@SenThomTillis) May 9, 2019
Trump also felt compelled to retweet support of his trade war with China hours after imposing a 25% tariff on a wide range of imports from that country that will amount to a regressive tax paid disproportionately by the poorest of the nation’s consumers.
Will stand behind President @realDonaldTrump and his team as he insists on a great deal with China.
It’s our last best chance to stop China cheating.https://t.co/ElqgkaGKcz
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 10, 2019
Of course, President Trump’s Twitter fusillade wouldn’t be complete without attacks on whichever Democratic opponent he sees as most threatening to his re-election — a position currently held by former Vice-President Joe Biden.
Of all the radical ideas in the D primary, this may be the most radical. This is a magnet that will make more people enter illegally – because if illegals get government benefits, the journey is worth it. Our healthcare programs are already going broke. https://t.co/8unUwjgEyS
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) May 9, 2019
Trump’s insistence on being his own press agent — a practice that harks back to his impersonation of “John Barron” to hype his wealth to a Forbes magazine reporter compiling the ranking of America’s richest people — means that he is proving the veracity of the one true statement he made on the campaign trail: that someone under the shadow of constant scandals and investigations would find it impossible to govern.
Trump made that statement as an attack on Hillary Clinton at the time. Ironically, it has become the most compelling and accurate description of his own presidency to date.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.