In a new book out Tuesday, Trump claims that his achievements just two years in are “far greater than Ronald Reagan.” He claims in typical Trump hyper hysteria, “I blow Ronald Reagan away.”
“President Trump believes that his long list of achievements in office makes him ‘far greater than Ronald Reagan,'” Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner writes of the new book, “Trump’s Enemies.”
Trump blames the “fake news†for robbing him of bragging rights in the book.
And it’s not just the evil liberals who are failing to worship Trump. “And even more frustrating, he told ‘Trump Enemies’ authors and supporters Corey R. Lewandowski and David N. Bossie, some established conservative columnists aren’t giving him any credit.”
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Trump, who has a lifelong chip on his shoulder about not being accepted in certain circles because his father was tacky “new money,” claimed that if he had a different name, he’d be getting his due credit. If his name were “John Smith, they would say I’m the greatest president in history and I blow Ronald Reagan away.”
Yet, even conservative Keith Koffler warned Trump, “Trump should be careful, this kind of thing might anger some of his older, and strongest, supporters. It’s like claiming to be Moses and saying ‘I blow Abraham away.'”
In 2017 when Trump boasted about his accomplishments in office, saying, “I will say that never has there been a president — with few exceptions; in the case of FDR, he had a major depression to handle — who’s passed more legislation, who’s done more things than what we’ve done, between the executive orders and the job-killing regulations that have been terminated… We’ve achieved tremendous success,” PolitiFact rated his claim as “Mostly False.”
Earlier, Trump again made a similar claim, saying “no administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days,” which PolitiFact also rated as “False.”
For all of Trump’s claims about being the best on jobs, the New York Times pointed out in a fact check of his first 500 days (as has pretty much every non-hack outlet) that these trends were under way before Trump. That is, they were already established under Obama. “Yes, the unemployment rate has fallen to 3.8 percent, its lowest level since the dot-com boom in early 2000, and about three million jobs have been added since he took office. But those trends had been underway long before the Trump administration.”
Trump likes to claim he has been a savior to black people (in spite of his virulent racism) because black unemployment numbers are low. Reuters pointed out that yes, “Black employment has risen about 1.3 million under Trump to hit a record 19.3 million in October, but job gains were the strongest during Barack Obama’s second term when recovery from the Great Recession became more firmly rooted. Recent data indicate job gains for blacks may already be leveling off.”
On and on it could go, as ever it is with a Trump claim. But the largest takeaway isn’t in the details – it’s the broad, unchecked claims Trump makes, blaming the media for reporting facts while claiming he is better than the conservative God Ronald Reagan after just two years in office.
While conservatives might side-eye Trump’s claim, they should realize that he does this almost every time he speaks. He makes sweeping untrue claims, grabs acclaim for things that don’t belong to him while denouncing others with dangerous vitriol unbecoming and unfit for a president.
Donald Trump is, of course, no Ronald Reagan. He is not even Richard Nixon. He has brought historic shame upon the office, and has divided this country and exploited existing divides in historic, yes, but treacherous ways.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
