For some time now, many of us have been wondering whether or not Trump believed the put-on that he was telegraphing to everyone else. He’s the greatest con-man since Barnum, right? He is just blowing smoke, right? These inquiries have been floating around since November, after Trump publicly doubted that vote tallying could take place beyond nightfall. He’s just trying to trick his base, the thinking went. Utterly cynical, but the tactic could work.
Remember how we went through these paces all through nearly the entire interregnum?
But now we have substantiated reporting, on background though it may be, that Trump actually does put stock in his own misgivings. In the vernacular, he’s getting high on his own supply.
Why does this matter? Hadn’t we already established that Trump was an unreliable actor, that he manipulates and deceives his audience as a matter of course? For me, the importance is in understanding the chain of causation. Trump obviously began his pretense deliberately (he had been counseled to avoid talking about any definitive win or loss on Election Night, but he went ahead and said that he thought his ticket had prevailed). So whom was the pretense directed toward, and beyond that who believed him? Was it his dedicated base? The general GOP electorate? The rank-and-file GOP officeholders nationwide (including mayors, state senators and representatives, governors and secretaries of state)? Congress, and Congressional leadership in particular?