Trump and the historians

[happyhoix]

Somehow, this article summarizes Trump perfectly.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/04/trump-interview-a-first-historical-assessment/629454/

Apparently Trump has been calling around to people known to be writing books about him, including this group of historians. Historians always do an assessment of a president’s term, not just the president himself but Congress, social policy, regulatory climate, etc. Normally they don’t talk to the ex-president when doing their work, but Trump was eager to talk to them - to set the record straight, at least, according to what he thought the record was. He tried to position himself as a conventional president with a moderate record. 

This about nails Trump: “But if anything, our conversation with the former president underscored common criticisms: that he construed the presidency as a forum to prove his dealmaking prowess; that he sought flattery and believed too much of his own spin; that he dismissed substantive criticism as misinformed, politically motivated, ethically compromised, or otherwise cynical. He demonstrated a limited historical worldview: When praising the virtues of press releases over tweets—because the former are more elegant and lengthier—he sounded as if he himself had discovered that old form of presidential communication. He showed little interest in exploring, or even acknowledging, some of the contradictions and tensions in his record.”

Shortly after this interview, Trump said he was giving up talking to any authors about their books they’re writing about him - they’re all either wrong or trying to smear him. Too bad he can’t create anything more complicated than a photo book.