Donald Trump’s latest fiction goes completely off the rails
A new pair of early-morning Donald Trump tweets is a prime example of how Trump is acting more like a fiction writer and less like a commander-in-chief as time passes. In his continuing struggle to make a convincing case that there is a crisis at the southern border, Trump all but ignores the truth and reality of a situation. Instead, the wannabe novelist picks some aspect of the situation and uses it as a weird creative writing prompt, then proceeds to craft a story to fit his desired narrative.
Donald “Our Country Is Full” Trump’s 6:25 a.m. Wednesday tweet was to warn us of the supposedly urgent need to send more troops to the border: “A very big Caravan of over 20,000 people started up through Mexico. It has been reduced in size by Mexico but is still coming. Mexico must apprehend the remainder or we will be forced to close that section of the Border & call up the Military. The Coyotes & Cartels have weapons!”
For this tweet, Trump used the “20,000” figure as his writing prompt, then went off the rails from there. Mexican Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero told former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen a month ago that “the mother of all caravans” was forming with more than 20,000 people expected to join, according to reporting from the Associated Press. However, this never panned out. There have been reports of only about 8,000 Central American migrants crossing Mexico recently, and not in a single caravan.
Trump’s next delusional tweet about the southern border came at 7 a.m.: “Mexico’s Soldiers recently pulled guns on our National Guard Soldiers, probably as a diversionary tactic for drug smugglers on the Border. Better not happen again! We are now sending ARMED SOLDIERS to the Border. Mexico is not doing nearly enough in apprehending & returning!”
There was recently an incident between Mexican and U.S. troops near the border, but Trump used only this premise as a writing prompt for this second tweet. The incident was nothing more than a quickly defused misunderstanding, according to both the Mexican and U.S. governments. Mexican troops approached an unmarked vehicle sitting in an area that is oddly south of the border fence yet north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Once the Mexicans and Americans identified each other, they went their separate ways after following proper procedures, according to fact-checking by CNN. The encounter was neither antagonistic nor drug-related.
The country’s last Republican president took up oil painting after he left office because, as George W. Bush told Time, “I started to get antsy.” Given Trump’s scorn for reality and his ever-growing desire to live in a fantasy world, Trump may wish to try his small hand at writing fiction. Unlike painting, which requires a set of materials, writing involves only a pen and some paper. Trump is already quite experienced with making things up, and he can probably get some great writing prompts from his prison guards.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month