Former President Donald Trump was audible, if not visible, all day Monday, and the effect is that he remains at the center of the Republican Party’s talk.
His reluctance, or inability, to stay low is exactly what many Trump observers expected, but it is very different from the behavior of other ex-presidents.
“The presidents’ club code is to get out of the way and give the new commander-in-chief a year or two,” said CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.
But Trump is so narcissistic that “he can’t accept being out of the spotlight for one day,” Brinkley concluded.
Lately, Trump has been doing what he is by nature: dictating tweet-like statements, invoking conservative talk shows, and generally causing trouble. “I like this more than Twitter,” he claimed to Newsmax. “Actually, they did us a favor. This is better.’
Trump has shown no courtesy to President Joe Biden since he left the White House. On the contrary, he has repeatedly stabbed the Biden government in the eye.
On the phone with one of his greatest sycophants, Newsmax’s Greg Kelly, on Monday night, Kelly speculated about Biden’s mental capabilities, prompting Trump to say “something is up” with Biden. Trump then wondered “whether or not he understands what he’s signing” when bills cross his desk.
Trump is the first US president to lose reelection in nearly thirty years. The last president to not win a second term, George HW Bush, “made it clear that he expected to retire from public life,” according to Bush’s biography by historian Tim Naftali.
Naphtali said Bush told his successor, Bill Clinton, in November 1992 that “if I leave here, you won’t be bothered by me.”
The outgoing president added, “I won’t do anything to complicate your job and I just want you to know.”
Since then, he has gradually increased his visibility, with emails to media members of “45 Office” so far in March, twice as many as in February. His “Save America PAC” has also become quite active in recent weeks, with numerous approvals, criticism of “RINOs” and media outlets.
Trump seemed self-conscious about his media approach during a podcast recording with Lisa Boothe, released Monday morning. Trump was Boothe’s inaugural guest – meaning the podcast doesn’t have a high profile or huge following yet. Trump said in a statement that she has “done an excellent job” on Fox, so he may want to boost her new podcast.
In the conversation, Trump said, “people have seen some silence from him,” but actually, if you look at what has happened in the past period, we are putting out releases. They get picked up much better than any tweet. “
Trump told Boothe that he now believes that official statements to the public are “much more elegant than a tweet, and I think it gets picked up better. You can see that.”
“Retrieved” was the key phrase. The need for pick-up – that is, attention from the US news media – is at the heart of Trump’s post-presidential actions.
Rather than flying to a vacation destination and writing a memoir, he tries to stay relevant and on the media radar. And he continues to push the inflammatory claims that led to the January 6 riot about winning the 2020 election and Biden stealing it from him, despite pleading even from within his own party to stop lying.
“Trump is unique because he wants to make a lot of noise and attract attention after he leaves the White House,” Brinkley said. “And it stems from his psychological belief that he remains the real president.”
On the podcast with Boothe, Trump falsely said that “we won, and they took it away.”
“He’s desperate,” Brinkley said, “to let people know” I didn’t throw in the towel, I didn’t go anywhere, keep covering me. ” ‘
Brinkley likened Trump to “an active political hand grenade, ready to blow up the American political system in any way he can. And he starts threatening Republicans who crossed him. He is determined to keep it Trump’s party.” . “
He has several TV channels at his disposal that seem to be willing.
Last week, Trump called Fox for a live interview with Maria Bartiromo. The next day, his comments to Bartiromo were in heavy rotation on other right-wing networks and outlets.
In some cases, the networks clearly seek him out. On Monday, when he reported to Harris Faulkner’s late morning program about Fox, Faulkner asked why he felt the need to make a statement attacking Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, “Why did you feel you needed that about this issue?”
“Well,” Trump said, “you called me, I honestly didn’t call you.”
To Kelly, he had covered up the possibility of a new social platform by saying that “something will happen with social media if I want it to happen.”
At the end of the interview, Kelly looked starred. “Very cool,” he said, “the president of the United States,” and forgot to mention Trump as the “former” president.