Remember Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX)? I’ve written about him before. He’s the guy who had the nerve to write this:
“Better to get your news directly from the president,” Smith said. “In fact, it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth.” [Vox]
I couldn’t help thinking about him while reading Steve Benen’s discussion on Maddowblog of Trump’s ego-rally (my thanks to my friend Jim for supplying that descriptive label) in Phoenix. What caught my eye?
But there was one line that jumped out at me because it dovetails with a rhetorical line I’ve been keeping an eye on in recent months. Trump was eager to argue that he’s produced amazing economic gains – the president touted the million-job figure again, though I don’t think he appreciates why that tally is so underwhelming – which led him to this gem:
“[E]conomic growth has surged to 2.6 percent. Remember, everybody said, ‘You won’t bring it up to 1 percent. You won’t bring it up to 1.2 percent.’”
Everybody didn’t say that. In fact, literally no one said that because this rhetoric doesn’t make any sense. The president seemed lost trying to talk about this a month ago, and his economic illiteracy doesn’t seem to be getting any better. …
All of which leads to a straightforward dynamic: (1) maybe no one in the White House has explained GDP reports to our first amateur president; (2) maybe Trump’s aides have explained it, but he didn’t understand the lessons; or (3) perhaps White House staffers did explain it, Trump understood the lessons just fine, and the president is working from the assumption that the public is easily fooled.
And we know that many the Trump supporters get their news only from Trump and some of his allied media. So, for them, when Trump shouts that no one thought he could bring economic growth up to 2.6%, they believe it – because they don’t know better and they’ve been told that everyone else lies to them.
And this is so in line with the expected results of Rep. Smith’s idiotic advice. He may have given it as a way to retain the allegiance of voters, but he may find out someday that he’s not the one dispensing the truth – it’s all about Trump. And that locks him into a straitjacket of loyalty that may, someday, squeeze him out of his job.
