Here’s how Donald Trump continues to believe that he’s popular, even after he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes and as he racks up historically bad polling numbers for a president this early in his first term. He brings 11 white Republicans to his office to kiss his ass with stuff like this:
"He wants the real, unfiltered, what’s going on," [Rep. Chris] Collins said, "not necessarily watching CNN, MSNBC or even Fox. There were 11 of us from 11 different parts of the country able to share with him the responses we're getting when we’re at the supermarket, when we’re at Home Depot."
Collins said he relayed that his district has swung even harder for Trump since the election, despite "a few people who walk by and a certain finger on their hand goes to my face."
"I'll admit" it, he said. "But that’s one person in 20."
Oh, gosh, only one person in 20 actually gives you the finger. There’s clear evidence of soaring popularity! If Chris Collins wants us to believe that his district has swung harder for Trump since the election, he should feel absolutely free to release polling backing up that assertion. Until then, this sounds like so much Trumpian BS. The idea that hearing from 11 of his top congressional supporters gives Trump a sense of what’s happening around the country, versus what Republicans in Republican districts choose to notice about their districts, is … a perfect explanation of how Trump continues to convince himself he’s popular, actually. He’s living in a bubble, and everyone around him is frantically working to keep that bubble intact.