Pathetic

Created
Sat, 02/09/2023 - 09:00
Updated
Sat, 02/09/2023 - 09:00
Axios reports: Each day, former President Trump‘s staff presents him with a stack of mostly supportive letters, op-eds and printouts of tweets. They’re meant to keep him informed — but perhaps just as important, to boost his spirits. Trump, signature black Sharpie in hand, often scrawls responses on them and has his aides text a photo of the comments back to the writers. The Trump-signed hard copies are sent back by U.S. mail. Why it matters: It’s an ego-soothing exercise for Trump that winds up creating a series of viral threads, as recipients of Trump’s comments — some of whom are essentially pen pals with large digital followings — post them on social media. For Trump — whose online rants against critics, prosecutors and judges are escalating as the four felony cases against him proceed — the virality of such personal notes provides a constant chain of support, commiseration and shared anger. Zoom in: Paul Ingrassia, a former Trump White House intern, says he’s received more than a dozen notes from Trump since October in response to supportive articles Ingrassia wrote for conservative outlets. After he wrote Trump recently to flag an article “you may have overlooked,” Trump wrote back: “Never! Just posted” — Trump had reposted Ingrassia’s piece on Truth Social. Recalling a visit Ingrassia had made to the former president’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., Trump added: “Great seeing you — the man behind the great writing — you are looking good.” Like many of Trump’s pen pals, Ingrassia posts the…