Created
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.