Writing my inaugural address at the Winter White House, Mar-a-Lago, three weeks ago. Looking forward to Friday. #Inauguration pic.twitter.com/S701FdTCQu
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2017
Trump wanted to show the world how hard he was working on his inauguration speech, so he published a photograph. The picture is what one might expect from him: the overly-serious stare, the odd writing instrument, the apparently-unused tablet, turned so one could see if he’d written even a word, and the gaudy-but-suspicious-looking setting).
Almost immediately, people dissected the photo as a fraud, one more example of Trump’s love for dumb show, using confidence tricks persuasive only to easy marks. See, Is Donald Trump Writing His Inaugural Address From a Mar-a-Lago Receptionist’s Desk? An Investigation (note: it’s probably the concierge’s desk).
Chris Hayes describes the photo – and Trump’s staged theatrics – generally:
The photo of Donald Trump writing his inaugural address at Mar-a-Lago — is it real or staged? #inners https://t.co/ko0yaLZCWw
— All In w/Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) January 19, 2017
Trump’s staged setting reminds one of Hemingway’s remarks about a similar stunt from Mussolini:
“The fascist dictator had announced he would receive the press. Everybody came. We all crowded into the room. Mussolini sat at his desk reading a book. His face was contorted into the famous frown. He was registering dictator. Being an ex-newspaper man himself he knew how many readers would be reached by the accounts the men in the room would write of the interview he was about to give. And he remained absorbed in his book. Mentally he was already reading the lines of the two thousand papers served by the two hundred correspondents.
As we entered the room the Black Shirt Dictator did not look up from the book he was reading, so intense was his concentration, etc.
I tip-toed over behind him to see what the book was he was reading with such avid interest. It was a French-English dictionary — held upside down.”