Letters from an American
· collected 2026-09-08 · by Heather Cox Richardson
commentary
Since yesterday, President Donald J. Trump has been posting on social media at a frantic pace, showing AI images of himself with President George Washington on his own account and, on the official White House account, a video of himself as the DC Comics Green Lantern superhero.
asserted
Trump → post → superhero
The White House social media account ripped off Green Lantern’s oath, captioning the video: “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight.
asserted
evil → rip → sight
Let those who worship evil’s might beware my power…
uncertain
evil → let → power
Back on his own account, Trump posted images of Space Force uniforms that mimic those of Starship Troopers, whose design the director of that 1997 film claimed was meant to invoke Nazis.
asserted
director → post → Nazis
He also posted two AI images of himself in what appears to be a spaceship with his hands on buttons as two nuclear mushroom clouds billow off planet Earth behind him, and two images of himself as a sort of superhero dark lord with a dark army around him with the captions “THEY WILL NEVER SLEEP AGAIN,” “GIVE THEM NIGHTMARES,” and “THEY WILL DREAM OF US FOREVER.”
asserted
THEY → post → US
He posted multiple images of himself changing maps or of new maps showing the change of the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” and the state of New Mexico to “New America,” and labeling the Strait of Hormuz as “NEW U.S. Territory.”
asserted
himself → post → Territory
He showed the colors of the United States over the North American continent, and he posted “before” and “after” maps in which Iran was replaced with a silhouette image of his own head, as well as an AI image of a U.S. military plane blowing up Iran’s Kharg Island with the caption: “Bye bye, Kharg,” along with repeated claims that Iran is collapsing.
uncertain
Iran → show → claims
He posted an AI-generated image of himself beating Canadian prime minister Mark Carney at hockey and saying, “GET UP, GOVERNOR,” an insulting reference to Canada as a U.S. state.
asserted
himself → post → state
He also posted an image of the moon with the caption: “THE MOON IS OURS” along with a U.S. flag.
asserted
MOON → post → flag
And, of course, many of the things Trump posted claimed he would “GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS THE GREATEST PRESIDENT OF ALL TIME!”
asserted
he → post → TIME
He posted AI images of former president Joe Biden wearing a Trump 2024 hat and anti-Trump actor Robert DeNiro holding up a shirt saying “TRUMP IS MY PRESIDENT.”
asserted
TRUMP → post → shirt
He posted an AI image of what seemed to be the luxury liner RMS Titanic, labeled “DUMOCRATIC PARTY,” sinking in flames.
asserted
what → post → flames
He acknowledged complaints about the fact he has pocketed more than two billion dollars from rapid-fire stock trading since taking office a second time.
asserted
he → acknowledge → office
He posted an image of himself trading stocks at his desk in the Oval Office at a screen that reads “BOUGHT: INTEL $20” and another that reads “NOW $95” with the caption: “I do this for our Country, not myself.
asserted
I → post → Country
I’ve made Hundreds of Billions of Dollars on Stocks, and many other type Holdings, for the U.S.A., not myself, and all I do is get criticized by the Radical Left Dumocrats.
asserted
I → make → Dumocrats
Very unfair, but what can you do!
asserted
you → do → what
He reiterated his demand for the SAVE America voter suppression act and claimed: “Except for the RADICAL LEFT that wants to RAISE YOUR TAXES, and wreck our Economy, EVERYONE LOVES TAX CUTS!
asserted
EVERYONE → reiterate → CUTS
My Big Beautiful Bill was the BIGGEST relief in HISTORY for hardworking families—Nobody’s seen anything like it!”
asserted
Nobody → see → it
It seems likely that he and his aide Natalie Harp, who is apparently behind much of his social media, think trolling the country is a good way to keep attention focused on Trump rather than on rising inflation, corruption, or the war in Iran.
asserted
attention → seem → Iran
On CNN today, pollster Harry Enten noted that while Trump enjoyed a 20-point advantage over Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, in 2024 on economic issues, Trump’s approval rating for how he is handling the economy is now 41 points underwater.
asserted
he → note → economy
“We’re talking about a switcheroo in the wrong direction of 61 points on this Labor Day,” Enten said.
asserted
Enten → talk → Day
“It is not a happy Labor Day, indeed, for President Trump when it comes to how those who are employed view him on the economy.
asserted
who → come → economy
Also today, when Martha Raddatz of ABC News noted that gas and diesel prices are soaring, with the Labor Day gasoline average at $4.10 a gallon compared with $3.16 last year, she played a clip of Trump telling an audience that when they had to “pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember, you’re doing it so that a very evil country cannot have—a country, really, it’s the number one state sponsor of terror in the world.
asserted
it → note → world
We don’t want to have them have a nuclear weapon.
asserted
them → want → weapon
So remember that, when you have to pay a little bit more, you’re at $4, it’s okay.
asserted
it → remember → 4
I mean, it’s, I’m not, I’m not.
asserted
I → mean → ?
I will never apologize.
asserted
I → apologize → ?
I did the right thing.”
asserted
I → do → thing
Raddatz asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright today about when we might see a nuclear agreement with Iran, since it’s already been six months of higher prices and there doesn’t seem to be one on the table.
uncertain
it → ask → table
Wright answered: “There may not be a nuclear agreement.
uncertain
Wright → answer → ?
It may be simply destroying their capabilities to do it.
uncertain
It → destroy → it
An agreement may await a next administration in Iran.
uncertain
agreement → await → Iran
We simply don’t know that.
asserted
We → know → that
But I think what the president was communicating there is how critically important this is.”
asserted
this → think → what
Tonight, Trump posted: “Oil prices will drop precipitously, like everything else is dropping (but more!), when we WIN the war with Iran.
asserted
we → post → Iran
It will all happen quickly, and Iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon.
asserted
Iran → happen → Weapon
”
But while at some level Trump might think he is being clever by keeping the focus on himself, what he is really doing is demonstrating that he is no longer even trying to govern and is instead retreating into a world where he simply does whatever he wants without regard for the country.
uncertain
he → think → country
In the early hours of Trump’s rants yesterday, even before they had gained their full momentum, Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) called out the Republicans who are refusing to exercise their constitutional powers to protect the country.
asserted
who → gain → country
“This is truly unhinged,” she posted on social media over a video of his posts.
asserted
she → post → posts
“I don’t want to hear ‘oh, it’s just Trump being Trump’ or he’s ‘trolling.’
asserted
he → want → ?
…and 12 more, not listed.
