Waldman: Donald Trump and the power of the big (fake) number

[Nevilledog]

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-fake-numbers-middle-east-business-deals

If there’s one thing Donald Trump loves more than a deal, it’s the announcement of a deal, the part where he comes before the cameras in triumph to tell the world that through his superhuman negotiating skills he has secured an agreement that will bring a future of unfathomable riches to all Americans.

These announcements invariably center on a dollar figure, usually one almost preposterously large. Five hundred billion, two trillion, 10 trillion — we are all supposed to marvel at the majesty of this number, to the point where our critical faculties fail us and we accept it without skepticism.

There may never have been a better case study of this than Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East. During the tour, Trump repeatedly touted the enormous deals he supposedly obtained from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, but an examination of those and some other recent deals he has announced — all portrayed as new investments pouring into the American economy — shows them to be largely a mirage.

We’re the marks, and the suspiciously large dollar number is the centerpiece of the con.

So many deals you’ll be tired of all the deals

Trump returned from the trip claiming to have obtained “over $2 trillion in great deals,” which would indeed be remarkable. Since our entire GDP last year was around $30 trillion, that alone would mean an increase of almost 7 percent in the size of our economy; the last time we had that much growth in a single year was in 1984.

(As this newsletter was being prepared for publication yesterday, Trump claimed even more preposterously that on his trip he secured “a nice contribution of about $5 trillion.&quot

*snip*