This fixation has evidently not gone unnoticed by leaders of prominent corporations, including Tim Cook. After Trump threatened this summer to impose stiff tariffs on foreign-made semiconductors, a tax that would drive up the cost of iPhones and other devices, the Apple Inc chief executive officer arrived at the White House in August with a pledge to invest an additional US$100 billion in US manufacturing, helping Trump fulfill a campaign promise.
Donald Trump calls himself the most transparent president in history. And in some ways he’s right. Where many of us would be mortified if the world could eavesdrop on our internal monologues—all of our personal complaints, desires, jealousies and grievances publicly laid bare—Trump exhibits no such inhibition. His daily torrent of Truth Social posts and the hours he spends before the cameras each week saying whatever comes to mind offer everyone an unredacted transcript of a president’s conversations with himself.
Among the things Trump doesn’t hide is his desire to be awarded prizes and gifts. He’s open about his craving for the Nobel Peace Prize and his vexation that Barack Obama has one and he doesn’t. He posts effusive self-congratulations after being declared the winner of tournaments held at his own golf clubs. “It’s good to win,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One after an April championship at his course in Jupiter, Florida, one of six trophies he’s claimed this year. “You heard I won? Did you hear I won? Just to back it up there, I won.”
