Banned from Twitter since early January, Trump has communicated his post-presidency musings in written statements that are emailed to journalists and posted on his website. These missives, many of which were initially featured on his blog (which was shutdown a fortnight ago), have replaced his tweets as the most comprehensive public record of his day-to-day thinking.
Whilst most of the world is enjoying the relative peace and quiet of Trump's banishment from both Twitter and Facebook, he's still been issuing statements to anybody who will listen. For OGN readers not based in the USA, you would be forgiven for thinking he had gone quiet. Not so. CNN has been examining what's been on his mind.
Forty-three of the 132 post-presidency statements Trump had issued up to 9 June included a lie about the election. That's about 33 percent. These lies range from vague claims that the election was 'stolen' and 'rigged' to specificfalse assertions about what happened in various states he lost. These can all generally be lumped together under the category of Trump continuing the so called 'big lie'.
Trump's second-favorite post-presidency topic has been bashing fellow Republicans. About a quarter of Trump's post-presidency statements have castigated other members of his party - sometimes for failing to support his dishonest attempt to get the election overturned, other times for generally failing to be sufficiently loyal to him.
Another 23 percent of Trump's post-presidency statements have been endorsements of Republican candidates. (These endorsements tend to be more formulaic and less personal than his other commentary.) About 15 percent of the statements have featured criticism of media outlets or social media companies. About 9 percent have involved Trump trumpetting his own popularity.
The stats show just how frequently the former president is still, a full seven months after his fair-and-square defeat, promoting baseless nonsense that is destructive to American democracy. And the numbers help explain why so many Republican politicians continue to utter and defend these lies themselves. If the de facto leader of the party is making them an ongoing priority, elected officials who feel the need to stay in his good graces are not going to abandon them any time soon.
The only good news within this is that it's scarcely being reported outside the USA and, within the USA, only by a handful of right wing news outlets. Let's hope the peace and quiet lasts!