In Donald Trumps worldview, everyone listens to him because he is Trump
And that's pretty accurate thinking on his part. That's why the networks are always trying to interview him: because he brings in a lot of viewers.
It is only accurate in Trumps mind
The rest of the world laughs at Trump
No, it's not in his mind, it's in the ratings. Remember Trump is more than just a successful business man. He spent a lot of time in the entertainment world as well. He knows ratings, he understands what ratings mean for revenue, and he understand that when he is on the tube, ratings go up.
That's hardly what I would say is just in his mind.
Yes he does, but ---- do you?
Having been in broadcasting for four decades I never tire of pointing this out -- ratings do not measure
assent; they measure
attention. And that is after all what Rump's quest is every moment of every day ---
attention to himself. It's the prison a Narcissistic Personality Disorder enslaves itself to (and the thinskinned Twitter meltdowns are the other side of that same coin).
But
attention is not "assent". Drivers on a highway will all slow down and devote
attention to the overturned tractor trailer engulfed in flames --- that in no way means they "
agree" with the idea of overturned tractor trailers engulfed in flames.
Tragically, what this all means in the context of political campaigning is that we get a wide swath of the Unwashed "following" and even voting for a media stick figure on the basis that "I've heard of that guy --- he's been on TV".