For Trump every event is unprecedented, even when it isn’t

For Donald Trump, image is everything. And his Twitter feed allows him to project the presidential image he wants.

When it comes to Hurricane Dorian, Trump is tweeting all the warnings from the national hurricane centre that a president should. He is followed by tens of million of people and helping to spread the message about the hurricane’s strength and evacuation procedures in each state is what’s required.

But Trump’s actions and words betray a slightly less presidential image. He sent Vice President Mike Pence on a trip to Poland in his place so he could monitor the progress of Storm Dorian. But with no events scheduled on what is a holiday weekend in the US the president has spent a number of hours at his golf club in Virginia, as he has done on many occasions during his time in the White House.

Amid the tweets about Hurricane Dorian has been a number about the 2020 elections and how the real enemy he and his supporters face is not the Democrats but what he has consistently labelled the “Fake News Media” or the “Lamestream media”. He hasn’t been shy about tweeting his achievements on the US economy either.

It may not be an accident that as the nation, and particularly states like Florida and North and South Carolina that could feel the effects of the storm – is looking to Trump for leadership, the president is pressing his case to be re-elected and trying to energise his supporter base.

In remarks to reporters on Sunday, Trump claimed that he was not sure that he had heard of a Category 5 storm, despite the fact that Storm Dorian (now a Category 4) is the fourth such Category 5 storm to threaten the US during Trump’s presidency.

“We don’t even know what’s coming at us. All we know is it’s possibly the biggest. I have – I’m not sure that I’ve ever even heard of a Category 5. I knew it existed. And I’ve seen some Category 4’s – you don’t even see them that much,” Trump said at a briefing with officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) headquarters in Washington DC.

“But a Category 5 is something that – I don’t know that I’ve ever even heard the term other than I know it’s there,” he said. “That’s the ultimate, and that’s what we have unfortunately,” he added, in reference to Hurricane Dorian.

In September 2017, nearly eight months into Trump’s presidency, Hurricane Irma affected at least nine US states. Later that month Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Then last October, Hurricane Michael, which was originally designated as a Category 4, hit the Florida Panhandle. Trump spoke about each storm as if it was unprecedented.

That is what the president does – including with his comments on the economy and immigration – try and make it sound like he is facing something no other occupant of the White House has faced. It serves the residents affected by such storms little, but it is the type of reaction Trump’s supporters love.

For them Trump is a unique president and anything that serves that narrative, especially from the man himself, is lapped up. That is not to say that Trump is nakedly trying to take advantage of a potential crisis. He is likely doing it without completely registering the impact. It is just what he does and he is banking on it keeping him in the White House next year.