Donald Trump: why we should judge this President by his deeds, not his words

He can't let go. For all the bombast, for all the apparent self-certainty, Donald Trump’s colossal ego cannot allow him to admit that he won the 2016 election by anything less than an historic margin and that his presidency is anything less than entirely legitimate.

Thus, within the first five days of his presidency, the ludicrous dispute over attendance at his inauguration, and now, rather more importantly, over whether millions cast illegal ballots in favour of Hillary Clinton.

Had he simply dropped the subject, no one would be talking about it. Everyone knows Ms Clinton won the popular vote on 8 November by some 2.9 million votes. Nothing will change that. But whatever one thinks of Mr Trump and of the electoral college, nothing either will change the fact that by the existing rules of the game, he won. And that too was accepted by virtually everyone.

Instead, Mr Trump threw gasoline on dying embers, repeating his post-victory claim that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally. A predictable volley of ridicule followed. So, as is his wont, the newly installed President doubled down, saying he is seeking “a major investigation” into the claims. Which is just as it should be. If voter fraud on anything like that scale took place, it would be the biggest scandal in US electoral history, shattering the legitimacy, not of Mr Trump, but of American democracy.

The problem is that everyone knows the claims are false. Not a Republican of note, still less a Democrat, has spoken in his support. Voter rolls in 2016 were much more accurate than four years earlier. Proven instances of fraud number a few dozen cases since 2000, according to one study. And why should it be otherwise, with risk and reward so skewed? The latter is a single extra vote, unlikely on its own to make the slightest difference. The risk is of criminal prosecution, and in the case of a non-US citizen, deportation.

Mr Trump, therefore, has merely scored a second own goal. He has distracted attention from the substance of what he is doing, and thrown into doubt whatever he may say in the future on issues where facts are paramount: climate change, a hostile threat, the economy: or any genuine crisis on which he has to make decisions on the basis of the available evidence, not the mendacious fumes of his imagination.

So runs the conventional argument and there is much truth in it. But there’s another way of looking at things. This President is playing to his base, the core support in the American heartlands and the rust belt states that gave him his squeaker of a victory. It is doubtful they will be greatly interested in the uproar over alleged fraudulent voting (and if they are, they probably believe it happened). What matters to them are the promises to restore jobs and prosperity.

As for the “major investigation”, it is unlikely to change the truth that fraud is non-existent. Results will not be known for months, if not years. In the meantime the real danger is that Republican-run states will be emboldened to press forward with even tighter voter ID laws. The vote suppression that results is the true scandal of American democracy.

The focus should be on what Mr Trump is actually doing – and he’s doing plenty: a torrent of executive orders on Obamacare, the border wall, immigration, trade and much else. For better or worse, all are in fulfilment of campaign pledges. As he promised, his modus operandi could change the way Washington works. Judge him on what concrete achievements flow from these, rather than what he says. Concrete achievements belong to the factual world.