In fact, the former president has been continuing the same line almost word for word since early September — when he first noticed the large and excited crowd Harris was generating.

In August, Trump went so far as to claim that people were using “artificial intelligence” to create the appearance of large crowds showing up for the vice president’s campaign events. He added at the time that images of her audience were “fake.”

What I find amazing about all of this is how pathetic it is. Trump’s ego can’t handle the idea of ​​his opponent having enthusiastic supporters, so he’s apparently making himself feel better with some kind of conspiracy theory: Harris and her team should pay fake supporters to attend her events because it alternative is that many Americans really like her and want her to win.

Moreover, this is not unique to the 2024 election. In early June 2016, when the then-candidate sparked protests, Trump assumed that the people involved couldn’t possibly dislike him. They were, the Republican said at the time, “paid agitators.”

After the Republican candidate prevailed on Election Day 2016, there was related anti-Trump activism. Those involved, he said in November 2016, were “paid protesters.”

Months later, after the Republican’s inauguration, the activism continued. Trump once again assured the public that these Americans deserved to be ignored — because he assumed they were “paid protesters.”

The following year, Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court inspired a new round of progressive activism. The protesters, Trump insisted, were “paid professionals.”

That was in October 2018. He’ll be at it again in October 2024, assuming the Harris campaign pays people to show up at its events.

The problem isn’t just that Trump sees Americans he disagrees with as “the enemy within,” the problem is compounded by the fact that he often sees Americans he disagrees with. as an impossibility that can only be explained by corrupt plans that exist only in his mind.