Donald Trump apparently thought it was a good idea to brag about the PR success of his trip to the scene of a toxic train derailment. The former president traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, on Wednesday where he handed out bottles of Trump-branded water and bought residents McDonald’s food. On Thursday, Trump decided to show off what a hit his grandstanding had been by sharing an internal “viewership report” on Truth Social, which claimed that nearly 180 million people had seen coverage of his trip via a combination of social and “traditional” media. “[W]hile traditional outlets like Fox News are woefully derelict in their reporting of what you did, the word is still getting out there in a big way,” the report read. It goes on to say that his “numbers this Wednesday were off the charts with incredible reach,” adding: “The visit meant a lot for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding communities. The trip gave them hope and raised awareness needed to combat the incompetence of the Biden Administration.”
