Columnist shares the key driver behind Trump’s latest viral 'tall tale'

Former President Donald Trump is up to more of the same, a New York Times columnist wrote Thursday night: vowing to save the nation from "dire threats that exist only in his mind."

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman addressed what he called Trump's latest viral "lie" that President Joe Biden is withholding federal aid from right-leaning states and communities.

Trump, he said, is trying to "exploit the natural disaster for political gain, claiming he heard that the federal government — Biden — and North Carolina’s Democratic governor are 'going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.'"

Despite state governors from both major parties refuting that claim, including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, the falsehood was repeated by a shouting protester at an event in New York about how people view the economy, Krugman said.

Trump’s campaign, said Krugman, "rests heavily on made-up stuff."

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"And he clearly seems to believe that he needs new material, because the old material seems to be losing some of its effectiveness," wrote Krugman, calling the MAGA leader a "true innovator in political dishonesty."

While many politicians massage, fabricate and obfuscate their record, Trump takes it a step further: constructing "a whole dystopian fantasy world, trying to persuade voters that America is a nation with a collapsing economy overrun by violent immigrants."

The urge to spread false attacks against Biden, said Krugman, was likely "irresistible" — it closely aligned with many of his other claims.

"The key to Trump’s tall tales is to tell his supporters that terrible things are happening somewhere out there, even if those things aren’t happening to them or where they can see them," he said.