We have already reported today that Jim Acosta is coming through as one of the most forthright, serious, and courageous reporters on television. (And why CNN hides him in the middle of the day on the weekend is a crime only CNN could pull off). We reported on Acosta calling out the MAGA movement as taking on the character of the character at the center of it all, Trump – the ultimate “bully.” You know, the bully like Cartman on South Park, all talk until he gets hit in the nose and then starts crying?

But as Acosta tends to do, he also caught a very subtle, almost throwaway, line from Trump’s rally speech in Iowa. He caught Trump admitting that continuous talk about the big lie is nothing more than stroking his big ego.

Watch Acosta work: (Video below)

TRUMP: “It’s the single biggest issue, the issue that gets the most pull, the most respect. The biggest cheers is (sic) talking about the election fraud of the 2020 presidential election. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it.”

ACOSTA: “Did you catch that?

“So he just gave away the big lie. He is admitting that his election lies are ego juice, just there to pump up the crowd, the very stuff that fueled the insurrection. And by now, we know he’ll take those crocodile tears. The big lie is the big cry, of course, as we said before, all the way to the bank and perhaps to the 2024 election.

Well, it’s always a safe assumption that everything with Trump is about both ego and money. But, yes, Trump did admit right in front of God and the MAGAs that the big lie is about getting cheers (always highly important, what’s the point of having a rally if you’re not going to be cheered), and he is going to ride those cheers and fantasies about him back in the White House, all the way to the bank in 2024.

He needs the money to make that run for redemption and they know it! They just don’t know that part of that money for redemption (well, most of it), is needed to redeem himself in court and redeem himself at the bank, because both the courts and the banks have a lot of questions for the old boy.

And that costs money, so does his ego. The big lie is nothing more than a way to keep it going. Otherwise, he’s a loser, and no one wants to give money to a loser. Too bad they weren’t listening close enough. Admittedly, neither were we, but Acosta was.

****
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak