The official conventional wisdom heading into tomorrow’s State of the Union is that Trump will show a softer side and “bring the country together” and “reach beyond the people who voted for him in 2016”. This may seem like Great Pivot thinking, that Trump one day — someday! — wake up and decide to be a generally normal right-of-center Republican. But I think people are missing something, which, if you go back through Trump’s entire career, is his unwavering strategy of taking credit for things he didn’t do. The man first made his name by pretending to be a wealthy real estate investor. After he went bankrupt, he started a business of literally slapping his name on buildings (and steaks and wine and anything else) that he had nothing to do with. Then he became a TV star by pretending to be a chieftain of industry. Pretend is what Trump does. So, if Trump paints a rosier picture than his “American carnage” of his inaugural, it’s not because he’s changed, it’s because he wants to now pretend he has made everything better. Don’t expect a 71-year-old con man to ever change his con.