What did Donald Trump do today?

He posted this to his boutique social media platform:

Of course, it's true that lots of different kinds of people might want the President of the United States to think they were his friend. Trump is notoriously susceptible to flattery.

Among those who have successfully flattered Trump and reaped the rewards are CEOs, world leaders, his own cabinet, junior staffers, people who want to be the nation's top intelligence official, foreign billionaires, his own physician who is supposed to be telling him hard truths about his health, and foreign governments looking to reap massive trade benefits. 

The unquestioned leader in this category is North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, who charmed Trump so thoroughly that within a few months Trump had gone from threatening nuclear war against North Korea to telling reporters about how he and Kim had "fallen in love." 

It's not clear what exactly had Trump so excited about his "friendships" this morning, but the previous night he'd had dinner with two billionaires who have made no secret of what they hope to gain from being Trump's "friend," Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

Why does this matter?

• Past a certain point, a need for flattery is pathological.

• It shouldn't be this easy to manipulate a president.

• It shouldn't be this easy for people to know they've succeeded in manipulating a president.