Windsor Mann, Opinion contributor Published 3:54 p.m. ET June 15, 2017 | Updated 10 hours ago

Great president or greatest? That appeared to be the question at President Donald Trump's first meeting of his full Cabinet on Monday, as top aides took turns piling praise on the boss. (June 12) AP

President Trump(Photo: Pool photo by Olivier Douliery)

President Donald Trump and his cabinet both have the same job: praising and overpraising Trump on camera. Thats what happened on Monday. The job is so demanding that Trump cant do it alone.

Never has there been a president, with few exceptions who has passed more legislation and who has done more things than what weve done, Trumpsaid, proving himself to be a student neither of history nor of the present.

Trumps message of how awesome he is resonated with members of his cabinet, who took turns thanking and praising him.

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta: I am privileged to be here deeply honored and I want to thank you...

Chief of staff Reince Priebus: We thank you for the opportunity and the blessing to serve your agenda.

Vice President Mike Pence: The greatest privilege of my life is to serve as vice president to the president. Being his wifes husband and his childrens father are probably not far behind.

Monday was Thanksgiving Day at the White House. In all, Trumps cabinet thanked him 46 times. They said great 32times, honor 15 times and privilege seven times. They found a thesaurus zero times.

History repeats itself, and so does the Trump administration, which has a history of praising itself. In April, the White House issued a press release declaring its support of itself: Senior Administration Officials Praise President Donald J. Trumps Buy American, Hire American Executive Order. This is what happens when only a third of Americans approve of the job youre doing and a large percentage of those people work for you.

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Flattery is Trumps cocaine hes addicted to it and, like cocaine, its not always genuine. Listening to Youre the Best from The Karate Kid soundtrack does not make you the best. Trust me, Ive tried. Likewise, praising Trump does not make him praiseworthy. This I havent tried.

Trumps dependency, enabled by his sycophantic staff, distorts his grasp of reality. If he ever holds a debate at the White House, it will be about whether he is the best president ever or the best human ever. When his children got good grades at school, Trump probably forced them to give him a round of applause.

After the meeting with his cabinet-cult, Trump tweeted that hes bringing real change to D.C., which unfortunately is true. The change is of the North Korean variety, and its real. Kim Jong Don is not entirely a figment of our paranoid imaginations. As were learning daily, reality is sometimes more cartoonish than cartoons.

Tuesday was the 51st anniversary of the Supreme Courts Miranda decision a reminder that Trumps staff has the right to remain silent. Wednesday was Flag Daya reminder that the Pledge of Allegiance is to the flag, not to The Donald.

Trumps slogan is America First, but his policy is Me First. Whats disconcerting about this policy is how swiftly it is being executed. While Trump is free to speak his mind about anything, no one else in the administration has this privilege. They speak honestly only when anonymously. Their privilege is thanking Trump for the privilege of thanking him and getting paid for it.

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Checks and balances, as David Frumpointed out inThe Atlantic, are a metaphor, not a mechanism. Someone must do the checking and balancing, and so far theres no sign of either in Trumps coterie.

Speaking of balancing, Id like to take this opportunity to balance my criticisms with some praise. Trump makes my job easy by doing his job poorly, and for that I am (sort of) thankful.

Windsor Mann is the editor ofThe Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism. Harass him on Twitter@WindsorMann.

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Flattery is Donald Trump's cocaine he's addicted to it - USA TODAY