What did Donald Trump do today?

He made more extravagant, unenforceable promises to try to save a Senate seat Republicans wouldn't be losing without him.

On Monday, Trump announced a "deal" to have a steel mill built in Iowa. The actual details were underwhelming: it would create a trivial number of jobs, it wouldn't be online until the 2030s if it were ever built, and Trump is still refusing to say what the Indian conglomerate that would own it is getting in return. 

Trump's party is in danger of losing what should be a completely safe Senate seat in Iowa, and that is universally understood as the reason Trump rushed the announcement in front of the public on Monday.

Today, Trump announced another "deal" that hinges on foreign investment materializing in another deep-red state where Republicans are in serious danger of losing a Senate seat to Democrats. This time, Trump announced the possible, eventual construction of a natural gas pipeline in Alaska, supposedly financed with money from South Korean companies.

Trump has a long history of announcing "deals" in which foreign interests will supposedly invest tens of trillions of dollars in the United States. Of course, foreign investment in the United States happens regardless, but by making a "deal" with Trump those foreign companies often get tax breaks or favorable diplomatic treatment from Trump. And, as countries from Liechtenstein to Qatar, have learned, it costs nothing to tell Trump what he wants to hear about what might theoretically happen in the future.

In this case, however, it's not even a new promise. The $54 billion a gas pipeline might cost to build is part of an existing (and unfulfilled) $350 billion pledge South Korea's government made last year in order to get Trump to cancel the tariffs he imposed on their country, rather than wait for the Supreme Court to do it.

In making the announcement of the supposed pipeline today, Trump came about as close as he ever does to a moment of humility, admitting that he'd "done a very bad job of explaining" what he sees as successful stewardship of the economy. It wasn't clear why he thought that Americans were forming their opinion based on his explanation, rather than the actual prices and wages they encounter in their own lives.

Why does this matter?

• A president who'd actually done a good job encouraging foreign investment could just point to actual accomplishments, instead of begging voters for an extension.
  
  
• "I'm sorry you don't understand how great I am" isn't an apology.