Washington (CNN) On Thursday morning, President Donald Trump suggested, via Twitter, that Democrats had inflated the death toll in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017. The goal? To make him look bad, of course!

"This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico," Trump tweeted. "If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!"

Trump's tweet came as Hurricane Florence barreled toward the Carolina coast. It also followed hard on a study commissioned by the Puerto Rican government that showed the death toll from Maria was close to 3,000.

Trump's evidence for why the study was wrong? He offered none.

This then becomes simply the latest example of the President of the United States embracing -- or creating -- a conspiracy theory for the sole reason that it a) makes him look good/strong/tough or b) advances his political agenda.