President Trump is talking. That is, he’s stringing words together into vaguely sentence-like constructions. Let’s listen in via my carefully curated Twitter feed. I guarantee that this captures the spirit of Trump’s remarks better than any normal media story you’ll read:
POTUS starts by describing himself as a winner — at a bill-signing that represents one of the biggest losses of his presidency
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 15, 2019
POTUS barely hiding his contempt for this event, apparently. If the president thought today was a winning move and day, he wouldn’t have led with some news about China talks.
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) February 15, 2019
Normal for a president to start by saying things in China with negotiators are going “extremely well,” then adding, “Who knows what that means?” This is what people say after most of his pronouncements, and now he is saying it about his own statements.
— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) February 15, 2019
The “location” of North Korea, “smack in the middle” of China, Russia & South Korea is “phenomenal,” like he’s going to build a hotel in Pyongyang.
— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) February 15, 2019
Trump says going to preserve trade agreement with UK post Brexit.
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 15, 2019
Trump is taking his sweet time with this emergency.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) February 15, 2019
why is Trump pushing Brexit in this
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 15, 2019
Did he just say it’s “wrong” and “a lie” that most drugs come through ports of entry? In a presidency of whoppers, that may be the most demonstrable one yet.
— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) February 15, 2019
Aren’t people going to be able to pass drugs through the slats?
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) February 15, 2019
Aw jesus, Trump is back to the duct taped women baloney.
— bmaz (@bmaz) February 15, 2019
Man, this emergency is really taking a backseat to whatever is on Trump’s mind.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) February 15, 2019
So this is how freedom dies — with a rambling, incoherent monologue
— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) February 15, 2019
Trump falsely claims Mexico has “almost 40,000 murders. 40,000.”
He initially tweeted the correct number, 33,341, then said “38,000,” and now “40,000.”
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 15, 2019
The border wall plaintiffs should just file a transcript of this announcement in its entirety.
— Matt Ford (@fordm) February 15, 2019
“Stand up — your husband was just killed!…” says President Empathy
— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) February 15, 2019
holy mother of christ this is off the rails
— Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) February 15, 2019
The emergency is so pressing and dire that we’re going to divert and talk about China for awhile
— Jonathan Tamari (@JonathanTamari) February 15, 2019
he just did pidgin English while approvingly quoting Xi describing China’s death penalty for drug dealers, there’s like fifteen things to unpack in those five seconds
— Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) February 15, 2019
This is a disgrace.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) February 15, 2019
well, if you weren’t thinking 25th amendment before, this — rambling, unfocused announcement — … yikes. moving btw China, Brexit, drugs
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 15, 2019
I literally cannot follow. It is making me crazy. https://t.co/EbsnfXMrv1
— Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) February 15, 2019
NPR pulled away from Trump announcement,
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 15, 2019
Trump is talking in a singsong list-making voice: “And we will possibly get a bad ruling…and we will end up in the Supreme Court…” He is saying that he will win on this in the Supreme Court as he did on the Muslim-focused travel ban.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 15, 2019
Trump says he asked a couple generals what they’d use this money for if Trump didn’t emergency-seize it for the wall. He says he can’t say what they answered, but “didn’t sound too important to me.”
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 15, 2019
That’s it?
— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) February 15, 2019
Christ, what a shitshow.
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) February 15, 2019
