President Donald Trump appears to have developed a new Thursday night ritual: He calls into Fox News anchor Sean Hannity’s show and just, well chats.
He did it in late March. He did it earlier this month. And he did it this Thursday, too!
I went through the transcript and pulled out the lines you need to see. They’re below.
1. “Well, it’s really the China virus. Call it COVID. Call it any one of a lot of different names.”
[narrator’s voice] It’s not called the “China virus.” And away we go!
2. “We’re setting an example. We don’t want to have people so close together. We have had such enthusiasm. Everybody wanted to go there.”
So, wait. Trump cancelled the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville, Florida, to set an example about crowds? Didn’t he move the convention to Jacksonville — from Charlotte — so that he could have a big crowd? I’m confused.
3. “We went to North Carolina. We wanted to do it there. It was all set. We were going to build a beautiful facility. And it got hit hard. And the governor then, really, he could have treated us better, Democrat governor.”
North Carolina’s governor, Roy Cooper, wasn’t willing to waive the state’s masking and social distancing rules. Which is why Trump moved the convention to Florida where his acolyte — Ron DeSantis — is governor. But now Trump is “setting an example” by cancelling the Jacksonville part of the convention. But Roy Cooper is still bad? So…
4. “I thought I had an obligation not to have large numbers, massive numbers of people crowded into a room.”
THE WHOLE REASON THE CONVENTION WAS MOVED TO FLORIDA WAS SO TRUMP COULD HAVE A CROWD. I feel like I am taking crazy pills here!!
5. “We have just great enthusiasm in the party. I don’t think we have ever had it, even more so than 2016. And you see what’s going on with the polls.”
Er, I do see what’s going on with the polls.
6. “Since — it’s funny. Since I did a — I made a speech at Mount Rushmore. And since that time, it’s been really something. There’s been — I mean, before that, really. You have all of these fake, these suppression polls, and just like 2016, when they put out these phoney polls, the media.”
I feel like Trump is trying to say something important here. But I truly don’t know what it is.
7. “We will put in 50,000, 60,000 people that really know what they’re doing. And they’re strong. They’re tough. And we could solve these problems so fast.”
Just the President of the United States saying he will send 60,000 troops into American cities to put down protests. Very normal stuff!
8. “At some point, we’re going to have to do something that’s much stronger than being invited in. But we have to be invited in.”
Trump appears to be threatening unilateral action against cities. So, yeah.
9. “If they invited us in, we’d go in with 50,000, 75,000 people.”
Wait, so now we are up to 75,000 federal troops ready to be sent into American cities?
10. “I think it was radical left people that are totally controlling him, like a puppet. I don’t think it’s him. I don’t think he knows even what we’re talking about.”
Trump has repeatedly suggested, with no proof, that Biden is some sort of Manchurian candidate of the liberal left.
11. “You have to be very sharp. I’m dealing with the heads of these countries. And every one of them is a world-class chess player.”
Here’s a great read on how Russian President Vladimir Putin has used chess as a political tool.
12. “And if you are not 100% on your game if you are not 100% sharp-plus, you’ve got a problem.”
I don’t know what “100% sharp-plus” means exactly but I think it’s very similar to giving it 100%.
13. “I looked — I looked at what we have in this country. I came in and I guessed it from before, but after I saw what was going on with horrible trade deals, horrible military deals, money being spent, it was being sent out like water.”
“I came in and I guessed it from before.” — Donald J. Trump, President of the United States
14. “So many different things, I could go — and you don’t have enough time. I could go all night with it.”
Honestly, same.
15. “And they will take you to the cleaners like you have never seen before. It is so easy.”
They will starch your shirt collars like you have never seen before. Believe me. Bigly starch.
16. “Let’s not kid ourselves. Everybody knows that. Everybody knows that. Senators will tell you that in his best he wasn’t.”
So, “everybody” knows that Joe Biden “in his best he wasn’t”? Uh, OK.
17. “Look, whatever is going to help, if it was a 5% chance, a 2% chance, wear it. And I will wear it. I wore it at Walter Reed Hospital the other day.”
Trump’s reversal on mask-wearing is jarring. Here’s exactly what he said before donning a mask at Walter Reed last weekend (bolding is mine): “Well, I’ll probably have a mask if you must know. I mean, I’ll probably have a mask. I think when you’re in a hospital, especially in that particular setting, where you’re talking to a lot of soldiers and people that, in some cases, just got off the operating tables, I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask. I’ve never been against masks, but I do believe they have a time and a place.” What an endorsement! When does Trump ink a deal to rep a mask company?!?!?
18. “The whole world was hit. China allowed it to escape to Europe and to the whole world, including us.”
While there’s no question that China was less than transparent about the spread of Covid-19 in their country, it’s not entirely clear to me that China could have stopped the virus from spreading outside of the country even if they wanted to. Covid-19 is a highly transmittable disease.
19. “There’s tremendous — you know, you don’t see that too much in the news, but you have countries that are going through relatively what we are doing plus-plus-plus. It is horrible.”
To be clear: The US has the most coronavirus cases (4 million+) and most deaths from the virus (144,000+) of any nation in the world.
20. “And we are going to win. And we are going to win sooner rather than later.”
“Medical experts urge the US to shut down and start over as coronavirus cases surpass 4 million”
21. “And therapeutically, therapeutics are, I think, going to be fantastic. Frankly, I would like to have that first because you could go into the hospitals, give somebody a shot or do whatever you have to do, and they would get better right away.”
“Therapeutically, therapeutics.” — The President of the United States
22. “I would like to see everybody if they can’t spread if they can’t have — be socially distant, then I think they should probably put it on.”
“All of sudden everybody’s got to wear a mask, and as you know masks cause problems, too.” — Donald Trump to Chris Wallace, July 19. (Yes, that was five days ago.)
23. “You’re not going to lose with it. So do it.”
Masks: You’re not going to lose with it.
24. “We will help other countries, but we want to take care of ourselves. We are going to be building factories. We are going to be bringing in shops as you’ve never seen.”
Hannity asked Trump what the country would look like in four years’ time if he is reelected in November. His answer? “We are going to be bringing in shops as you’ve never seen.”
25. “We are going to be respected. And we are now in other countries. They’re respecting us more than they have in many, many decades. I will tell you that.”
Wait, so are we respected already? Or are we going to be respected?
26. “And by the way, if we didn’t have that wall in right now, you would have numbers in Texas and in California, in New Mexico like you wouldn’t believe.”
Texas and California are two of the biggest hotspots for the coronavirus surge right now. Does Trump appear to be saying it would be much worse if it wasn’t for a border wall? I think?
27. “But the other thing we have done is the Space Force. You know, we put it in, it’s the first time in 76 years we have a new force. “
MARS AWAITS!
28. “Yes, no, I have thrown out first pitches.”
Well, this should be interesting. On the other hand, Anthony Fauci set a very low bar for first pitches.
29. “Because we got taken to the cleaners by every country. Ally or non-ally, we were taken to the cleaners.”
This collar is SO heavily starched!
30. “The fact is that President Obama and Vice President Biden, and the whole group of them with Brennan and Comey and McCabe and Lisa Page and Strzok, her lover, and beyond them, long beyond them, they spied on the campaign, using the intelligence agencies of our country, they illegally — this is illegal as can be, this is treason, this is many things you can call it, they spied on the campaign of another party or presidential campaign.”
[narrator’s voice] That is not a “fact.” Not at all. Also, this sentence is 77 words long.
31. “But Obama and Biden knew everything, and they spied on the campaign of the opposing party, using intelligence.”
“The Justice Department’s inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump’s campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia’s election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general’s report said.” — New York Times, December 2019
32. “There was no way — I understand the system very well, I understand being president very well, there was no way this could have gone out without — gone down without President Obama knowing every single thing.”
“I understand being president very well.” — Donald Trump. Yeah, this feels like a good place to end.
