The Conversation (0)
James Besanvalle
Sep 08, 2020
Another day, another disastrous speech complete with tremendously ridiculous claims from Donald Trump – this time to mark Labor Day.
On Monday, the POTUS addressed a room full of reporters during a press conference at the White House.
And he wasn’t short of embarrassing and downright bizarre moments.
1. Trump called Joe Biden ‘stupid’
Speaking about his Democratic political rival for the 3 November election, Trump took the low ground and insulted his opponent’s intelligence.
He said:
Biden is a stupid person, you know that. You’re not going to write it, but you know that.
2. Trump demanded a reporter take off his face mask
When Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason attempted to ask Trump about previous derogatory remarks he reportedly made about fallen soldiers being “losers” and “suckers” while in France, Trump stopped him mid-question and said:
You’re going to have to take that off please… you can take it off – how many feet are you away?
Mason shot back:
I’ll speak a lot louder.
Trump argued back:
Well if you don’t take it off, you’re very muffled so if you would take it off, it’d be a lot easier.
The reporter again refuses and reiterated he’ll just speak a lot better. Then Trump reluctantly conceded through a strained sigh:
It’s better, yeah. It’s better.
How absolutely ridiculous.
3. Cans of soup... again
Trump absolutely loves talking about soup.
He proved it in July when he went on a minute-long rant about protestors using cans of soup to cause damage during protests.
And now he’s mentioned it again, speaking about whether police should be allowed to use “non-lethal” force against protesters in riots.
He claimed “there’s no retribution” for protester violence and added:
They throw rocks, they throw cans of soup, they throw lots of hard objects.
4. Trump claims he’s the most ‘innocent’ man to be POTUS
Trump was fooling no one when he tried to claim he’s the most “innocent” man to ever be president.
Speaking about the impeachment attempt on his presidency and the Mueller report, Trump said:
Friends of mine have said – sophisticated friends have said – you've got to be the most innocent guy ever to hold this office.
Swiftly moving on…
5. Trump called out over coronavirus vaccine promise
On coronavirus, Trump again claimed he was going to “produce a vaccine in record time”.
He said:
This could have taken two or three years, and instead, it's going to be, going to be done in a very short period of time. Could even have it during the month of October.
The vaccine will be very safe and very effective, and it will be delivered very soon.
But when called out on whether he was using the October deadline for “political purposes” before the November election, he shot back:
No, I’m saying that because we want to save a lot of lives. With me, it’s the faster the better. With somebody else, maybe they would say it politically. But I’m saying it in terms of this is what we need.
Watch the full exchange:
6. Trump thinks the US should be reclassified as a ‘developing nation’
Trump railed against China for a large part of his speech – from their climate commitments to their trade.
The POTUS also said China is classified as a “developing nation” and the US is classified as a “developed nation”. But he thinks the US should be reclassified as a “developing nation”.
His reasoning? Civil unrest in the wake of protests across the country.
Trump said:
We’re not fully developed, as far as I’m concerned. When you look around at Portland and you see what these Democrats are doing in our cities. Take a look at what’s happening in New York and Chicago. We have Democrat-run cities… mayors that are running cities so badly.
Maybe someone should tell Trump the classification system is mainly based on income per capita (per person), gross domestic product per capita, life expectancy, the rate of literacy, freedom index, etc.