Earlier on Tuesday, we brought you the “best” clip from Donald Trump’s wild meeting with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, but given the sheer magnitude of the insanity that unfolded live on national television, we thought it was worth recapping the whole spectacle.
Before we get to the video highlights, it’s worth noting that following the meeting, Schumer told reporters that if Trump stands firm on his demand for $5 billion in wall funding, there will be no wall at all and he (Trump) will also be the proud owner of a government shutdown.
And when we say “proud” we mean that literally. Just ask Trump, who explicitly stated, on camera, in front of people with working ears, that he would be “proud” to close the government if it means holding out for wall money.
“The Trump shutdown is something that can be avoided,” Pelosi tells reporters, at the same post-meeting presser.
Diving right in, Trump claimed that “tremendous amounts of wall have already been built”. That is a manifestly false claim. The wall is, for all intents and purposes, non-existent and will remain so because, for anyone who somehow still doesn’t understand this after two years, he is never going to get Congress to approve that monument to xenophobia that exists only in his “very large brain”.
Trump went on to tell Pelosi how “terrorists are pouring into the country” without citing any evidence for that claim because there isn’t any – evidence that is.
Schumer proceeded to try and explain to Trump that a shutdown is absolutely unnecessary and predictably, Trump was having none of it. Additionally, Schumer pointed out that it’s a bit contradictory for Trump to claim that he’s made the border safer while simultaneously talking about how dangerous it is.
Below, you can find Trump trying to claim that immigrants are bringing “in many cases contagious” diseases with them into the country. Do note that this is a new escalation. Before, Mexicans were “drug dealers” and “rapists”, now they’re carriers of infectious diseases.
Finally, the point when it all came apart:
You get the idea. This ranks right up there with the “George Washington did some bad things” presser and the “Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner” boondoggle on the list of Trump’s crowing achievements in abject absurdity.
If for some reason that’s not enough egregious “smocking”-hot “covfefe” for you, you can watch the entire spectacle below.
It’s hard to put into words how important it is to recognize that these antics display a rejection of a world order and globally-synchronized anything where the US is concerned. But I’m gonna try anyway.
The pilot has left the cockpit!
I used to tell people that the 2016 election was a vote for one of two pilots to deal with a plane we were all on that was low on fuel. One vote for basically stable level flight and pretend everything is fine, the other to do loops and barrel rolls because we’re awesome and have more fuel than anyone can imagine and can totally land on the sun where god lives. We chose the latter… Neither was going to solve the problems, but one was a much worse idea.
yes, as I said on any number of occasions back then, anyone who described that choice as somehow a close call given their palpable disdain for Hillary didn’t fully appreciate what we were about to get ourselves into.
Our master negotiator appears to have put him himself in a position in which he will either be forced to “proudly” shutdown the government, or will have to capitulate to Pelosi and Schumer and lose face with his hard right base. Either outcome is bad for him and there is basically no incentive for the democrats to compromise with him now.
It’s horrifying to think that this is the same guy that is leading high-stake negotiations with China and it goes a long way towards explaining the apparent lack of a coherent strategy towards the current trade negotiations.
Where did they get and why did they put that wooden dummy between Pelosi and Bubbles?
Who wants to be Chief of Staff, now that the ‘stable genius’ is becoming markedly less stable?
Amazingly Santorum, The Mooch and Bossie seem to want to ruin their careers and be Chief of Staff. They should go to their nearest psychiatrist. No rational person would. Only opportunistic hacks.
If I thought (which he once in a while may do though it wasn’t on display today) and spoke like him I would never have cameras to document my ummmmmm very stable genius. How can people see this and not think “something isn’t right here”. And Delusional Don thinks he did a great job, that this is a winning issue and he wants this. If your doctor, co-worker, children’s teachers, spouse, etc acted and spoke like this you would get away from them but in America he becomes president. There are so many disturbing moments in this meeting that it leaves me with a feeling of doom and despair.
Either he is totally delusional thinking this is the way to act as the president or he is totally incompetent or both.
It really is a bad day for America.
I am a psychologist. Trump has deep characterological problems and almost certainly incipient dementia. Yes, horrifying!!
Sounds like we just need to have border security and everything can get back to normal…….and we can continue being great.
Amazing performance….not sure who Trumps media people are…..sending shoutouts to them all.