President Trump attacked the media once again and denied any assertion that the White House is in crisis during his latest bizarro-world press conference.
It was the wildest of any modern American president- better than many reality shows or the Muppet Show on TV.
For Donald Trump the truth does not matter- the media are his enemies when they question his many lies, mainly The New York Times and cnn, but not his darling pro-Trump-propaganda media like Fox News or Breitbart.
Like Putin in Moscow or Erdogan in Ankara he pushed the free media in the corner of fake-news to contain and maybe even destroy a critical press in the most important democracy in the world.
His wordings are confused, simple with no deeper thoughts or visions, but full of emotions and hate- a toxic mixture in the White House.
Trump took questions from the press for more than an hour, despite Trump saying that the press was filled with “hatred” for him.
He repeatedly attacked the media’s credibility saying “the public doesn’t believe you anymore.” Which is exactly what Trump wants.
- Talked numerous times about how he “inherited a mess”.
- Trump denied any connections to Russia or knowledge of his campaign team having contact with Moscow.
- Called the “dishonest” media fake news repeatedly.
- Claimed his administration has achieved more in the first month than any previous administration.
- Denied the failure of his travel ban saying, “we had a bad court”.
- Claimed the biggest Electoral College victory since Reagan but after being proved wrong he childishly said, “I was given that information”.
- Asked black journalist April Ryan if she would set up a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus: “Are they friends of yours?”
Thank you for all of the nice statements on the Press Conference yesterday. Rush Limbaugh said one of greatest ever. Fake media not happy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017
Click on the button to load the content from embed.theguardian.com.
Here are some of the headline quotes:
On the media
“I’ve never seen more dishonest media than frankly, the political media. I thought the financial media was much better, much more honest.”
On his presidency
“This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine.”
On firing Michael Flynn
“He didn’t tell the vice president of the United States the facts. And then he didn’t remember. And that just wasn’t acceptable to me.”
On leaks to the press
“I’ve actually called the Justice Department to look into the leaks. Those are criminal leaks. They’re put out by people either in agencies — I think you’ll see it stopping because now we have our people in.”
On anti-Semitism
“I am the least anti-Semitic person that you have ever seen in your entire life.”
On nuclear holocaust
“And I can tell you one thing about a briefing that we’re allowed to say, because anybody that ever read the most basic book can say it: Nuclear holocaust would be like no other. They’re a very powerful nuclear country and so are we. If we have a good relationship with Russia, believe me, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.” “You know what uranium is, right? This thing called nuclear weapons, like lots of things are done with uranium, including some bad things.”
On suggestions that he coordinated with the Russian government to win the presidency
“Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven’t made a phone call to Russia in years. Don’t speak to people from Russia. Not that I wouldn’t. I just have nobody to speak to.”
Trump’s press conference achieved virtually nothing, except scaring the bejesus out of the world. https://t.co/zdEEH9RGuh
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) February 17, 2017
On deals with Russia
“Putin probably assumes that he can’t make a deal with me anymore because politically it would be unpopular for a politician to make a deal. I can’t believe I’m saying I’m a politician, but I guess that’s what I am now. Because, look, it would be much easier for me to be tough on Russia, but then we’re not going to make a deal.”
On former foreign policy adviser Carter Page and his alleged ties to Russia
“I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to him. I don’t think I’ve ever met him. And he actually said he was a very low-level member of, I think, a committee for a short period of time. I don’t think I ever met him. Now, it’s possible that I walked into a room and he was sitting there, but I don’t think I ever met him. I didn’t talk to him ever.”
On former campaign manager Paul Manafort communicating with Russia during the campaign
“That’s Mr. Manafort, who’s by the way a respected man. He’s a respected man. But I think he represented the Ukraine or Ukraine government or somebody, but everybody — people knew that. Everybody knew that.”
On winning the Electoral College
“We got 306 [electoral votes] because people came out and voted like they’ve never seen before, so that’s the way it goes. I guess it was the biggest Electoral College win since Ronald Reagan.”
On a reporter subsequently pointing out that George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama all won more electoral votes
“Well, I don’t know, I was given that information. I was given — I actually, I’ve seen that information around. But it was a very substantial victory, do you agree with that?”
On North Korea and Iran
“I don’t have to tell you what I’m going to do in North Korea. And I don’t have to tell you what I’m going to do with Iran. You know why? Because they shouldn’t know. And eventually, you guys are going to get tired of asking that question.”
On himself “I’m really not a bad person, by the way.”
GOP senator on Trump press conference: ‘He should do this with a therapist, not on live television” https://t.co/eVv44M9SWf pic.twitter.com/bd8ZWBF15S
— The Hill (@thehill) February 16, 2017
Watch the full press conference here:
By loading the video, you agree to YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more