Donald Trump’s interview with Associated Press correspondent Julie Pace is transcribed for historical reference.
A pronounced egotism runs throughout the hour-long interview: the excessive and whiney complaints about unfair media coverage as if he is immune to criticism; boasts about “great” relationships with members of Congress and world leaders; puffery about making deals and threats to Lockweed and NAFTA; hoopla over ratings associated with TV appearances. As a marker of his self-importance, he used the first person pronoun (I) over 300 times. That’s five times a minute during the 60 minutes’ transcribed.
There’s his refusal to disclose on foreign policy issues: everything from the Iran deal to fighting ISIS to conversations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British PM Teresa May. He hints that such conversations are necessarily secret, as if foreign affairs are confidential matters better enacted in cloistered rooms and removed from the public’s attention.
On discussing the Iran deal with other heads of state: “I mention it, but it’s very personal when I talk to them, you know, it’s confidential.”
On his ISIS strategy: “We have a very strong plan, but we cannot talk about it, Julie.”
There are the distortions of reality, some of which sound remarkably similar to the palaver that came out of the Bernie Sanders campaign. You see his lies. He still claims that Rep. Elijah Cummings said he’d be a great President, despite the disavowal by Cummings. He states that Dreamers are safe despite their deportation by ICE. And he outrageously claims he knew nothing about Wikileaks, and yet there’s this:
And there is his inability to move past the campaign: coveting the rallies and his base, throwing shade at his predecessor President Obama, criticizing Hillary Clinton and demeaning the Democrats. He is still dividing the United States into hostile camps and friendly territory. For Donald Trump, it’s all about who shows him love versus who levels criticism.
But mostly, you hear the President of the United States rambling in broken sentences, half-finished ideas, elliptical thought patterns and outright gibberish. His vocabulary deficit is demonstrated by the repetitive use of fifth-grade superlatives (very, very very, great). I counted at least 65 of these childish adjectives. Then there are the vague mumblings, indicated as “unintelligible” in the transcript. The President of the United States was unintelligible sixteen times in an interview that will be broadcast and disseminated internationally. And that tally doesn’t included the blocks of speech that simply make no sense. Like this:
TRUMP: It could be an increase, then an increase. But not many more. I want to do the job, but not many more. … This is an important story. I’ve done a lot. I’ve done more than any other president in the first 100 days and I think the first 100 days is an artificial barrier. And I’m scheduled … the foundations have been set to do some great things. With foreign countries. Look at, look at President Xi. I mean …
Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be President of the United States. Hillary Clinton was right.
The buffoon in the White House should follow the lead of Ted Cruz and read fairy tales to pre-K children. Who knows – they might applaud. And that would please him. Bigly.
Five days after Donald J. Trump won the electoral college vote, an attorney made a prediction.
Therefore, if Trump followed Ford’s precedent, he conceivably would have the power to forgive federal violations against Flynn, Paul Manafort and Carter Page. He could pardon VP Pence, Jared Kushner, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Rep. Devin Nunes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – literally anyone caught up in the ongoing investigations of Russian collusion – even before they are charged with a crime. The two exceptions: these individuals cannot be impeached and Trump cannot issue pardons if he is impeached.
