Even for Trump, this was a weird one. He’s disintegrating.
Fox News anchor Sean Hannity asked impeached president Donald Trump about his priorities for a second presidential term, during an interview from Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“If you hear, in 131 days from now at some point in the night or early morning, ‘We can now project Donald J. Trump has been re-elected the 45th president of the United States’ — let’s talk,” Hannity said.
“What’s at stake in this election as you compare and contrast, and what are your top priority items for a second term?,” asked Hannity.
Trump replies. Things get weird quickly.
“Well one of the things that will be really great, you know, the word ‘experience’ is still good,” Trump said. “I always say talent is more important than experience. I’ve always said that. But the word experience is a very important word. It’s a very important meaning.”
“I never did this before, I never slept over in Washington,” Trump added.
“I was in Washington I think 17 times, all of a sudden I’m the president of the United States, you know the story, I’m riding down Pennsylvania Avenue with our First Lady and I say, ‘This is great.’ But I didn’t know very many people in Washington, it wasn’t my thing. I was from Manhattan, from New York. Now I know everybody. And I have great people in the administration.”
“You make some mistakes, like you know an idiot like Bolton,” Trump continued, then he riffed on his former national security adviser for a while.
Trump said during the weird interview with Hannity that Vice President Joe Biden “is going to be president because some people don’t love me.”
Earlier this week, Trump said Biden would complete Trump’s beloved unfinished border wall, before stopping himself and saying, “Hopefully he won’t get the chance.”
Observations from Twitter, below.
Here's the transcript of Trump's response when he was asked what are his top priorities for a second term. pic.twitter.com/XKMawRiXFs
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 26, 2020
Events like this Hannity-Trump interview are complete propaganda. But I’m also not sure they do Trump any actual good other than reassure him that someone still loves him. It’s starting to feel like palliative care.
— James Poniewozik (@poniewozik) June 26, 2020
Fact check: Donald Trump is actually from Queens, not Manhattan. https://t.co/4FiifJGcMg
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) June 26, 2020