Donald Trump went on a Twitter rant on Tuesday morning unlike the country has ever seen. His rants covered all his favorite topics: the NFL, Hillary Clinton, the Russia investigation, the National Anthem, his singular ability to improve the economy, James Comey, Jeff Sessions, Democrats, North Korea, the border wall, and of course, Donald Trump.
The president began his morning by feeding new talking points to his Republican allies in Congress like Devin Nunes as well as his rabid supporters. No matter what the Inspector General report on the Justice Department’s handling of the Clinton email investigation determines, and Trump would really like it to indict James Comey for some kind of misdeed and Hillary Clinton for some kind of crime, the narrative if it exonerates them both will be that it was delayed to favor his opponents. If it does show anything that says Comey or Clinton acted dishonorably, Trump will immediately praise the IG and take the report as gospel.
The economy, of course, is doing well. What Trump and his administration will never admit is that it was doing well when Trump was elected thanks to his predecessor and that Trump has not made improvements at the same rate as Obama. To admit that would be to admit that Trump lied during the campaigns and during his inauguration, when he repeatedly said that he had inherited an economy that was failing. It wasn’t.
He also continued his daily rant on the investigation into his campaign’s alleged collusion with Russian government operatives and his insistence that the entire matter is the fault of his own appointee to head the Justice Department, Jeff Sessions. Basically, his argument is that if Jeff Sessions hadn’t recused himself (or at least told Trump he was going to recuse himself before he lied to Congress about his Russian contacts during the transition phase), Trump wouldn’t have had to obstruct justice because Sessions would have done it for him.
He also continued his lies about the separation of immigrant families at the border. To be very clear, there was no policy, and there has never been a law passed by Democrats, that requires this cruel separation. Jeff Sessions made it abundantly clear that the Trump administration had begun and would continue to implement a policy of taking children from their parents as a way to discourage immigration. It’s cruel, it’s inhumane, and it is not something that Democrats have ever supported.
He also endorsed Republican candidates by slamming another Democratic stronghold as “high crime,” just as he has done repeatedly with the city of Chicago. What he’ll never admit, like many other things he’d like to avoid, is that California does not have the highest crime rate. The top three most dangerous states are Alaska, New Mexico, and Nevada. All of those states have Republican governors. California ranks 15th on the list of most dangerous states and Chicago ranks 24th on the list of most dangerous cities.
Finally, he tweeted numerous times about the Philadelphia Eagles and the decision to cancel the team’s visit to the White House, which Trump says was based on their anger over no longer being allowed to kneel during the National Anthem. Eagles wide receiver Torrey Smith weighed in on the subject.
In addition to being a football player who opposed Trump but stood for the National Anthem throughout the 2017-2018 NFL season, Torrey Smith is the son of a U.S. veteran. Philadelphia’s mayor, Jim Kenney, blasted Trump as “a fragile egomaniac” and “not a true patriot.” One of his aides, Jane Slusser, hit Trump where it really hurts.
Twitter seemed overwhelmed by the volume of Trump’s morning rant but weighed in on many of Trump’s talking points. See some of their responses below.
Featured image via Getty/Pool
