Although he has the United States to (pretend to) lead, President Donald Trump remains in campaign mode. Perpetually unable to avoid an opportunity to bolster his ego, he took to Twitter this Monday to attack Democratic former U.S. Senator John Kerry for not ruling out a run for president in 2020. In Trump’s mind, he is himself the ideal candidate and few if any others come close, and he’s happy to remind everyone who will listen of that.
He wrote:
‘I see that John Kerry, the father of the now terminated Iran deal, is thinking of running for President. I should only be so lucky – although the field that is currently assembling looks really good – FOR ME!’
Trump, in his take on the situation, completely misrepresents the circumstances, in addition to his over the top egotism.
John Kerry never said he was thinking about running for president.
What he most recently said on the subject was:
‘I’m really not thinking about it. Talking about 2020 right now is a total distraction and waste of time. What we need to do is focus on 2018.’
In addition, the deal Western powers made with Iran that included them drawing back their nuclear production in exchange for economic relief isn’t dead, although yes, Trump re-imposed U.S. sanctions on the country that had been drawn back under the deal.
Top European officials pledged last month to remain committed to the furtherance of the conditions created by the deal. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the U.K. all said that although they “deeply regret the re-imposition of sanctions by the U.S.,” protecting what’s left of the deal is a “matter of respecting international agreements and a matter of international security.” To that end, they will be working to maintain “effective financial channels,” they explained — which is hardly an indicator of a dead deal.
Trump’s comments about the Iran nuclear deal — known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — aren’t the first time he’s said a piece of legislation was dead that wasn’t. He’s repeatedly claimed that the Affordable Care Act — otherwise known as ObamaCare — is dead, despite the fact that while he’s sought to repeal the act, it’s still fundamentally very much in place. The 2017 GOP efforts to completely overturn ObamaCare failed.
In other words, his Monday tweet about Kerry is the latest in a long line of lies.
Check out Twitter’s response below.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
