Even as efforts like a bipartisan infrastructure deal collapse around him thanks to his own belligerence, President Donald Trump continues to insist that he’s doing just fine. This Friday at the White House, he denied having any knowledge of doctored videos of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that went viral on social media, even though he shared one just the day before that while not itself altered, was selectively edited to make the Democratic leader appear to be struggling to speak.
He told a reporter:
‘I don’t know about the videos. I can tell you that — what I’m here is to help the country. That’s why I did this — our country is doing unbelievably well. We have the best economy we’ve probably ever had… With all of the things happening, that’s what I’m all about. I don’t think they can go down two tracks… what I don’t think is right is you do a redo.’
Trump suggests he shared heavily edited video meant to demean Nancy Pelosi for the good of the country pic.twitter.com/DEZWpkpZE4
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 24, 2019
His “two tracks” notion that he seems quite proud of considering how many times he’s repeated it this week refers to House Democratic efforts to legislate and exercise their Constitutionally mandated oversight duties at the same time, which has Trump up in arms to say the least. After Pelosi said Trump was engaged in a “cover-up” via his team’s incessant refusal to cooperate with any and all Democratic probes, Trump went unhinged, storming out of a previously scheduled meeting on Wednesday after just a few minutes and still ranting about the situation, days later.
On Thursday, he’d suggested that Pelosi had suffered some kind of mental deterioration like we’re all in fifth grade again and he’s the bully calling everyone a “retard.” This Friday while speaking to reporters, Trump resuscitated the same claim, suggesting that Pelosi is “not the same as she was,” but explaining that — in his view — there’s nothing wrong with him questioning the mental capacity of a fellow leader of the United States government because, as he put it:
‘Did you hear what she said about me long before I went after her? She made horrible statements. She knows they’re not true. She said terrible things, so I just responded in kind.’
Suggesting the president’s reasoning is on some kind of grade school level here would probably be insulting to grade schoolers at this point.
Trump is the one who stormed out of a meeting after ranting for a few minutes and promptly rambled to reporters in the Rose Garden about how he’s one of the best, most transparent presidents in American history — his words, not an exaggeration. He said that he doesn’t “do cover-ups,” but he’s the one who is refusing to let even former staffers testify and to allow for members of Congress to review further information from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Even as all of this has unfolded, Trump still wants us to think that he’s an “extremely stable genius,” as he put it on Thursday. When you have to repeatedly insist to someone that you’re really actually a true genius, it’s normally not a good sign.
Featured Image via screenshot
