On the world stage — literally this time — President Donald Trump continues to seemingly desperately try to mask his complete incompetence by lashing out at his opponents. This Tuesday, he conducted a solo press conference while on a trip to India, and the event quickly devolved into a gross spectacle of Trump’s incompetence and ego. He veered between utter gaffes like his claim that India has the highest population in the world (China does) and whiny complaints about comments delivered in passing by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg some four years ago.
During the campaign season prior to the 2016 elections, Ginsburg had suggested that Trump was a fraud and should be pressed harder by the media on issues like releasing his tax returns. More recently, fellow Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor insisted that the court, as is, is conducting political favors for the Trump administration. Now, perpetually unable and/or unwilling to conceive of even the slightest legitimacy to any opposition, Trump insists that the two of them should recuse themselves from Trump-related cases.
He’s not governing — he’s just using the presidency to proclaim “My way or the highway!” He commented at the press conference, referring to recusal:
‘I always thought that Justice Ginsburg should do it because she went wild during the campaign when I was running. I don’t know who she was for — perhaps she was for Hillary Clinton, if you can believe it, but she said some things that were obviously very inappropriate… I just don’t know how they can not recuse themselves from anything having to do with Trump… The way I look at it is [Sotomayor is] trying to shame people with perhaps a different view into voting her way, and that’s so inappropriate… And everybody agrees to that, virtually everybody.’
That’s laughable. He’s just making it up that “everybody” agrees with him.
Trump, during news conference in India, explains that he thinks Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg should recuse herself from cases involving him because she didn't support him in 2016. He also calls on Justice Sotomayor to recuse herself for an unspecified "inappropriate" statement. pic.twitter.com/fb0WqOXKvp
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 25, 2020
At a different point, he got into it with CNN’s Jim Acosta. After he criticized CNN’s duly ordered reporting on Russian interference, the assessment of the intensity which shifted recently, Acosta commented:
‘Mr. President, I think our record on delivering the truth is a lot better than yours sometimes.’
And Trump, like a petulant bully, whined:
‘Your record is so bad you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You probably have the worst record in the history of broadcasting.’
🎙️ "Our record on delivering the truth is a lot better than yours sometimes"
🗣️ "Your record is so bad you ought to be ashamed of yourself"
Donald Trump rows with a CNN reporter during a press conference in India https://t.co/6pHiSwYgNO pic.twitter.com/eitILgZGHl
— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) February 25, 2020
The mockery for his performative spectacle quickly poured in. Check some out below:
Trump Embarrassment World Tour https://t.co/yTu756vunw
— Greg Pinelo (@gregpinelo) February 25, 2020
Donald Trump is an international disgrace.
— Ricardo Luke (@Lukericardo) February 25, 2020