Donald Trump is no stranger to firing his employees. His reality TV game show’s tagline was “you’re fired” and Trump delivered the line at the end of each episode. His White House administration has the highest turnover rate in modern history because Trump is so fond of firing people.
So why hasn’t he fired the advisors who have sent him out on live interviews?
.@jonathanvswan: “Oh, you’re doing death as a proportion of cases. I’m talking about death as a proportion of population. That’s where the U.S. is really bad. Much worse than South Korea, Germany, etc.”@realdonaldtrump: “You can’t do that.”
Swan: “Why can’t I do that?” pic.twitter.com/MStySfkV39
— Axios (@axios) August 4, 2020
The interview with Axios’ Jonathon Swan began with a discussion of the most pressing issue facing Americans today: the surge in COVID-19 cases happening in places like Texas, Florida, and California. Trump went into his familiar mode of insisting that the cases are only as high as they are because the country does more testing, which Trump complained he doesn’t get enough credit for, and showed Swan numerous simple graphs in bright colors that show the United States “is last, meaning we’re first.” Trump insisted that there are “those that say you can test too much,” which is in “the manuals,” and that Swan was counting the numbers wrong because he should be looking at the number of people who have tested positive but lived. Swan told him he was counting the number of deaths, which is up to a thousand Americans per day.
Trump’s answer to that?
‘They’re dying. That’s true. And it is what it is.’
Trump tells #AxiosOnHBO that he “can’t say one way or the other” whether John Lewis was impressive.
“He didn’t come to my inauguration.” pic.twitter.com/L0uevhjrG4
— Axios (@axios) August 4, 2020
In another portion of the interview, Trump was asked about the death of Rep. John Lewis, who was at the time of interview lying in state. No matter how many opportunities Swan gave him, Trump could offer no praise or well-wishes for his family. Trump continued to insist during a conversation about a man who was willing to risk his life, and did so, to ensure that black Americans could vote, that Trump himself “has done more for black people than anyone in history.” Asked if Lewis’ life story was impressive, Trump said:
‘He was a person that devoted a lot of energy and a lot of heart to Civil Rights, but there were others, also.’
Swan: "I'm sure you've seen disturbing footage of people in fatigues beating the Navy veteran."
Trump: "No no no no no no. No. No. Here you go. Fake news."
Swan: "It's not fake news."
Trump: "No no."
Swan: "It's on video."— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 4, 2020
Asked about the current state of the country in terms of civil unrest and the videos of federal agents beating and gassing American citizens, Trump insisted that the videos were “fake news.”
For the full video of Trump’s Axios interview, see video below. Bring your tissues. You’ll cry for how far our country has fallen.
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
