He keeps repeating this story for no apparent reason. Here he is three days ago in Detroit:
For the record:
Over 25,000 workers died building the Panama Canal, with around 22,000 during the failed French attempt (1881-1889) and approximately 5,600 during the successful U.S. construction (1904-1914), primarily from diseases like malaria and yellow fever, as well as industrial accidents. The vast majority were Afro-Caribbean laborers, with far fewer American deaths than often misreported.
I can’t find any mention of the snake but there is this from the recent NY Times interview. While discussing his White House renovations this happened:
David E. Sanger: So would you do it on the West Wing? Would you do it on the arcade?
President Trump: I would do it here — arcade and over to here, to about here. Here’s the Oval.
David E. Sanger: Until you stop at the Oval.
Tyler Pager: Building office —
President Trump: I’ve got to show — I shouldn’t do this, but I have to do it. I’m sorry, Karoline. Here’s my son holding a snake.
[Mr. Trump stops midsentence, leans over and pulls out of his desk a printed Instagram photo of his son Donald Trump Jr., who is smiling and holding up a rattlesnake.]
Do you believe that? No, do you believe that? That’s a cottonmouth rattlesnake. He’s a great hunter, but I said, “You know, ultimately they win.” I don’t like it. Don. No boots, no nothing. He was — he was born for that.
[The reporters look at the photo, in which the president’s son is wearing flip-flops.]
Katie Rogers: Flip-flops around that.
President Trump: But I said, “Ultimately, they win.” You better be careful. So ready? Don’t take any pictures of this ’cause you’ll scare people. So I started off with a building half of the seats —
[Mr. Trump puts a model for a new White House ballroom on the table.]
This happened the other day too while Trump was meeting with oil executives about Venezuela:
That is a very disordered mind, which is evident throughout that interview. He’s all over the place.
Meanwhile, today:
A half hour later he was on his way to Mar-a-lago for a long weekend.
Aaron Rupar’s Public Notice has an interview with Simon Rosenberg who offered up this tasty quote:
“It’s all an issue of who he’s become — a vain autocrat who is building himself a gilded ballroom and falling asleep. He’s implicated in the Epstein affair by Epstein himself, right? It’s just too much. It’s grotesque. He’s become a grotesque figure. It’s similar to historical figures like Nero or Caligula. Their madness took over and they started doing wildly destructive things. Trump is in that place.”
Yep.