QOTD: Orange Julius Caesar
by digby
REPORTER: Why not reopen the government and negotiate afterward?
TRUMP: "We have terrorists coming through the southern border… They drive right through and make a left. Not gonna happen, not gonna happen." pic.twitter.com/Ujc82enZoG— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 4, 2019
More of the batshit blather:
Trump says he "may" grant himself emergency powers to build the wall.
"It's called a national emergency," he says. pic.twitter.com/0aWF4iDtTY— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 4, 2019
Trump claims, "China is paying us tremendous tariffs."
(China is in fact paying the US no tariffs — tariffs are taxes paid by importers.) pic.twitter.com/w3CfXBwfjs— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 4, 2019
Asked to detail how the USMCA trade deal will result in Mexico paying for the wall, Trump instead goes on a rant about how NAFTA was bad. (He never answers the question.) pic.twitter.com/99zuD798TU— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 4, 2019
REPORTER: Why not reopen the government and negotiate afterward?
TRUMP: "We have terrorists coming through the southern border… They drive right through and make a left. Not gonna happen, not gonna happen." pic.twitter.com/Ujc82enZoG— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 4, 2019
"This should have been done by all of the presidents that preceded me and they all know it. Some of them have told me that we should have done it." https://t.co/eFedRJMSDs— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 4, 2019
I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying he’s lying his ass off about everything, especially that last. Unless he’s holding seances in the White House to talk to Andrew Jackson or something, there’s no way that Carter, Clinton, Bush or Obama said that. (Or the elder Bush either.)
Earlier, asked how it's fair for Cabinet members to get raises while federal workers are going unpaid, Trump said, "We'll have to talk to the Cabinet members, then, okay? I'm sure they don't even know that."— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 4, 2019
Earlier, Trump said he'd been called by tech companies who complain that they can't keep highly educated foreign workers schooled in the US. He says this is a "ridiculous" policy. *His own policy* has been to make it harder for such people. https://t.co/Eqg8wm4nZk— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 4, 2019
Asked if he'd ask landlords to go easy on federal workers not getting paid right now, Trump says, "I think they will…I think that happens. Hey, I've been a landlord for a long time…they work with people." Pressed, he eventually says he would indeed tell them to go easy.— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 4, 2019
Trump repeats his wildly misleading claim that Mexico's VAT disadvantages the US on trade.
This is one of the ones I don't call a lie because it's entirely unclear if Trump has any idea what he's talking about.— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 4, 2019
(He doesn’t know what he’s talking about)
Asked about a "safety net" for federal workers who are going without pay and need the money, Trump says, "The safety net is going to be having a strong border."— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 4, 2019
It went on forever.
I thought this was interesting:
"Because he's running the Senate." — Trump on why McConnell is not at the press event with him and GOP leaders.
The Senate is out of session until Tuesday
McConnell's aides say the GOP leader and Thune were unaware of press conference and had left before being told about it.— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 4, 2019