Donald Trump’s unhinged newest as he makes extraordinary declare about racism
Experts are warning Trump posting a blatantly racist video could scupper his hopes of holding on to Congress. Also JD Vance got booed at the Olympics. Here’s what happened in Trumpworld in the last 24 hours
Trump is starting to feel the heat again(Image: Getty Images)
Donald Trump’s second term is starting to feel a bit like Donald Trump’s first term.
When Trump returned to office, a lot of people noticed that he was getting away with a lot more than he did first time round. Maybe because of his “flood the zone with s**t” strategy. Or because so many people were so blindsided by his victory and depressed at the prospect of another exhausting four years.
Or maybe because the media and tech billionaire class decided between them that being anything but slavishly sycophantic this time round was a losing strategy so he got a much softer landing.
Whatever the case, where there were howls of protest over child separation, the Muslim ban and withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords, transgressions of a similar level of awfulness just haven’t seemed to prompt universal outrage on the same scale.
It’s hard to pinpoint when that changed, but it has. Maybe it was Minnesota. Maybe it was the Epstein files.
But in the last few weeks, Trump’s actions are starting to have consequences again – and he’s struggling to keep up.
Meanwhile in Trumpworld
- Trump admits he was behind the racist video
- But he won’t apologise
- It could be fatal in the midterms
- JD Vance obviously got booed at the Olympics
Here’s everything you need to know
1. The Lyin’ King
Donald Trump has refused to apologise for the racist video posted to his Truth Social account.
On Air Force One, on his way to Florida, he told reporters the clip was “a take-off of the Lion King” – and admitted he was behind it being posted.
But…he still tried to throw his staff under the bus.
“I didn’t make a mistake,” he said, explaining the part of the video he had seen was about “election fraud”.
He said: “I liked the beginning. I saw it and just passed it on, and I guess probably nobody reviewed the end of it.”
He added: “Nobody knew that that was at the end. If they had of looked, they would have seen it. And probably they would have had the sense to take it down.”
Probably.
2. Then it got a bit awkward
It was gently pointed out to the President that he has frequently criticised Joe Biden for allegedly not knowing what was going on in his name. And Trump did not appreciate the Alanis Morissette levels of irony.
“You don’t know what’s going on,” he barked. “I know what’s going on. We know everything.”
3. Trump’s ex chief of staff reckons it could be fatal
Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former chief of staff, reckons the video could be fatal for his hopes of holding on to Congress in the midterms.
“I talked to several House members that are just besides themselves and they don’t know how they’re going to handle it on the road,” he told NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer.
He pointed out the post was published at around midnight, and that to his knowledge there are only a couple of people with access to the account.
If he were still Chief of Staff, Mulvaney said, he would go to the President, give up the staffer and fire them, and offer his own resignation too.
4. Then Trump said this…
Alright, Donald. Calm down.
5. Trump took credit for freeing a prisoner who was released two years before his first term
During his National Prayer Breakfast speech on Thursday, Trump brought up the persecution and imprisonment of Mariam Ibrahim, who was sentenced to death in Sudan over her Christian faith.
Trump said: “Believers all over the planet rallied to Mariam’s cause, prayed for her protection, and successfully pressured for her release.”
Riffing on the subject, he said: “I did that. I did that. I did that with one phone call, actually. And she had such support, it was so easy. And when I explained it to the powers that be: ‘Yes, sir, we will do it right away.’ I just wish I knew earlier. But it’s a big world with a lot of people.”
One problem with Trump’s anecdote. Ibrahim was freed in 2014, a year before he was even a candidate in the election, and two years before he first became President.
CNN got in touch with a source who was a member of the National Security Council at around that time, who said: “I neither had at the time nor have now any knowledge of Trump’s involvement whatsoever. It’d be very surprising if he were.”
6. Trump admits he’s still planning to deport even law abiding undocumented people
Trump has been very keen to focus discussions around his mass deportations on violent criminals. See, deporting killers and gang members polls pretty well – but when you start talking about deporting farm workers and hotel staff, that’s where things start to drop off.
But cornered on the subject last night, Trump admitted that…yeah, he wants them all gone.
He said: “We’re focusing on the criminals, the killers… but ultimately, they all broke the law…. Ultimately, yeah, it’s exactly as I said during the campaign.”
7. JD Vance got booed at the Olympics
Because of course he did. He’s incredibly unpopular the world over. A lot of people in the international community really don’t like him.
So yeah, no big surprise that people at the woke Winter Olympics jeered him as he was introduced last night.
Oh hang on.
One person was surprised.
An aside – I haven’t included footage of the booing, because the IOCC keep doing copyright strikes on footage from inside the stadium. But I imagine if you do a quick search on Twitter or TikTok you’ll find it.
