Donald Trump’s unhinged 24 hours as he offers weird Iran reply and goes full white supremacist
Donald Trump appears to be spiralling again. As his war in Iran enters its third week, Trump is spending his time giving weird and often racist answers in radio interviews, attacking journalists and trying on cowboy hats
“Their genetics are not exactly your genetics,” Trump said.(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Donald Trump appears to be spiralling again. As his war in Iran enters its third week, reports suggest he’s sending more marines to the Middle East, who could conceivably be the first “boots on the ground” in the conflict.
None of which tallies up with the idea, that he’s been telling anyone who will listen the last few days, that the conflict is nearing its end. Several days ago, in fact, he said the war was “completely finished, pretty much”. But then they apparently remembered they didn’t have a plan to keep the Strait of Hormuz safe for oil tankers to traverse, and as a result, petrol prices have skyrocketed, and nothing Trump is doing has had any effect.
Still, he’s spending his time wisely, trying on cowboy hats in the Oval Office and attacking female reporters. Oh and being increasingly racist. Here’s what you need to know
1. Trump gives bizarre answer to when the war will be over
Donald Trump was asked when he’d know when the war in Iran will be over, and gave a bizarre answer.
The President had phoned to talk to Brian Kilmeade on Fox News Radio, during which he was asked “When will you know if the war is over.”
“When I feel it,” the President and Commander in Chief of the US Military replied. “I gotta feel it in my bones.”
2. Trump went full white supremacist when asked about terrorists
Asked to get into the mindset of terrorists, Trump took an unexpected swerve down the white supremacist avenue.
“They’re just bad,” he said. “Something wrong. There’s something wrong.
“Their genetics are not exactly your genetics,” he said to Kilmeade, who is, like Trump himself, a white man.
Trump has been increasingly suggesting in recent months that successful people, including himself have “good genes” – but this is the most plainly racist version of that argument I’ve heard him make so far. Even Kilmeade looked a bit shaken by it
3. He says the US doesn’t need Ukraine’s help on drones
Trump insists that contrary to reports that Ukraine has been offering assistance to the US in targeting drones, the US doesn’t need their help at all, thankyou very much.
Speaking to Kilmeade, he said: “No. We don’t need their help. We know more about drones than anybody. We have the best drones in the world, actually.”
4. He gave a cryptic hint at what’s coming next. Maybe
“Wait until you see tomorrow,” Trump told Kilmeade. “Wait until you see the next day. They’re gonna be hit so hard. They’re gonna be hit. They can talk all they want, but let’s see what they do.
“So they’re gonna maybe do something having to do with the Straits. I don’t know. But they’re being hit so hard. It’ll take them 20 years to rebuild.”
5. He said Iran is “bad” for “shooting protesters”
Justifying his “excursion” into Iran, he argued the regime is bad because it shoots protesters, without a hint of irony.
“There are bad people,” he said. “They go out shooting protesters. You’re a protester, they shoot you right through the head. This is an evil group of people.”
In February, two peaceful protesters were shot in the head and killed by ICE agents on the streets of Minnesota.
6. He launched a really unpleasant attack on a New York Times reporter and threatened to sue her
Maggie Haberman is an award winning, professional journalist, who is one of the most readable and essential chroniclers of both Trump presidencies. And she’s the latest in a long line of female reporters on whom Trump has launched disgusting personal attacks in the last few months, presumably in retaliation for her writing something he didn’t like.
“Maggot Hagerman, just another SLEAZEBAG writer for The Failing New York Times, insists on writing false stories about me, even though she fully knows and understands that the exact opposite of anything she says is usually the truth,” he wrote in a Truth Social post, to which an unflattering photo of Haberman was attaced. “In any event, I’m thinking of adding Maggot, and some of her “associates,” into my Florida based Lawsuit against The Times which, very happily, seems to be proceeding nicely.
7. But..but but! He tried on a cowboy hat
Trump tried on a cowboy hat in the Oval Office. Apparently it had the Declaration of Independence sewn into the lining. Because that’s not at all weird.
8. And finally, let’s catch up with Jeannine Pirro, shall we?
It’s been a while since we’ve dropped in on a press conference with Judge Jeannine Pirro, the former Fox News host that Donald Trump has made a US attorney and tasked with prosecuting his least favourite people.
Today, she got some bad news. A judge has blocked subpoenas relating to her bid to subject Jerome Powell, the sitting Federal Reserve Chairman who Trump hates most of all, to a criminal probe over spurious claims of “fraud” to do with cost overruns at the Fed’s HQ.
The Justice Department had served two subpoenas to the Fed’s board of governors to seek records about the central bank’s renovations and the testimony Mr Powell provided to Congress.
The board argued it was “part of the game plan to pressure Powell to bend to the President’s wishes or to get rid of him”.
And the judge agreed, saying: “There is abundant evidence that the subpoenas’ dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the President or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will.”
Let’s check in on Judge Pirro. See how she’s taking it.
