MSNBC news host Joy Reid published an epic Twitter thread following the release of President Trump’s recent interview with the New York Times. The interview caught everyone by surprise, first and foremost because it was with the Times, publication with which the president has been incredibly hostile, but also for his calculated language and his trademark self-promotional flourishes with little if any basis in facts.
As many as 24 claims Trump made in the 30 minute interview have been rated false or misleading by the Washington Post, and more than a few experts have commented on the president’s mental state after reading the transcripts released by the New York Times.
Joy Reid took a slightly different tack. She began her flurry with an observation about the president’s tone in the interview, saying, “Trump speaks a lot like a child does. Lots of focus on who likes him, who loves him, who is his friend… his biographers all emphasize his deep desire to be loved & it comes through.”
In a subsequent set of tweets, she focused on what she called Trump’s “autocrat’s impulse” when it came to governing, adding that “He literally adopted a “Godfather” phraseology to all but say Democrats could have avoided blue state tax hikes via SALT if they had “come to him” to plead for his largesse.”
After more pointed observations, like how he appears to believe his presidency is one huge reality show, she finishes with a warning to Democrats about the lose-lose proposition of working with President Trump.
“If Democrats go along, it will only feed his grandiosity. If they don’t, it feeds his rage and opens the black hole of vengeance inside him, which he could take out on them, vulnerable populations, maybe other countries (war is still not unthinkable…) I just don’t know.”
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“It’s absolutely stunning,” she concludes, “that this is what’s happening. But it is what’s happening.”
You can read the entire tweet storm below.
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Now that I’ve read the entire transcript of @nytmike’s Trump interview, a few observations:
1. Trump speaks a lot like a child does. Lots of focus on who likes him, who loves him, who is his friend… his biographers all emphasize his deep desire to be loved & it comes through.— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
2. Trump repeats whatever he is fixated on over and over again. I counted 15 “no collusion” repeats, sometimes two or three times in a single paragraph. And he keeps returning over and over again to the election and how he managed to win via the Electoral College. He’s fixated.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
3. Trump things being president means he can do whatever he wants. He has an autocrat's impulse, and believes literally everyone in government, from the attorney general to every member of Congress, essentially works for him, owes him loyalty, and must "come to him" for mercy.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
He literally adopted a "Godfather" phraseology to all but say Democrats could have avoided blue state tax hikes via SALT if they had "come to him" to plead for his largesse. It's a combination of the impulses of 1. and 3.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
4. Trump thinks he is still the star of a TV show, and that the media has the power to decide who wins elections, based on ratings. Seriously: pic.twitter.com/MIKIXn4NIL
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
5. Trump invents his own reality, and then states that everybody else believes his version of reality too. And since he is so transparent, it's hard to argue that this is a strategy, rather than a form of self-delusion or just stubborn refusal to accept what is real. pic.twitter.com/gYDm9QBcCd
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
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It is absolutely stunning that this person is president of the United States.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
I'm not sure, by the way, what this means for Democrats. Trump clearly assumes that they HAVE NO CHOICE but to come crawling to him to do infrastructure, DACA, and inexplicably, to make a new, *better* healthcare (he specifically says "not Obamacare."
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
He clearly thinks this will happen, and that somehow magically, they will "do bipartisan." That's his actual phrase: "do bipartisan." Not "do bipartisan legislation," just "do bipartisan." He thinks it naturally will happen.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
If Democrats go along, it will only feed his grandiosity. If they don't, it feeds his rage and opens the black hole of vengeance inside him, which he could take out on them, vulnerable populations, maybe other countries (war is still not unthinkable…) I just don't know.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
But it's absolutely stunning that this is what's happening. But it is what's happening.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
