President Trump unleashed another one of his freewheeling, lie-drenched rants today. Speaking outside the White House, he ranged from topic to topic, including a strange stretch where he talked about the national champion Clemson University Tigers’ looming visit to the White House.
Trump jabbered at first, saying that the Tigers were going to visit, before offering them faint praise and then repeating once again that they’d be visiting the White House. He then struck on the topic of the food the administration intends to serve the players.
“And I think we’re going to serve McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger Kings [sic] with some pizza. I really mean it. It’ll be interesting. And I would think that that’s their favorite food. So we’ll see what happens. But they’re coming tonight, the national champions, subject to the weather,” he said, sounding even more senile than usual.
How or why serving fast food to the players could be”interesting” is anyone’s guess. His use of the phrase “I really mean it” is especially weird, because there’s no reason why people would assume he didn’t really mean it in the first place. Why did he feel the need to assure that he’s serious?
Reportedly, Trump is such a noted fan of McDonald’s because he’s paranoid that someone might try to poison him and he’s convinced that the premade food, served up by people who don’t know he’ll be eating therein advance is safer than other options. Whether the decision to serve fast food to the champions is tied to these idiosyncratic fears is unclear.
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1084825805979557889
The bizarre fast food tangent quickly went viral, as Twitter users flocked to mock the president.
My guess is the players would prefer some nice steaks or something they can't get every day, and Trump's notion that they can't appreciate food nicer than McDonald is probably condescending and false. https://t.co/3PyuhE52IS
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) January 14, 2019
Trump will serve national football champions Clemson "McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger Kings (sic) with some pizza" because he thinks "that's their favorite food."
Nothing the nation's most elite athletes fuel up on more than (checks notes) absolute garbage. pic.twitter.com/VNQ6ruaIYX
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) January 14, 2019
I imagine Trump horking down a McDonald's sandwich when a Clemson player approaches him and he reacts like the President of Playtone Records from "That Thing You Do" when interrupted while eating. https://t.co/C53rC0U9Wj
— Riff Raff (@Raff87Raff) January 14, 2019
Is the Whitehouse chef furloughed? Jackass Trump
Trump: We'll serve McDonald's, Burger King to Clemson football team https://t.co/Newss75q47
— NYTexan (@ny_texan) January 14, 2019
This is like if you asked a robot what college football players like to eat. Also Trump says Burger Kings not Burger King, I think it's important we don't normalize that https://t.co/L2h5aKrlH1
— Charlotte Wilder (@TheWilderThings) January 14, 2019
At another point in his borderline incoherent comments, Trump claimed that Democrats have been secretly reaching out to him to voice support for his continued shutdown of the federal government. Given his long track record of demonstrated mendacity and a habit of spinning such anecdotes out of thin air, the most likely explanation is that Trump is lying. Democrats simply don’t support his wall because it’s a terrible, wasteful proposal.
Trump on report he's concealed notes about his meetings with Putin: "It's a lot of fake news."
"We have those meetings all the time. No big deal." pic.twitter.com/yl8UM9gabZ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 14, 2019
Not surprisingly, Trump was confronted about the bombshell report from The New York Times this weekend, in which it was revealed that the FBI opened an inquiry into President Trump because they were concerned that he might actually be working secretly for Russia. Today, Trump smeared FBI agents as “dirty cops” and slammed the investigation. His claims are as unconvincing as ever.
These clips make it clearer than ever that our president is quickly unraveling. He’s not up to the job, and as more damning revelations about his criminal behavior emerge expect more unhinged performances like today’s.
Trump concludes by blaming Democrats for shutdown: "All they have to do is say 'we want border security.' That automatically means a wall or a barrier." pic.twitter.com/i6geMdZWLt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 14, 2019