Before he left for his Vietnam Summit with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, the supremely incompetent American President Donald Trump spoke to a gathering of state governors, ostensibly to discuss his trade war with China and the tariff threat he stepped back from just a day earlier.
According to a transcript of Trump’s remarks by Daniel Dale, the Washington correspondent for the Toronto Star, what the governors got was the presidential equivalent of an overly long and rambling acceptance speech for a minor award, minus a sound engineer to cut his mike and an orchestra to cue to play him off the stage.
After mentioning the “substantial progress” he claims to be achieving thus far in the trade negotiations with the Chinese, Trump launched into a barely coherent jumble of words that combined an obvious yearning for the unlimited dictatorial powers enjoyed by Chinese President Xi Jinping with self-pitying whimpers mewling over the lack of credit he received for what he sees as his role in keeping three American basketball players out of prison after they were accused of shoplifting on a visit to China
Here is the transcript of Trump's story today about China, Xi Jinping and LaVar Ball. pic.twitter.com/CX3Mr4ULFh
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 25, 2019
While the transcript of Trump’s words seems damning enough in its depiction of a clueless and self-involved president, Trump managed to make it even worse through his actions and gestures during his bloviating. He exhibited the same tendency for ridiculing the looks of others that he demonstrated when he callously mocked a disabled reporter at a campaign rally by holding his hands over his eyes to mimic the eyeglasses of President Xi’s aides.
With his circled fingers over his eyes, it was difficult to tell if he was also squinting while gesturing, a not unimaginable possibility from a president not known for his sensitivity to violating norms of offensive racial stereotypes.
Trump told governors today that Xi Jinping's aides are "central casting – glasses, pad." This is what he did upon saying "glasses." pic.twitter.com/Mry8m7qomD
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 25, 2019
Trump’s obsession with stereotypes — referenced in his mention of “central casting” — only highlights how far from the norm of presidential behavior his conduct and demeanor has strayed. If American presidents were chosen by central casting rather than a skewed electoral college, Trump would have never made it past the first audition. The Republican party couldn’t have done worse if they had simply called a prominent casting director to pick someone to act as their nominee in 2016.
This is the man who is now jetting off to negotiate a denuclearization deal with the leader of North Korea. Do you feel any safer now?
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
Original reporting by Daniel Dale at The Toronto Star.
