Shooting Himself in the Foot While Gaslighting, Simultaneously
Yes, we all heard it yesterday after Trump declared a fake emergency over a fake issue – “I don’t need to do this, but I want to do it much faster.” Once again, he showed his stupidity on national television. So, while declaring a national emergency over a non-emergency to appease his mouth breathing base, he almost surely scuttled his efforts by simultaneously (and inadvertently) admitting that his declaration was false. The Congress is already using his words against him as the House announces the opening of an investigation into his declaration. The courts will also use those words to stop him. He is the walking, talking example of the old saying, “Never in doubt, seldom correct.”
But even more glaring was his textbook use of radical gaslighting, loudly talking over a reporter asking where he’s getting his border crisis data. Here is the exchange, verbatim:
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. Just to follow up on that, you — unifying crime reporting statistics, numbers from your own Border Patrol, numbers from this government, show that the amount of illegal immigrants are down, there is not violence on the border and that most…
TRUMP: There’s not violence on the border (ph)?
QUESTION: There’s not as much violence as — wait a minute — wait a minute — let me finish the question…
TRUMP: Oh really? You had 26 people killed?
QUESTION: Please, let me finish the question, please.
TRUMP: Two weeks ago, 26 people were killed in a gunfight on the border.
QUESTION: I understand what the — I understand what you’re saying.
TRUMP: A mile away from where I went.
QUESTION: I — I was there, I understand. That’s not the question. The question is…
TRUMP: Do we forget about that?
QUESTION: No, I’m not forgetting about it, I’m asking you to clarify where you get your numbers, because most of the DEA crime reporting statistics that we see show that drugs are coming across at the ports of entry, that illegal immigration is down and that the violence is down.
So what do you base your facts on?
TRUMP: OK. Let me — come on, let’s go.
QUESTION: And secondly…
TRUMP: No, no, you get one, you get one.
Wait, sit down, sit down.
QUESTION: Could you — could you please answer it.
TRUMP: Sit down! You get one question.
QUESTION: Please?
TRUMP: I get my numbers from a lot of sources, like Homeland Security primarily, and the numbers that I have from Homeland Security are a disaster.
And you know what else is a disaster? The numbers that come out of Homeland Security, Kirstjen, for the cost that we spend and the money that we lose because of illegal immigration, billions and billions of dollars a month. Billions and billions of dollars, and it’s unnecessary.
QUESTION: So your own government’s stats are wrong, are you saying?
TRUMP: No, no, I use many stats. I use many stats.
QUESTION: Could you share those stats with us?
TRUMP: Let me tell you, you have stats that are far worse than the ones that I use, but I use many stats, but I also use Homeland Security. All right, next question.
QUESTION: And do you — wait a minute — just a quick follow-up…
TRUMP: No, go, please.
“I use many stats.” Translation: “Everything you see and hear from others is a lie. Only I have the truth.” This is classic gaslighting and it’s destroying the very fabric of our system of government. One thing is clear after two years of this cretin infesting the White House, and that is, after we finally get him out of office, we’re going to have to revamp the entire structure of the Presidency, codifying what used to be custom honored by virtually every president in our history with few exceptions (like Nixon).