I am going to put together a thread covering Trump's interview with the Economic Club of Chicago. Follow along for clips and commentary.
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The first question Trump gets is about his proposals being projected to add more than twice as much debt as Harris's. Trump responds with a bunch of talking points that don't address the question. The crowd applauds anyway.
Trump is now proposing 2,000 percent tariffs on imported cars
MODERATOR: Tariffs also have another side. You could be plunging America into the biggest trade war--
TRUMP: No. All you have to do is build your plant in the US and you don't have any tariffs
Trump to the Economic Club of Chicago moderator: "It must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs being negative and then have somebody explain to you that you're totally wrong."
Trump is now defending his 10 percent across the board tariff proposal and suggesting he actually favors higher tariffs than that
Trump to the Economic Club of Chicago: "Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him?"
(Note the groans from the crowd)
Trump tells a story about an interaction he allegedly had with Shinzo Abe that makes him look good, then says, "I wouldn't tell this story if he were alive, actually" (perhaps because it's made up)
Trump refuses to say whether he's talked to Putin since he left office, but says it would be a good thing if he did
Trump's description of his dealings with South Korea sounds very much like a mob boss running a protection racket
MODERATOR: People are betting that your policies are gonna drive up debt and inflation, so they're gonna drive up interest rates. Are investors wrong?
TRUMP: I had 4 years, no inflation
M: You're flooding the thing with giveaways
TRUMP: You've been wrong about everything
Trump on Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell: "I think it's the greatest job in government. You show up to the office once a month, and you say, 'let's see' -- flip a coin. And everybody talks about you like you're a god. The guy used to walk into my office & he was like, begging"
Trump says that as "a very good businessman," he thinks he would do better as Fed Chair than Jerome Powell
Asked a policy question about whether Google should be broken up, Trump talks about how Google has treated him unfairly
Trump: "That's the one we really have to straighten out. We have to straighten out our press. Because we have a corrupt press."
Pressed to provide an example of how he'll cut government spending, Trump talks about how he saved a few bucks on Air Force One
note how Trump simply refuses to answer the question he was asked. this has been going on the whole interview.
MODERATOR: If you look at the event of January 6 ... will you commit now to respecting and encouraging a peaceful transfer of power?
TRUMP: Well, you had a peaceful transfer of power
M: You had a peaceful transfer of power compared to Venezuela
Trump makes an impassioned defense of the big lie and his coup attempt before the Economic Club of Chicago and then brags about his crowd size on January 6, saying "it was love and peace"
Trump is now doing his fear-mongering about migrants from the Congo bit, which is meant to prove that he doesn't hate just brown people
Trump points out a "beautiful woman" in the crowd and says to her of migrants, "they will look at you and kill you"
MODERATOR: Would you appoint a CEO who's 78?
TRUMP: Yeah. Oh yeah.
"I don't think she could pass a cognitive test" -- Trump on Kamala Harris
TRUMP: Gavin Newscum
MODERATOR: Newsom
TRUMP: That's the first time I've ever been corrected
MODERATOR: There are CEOs out there. If they said that about a rival CEO, they'd be sacked
"A few remarkable moments there" -- the Economic of Club of Chicago event ends and Fox News immediately spring to action sanewashing it. Host John Roberts says he's getting instructions in his ear while he spins.
That's it for Trump's bonkers appearance before the Economic Club of Chicago. If you appreciate me watching it so you didn't have to, please show love by signing up for my newsletter. I think you'll enjoy PN & paid subscribers make my work possible. Thx. publicnotice.co/subscribe
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