Trump is about to speak to the Future Farmers of America convention in Indianapolis. Thread here. (He's currently doing some rally-style extended applause-basking before his remarks.)
Trump begins: "When I heard the word 'future farmer,' that's a very, very important term. You're very smart doing that."
Trump: "This wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, hard to believe, and frankly, something that is unimaginable. Our nation and the world are shocked and stunned by the grief (?)." He says it was an "antisemitic act," and "you just don't think this would be possible."
Trump: "This was a baby-naming ceremony at a sacred house of worship on the holy day of Sabbath (? he seemed to struggle to say Shabbat)." He denounces "the vile hate-filled poison of antisemitism," says "there must be no tolerance for antisemitism" or any other form of hate.
Trump: "We condemn the historic evil of antisemitism and every other form of evil. And unfortunately, evil comes in many forms. And we come together as one American people." He seemed to ad-lib the "every other form of evil" and "evil comes in many forms" parts.
Trump again with "the results" regarding the shooting: "The results and the facts will be put out very shortly."
Trump on the Pittsburgh victims: "We pledge in their name to fight for a future of justice, safety, tolerance, morality, dignity and love. We must all rise above the hate..." He ad-libs: "And it doesn't mean we can't fight hard and be strong and say what's on our mind."
Trump seemed to be semi-arguing with his speechwriter out loud here.
Trump is now on to trade agreements, which he says are "falling one by one." (He has amended two trade agreements.) Fox News has cut away as he returns to his stump-speech stuff.
Trump tells the future farmers that he was on Air Force One, then adds, "Did anyone ever heard of Air Force one? Beautiful...anything can happen. If I can fly on Air Force one, then you can be a really, really successful farmer."
Trump goes from trade agreements to the death penalty. He says there need to be "very, very powerful punishment for the horrible people that do these things." He adds, "It's time. We can't let this happen. It's time."
Trump calls the future farmers "beautiful" and "handsome." He adds, "You know you're not allowed to say that anymore. I'm saying it anyway." This is his new thing.
Trump says he got, on "eight minutes' notice," an Indiana rabbi and pastor to each "say grace." Rabbis are not usually big grace-sayers.
The Indiana rabbi: "We pray today for moral clarity. Let us not dismiss this as an act of insanity, but let us see it for what it is: an act of evil." (Trump has already said the shooter was a "madman" and a "wacko.")
(I think this quote was probably "hear," not the "heard" I had.)
Trump says he thought at first he should cancel his rally today, but: "We can't let evil change our life and change our schedule. We can't do that. We have to go and do whatever we were going to do. Otherwise we give them too much credit...you go with a heavy heart, but you go."
Trump on doing his campaign rally tonight: "I'll go. Not that I want to go. But I think I actually, in reverse, have an obligation to go."
Trump pivoting from his musings on evil: "Now we get down to the business of farming. Does anybody want to talk about FARMS and FARMING?" There are cheers.
Trump, justifying his decision to hold rally tonight, claims that the NYSE opened the day after 9/11 and "people were shocked." It was closed until six days after the attack.
Sir Alert: Trump says that Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue knows more about farming than anybody in the whole world. He said his aides wanted him to appoint people who knew nothing about farming and told him, in the interviews, "Sir, I know nothing, but I can learn."
In a multi-sir story, Trump says that a Georgia cotton farmer cried when the farmer told him the hurricane wiped out his crop.
Trump on foreign aid: "I send checks for billions of dollars. Don't worry, a lot of it is being cut back." He likes to personalize various forms of government spending.
Trump is really loose today. Just saying stuff. No hint of the prepared text right now.
Trump on palm trees and hurricanes: "With them it's like ho-hum. Did you ever see? Everything's gone except the palm trees. Because they've been hit by hurricanes for two million years and they see a hurricane coming and they just go pooom-booom...Can't knock those suckers over."
Trump, sounding a bit like Tommy Wiseau, on how palm trees are better at withstanding hurricanes than other trees: "Every palm tree is standing. There's nothing you can do to those suckers. And that's life. That's sort of, in a way, what you think of it, that's what you do."
Trump says there are some farmers who demand "give us money" but some who don't want government money. He makes implicit reference to farmers who said they weren't fans of his tariff bailout - "Sir, that's not what we want" - and says he was surprised.
Trump, at this "official" event, invites up Republican candidates, then says, "Please get out and vote for them. And I'm going to be very nice: I'm not even going to mention their opponents. I won't tell you that they're aligned with Nancy Pelosi."
Trump on how farmers were very important in founding the country: "If you look, chain of command: president, vice-president -- I don't know exactly where the secretary of agriculture is, but it's right up there at the top." (It is...9th, I think.)
Trump is talking defensively about his hair, saying it's this way because of his shooting remarks. "I was standing under the wing of Air Force One...and the wind was blowing and the rain and I was soaking wet and that's what I ended up with today...at least you know it's mine."
Trump uses "globalist" again: "We don't worry too much about the globalists. We want to take care of the globe too, but we have to take care of ourself before we start worrying about others."
Trump mocks politicians who wanted him to quickly make a deal with Canada and Mexico. He promises that companies aren't going to offshore production anymore, thanks to his "brand new," totally-not-NAFTA USMCA. (It is very NAFTA.)
Trump touts Canada's concessions on dairy and also Canada's change to wheat-grading practices. "I don't know what the hell it means, but I heard it was a big concession...I have no idea. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT MEANS but everybody's saying sir can you get the wheat graded..."
To reiterate, the president just explained unprompted that his remarks on a mass murder ruined his hair, but, on the bright side, at least it helped prove his hair is authentic.
Trump promises the U.S. will win its trade war with China. "You know why? Because we always win. We always win. We're American. We always win."
Trump repeats his lie that the EU won't take U.S. agricultural products: "They won't take a piece of corn. They won't take wheat." It's the 5th-largest buyer of US agriculture, more than $11 billion last year; US Grains Council says $1.1 billion in grain exports in the last year.
Trump says he blames the US, not China, for how much China has taken advantage of the US. He says the US should have done to China what China has done to the US.
Trump on how there is intellectual property in the agricultural industry: "Who would have known? But you have incredible secrets on growing and plants!" He says it is not how farming used to be.
"There'll be no estate tax on these farms," Trump lies as usual. He has not eliminated the estate tax. Also, according to the Tax Policy Center, a mere 80 farms and small businesses were among the 5,460 estates likely to pay the estate tax in 2017, before Trump's tax law.
Trump says one of the worst regulations is the "insane" Waters of the United States rule, "except it's got the most beautiful name." He tells the future farmers that they know what that is. A very small number of young people applaud. He says maybe they don't know what it is.
The president: "Think of it we're importing lumber and timber and trees from other countries, and we have ten times more than they have! Explain that one!" I honestly cannot imagine being an economics professor listening to him talk about trade.
"You're a hard crowd to figure," Trump says after the young people give him applause for one line but not another line. He adds, "See, I just don't know the farm business, I guess."
! Trump to these students at an official (non-rally) event: "Maybe Elizabeth Warren is gone. She may be gone. She may be gone. What a sad thing happened to her. Turned out I had more Indian blood in me than she has." He adds: "We can't resist. Can we resist?"
This is no Address to the Boy Scout Jamboree, but it's definitely the second-strangest speech Trump has given to people under the age of 18.
There seemed to be some cheers, some jeers and some other noises in response to this.
! Trump praises Norman Borlaug for his Nobel Peace Prize, then says, "They probably will never give it to me, even what I'm doing in Korea, and Idlib province, and all these places. They probably will never give it to me. You know why? Because they don't want toooo."
Trump with his usual ridiculous claim about California water: "They're sending out into the Pacific, by the way...Where does all that water go? 'Sir, we send it out to the Pacific Ocean.' I said why don't you let it come down for the farmers." It naturally goes to the Pacific.
Speech is over. That would've been extremely strange even if there hadn't been a mass murder today.
