2020 update: well, turns out I had no idea. Setting aside the horrors of the pandemic and the employment/hunger crisis, here are some of the weirder minor events from this year you might have forgotten:
Trump tweets “I was the person who saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare,” even though his administration is in court trying to nullify the Affordable Care Act. - Jan. 13, 2020
Dismisses reports that 34 US soldiers suffered traumatic brain injuries in an Iranian missile attack. “I heard they had headaches.” - Jan 24, 2020
Hosts a Super Bowl party at Maralago that costs taxpayers $3.4 million. Video shows him fidgeting during the singing of the National Anthem and pretending to conduct the band. - Feb. 2, 2020
On Twitter he hails the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory. “You represented the Great State of Kansas...so very well.” Kansas City is in Missouri. - Feb 2, 2020
Trump holds televised meeting with pharma heads, tells them they should use the flu vaccine to combat the new coronavirus. - March 2 2020
Denies eliminating the National Security Council’s pandemic task force in 2018. “I didn’t do it. I don’t know anything about it.” (He had bragged about it at the time, saying he was saving money by cutting useless staff.) March 13, 2020
Tweets “HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY!” - April 10, 2020
Responding to criticism from TV host Joe Scarborough, Trump accuses him in tweets of murdering an intern. May 12 2020
Responding to a widely viewed video of 75-year-old peaceful protester knocked down in Buffalo by cops who then ignore him as he bleeds from the head, Trump tweets that the old man “could be an ANTIFA provocateur” faking the whole thing. June 9 2020
Appearing at West Point, Trump was unable to hold a glass of water with one hand and shuffled tentatively down a ramp. He was mocked - and then spent weeks obsessing about it, ranting to rally crowds and even drinking a glass of water in public to show he could. - June 13, 2020
AG William Barr says US Atty Geoffrey Berman has resigned. Berman said he has not and only the President can fire him. Barr releases a letter saying Trump fired Berman. Trump then says on TV that he “wasn’t involved” in Berman’s firing. - June 20, 2020
Trump retweets a video showing one of his Florida supporters shouting “White Power!” June 28, 2020
Responding to a reporter’s question about Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in awaiting trial on charges of procuring minors for sexual assault, Trump says he “wishes her well.” - July 21, 2020
In an interview with Fox News, Trump brags about “passing” a cognitive test meant to identify dementia, touting repeatedly that he could remember the words “person, woman, man, camera, TV.” - July 22, 2020
Irked by Dr. Anthony Fauci getting press for throwing out the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game, Trump abruptly announces he’s been asked by the Yankees to do the same, surprising his staff - and also the Yankees. He later cancels. - July 23, 2020
Trump says a huge explosion in Beirut “looks like a terrible attack” and says the Pentagon calls it a bomb. The Pentagon says they have no idea what he’s talking about. Aug 4 2020
Twice mispronounces Yosemite as “Yo! Semite!” - Aug 4 2020
Calls Thailand “Thighland” - Aug 6 2020
Denies a report in The Atlantic that he skipped a 2018 visit to a WWI American war cemetery in France because he was concerned about his hair in the rain, saying he “called home” to tell Melania Trump how much he wanted to go. She was with him on that trip. - Sept 3 2020
Trump gloats on twitter that he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, ignoring that practically anyone can be nominated. His campaign takes out ads bragging about the “Noble” nomination. - Sept 11 2020
Trump retweets an accusation that Osama bin Laden is secretly still alive and Obama and Biden had Seal Team 6 executed to hide this information. - Oct 13 2020
At a campaign rally, Trump asks for favor. “Suburban women, will you please like me?" Oct 13 2020
Trump walks out of an interview with 60 Minutes’ Leslie Stahl, claiming she was unfair. He then released the raw video of the interview, thinking it made him look good. It did not. - October 25, 2020
I forgot this gem, from July 31, on protesters:
"You have people coming over with bags of soup - big bags of soup. And they lay it on the ground and the anarchists take it and they start throwing it at our cops...When they get caught, they say, 'No, this is soup for my family.'”
Updating this thread: I forgot so much!
Like how the Trump inauguration cake was copied directly from Obama’s. (Jan 20 2017)
Invited the Clemson Tigers, national college football champions, to a reception in the glittering White House State Dining Room and served them McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and Domino’s. Jan 14, 2019
Amid blanket nationwide warnings not to look directly at the eclipse, he looked directly at the eclipse. - Aug 21, 2017
They gave him a telephone to speak to kids calling NORAD about tracking Santa. He told a 7-year-old girl:
“Are you still a believer in Santa? Because at seven, it’s marginal, right?’”
They didn’t do that again.
- Dec 25, 2018
Saluted a North Korean general. Even Kim Jong Un looked surprised. - June 12, 2018
Told a rally crowd that he and Kim Jong Un developed strong feelings.
“We fell in love, okay? No, really - he wrote me beautiful letters, and they’re great letters,” he said.
(Also they are rather big.)
- Sept 29, 2018
Coloring with kids, another thing that never happened again, he appeared to draw a Dutch flag on the Stars and Stripes. (Some suggested it was the Russian tricolor.) - Aug 24, 2018
Kissed and groped Old Glory for the cameras. - March 2, 2019
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Trump just said he had "an absolute right" to take any records he wanted. "It's the law."
Calls the boxes photos "staged."
He's going on and on. Almost every sentence includes a lie of some kind.
"I don't think I'm above the law. I'm the one who followed the law. I'm the only one."
The magats just interrupted his ranting about Hillary Clinton by singing a raggedy happy birthday. (It's tomorrow.)
He got sarcastic: "Nice birthday. Happy birthday. I just got charged."
I don't want to beat a dead horse here but if you go to rondesantis.com not only do you get only this one badly designed page asking for donations, but the ticker that goes along the bottom claiming X just gave Y is bullshit: it repeats if you reload. Try it yourself.
I mean, Chekhov wrote a one-act farce sometimes called Jubilee, but I don’t think it has any bearing on this. He’s probably making a reference to Chekhov’s gun, but even that is inapt here.
People are making fun of him for using $10 words. I love $10 words. But use them correctly.