Today’s joint press conference between Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte just a few hours ago was widely expected to field questions about the seemingly endless chain of events happening in the Russia investigation, especially after an eventful morning with Trump’s current lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Rudy, of course, appeared on CNN’s New Day with Alisyn Camerota and turned in potentially his worst performance yet as the guy who’s actually supposed to be defending the President.
But those questions would have to wait as the two men discussed a multitude of issues ranging from border security and a possible government shutdown to NATO spending, from Iran to Russian sanctions. Clearly, the new leader of Italy was honored to be there, discussing globally sensitive issues at the highest level with the President of the United States. So what did he do first?
He made Trump look like a complete ass.
Trump has never been in the habit of paying attention to anything that doesn’t affect him personally. More importantly, he has never actually considered himself the President of the entire United States — just those people who voted for him. So to imagine that Trump would have brought up the wildfires in California that are currently burning so hot they’re creating their own weather system is to think of him as a different person than he actually is.
To reiterate: Trump has made no public statements, not even of condolences, regarding the California wildfires to date.
The Italian Prime Minister, however, apparently pays more attention to what’s happening in America than our own President, because after listening to Trump ramble for at least 7 minutes at the beginning of the presser and after thanking Trump for hosting him, the very first thing that Giuseppe Conte mentioned was Italy’s solidarity with the families and victims affected by the Carr Wildfire that has consumed more than 100,00 acres and killed at least six people:
First of all, I would like to remember in solidarity the members of the families and the victims of the fires that took place recently in California.”
You can see on the video that Trump is listening to the translation as Conte speaks in Italian, and when he realizes what the foreign leader is talking about, he nods his head as though in agreement. But you know that when he left that presser, he shouted at an aide or two for not thinking to tell him to mention the fires before another leader made him look foolish.
Featured image via screen capture
