Donald Trump’s behavior and overall interactions with the media continue to get more and more strange. Trump and his administration have done everything they can to shut out the press and discredit major media networks as “fake news”, and yet there are some very peculiar moments where the president seems suspiciously open to reporters – like what recently happened to New York Magazine correspondent Olivia Nuzzi.
Yesterday, Nuzzi was covering Chief of Staff John Kelly, reporting on how he has somehow managed to keep his job in the most volatile administration the country has ever seen. Then this somehow morphed into what Nuzzi described as a “private press conference — featuring a series of special guest stars from the highest echelon of the Trump administration.”
In recounting the event, Nuzzi recalls a weird sort of mini-presser in which Trump repeatedly insisted that all was well in the White House and praised himself for his accomplishments. There were several cameos as well, as Kelly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence also made appearances, coming into the room one by one.
So President Trump’s day yesterday included:
* 30 mins of remarks to the press w Haley
* A personal news conference for Olivia
* 15 mins of remarks to the press before departing the WH
* 35 mins with the press aboard AF1
* A local media TV interview in Iowa
* A 75 min rally https://t.co/1fW0IqlFMz— Michael C. Bender (@MichaelCBender) October 10, 2018
Nuzzi shared many bizarre details from her interaction with Trump, all of which can be read here, but the most noteworthy thing is that Trump’s continued denying that anything was wrong with his administration whenever Nuzzi asked him questions. As an example, here’s how Trump discussed how Kelly has performed in his role:
We have a very positive story going on at the White House. We have a very positive story for the country. We’re doing a great job. We have the greatest economy in the history of our country. We have among the greatest job numbers. Among many groups, we have the greatest job numbers. We have things going on that are phenomenal on trade. China wants to make a deal — I said, you’re not ready yet. But they wanna make a deal, and at some point we might. Iran wants to make a deal. They all wanna make a deal. We have great things going. We have a very smooth-running organization even though it’s never reported that way. So the real story is that. It’s really the real story. When you walk in here, you don’t see chaos. There is no chaos. The media likes to portray chaos. There’s no chaos. I’m leaving for Iowa in a little while.”
It seems as though Trump is trying to convince himself that there is “no chaos” – and he had his minions in on it, too. When Kelly came in and spoke about his relationship with Trump, he said:
There is, to the best of my knowledge, no chaos in this building. We’ve gotten rid of a few bad actors, but everyone works very, very well together.”
An orchestrated band of liars. And when Nuzzi asked Trump how America was supposed to believe him, Trump simply said he had “a really great” and “really successful” White House, and that his off the record critics may not even be real.
Trump is seriously insane, and he needs to get his mental health checked out.
Featured image via screen capture
