No. of Recommendations: 13
"...Her six-minute statement appeared to have been written by someone else: she could not pronounce some of the words in it, like “trivial,” and she said “calculating” and “convinced” in place of “circulating” and “convicted.” Notably, she did not mention her husband even as her unexpected statement injected the issue of the Epstein files and his appearance in them squarely back into the news. When she was done speaking, she turned and walked back out of view the way she had come, as reporters shouted questions.
Trump told a reporter he did not know the first lady was preparing to give a speech, but a source told CNN’s Betsy Klein that Trump had been alerted that she was going to make the statement. If his actions afterward were any indication, he wasn’t keen on it.
This afternoon, Trump began posting wildly. At 4:28 his social media account lashed out at former allies Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones, who don’t support Trump’s war in Iran. Trump said “[t]hey’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too!” He reiterated his false claim that he won “in a LANDSLIDE,” and suggested MAGA voters love him. Those standing against his Iran adventure are “not ‘MAGA,’” he wrote; “they’re losers, just trying to latch on to MAGA.”
Then, at 5:28, Trump’s social media account posted: “The Wall Street Journal, one of the worst and most inaccurate ‘Editorial Boards’ in the World, stated that I ‘declared premature victory in Iran.’ Actually, it is a Victory, and there’s nothing ‘premature’ about it! Because of me, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON and, very quickly, you’ll see Oil start flowing, with or without the help of Iran and, to me, it makes no difference, either way. The Wall Street Journal will, as usual, live to eat their words. They are always quick to criticize, but never to admit when they’re wrong, which is most of the time! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
And then, at 7:49 tonight, the president’s social media account posted a graphic video of a man killing a woman with a hammer. The screed that accompanied the video attacked Haitian immigrants, former president Joe Biden, and “the Radical Democrats in Congress.” The post echoed the usual vicious racism to which Trump turns to feed his base. But it is hard to miss that hours after his wife gave an unexpected press conference about Jeffrey Epstein, Trump posted a video of a woman’s murder." —Heather Cox Richardson
