President Trump fielded questions on a wide range of topics during an impromptu and highly entertaining press conference on the White House lawn, Wednesday afternoon. With characteristic Trumpian bombast and flair, the president gave his left-wing and never-Trump critics much to snark and stew about.
Trump doubled down on his on his comments calling Jews who vote for Democrats “very disloyal” to Israel.
“In my opinion, the Democrats have gone very far away from Israel. I cannot understand how they can do that,” Trump said. “They don’t want to fund Israel. They want to take away foreign aid to Israel. They want to do a lot of bad things to Israel. In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you’re being very disloyal to Jewish people and very disloyal to Israel.”
Trump was responding to previous comments in which he said that “any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat” shows “either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
President Trump on Wednesday doubled down on referring to Jews who vote for Democrats as "very disloyal" to Israel, invoking a dual loyalty trope widely viewed as anti-Semitic. https://t.co/OA4D3EhUkw
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 21, 2019
It would be shocking if the president had used an “anti-Semitic trope” when his own daughter and son-in-law are Jewish. But perhaps the media is confused about the meaning of the “dual loyalty trope.”
The canard, which is found in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, is that Jews are more loyal to world Jewry than to their own country. Trump is actually saying the exact opposite of that. The president, like many Jewish conservatives, is lamenting that liberal Jews are not being as loyal to their faith as the could be when they support Democrats. Conservative Catholics make the same argument against liberal Catholics who support abortion. Catholic Bishops have been known to deny communion to Catholic public figures who publicly defy church teaching.
The president also caused liberal heads to explode when he explained why he launched a trade war against China.
“Because China has been ripping us off for many years. President Clinton, President Bush, and President Obama, and others should have done this long before me,” the president said. “Somebody had to do it, so I’m taking on China. I am the chosen one.”
Liberals took that to mean that Trump was saying he was anointed by God–not making a glib, tongue-in-cheek crack.
“I was put here by people to do a great job,” he added, clarifying what he meant.
Trump just looked up to the sky and said “I am the chosen one.” A reminder that he’s completely insane, and unfit for office in every way. #25thAmendmentNow pic.twitter.com/QFLfclBlZg
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 21, 2019
The president also took the opportunity to blast the prime minister of Denmark after she dismissed his interest in buying Greenland as “absurd.”
“I thought that the prime minister’s statement that it was absurd, that it was an absurd idea was nasty,” he said. “I thought it was an inappropriate statement. All she had to do is say no, we wouldn’t be interested,” Trump added. “You don’t talk to the United States that way– at least under me.”
President Trump called Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's statement on a potential Greenland sale "nasty." https://t.co/VdsUPCqbRK pic.twitter.com/btNZRO92II
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) August 21, 2019
Trump called the Danish Prime Minister “nasty” for rejecting his bizarre offer to buy Greenland, which she rightfully described as “absurd.”
It is fair to say we are being led by a petulant man-child whose skin is as thin as the ice on which his presidency now skates.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 21, 2019
Trump threatened to end what he called the “ridiculous” policy of birthright citizenship, which awards citizenship automatically to those born in the United States.
“We’re looking at that very seriously,” Trump told reporters. “Birthright citizenship, where you have a baby on our land — you walk over the border, have a baby, congratulations, the baby’s now a U.S. citizen. We’re looking at it very, very seriously …It’s, frankly, ridiculous.”
Earlier today, I asked @POTUS if he planned to take action on birthright citizenship, @realDonaldTrump told: "We're looking at that very seriously" and added "I don't know how you found that out." @OANN pic.twitter.com/2UsrxNkmtN
— Emerald Robinson ✝️ (@EmeraldRobinson) August 21, 2019
National Review’s Never-Trump phenom David French pounced immediately on this unacceptable threat to the open border status quo.
In answer to a question about gun reform, Trump said that the nation’s background check system is “already strong” although he has “an appetite” for addressing problems with the federal process.
“We have background checks, but there are loopholes in the background checks. That’s what I spoke to the NRA about yesterday,” he said. “They want to get rid of the loopholes as well as I do. At the same time, I don’t want to take away people’s Second Amendment rights.”
Trump reverses course on gun control again, says he backs tighter background checks https://t.co/jGbJtBkBKz pic.twitter.com/gQ0I0p9TFb
— TIME (@TIME) August 21, 2019
President Trump lacks the courage to act on gun reform, the Editorial Board says.
Watch: https://t.co/pXPTINgRDY pic.twitter.com/MxEkaYTdFd
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) August 21, 2019
The president lashed out at a grandstanding NBC reporter, telling him that his network has less credibility than CNN “and that’s not saying much.”
President Trump unloads on NBC News reporter Peter Alexander for his obnoxiousness and Democrat activism: “If you’d stop being an organ of the Democrats. This guy is the most biased reporter. You are so obviously biased. NBC News has less credibility with guys like you than CNN” pic.twitter.com/GXN8D9Zb4b
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) August 21, 2019
You are and you're a liar, Trump blew up at you because you repeatedly and obnoxiously tried to grandstand him while he talked.
You were so awful and annoying that I had to call other reporters and ask them who the hell that was who was being so unprofessional. It was you. https://t.co/HBjcinmVc6
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) August 21, 2019
You can watch the entire presser below: