The Post gives us a bit of slapstick from yesterday, when Trump threw a lunch party for the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and spent most of it telling reporters how grumpy he is about
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President Trump spent nearly three minutes at a luncheon this week welcoming the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — whose difficult-to-pronounce names he never uttered publicly — and saying he should be given “credit” for pressuring countries like theirs to give more money to NATO.
As he concluded, White House staffers started to shepherd a small group of journalists out of the room — but Trump was far from done sharing his complaints. As reporters shouted out questions about the plunging stock market and the brewing trade war with China, Trump quickly engaged.
Chi-nah – it’s great, he loves it, he loves Xi, but.
Then he explained about the but.
Over the next 15 minutes, White House staffers would try at least a half dozen more times to move reporters out of the room, only to have the president stop them with another gripe or plea for credit. Sometimes, the lead television camera would inch backward toward the door, as Trump grew smaller on the screen, just to be pushed back into place as the president leaped at another chance to defend himself and his presidency.
“Wait, where are you going, I have more to say!”
Trump’s venting in recent days has seemed excessive, even for him. His grievances have come in torrents, littered with inaccuracies he continues to state as facts. The pattern continued Wednesday morning, as he tweeted about the trade fight with China and “very weak” border security laws.
Saying the same crude simplistic things he’s said before, over and over and over and over and over.
Totally normal, folks! No cause for alarm! Relax and enjoy the ride.
It started Saturday morning as he lashed out on Twitter at the “Fake Washington Post,” the “Failing New York Times” and the governor of California while being driven to one of his golf courses in Florida.
It continued Sunday – Mexico! Immigrants! Caravans! The border! Democrats! Liberals!
He kept going Monday morning, as he tweeted about the Postal Service rates paid by Amazon — which was founded by Jeffrey P. Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post — and about his own “Department of ‘Justice.’” Minutes later, at the White House Easter Egg Roll, Trump stood between his stoic wife and a bespectacled Easter Bunny — whose face was frozen in an open-mouthed stare — and bragged to a crowd of children about increasing military spending to $700 billion, one of the few bright points for him in the Republican spending bill.
We’ll always have the photos.
Chip Somodevilla/Bloomberg
The person in the bunny suit went very very still while Trump was telling the children about the military spending.
That night on Twitter, Trump called the country’s immigration laws “an Obama joke” and accused Democrats of needlessly delaying his nominations. The next morning, he falsely accused CNN of requiring its employees to proclaim they are “totally anti-Trump” and labeled CNN chief Jeff Zucker as “little” while misspelling his name. He bragged that his approval rating “is higher than Cheatin’ Obama at the same time” in his tenure; the White House has yet to explain what that nickname meant. He again lashed out at Amazon and accused federal postal workers of not having a clue.
Trump repeated many of those same points Tuesday afternoon as his guests waited for him to finish so they could eat lunch.
He mentioned the “caravan” 10 times, called NAFTA “a cash cow” for Mexico and took swipes at both Obama and “crooked Hillary Clinton.” He announced that he plans to send members of the military to the southern border, an apparent surprise to many Pentagon officials.
In other words he carried on like a lunatic.
He went on and on. He talked about the joys of “getting along with Russia” in front of the presidents of the three Baltic nations, to which Russia is a threat.
The president continued to refer to himself in the third person: “The three presidents just told me that NATO is taking in a tremendous amount of money because of Donald Trump. That would have never happened. So NATO is much stronger.”
Trump instructed one of his guests, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, to praise him on camera, just as he said she had done privately in the Oval Office. She obliged, saying changes to NATO would not be possible without the United States and that its “vital voice and vital leadership” are important.
Trump pressed her: “And has Donald Trump made a difference on NATO?”
Those in the room laughed, as she confirmed he has made a difference. As she continued to speak, Trump cut her off.
“And, again, NATO has taken in billions of dollars more because of me, because I said, ‘You’re delinquent, you’re not paying,’ to many of the countries,” Trump said. “Is that right? Many of the countries weren’t paying.”
Oh, god. He might as well have worn the easter bunny costume.
For a fifth time, White House staffers tried to end this impromptu news conference, but then the president responded to a question about the Baltic states. They tried a sixth time, but the president could not resist another query: “Is it Amazon or The Washington Post, sir? What’s Amazon done that bugs you, sir?”
On the seventh try, reporters began to inch out of the room — and Trump responded to a final question about Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, who is accused of bypassing the White House to give his aides massive raises, among other irregularities.
“I hope he’s going to be great,” Trump said, even though his aides have said Pruitt’s job is in jeopardy.
“Time to go, guys,” a White House staffer said, finally herding the reporters out of the room. Another coaxed: “Please move along. Please move along. Please move along now.”
“Thank you, everybody,” Trump shouted after them. “Thank you.”
