Historical note, Previously this thread has been known as: “Stupid shit that Donald Trump says” And then “Wisdom and Aphorisms from President Trump: Great Leader, Great Teacher, Great Supreme Commander, Great Helmsman of our Nation”
I’ve decided that this deserves its own thread, as he is a seemingly inexhaustible source of idiotic statements.
There’s a mountain of stuff he’s said previously, folks can feel free to dig up their favorite gems. But I’ll start it off with some recent statements about how he really has no idea what is going on with Puerto Rico.
WOLF BLITZER: Should Puerto Rico have an opportunity to use the bankruptcy laws?DONALD TRUMP: As a very successful person I would buy companies, throw them in a chapter, bankrupt it, negotiate — I would do great deals, I didn’t use them for myself, I used them as a businessperson. Many of the top people in my category use the laws. I know more about debt than practically anybody, I love debt. I also love reducing debt, and I know how to do it better than anybody. I will tell you with Puerto Rico they have too much debt. You can’t just restructure; you have to use the laws, cut the debt way down, and get back to business, because they can’t survive with the kind of debt they have. I would not bail out if I were — if I were in that position I wouldn’t bail them out.
WOLF BLITZER: Would you let them have a bankruptcy option?
DONALD TRUMP: They’re going to have no choice. if they’re not going to pay the bill they’re not going to pay the interest on the bonds —
WOLF BLITZER: They can’t.
DONALD TRUMP: They can’t. You can’t — you know, the expression you can’t take it out of the grave if they don’t have it. Whether they officially declare or not, but ultimately what they have to do is cut the debt way down. They’re never going to pay that debt off, they have to cut it way down, and the United States is going to be in that position very soon because they have too much debt.
Trump doesn’t have any idea what’s going on in Congress regarding Puerto Rico.
True, but part of his genius is embracing the fact that nobody in his target demographic does, either. He can literally say anything, as long as it sounds good to them. He has no interest in the facts. They don’t, either. I know I didn’t understand that PR can’t use bankruptcy, until Last Week Tonight covered the issue.
I love that he said, “I’m the king of debt, I love debt” on TV. Like that’s not gonna come back to haunt him.
“I call her ‘Crooked Hillary‘ because she’s crooked, and the only thing she’s got is the woman card. That’s all she’s got,” Trump said during an appearance on “Fox and Friends.”
Yeah, that’s really it. I doubt even 10% of stateside citizens understand the PR economic issue. Most voters don’t even think about Puerto Rico and have to be reminded that’s it’s a US territory. Trump can say whatever he wants, and since Blitzer didn’t call him on the carpet about it, he gets away with it.
I watched Blitzer interview Trump yesterday. Wolf asked Trump if he stands by the claims that Obama was not born in the US. Trump responded, “I didn’t bring that up. The first person talking about Obama’s birth certificate and the problems with it was Hillary Clinton.” Blitzer simply moved on to the next subject.
Blitzer is the literal embodiment of what has gone wrong with American ‘journalism.’
Maybe it wasn’t Blitzer’s call. CNN might want to go easy on Trump so that he keeps returning to the network for interviews and coverage and they can reap the delicious inflated ad revenue. It is in their financial interests to avoid a CNN version of the Trump vs. Megyn Kelly feud.
Not saying I agree with any of that, but it might be in play.
I’m kind of of the opinion that all politicians really need journalists who’re willing to say, “No, fuck you very much, that’s wrong/doesn’t answer the question asked. Try again.”
Probably for the best I didn’t continue to pursue my career as a journalist, to be fair. I wanted to take that attitude with game devs, lol.
They don’t want to be the next Megan Kelly. I mean as fun as death threats probably are, it just hurts the bottom line if your golden goose decides he wont play ball with you any more. In a perfect world they’d all do it and he’d be left without any real access and have to come around, but the reality is someone, somewhere will acquiesce to any demands he makes and they’ll rake in the money while you don’t.
It’s almost like journalism shouldn’t be based purely on profit margins.
