Who can say what was driving it, but US president Donald Trump went on a lengthy Twitter rant on Thursday that was remarkably unhinged and inaccurate, even by Trump’s standards.
Trump sent more than 20 tweets over six hours, bouncing between disparate subjects like the Pledge of Allegiance and his ability to secure a loan from “prestigious banks” (if he wanted to) with seemingly no rhyme or reason. He also described himself as “so good looking and smart”.
Let’s dive right in with a handful of the most bizarre tweets:
Trump apparently doesn’t know when he started running for president.
“They have lost tremendous credibility since that day in November, 2016, that I came down the escalator...”
Election Day was in November 2016. The escalator ride Trump refers to happened way back in [squints at calendar] June 2015.
Trump? Indebted and desperate for a loan? No, you must have the wrong guy.
The only sentence in these two tweets that’s accurate is the first one ― about banks not liking Trump. At least, that’s according to a New York Times bombshell from May describing Trump’s beleaguered finances: He was reportedly cut off by Deutsche Bank after he began defaulting on $2 billion in loans. Trump reportedly still owes lenders, including Deutsche Bank, as much as $480 million.
Per a Times report yesterday, Deutsche Bank also did extensive business with Jeffrey Epstein, which might explain Trump’s attempt to distance himself from the bank.
He tagged a random person in a rant about potential Democratic challengers.
Trump’s somewhat dated insult of choice for presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is to liken him to Alfred E Neuman, the nerdy mascot of the soon-to-be defunct Mad Magazine.
Neuman is a fictional character, yet Trump nevertheless tried to tag him in one of his tweets, mistakenly pointing followers instead to the account of someone who says they’re a retired teacher in Florida.
Trump deleted the tweet.
An insult aimed at Elizabeth Warren also went badly askew.
Trump returned to a tired, racist nickname and called Warren, another Democart challenger, “Pocahontas” ― this time sprinkling in a bit of body shaming to boot.
But in his attempt to mock her for being at least 1/1,024th Native American, an apparent typo of “1000/24th” presented Warren as instead being 4166% Native American.
This tweet was deleted to be replaced by something more accurate - but his claim to be “so good looking and smart, a true stable genius” remained.
Ah, a casual “joke” about refusing to leave office at the end of your term.
“When I ultimately leave office in years, or maybe 10 or 14 (just kidding)...”
Because there’s no better source material for bad jokes than corrupting the peaceful transition of power!
This isn’t a one off: Trump has mentioned it with increasing frequency, enough to worry House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he might actually resist leaving office if he loses in 2020.