Trump’s Telephone Tangle, Untied

Image: mediamatters.org

In an interview, the interviewers generally ask questions and the interviewee answers as best he can. Here’s an analysis of Trump’s interview with Fox and friends this morning.

I listened to it, and then I listened to it again, writing down the questions and only anything, any combinations of words, that formed direct answers. I did need to paraphrase here and there. Then I timed my reading the questions and the actual answers: just a little over two minutes. The interview lasted thirty minutes, so obviously he said a whole lot more, but the rest of it was  just a lot of static and deflection and stream-of-consciousness filler.

I will also explain how monumentally stupid Trump again proved himself to be in three easy steps.

Question: What did you get Melania for her birthday?
Answer: A card and some flowers. I don’t have time.

Question: What did you and Macron accomplish?
Answer: He sees Iran very differently now than he did before.

Question: Did you all decide together that Ronny Jackson would withdraw his name for the VA leadership?
Answer: –

Question: You say that the nomination committee is dragging their feet, but Mitch McConnell could make them stay until they decide. Why won’t he do that?
Answer: I think he should and he will.

Question: Do the obstructionists win if Ronny Jackson withdraws his nomination?
Answer: I could say yes and I could say no. Democrat John Tester from Montana said nasty things about Ronny and he should pay a big price in the midterms.

Question: Any idea who you might nominate next?
Answer: I do. Maybe I’ll tell you next time.

Question: Is your nominee someone in politics?
Answer: It’s someone with political capability.

Question: What do you think about Comey and his book tour and the fact that he has a friend at Columbia University with a special FBI badge?
Answer: Comey is a leaker and a liar and he gave classified information to this special friend to leak in order to form a special counsel.

Question: What do you think of Michael Cohen taking the fifth, given that he has been your attorney for decades?
Answer: They’re looking into his business.

Question: But isn’t his business also being your attorney?
Answer: I have many, many attorneys.

Question: How much of your legal work was handled by Michael Cohen?
Answer: A tiny, tiny little fraction. He represents me in some things. He represents me in this crazy Stormy Daniels deal.

Question: Then why is he pleading the fifth?
Answer: Because they’re looking at his businesses and his lawyers probably told him to.

Question: Kanye West tweets that he loves you. What’s your reaction?
Answer: Kanye is smart and he sees the low unemployment statistics for Blacks, Hispanics and women and he knows I did that.

Question: Have the Republicans been ignoring the black community up until now?
Answer: It was just the custom. In the Civil war the Republicans and Lincoln did the thing; then somehow it changed. But I believe it’s changing back. I said “What do you have to lose?” and they voted for me and now crime and unemployment are way down.

Question: What does it say about the political discourse in this country when someone who says they like you gets destroyed by the left?
Answer: They shouldn’t walk it back. When people say they like me their business does great.

Question: To what extent are you looking at South Korea’s leader’s meeting with Kim Jong Un to prepare for your own meeting with him?
Answer: –

Question: What can you tell us about Mike Pompeo’s meeting with Kim Jong Un?
Answer: Mike Pompeo and Kim Jong Un talked for over an hour; we have pictures. He also spoke with his counterparts in North Korea. They had a great meeting.

Question: When are you going to meet with Kim Jong Un?
Answer: –

Question: Have you decided on a date to meet with Kim Jong Un?
Answer: We have three of four dates and we have five locations and that will all be narrowed down.

Question: Last year after your first month in office, you gave yourself an A+ for effort and a C for messaging. How would you grade yourself now?
Answer: I would give myself and A+. And I have done that despite a phony cloud hanging over my head that doesn’t exist.

Question: Does it make you want to talk to Mueller and put an end to it?
Answer: Well, I can, but they’re all Democrats. They should be looking at the corruption. There is no collusion between me and Russia; everyone knows it.

So now about how stupid this was:

1. Trump admits Cohen took care of the Stormy Daniels deal, and by extension that he was lying before when he denied having anything to do with it.
2. Trump claims Michael Cohen only did a teeny tiny bit of his legal work. At the same time both his and Cohen’s lawyers are trying to prevent the special counsel from seeing all the documents they found in the Cohen raid, arguing that there are thousands, millions maybe, of documents that are related to attorney-client privilege between Trump and Cohen.
3. Since, by his client’s own admission, most of Cohen’s information is not protected by attorney-client privilege, he is up shit creek, and the man who would take a bullet for Trump will have second thoughts about that now that Trump has thrown him under the bus on Fox and Friends.

The next couple of weeks are going to be fun!