Trump, May 2017: 100 days of [unintelligible]

he's already in the oval office, i think xp

http://www.economist.com/Trumptranscript - not sure if this URL is wise, maybe he'll talk to them again, a very classy paper you know.

Okay the entire thing is a treat, but this shines:

But beyond that it’s OK if the tax plan increases the deficit?

It is OK, because it won’t increase it for long. You may have two years where you’ll… you understand the expression “prime the pump”?

Yes.

We have to prime the pump.

It’s very Keynesian.

We’re the highest-taxed nation in the world. Have you heard that expression before, for this particular type of an event?

Priming the pump?

Yeah, have you heard it?

Yes.

Have you heard that expression used before? Because I haven’t heard it. I mean, I just… I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good. It’s what you have to do.

It’s…

Yeah, what you have to do is you have to put something in before you can get something out.

We’re the highest-taxed nation in the world

*citation needed

if he actually really appoints trey fucking gowdy director of the fbi

haaaahahahahahahahahaha

jesus god that interview is a nightmare

might be the first time i've seen trump be properly questioned about his thinking and the reporter might as well just be morse-code-tapping his questions on the side of president brainstem's jar for all the sense the answers make

how the fuck is this circle gonna get squared

We want a provision at the right time, we want people that are coming in and will commit to not getting… not receiving any form of subsidy to live in our country for at least a five-year period.

We also want farm workers to be able to come in. You know, we’re going to have work visas for the farm workers.

only the most financially independent farm workers welcome!

unbelievable, but once again what's more unbelievable is people voted that in

lol i just noticed that the economist is also running a followup editorial titled 'why trumponomics won’t make america great again'

'trumponomics' is a really horrible coinage btw

A deeper problem is that Trumponomics draws on a blinkered view of America’s economy. Mr Trump and his advisers are obsessed with the effect of trade on manufacturing jobs, even though manufacturing employs only 8.5% of America’s workers and accounts for only 12% of GDP. Service industries barely seem to register. This blinds Trumponomics to today’s biggest economic worry: the turbulence being created by new technologies. Yet technology, not trade, is ravaging American retailing, an industry that employs more people than manufacturing (see article). And economic nationalism will speed automation: firms unable to outsource jobs to Mexico will stay competitive by investing in machines at home. Productivity and profits may rise, but this may not help the less-skilled factory workers who Mr Trump claims are his priority.

yeah no shit

tired old men in 'not understanding the concept that the world is changing' shocker

We also want farm workers to be able to come in. You know, we’re going to have work visas for the farm workers.

OK this is awesome

how much of this is all just really, 'hey, we're christian, the russians are christian; we're white, the russians are white -- let's fight those mooselimb terrorists like hussein obama together!'?

not much, I don't think. I think this is mainly about money.

It sounds like you’re imagining a pretty big renegotiation of NAFTA. What would a fair NAFTA look like?

Big isn’t a good enough word. Massive.

Huge?

It’s got to be. It’s got to be.

What would it look like? What would a fair NAFTA look like?

No, it’s gotta be. Otherwise we're terminating NAFTA.

What would a fair NAFTA look like?

I was all set to terminate, you know? And this wasn’t like… this wasn’t a game I was playing. I’m not playing… you know, I wasn’t playing chess or poker or anything else. This was, I was, I’d never even thought about… it’s always the best when you really feel this way. But I was…

Ugh these incoherent babbling infuriate me tho

trump clearly doesn't know what's 'unfair' about nafta in the first place so how's he gonna tell u what a fair nafta looks like

Big isn’t a good enough word. Massive.

Huge?

dying

how did the reporter keep a straight face, honestly

fake measurements

'mr president, would you mind extending your arms to indicate just how massive this is'

Oooh, I'm going to sit and really savor this nightmarish work of dystopian nonfiction at the weekend.

he is such a blithering fucking idiot

at this point reporters should just start asking him like 'what colour is the size of the trade deficit' or 'what flavour is your relationship with the chinese premier'

'can you whistle a melody about your plans to cut taxes'

at this point reporters should just start asking him like 'what colour is the size of the trade deficit' or 'what flavour is your relationship with the chinese premier'

― PROFESSOR JIGGLY is loose in the Cat Room (bizarro gazzara),

"How big is the FBI director's deficit?"

'what grade of sandpaper best represents your feelings about james comey'

"if the trade deficit was Harry Potter slash which country would be Malfoy?"

Insurance is, you’re 20 years old, you just graduated from college, and you start paying $15 a month for the rest of your life and by the time you’re 70, and you really need it, you’re still paying the same amount and that’s really insurance.

this is basically...universal healthcare?

And I said to them, “What do you think the good plans are going to look like?” He said, “Mr President, we’re going to have so many plans. We’re going to have the low version, the high version”, he used the word Cadillac. I won’t tell you what car he used for the low version because I don’t want you to write it because they happen to be friends of mine, you know, the head people. [Goes off the record.]

This country has wasted $6trn in the Middle East. Wasted. Like taking it and throwing it right out that window. Right in to the Rose Garden. See that beautiful Rose Garden? Look at those very nicely dressed people. It’s religious liberty out there. [NB. Immediately after this interview, President Trump was due to sign an executive order promoting religious liberty.]

Insurance is, you’re 20 years old, you just graduated from college, and you start paying $15 a month for the rest of your life and by the time you’re 70, and you really need it, you’re still paying the same amount and that’s really insurance.

Does he think this is what the AHCA is??????

my favourite ('favourite') thing about trump is the stopped-clock effect that occurs when his word-salad occasionally rearranges itself into a truth bomb

a word salad covered in old mayo, brown celery, and maggots.

you mean an old lunch?

$15 a month for the rest of your life?

I have employer insurance and cover MYSELF ONLY and I haven't paid less than $100 a month in over ten years.

(which I mean, my coverage rules, so I'm not complaining, but lord, rich guy out of touch or what)

Does he think that means you don't use the insurance until you're 70?

i promise you he'd never had that thought before and he'll never have it again

dust in the wind, dude

Pence's entrance in this interview is amazing.

central casting

i imagined pence bursting through the wall like the kool-aid man yelling 'MORNING ALL'

Historically, he has been extraordinary adept at assembling words he doesn't understand into statements that almost conform to the standard structure of a sentence (which he still doesn't understand) and which relate to a subject of discussion or inquiry just enough that a charitable human brain will make the cognitive leap of filling in much of the gulf between what he actually says and anything that might be considered a coherent response. But for most of his adult life, this aptitude was only really ever exercised within bubbles where he supposedly excelled and had some degree of experience (e.g. real estate and reality television). Outside of that bubble, when speaking on matters about which he has no knowledge or curiosity, he sounds like someone who's just had half of their head caved in with a tire iron. He may as well spare himself some effort and string together random phonemes and strangled ululations at this point. It would communicate exactly the same thing that his current utterances do to his supporters and to his detractors.

Historically, he has been extraordinary adept at assembling words he doesn't understand into statements that almost conform to the standard structure of a sentence (which he still doesn't understand) and which relate to a subject of discussion or inquiry just enough that a charitable human brain will make the cognitive leap of filling in much of the gulf between what he actually says and anything that might be considered a coherent response

He spent a year and a half doing ad-libbed, two hour speeches on politics every day! People found the performances convicing. He's such a bullshit savant.

Maybe Pence entering is a signal that the interview has to end.

Is it pretty much SOP that the president doesn't ever do interviews without a half dozen people hanging around? Imagine the trouble this guy would get in on his own.

He does get into trouble on his own. He says insane things in every single interview.

This guy is quickly depreciating the value of words.

He's almost literally speaking in tongues at this point.

He's priming the pump. The value of words will skyrocket soon.

i love that trump takes credit for inventing the phrase 'prime the pump' - like there's not a single thing that he's involved in that he can't turn into an opportunity for self-praise