President Trump yesterday spoke about Iran, Barack Obama, artificial intelligence and Herbert Hoover.
He also talked about immigration, drugs, Ebola, “lunatic” Graham Platner, California’s electricity problems, Ukraine and Joe Biden hiding from the press.
He also said the 2020 election was “rigged.”
He said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is a good but “very scared woman.”
‘TRUMP SHOULD RENEGE’: IRAN DEAL FACES BACKLASH FROM CONSERVATIVE ALLIES
And he complained about “fake news,” said the media have “so little credibility,” singling out CNN and the New York Times, and calling ABC “horrible” and NBC and CBS “terrible.”
For more than an hour, from the G7 summit in France, the president of the United States kept on talking, some of it rambling or stream-of-consciousness, and ending with a joke that had some truth to it.
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When Fox’s Peter Doocy asked why he wasn’t attending Friday’s deal signing in Switzerland, Trump said he might but that the plan was to send JD Vance.
“If it works out, I’ll take the credit,” Trump said. “If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD!”
This was striking because Marco Rubio, who opposed the agreement behind the scenes and is a possible 2028 rival to the vice president, has remained strikingly silent about the deal for two days.
Before I get to the substance, I have to point out one thing.
For all the repetitions and boasting – did you know that our country was a laughingstock two years ago and is now widely respected? Trump showed an extraordinary command of the material. It was extemporaneous, with the president only occasionally glancing at notes.
I mention this because of the recent focus on Trump turning 80 and sometimes closing his eyes or briefly nodding off in meetings. I know this because in our last hour-long interview, he also handled whatever I threw at him. So let’s cut the dementia chatter.
Trump was on the defensive about the memorandum of understanding. He said if Iran doesn’t behave, “we’ll hit them with Patriots.”
In a presser devoted to a path to peace, he was again threatening to bomb his new partner. Trump said the final two days of combat were “brutal” because he had dropped $200 million worth of bombs on the terror state, and believes that’s what persuaded the Iranians to sign the memo, prompting him to cancel the third day of bombing.
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Pressed by reporters on whether the war had achieved his ambitious goals, Trump explained that he had accomplished regime change – which he’s recently claimed wasn’t his goal – by killing the first two levels of Tehran’s leadership.
But the greatest friction was about money. The idea that Iran would receive $300 billion has not previously been disputed by the White House. This has driven the most negative political attacks and media coverage, across the ideological spectrum, that I’ve seen since the final days of Watergate.
“We’re not putting up 10 cents,” Trump insisted.
But this was mere semantics. The U.S. has frozen $300 billion in Iranian assets, so Trump says it’s “their” money and should be returned.
He also said that he’s not concerned with Iran having ballistic missiles, because other countries have them and therefore it would be unfair to deprive the Iranians. Keep in mind that other countries don’t kill tens of thousands of their own people and fund terror groups that have murdered hundreds of thousands of others.
Republicans have led the charge against putting off talks about Iran’s longtime goal of building nuclear weapons. Trump said Iran has agreed to never develop such weapons, but, of course, the Iranians are known for lying, cheating and breaking agreements.
TRUMP’S IRAN DEAL ‘GIVING A LOT MORE TO GET A LOT LESS’ THAN OBAMA’S, SENATOR SAYS
Critics also say that reopening the Strait of Hormuz just gets us back to where things were before the war.
Only “stupid people” would say he should have continued bombing, the president proclaimed. He said he had avoided an “economic catastrophe” and that “we stopped a holocaust.”
Iran had endured $2 trillion in damages, Trump said, and it would take 15 to 20 years to rebuild.
And besides, oil prices are rapidly dropping.
Trump wrongly said of Israel’s reaction: “I think they’re happy.” The truth is that Israel is furious about the arrangement, and Bibi Netanyahu has said “it’s his decision” but told reporters “we have our interests.” Trump cursed out Netanyahu for his continued attacks in Lebanon and made sure everyone knew it.
Don’t forget that this memorandum is only a page and a half, and even Trump described it as a sort of outline for further negotiations. So it’s not really a “deal” as much as a mutual agreement to keep talking.
The president did make news on one other front, although who knows if we’ll hear anything about it again.
He said he wanted to start “denuclearization” talks with Russia and China to reduce nuclear stockpiles.
“We don’t need to be able to blow up the world several times over.”
