Trump, unchecked and unfiltered

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When Donald Trump (76) takes the stage, spectacle is guaranteed. He proved that once again on Wednesday evening. He was invited to CNN for a Citizens’ Question Time – a live performance where he had to answer questions from voters in addition to Kaitlan Collins’ questions.

Donald Trump was not expected to become a reformed statesman. And so it happened as it had to happen: he linked wild accusations with lies, attacks with exaggerations, mocked the judiciary – and, as usual, he alternated some superlatives of his abilities and successes. He also insulted moderator Collins for insisting on getting answers and repeatedly correcting his untruths.

Right at the start of the performance, he repeated his lie that the 2020 election victory had been stolen from him. “I think if you look at the result, and if you look at what happened in this election, if you’re not very stupid, then you see what happened,” Collins corrected him, pointing out that several courts refute him, he stood by his claim and accused Collins of pursuing a political agenda.

More than two years after the storming of the US Capitol, Trump does not want to apologize to Vice President Mike Pence, whom he pilloried at the time. ‘He’s a very nice man. He made a mistake.” On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters stormed the seat of parliament in Washington because the formal confirmation of Biden’s victory was to take place there. Earlier, Trump had asked Pence to block the purely ceremonial task.

He’s just been convicted of sexual assault and has to pay punitive damages — and he wouldn’t be Trump if he saw that as a witch hunt against him, too. “This is a made-up story,” Trump said. He did not personally testify at the trial because it was a “trap,” Trump said. The judge was “appalling”. About the victim, American author Jean Carroll says: “I don’t know this woman. I’ve never met her. I have no idea who she is.”

Trump has promised to release rioters convicted of storming the US Capitol more than two years ago when he returns to the White House. “I am inclined to pardon many of them.” When asked if he would also pardon members of the far-right Proud Boys, he answered evasively: “I should look into their case.” But he might say you don’t get a fair trial in Washington.

When asked if he would continue to give Ukraine money and weapons if he won the 2024 presidential election, he said: “I want Europe to provide more money because they laugh at us. They think we are a bunch of idiots.”

Trump reiterated his claim that he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has been going on for more than 14 months, within 24 hours. Asked by moderator Kaitlan Collins if Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal, Trump said, “Saying he’s a war criminal makes it a lot harder to make a deal.”

Trump claimed he had “every right” under the Presidential Records Act to take classified documents with him after leaving the White House. “I had every right to do it, I made no secret of it. You know, the boxes were in front of the White House, people took pictures of them.”

Collins corrected Trump by saying that the Presidential Records Act does not say that a former president can take documents home, but that they belong to the federal government when a president is not in office. Collins asked several times why Trump was delaying returning classified documents when he knew the federal government was looking for them and subpoenaed him to return them. Trump did not respond to the question, instead scolding Collins. “It’s very simple – you are a bad man, I tell you.”

The fact that CNN gives Trump a platform does not go down well with everyone. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of Trump’s harshest critics, is seething with anger. She wrote on Twitter: “CNN should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost complete control of this Citizens’ Question Time and are once again being manipulated into spreading disinformation about elections, defending January 6 and publicly attacking a victim of sexual abuse. The public applauds him and laughs at the presenter. » (new)

With material from the SDA

Source: Blick