‘What the Hell Does That Mean?’ CNN’s Phil Mattingly Baffled by Trump’s Cryptic Post
CNN’s Phil Mattingly was at a loss over a Christmas Day social media post by President Donald Trump, who told Democrats that the day “may be your last Merry Christmas!”
Mattingly guest-hosted Friday’s Inside Politics, where he read portions of the post, in which Trump tried to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein, his late friend and child sex trafficker. The president has denied he knew of Epstein’s illegal activities. Last week, his administration failed to comply with a law mandating that the Department of Justice release all of its files relating to Epstein, with only the names of the victims redacted. The DOJ, however, has released only a small portion of the files and has also redacted the names of “politically exposed individuals.”
“President Trump had a very special Christmas message last night,” Mattingly said. “I want to read some of it for our viewers.”
The host quoted from the president’s missive:
“Merry Christmas to all, including the many Sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein, gave him bundles of money, went to his Island, attended his parties, and thought he was the greatest guy on earth, only to ‘drop him like a dog’ – That part was in quotes – “when things got too HOT,” – that part was all caps – “falsely claimed they had nothing to do with him, didn’t know him, said he was a disgusting person, and then blame, of course, President Donald J. Trump, who was actually the only one who did drop Epstein, and long before it became fashionable to do so.”
There’s a lot more and then he continues, “Now the same losers are at it again, only this time so many of their friends, mostly innocent, will be badly hurt and reputationally tarnished. But sadly, that’s the way it is in the World of Corrupt Democrat Politics!!! Enjoy what may be your last Merry Christmas! President Donald J. Trump”
Mattingly turned to his guests and posed a question to Zachary Wolf, who writes CNN’s What Matters newsletter.
“In the spirit of the season. Zach Wolf, what the hell does that mean?” Mattingly asked.
“I don’t know, but it was a really long sentence,” Wolf responded. “I was trying to like, when is he going to come up with a period there? I think that that means that nothing is changing about Donald Trump anytime soon, as he sort of enters the last three years of his political career here. It’s the same guy. I’m reminded of tweets earlier in his career where he was very divisive about, ‘Merry Christmas. Thanks to all the haters.’ We’re still there.”
“The ‘haters and losers,'” Mattingly echoed. “Those were the early-day bangers.
Watch above via CNN.
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