5 Most Insane Gaffes From Trump’s Day of Marathon Pressers
President Donald Trump gave multiple press conferences on Monday that ended up running extremely long due to a handful of marathon rants by the president.
The first presser was held to announce the signing of an Executive Order criminalizing the burning of the American flag — an act that’s protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The second press conference was held after Trump met with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
Included in Trump’s many long-winded, rambling answers were a fair number of questionable blunders. Here are just a few of them.
1. Trump Said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore Called Him “The Greatest President of My Lifetime”
During his Monday morning presser, Trump railed against major cities struggling with violent crime. When discussing Baltimore, Trump told a story about meeting Moore at the Army-Navy college football game last year.
“He came over to me, he hugged me, he shook my hand,” Trump said of Moore. “You were there. He said, ‘Sir, you’re the greatest president of my lifetime.’ I said, ‘That’s really nice that you’d say that. I’d love you to say it publicly, but I don’t think you can do that so it’s OK.'”
Moore, however, quickly denied the story. In a tweet posted during the conference, Moore said, “Keep telling yourself that, Mr. President.”
2. Trump Referred to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as “Kristi Whitman”
At another point in that same presser, Trump brought up a “good favor” that he did for the governor of Michigan. Instead of saying the name “Gretchen Whitmer,” Trump flubbed the name on multiple attempts.
First saying “Kristi Whitman,” Trump corrected himself and said “Kristi Whitmer.”
As noted by Matthew Gertz of Media Matters, Trump may have gotten the name confused with a governor from decades earlier. Back in the 1990s, going into the 2000s, the state of New Jersey — where Trump had a casino — was governed by Christine Todd Whitman.
3. Trump Claimed “A Lot of People” Want Him to Be a Dictator
Still on the issue of crime in America’s major cities, Trump at one point called Chicago a “killing field.” In response to his critics referring to him as a “dictator” for his drastic action taken in Washington, D.C.’s street, Trump revealed that some of his supporters actually want him to take that route.
“And they said, ‘We don’t need him! Freedom, freedom! He’s a dictator!'” Trump said of his critics. “A lot of people are saying maybe we’d like a dictator. I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with great common sense, and I’m a smart person.”
4. Trump Claimed Europeans Call Him the “President” of the Continent
While tooting his own horn about the work he’s done striking trade deals with European countries — in addition to his efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine — Trump claimed there are some who “jokingly” refer to him as the president of the entire continent.
“Two percent, no pay, to five percent fully paid up,” Trump said in reference to his tariff deals, “trillions of dollars paid, where they respect your president to a level that they jokingly call me the president of Europe. They call me the president of Europe, which is an honor. I like Europe and I like those people. They’re good people. They’re great leaders.”
5. Trump Proclaimed “I Love Black People” While Talking About Ending Wars in Africa
One of Trump’s newer talking points has been the claim that he has ended 10 wars around the country. That included multiple conflicts in Africa.
Before listing off the conflicts he took responsibility for ending, Trump randomly blurted out, “I love Black people”:
Go to Africa, they like to say, “Oh, you know” — I love Black people and I did great with the vote with the Black people — but they say, “He’s a racist, he’s a racist.” I said really? For 35 years the war waged between Rwanda and the Republic of the Congo. And it was a vicious war. Nine million people were killed, with machetes largely — hatchets, machetes. That went on for more than 30 years — 34, 35 years — and I stopped it. In fact, the presidents are coming in a week or two to sign — we have the foreign ministers — to all sign. The war stopped.
But, I got it stopped and saved a lot of lives. The Congo, it’s deep into the deepest and darkest Africa. I got that war stopped. Nobody else could have done that. We did a lot of jobs, a lot of wars were stopped that nobody thought would be possible.
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