Trump Carries Newspapers to Pretend He Reads
Subtitles:
Donald Trump carries newspapers around over the weekend to convince people that he reads in advance of an upcoming Axios interview where the subject of his reading comes up
Subtitles:
Donald Trump over the weekend carried newspapers
around like a prop.
This was advance damage control for an interview
that's going to be aired tonight during which
Donald Trump is confronted about whether he
reads.
And there are about three different angles
to this story.
The primary angle is.
We are getting crushed on Corona virus due
to Trump's failed response, and he's still
golfing all the time.
Trump golfed on Saturday and he golfed on
Sunday.
He was supposedly signing a new health care
bill into law yesterday, Sunday.
He golfed instead.
No new health care bill.
But on top of it, Trump continues to be concerned
with the optics of carrying around newspapers
rather than actually doing something about
Corona virus.
So let's go through it.
Saturday, Trump golfed and he was spotted
getting out of his vehicle carrying just a
whole pile of newspapers.
He also had a really strange bruise on his
hand, which led to new speculation about some
medical issue.
But that's that's not even the focus today.
But Trump had this pile of newspapers that
he was carrying around.
Now, we've been care covering Trump's reading
for years, and it would not be news to many
of you.
But because of the Russian bounty story, Trump's
reading is back in the news.
And in an interview coming out tonight with
Axios is Jonathan Swan. Trump is confronted
about whether he reads does he read his own
presidential daily briefings?
And part of the reason why is that as far
as multiple reports have outlined, Trump was
briefed multiple times about the Russian bounty
stories.
Although Trump is claiming that he was not.
And so in this interview, we got a clip of
it last week.
It's publishing tonight.
Donald Trump claimed that he has the best
reading comprehension of anybody that Jonathan
Swan had interviewed.
Here's that clip from last week.
They released a preview of tonight's interview.
I wouldn't mind if it reached my desk.
I would have done something about it.
It never reached my desk because to read your
recent brief.
I do.
I read a lot.
You know, I read a lot.
They like to say it.
I read.
I read a lot.
You're very handy.
Extraordinarily well.
Probably better than anybody that you've interviewed
in a long time.
I read a lot.
I spend a lot of time with at meetings.
So first of all, when you're president and
people don't even believe that you read, things
have gone very, very wrong.
There was no reason to question that.
Barack Obama read a lot.
George W. Bush didn't have to like him.
I didn't like him.
But he read I think it was like a book a week
or a book every two weeks.
There was no question that these former presidents
read.
Trump doesn't read.
And as far as we know, he hasn't read an entire
book, a cover to cover and his entire adult
life.
But Trump always goes too far, too far.
He doesn't just say I read.
He says, my reading comprehension is better
than anyone you've interviewed recently.
Why?
What does this have to do with who Jonathan
Swan has interviewed?
And likewise now, the calculated advance damage
control of Trump being photographed with newspapers
also goes too far.
He's carrying a gigantic stack, like if we
were to believe that Trump looked at one newspaper.
OK, maybe.
But the idea that Trump is reading a stack
of newspapers on his ride to play golf is
too silly to even be plausible.
Everything is posturing.
Everything is pretense and optics.
And if anything, Trump is looking at the pictures
in the newspapers.
Maybe he's looking at like a headline or to
the Bible.
He clearly doesn't read it.
He said it was his favorite book along with
his own book.
Now, there is another side to the story that
I want to briefly mention.
There was a ton of speculation that Trump
went to Walter Reed Hospital over the weekend
for either unknown reasons or as a supposedly
cerebral event, and that the bruise on his
hand in the picture is from having an I.V.
and that the newspapers were actually just
meant to kind of cover the bruise, which didn't
work.
There is no evidence that that's what happened.
The White House says he didn't go to Walter
Reed.
You know that when things have been fishy
with Trump's medical status.
I've told you about it until we get actual
evidence that this is what happened.
It's much more likely that Trump just wants
to be seen holding newspapers to create this
idea that he reads.
Knowing that tonight there is a major interview
believed to be very damaging to Donald Trump
being published by Axios during which the
topic of Trump's reading comes up.
I think the simplest explanation is the accurate
explanation here.
And if we get other evidence to the contrary,
you know, I will be here telling you about
it.
