Just before Donald Trump returned from his tour of Asia he teased us all with the promise of something big…
I will be making a major statement from the @WhiteHouse upon my return to D.C. Time and date to be set.
There were no other clues – could it be a major policy announcement? A firing? A hiring?
Nope, it was none of those things, instead he spent 20 minutes in what amounted to a “victory lap” for what is essentially a fundamental part of just being President of the United States.
Trump appeared to struggle during the speech, breathing heavily and repeatedly stopping to take sips of water from a bottle he couldn’t find initially – something he once mocked Marc Rubio for doing.
WATCH: “They don’t have water, that’s OK.” pic.twitter.com/ylfbpUUIhe
Next time Marco Rubio should drink his water from a glass as opposed to a bottle—would have much less negative impact.
Similar,but needs work on his form.Has to be done in one single motion & eyes should never leave the camera. But not bad for his 1st time https://t.co/s49JtyRo3S
November 15, 2017
Trump began with a summary of the part of his job that requires that he travel abroad for important meetings.
He said: “Last night I returned from a historic 12-day trip to Asia. This journey took us to five nations to meet with dozens of foreign leaders, participate in three formal state visits and attend three key regional summits.
“It was the longest visit to the region by an American president in more than a quarter of a century.”
This is true but at this point in his presidency Obama had visited 20 countries and Trump is only on 14 – he has played far more golf though.
Trump is currently providing a readout of his trip to Asia, and his whole presidency, basically.
Rather worryingly, he continued: “Everywhere we went our foreign hosts greeted the American delegation, myself included, with incredible warmth, hospitality and most importantly, respect.
“And this great respect showed very well our country, is further evidence America’s renewed confidence and standing in the world has never been stronger than it is right now.”
Since the dawn of diplomacy, “respect” has been the default setting for hosting foreign dignitaries and some suggested Trump’s apparent wonder at such things is evidence of how easy it might be to hoodwink the President.
Boy, it is just so easy to play Trump. Put out the red carpet and give him some comps!
Despite talking for over 20 minutes, Trump didn’t actually say anything of substance.
Reflecting on @realDonaldTrump speech, surprised at how little mention of trade deals made, business won, jobs created for US companies. Or maybe there weren’t big victories to report
November 15, 2017
Trump Asia trip wrap up speech on par with trip. No flubs. No deliverables.
He once again took credit for stock market gains that are actually attributable primarily to Obama and made various predictions about how great America is going to be without saying how he was going to do it.
SUMMARY: Trump’s Angry Press Conference ? “My receptions were SO elegant…”
November 15, 2017
So in the absence of any news to report from the big speech, here are some humorous contributions from the Twitterati.
So, to be clear, trump’s word salad right now, which is mixed with constant sniffles, what appears to be obvious cotton mouth and a robust thirst for water, is an entire self praise, self worship, me me me, I’m great speech mixed with a tour of Asia. What the hell is?
November 15, 2017