Happy Wednesday, Democrats. Welcome back to our #TrumpCheck series, the LACDP's newsletter that holds the Trump administration accountable for its lies, deception, and self-serving actions.
Over the summer, Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition among older adults that indicates poor circulation and damaged veins in the arms and legs.
While the condition itself is non-life-threatening, Trump's health does seem to be in decline overall. A November 25th article from The New York Times titled "Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office," has received backlash from the President. In a rambling 488-word Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump declared that “After all of the work I have done with Medical Exams, Cognitive Exams, and everything else, I actually believe it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for The New York Times, and others, to consistently do FAKE reports in order to libel and demean ‘THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.’ They are true Enemies of the People, and we should do something about it.”
The New York Times made it clear today "that it wouldn’t be deterred by 'false and inflammatory language' that distorts the role of a free press," as reported by CNN.
Ultimately, it seems that Trump is particularly sensitive to criticism of his cognitive abilities as a 79-year-old, the oldest person to be elected to the office of the President. So today, we decided that Trump has earned his own #TrumpCheck of some of the times that he has contradicted himself in front of the cameras.
- In 2018, Trump made his infamous and controversial remarks in a closed-door meeting about not wanting any more immigrants from "shithole countries" to be admitted into the US. In a post on then-Twitter, he vaguely denied ever using the term. "The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used."
FACT: In a speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Trump admitted that he absolutely called African countries, like Somalia, "shitholes," grouping them with countries he refers to as "hellholes" like Afghanistan and Haiti. "He mentioned that during a meeting during his first term with lawmakers, he posed a question: 'Why is it we only take people from sh*t-hole countries? Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden? Just a few. Let us have a few. From Denmark?" as reported by CNN.
It seems that he feels confident in his racist, xenophobic language now, not ashamed of it as he pretended to be almost 10 years ago.
- On December 3rd, Trump had an exchange with an ABC reporter about "releasing video of the 2nd strike on the suspected drug boat in the Caribbean Sea that killed survivors." He said, "I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have we’d certainly release, no problem" (You can see for yourself at the 00:40 mark in this video).
FACT: Trump denied this comment, only 5 days after he said it. On Monday, December 8th, when another reporter repeated back to Trump his previous promises, he said, "I didn’t say that. That’s – you said that, I didn’t say that. This is ABC fake news."
- At a news conference held at the White House on December 2nd, Trump touted his health and vitality. "I think I am sharper than I was 25 years ago."
FACT: About 15 minutes after saying that, Trump fell asleep during a cabinet meeting on-camera.
Oh Donald. If this is sharper than 25 years ago, what kind of condition were you in 2000?
Trump cannot keep straight what he has lied about at this point. Now he can't even keep his eyes open, either.
The first step in fighting back against the Trump administration is setting the record straight; correcting misinformation is a job for us all. If you had this email forwarded, you can sign up for the #TrumpCheck newsletter here.
Stay safe, stay strong, and keep up the good fight, Democrats.
We'll be back at defending the truth next week. Until then, stay tuned to our social media channels, linked below, for updates on the LACDP's fight against Trump.
In Solidarity,
Team LACDP
