After The New York Times posted the interview reporter Michael Schmidt conducted with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening, MSNBC host Joy Reid began tweeting, and what she said regarding the interview wound up turning into an incredible tweetstorm that greatly enriches our understanding of this deeply flawed man who frequently leaves us scratching our heads.
The tweets range from Trump’s tone in the interview to the president’s autocratic impulses and how he reminds Reid of a character from The Godfather. Take a look:
Now that I’ve read the entire transcript of @nytmike’s Trump interview, a few observations:
1. Trump speaks a lot like a child does. Lots of focus on who likes him, who loves him, who is his friend… his biographers all emphasize his deep desire to be loved & it comes through.— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
2. Trump repeats whatever he is fixated on over and over again. I counted 15 “no collusion” repeats, sometimes two or three times in a single paragraph. And he keeps returning over and over again to the election and how he managed to win via the Electoral College. He’s fixated.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
3. Trump things being president means he can do whatever he wants. He has an autocrat's impulse, and believes literally everyone in government, from the attorney general to every member of Congress, essentially works for him, owes him loyalty, and must "come to him" for mercy.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
He literally adopted a "Godfather" phraseology to all but say Democrats could have avoided blue state tax hikes via SALT if they had "come to him" to plead for his largesse. It's a combination of the impulses of 1. and 3.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
4. Trump thinks he is still the star of a TV show, and that the media has the power to decide who wins elections, based on ratings. Seriously: pic.twitter.com/MIKIXn4NIL
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
5. Trump invents his own reality, and then states that everybody else believes his version of reality too. And since he is so transparent, it's hard to argue that this is a strategy, rather than a form of self-delusion or just stubborn refusal to accept what is real. pic.twitter.com/gYDm9QBcCd
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
It is absolutely stunning that this person is president of the United States.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
I'm not sure, by the way, what this means for Democrats. Trump clearly assumes that they HAVE NO CHOICE but to come crawling to him to do infrastructure, DACA, and inexplicably, to make a new, *better* healthcare (he specifically says "not Obamacare."
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
He clearly thinks this will happen, and that somehow magically, they will "do bipartisan." That's his actual phrase: "do bipartisan." Not "do bipartisan legislation," just "do bipartisan." He thinks it naturally will happen.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
If Democrats go along, it will only feed his grandiosity. If they don't, it feeds his rage and opens the black hole of vengeance inside him, which he could take out on them, vulnerable populations, maybe other countries (war is still not unthinkable…) I just don't know.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
But it's absolutely stunning that this is what's happening. But it is what's happening.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017
Featured Image Via Twitter
