Another cringe-inducing interview with the VSG

It was just a little over two weeks ago that Trump sat down with Mike Wallace of FNC. The exchange produced lines like these:

27. "When people -- when people proudly have their Confederate flags, they're not talking about racism. They love their flag, it represents the South, they like the South."

What Trump seems not to grasp is that for a lot of other people, the Confederate flag represents slavery and oppression.

28. "People right now like the South. I'd say it's freedom of, of, of many things, but it's freedom of speech."

"I'd say it's freedom of, of, of many things." -- The President of the United States

29. "Excuse me, excuse me. I don't care what the military says. I do -- I'm supposed to make the decision."

Wallace noted that the military said they were just fine with renaming bases that are named after Confederate generals. To which Trump, the self-professed biggest supporter of the military ever, said he doesn't care what the military says. So, OK.

30. "We won two World Wars, nobody even knows General Bragg. We won two World Wars."

[slowly looks around the room]

and these:

16. "I'll be right eventually. I will be right eventually. You know I said, 'It's going to disappear.' I'll say it again."

This is how Trump responded to Wallace playing a clip of the President back in January saying this of the coronavirus: "It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine." Also, saying "I'll be right eventually" on an infectious disease eventually running its course is like me predicting there will be a 2020 election. Like, I will be right about that. But also, so what?

17. "Because I've been right probably more than anybody else."

No words.

18. "No I want people to have a certain freedom, and I don't believe in that. No, and I don't agree with the statement that if everybody wear(s) a mask everything disappears. Hey, Dr. Fauci said don't wear a mask. Our Surgeon General -- terrific guy -- said don't wear a mask."

There's so much wrong here. I'll just pick out one: Trump said that Surgeon General Jerome Adams said don't wear a mask. Which was true months ago, back when we knew way less about the virus and how it transmits. Here's Adams on Fox News Monday morning: "I'm pleading with your viewers, I'm begging you, please understand that we are not trying to take away your freedoms when we say wear a face covering."

And I repeat, that interview took place a little over two weeks ago. In it, he said this:

47. "We're signing a health care plan within two weeks, a full and complete health care plan that the Supreme Court decision on DACA gave me the right to do."

This will be news to, well, everyone.

But, the VSG being the VSG, he has outdone himself. His sit-down with Axios editor Jonathan Swan produced such gems as this:

The president defended the rally, talked up how many people were there, and made a point of bringing up something “nobody talks about”: it set a Saturday ratings record for Fox News, something the president repeatedly emphasized to defend holding the rally despite public health concerns.

Trump also said he thinks thing are under control. Swan asked how when 1000 Americans are dying a day, and Trump said, “They are dying, that’s true, it is what it is. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t doing everything we can. It’s under control as much as you can control it. This is a horrible plague that beset us.”

and this:

This was the exchange that Axios previewed last week that shocked a lot of people. The president said “many people” called the Russian bounty reports fake news and said he never brought this up in his recent call with Vladimir Putin.

He claimed it didn’t reach his desk. Swan pointed out how the former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has publicly said Russia’s supplying weapons to the Taliban. “Isn’t that enough to challenge Putin over the killings of U.S. soldiers?”

Trump started by saying, “We supplied weapons when they were fighting Russia too.”

“That’s a different era,” Swan responded.

and this:

At one point, he repeated something he’s said before, that “I’ve done more for the black community than anybody, with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln.”

“You believe you did more than Lyndon Johnson, who passed the Civil Rights Act?” Swan asked.

“I think I did, yeah,” Trump said.

“How?” Swan asked. “How possibly did you…”

“I got criminal justice reform done. I got prison reform,” Trump said.

“Lyndon Johnson,” Swan repeated. “He passed the Civil Rights Act.”

“How has it worked out? If you take a look at what Lyndon Johnson did,” the president responded.

“You think the Civil Rights Act was a mistake?” Swan asked.

“Frankly, it took a long time,” Trump said, before continuing to tout his administration’s accomplishments.

His handlers might want to think about keeping out of this sort of format.