President Donald Trump delivered a meandering and grievance-filled speech to a packed White House Press Briefing room on Tuesday. He spoke for more than an hour to mark the one year anniversary of return to office.
The speech started with Trump slowly holding up for news cameras photos of immigrants he said were arrested in Minnesota after committing heinous crimes, as a way to justify the thousands of federal officers he’s sent to the state that have been documented stopping U.S. citizens in sweeping searches of people to deport from the country.
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He soon touched on dozens of other topics, insisting again he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, praising the impact of his tariffs and his Administration’s gutting of investments in low-carbon emissions technologies, joked that the Gulf of Mexico should be called the Gulf of Trump, and blamed many of the country’s problems on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. He also said he “felt terribly” about the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer in Minnesota.
Trump repeatedly veered far from topics of policy or politics. At one point, he told a story about his mother telling him that he could have been a professional baseball player when, as a child, he was playing at a park next to a mental institution.
He also denigrated many of his perceived enemies, called former Justice Department prosecutor Jack Smith, who brought charges against him for his actions trying to overturn the results of the 2020 elections, “a sick son of a bitch,” and saying of Rep. Ilhan Omar, “I can’t stand her.”
Hanging over Trump’s appearance are his sagging approval numbers and his growing frustration that the American public hasn’t supported how he has implemented his policies. In particular, he claimed that the success of his harsh immigration policies isn’t breaking through with Americans. “Maybe I have bad public relations people, but we’re not getting it across,” Trump said.
Before Trump came into the briefing room, White House press aides handed out printed versions of a press release posted on the White house website titled: 365 WINS IN 365 DAYS: President Trump’s Return Marks New Era of Success, Prosperity. Trump had a printed copy in his hands when he stepped up to the microphone.
After speaking for an hour and 20 minutes, Trump started taking reporter’s questions. “Let’s go,” he said.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.