On Tuesday, Donald Trump appeared before a teenage audience at an event sponsored by the conservative organization Turning Point USA. And the speech he delivered there contained some lies that would have been shocking even for one of Trump’s rally crowds. It included more lies and insults directed at a group of women representatives, more lies about immigrants, and a return to claims that undocumented immigrants are not just voting but “They vote many times. Not just two times, not just three times. It’s a rigged deal.” And it was capped by Trump’s claim that Article II of the Constitution says that "I can do whatever I want."
Before Trump appeared, the audience was warmed up by a video featuring a litany of the states that Trump won in the 2016 election and a replay of “highlights” from the election. This little section also managed to squeeze in Trump lying about how he had never supported the war in Iraq. Then Trump stepped onto the stage to inform the conservative teens that there were “more of you than there are of them,” without specifying who the “them” might be. “They'll figure it out someday,” says Trump. “They're still trying to figure out what the hell happened." Because that’s how you talk to a group of kids.
But that was the mildest of his lies. Trump then followed up by telling the assembled teenagers that he was the only president to shake the hands of graduates at a service academy, and that those graduates told him, “Sir, thank you for saving America.” Any time Trump tells a story in which someone called him “Sir,” it’s guaranteed to be a lie, and this one certainly is. Trump doesn’t mention to the kids that he attended a fake military academy, and had zero chance of, or interest in, of getting into the real thing.
At that point, Trump decided that attacking women of color wasn’t just his new theme song, but perfectly appropriate for a teenage audience. He began by saying that there are serious problems in Washington. “We have a deep state,” said Trump. “We have bad people. We have sick people." And the first person Trump targeted as being “bad” and “sick” was Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Not only is she bad, according to Trump, but she’s also “vicious.” Trump declared that there’s no way the people of Michigan support her and finally said, “This is not a sane person, folks.”
Trump started to talk about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but cut it off short, saying only that he’d “have more later.” Instead he returned to his favorite sport, taking shots at Rep. Ilhan Omar. According to Trump, Omar has made it “certain” that he will win Minnesota, because the people of her state don’t support her.
It can get worse. It did.
Trump moved into false claims about the media, not just accusing it of being the source of fake news, but also restating claims that The New York Times and other media companies were on the brink of failing. In the midst of accusing them of lying, Trump appeared to confuse a Washington Examiner story on the fact that no new wall has been built at the U.S.-Mexico border with a Washington Post story. In any case, he managed to lie about all of it.
And then it was time for judges. Trump claimed that liberal judges were trying to destroy religious liberty, were not following the Constitution, and were “trying to take your arms away.” Judges, said Trump, will “do great damage” to the Second Amendment.
For those keeping score, Trump had at this point informed a student audience that the government is full of “bad people”; that a black congresswoman is both vicious and insane; that the press is all lies; and that judges are taking away their liberties.
After an interlude to focus on his own greatness—2016 was the most important election ever because the country was “going wrong,” and now that Trump is in charge, the United States is “respected again”—it was back to bashing Congress. And judges. Somehow Trump managed to get in both the idea that Democrats are blocking all his appointments, and the idea that he’s appointed more judges than anyone since George Washington. In any case, liberal judges and Democrats in Congress are conspiring against him by allowing Congress to sue for information.
Trump then moved to immigration issues mixed with red meat, declaring both that the Democrats want open borders and that Nike is trying to take “heritage” away from the kids. He swirled through an attempt to claim Guatemala as a “third-party” place to park refugees; denied that refugees were refugees; took more shots a the press; and moved back into bragging about his own achievements. He claimed that if Hillary Clinton had won the presidential election, there would have been a recession. Then he moved straight on to complaining about the WTO, all in one semi-coherent riff that had to be about as confusing as possible to the 15-year-old audience—though it did seem like someone in there shouted out, “Liar!”
Trump slowed down for a bit as he bragged about how great his tariffs were, and how much money he was making from them, and also how much was being paid to farmers. Why these farmers needed to be paid when the tariffs were so great and were making the economy so great went unexplained.
After the tariff brag, it was the military brag. Which included mostly a lot of lies about how just two years ago the military was on the brink of collapse, with no people, no funds, and a bunch of jets that didn’t work. Trump apparently serves as an aircraft mechanic during executive time, because that’s all fixed now.
And then it was witch hunt time, as Trump returned to attacking the “deep state” and the Mueller investigation, and mentioned how bad those have been for making deals with Russia. Also, only 11% of people support impeachment, according to Trump. And it was in the middle of explaining why it’s wrong for him to be investigated that Trump made the claim of the morning. According to Trump, Article 2 of the Constitution says he can do whatever he wants. That he cooperated with Mueller at all was just because he’s so, so nice.
The section about the Russia investigation became one of the longest parts of the speech, as Trump rambled on about the origins of the investigation, the motives of everyone involved, and how both Democrats and the FBI are “crazy.”
And, no, it still was not over. Trump went on to talk about foreign affairs, claiming that the United States pays for “almost 100%” of NATO. He then took time to state more lies about Germany, including something completely strange about Barack Obama’s poll numbers in Germany.
Then, zing! Back to attacking AOC and Rep. Tlaib and the “radical left” and how they called America “garbage.” Which they didn’t. Did I get in that Trump also claimed that Rep. Ilhan Omar used the term “evil Jews”? She didn’t say that either. And then Trump declared there were “twenty more” Democrats who “are worse.”
Then there was more on foreign policy and why are we helping other people anyway? Like Japan? Why are we doing military for Japan? And … Mars! We’re going to be first to Mars!
Then back to the “radical left” and how Democrats “are destroying themselves” and more declarations that Rep. Tlaib is crazy and that you can “never have a country with values, with reasoning" if people like her are around. Some of the kids seem to be getting keyed up at this point, with lots of shouts from the audience, but what they’re about, I can’t tell.
Then Trump moved on to attacking social media, which he claimed is totally in with the radical left.
And at this point, C-SPAN’s web feed died. Thank God.