Donald Trump Was Asked a Question He Couldn't Answer
On “Morning Joe” on Monday, Donald Trump yet again proved that he can’t and he won’t stop when it comes to asserting that he saw American Muslims celebrating the fall of the Twin Towers on 9/11.
Blaming the media for his own inability to substantiate claims he still stands by might not be the most logical of argumentative avenues to travel, but he’s determined. “I saw it on television,” he said, “fourteen years ago I saw it on television.”
And if you don’t want to take his word for it, he noted — yet again — that “I have received hundreds of calls and tweets from people” who also claim to have seen it.
Scarborough asked why, if so many people witnessed this unverifiable occurrence, no one “can find the video.” Trump responded that “they’ll find something, they’re going to find something.”
His commitment to “them” and “their” ability to find archival footage that doesn’t exist is worthy of praise, even if it isn’t based in fact. “Don’t forget, 14 or 15 years ago, it wasn’t like it is today, where you press a button and play a video. They didn’t put it in the files, they destroyed half the stuff.”
Trump’s decision to base his claim on footage he believes has been deleted is a canny strategy, if not a winning one. After all, there’s abundant video evidence that he mocked a New York Times reporter with a congenital condition and he’s not only denying that he mocked him, he’s demanding the Times issue him an apology. Trump and reality, in other words, are not the best of friends at the moment.