Trump in ABC town hall, touts 'herd mentality' (or herd immunity) in ignoring pandemic threat

This is the edited version. Just imagine if this was live.— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) September 16, 2020

About Trump's gaslighting on what Democrats said about the pandemic. https://t.co/buoD9zeYPk

Aftican-American woman pretty much shuts Trump down, gloriously. pic.twitter.com/dr16W7Ecwo

No issue off limits?

Someone has to ask about Russian Bounties & his Tax Returns & how he doesn't know the Pledge of Allegiance & Where is his Great Healthcare plan?

That'd be interesting to see if no issue is off limits after all. 😀

First question is from a Trump voter, “conservative, pro-life and diabetic,” who has “had to dodge people” who don't care about distancing, and asks why Trump threw “people like me under the bus.”

Trump: “We really didn't, Paul.” He repeats his lines about China, ventilators.

Trump repeats his usual false claim that “the cupboards were bare” of ventilators before him. Again, he inherited more than 16,000, as his administration acknowledges. https://t.co/oU7nsxY6bi

He then says he doesn't think their efforts have been “recognized” like they “should.”

Told we have 4% of world's pop and more than 20% of the cases and deaths, Trump repeats his usual nonsense about how we wouldn't have cases if we didn't do testing. He ignores the deaths part.

Trump: “A lot of people got it wrong,” including Dr. Fauci, who said don't wear masks. (He has been persistently wrong in his comments on the virus. He continues to hold indoor event where few people where masks. He continues to mock Biden for wearing a mask.)

Trump falsely claims nobody knew at the beginning the seniors were susceptible. This was one of the first things we learned out of early reports from China.

Trump: “A lot of people think the masks are not good.” Asked who they are, Trump says I'll tell you who they are: “Waiters.”

This is good debate practice in that Trump is lying and misleading faster than anyone can type.

We’re 8 minutes into this town hall and Trump has already lied to the audience repeatedly about Covid, about masks, about his praise for China, about the travel ban, about Fauci, about Biden, and more. It’s an avalanche of lies. Period. So much of this is recycled lies.

Stephanopoulos is doing a good job so far in providing facts on issues Trump is lying about or omitting about.

Trump falsely suggests the only people exempt from his travel restrictions on China and Europe were “American citizens.” He also exempted permanent residents, many family members of citizens and permanent residents, and some others.

Trump is criticizing Biden, who isn't president, for not finding a way to implement a national mask mandate, on ABC Town Hall.

Trump repeats his usual fantasy talk about how, before the virus, people who didn't get along were starting to get along because of how well the country was doing.

As he bashes Democrats for comments about the virus they did not actually make, Trump is reminded he claimed himself the virus was going to disappear, Trump says he still says that: “It's going to disappear.”

Man.

.@GStephanopoulos presses Pres. Trump on his claims that COVID-19 will “disappear.”

Stephanopoulos: “It would go away without the vaccine?”

Pres. Trump: “Sure, over a period of time. Sure, with time.”

Stephanopoulos: “And many deaths.” pic.twitter.com/4hekcd3KUs

Goodness. Trump says Churchill was dishonest but still a great leader because he went on rooftops during Nazi bombing and said “everything's going to be good.”

Churchill did not speak from rooftops. He did not say “everything's going to be good.” https://t.co/V10FobBwEC

Joe Biden, 2/26: “Were I president now, I would not be taking China's word for it. I would insist that China allow our scientists into make a hard determination of how it started, where it's from, how far along it is. Because that is not happening now.” https://t.co/j2hnvJDMSY https://t.co/XNaPyH1tjS

Trump is falsely suggesting New York City was safer under Giuliani as mayor than it is now. There has been a 2020 spike, but crime levels remain way lower than they were even after Giuliani-era improvements. https://t.co/8OgJbdJDtW

Asked about police violence against Black people, Trump keeps talking about “chokers” who “choke.” Pressed, he says, “I can only say this: that the police in this country have done generally a great job.”

Trump, answering a question about whether Floyd/Taylor/Blake demonstrate racial injustice in America: “you have to allow the police to do their jobs. otherwise crime is going to soar”

Asked by a Black American about when exactly America has been “great” for Black people in ghettoes that've faced redlining and other problems, Trump says, “We have tremendous African American support,” “in the polls.”

The Black voter continues to talk about the long history of racism and Black communities being failed by various presidents. Trump says, “I hope there's not a race problem…there's none with me.”

I think this is by far the toughest grilling Trump has faced as president — by these voters.

This pathetic jackass couldn’t even be bothered to learn the proper term for his fantasy bullshit; he called it “herd mentality.” He is utterly clueless, even with 200,000 dead people on his watch. It’s disgusting beyond belief.

If you think the problem here is that he said herd mentality rather than her immunity, you're missing the big picture. Whatever wordd he spoke, the idea is to sacrifice several hundred thousand more people's lives.

Trump claimed that Joe Biden said in March that the pandemic is “totally over-exaggerated.” If anyone on his campaign or elsewhere has any idea what he might be talking about, feel free to get in touch.

Trump on police: “We have to give them their mojo…” lamenting that “there's no retribution.”

Trump said police face hostilities and cites NYC police having water dumped on their heads by people who “had no fear.” “There was no retribution,” Trump says. Those police “should have really turned around and done something.”

Trump is so used to selling and pumping things up that his diction defaults to superlatives even when he’s trying to attack someone. “It was phenomenal. It was record-setting,” he says of income inequality under Obama-Biden administration.

Asked why he keeps talking about Democratic states, given that they're all American states, Trump just repeats his claim that Democratic-run states are the ones doing “badly.”

Incredible.

A voter tells Trump that Obamacare brought protections for people with pre-existing conditions, like her, into existence.

Trump tells her that Democrats won't provide protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Trump falsely claims that getting rid of the individual mandate essentially repealed Obamacare.

Pre-existing-conditions protections, Medicaid expansion, marketplaces, subsidies, and a bunch of other very important provisions continue to exist.

Trump is telling his story about how he had to make a decision, whether to run Obamacare well or let it run badly since that'd be better politics for him, and he chose to run it well. (He is simultaneously arguing that he essentially got rid of Obamacare.)

Republicans are suing in 20 states that mandating insurance companies to provide pre-existing condition insurance coverage options is unconstitutional. Donald Trump’s administration is refusing to defend against this lawsuit therefore putting coverage at risk #VoteBiden

Trump is a very good liar because he’s too stupid to know how stupid he sounds to anyone who isn’t as stupid as he is.

Yes, and he uses this tactic to just wear out most reporters in interviews or just moves on in press conferences. https://t.co/K4ejjt3tsA

This Trump town hall is extremely foreboding for the debates. Why? Moderators don’t fact-check candidates. But Trump will continue repeating debunked lies. Stephanopoulos and the voters are doing a good job tonight keeping this reality-based. Would be *malpractice* without that.

I'm not saying Trump has never told bigger lies (“We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine”), but rather that no American Presidential candidate has ever lied so pointedly on such a central election issue.

As a non-partisan observation, I will say that this town hall is showing that doing nothing but being surrounded by sycophants and going to rallies is a bad idea. He does not react well to normal human beings asking him normal human questions. He was better at this in 2016.

Trump falsely/misleadingly claims that Biden agreed with Bernie that they will “go to socialized medicine.” (“Socialized” is subjective, but Biden very much has not agreed to Sanders's Medicare-for-All proposal, which was a major dispute between him and Sanders in the primary.)

Trump tries to explain why he only views himself as president of red states and not all the states and it does not go well pic.twitter.com/iCxFNz3iNY

Stephanopoulos calls Trump out: “I interviewed you in June and you said a health care plan was coming in two weeks.”

Two months later, Trump once again suggests this health care plan is in the works. https://t.co/s88YQyhywA

Asked by a Trump voter about behavior some have called unpresidential, and what he'd do differently in term 2 to have a more unified message, Trump says, “So, I'm fighting a battle. It's a big battlefield. And I have a lot of forces against me…”

Trump needs to wait until millions more unemployed people go into more debt before deciding the time is right to stop watching TV and tweeting and then start doing his job.

Trump, who has made an extensive effort to roll back environmental regulations, says he has gotten “things done like nobody's ever gotten. When you look at — including environmental things.”

As he boasts about stocks, Trump is reminded by Stephanopoulos that only half the jobs are back.

Trump says, “George: stocks are owned by everybody.”

Just over half of Americans own stock, according to 2020 polls.

84% of all stocks owned by Americans belong to the wealthiest 10% of households.

Half of Americans own no shares of any kind (mutual funds, 401(k)s, IRAs, 529s etc). https://t.co/PcSkethS1A https://t.co/fgSkZlCFJ7

Trump: Everybody owns stocks.

Reality? 45% of Americans don’t own stocks. https://t.co/C1hQJIu7dp

A voter asks Trump about his reported comments about referring to soldiers as suckers and losers.

Trump says, “Oh, okay. It was a fake statement.”

He adds, “I never made those statements.”

Trump: “I was never a fan of John McCain. I never thought he treated our vets well. He didn't do the job.”

He declines this time to take credit for McCain's Veterans Choice bill.

Donald Trump: “Do you know what disinformation is?”

(He is accusing The Atlantic/Biden of being perpetrators.)

Trump repeats his false claim that he fired James Mattis, who resigned.

Asked about sharp criticism of his fitness from top officials Bolton, Kelly and Mattis, Trump says, “These are people that I let go. These are disgruntled former employees to put it in a nice way.”

(Mattis resigned. And.)

Trump's claim that Mattis “didn't do good on ISIS. I took over 100% of the ISIS caliphate” is absurd. The end of the caliphate was liberated about 3 months after Mattis left, but much progress occurred under Mattis. (And some under Obama. And the Kurds did much of the fighting.)

Earlier, asked about his praise of China's handling of the virus, Trump claimed, “No, no, I didn't say one way or the other.” Just not at all true.

We still have 40 minutes https://t.co/U5f5IHfaqo

Republican strategists watching this town hall right now pic.twitter.com/p5EXvnCDS2

A questioner asks how Trump can become a unifier….

Trump gives the “move fast & break things” rationale >

“Sometimes you don’t have time to — as you say — be totally presidential,” Trump says. “I get things done that nobody’s ever gotten” #TrumpTownHall

Trump promises a depression if Joe Biden wins.

Wall Street doesn't agree. https://t.co/LtpdVLt9DP

This town hall is painful – brutally painful.

pic.twitter.com/hrUIALR6uE

George let Trump talk for 5 minutes too long about his love of the military, allowing lie after lie to go unchallenged.

Here's what Trump says later in his answer to a question on how we do common-sense police reform. pic.twitter.com/J45LhG7XHJ

Reminded that he promised at the 2016 convention that he would restore law and order in this country, Trump says, “And I have. Except in Democrat-run cities.”

(Aside from the merits of the claim, there was no “except in Democrat-run cities” exemption to his 2016 promise.)

Here's Trump comparing American cities under his leadership to Berlin in 1945 during the fall of the Nazi regime pic.twitter.com/hwDuJiNUEL

Trump keeps saying there was violence in Minneapolis for up to a week and a half before “we” brought in the National Guard. The Democratic governor, Tim Walz, activated the Guard the day after the first arson reports, then fully activated the Guard two days after that.

Trump falsely claimed protesters took over “20%” of Seattle. I don't have a precise percentage, but that's not even close; it was a six-block area.

Trump is asked what he would do differently if he was re-elected. He speaks for two minutes and never answers the question.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 16, 2020

A crying voter tells Trump at length about how her mom, a fellow immigrant, died of cancer, and asks a question on her mom's behalf about immigration.

Trump repeatedly talks about how her mom died of “Covid.”

Trump to the woman who explained how her mom died of cancer: “Did YOU have Covid? You didn't have it, right? You didn't have it? Your mother. Uh, we’ll have it taken care of. It's going to get taken care of. The vaccines are gonna make a big difference.”

Well, that was something!

I'll do a fact check on TV around 11 and a fullish list of false and misleading claims on the CNN website in the morning.

New Trump revelations have made the destructive consequences of his malignant narcissism disturbingly clear: psychiatrists https://t.co/zzkWeDnkI7

Bob Woodward tells Anderson Cooper that he doesn't think Trump's “got it straight in his head what is real and what is unreal.”

Cooper says it's “pretty terrifying” that the president doesn't know the difference between reality and fiction. pic.twitter.com/oe94pJCDSH

https://t.co/pWr75eWCQY pic.twitter.com/Ju24NaJ6NZ

Live at the Refuse Fascism protest march outside the President’s town hall in Philadelphia #Trump #TrumpTownHall #Philadelphia https://t.co/5llA9CvwKq

Trump took questions during the ABC town hall two weeks before he is set to debate Democratic nominee Joe Biden for the first time on live television. https://t.co/nYTY7XZ4TC

❗️Turning Point USA has a secret troll farm campaign >> Teenagers—some minors—are being paid to pump out pro-Trump propaganda on @Facebook & @Twitter at the direction of Turning Point Action, affiliate of the natl conservative youth org. #SorryCharlie 🎣 https://t.co/t2f3cCy9mR

REMEMBER WHEN WE HAD A PRESIDENT WHO DIDN’T KILL AMERICANS?#HowWeGotHere#TrumpKnewAndDidNothing💀#TrumpKills💀#KidVicious💀🔪

pic.twitter.com/oiUbubfIQm

This was one of the hardest videos to produce. Every minute of this made me tear up because it didn’t have to be this way if we had a real leader.#TrumpLied200KDied pic.twitter.com/RyDH1ga7aI

— Ben Meiselas (@meiselasb) September 15, 2020