Donald Trump had a scheduled interview with Mark Levine on Fox Sunday night, much of which got delayed due to the incident in Wisconsin. When Trump did appear to answer questions he stuck primarily with the sure hits, complaining that the country has – quite obviously – fallen apart and is unrecognizable within a year of him leaving office.
Trump highly exaggerated the gas price “crisis” citing the price of a gallon of gas in California was $7.50, where the average price per gallon still remains well under $5 a gallon. Trump did not mention that prices remain high as part of a larger global distribution problem among all goods, which many economists trace back to difficulties in managing COVID worldwide. Some of the problems can be traced directly back to how the disease was managed in its earliest stages and allowed to spread, under Trump.
Even stranger, Trump took some of his precious airtime to lament all that he could have done with Russia. He began by discussing that no president had ever been attacked like he had been attacked, none faced what he faced, listed both impeachments and then the Mueller investigation, which he said “took three and a half years” and prevented so much good:
“It was a beautiful period. I was under assault like no President has ever been I assume… We could’ve done some great things with Russia. Very good for our country… Also good for Russia,”
He said we couldn’t do those good things because people would say that he was doing them because of “Russia, Russia, Russia.”
There has always been a palpable sense that something is “off” about Trump and his relationship with Russia and Putin. This is the perfect example. If there were good policy choices to be made or agreements that could have benefitted both countries, the type that can provide long-term benefit, what part of the Mueller investigation precluded getting those done? No part.
So one is forced to assume – given Trump’s own words – that Trump would have liked to have made more deals with Russia, but couldn’t do so because he was already under intense pressure due to the investigation of his relationship with Russia. The statement is almost self-proving that the deals Trump sought were not “America first” deals. If they had been, if Trump’s desired “deals” were so obviously in our interest and entirely legal, then no limited criminal investigation could have or would have interfered.
But if the deals were imbalanced, or entirely one-sided, then they would get greater scrutiny, and perhaps it is that scrutiny that Trump believes was so prohibitive. Without regard to good or bad deals, it is amazing that now, fully a year out, Trump complains that he could have gotten more done with Russia, not Canada, Japan, Germany, or any other country. He picks Russia as his regret. Those are the real lost opportunities in his mind.
Just another interesting “tell,” of the type we’ve become all too accustomed to over the last five years.
Trump: It was a beautiful period. I was under assault like no President has ever been I assume… We could’ve done some great things with Russia. Very good for our country… Also good for Russia.. pic.twitter.com/mkO4j9kvgq
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 22, 2021
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