Another day brings yet another example of the president of the United States trying to present his own version of reality as the truth. President Donald Trump said he was being sarcastic when he referred to himself as “the chosen one” to fight China on trade. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday night, Trump seemed a bit irritated when asked about his Wednesday words that sparked controversy. “Let me tell you, you know exactly what I meant,” Trump said before departing for the G7 summit in France. “It was sarcasm. It was joking. We were all smiling. And the question like that is just fake news. You’re just a faker.”
Trump repeated that assertion on Twitter on Saturday saying that he didn’t realize the comment would lead media to claim he had “a ‘Messiah complex’ ” because reporters “knew I was kidding, being sarcastic, and just … having fun.” How were reporters supposed to know he was joking around? “I was smiling as I looked up and around,” Trump wrote, claiming “the MANY reporters with me were smiling also.”
It’s difficult to know whether the reporters surrounding Trump were smiling but there is obviously video of Trump’s remarks and the president was decidedly not smiling when he anointed himself “the chosen one” while looking up at the sky.
