A Morning Reid: the (mad)man who would be king

Donald Trump wants to be America's Putin. And he's surrounded by bad, greedy and weak men who are eager to help.

Viennaslide / Alamy Stock Photo

Donald Trump couldn’t care less if cars become more expensive for Americans to buy. As far as he’s concerned, his precious tariffs are worth it. If Americans wind up paying more, so what? They should just find some cars magically made 100 percent in the U.S. with no foreign assistance (which almost none are). He said a much on the record in a call-in interview with Meet the Press. Here are the key lines:

Asked what his recent message was to motor industry CEOs, and whether he had warned them against raising prices, Trump said, “The message is congratulations, if you make your car in the United States, you’re going to make a lot of money. If you don’t, you’re going to have to probably come to the United States, because if you make your car in the United States, there is no tariff.”

When pressed if he told CEOs not to raise prices, as reported in the The Wall Street Journal, Trump added, “No, I never said that. I couldn’t care less if they raise prices, because people are going to start buying American-made cars.”

Trump continued, “I couldn’t care less. I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are gonna buy American-made cars. We have plenty.”

Asked if he was concerned about car prices going up, Trump said, “No, I couldn’t care less, because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they’re going to buy American cars.”

After the interview, an aide followed up with NBC News to say Trump was referring specifically to foreign car prices.

And because he’s either too elderly or not clever enough to hide his innermost thoughts, he also told the network he may be looking to snag himself a third term.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump did not rule out the possibility of seeking a third term in the White House, which is prohibited by the Constitution under the 22nd Amendment, saying in an exclusive interview with NBC News that there were methods for doing so and clarifying that he was “not joking.”

“A lot of people want me to do it,” Trump said in a Sunday-morning phone call with NBC News, referring to his allies. “But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”

“I’m focused on the current,” Trump added, in some of his most extensive comments to date about serving a third term.

When asked whether he wanted another term, the president responded, “I like working.”

“I’m not joking,” Trump said, when asked to clarify. “But I’m not — it is far too early to think about it.”

When asked whether he has been presented with plans to allow him to seek a third term, Trump said, “There are methods which you could do it.”

NBC News asked about a possible scenario in which Vice President JD Vance would run for office and then pass the role to Trump. Trump responded that “that’s one” method.

“But there are others too,” Trump added.

Asked to share another method, Trump simply responded “no.”

Now personally, given that it is blatantly unconstitutional and would require either an amendment or some other extraordinary legislative action (or a completely renegade Supreme Court) for Trump to regain office for a third term, I’m not sure I would have posed this question to him. Presenting such an option to a megalomaniac seems suboptimal to me, but to each his or her own. The question did elicit a truth we all need to sit with, however. Given that Trump is 78 years old and will be 82 at the end of what should be his final term in office; if he intends to try to remain in power after January 20, 2029, he means to serve out what could be his natural life in the White House. In other words, he never intends to leave.

Donald Trump wants to be Vladimir Putin.

In fairness, he’s made that abundantly clear. He clearly admires the Russian dictator, and shares Putin’s thirst for expansionism. Every chance he gets, he doubles and triples down (and gets his simpering vice president to join in) on the notion of “seizing control of Greenland” — using military force if necessary — and taking control of the Panama Canal, Canada and Gaza (although in another now-familiar Trumpism, he sheepishly backed down from his insults and calling Canada the “51st state” after that sovereign country’s prime minister declared that the traditional U.S.-Canada relationship is over. On Gaza, Trump’'s partner in crime, Benjamin Netanyahu and his radical religious right coalition are laying the groundwork for the forcible displacement of what’s left of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, in order to make Trump’s bizarre and illegal ethnic cleansing-as-real estate development deal a reality.

What these places have in common, is that they all sit on prodigious natural resources that Trump believes the U.S. and its restored whitemanocracy have a manifest destiny to control (he has even extended his manifest destiny dreams to outer space.) And the three countries touching the Arctic would balloon the size of the U.S. to USSR like proportions, should they ever fall under American sovereignty. Trump figures Putin is doing it, and Shi might do it too to Taiwan, so why not him?

I’m not sure why the mainstream media can’t just admit that Trump is erratic and manic at this point. After all, this is the oldest person ever to serve as president of the United States. And old age brings with it a level of fragility — both physical and mental. It happens to us all.

And this is a geriatric man who sometimes seems to have difficulty managing stairs, ramps and even his golf cart. And who speaks in such blatantly nonsensical terms it’s hard to believe his followers believe him to be an intelligent man, or that the media isn’t even thinking about subjecting him to the same scrutiny Joe Biden receive as he became more doddering. One minute, Trump seems to be almost in love with Vladimir Putin and the next minute he’s going off on him. (Also apparently his negotiator is in way over his head…) One minute the tariffs are on and will be like nothing anyone has seen and the next minute he calls them off. The markets can barely figure out how to react, nor can our allies. So if this situation were to become permanent, I suppose we can expect Putinlike results.

The White House correspondents dinner blues

There have been signs that the White House Correspondents Association isn’t necessarily built for the press battle against an emerging autocracy. They issued a rather tame statement when the regime banished the Associated Press for refusing to join in the farce that Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico and submitted an amicus brief in the AP’s lawsuit, but members continued to dutifully show up to the briefings and mounted no collective attempt to resist the regime’s bullying of non-state press. And the association has not exactly been forceful as the regime seizes control of the White House press pool and threatens to banish major media outlets to the back of the pressroom so his favorite sycophant bloggers, cable outlets and websites can verbally felate him from the front row. Well over the weekend, the WCHA eliminated all doubt by joining the shameful cavalcade of law firm capitulators and collegiate appeasers who have bent the knee to Trump and maga; canceling the appearance of Amber Ruffin, who was designated to be the comedian of record for next month’s dinner and scholarship gala. The WHCA reasoning for the cancelation was beyond embarrassing:

“At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists,” the association’s president, Eugene Daniels, wrote in a memo Saturday.

He said the association’s board voted unanimously to make the change, and did not immediately announce any new speakers.

Seriously? Last time I checked, lampooning our political divisions is the whole point of the comedian, who essentially roasts the sitting president, and sometimes the high self esteem journalists in the room. And Daniels’ statement conveniently covers over the real reason Ms. Ruffin was canceled: her jokes about Donald Trump offend maga and their gentle-feelings monarch, who above all things, has no sense of humor according to his niece, Mary, and cannot take a joke at his own expense. Before the cancelation, it’s important to note that this happened:

The White House has been critical of the choice of Ruffin, citing her past humor at the expense of Donald Trump. Trump is not expected to attend, and there are reports that his supporters are planning a competing event.

On Friday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich posted a Ruffin Daily Beast podcast appearance in which she was asked about who would be in attendance and whether members of the Trump administration would be there.

“I’m not 100% interested in being like, ‘Ha, you’re here. Look at your stupid head. You’re burned. I care, like, ‘You’re kind of a bunch of murderers.’ They were like, ‘You need to be equal and make sure that you give it to both sides and blah blah blah. I was like, ‘There’s no way I am going to be freaking doing that dude. Under no circumstances.”

“It’s bonkers that we are still acting like thing are normal,” Ruffin said in the clip.

Budowich wrote, “This year’s @whca dinner will be hosted by a 2nd rate comedian who is previewing the event by calling this administration ‘murderers’ who want to ‘feel like human beings, but they shouldn’t get to feel that way, because you’re not.'”

And not long after Budowich posted his rant, the White House Correspondents Association canceled Ms. Ruffin’s appearance.

Alamy stock photo

If that’s not the organization representing the Fourth Estate bending the knee, I don’t know what is.

To be honest, the WHCA dinner (AKA “nerd prom”) has long given off a bit of an uncomfortable air of self-congratulation and unseemly coziness between a media that can’t stop looking at itself in the mirror while also shmoozing with the politicians we’re supposed to cover (plus the handful of celebrities who everyone in the room rushes to take selfies with.) It’s why icons like Rachel Maddow don’t attend. The event sometimes brings the laughs (Kegan Michael Key of Key and Peele being President Obama’s anger translator, Obama — by far the president with the best comedic timing — laughing at his own jokes while roasting Donald Trump in 2011 (while unknown to the audience, U.S. special forces were simultaneously killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan)… Michele Wolf’s hilariously uncomfortable 2018 set in which she compared Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Aunt Lydia from The Handmaid’s Tale, Trevor Noah absolute filleting of the press at the 2022 dinner and Roy Wood Jr.’s hilarious set last year (which so many of us were certain would land him the hosting gig on The Daily Show) stand out…

There have also been some truly some cringeworthy moments, like Don Imus’ classless jokes at President Bill Clinton’s expense in 1996, George W. Bush’s tasteless interstitial where he was “looking for the WMDs in 2004, and his “brain” Karl Rove’s stupid “MC Rove” skit in 2007 that included sketch comedians Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood from “Whose Line Is It, Anyway” doing their lame version of rapping, while Ken Strickland, the NBC Washington bureau chief and David Gregory, the then host of “Meet the Press” danced awkwardly in the background.

And while the MSNBC after-party was always the highlight of the event (and the hardest party to get into — believe me, I’ve been asked by even some right wingers for help gaining admission; at least one of whom later went to work in the Trump White House … clearly we are no longer friends) — for the most part the dinner isn’t a great look, other than the scholarships that are given out to young journalists. I’ve only been a handful of times, and honestly, it’s a haul. You can’t bring your spouse so it’s like being at work with a bunch of your co-workers and people who work at the other firms, except you’re all dressed up. The first time I went, the dinner was unfolding just as the streets of Baltimore were erupting over the police killing of Freddie Gray. I hated myself for being there but made up for it in my coverage of his tragic case. The last time I went, I caught COVID alongside some two dozen NBC staff — meaning it was not at all work the few years of FOMO, including during COVID, when I skipped it. In between were some good times and good fashion moments, but honestly? It’s not clear to me why the whole dog and pony show needs to survive — especially if the Association doesn’t have the guts to stand up for the comedian they themselves booked to do the show.

Here’s hoping Saturday Night Live continues to stand strong in mocking the regime.