Remember when Trump…

didn’t know about Pearl Harbor?

According to the book A Very Stable Genius, during a private tour of the Pearl Harbor memorial, Trump asked his Chief of Staff John Kelly, “Hey, John, what’s this all about? What’s this a tour of?”

The authors explain that Trump didn’t grasp the site’s significance, as he’d “heard the phrase ‘Pearl Harbor’ and appeared to understand that he was visiting the scene of a historic battle…he did not seem to know much else.”

In a tweet the same day of his visit, Trump repeated a common misquote of Franklin Roosevelt’s description of the Pearl Harbor attack, “a date that will live in infamy.”

His wife Melania also wrongly placed the date of the Pearl Harbor attacks in a deleted tweet.

Deleted tweet / The Washington Post

A year prior, Trump attacked Obama for not bringing up Pearl Harbor during an official visit to Japan.

The Washington Post – ‘A Very Stable Genius’ portrays Trump as erratic, ‘at times dangerously uninformed
The Washington Post – Melania Trump tweets, then quickly deletes, wrong Pearl Harbor date
Business Insider – ‘What’s this a tour of?’: Trump barely understood the significance of an iconic Pearl Harbor memorial during a private tour, new book says
The Week – Trump reportedly doesn’t know what happened at Pearl Harbor
Politico – White House misremembers historical details on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

invited college football champions to the White House for fast food?

Trump served an assortment of pizza, hamburgers, and fries to the Clemson Tigers. He commented, “I think we’re going to serve McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King with some pizza. I really mean it. It would be interesting. And I would think that’s their favorite food.”

Trump also noted that the fast food was due to the ongoing government shut down over border wall funding. However, two months later, he presented a similar feast to a North Dakota team.

Susan Walsh/AP

Trump has long had an affinity for fast food, which he has explained is because of its cleanliness.

 

The New York Times – White House Welcomes College Football Champions With Fast-Food Buffet
The Hill – Trump serves McDonald’s, Burger King to visiting Clemson football team
NPR – Feast Fit For A Burger King: Trump Serves Fast Food To College Football Champs
Associated Press – Fast food at White House for North Dakota football champs

dismissed criticism because of “Trump Derangement Syndrome?”

Trump Derangement Syndrome, a descendant of Bush Derangement Syndrome, is a phrase used to deflect criticism by painting it as rabidly unreasonable. Accepting criticism isn’t one of Trump’s strong suits, because despite his claims of humility, he has also said that he doesn’t admit to mistakes.

The Daily Beast – POTUS: ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ Is Why People ‘Hate’ My Friendship With Putin
The Hill – Trump urges followers to read Dershowitz book arguing against impeachment
Wikipedia – Trump Derangement Syndrome

claimed at the UN that “my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country,” prompting laughter?

At the United Nations General Assembly, Trump drew laughter after saying “my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” After, he remarked, “Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s okay.”

During Obama’s administration, Trump said “we need a president who isn’t the laughing stock of the world.”

New York Magazine – Trump’s Plan to Make the World Respect America Again Is Succeeding — on His Terms
Business Insider – World leaders laugh as Trump claims his administration has accomplished more than any other in US history
Associated Press – World leaders laugh as Trump boasts of his achievements

said, “we need a president who isn’t the laughing stock of the world”?

Trump repeatedly derided Obama during his two terms, often pointing to his frequently golf trips and perpetuating the birther conspiracy.

During his second year in office, Trump drew laughter from the United Nations General Assembly when he claimed that his administration “has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” He has also had a Comedy Central Roast and was targeted at the 2011 Correspondents Dinner.

was roasted on Comedy Central?

In 2011, Trump was the center of a 90 minute Comedy Central special that included roasters Seth MacFarlane, Whitney Cummings, Marlee Matlin, Jeffrey Ross, Gilbert Gottfried, Anthony Jeselnik, Larry King, Lisa Lampanelli, Snoop Dogg, and Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino.

Trump concluded the special by saying, “You will have the great pleasure of voting for the man that will easily go down as the greatest president in the history of the United States: Me.”

A couple months later, Trump was also roasted at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner.

Comedy Central – Roast of Donald Trump
Los Angeles Times – Revisiting Comedy Central’s ‘Roast of Donald Trump,’ when ‘President Trump’ was a punchline and Trump could take a joke

fired a woman from Celebrity Apprentice for “locker room” talk?

After professional wrestler Maria Kanellis said another contestant “came in our dressing room and you took a crap and left a stench in the room.” Trump remarked, “Isn’t it sort of gross bringing that up? It’s, like, disgusting. This is my boardroom. It’s not a locker room. Maria, you’re fired.”

Trump infamously was recorded talking about groping women in a leaked video from a 2005 Access Hollywood interview, which he downplayed as “locker room talk.”

Business Insider – ‘This is my boardroom, not a locker room’: Donald Trump fires ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ contestant in 2010
Newsweek – DONALD TRUMP FIRED ME FOR ‘LOCKER ROOM TALK’ SAYS ‘APPRENTICE STAR

was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame?

Trump was inducted into the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame after multiple appearances, including a feud with WWE CEO Vince McMahon. One such storyline included a fake struggle over the ownership of RAW, which caused stock prices to plummet almost 7%. He also had hosted WrestleMania twice.

During one appearance, McMahon was held down as Trump shaved his head.

After becoming President, clips of Trump’s WWE appearances became popularized, such as an altered one he retweeted that depicted him wrestling CNN to the ground.

WWE – Donald Trump enters the Hall: 2013 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Bleacher Report – Donald Trump: A History of the Presidential Candidate’s Involvement with WWE

said the military would commit war crimes on his order?

During a Republican primary debate, Trump said that the military would follow his orders, even if the orders were criminal.

His remarks were,

“They won’t refuse. They’re not going to refuse me, believe me. Let me just tell you, if you look at the Middle East, they’re chopping off heads, chopping off the heads of Christians, and anyone else who happens to be in the way, they’re drowning people in steel cages, and he, he now, we’re talking about waterboarding…They then came to me, what do you think of waterboarding? I said it’s fine, and if we want to go stronger, I’ll go stronger, too. Because, frankly, that’s the way I feel.

 

Can you imagine, can you imagine, these people, these animals over in the Middle East, that chop off heads, sitting around talking, and seeing that we’re having a hard problem with waterboarding. We should go for waterboarding, and we should go tougher than waterboarding. That’s what I think, and, and, I’m a leader. I’m a leader. I’ve always been a leader. I’ve never had any problem leading people. If I say do it, they’re gonna do it. That’s what leadership is all about.

Trump has also said he would reimpose torture techniques, threatened to target enemy cultural sites, and pardoned US soldiers convicted of war crimes.

Politico – Trump: Military ‘won’t refuse’ my orders
Time – President Trump’s Illegal Military Orders
The Week – Donald Trump doubles down on torture, war crimes

lent credibility to QAnon conspiracy theorists?

QAnon is a series of conspiracy theories centered around an anonymous figure, “Q,” who claimed to be a senior government official that has provided cryptic messages about the Trump administration and its enemies. One of its central claims is that Trump had secretly been working to remove a cabal of Democratic pedophiles from government, which shares likeness to the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy. Many of its assertions have been proven to be false, and the FBI has determined that it could pose a domestic terrorism threat. Nevertheless, Trump and his campaign have repeatedly lent credibility to QAnon by featuring its followers on Twitter and at rallies.

Image result for trump q anon

Into 2020, Trump refused to condemn or disavow the conspiracy theory, saying he didn’t know much about it except that believers supported him.

Q-Anon has been linked to Russian organizations working to amplify disinformation.

Business Insider – A Trump campaign ad featured QAnon signs weeks after the FBI warned conspiracy theories are a domestic terrorism threat
Business Insider – Trump just retweeted a ‘QAnon’ conspiracy-theory hashtag to his 68 million followers
The Washington Post – Hours after an FBI warning about QAnon is published, a QAnon slogan turns up at a Trump rally
Reuters – Russian-backed organizations amplifying QAnon conspiracy theories, researchers say
Wikipedia – QAnon

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