Phantom Fireworks donated $750,000 worth of sparklers and bottle rockets to the US government. On the same day, Trump abandoned plans to impose tariffs of 25% on practically all Chinese goods, including fireworks. Phantom Fireworks is America’s largest consumer-fireworks retailer. They had repeatedly lobbied the Trump administration to end the trade war with China.
During an interview on 60 Minutes, Trump took offense at the notion that he might not be a humble person, retorting, “I think I am actually humble, I think I’m much more humble than you would understand.”
His lawyer Michael Cohen made the claim under oath in testimony to Congress. He had previously criticized Obama’s academic history, despite his Ivy league education and experience lecturing at the University of Chicago’s School of Law.
Trump claimed that he graduated top of his class and criticized Obama’s grades, but never provided college transcripts. His lawyer Michael Cohen threatened schools on his behalf not to release any information on his grades.
William T. Kelley, professor of Marketing at Wharton School of Business and Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, said over the course of decades that Trump was the dumbest student he ever had.
Frank DiPrima, to whom Kelly said this to repeatedly, recounted:
Professor Kelley told me 100 times over three decades that “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student I ever had.” I remember his emphasis and inflection — it went like this — “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student I ever had.” Dr. Kelley told me this after Trump had become a celebrity but long before he was considered a political figure. Dr. Kelley often referred to Trump’s arrogance when he told of this — that Trump came to Wharton thinking he already knew everything.
Time – Donald Trump Criticized Obama’s Grades. But His Lawyer Threatened Trump’s Alma Maters Not to Release His Own Grades
DailyKos – Former Wharton Professor: “Donald Trump Was the Dumbest Goddam Student I Ever Had.”
Study International – Revealed: Trump’s professor thought he was his ‘dumbest student’ ever
Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher allegedly stabbed to death an unarmed prisoner of war. He was acquitted of the murder, but was found guilty in 2017 of posing with the corpse in photographs.
Prosecutors asserted that this was part of a pattern of behavior. They stated that fellow SEALs had grown so alarmed over his killing of civilians that they tampered with his sniper rifle to make it less accurate, and fired warning shots at civilians so they would flee before Gallagher attacked them. One fellow SEAL noted, “You could tell he was perfectly OK with killing anybody that was moving.” Another SEAL said of Gallagher, “The guy is freaking evil.”
Nevertheless, Trump allowed Gallagher to retain his SEAL Trident, an insignia which recognizes an individual as part of the elite special forces unit, and lent his vocal support. Despite Trump’s intervention, Navy military leaders still want Gallagher removed from the SEALs.
Trump has also pardoned other soldiers convicted of war crimes.
USA Today – Trump pardons service members in high profile war crimes cases
PBS – Navy SEAL Gallagher cleared of most charges
The New York Times – Navy Wants to Eject From SEALs a Sailor Cleared by Trump, Officials Say
NBC News – Navy SEALs spoke against pardoned platoon chief, leaked video reveals
Wikipedia – Eddie Gallagher (Navy SEAL)
Wikipedia – Special Warfare insignia
The author of Moneyball and The Big Short wrote about the transition,
The first time Trump paid attention to any of this was when he read about it in the newspaper. The story revealed that Trump’s very own transition team had raised several million dollars to pay the staff. The moment he saw it, Trump called Steve Bannon, the chief executive of his campaign, from his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, and told him to come immediately to his residence, many floors above. Bannon stepped off the elevator to find Christie seated on a sofa, being hollered at. Trump was apoplectic, yelling: You’re stealing my money! You’re stealing my fucking money! What the fuck is this?
Seeing Bannon, Trump turned on him and screamed: Why are you letting him steal my fucking money? Bannon and Christie together set out to explain to Trump federal law. Months before the election, the law said, the nominees of the two major parties were expected to prepare to take control of the government. The government supplied them with office space in downtown DC, along with computers and rubbish bins and so on, but the campaigns paid their people. To which Trump replied: Fuck the law. I don’t give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money. Bannon and Christie tried to explain that Trump couldn’t have both his money and a transition.
Shut it down, said Trump. Shut down the transition.
In an interview with Time, Trump recalled the conversation.
I said, “You don’t use steam anymore for catapult?” “No sir.” I said, “Ah, how is it working?” “Sir, not good. Not good. Doesn’t have the power. You know the steam is just brutal. You see that sucker going and steam’s going all over the place, there’s planes thrown in the air.”
It sounded bad to me. Digital. They have digital. What is digital? And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out. And I said — and now they want to buy more aircraft carriers. I said, “What system are you going to be—” “Sir, we’re staying with digital.” I said, “No you’re not. You going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good.”
Foreign Policy – Trump Wants New Aircraft Carriers to Turn Back to ‘Goddamned Steam’ Power Catapults
At Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, a rally named Unite the Right was held to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Those in attendance included the KKK, neo-Confederates, and neo-Nazis. The organizer of the rally, Jason Kessler, was a self-avowed white supremacist and Neo-Nazi.
On the second day of the rally, a white supremacist drove a car through a crowd of counter-protesters, injuring 28 people, and murdering Heather Heyer, a 32-year old woman. It was ruled a terror attack by the city and the FBI. A police helicopter responding to the events also crashed, resulting in the deaths of two Virginia state troopers.
When questioned about the rally, Trump remarked, “you have blame on both sides,” and “you had very fine people, on both sides.” He went on to say, “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”
The Atlantic – Trump Defends White-Nationalist Protesters: ‘Some Very Fine People on Both Sides’
NPR – Events Surrounding White Nationalist Rally In Virginia Turn Fatal
Real Clear Politics – Trump Didn’t Call Neo-Nazis ‘Fine People.’ Here’s Proof.
Wikipedia – Unite the Right rally
Wikipedia – Jason Kessler
