launched into a minute-and-a-half long run-on sentence?

On July 19, 2016, candidate Donald Trump gave a speech at Sun City’s Magnolia Hall in South Carolina. In trying to criticize Obama’s Iranian nuclear deal, Trump launched into a run-on sentence that became famous across news and social media.

Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart—you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world—it’s true!—but when you’re a conservative Republican they try—oh, do they do a number—that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune—you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged—but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what’s going to happen and he was right—who would have thought?), but when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners—now it used to be three, now it’s four—but when it was three and even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.

The New Yorker – Donald Trump’s Nuclear Uncle
Snopes – Donald Trump’s ‘Nuclear’ Speech

was roasted by Barack Obama and Seth Meyers at the 2011 Correspondents’ Dinner?

At the dinner, Barack Obama and comedian Seth Meyers took aim at Trump, who sat in the audience.

Obama commented on the birther conspiracy that held he was foreign-born, which Trump had long perpetuated:

“Now I know that he has taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter at rest than the Donald. And that’s because he could finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like ‘Did we fake the moon landing? What really happened at Roswell?’ and ‘where are Biggie and Tupac?’

 

All kidding aside, obviously we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. For example, seriously, just recently in an episode of Celebrity Apprentice, at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around, but you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately you didn’t blame Little John or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey. And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir. Well handled.”

Meyers laid into Trump with more cutting jokes. The dinner raised questions about whether it led to Trump’s Presidential ambitions, but Trump had voiced interest in running long before. When directly asked about the dinner, he remarked that while Meyers was “too nasty, out of order,” he went on to say that “there are many reasons I’m running, but that’s not one of them.”

Trump had been the centerpiece of a Comedy Central Roast just two months prior, which he concluded with a remark about his Presidential ambitions.

The Washington Post – I sat next to Donald Trump at the infamous 2011 White House correspondents dinner
Chicago Tribune – Did the 2011 White House correspondents’ dinner spur Trump to run for president?

was sued by the federal government for housing discrimination?

The Justice Department sued the Trump Management Corporation in 1973, based on evidence gathered by the New York City Human Rights Division. The agency alleged that black people who were told that no apartments were available, while white people were offered units.

After two years, the case was settled. Trump did not have to admit guilt as part of the settlement. He attempted to counter-sue the Justice Department for making false allegations, but it was dismissed by the court.

NPR – Decades-Old Housing Discrimination Case Plagues Donald Trump
The New York Times – Major Landlord Accused Of Antiblack Bias in City
Time – Donald Trump’s 1973 Discrimination Case Really Was Part of Something Larger

claimed he sent investigators to Hawaii to prove Obama wasn’t born in the United States?

Trump long perpetuated the birther conspiracy against Barack Obama, which held that the former President was not born in the United States. In 2011, Trump claimed that he had dispatched investigators during an interview with NBC’s Today Show.

Trump explained, “I have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they’re finding.” There has yet to be any word on what his investigators found.

President Obama poked fun at Trump’s claims when he attended the 2011 Correspondent’s Dinner after releasing his long-form birth certificate.

In 2020, Trump’s then-former personal attorney Michael Cohen said Trump lied about dispatching investigators.

The Atlantic – What Donald Trump’s Birther Investigators Will Find in Hawaii
The Week – Michael Cohen says Trump lied about sending investigators to Hawaii to look into Obama’s birth certificate

said, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s, like, incredible.”

Trump made the comment during a speech in Iowa two weeks before the state’s primary election. Trump came in second, about 3% behind Texas US Senator Ted Cruz.

NPR – Donald Trump: ‘I Could … Shoot Somebody, And I Wouldn’t Lose Any Voters’
Politico – Trump: I could ‘shoot somebody’ and I wouldn’t lose voters
Wikipedia – 2016 Iowa Republican caucuses

said his “temperament is not that different” from when he was in first grade?

In a 2014 discussion with his biographer Michael D’Antonio, Trump explained,

When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same. The temperament is not that different.

However, he has also asserted that he had the best temperament of anyone who has ran for President.

Pulitzer-Prize winner and Trump biographer Michael D’Antonio. Michaeldantonio.net

In other discussions with his biographer, Trump noted how as a child he enjoyed fighting, which was one of the reasons he was sent to a military academy.

He has also described himself as a “whiner,” and taken shots at over Twitter at all his “haters,” even on the anniversary of 9/11.

Politico – What I Learned Writing Trump’s Biography
The Washington Post – The scariest thing I found out about Donald Trump yesterday
The Week – Donald Trump tells biographer he’s the same now as he was in first grade

claimed that climate change was a Chinese-sponsored hoax?

Trump has made various similar remarks about climate change. After becoming President, he vacillated on the issue, going between claiming that cold snaps disprove global warming, while also alleging that his administration had done much to combat climate change.

Trump has also claimed that windmills cause cancer, and withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement. He has dismissed UN climate reports.

His administration has rolled back several regulations, including for endangered species, offshore rigs, and coal pollution.

The Department of Defense has listed climate change as a national security threat since before Trump’s presidency. It has not commented on the health risk of windmills.

Forbes – Trump’s Climate Denial Is A National Security Threat
Time – Donald Trump Called Climate Change a Hoax. Now He’s Awkwardly Boasting About Fighting It
US Department of Defense – DoD Releases Report on Security Implications of Climate Change

claimed that exercise is detrimental because it depletes the body’s finite energy?

The belief has been long documented, and Trump’s reiterated his belief on the 2016 campaign trail:

All my friends who work out all the time, they’re going for knee replacements, hip replacements — they’re a disaster. That’s exercise.

As far as modern medical science has been able to determine, this is untrue.

The New York Times – Donald Trump is Not Going Anywhere
The Washington Post – Trump thinks that exercising too much uses up the body’s finite energy

Business Insider – Trump believes some amazingly false things about exercise
The New Yorker – How Trump Could Get Fired

tried to sell Trump-branded steaks through the Sharper Image?

The venture was short-lived, as the Sharper Imagine discontinued the line after two months.

Reviews for the steaks were mostly negative, and were described as “mealy,” “grainy,” “bland,” “dry,” “greasy and tasteless,” “loaded with fat,” “no flavor, overpriced, and just gross,” and “nothing but grease and shrinkage…. no redeeming qualities.”

Trump is also known for preferring his steaks well-done with ketchup. He had various other similar ventures that quickly failed, like Trump Vodka.

Wikipedia – Trump Steaks
GQ – If You Hate Donald Trump, You’re Gonna Really Love These Reviews of Trump Steaks. Bad!
Business Insider – This anecdote about Donald Trump’s failed steak business reveals a huge part of his personality

called asbestos poisoning a mob-led conspiracy?

In a book published in 1997, Trump claimed that asbestos is “100 percent safe, once applied.” He went on to explain, “I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal.” In 2018, his EPA announced that it would only evaluate new uses of asbestos and no longer consider the risks of asbestos already in the environment.

Newsweek – Donald Trump called asbestos poisoning a mob-led conspiracy, now his EPA wouldn’t evaluate asbestos already in homes.
The New York Times – The Chemical Industry Scores a Big Win at the E.P.A.

More assuredly to come soon

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