President Donald Trump blew off steam at a variety of targets on the internet’s largest stage Thursday.
The scattered tweets came after a tumultuous couple of weeks for Trump, in which he faced near-universal criticism for his response to a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Scores of presidential advisory board members resigned from their posts, charities cancelled events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and religious groups condemned his refusal to immediately and unequivocally condemn hate groups.
At around 9 a.m. ET on Thursday, Trump retweeted a meme from Twitter user @JerryTravone, a self-proclaimed “YouTube Actor and Political Junkie,” which compared him to the moon eclipsing former President Obama, the metaphorical sun.
— Jerry Travone ? (@JerryTravone) August 24, 2017
Then, the President turned to mocking pundits who dissected the stylistic differences between three speeches he gave over three days this week. In Trump’s words, he delivered “somber” remarks on the strategy in Afghanistan; an “enthusiastic, dynamic and fun” campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, where he blamed the media for giving racists a platform after his own belated response to the Charlottesville violence; and a “respectful and strong” speech to the American Legion’s national convention.
The Fake News is now complaining about my different types of back to back speeches. Well, there was Afghanistan (somber), the big Rally…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2017
..(enthusiastic, dynamic and fun) and the American Legion – V.A. (respectful and strong). Too bad the Dems have no one who can change tones!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2017
It’s possible Trump was responding to the Washington Post’s Philip Rucker, who in an article Wednesday night described “Three personas in three speeches, but the same president.”
Finally, Trump took aim at James Clapper, who served as director of national intelligence in the Obama administration. After Trump’s Phoenix campaign rally on Tuesday night, Clapper called Trump’s speech “downright scary and disturbing” and said he was concerned about Trump’s access to the nuclear codes.
James Clapper, who famously got caught lying to Congress, is now an authority on Donald Trump. Will he show you his beautiful letter to me?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2017
Trump saying that Clapper got “caught lying to Congress” is a reference to a 2013 congressional hearing in which Clapper incorrectly denied that the National Security Agency collected, in Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D-OR) words, “any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans.”
All of those jabs came after Trump attacked his own congressional leadership, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), over their approach to the impending Sept. 30 debt ceiling limit. Trump on Tuesday threatened to shut down the government if Congress didn’t fund a border wall, making both legislators’ work more difficult in the coming weeks.
