Donald Trump today wondered out loud if America’s first president, George Washington, “had a bad past.”
Trump was defending his Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh, at a wild press conference, stating that even if George Washington was put forward as a nominee Democrats would vote against him.
“George Washington may have had a bad past. Who knows? He may have had some—I think accusations made. Didn’t he have a couple of things in his past?”
It is unclear what Trump was referring to with regard to Washington. He may have had him confused with Thomas Jefferson who had an affair with his slave Sally Hemming, and fathered at least six of her children.
Trump appeared unusually testy at the question and answer session in New York, frequently interrupting reporters and embarking on tangents only peripherally related to the question at hand.
Pushed on whether he thought the three women who have publicly accused Kavanaugh of assault were “liars,” Trump repeated his support for his nominee, rambled about sexual assault, and then—seemingly remembering that he should at least pretend to keep an open mind—added that “it’s possible” Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony tomorrow could prompt him to say “hey, I’m changing my mind.”
It was a bit surreal for a presidential press conference.
Here are some other highlights:
- “I’ve used much worse language in my life than con job. That’s probably the nicest phrase I’ve ever used.”
- Quoting Elton John: “When you hit that last tune, and it’s good, don’t go back.”
- On Kavanaugh’s accusers: “The people who have complained to me about it the most are women. Women are very angry.”
- On the New York Times: “I think the Times is going to endorse me because if they don’t, they’d go out of business.”
- On China: “If you look at Mr. Pillsbury, the leading authority on China, he was on a good show — I won’t mention the name of the show — recently. And he was saying that China has total respect for Donald Trump and for Donald Trump’s very, very large brain.”
- On North Korea: “If I wasn’t elected, there would have been a war. Millions of people would have died.”
- On Trump’s misconduct allegations: “I was accused by four or five women who got paid a lot of money to make up stories about me. We caught them and the mainstream media refused to put it on television.”
- On Russia: “There was no collusion, there was no obstruction — unless you call obstruction the fact that I fight back. I do fight back. I really fight back. I mean, if you call that obstruction, that’s fine.”
- On Kim Jong Un: “He wrote me two of the most beautiful letters … It’s a beautiful piece of art.”