- President Donald Trump gave a raucous speech in Pennsylvania on Saturday, railing against his critics and touting his achievements.
- Trump attacked media, including NBC’s Chuck Todd, whom he called “a sleeping son of a b—-.”
- He also said he hoped Oprah Winfrey runs for president because he knows her “weakness.”
- Trump also used the speech to double down on executing drug dealers, a solution he said has worked in China and Singapore.
President Donald Trump gave a raucous, freewheeling speech in Pennsylvania on Saturday, in which he lashed out at some of his favorite targets, one by one.
Trump was in the state to stump for GOP special election candidate Rick Saccone, but only mentioned him in passing. Instead, Trump spent much of the speech railing against his critics and touting his achievements.
At one point, Trump unveiled what he said would be his 2020 campaign slogan: “Keep America Great, exclamation point.”
“We can’t say Make America Great Again because I already did that. Right?” he said.
Trump was particularly energetic in attacking the media, leveling a profane taunt toward NBC’s Chuck Todd, whom the president has nicknamed “Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd.”
“He is a sleeping son of a bitch, I’ll tell you,” Trump said Saturday.
He went after CNN, too, for its coverage of his recent decision to accept a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump called the network “fake as hell CNN. The worst. So fake.”
Trump also railed against top Democrats rumored to be considering a presidential bid in 2020. He suggested that the media would be disappointed with a Democratic victory, as Trump’s presidency has been a boon for television ratings.
“Could you imagine covering Bernie? Or Pocahontas?” he said, using a derogatory nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. “How about that? Can you imagine having to cover Elizabeth Warren for four years?”
Trump also slammed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and attacked Rep. Maxine Waters as “a very low-IQ individual,” but said he’d be delighted if Oprah Winfrey ran against him so he could defeat her.
“I’d love Oprah to win, I’d beat Oprah. I know her weakness,” he said. “Wouldn’t we love to run against Oprah? I’d love it. That would be a painful experience for her.”
Trump also praised himself for a number of recent developments, including his decision to impose tariffs on aluminum and steel for many countries, and his decision to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
At one point, he even appeared to take credit for the recent Olympic Games held in South Korea.
“[South Korean President Moon Jae-in] said without Donald Trump, the Olympics would have been a failure,” Trump said.
‘Is there anything more fun than a Trump rally?’
Late in the speech, Trump pivoted to the opioid epidemic and grew impassioned when he mentioned China and Singapore’s solutions to drug dealers: the death penalty.
“These people are killing our kids and they’re killing our families, and we have to do something,” he said. “We can’t just keep setting up blue-ribbon committees with your wife and your wife and your husband, and they meet and they have a meal and they talk, talk talk talk, two hours later, then they write a report.”
Trump said leaders from China and Singapore had previously told him that both countries eliminated drugs by executing dealers, though he noted that he wasn’t certain about American public opinion on the policy.
“I think it’s a discussion we have to start thinking about. I don’t know if we’re ready — I don’t know if this country’s ready for it.”
Eventually, Trump turned the speech over to Saccone, after delivering some barbs at his Democratic opponent, Connor Lamb. Lamb and Saccone are locked in a tight race that has prompted Republicans to fear they’ll lose a seat in a district that went heavily for Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump said Lamb was “nice looking” and “a nice guy,” but urged the crowd to vote for Saccone as Lamb couldn’t be trusted to vote with Republicans.
At one point Trump asked the crowd, “Is there anything more fun than a Trump rally?”
As reported by Business Insider