There’s a clip flying around of President Donald Trump praising Paralympic athletes during his visit with Olympians at the White House today that’s being spun as if the president said it’s tough mentally to watch the disabled athletes compete.
Have a watch for yourself:
WATCH: During an event with Team USA Olympians and Paralympians at the White House, President Trump said, "What happened with the Paralympics was so incredible and so inspiring to me. And I watched — it's a little tough to watch too much, but I watched as much as I could." pic.twitter.com/geYUUu9vmg
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) April 27, 2018
Some of the reaction from the blue-check mob:
The man has the empathy of a tree stump. https://t.co/PEC5vKuOcw
— Dave Hogg (@stareagle) April 28, 2018
This is for everyone who said that Trump didn't make fun of that reporter. https://t.co/Q8nN06WA1Z
— kevinbiegel (@kbiegel) April 28, 2018
Trump on the Paralympics…
"so incredible & so inspiring to me. & I watched — it's a little tough to watch too much, but I watched as much as I could"
So @realDonaldTrump… Why's it tough to watch? Because it's TOO incredible? Or because it is TOO inspiring? Or a third thing? https://t.co/Gusx2TqpyV
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) April 28, 2018
Trump can't even perform the ceremonial parts of his job. https://t.co/MUPY3rnMW4
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) April 27, 2018
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But it’s clear to us — as it is with the Washington Post’s Philip Bump — that the president was saying it was tough to find the time to watch the Paralympic athletes compete:
I get why this is raising eyebrows but he appears to mean that he doesn’t have too much time to watch the Olympics (which itself can be judged on the merits). https://t.co/zurHkW69VO
— Philip Bump (@pbump) April 27, 2018
But to many, many others — like MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and those we noted above — the president had just said something awful:
Honestly, what the hell kind of thing is this to say? https://t.co/VDo9VuRWxt
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) April 27, 2018
Note the 9000+ likes and 3000+ retweets? Hayes, thankfully, (kinda-sorta) corrected himself two hours later:
So I've listened to this way more than I should've, and I *think* I've come to conclude he means it's tough to watch too much because he's so busy being president. https://t.co/ZtYl2aJSP9
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) April 28, 2018
Let’s see if this gets the same traction, but we doubt it.
And since Hayes didn’t delete his first take, it’s still out there getting liked and retweeted, etc.:
https://twitter.com/swaindiana/status/990019179238522880
I think he just won gold in the Low Bar. https://t.co/BnJZ5GalX1
— Laura Brown (@laurabrown99) April 27, 2018
Psychopaths don't understand empathy https://t.co/hT57glyjp7
— David Gillespie (@gillespi) April 27, 2018
"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." https://t.co/rWhya3F7C6
— Amy Capetta (@amycapetta) April 27, 2018
***
Related:
Chris Hayes gets fact checked — HARD! — on Hillary Clinton/James Comey https://t.co/dVGEabh5LF
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 21, 2018
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