Trump Just Delivered a Rambling 80-Minute Speech And It Was a Doozy

Kill drug dealers! Fake news! And Oprah’s “weakness.”

Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

President Donald Trump flew to southwest Pennsylvania tonight for a rally intended to bolster Rick Saccone, the Republican candidate with a razor-thin lead in the special election to fill an open seat in the state’s 18th congressional district. (Trump won the district by 20 points in 2016.) The president began his remarks with a quick endorsement of Saccone—and then proceeded to spend the next 75 minutes riffing, ranting, griping, and gloating about pretty much everything. Everything but Saccone.

Here is an exhaustive, if somewhat incomplete, list of all the things Trump talked about that had nothing to do with his ostensible reason for coming to Pennsylvania.

Meet The Press host Chuck Todd:

The Olympics:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un:

CNN:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.):

Oprah:

His 2020 reelection slogan:

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.):

Capital punishment for drug dealers:

The Electoral College:

The physical appearance of Saccone’s opponent, Democrat Conor Lamb:

Fire marshals:

The rough life of First Lady Melania Trump:

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan:

https://twitter.com/aidnmclaughlin/status/972641544024051712

And finally, at the finish of his one hour and 20 minute ramble, Trump remembered—oh right!—Rick Saccone:

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate