President Trump aired numerous grievances when pressed by Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace during a lengthy interview that aired Sunday morning.
From standing by his previous claim that the coronavirus will “disappear” someday to refusing to commit to accepting the results of the November election, the President’s brain was picked on a wide range of topics during his interview on Fox News Sunday.
Here are the key takeaways from Trump’s interview on Fox News Sunday:
Doubling down on his claim of the coronavirus “disappearing” someday
When Wallace confronted Trump regarding his predictions about the coronavirus “disappearing” someday, Trump replied that he’ll be “right eventually.”
When asked about his administration’s recent efforts to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci — which include an unnamed White House official sending a memo to news outlets last week criticizing Fauci’s past comments on the coronavirus that later turned out to be inaccurate — Trump first replied that “we’re not” before repeating his line that although the nation’s top infectious disease expert has “made some mistakes,” he has a “very good relationship” with Fauci.
After Trump went on to call Fauci “a little bit of an alarmist,” the President argued that he will be “right eventually” about his previous claim that the coronavirus will “disappear” despite surging cases of the coronavirus throughout the country.
On Saturday, the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration is seeking to block billions of dollars for states to conduct testing and contact tracing in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill.
Trump claims that he'll be "right eventually" about the coronavirus "disappearing" pic.twitter.com/uiFqCEbBMR
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 19, 2020
Defending the Confederate flag
Pressed on whether the Confederate flag is offensive,” Trump said “it depends.”
“It depends on who you’re talking about, when you’re talking about,” Trump said. “When people proudly have their Confederate flags, they’re not talking about racism. They love their flag, it represents the South, they like the South. People right now like the South. I’d say it’s freedom of, of, of many things, but it’s freedom of speech.”
Wallace then asked if he’s offended by the Confederate flag.
“Well, I’m not offended either by Black Lives Matter,” Trump said. “That’s freedom of speech.”
Trump defends the Confederate flag pic.twitter.com/b2q5sn8XMO
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 19, 2020
Piling on more attacks against Biden
Upon being shown a Fox News poll that indicates Biden leading him by eight points, Trump denied that he’s losing because “those are fake polls.”
“They were fake in 2016 and now they’re even more fake,” Trump said. “The polls were much worse in 2016.”
The President then claimed, without evidence, that he has “other polls” showing that he’s leading, before going on to slamming Biden because he “can’t put two sentences together.”
‘They wheeled him out, he goes up, he repeats, they ask him questions, he reads the teleprompter and then he goes back into his basement,” Trump said. “You tell me the American people want to have that in an age where we are in trouble with other nations that are looking to do numbers on us.”
Trump attacks Biden after being shown a Fox News poll that shows he's losing to the former VP pic.twitter.com/XkEaQI7eXP
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 19, 2020
Griping about his inability to hold rallies amid the COVID-19 pandemic
After railing against Democrats for “purposely keeping their schools closed,” Trump displayed his dissatisfaction over being unable to hold rallies in states led by Democratic governors.
“I called Michigan. I want to have a big rally in Michigan. You know we are not allowed to have a rally in Michigan?” Trump said. “Do you know we are not allowed to have a rally in Minnesota? Do you know we’re not allowed to have a rally in Nevada? We’re not allowed to have rallies in these Democrat-run states.”
Trump gripes about Democratic-run states not allowing him to hold rallies pic.twitter.com/M0SSvigndD
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 19, 2020
Refusing to guarantee he will accept the results of the November election
After Trump doubled down on his baseless claim that mail-in voting will “rig the election,” Wallace asked if he’s suggesting that he might not accept the election in November.
“I have to see,” Trump said, before repeating his assertion when pressed on the question again.
When asked if he can give a direct answer about whether he will accept the election, Trump replied, "I have to see." pic.twitter.com/QgRWyCM3D4
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 19, 2020
