Donald Trump held a brief press avail during a meeting with congressional Republicans. And he took the opportunity to try to undo the damage he did yesterday when he blatantly sided with Vladimir Putin. But his explanation was one of the lamest walk-backs ever:
Trump: "I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. A lot of people out there."
Trump: "In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't.' The sentence should have been 'I don't see any reason why it WOULDN'T be Russia.' Sort of a double negative. So you can put that in, and I think that probably clarifies things."
Holy Sh*t. First of all, Trump said that now he accepts the intelligence community’s conclusions. But in the same sentence he continues to latch onto the nonsense that there “could be other people.” That’s not the conclusion of the intelligence community.
Secondly, his claim that he misspoke when he said “would” is wholly unbelievable. Not only does it not work in the context of his original remarks, it ignores the entirety of what he said yesterday that he left uncorrected.
Finally, why would anyone believe him at this point? He doesn’t even believe himself. He had to read the whole statement from prepared remarks he was probably forced to make.
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.