Trump went on The O’Reilly Factor last night to talk about the aftermath of the ambush at a Dallas Black Lives Matter rally that left five police officers dead. It was, inevitably, a doozy of an interview.
Trump flirted with empathy. When asked by O’Reilly if he could understand the experience of black Americans, he said “I would like to say yes, but you really can’t unless you are African-American.” But then he preceded to be Donald Trump, suggesting that he could maybe actually understand black Americans because he, Donald Trump, is also oppressed by “the system.”
“Well, I’ve been saying, even against me the system is rigged,” he said. “When I ran for president I could see what is going on with the system, and the system is rigged. I can really relate it very much to myself.” Sure!
Trump also showed that he learned nothing from having his claim that “thousands” of American Muslims celebrated 9/11 proven wrong repeatedly. “I saw what they’ve said about police at various marches and rallies,” Trump told O’Reilly. “I’ve seen moments of silence called for for this horrible human being who shot the policemen.” Trump, who is insulated from the country by dint of the fact that he is running for president, does not say where he saw these moments of silence, of course, and none have been reported by any reputable news source. Of all the things to invent, a relatively benign “moment of silence” is a strange one. And yet here we are: Donald Trump, a man incapable of silence, is imagining fake moments of silence.