Almost four years after his wild and improbable presidency, Donald Trump managed to shock the world again.
An interview with Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace included a claim that they don’t care what the military has to say about the name change of their bases, and an argument about whether identifying an elephant was strong evidence of mental stability.
Part of the shocking value of the interview lies with the network that aired it: Fox News, which has recently seen its welcoming relationship with Trump begin to erode.
But Wallace is known as an outlier from Fox News, comfortable breaking ranks to ask tough questions to the President and members of his administration.
Her interview with Trump, which was taped at the White House on Friday, was a textbook example. At one point, Wallace referred to “bad tweets” Trump posted about him and asked if the president understood his responsibilities as a reporter.
“I’m not a big Fox fan, I’m going to be honest with you,” Trump said.
It was one of several surprising comments.
‘I’m not losing’
Wallace revealed the results of a Fox News poll that showed Trump lost eight points to presumed Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Trump was also behind Biden in responding to the pandemic, in race relations and in the economy. He follows in other polls as well.
Trump said: “I am not losing, because those are false surveys.”
Trump not only denied the hard data, but also declined to say whether he will accept the outcome of the November presidential election if the loser comes out.
“I have to see,” he said. “Look … I have to see. No, I’m not going to say yes. I’m not going to say no, and I didn’t do it the last time either.”
Anthony Scaramucci, a former Trump communications director, tweeted: “The interview with Chris Wallace is Biden’s campaign ad.”
‘It’s an elephant’
The same Fox News poll showed that when asked if Biden and Trump had the solid mind to serve as president, 47% of respondents said Biden did and 43% said Trump did.
They were more sure that Trump did not (51%) than Biden (39%).
Trump, 74, responded by asking that Biden, 77, immediately take a cognitive test. The president said last week that he “hit” an unspecified test. He is supposed to be referring to a 2018 cognitive assessment. Wallace, 72, said he had also taken the test, after seeing that the president had done so.
“It is not the most difficult test,” he said. “They have a photo and it says ‘What is that’ and it’s an elephant.”
Dave Itzkoff
(@ditzkoff)Any interview that produces a split screen like this must be great pic.twitter.com/VvZ1vquv5m
July 19, 2020
Trump said Wallace misrepresented the test, a screening evaluation widely used by doctors.
“I bet you couldn’t. They get very difficult, the last five questions, “he said.
“I don’t care what the military says”
As global protests over racial inequality and police brutality continue, the Pentagon is considering changing the name of military bases that honor Confederate leaders. Trump, the commander in chief, said: “I don’t care what the military says. I’m supposed to make the decision.
He also appeared to claim that the federal government was unable to find other names.
Are we going to name it after the Rev. Al Sharpton? Trump asked, referring to the civil rights leader. “What are you going to call it?”
‘I’ll be right eventually’
The interview was especially combative when he referred to Covid-19, which has infected 3.7 million and killed more than 140,000 people in the United States.
Wallace repeatedly lobbied Trump over the death toll, which the president tried to deflect by pointing out death rates in other countries and saying the United States had “one of the lowest in the world.”
“That’s not true, sir,” said Wallace correctly.
The discussion continued, and Trump asked his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, “please bring me the death rate.”
“Do you have the numbers please?” Trump asked. “Because I heard that we have the best mortality rate. Number, number one, low mortality rate. “
While waving a newspaper, Trump said, “I hope they show it on the air, because it shows what fake news is all about.”
“I don’t think it’s fake news,” said Wallace.
Aaron Rupar
(@atrupar)“I will be right eventually” – Trump defends his comment that the coronavirus “will disappear” in his own pic.twitter.com/OT5zf23emD
July 19, 2020
Wallace then showed a montage of Trump’s comments downplaying Covid-19, saying it will “disappear” at some point.
“I will be right eventually,” Trump said. “It is going away. I will say it again, it will disappear and I will be right ”.
Wallace asked if Trump’s previous comments on the disappearance of the coronavirus, which had not been confirmed, discredited him.
“I don’t think so, you know why? Because I’ve been right, probably more than anyone.
Trump went on to say that masks can cause problems (they don’t) and that an increase in evidence is why the United States has such a high number of cases. It is not.
Trump also called White House expert Dr. Anthony Fauci “an alarmist” and when asked about the daily death toll of around 1,000, he said: “It is what it is.”
A surprise for the congress
Trump also made the astonishing claim that within two weeks he will sign a new health care plan.
In the 2016 election campaign, he promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, which provides health insurance to those who otherwise would not be able to afford it. An effort to do it in Congress failed. Late last month, during a pandemic, the White House wrote a report in support of a lawsuit seeking to topple the ACA.
Wallace noted that in three years, Trump has not submitted his promised replacement.
Trump replied: “We are signing a health plan within two weeks, a complete and comprehensive health plan that the Supreme Court decision on DACA [an immigration decision which went against the administration] gave me the right to do
“So we are going to solve, we are going to sign an immigration plan, a health care plan and several other plans. And no one will have done what I’m doing in the next four weeks. “
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