This was one of the most bizarre press conferences of all time.
US President Donald Trump addressed America at an unscheduled press conference in Washington on Thursday evening and it was one that people will be talking about for a VERY long time.
For starters it was long – really long, over 90 minutes long – and at times it was hard to believe that the man at the podium was the supposed leader of the free world rather than some extremely aged and wizened wrestler trash talking his opponents in some desperate plea to sell pay-per-view subscriptions.
All the usual Trump tropes were there – fake news (which he has now rebranded ‘very fake news’, crooked Hillary, inept Obama, the election results, how great his presidency has been, the vast crowds that want to see him, the wonderful inauguration and so on).
President Trump and Sean Spicer have an important announcement about #FAKENEWS…. pic.twitter.com/Gkzhe4pqP0
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) February 16, 2017
But in between the strange and rambling narrative one relatively throwaway comment was enough to sent shivers down the spine.
After criticising a series of recent Russian actions as “not good”, unprompted Trump went on to take relations with the Russians to a hypothetical worst-case scenario.
“Don’t forget. We’re a very powerful nuclear country and so are they,” he said.
“There’s no upside [of a conflict]… I’ve been briefed. And I can tell you one thing about a briefing we’re allowed to say because anyone who has ever read the most basic book can say it. A nuclear holocaust would be like no other.”
A NUCLEAR WHAT NOW???
Trump went on to say that if “we have a good relationship with Russia it is a good thing” but by that stage it was hard to focus on anything but those two words – nuclear and holocaust.
Let’s just hope that things between him and Vladimir Putin don’t turn sour.
Aside from that, the main topic he returned to again and again and again and again was the media.
He sighed when asked a question by a BBC reporter about his Muslim Ban and then went on a bizarre rant about how his press conference will be reported as a bizarre rant by a media who are obsessed with “very fake news”.
The only trouble is we could see it all for ourselves. It was bizarre and it was a rant.
Whatever you think of his policies this was an extremely odd press conference. He should do more of them.
"I'm not ranting and raving" says the @POTUS before coining a new phrase: "very fake news" #Trump pic.twitter.com/gahiOzrTRz
— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 16, 2017
