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Thursday, June 26, 2025

Trump’s disturbing flagpole event

Trump shows more cognitive decline while installing the flagpole

By his own words, Trump shows his unfitness

By Bill Addis for Daily Kos

He talked a lot. He probably shouldn't have. He makes mistakes of memory and coherence every time he speaks without a script. This time was no different.

Trump: So the White House opened about 1800, a little bit before that, just a tad. And I've always said, why doesn't it have a flagpole from the grass? They have a little one on top, very little one.

It's not that little. It's 36 ft tall.

Trump: ... we also have one that's going on what's called the front, or the north. We have one going there, identical. So we'll have one this side of the building and will have one on that side of the building, properly placed.

Nobody told him that he just created a flying hazard for Marine One. It may be able to find a place to land, but it won't be easy, and if there's wind, forget about it.

Trump: We thought we'd put it near --- I mean, it always looks the best when it's near a Doral. I put it right near --- I have a similar poll and these are the best poles anywhere in the country, or in the world actually.

Doral is his golf resort in Miami. He's forgotten that he's in Washington at the White House.

Trump: We'll be putting it up at 11:00 here and a couple of minutes later, on the other side. We'll start here at 11:00. So that'll be very nice and very patriotic. We're doing very well as a country, If the Fed would ever lower rates, would buy debt for a lot less. It's a shame, this guy --- I have a guy --- do you ever have a guy that's not a smart person and you're dealing with him and he's not a smart guy.

He's talking about the flagpole, and there is no transition at all into talking about interest rates. We have no idea what guy he's talking about. He's the one who has the guy but he's not a smart person. Would have been nice if he mentioned who it was about. Maybe Jerome Powell, but who the hell knows?

Trump: I got a call Congress last night, sir, there's a problem. I said, what is it? Money is pouring in. We don't know how to account for it. I said, check the tariffs, $88 billion came in from tariffs, no inflation.

He has this fixation about thinking that $88 billion dollars is going to make up for the trillions he's cost since he started messing with the economy. No brain. Not smart. I have to stop here because he goes on for way too long. Then he talks about the workers raising the flagpole.

Trump: But remember this, somewhere in this group, there's somebody that's going to captivate a movie producer, not Harvey Weinstein. Harvey's seen a better day. So it won't be Harvey, but it'll be somebody.

Trump has a brain fart. The only movie producer he could think of is Harvey Weinstein. What does that tell you about Trump?

Trump: Anyway, let's have a good --- they call it a lifting. They also use another word, but I'm not going to use that word. You know what it is, the word? It starts with an E. You know what the word is? If I ever used it, I'd be run out of town by you people. So enjoy it. Doug, you're going to get some good --- he's going to win another Nobel Prize, I think, for this picture.

Starts with an E. He's thinking of "erection" instead of "erecting." But his brain can't process the difference. And you don't get a Nobel Prize for a picture. He must be thinking of a Pulitzer Prize. But he doesn't want to say that because he's still got that stupid lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize board over the New York Times and The Washington Post getting them for reporting correctly about him on the Russia, Russia, Russia story.

Reporter: [Do] you believe the US is moving closer to striking Iranian nuclear facilities? Where is your mindset on that?

Trump: Well, obviously I can't say that, right? You don't seriously think I'm going to answer that question? Will you strike the Iranian nuclear component? And what time exactly, sir? Sir, would you strike it? Will you please inform us so we can be there and watch?

Then he rambles on forever about how he had given Iran time to make an agreement and they didn't during his 60 days and the 61st of course Israel attacked. Then when he is asked if it's too late, the subject turns to "Too Late Powell" instead of Iran.

Reporter: A question on deportations, Mr. President. You said last week that changes would be coming for farmers who have seen a lot of their workers they rely on taken away. But then DHS said this week that worksite enforcement would remain in place.

Trump: Well, everybody's right. Look, we got to get the bad people hold of here first and we're doing that. We're taking them out by the thousands, murderous, drug dealers, people that are mentally insane, from insane asylums.

Everybody's right?  That's not possible when there's completely opposing statements.

Trump: They'll be checking you. Your whole life will be destroyed because of this press conference, watch. They'll destroy these people. I didn't want to tell them that before they start, but they'll end up being, oh, he's a so-and-so. This one is from, you know where, no, I think you're going to be okay and I'll be right behind you.

He was apparently talking about the workers who were installing the flagpole. Even if that is correct, still doesn't make much sense.

Then he rolls into his standard speech about how 11,888 murderers were in the United States and they murdered more than one person. 50% of them killed more than one person. From the Congo. From Venezuela.

Reporter: Can you comment on the impact of a Trump card, how much revenue [inaudible].

Trump: Yeah, we have a thing called the Trump card. This has not been done before or thought of and for 5 million dollars, this is usually people that would either be working for companies like Apple, I think is going to buy a lot of them, because they can't get people into the country. If you come in through the southern border, you have no problem.

Sure, Apple is going to pay $5 million for every new employee. At that point, they couldn't afford to pay the worker anything at all for a decade. But if you come in through the southern border, you don't have to pay the $5 million. So, what he is saying is that people should ignore the $5 million card and come in like the murderers, drug dealers and rapists.

Trump: They'll be paid for by universities. Look at Harvard, they've got $53 billion. That whole thing is coming to an end. It's amazing what we found out. What a disgrace... Harvard wants to make a deal more than Iran wants to make a deal, and Iran wants to make a deal.

Trump thinks that Harvard now is going to pay $5 million so a student can come to the university. The deal man. If it walks like a deal, and talks like a deal, don't let that fool you, it really is a deal.

Trump: What he's done to this country --- it's not him. He had no idea what was going on. Everybody knows that. It's other people. It's Lisa and this one and that --- all these people, all the scum that was around the Oval Office or around the beautiful Resolute desk telling this guy, here, do this, do that and not even telling. They just go over to the autopen and sign whatever the hell they wanted to sign. To say what you want about Biden, he wasn't for open borders.

Talking about Biden, but not knowing about it until the end. And then to prove that the autopen was actually running the show, he says that Biden was not for open borders, when for the last 4 years he's been saying Biden was for open borders

Trump: He wasn't for transgender for everybody. He wasn't for men playing in women's sports, but he has no idea what the hell --- he has no idea and they were very upset. They wanted Bernie Sanders. And after about a week of this guy, they say wait a minute, we hit gold. This guy has no clue. He'll do anything we tell him. And then they realize that they don't even have to get permission. They just go up to the autopen. That's a subversion. That's a takeover of out government and you people ought to take a look at it.

Transgender for everybody. Not one reporter has asked what that means. Then, no transition to Joe Biden and the autopen without ever saying his name. They had a Chuck Grassley run Senate hearing about Joe's fitness in office that was ridiculous. Democrats almost all boycotted it. Then, without skipping a beat:

Trump: Not only did they cheat. I guess you saw yesterday came out with China and the license plates, tens of thousands of cards. They used those cards to vote in my second election, my second, in 2020.

He rambles off once more into how he won the 2020 election. License plates? One of his staff put up a post on his Truth Social about some uncorroborated nonsense Patel dug up and gave to Grassley that the Chinese brought in 20,000 fake drivers licenses to allow people to vote. Never happened. Finally back to the flagpole.

Reporter: Any adjustments that need to be made to Marine One departures and arrival?

Trump: No, no, we put it so Marine One is very far away. We did it in conjunction with the Air Force, with everybody and everybody signed off on it. No, we have to have it very far away. It's very far from --- Marine One's out there. It's out on the field, so you have a certain distance. We're about three times that distance.

Looking at the position of the pole yesterday and a shot of Marine One flying out to land on the South Lawn, Marine One's helicopter blades would easily hit the pole. I expect problems on the first flight in. I'd really like to hear what the Air Force really said. Maybe the Marines, too. But he makes it seem that there's adequate space by calling it a field instead of a lawn. Still making mistakes in every sentence. Former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney also sees a problem with the flagpole.

Much later, after going on and on about the sand the flagpole is in, he talks about the high speed rail in California, then about the wildfires and how they need to sweep the floor. Then to how he saved Los Angeles by sending in the National Guard.

Then it back to his routine about breaking up the concrete, the totally imaginary bricks being thrown. Chunks of concrete, yes. No bricks.

A reporter asks Trump about the Paramount and Skydance acquisition and he instead answers with the 60 Minutes and Kamala Harris interview. Basically saying to FCC Chair Bendan Carr to block the deal unless he gets his extortion from Paramount-CBS.

Reporter: What are you telling Senators, because the New York Republicans on the House side are making clear that's a red line for them as well. [On the SALT (State And Local Taxes) deduction in the Big Ugly Bill].

Trump: Well, if it were a redline, then, uh, get ready for a 68% tax increase and 1929, because we're taking care with that issue too. You know what that is, that's debt ceiling. We have to move the debt. If we don't move the debt, you violate governance. It's a terrible thing. Actually, Pocahontas agreed with me on that. She's been wanting to get rid of the debt ceiling because she's said it's too violent. It is, it's violent.

Trump keeps saying that if his 2017 tax breaks aren't kept in place, everybody's tax goes up 68%. Ridiculous. Move the debt. He means raising the debt ceiling. Both he and Sen. Warren want to just get rid of the debt ceiling because it causes problems no matter who is in power. But calling her Pocahontas is really racist. Once she mentioned she had some Native American blood and Trump can't forget it. But what about the debt ceiling is violent? What word was he looking for there and failed?

His hatred of California continues with beating their law that by 2035, they would no longer allow gas cars to be sold. He mis-states 2030. Then it's gas prices and eggs.

Reporter: Mr. President. Some of his supporters are split on the US response to -

Trump: Who are you?

Reporter: CNN.

Trump: Fake news. Fortunately nobody watches.

Reporter: But my question is -

Trump: Is anybody watching CNN these days? I haven't seen it in a long time.

Reporter: But some of your supporters are wary of the US getting involved in another ---

Trump: Oh, I haven't seen that, no, no. Do you ever ask a positive question at CNN?

He never answers the question. He just goes off into ya-ya land talking about how he won the election and how he took the seven swing states, and how he won in a landslide by millions and millions.

The reporter than follows up and asks again about his supporters not wanting a war that will last long. He responds by saying he's got a great approval numbers before finally saying:

Trump: All I'm saying is you can't have a nuclear weapon and I tried to do it nicely. And then on day 61, I said let's go because we can't let that happen and I've been saying it for 20 years.

Trump just said he gave Israel the go ahead to attack on day 61.

Trump: OK. I'm going to leave. Thank you very much.

Later, he came back out for the raising of the flag and talked for just over one minute.

Trump: We picked the right location. [inaudible] Picking the right location [inaudible]

No, he didn't. It would have been so easy to put them flanking the White House.

Reporter: What intelligence do you have --- do you have any intelligence that Iran is targeting -—

Trump: A lot of intelligence  [inaudible] Have you?

Reporter: [laughs]  --- that Iran is targeting any assets?

Trump: we're doing very well. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Press, Karoline.

Karoline: Thank you press. Thank you.

Trump went back into the White House.

This was still another unscripted disaster with Trump not answering questions and speaking at length about old stuff he's said many times before. He trots out the claims of the past to fill the time until the next old gripe shows up.

This is the guy with control of nuclear weapons, ready to start a bigger war in the Middle East than Israel has made it. Khamenei laughed at his unconditional surrender demand. Congress is telling him straight out that he has to come to them first to join Israel. But with his "mandate" and his feeling of invincibility, and his complete disregard of the Constitution, he thinks it doesn't apply to him.

What the military will do now is in question if Trump gives the command and Congress hasn't approved. The National Guard and Marines went to Los Angeles under illegal orders. Will commanders and soldiers finally say no? Their oath is to the Constitution, not the commander in Chief. Will they know the difference?

Trump's brain is fried. He looks physically unwell, fat, hunched over, puffy eyes and now starting to fall on stairs getting into Air Force One. He's making bad decisions, just shown with the flagpoles placements.

And that's on a good day.