Trump's White House 'press conference' turns into hourlong campaign speech

Donald Trump gave a campaign speech Tuesday in the Rose Garden of the White House, attacking presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Trump spent what had been billed by the White House as a “press conference” reading a list of complaints and attacks about Biden and his agenda — many of them misleading or simply wrong.

“So we’re not going to do that, we’re going to do the exact opposite,” Trump said toward the end of his nearly hour-long speech.

“Probably there has never been a time — and this is just a few — this is — it’s much worse than this — we did this very quickly. There’s probably never been a time when candidates are so different. We want law and order. They don’t want law and order. We want strong closed borders with people able to come in through merit, through a legal process. They don’t want to have any borders at all. They’re going to rip down the wall.”

Trump’s speech was explicitly partisan and directly advocated for his reelection.

“Past presidents by tradition and standard refrained from overt campaign rhetoric at the WH,” tweeted NBC reporter Kelly O’Donnell.

During his speech, Trump falsely claimed that Biden wants to “defund the military.” He noted that Biden had given a speech earlier in the day and repeatedly expressed his disagreement with the statements he claimed Biden made.

Attacking Biden’s environmental proposals, Trump said that Biden “won’t be able” to “define the word” carbon if asked by reporters.

He also attacked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for working on a unity commission backing Biden. He inexplicably described Biden’s agenda as “gone so far right.”

He also touted his border wall project, claiming that it is preventing human trafficking, especially of women. According to Trump, before the wall traffickers merely had to “take a left into the United States.”

In reality, Trump has only constructed three miles of new wall.

Trump also repeated his attacks on mail-in voting, falsely alleging that it would lead to “tremendous fraud” with mail-in voting. Trump, as well as many members of his family and his administration, has voted absentee in past elections.

He also claimed that Biden will “abolish law enforcement as we know it.” This is false. Biden has proposed reforms to law enforcement to stop Black people from being killed but has not endorsed the movement to defund or abolish law enforcement.

Recent polling, even from GOP-friendly pollsters, has shown Trump behind Biden despite a recent endorsement from former KKK leader David Duke.

Asked about his position behind Biden, Trump cited boat and bike parades that supporters have recently put on to back him. Previously, Trump claimed boat parades prove he is “doing very well” in Florida, where recent polls have him behind Biden.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.