Donald J. Trump turned a question about Mitch McConnell into yet another complaint about the press during a recent interview with TIME magazine.
Trump was asked whether he had seen recent footage of McConnell and whether the longtime Kentucky senator should step down because of his health. Rather than sticking with the question, Trump veered into a rant about presidential pardons, bringing up Joe Biden and Anthony Fauci before becoming increasingly irritated.
Trump then complained that the interviewers hadn't asked him a single “positive” question. He demanded to know why they kept asking about this or that supposedly negative topic instead of giving him credit for things he believes he has accomplished.
"You mentioned the Democrats will come after you if they win," the outlet said. "Are you considering pardoning members of your administration prior to the end of your term?"
"Yeah, sure I’d do that," Trump unsurprisingly replied.
"Well, Sleepy Joe Biden, he gave pardons to everyone," he added, then held up pictures of the White House. "They're actually—see, this is the way it looks now."
"You haven't asked me one fucking positive question," the thin-skinned president insisted. "All of this. What about this? What about that? What about that? What about this? All negative. Why are you devoting all this time to the White House? You know how I do; I do that out of my back pocket. I pay for a lot of it, but I fix it because the White House should look like that."
Among the achievements Trump wanted discussed was his renovation work at the White House. He claimed the building had been in terrible shape, with parts of the walls allegedly falling apart and leaking, and insisted he deserved credit for fixing it.
Trump also complained that the reporters hadn't asked enough about Venezuela, even though the journalists pointed out that they had already discussed it. He then returned to boasting about the White House, saying Chinese President Xi Jinping had admired the renovations during his recent visit.
The conversation eventually moved on, but Trump couldn't resist returning to his grievance with the media. He complained that every question seemed to be a “hit” and said it was difficult to get a good story written about him.
The interview came while Trump has escalated his attacks on news organizations and reporters. He has recently targeted CNN, Politico, and MS NOW, accusing them of spreading what he calls “fake news,” while also lashing out at reporters who ask questions he dislikes.
During the TIME interview, Trump even brought up CNN's Kaitlan Collins without being asked about her personally, complaining that she and other reporters would portray even his supposedly spectacular accomplishments negatively.
What Trump conveniently left out about Biden's pardons is that the former president did so to avoid retaliation from the pettiest man on earth. Case in point: Everyone Trump doesn't like.
