Trump offers rambling preview of second 'chaotic stream-of-consciousness presidency'

08 January

Donald Trump covered a lot of ground during his Tuesday, January 7 press conference at Mar-a-Lago, where the president-elect railed against the outgoing Biden Administration, claimed that windmills are dangerous, praised Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's decision to eliminate fact-checkers on Facebook and doubled down on his call for Canada to become part of the United States.

Veteran New York Times journalist David E. Sanger, in a biting op-ed published that same day, laments that Trump's rambling presser offers a preview of the "chaos" that will come with his second presidency.

"Mr. Trump's family and supporters like to say 'We are so back!,' and they are, without doubt," Sanger writes. "Yet as the man who will be president again spun out threats and angry denouncements of the Biden Administration and personal grievances for more than an hour on Tuesday in the living room of his Mar-a-Lago club, something else was back: the chaotic stream-of-consciousness presidency."

Sanger continues, "Mr. Trump has returned to our daily national cognizance, even though one could argue he never really left. Tuesday's news conference was a reminder of what that was like, and what the next four years may have in store."

The Times journalist notes that the January 7 press conference offered "a lot of déjà vu" by "recalling scenes from" Trump's "first presidency."

"The conspiracy theories, the made-up facts, the burning grievances — all despite the fact that he has pulled off one of the most remarkable political comebacks in history," Sanger argues. "The vague references to 'people' whom he never names. The flat declaration that American national security was threatened now, without defining how the strategic environment has changed in a way that could prompt him to violate the sovereignty of independent nations…. With the departing incumbent fading from view, Mr. Trump seems to sense that if he takes the stage, there will be no one to push back on his interpretation of recent history."

Sanger adds, "He is rewriting that history quickly, just as he recast the events of January 6, in hopes that his election was evidence that Americans believe he was pursued by prosecutors out of vengeance, not the application of justice."

David E. Sanger's full New York Times op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).

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