'Craves attention': Top Dem suggests motive behind Trump's 'dumb' new 'distraction'

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12 January

Donald Trump approaches to embrace Donald Trump Jr at his campaign rally, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 4, 2024.

At a news conference Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump renewed his threats against Gaza, Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal as he continues to push an agenda of extreme U.S. imperialism. Democratic Congressmember Jim McGovern calls Trump’s comments “outrageous,” “ridiculous” and, ultimately, a distraction from his planned abandonment of social services. We also discuss social networking behemoth Meta’s announcement that it is ending its fact-checking program, in what’s being seen as a capitulation to Trump and conservative media disinformation campaigns, and how President Biden’s unqualified support for Israel’s assault on Gaza violates multiple U.S. human rights laws.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, President-elect Donald Trump held his second news conference since winning the 2024 election, addressing a wide range of topics over more than an hour. Speaking at Mar-a-Lago to reporters, Trump renewed his threat to respond with violence if Hamas does not release hostages held in Gaza by inauguration.

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: If they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East.

REPORTER: Can you elaborate?

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: And it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone.

AMY GOODMAN: Trump also aired grievances about the many legal cases against him and threatened to use the military to expand U.S. territory. In an extraordinary exchange, Trump refused to rule out military action to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: You’re talking about Panama and Greenland. No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this: We need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military.

REPORTER: [inaudible] that you will not use military [inaudible]?

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: I’m not going to commit to that now. It might — it might be that you’ll have to do something. Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China. China! And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn’t give it to China. And they’ve abused it. They’ve abused that gift. It should have never been made, by the way. It was a —

REPORTER: Mr. President, they have [inaudible] —

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Giving the Panama Canal is why Jimmy Carter lost the election, in my opinion, more so maybe than the hostages. The hostages were a big deal. But if you remember — and nobody wants to talk about the Panama Canal now, because, you know, it’s inappropriate, I guess. But — because it’s a bad part of — of the Carter legacy. But he was a good man. Look, he was a good man. I knew him, a little bit, and he was a very fine person. But that was a big mistake. Giving the Panama Canal to Panama was a very big mistake.

AMY GOODMAN: Trump threatened to use “economic force” to absorb Canada into the United States. He continued his push later in the day on social media, posting maps showing Canada part of the United States. In response, Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded there’s not a “snowball’s chance in hell” the two countries will merge. Trump also proposed changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America as he continued his attacks on immigrants. And he also hinted at pardons over the January 6 insurrection, repeating the lie that none of the rioters carried guns into the Capitol, arguing instead that Hezbollah played a role in January 6th.

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: We have to find out about Hezbollah. We have to find out about who exactly was in that whole thing, because people that did some bad things were not prosecuted. You know, I see it all the time, and you see it, too. People that were doing some bad things weren’t prosecuted, and people that didn’t even walk into the building are in jail right now.

AMY GOODMAN: To discuss Trump’s Tuesday press conference and much more, we’re joined by Democratic Congressmember Jim McGovern in the Cannon Rotunda in the House Office Building, not far from the Capitol Rotunda, where President Carter is lying in state.

We welcome you to Democracy Now!, Congressmember McGovern. If you can start off by responding to this meandering press conference yesterday, where lie after lie was uttered by the president-elect?

REP. JIM McGOVERN: Well, look at, Donald Trump says dumb things every day of his life. He lies hourly. And that’s just who he is. But, you know, I think he does it to try to distract us, to try to divert our attention away from focusing in on the things that he promised to do, like lowering the price of groceries, lowering the cost of gasoline, you know, straightening out the entire world before he takes office. But, you know, he has us going in a million different directions, and I think it’s intentional. And again, I thought what he said yesterday was dumb, but it’s nothing new. It’s what we hear from him every single day.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, the question is: Is it just dumb, and it can be ignored? He’s just maybe trying to take away attention from the dead former president, which was, you know, getting so much attention as his body was brought to the Capitol Rotunda, and this bipartisan group of senators and congressmembers, supporters, the whole family of Carter was getting so much attention over these four days? And also, he might be very aggravated that President Biden has called for all flags at half-staff for 30 days, which will go through the inauguration. He’s commented on that. Or should we take this very seriously? He’s talking about possible military action to take Greenland — his son Donald Trump Jr. was in Greenland yesterday — and to take back the Panama Canal, which Carter gave back to Panama.

REP. JIM McGOVERN: Yeah. Well, there’s no question he craves attention constantly. But the fact of the matter is, again, the outrageous things that he said yesterday, you know, are nothing new. I mean, this is what he has done time and time again all throughout the campaign.

But the bottom line is, you know, what I’m worried about is my constituency and the people of this country. You know, I head up the Hunger Caucus here in the United States House of Representatives. We have 40 million Americans — 40 million Americans — who live in this country, the richest country in the history of the world, who are hungry, who are food insecure. You know, I want to do something about that. And quite frankly, what I’m worried about is what he and the Republicans want to do in terms of cutting programs that actually can help feed people in this country.

So, you know, he talks about invading Greenland and making Canada part of our country, and he goes on and on and on. And it’s all outrageous, and it is all ridiculous. But, meanwhile, there are people in this country right now who are struggling, people who are in poverty, people who are in the middle class, people who are hoping that maybe government could actually do something to make their lives better. And he’s talking about all this other stuff. So, yeah, we could spend hours and hours and hours and hours talking about all the stuff that he talked about yesterday. Again, it’s just — it’s outrageous. I mean, can’t believe that this person is going to enter the Oval Office again. But the fact of the matter is, you know, we can’t lose our focus on the American people.

AMY GOODMAN: And your response to Meta, this news just coming out yesterday? You have President Trump threatening to put Zuckerberg in jail, the CEO of Meta. Then Zuckerberg goes to Mar-a-Lago. When Trump was asked yesterday at the news conference if he’s forcing the changes at Meta — I mean, Zuckerberg, astonishingly, said they’re not going to have fact-checkers anymore —

REP. JIM McGOVERN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: — Trump said, “Yes, it’s my pressure” —

REP. JIM McGOVERN: Yeah, yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: — that has changed Zuckerberg, and has put Dana White, his wrestling —

REP. JIM McGOVERN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: — buddy, onto the board of Meta.

REP. JIM McGOVERN: Well, shame on Zuckerberg. Shame on all these billionaires who are going to see Trump on bended knee. I mean, all they’re interested in is making more money.

But the bottom line is, you know, what Mark Zuckerberg is doing is basically paving the way to undermine our democracy. I mean, to be able to — you know, I heard your opening about now the ability to be able to refer to women in derogatory terms, to be able to bash the LGBTQ+ community, to say things that are just wrong, to promote conspiracy theories, and there’s no checks or balances. You know, that’s not free speech. In fact, that’s an abuse of free speech. That’s about undermining our democracy. And that’s something we do have to worry about.

Look, I’ve said over and over and over again, you know, that Donald Trump is leading a movement to promote authoritarianism. You know, people who have studied history wondered how did fascism rise in Europe during — before World War II. We now know. We see what’s happening in this country. And quite frankly, it’s outrageous, and we all should be concerned about that.

AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you about Gaza. In the final days of the Biden administration, the president has reportedly notified Congress of a new $8 billion arms sale to Israel. The deal includes artillery shells, small-diameter bombs, warheads, munitions for fighter jets, helicopter gunships. In approving the sale, Biden once again rejected calls to suspend U.S. support for Israel’s military over war crimes Israel has committed in Gaza. Now, you were part of a group of congressmembers, including Congressmember Pocan, Lee, Castro, McCollum, who were urging the Biden administration to abide by the Leahy Law, named for the retired Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, about respecting human rights or not continuing the arms flow. Your response to this latest move? There are now tens of billions of dollars the U.S. has given to Israel since October 23rd [sic].

REP. JIM McGOVERN: Yeah, it’s terribly —

AMY GOODMAN: 2023.

REP. JIM McGOVERN: Yeah, yeah, it’s terribly disappointing. And it’s not just the Leahy Law. We have another law, by the way, that says that if a country frustrates the delivery of humanitarian aid to people who are in need, then all military assistance to that country gets suspended. So we have urged the president to follow the U.S. laws. They’re on the books. And he’s not following them. You know, you mentioned at the top of your show that Donald Trump said if all the hostages aren’t released by Inauguration Day, all hell will break loose. Well, I want all the hostages released. I’ve been calling for that over and over and over again. But, I mean, all hell has already broke loose. I mean, if what’s happening in Gaza is not hell right now, I don’t know what is. And, you know, it’s not just Gaza. It’s what’s happening on the West Bank. So, again, I wish the president weren’t doing this. I wish he were standing firm and defending U.S. law and sending a message to Netanyahu that, yeah, we support the people of Israel, but we do not support what he is doing to the Palestinian people. It is outrageous. It is unconscionable. And again, I’m very disappointed with that announcement.

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