Five of Trump’s weirder lines
- Jul 31, 2024
- 2 min read
July 31: On This Day In 2018
In 1992, with the press cameras rolling, George HW Bush marveled at a supermarket checkout scanner. The fact that he apparently hadn’t seen one before demonstrated how out of touch he was with “real Americans.” The gaffe helped cost him his election.
Well, Trump outdid Bush in the Grocery Store Ignorance department. At a rally OTDI 2018 he claimed that Americans need to show their IDs “to buy groceries.” That was his way of arguing that Americans should also be required to show IDs when they vote. And whether or not you agree with Voter ID, most observers felt his grocery claim was...revealing.
The mockery quickly followed:
Today’s OTDI is a tough one to write. As long as we’re on the theme of weird things Trump says, we want to include four more of our favorite Trumpisms. The problem is that we can’t decide which four to pick; there are hundreds to choose from. Let us know, have we made the right choices with these four? What’s your most-remembered Trumpism?
“Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated,” he told the National Governor’s Association, a month into his term. Actually ever-y-body knew it was that complicated. (Btw, in the same vein, according to Trump, most people don't know that Lincoln was a Republican).
“Frederick Douglass is an example of someone who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I noticed,” he told a group of Black leaders in a White House meeting. He apparently thought Douglass was still at work; maybe he was getting good TV ratings? Douglass died in 1895. Trump probably didn’t know who Douglass, perhaps the most famous abolitionist, was or what he did.
"If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value," Trump told his fellow Republicans. "And they say the noise causes cancer." Even his ally Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) called the comments “idiotic.” Sen. Joni Ernst, also R-Iowa, agreed that “It’s ridiculous.” As of 2022, Iowa has over 12,200 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity with over 6,000 wind turbines, ranking 2nd and 3rd in the nation respectively.
"They call her Pocahontas,” Trump informed a group of annoyed Native American tribal leaders visiting him in the Oval Office. He was claiming that’s how everyone in Congress refers to Elizabeth Warren. In fact, he—and he alone—tries to slur her that way.
Btw: That supermarket scanner issue? Turns out, according to video evidence, Bush may not have been so flabbergasted by it after all; perhaps the moment was blown out of proportion by an eager journalist and took on a life of its own. No such luck for Trump, though…he clearly did say that. Repeatedly.
Get Weirder; Dive Deeper
Voter ID to buy groceries as discussed by Slate
Frederick Douglass, as reported by The Hill
"Windmills cause cancer," as chronicled by PolitiFact
"They call her Pocahontas," wrote NBC
Healthcare is so complicated, discovers Politico
Details on Bush’s scanner incident from Snopes
On This Day In The Trump Administration: Five of Trump's weirder lines