-Hello, everyone, and welcome
back to the captain's quarters.
Now here at the show, we have
always been responsive
to viewer feedback
and criticism.
So I'd just like to say to those
of you who are not necessarily
huge fans of my new sidekick
the sea captain,
we hear you and we are taking it
under advisement.
Now, you should know
this negative feedback
does hurt his feelings.
-Sea captains are people, too.
-But as I've told him,
that's one of the hard realities
of show business.
-Maybe this old mariner
just wasn't cut out
for the rocky shores
of Hollywood.
-And speaking
of deranged conversations
that don't go anywhere,
President Trump
gave a truly terrifying
interview
in which he made clear
he does not care about
the pandemic that's raging
out of control
as he sends secret police
to an American city
to snatch protesters
off the streets.
For more on this, it's time
for "A Closer Look."
♪♪
The country's in the midst
of a spiraling pandemic
that has killed 140,000
Americans
and left tens of millions
unemployed.
And yet the president has,
according to Republican
officials,
people close to him
and our own eyes and ears
decide to just move on
from the crisis.
An adviser to the Republican
governor of Texas
where the outbreak is spreading
out of control
told "The New York Times"
over the weekend,
"the president
got bored with it."
Oh, I'm sorry, Commodus,
were you not entertained?
Seriously, you were bored
with the pandemic?
Bored with the quarantine,
I understand.
I've watched so much Netflix,
the on-screen message changed.
But you're bored
with the pandemic?
That's your job.
Would you have preferred
if the coronavirus
had a swimsuit contest?
And even when he can be bothered
to talk about the coronavirus
outbreak,
he can't help but immediately
veer into a topic
that's more interesting to him,
like his TV ratings.
Today he announced
he'd be bringing back
his humiliating press
briefings/therapy sessions,
not because there's
an out of control pandemic
that requires leadership,
but because his TV ratings
were so good.
-Well, we had very
successful briefings.
I was doing them, and, uh...
We had a lot of people watching,
record numbers watching.
In the history
of cable television,
there's never been
anything like it.
So I think we'll start that
probably starting tomorrow.
I'll do it at 5:00 like
we were doing.
We had a good slot.
And a lot of people were
watching,
and that's a good thing.
-[ As Trump ]
The ratings were incredible.
People are spending
a lot more time inside
watching TV for some reason.
[ Normal voice ] It sucks so
hard that we have a president
who says things like
"We had a good slot."
He's bored by coronavirus,
but he loves TV.
[ As Trump ] We're hoping in the
fall they put me on
after "This Is Us."
That'd be a hell of a lead-in.
[ Normal voice ] Also,
of course the ratings were good.
People are locked inside
with nothing to watch,
desperate for information
about the out-of-control virus
you failed to stop.
Ratings for "Wheel of Fortune"
would be up, too,
if Pat Sajak
went on a killing spree
and announced his next victims
via puzzle.
Pat, I'd like to solve.
"You're next,
Dan from Rochester!"
[ Upbeat game show-style
music plays ]
of course, Trump doesn't
actually care about
the deadly virus
that's spreading.
He wants to resume the briefings
so he can do
what he always does --
whine about how unfairly
he's been treated,
threaten his political opponents
with state violence,
fight with reporters,
and speculate wildly
about dumb new treatments
until Dr. Fauci
covers his entire face.
[ As Trump ]
Fauci, what if you -- and, yeah,
I'm just blue skying here --
ate a battery
and took a bath in Pepto-Bismol?
Would that cure the virus,
Fauci?
Fauci, why are you
wearing so many masks?
[ Normal voice ] So, Trump
is bored with the pandemic.
And you can tell he's bored
from what he's been choosing
to focus on instead --
Beans and trucks.
-On a day when 941 people
died of the coronavirus
in this country, this is what is
front of mind for the president,
beans.
The president
giving an endorsement to Goya
a day after his daughter
Ivanka Trump did the same,
weighing into this bizarre
culture war
after Goya's CEO was criticized
on social media
for effusively praising
the president.
-During an official event at the
White House,
it became a photo op
for the president,
looking to move past
the pandemic
and look toward
the November election,
the president claiming
the biggest threat
to this country is his rival,
Democratic presidential nominee,
Joe Biden.
The event turned into
a campaign-style rally.
The president had pickup trucks
and giant weights
symbolizing government
regulation,
the president only mentioning
the coronavirus once.
-On the same day the U.S.
set another daily record
with 75,000 new cases,
the president was playing
with trucks
on the White House lawn
like he was lured into
one of those Chevy commercials.
[ As Trump ] JD Power, isn't
he part of the deep state?
[ Normal voice ] This looks like
one of those summer replacement
game shows where if you get
an answer wrong,
Ellen DeGeneres
drops a truck on you.
At what point can we consider
an obsession with trucks
a disqualifying attribute
for a president?
I mean, adults are allowed to
have whatever hobbies they want.
But if Bill Clinton had shown up
to every press conference
with a Tamagotchi,
Republicans definitely would've
impeached him a second time.
[ As Bill Clinton ]
Now, if you excuse me,
I got to go feed
this little fella.
[ Normal voice ] I mean, having
a president obsessed with trucks
is like having a president
obsessed with trains.
Ayeh!
Amid a national health crisis
and record unemployment,
the federal government led by
a bored and sadistic president
has abandoned us.
They simply do not care
about the 140,000 Americans
who have died,
the tens of millions
who have lost jobs,
the 5 million who have lost
health insurance,
or the 23 million who face
eviction in the coming months.
This is the result of decades
of conservative governance
that has raided the Treasury
to doll out billions
in defense spending
and tax cuts for the wealthy,
while hollowing out
everything else.
Now we have a pudding-brained
infomercial salesman,
who's more interested
in what happens
to a dead Confederate general
than a living
middle school teacher,
trying to convince us
that statues and graffiti
are more important
than a pandemic
that's caused massive suffering.
And even when he was asked
point blank
about the record number
of new cases
by Fox's Chris Wallace
this weekend,
Trump basically shrugged.
-I'm going to do you a favor
because I'm sure a lot of people
listening right now
are going to say, Trump,
he tries to play it down,
he tries to make it
not seem as serious as it is.
-I'm not playing.
No. This is very serious.
-75,000 cases a day.
-Show me the death chart.
-Well,
I don't have the death chart.
-Well, the death chart
is much more important.
-But I can tell you the death
chart is a thousand cases a day.
-Excuse me. It's all too much.
It shouldn't be one case.
It came from China. They
should've never let it escape.
They should've never let it out.
But it is what it is.
-"It is what it is"
is a fine thing to hear --
from a drinking buddy
as he promises you
that in time,
you will forget about Denise.
But when the "it" is a pandemic
and the guy saying it is the
president, that's the problem.
Had FDR
responded to Pearl Harbor
with a "[Bleep] Happens"
t-shirt,
we'd probably feel different
about him today.
We certainly wouldn't honor him
with the finest strip of road
along the East River
that's ever existed.
Also, I love that Wallace
started out by saying,
"I'm going to do you a favor,"
and then Trump immediately
interrupts him.
That's how bad
a strategist he is.
Someone says,
"I'm going to do you a favor,"
you freeze like a squirrel
in a park
until you find out the favor.
You don't start an argument.
Second, it's not reassuring
when presented with evidence
of a rapidly spreading disease,
your answer is,
"Show me the death chart."
You know, 'cause that implies
there are enough deaths
for a chart.
In fact, if you work
in any office setting
and you have death charts lying
around, something isn't right.
"Hey, Brad, regional sales
are looking really good this
quarter."
"That's fantastic, Linda.
Hey, would you hand me
the death chart,
you know, the big one
that folds out?"
In fact, if this interview
revealed anything,
it's that the president
is far less concerned
with the deadly virus
sweeping through this nation
than he is with proving that he
supposedly did well on a test
designed to detect
cognitive defects
that he constantly brags about.
Except this time
he was challenged by the host
Chris Wallace in a way he
obviously was not expecting.
-Let's take a test.
Let's take a test right now.
Let's go down,
Joe and I will take a test.
Let him take the same test
that I took.
-Incidentally,
I took the test, too,
when I heard that you passed it.
-Yeah. How did you do?
-Well,
it's not the hardest test.
It has a picture that says,
"What's that?
And it's an elephant.
-No, no, no. You see,
that's all misrepresentation.
-Well,
that's what it was on the Web.
-It's all misrepresentation.
Because, yes, the first
few questions are easy.
But I'll bet you couldn't even
answer the last five questions.
I'll bet you couldn't.
They get very hard,
the last few questions.
-Well, one of them was "Count
back from a hundred by seven."
-And let me tell you,
you couldn't answer --
-All right, what's the question?
-...many of the questions.
I'd get you the test.
I'd like to give it.
-Here's a question that should
be on Trump's next
cognitive test.
Name one question
from your last cognitive test.
If you're going to constantly
brag about how well you did,
you should at least be able
to say one of the questions.
If you come home
and tell your parents
you aced your driving test
and they asked you what you did,
you can't just shrug and say,
"I dunno, car stuff."
Because then they're going to
know you skipped it
and had your buddy print out
a fake ID.
Also, I don't know
what's more alarming,
that Trump even had to take
this test in the first place
or how proud he is
with how he did.
It's possible this is
the first test he ever passed
that he took himself.
He probably paid an MIT student
to come with him,
but then when he saw how easy it
was, sent him home.
[ As Trump ] Elephant?
Well, I know what that is.
Get out of here, Poindexter.
I'm not paying you, Poindexter.
The deal was
if you took the test.
Good news, I wasn't
going to pay you anyway.
Don't be sad, Poindexter.
[ Normal voice ]
I genuinely can't believe
this was a real exchange that
happened at the White House.
If you read this transcript
without any names attached,
you'd think they were doctors'
notes from a psych ward.
Also, there is no [bleep] way
Trump can count backwards
from 100 by sevens.
The money I would pay
to see him try that.
[ As Trump ] 100,
and then you're into the 90s.
Some people say 95.
Some people say 92.
I had a guy come up to me
the other day.
Big guy, tough guy,
tears in his eyes,
and he said, "Sir,
I think it's 91."
And I said, "Obama, he wouldn't
let you say that, But I will."
I will.
[ Normal voice ] The only
cognitive test we ever needed
from Trump is a camera
and a microphone,
and he's failed it
a hundred times.
We know this.
We've also known since
long before he was president
that he admires and seeks to
emulate tyrants and despots.
The guy doesn't know
how many articles there are
on the Constitution,
but he repeatedly bragged
about his good relationships
with authoritarian leaders
and defended some of the most
horrific human rights abuses
in history.
Like, for example,
the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
-Mr. Trump...
[ Cheers and applause ]
...some of your Republican
critics have expressed concern
about comments you have made
praising authoritarian
dictators.
You have said positive things
about Putin as a leader
and about China's massacre
of pro-democracy protesters
at Tiananmen Square.
You said,
"When the students poured
into the Tiananmen Square,
the Chinese government
almost blew it.
Then they were vicious,
they were horrible,
but they put it down
with strength.
That shows you the power
of strength."
How do you respond --
-That doesn't mean
I was endorsing that.
I was not endorsing it.
I said that is a strong,
powerful government
that put it down with strength.
And they kept down the riot.
It was a horrible thing.
It doesn't mean at all
I was endorsing it.
-Yes, you were.
Trump refuses to be pinned down
about anything.
One day, he'll say
you're his best friend.
The next, he'll pretend
he's never met you.
When he named his eldest son
after himself,
he probably wrote
on the birth certificate,
"This is not an endorsement."
The Tiananmen Square protests
were peaceful demonstrations
led by students
calling for Democratic reforms.
But Trump sees any peaceful
change to the status quo
as a riot
instigated by terrorists,
which is how despots talk.
And today he issued
a chilling threat to send
more federal officers
to American cities
after lying about the protests
in Portland on Sunday.
-That I can tell you.
In Portland, they've done
a fantastic job.
You know, if you look at
what's gone on in Portland,
those are anarchists and we've
taken a very tough stand.
If we didn't take a stand
in Portland,
you know, we've arrested
many of these leaders.
If we didn't take that stand,
right now
you would have a problem --
They were going to lose
Portland.
-What the hell
are you talking about?
They were going to
lose Portland? To who?
Oh, okay.
Ah. They were playing
a long game, huh?
People in Portland
are anything but anarchists.
Restaurants in Portland
have more rules
than a Manhattan co-op board.
If you don't put your banana
peel in the compost bin,
they will drive you to
the city limits
in a solar-powered car
and leave you there.
This guy is so detached
from reality.
Everything in his yogurt brain
is a Steven Seagal movie.
[ As Trump ]
Portland is under siege
so I had to go above the law,
make an executive decision
to send an attack force
out for justice.
[ Normal voice ]
What we're seeing in cities
across the country
are peaceful protests
against police brutality
and systemic racism
demanding change to an unjust
and oppressive system.
But Trump is only capable
of emulating
the authoritarian despots
he admires,
which is exactly what he's doing
in Portland.
-There are secret police
operating on the streets
of an American city under
the direction of the president.
And the past week,
they have been recorded
snatching a protester
off the street,
and forcing him
into an unmarked car,
and shooting
another peaceful protester
with a nonlethal round
in the head.
These agents have been driving
unmarked vehicles
and tear-gassing protesters
while refusing
to identify themselves.
-Oregon Public Broadcasting
chased the story down,
reporting, "Federal
law enforcement officers
have been using unmarked
vehicles to drive around
downtown Portland
and detain protesters
since at least Tuesday.
Personal accounts and multiple
videos posted online
show the officers
driving up to people,
detaining individuals
with no explanation
about why they're being
arrested, and driving off.
-Trump is using
these federal forces
as a personal paramilitary
force.
That is what dictators do.
That is not what presidents
of a democratic republic do.
-Oh, good, a mentally
incontinent man-toddler
has his own personal
paramilitary force.
In addition to kidnapping
protesters
and stuffing them into
unmarked vans,
he's probably got them
in the White House kitchen
trying to open a can
of Goya beans.
[ As Trump ]
I've never opened a can before.
I tried to eat the last one, but
it got lodged in my esophagus.
[ Normal voice ]
So much of our democratic system
relies on norms, and Trump
freely just shatters all them.
For example, as Joe Biden
opened up a 15-point lead
in new polls,
Trump said on Sunday
he would not necessarily accept
the outcome of the election
as legitimate
because mail-in balloting,
a thing Americans including
Trump himself have been doing
for a century and a half
might somehow rig the election.
-I think mail-in voting
is going to rig the election.
I really do.
-Are you suggesting that you
might not accept
the results of the election?
-I have to see.
Look, Hillary Clinton
asked me the same thing.
-Can you give a direct answer,
you will accept the election?
-I have to see.
Look, I have to see.
I'm not going to just say yes.
And I didn't last time either.
-Oh, you're going to keep us
in suspense?
You're talking about
a presidential election
and the peaceful transfer
of power,
one of the hallmarks
of our democracy,
like it's the season finale
of "Dallas."
Except,
there's not much suspense
when you walk around
with a huge gun
talking about how much you hate
J.R.
-Fresh "Dallas" ref!
-Cool it!
-Okay!
-Second, you and your aides,
including your press secretary
and vice president
have all voted by mail,
which Americans have been
doing in this country
since the Civil War,
which I know is sensitive
for you, since you rooted
for the side that lost.
So this is where we're at.
A president who dispatches
secret police
to round up dissidents
and refuses to accept
the outcome
of a democratic election.
We've certainly had
national crises
and horrible presidents before,
but when historians
look back at this moment,
I'm certain they'll say...
-There's never been
anything like it.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪
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