Social Media Reacts To Trump's Word Salad About Affordable Child Care
Vice President Kamala Harris has made some cooking videos over the years, but her presidential campaign had to acknowledge Thursday that no one puts together a word salad quite like Donald Trump.
During an appearance before the Economic Club of New York, the former president and 2024 Republican nominee was asked whether he’ll make affordable child care a priority if he wins reelection in November.
Trump’s response can only be described as ― well, just look at the transcript below. It’s long, but it’s the only way to appreciate the bizarreness of the whole thing, especially because he never really answered the question.
Well, I would do that, and we’re sitting down — you know, I was, somebody, we had Senator Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue. It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that — because, look, child care is child care. It’s, couldn’t, you know, there’s something, you have to have it — in this country, you have to have it.
But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to — but they’ll get used to it very quickly — and it’s not gonna stop them from doing business with us. But they’ll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country.
Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we’re talking about, including child care, that it’s going to take care.
We’re gonna have — I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time, coupled with the reductions that I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country, because I have to stay with child care.
I want to stay with child care, but those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I’m talking about, including growth, but growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just, that I just told you about.
We’re gonna be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s, relatively speaking, not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in. We’re going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we’ll worry about the rest of the world.
Let’s help other people, but we’re going to take care of our country first. This is about America first. It’s about Make America Great Again. We have to do it because right now we’re a failing nation, so we’ll take care of it. Thank you. Very good question. Thank you.
Perfectly clear, right? Naturally, the Harris campaign posted a clip of the exchange to let Trump’s words speak for themselves.
Q: What specific legislation will you commit to to make child care affordable?
Trump: Well, I would do that and we're sitting down, you know, I was, somebody, we had Marco Rubio and my daughter, Ivanka… But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I'm talking about… pic.twitter.com/v8gqLUHS2v— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 5, 2024
Not surprisingly, many people on X, formerly Twitter, couldn’t make heads or tails of Trump’s comments.
Jessica: I would dare any of you to listen to Trump’s answer on child care and tell me what the hell he was talking about. It was one of the more incoherent things I've ever heard.. pic.twitter.com/Ps8XJBssiN
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 5, 2024
That was incoherent low energy word salad is code for he doesn’t have a plan to make childcare more affordable. pic.twitter.com/HFiN5JJFLi
— Jules Morgan 🧸 (@glamelegance) September 5, 2024
This could have been the answer to a different question, namely: "Can you speak for two minutes without sentence breaks or punctuation, go from one non-sequitur to another, and end with a sound bite?"
— The Shallow State (@OurShallowState) September 5, 2024
Trump’s whole brand is being loud and confident while simultaneously not knowing diddly about diddlysquat.
— 𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖_𝔾𝕦𝕣𝕝 (@SundaeDivine) September 5, 2024
What is absolutely astonishing is that Trump shows no signs of uncertainty. He knows he has no idea what these questions are about, but he just babbles out incoherent phrases in rapid succession. With such a strangely relaxed matter-of-factness that seems like a mental illness.
— Andrea Junker (@Strandjunker) September 5, 2024
This is him after weeks of debate prep by the way. https://t.co/rvkf9RT6jV
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 5, 2024
“I have words. And they’re very good words. The best words. They’re English words. Yes we need words. You know we have to have them. If you don’t have words you don’t have a country. And the Venezuelan gangs are stealing our words. Everyone sees it. We have to stop it. I’ll tax…
— Geoff #HarrisWalz2024 (@GeoffBrown82) September 5, 2024
It's like, "I was not prepared to answer the childcare-related stuff (frankly, it is boring), so how about I tell you about my tariffs and how I will make all those countries pay for everything, just like Mexico paid for the wall?"
— ϽΓΣⱤẛ∁ (@CholericCleric) September 5, 2024
Shorter version pic.twitter.com/schCcMFfdE
— Nostradonny 🐦 (@Nostradonny) September 5, 2024
Word salad walks into a bar, the bartender says, "the Russian connection is exposed; you're being sentenced in New York on the 18th; your stock is basically worthless, and you've pissed on Arlington; what exactly are you doing here?"
— R.Scott Tipton, MPA (@rscotttipton1A) September 5, 2024
And some critics called out The New York Times for making it sound like Trump’s rambling was actually a halfway coherent statement.
The New York Times can always be counted on to scurry along behind trump, cleaning up his droppings like some underpaid nanny. They've been laundering his words for ten years now, trying to make incoherence and hate sound normal, even respectable. #HarrisWalz2024InALandslidepic.twitter.com/ot5rDS8mid
— Robert Westbrook, Aircraft & Accordion Repair (@Swampfeet) September 5, 2024
Lots of "sane washing" going on by the NYT reporter covering this speech: https://t.co/GPjUIs7ME6pic.twitter.com/UYIUqURIqo
— scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) September 5, 2024
Trump's actual, insane answer vs. how NYT cleaned it up for him: pic.twitter.com/tWEzhRG4Cq
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) September 5, 2024
NY Times doing some clean up on aisle 9 for Trump https://t.co/dDZJj9k7Hq
— Trei Watters (@treiwatters) September 5, 2024
.@nytimes Why did you clean up Trump’s remarks? The man is a dangerous buffoon. https://t.co/9fIfYayg2A
— Mattison (@Mattison) September 5, 2024