Eyebrows are raised after Trump goes hoarse in afternoon speech
Donald Trump may be out of quarantine and ready to kiss any open mouth in the vicinity of one of his superspreader rallies, but his appearance at a speech he made today before the New York Economic Club does not present the image of a president steeped with the invulnerability that he so laughably claims of late.
Vox’s Aaron Rupar — who so dutifully documents the president’s public utterances and posts them to Twitter with his scathing commentary— noted that Trump was experiencing what some people might take for respiratory issues just days after he claimed to be COVID-19 free and feeling better than ever.
wut pic.twitter.com/hy8Pi3XTQq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 14, 2020
Hmm, Trump is talking so hoarse that one is tempted to call him Mr. Ed. (You younger folks can Google the reference.)
For all of Trump’s attacks on Joe Biden for relying on a teleprompter while giving his speeches, Trump read all of his likely ghost-written remarks directly from a screen, a good thing given how many big words like “reciprocity” that they contained.
If only his voice was up to the task.
Trump's talking point that he saved 2 million lives because if government literally did nothing 2.2 million might've died from coronavirus is pretty weak pic.twitter.com/fZtHiRURBG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 14, 2020
Trump’s speculative coronavirus mathematics likely didn’t help convince the quants at the New York Economic Club that he’s gotten a handle on the disease that’s devastated the global economy and more than his froggy voice did.
His apocalyptic prophesies about the American economy if his opponent Joe Biden is elected probably did little to convince his financial industry audience after Goldman Sachs analysts predicted the exact opposite last week — that a Democratic sweep of the White House and Congress in a “blue wave” would actually boost the economy compared to a continuance of Trump’s failed economic policies and disastrous trade wars.
ah yeah, there's that free market capitalism that Republicans love Trump for pic.twitter.com/4jMmfvqfMr
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 14, 2020
Trump sure doesn’t know how to read the room when he’s talking in front of a bunch of Armani-suited free-trade advocates rather than a bunch of blue-jeaned rural supporters in MAGA hats.
"We were starting to get that number down" — Trump brazenly lies and says the national debt was decreasing under his watch before the coronavirus hit. In fact it was growing because of his tax cuts for the rich. pic.twitter.com/zAZOgp9Cmj
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 14, 2020
Luckily the stench of Trump’s B.S. is not yet capable of being transmitted over the interwebs, but a radius of several miles around the president’s podium was probably affected with that load.
But wait! There’s more where that came from!
It will be interesting to see whether Trump’s shaky voice is an early indicator of a COVID-19 relapse or just the normal wear and tear of a demanding campaign schedule on a geriatric president in questionable health even before his coronavirus diagnosis.
The next few days will tell us more, that’s for certain.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
Original reporting by Aaron Rupar at Vox.
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