Trump's Over-Hyped ABC News Interview Bombed-- Is No One Paying Attention To The Liar-In-Chief Anymore?

Trump and ABC News expected a ratings bonanza for last Sunday's hour-long special with George Stephanopoulos. It sure wasn't Game of Thrones; instead it was a stinker. It came in 3rd in the time slot, with just 3.91 million viewers. By way of comparison, the big ratings winners that night were the 2019 U.S. Open Golf Championship (7.29 million) and 60 Minutes (4.67 million in the same time slot). Trump managed to beat out a rerun of America’s Funniest Home Videos (3.50 million). The week before, ABC had run Celebrity Family Feud in the slot and that had 6.1 million viewers. Anyone think Trump gives a hoot about ratings? He's bigger than that, right?

The BBC review was interesting. Their DC correspondent, Anthony Zurcher, noted that when Trumpanzee started waxing eloquent about his tax returns, his chief of staff coughed to warn Trump to be careful. Trump reacted badly. "When Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff," wrote Zurcher, "coughed in the background of the Oval Office interview, Mr Trump became visibly upset and asked his top aide to leave the room. 'Let's do that over, he's coughing in the middle of my answer,' Mr Trump said. 'I don't like that, you know. I don't like that. If you're going to cough, please leave the room,' the president added, pointing and shaking his head in disapproval. 'You just can't, you just can't cough.' The exchange happened as Mr Trump defended his decision not to turn over his "fantastic financial statement" to the US Senate, adding that he 'might' reveal it someday."

For people waiting for the flat-out lies... well, they didn't have to wait long. [PolitiFact hasn't gone through all the lies yet, but they did publish an essay on how GOP pundits have been lying about the interview in an attempt to make Trump's comments and behavior look less criminal and treasonous but if you're interested, you'll have to avail yourself of the link and check it out yourself. Time to get back to the BBC and one of the mega-whoppers of the hour.]

The Trump campaign has fired several of its hired pollsters after leaks showed Mr Trump losing to Democrats next year in several key battleground states, according to US media.

But in the interview, Mr Trump denied there were any unflattering popularity figures, maintaining that his team's internal polls "show I'm winning everywhere."

He dismissed leaked opinion surveys showing Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden leading in swing states such as Michigan and Wisconsin. Mr Trump stated that "those polls don't exist."

On Monday, he returned to the theme on Twitter, saying: "Only Fake Polls show us behind the Motley Crew"-- a reference to the crowded Democratic presidential field.




Trump argued that no president has ever been as mistreated as himself, including Abe Lincoln, who was shot dead.

"If you can believe it, Abraham Lincoln was treated supposedly very badly," he said. "But nobody's been treated badly like me."

Mr Trump, who calls himself a student of history, has previously drawn comparisons with the 16th president. During a rally last September in Montana, Mr Trump said Lincoln's legendary Gettysburg Address "was excoriated by the fake news."

And during his first election campaign, Mr Trump claimed: "With the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any president that's ever held this office."

Trump smiled and shrugged when ABC asked about reports of Navy pilots seeing unidentified flying objects.

"They do say, I mean, I've seen and I've read and I've heard, and I did have one very brief meeting on it," said the president. "But people are saying they're seeing UFOs.

"Do I believe it? Not particularly."

When ABC asked him if the US president would be made aware if there was evidence of extraterrestrials, Mr Trump did not directly answer the question.

He said: "Well, I think my great pilots, our great pilots would know. And some of them really see things that are a little bit different than in the past, so we're going to see, but we'll watch it."

With election season nearing, the Republican president indicated he would launch a new plan to revamp the nation's healthcare system.

"Obamacare has been a disaster," Mr Trump told ABC as he was driven in the presidential limousine dubbed The Beast.

He promised that the plan for "phenomenal healthcare" will be unveiled "in about two months, maybe less."

Mr Trump last week teased details at an unrelated White House event, saying: "Nobody knows what it is. It's going to be a big surprise, but it's going to be a very pleasant one."

Trump, who once promised to completely eliminate the national debt over two terms in office, defended its continued climb under his own watch.

"They doubled the debt on nonsense," he said of the Obama administration.

But when the interviewer noted the debt has not stopped accumulating during Mr Trump's presidency, he responded: "Sure. But I have to rebuild the military."

He added: "We have beautiful new F-35s and F-18s and new rifles, new uniforms."

Since Mr Trump took office, the US has added over $2tn (£1.6tn) to the federal debt, and it now stands at more than $22tn.

Another stiff: Hillary and Clinton the Broadway show, starring Laura Metcalf and John Lithgow folded after just over 100 performances, a month early. Reason: underwhelming ticket sales. The play, which cost $4.2 million to produce, began performances in March and drew mixed-to-positive reviews, but has struggled to fill seats, reaching only 36 percent of its gross potential in the last two weeks. Its cumulative box office stands at $4.7 million. That wasn't the first indication the public has had enough of the Clintons for a while. Recall last December when ticket prices for the Bill and Hillary 13-stop paid speaking tour were cut in half, and then in half again-- and in the futile hope to have some people in the seats, sold for just 10% of the original asking price?

People are not happy about politicians in general and have the feeling that we're being ripped off by then. A few, here and there, have been shot. That's a little extreme but ignoring them? Sounds about right, especially when it comes to putting more of our money in their pockets.