President Donald Trump has never been shy about speaking off the cuff, even when his remarks land him in trouble.
But at a Saturday rally in Tennessee, he may have delivered one of his most laughable admissions yet.
Trump told a cheering crowd of supporters that they would applaud him even if he said “the stupidest things,” before immediately insisting that his remarks were grounded in common sense.
Within minutes, however, Trump rattled off a jumble of numbers as he tried to explain what he meant. The moment handed critics an easy opening to argue that Trump’s performance had only proved his point.
The exchange offered a striking moment at a rally, where Trump praised his supporters’ loyalty before defending the substance of his message.
His admission that the crowd would cheer regardless of what he said quickly became a target for social media users who accused him of mocking his own audience and encouraging the kind of devotion he appeared to describe.
Trump began by questioning why he needed to visit Tennessee at all, given the state’s strong Republican presence, including Sen. Bill Hagerty and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who is running for governor.
“What am I doing in Tennessee?” Trump asked. “So, three times I won the election, the big election three times. I got screwed the second time because they cheated. They cheated. We cannot let that happen again.
“But, I said, ‘You know sometimes it’s nice to go to a place where you don’t have to be, but you are there to say thank you to the great people that elected you three separate times,” he said, according to Mediaite.
Trump then recounted a conversation with a “friend” who struggles with stage fright and had asked how he could regularly address large crowds.
“I said, ‘You know, for me it’s easy because there is such love in these rooms,” Trump said to cheers and applause. “It’s true,” Trump said as the crowd broke into chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump!”
“Thank you,” Trump said.
“No, it’s true. No, there’s such love,” he said as someone yelled, “We love you!”
Trump continued describing the reception he receives at rallies, eventually acknowledging that the enthusiasm might not depend on what he actually says.
“It’s like, like, I mean, it’s amazing. When you stand up here, it’s just like, the love,” Trump marveled. “I could say the stupidest things and you’d clap. ‘Oh, I love you so—’ It’s true.
“But we don’t say the stupidest things, we say things of common sense. We say things that make sense, and probably are mostly conservative. But it’s not really conservative, it’s the things of common sense.We want to have a border, we want to have low taxes, we want to have a great military. We want to have, you know, all of the different things. It’s like seven, eight, 10, five, four — it’s just things that are common sense.”
His attempt to distinguish his remarks from the “stupidest things” he said his audience would applaud did little to shield him from online ridicule.
“It’s a cult of stupids,” one viewer said. Another added: “He mocks and belittles his supporters every time yet they still clap like seals. Not beating the cult allegations.” “Yikes,” someone else exclaimed, “he’s saying the quiet parts out loud again.”
Another critic suggested the crowd’s reaction said as much about its members as it did about Trump: “Because the people applauding you are fools, too.”
