3 Things The President Said In His ‘TIME’ Interview That Should Concern Every American

Image via Flickr/Evan Guest

President Donald Trump gave a rare interview to TIME magazine on Wednesday and, probably unsurprisingly, it quickly devolved into a rant by the commander in chief.

In the interview, TIME’s Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer asks the president about his tweets, wiretapping, credibility, and truth. While the entire interview should be required reading for all Americans, here are three of the president’s statements that should concern the voting public.

“I predicted a lot of things”

The president of the United States claims to have predicted his win, Brexit, and the riots in Sweden. Scherer points out, that in the case of the Sweden quote, Trump pivoted his statement in an attempt to take ownership of something that happened the following day. Trump counters he was right simply by talking about Sweden at all. Already, you’re likely wondering what universe we’re now finding ourselves in. By focusing on his predictions, Trump reinforces his blatant unwillingness to consider the facts.

“I inherited a mess with jobs, despite the statistics, you know, my statistics are even better, but they are not the real statistics because you have millions of people that can’t get a job, ok.”

Try not to be distracted by the illiterate nature of this sentence. Essentially, he’s saying it’s fine to ignore the dwindling unemployment rates our own government provides because there are still people without jobs. He doesn’t acknowledge the successful efforts of previous presidents, the factors that aggravate job loss, and the role he himself has played in sending American jobs overseas. Clearly, he’s more concerned with proving he’s right and everyone else is wrong, which can’t be very helpful for anyone—especially those struggling to find work.

“Why do you say that I have to apologize? I’m just quoting the newspaper.”

This is in reference to Trump’s claim that Ted Cruz’s father was with Lee Harvey Oswald, John F. Kennedy’s assassin—which, of course, was proven to be false. By Trump’s logic, making a false claim isn’t a problem if you’re merely repeating someone else’s invented statement. This comes from the guy who upholds Breitbart as a trustworthy source of news. So much for accountability.

At the end of the interview, Trump left us with this reassuring statement: “I can’t be doing so badly, because I’m president, and you’re not.” We’re officially living in a post-truth era.

To read Trump’s full interview with TIME, head here.