President Donald Trump on Wednesday could be heard telling a victim of Hurricane Florence to “have a good time.”
Trump made the remark while handing out meals to hurricane victims in New Bern, North Carolina.
“Got it?” Trump said as he handed two meals to a person in a car, adding: “Have a good time.”
The comment caused one MSNBC reporter to speak out off camera.
“I think he just said have a good time!” the reporter gasped.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2018
Watching this video is very much like the common experience of making small talk about the weather with a stranger, except rather than ending the conversation after the normal ten seconds or so, the stranger believes his job and stature require him to elaborate with words that are not at his disposal. And so Trump adds that the hurricane “certainly is not good,” and that people have died (“That’s a tough one, it’s tough to understand”) and also that it “has been a nasty one, a big one.”
In the video, Trump is using his favorite dignified scowl. (The New York Times reported last year that the president told staff he wants to look “like Churchill” when he makes this face.) Except Churchill knew more words than an average 10-year-old, and he also wrote them down before he started speaking to the entire country.
Trump to a homeowner in New Bern, NC, who had a yacht wash up in his backyard: “At least you got a nice boat out of the deal.” pic.twitter.com/twtT3it8ul
— Mark Landler (@MarkLandler) September 19, 2018