Since Eisenhower, every American president has attended the National Prayer Breakfast, a D.C. institution for over half a century. Unlike other White House photo-ops, the NPB is not just a meal with speeches, but a collection of meetings and events attended by several thousand people, including dignitaries from around the globe.
As with the mind-boggling riddle Trump used to “honor” Black History Month yesterday, his NPB oration was entirely without substance and had precious little to do with what you might expect a president to say at such a thing—i.e. the need for unity across faiths, the achievement of America’s religious leaders, etc. Instead, because his day-ones Mark Burnett and Roma Downey–Trump’s co-producers on The Apprentice–had introduced him, the President decided the National Prayer Breakfast was the perfect time for him to divert attention back to television. Specifically, he had a suggestion for a religious activity the group could engage in together: “praying” for new host Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “terrible ratings”. Here’s the relevant part of that portion of the speech:
Arnold had a few words of response on Twitter this morning, in the form of a simple suggestion:
Seems about as reasonable a proposition as anything else. You can watch the tragicomedic spectacle in its entirety via Mediaite/CNN.
