Skip to content
Culture

Things Trump Talked About Besides Energy At His Address to Energy Workers

Written by | 

Trump Didn't Talk About Energy at His Address to Energy Workers

Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States and a person who makes questionable statements, traveled to Monaca, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, August 13, to allegedly give a speech concerning energy and manufacturing to energy workers gathered at Shell’s Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex.

If a speech about manufacturing and energy sounds boring as hell, rest assured that the president likely agrees with you. That probably explains why he spent a good chunk of his time straying from his prepared remarks, and instead, riffing on everything from his love of trucks, the Academy Awards ceremony’s ratings, President Obama’s book deal, all the money he believes he losing while serving as president, and why he should serve a third and fourth term as president.

Although Trump was addressing the workers in his official capacity as president, he turned what was ostensibly a non-partisan affair into an impromptu MAGA rally.

Here are the most random asides from the 67-minute speech the seemingly sundowning president gave to a crowd of befuddled energy workers. None of the following talking points have anything to do with energy or manufacturing.

Also Read

Neil Young Drops Copyright Suit Against Trump Campaign

The Academy Awards

After pointing out the “fake news” media in the back of the venue and mentioning the crowd size, which he said was “a lot of people for 11 a.m.,” Trump brought up the Oscars. (Though as CNN reporter Daniel Dale pointed out, it was actually 2:40 in the afternoon.)

“It’s like the Academy Awards during the day,” the president said while appraising the crowd full of laborers in yellow work vests—or as popular as “it used to be.”

Trump then launched into a familiar screed about the award show’s ratings.

“You know, the Academy Awards is on hard times now, you know that. Nobody wants to watch it. You know why? Because they started taking us on. Everyone got tired of it,” Trump said. “It’s amazing. That used to be second after the Super Bowl. And then all of a sudden, now it’s just another show because people got tired of people getting up and making fools of themselves and disrespecting the people in this room and the people that won the election in 2016.”

His Lifelong Love of Trucks

Why does this man sound like a 4-year-old while he’s supposed to be talking about energy?

“I love cranes. I love trucks of all types. Even when I was a little boy at 4 years old, my mother would say, ‘You love trucks.’ I do,” Trump said. “I always loved trucks. I still do. Nothing changes. Sometimes, ya know, you might become president, but nothing changes. I still love trucks.”

The president’s love of trucks is well-documented.

The Emoluments Clause

The Emoluments Clause is a section of the Constitution that prohibits holders of federal office from receiving cash, gifts, or doing business with foreign rulers and officials, and generally profiting from their position. For example, the Emoluments Clause frowns upon things such as Saudi lobbyists currying favor with the president by booking hundreds of rooms at his D.C. hotel.

As you can imagine, the commander in chief is entangled in several lawsuits accusing him of violating the Emoluments Clause, and it’s pissing him off. Trump decided to unload on a crowd he assumed would be sympathetic to the plight of a multimillionaire who has to stop profiting from his businesses while he’s in office.

“I got sued on a thing called emoluments. Emoluments. You ever hear of the word? Nobody ever heard of it before,” Trump told the crowd of blue-collar workers. “And what it is, is presidential harassment because this thing is costing me a fortune, and I love it. I love it because I’m making the lives of other people much, much better.”

Of course, when Trump says “nobody heard of it before,” he means “I never heard of it before.”

The Obamas’ Book Deals

During Trump’s extended emoluments riff, he floated the idea that the multimillion-dollar book deals President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama got after leaving the White House should be investigated, echoing remarks he made a few weeks ago.

Money the Obamas earned after leaving public life have nothing to do with emoluments violations, and they certainly have nothing to do with either energy or manufacturing.

Presidential Term Limits

Trump rehashed his recurring bit about how we should just do away with elections and term limits, and allow him to declare himself POTUS for life, like some tinpot dictator outfitted in a paramilitary outfit with epaulets for days. This time, he couched it in advice on how to drive “the fake news” media in the back of the room insane.

“Can you imagine if these people treated me fairly?” Trump said, motioning to the reporters in the back of the room. “The election would be over. Have they ever called off an election before?” He added, that if the crowd really wanted to drive the news media crazy, they’d tweet “hashtag third term, hashtag fourth term.”

Elizabeth Warren

If Sen. Elizabeth Warren ends up clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, Trump predicts that “we’ll have to hit Pocahontas very hard again.”

 Trade With Japan

In a nonsensical aside about trade agreements, Trump erroneously claims that the U.S. exports only wheat to Japan, which Japan buys only “to make us feel good.”

“Japan sends over millions of cars, we send them wheat,” Trump said. Not only is that completely false, it also has nothing to do with energy policy.

If you don’t value your free time and general sense of well-being, you can watch the entirety of what was billed as “remarks on America’s energy dominance and manufacturing revival” below:

More from Spin